“The rhetorical question is whether it is possible to have non-discrimination, equality and respect for multiculturalism in our society, and for us there is no alternative but to support and believe in European values and have an obligation to implement them,” said the national coordinator for Interculturalism Robert Alagjozovski, at the CIVIL public event on “European values – (im)possible mission: Equality, non-discrimination and multiculturalism through the prism of policies and practices at the national level.”

“There is no alternative to supporting the country’s European integration processes. We as public figures, Government, politicians, intellectuals support European values, believe deeply in them, and have an obligation to make them our reality. I would not say whether it is possible or impossible, it is a transformative action and that action is happening right now, that is, it is happening at least from 2017 onwards, and it is happening through many actions, activities, political views, and that should be daily activities of the institutions that had a period when they were captured.

With the strategy we decided to overcome the negative phenomena, which are discrimination, inequality, gender inequality, insufficient care for the most vulnerable category of citizens, and division in society. That division went along several lines, but ethnic division is one of them. Of course, inequality and discrimination is one of the main reasons for the division and that is why this Strategy and the platform of the Government are based on overcoming it.

The strategy is designed not to make divisions into “either-or” situations, we do not decide whether we need an equal or a society, we are for multiculturalism to live and be functional, equality must exist at all levels, on the individual plan and between communities, and it must go through a range of categories such as ethnic, religious, gender and a range of others that emerge and cause problems in society.

“It will be non-state and non-leadership if we are disappointed with the challenges and problems, on the contrary we should continue with our actions to make them better, shorten deadlines or invest much more funds, resources and people in order to overcome the challenges.” Alagjozovski.

Dehran Muratov
camera: Atanas Petrovski
editing: Arian Mehmeti
photography: Igor Chadinoski