waz.observer
TATJANA POPOVSKA AND SVETLANA JOVANOVSKA
Today @ 10:02 CET
Macedonia's opposition parties are trumpeting the idea that November will see the beginning of the end of the country's government.
Bombastic scenarios, some of them violent and involving foreign intervention, are being bandied about, which may lead to the downfall of the Christian Democrat VMRO-DPME party that has been in power since 2006.
Today @ 10:02 CET
Macedonia's opposition parties are trumpeting the idea that November will see the beginning of the end of the country's government.
Bombastic scenarios, some of them violent and involving foreign intervention, are being bandied about, which may lead to the downfall of the Christian Democrat VMRO-DPME party that has been in power since 2006.
Aside from this fiercely rebellious spirit, however, activists have few ideas to offer on how Macedonia is to overcome its political and economic crisis.
In the wake of the main opposition Social Democrats' (SDSM) major rally in June, other parties have announced protests of their own. On 7 November, the right-wing United for Macedonia (OM) will take to the streets of Skopje. The main Albanian opposition parties New Democracy (ND) and Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) will also organise an event.
The discontented groups are all disappointed by the country's political stalemate, the lack of efficient reforms, the blocking of the Euro-Atlantic perspective by the unresolved name issue with Greece and by the bad economic climate.
Greece is denying its neighbour the right to the name 'Republic of Macedonia', arguing that this could provoke territorial pretensions to its own northern province, also called Macedonia. Both sides have been negotiating since 1995 in the framework of the United Nations but have not yet found a satisfactory compromise.
Over the last few weeks, it has become clear that the Macedonian government lacks any creative concept on how to arrive at a solution for the name dispute with Greece. As a consequence, the country will neither start accession talks with the EU nor enter Nato this year.
Despite boastfully announcing "insurgency", "mutiny" or "rebellion" against the "brutality" or "torture" of those in power, it is unclear how the protest organisers want to make a difference. The governing VMRO-DPMNE maintains a better rating than the opposition parties and the same is true for the Albanian coalition partner in the government, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
Opposition leaders in general are not very popular, and this is particularly true for SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski. Mr Crvenkovski has already been president once and prime minister three times, and during his various times in office has disappointed Macedonians who had hoped for a better life.
Furthermore, the opposition is far from being united, with OM organising a rally against the government as well as against the opposition socialists.
"This will be a mutiny against the prime minister's inability to govern," said Ljube Boskovski, head of OM and former defence minister. "He brought dictatorship instead of democracy. It is also directed against all politicians previously in power who sent us back to feudalism instead of bringing democracy, against the power of several feudal lords who are enormously rich while the Macedonian nation is poorer and poorer."
Mr Boskovski has spent time in prison in The Hague for war crimes during the 2001 conflict in Macedonia. He did not forget to promise, too, that when OM gains power it will solve all the problems the country faces and create a favourable environment for accession to the EU and Nato.
The Albanian opposition parties follow the same line. They are calling for a rally against a government that did not deliver on the promises of Nato membership and EU accession talks.
All opposition parties agree that Macedonia needs early elections instead of waiting for the regular end-of-term ballot in summer 2012, but they cannot explain exactly how they would handle things differently.
Communications expert Petar Arsovski is sceptical that the rallies will prove a substantial vote winner, saying that only people who already support a party attend its rallies. "There are no new voters. The message is primarily intended for their members and this does not bring down those in power."
For the small Liberal Democrat Party (LDP), the seditious scenarios sketched by SDSM and OM are also mistaken. It is convinced that street protests cannot lead to a collapse of the government.
"The only way to defeat this government is to present the opposition as a real alternative, by offering its own platform and solutions for the hopeless situation we live in. The rally is an expression of powerlessness," said LDP vice president Andrej Zhernovski, who believes that rallies are just populist moves to counter the populism of the government.
"LDP will support any initiative to defeat this government, but we do not support the kind of populism which actually led Macedonia to this state," he added.
Mr Zhernovski is probably right. The ruling party does not seem alarmed by the announcements of all those imminent "insurgencies" and prime minister Nikola Gruevski calmly responded that he had no plans for early elections.
In the wake of the main opposition Social Democrats' (SDSM) major rally in June, other parties have announced protests of their own. On 7 November, the right-wing United for Macedonia (OM) will take to the streets of Skopje. The main Albanian opposition parties New Democracy (ND) and Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) will also organise an event.
The discontented groups are all disappointed by the country's political stalemate, the lack of efficient reforms, the blocking of the Euro-Atlantic perspective by the unresolved name issue with Greece and by the bad economic climate.
Greece is denying its neighbour the right to the name 'Republic of Macedonia', arguing that this could provoke territorial pretensions to its own northern province, also called Macedonia. Both sides have been negotiating since 1995 in the framework of the United Nations but have not yet found a satisfactory compromise.
Over the last few weeks, it has become clear that the Macedonian government lacks any creative concept on how to arrive at a solution for the name dispute with Greece. As a consequence, the country will neither start accession talks with the EU nor enter Nato this year.
Despite boastfully announcing "insurgency", "mutiny" or "rebellion" against the "brutality" or "torture" of those in power, it is unclear how the protest organisers want to make a difference. The governing VMRO-DPMNE maintains a better rating than the opposition parties and the same is true for the Albanian coalition partner in the government, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
Opposition leaders in general are not very popular, and this is particularly true for SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski. Mr Crvenkovski has already been president once and prime minister three times, and during his various times in office has disappointed Macedonians who had hoped for a better life.
Furthermore, the opposition is far from being united, with OM organising a rally against the government as well as against the opposition socialists.
"This will be a mutiny against the prime minister's inability to govern," said Ljube Boskovski, head of OM and former defence minister. "He brought dictatorship instead of democracy. It is also directed against all politicians previously in power who sent us back to feudalism instead of bringing democracy, against the power of several feudal lords who are enormously rich while the Macedonian nation is poorer and poorer."
Mr Boskovski has spent time in prison in The Hague for war crimes during the 2001 conflict in Macedonia. He did not forget to promise, too, that when OM gains power it will solve all the problems the country faces and create a favourable environment for accession to the EU and Nato.
The Albanian opposition parties follow the same line. They are calling for a rally against a government that did not deliver on the promises of Nato membership and EU accession talks.
All opposition parties agree that Macedonia needs early elections instead of waiting for the regular end-of-term ballot in summer 2012, but they cannot explain exactly how they would handle things differently.
Communications expert Petar Arsovski is sceptical that the rallies will prove a substantial vote winner, saying that only people who already support a party attend its rallies. "There are no new voters. The message is primarily intended for their members and this does not bring down those in power."
For the small Liberal Democrat Party (LDP), the seditious scenarios sketched by SDSM and OM are also mistaken. It is convinced that street protests cannot lead to a collapse of the government.
"The only way to defeat this government is to present the opposition as a real alternative, by offering its own platform and solutions for the hopeless situation we live in. The rally is an expression of powerlessness," said LDP vice president Andrej Zhernovski, who believes that rallies are just populist moves to counter the populism of the government.
"LDP will support any initiative to defeat this government, but we do not support the kind of populism which actually led Macedonia to this state," he added.
Mr Zhernovski is probably right. The ruling party does not seem alarmed by the announcements of all those imminent "insurgencies" and prime minister Nikola Gruevski calmly responded that he had no plans for early elections.
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