Protests in Skopje: No Full Social Consensus on NATO in Macedonia

About fifty activists of the informal initiative Against Macedonia in NATO! protested yesterday, April 2, on the eve of the NATO Summit in Bucharest, the eventual Macedonian membership in NATO, in front of the Government Building in Skopje. Protesters in front of Government Building (Photo: Dejan Georgievski) The activists believe that, although few in number, the protests are necessary to show that there is no such total social consensus on NATO membership in the country as claimed by the political leadership and the mainstream media. They also believe it is not too late to open a true public debate and to call for a referendum on the potential membership, convinced that such a public debate would make it clear that not all citizens of Macedonia promote the values of militarism, imperialism and neo-colonisation. In a declaration they distributed to the citizens, they dispute a number of claims, they call them `lies` regarding the NATO membership, such as the accelerated membership in EU, reduced sovereignty and greater gap between the ruling class and the ruled in the country, and the possibility for the membership to actually undermine Macedonian security. The initiative also disputes the claims that the membership will bring economic benefits and higher standards of living to the citizens, noting that it may be true of the stock exchange traders and those who believe that foreign investments and profits earned by multinational corporations will truly improve their lives. Zdravko Savevski, activist of Against Macedonia in NATO! says that the funds that all citizens pay through their taxes should be directed, instead of the military and defense, to the deteriorating healthcare and education in the country and towards upgraded infrastructure. On the behalf of the initiative, he demanded that, should Macedonia not get the invitation to join NATO (and the latest news from Bucharest, by the time of the writing of this article, say that there will be no such invitation) the Government should recall all its soldiers currently serving in missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.