Green values are an integral part of the policies of every progressive political party. Having in consideration that our country strives to be part of the European family, which highly values precisely these values, as a top priority,along with the corpus of European values, we spoke with Professor Mirjana Najcevska about their representation in the political rhetoric in our country.
One of the topics we touched upon with Professor Najcevska was also nationalism and the anti-nationalist struggle in regards to the consequences of its existence in our society.
Green CIVIL: When we talk about green values, it is known that they do not refer only to environmental protection, but also imply respect for human dignity, which means also social justice and anti-nationalism, strategies for sustainable development… How much, according to your analyses, are politicians acquainted with this in our country?
Najcevska: I don’t know how much they know, but there are no green values in what constitutes their action. First the most basic one, the one that connects us with the entire world, and that being climate changes, does not figure neither in the programs, nor in the presentations of the politicians before the citizens within the election and pre-election activities. For Macedonia, it’s said that it’s a country that will probably be considerably affected by climate changes. Prognosis are that in 30 to 50 years we will have about 40 to 50 percent less water fund. This is something that should be taken into consideration when structuring of cities, infrastructure, of the economy is planned, the manner of using the soil and what we have as a water fund, for agriculture, and that is connected with the life of the country, the people, but no one mentions it. It’s as if it doesn’t exist.
Not to mention those other elements that build the bigger green picture, and which are related to poverty, to the equal opportunities of the people that we will now encounter quite a bit with the start of the school year, because there are parents who insist for the teaching to be online, without physical presence. However, we have a large part of the population where children simply don’t have access to such type of tools to follow that type of teaching. The inequalities really do come to fore. The manner of using energy, instead of saying using solar energy, for example, something that in that way will be supported by the state in order for every citizen to participate in using that energy. However, they formulate laws, conditions are created again for monopolization of not using this energy and people again have to pay for something that can be very accessible, very cheap, and thus save instead of spend money.
Hence, all those elements are part of one complex system, but in Macedonia they don’t think systematically. The most terrifying of all is the lack of institutional continuity of the institutional memory. Systematic changes and undertakings are made when there are institutions that function in continuity and neither the staff, nor the manner of work, change with each change of government or because a new minister has come, but rather are institutions that give the stability foundation that make the analyses, prognosis, make that fundamental tissue of the state based upon which policies, visions, ideas are built. We don’t have the foundation in the institutions. And even when a minister is appointed to a certain ministry, and usually peoplewho don’t have the slightest idea about the matter in the ministry in which they come to are appointed, they don’t know what to do with the institutions and how to use them… Not a single complex issue, especially not one like the green idea, can be initiated automatically with such an ad hoc approach by the state.
We have to think not 50/100, but 200/300 years ahead. When building a road, one should take into consideration that we will have to connect that road in the future with another road because of those and those reasons. When building a quarry, it should be known what will be done with that space after 10, 20, 30 years, when it won’t be of use anymore, taken out of nature. When building a pipeline, thought should be given to how, in which way later we will be able to pull away from the dependence on gas, once we encounter even more eco-friendly ways of using the energy.
Here, we have people in power who proudly say that new coal excavations have been opened, and at a time when entire Europe is already closing all thermal power plants and is prohibiting coal for the production of energy, we say that we have coal excavation for the next 20 years. Soin order to be able to say something like that so publically, you either have to be intellectually very, very limited, or you don’t care at all about your citizens and think only about your personal profit.
Quality of life doesn’t exist at all for our politicians. We have spoken on several occasions, both as a civil sector and now as someone involved in a party, with certain representatives in government to explain to them that it’s not enough to talk about minimum wages, increase in social assistance… that is something preliminary, something without which we cannot do. The thing that will ensure quality of life for the people is talking about how they can have cheaper electricity, how they can have cheaper water, heating, a roof over their heads and an opportunity to actively be involved in everything that represents cultural and educational living of the state and taking advantage of all technological advantages that people with higher incomes have. However, the quality of life in our country, unfortunately, is still at the level of survival… Even the very clear information that life expectancy in Macedonia is three, four, ten years lower than the life expectancy in the developed democratic countries does not reach the politicians.
Green CIVIL: What will you say about the growing nationalism in our country? Who does this favour and who loses?
Najcevska: When parties and politicians, when those who win power, cannot offer something positive, cannot offer a vision, cannot offer development and specific visible changes in the everyday life, they always reach for nationalism. That is the irrational thing around which the masses can gather, around which negative emotions can be incited and
around which a division of citizens can be made so that they cannot unite on their same needs and interests.
Nationalism is always here as some kind of a tool parties reach for when they have nothing else and which they know they can always use and will always give a result, either to draw the attention of the citizens away from what is happening, or to say, well, all right, we will eat roots but at least we kept the name, or toprevent their joint action regardless of ethnic affiliation.
Green CIVIL: What needs to be done in this respect, what is the solution?
Najcevska: The only solution is development of social conscience and of civic sense. I think that in Macedonia it’s gradually developing. This process goes very slow, but it does exist. A process of realizing civic affiliation, that they share the same space, that they eat the same food, breath the same air and that in the same way it negatively affects all of them, regardless of ethnic affiliation. Ultimately, ways can be found in which ethnicity, cultural originality, cultural differences can be both respected and developed without it having influence over what represents satisfying the needs and interests of citizens as equal and as identical needs and interests. I think that here NGO’shave a very big role and their breakthrough in everything that constitutes dismantling of the rigidness of the ethnic blocs that suit only the political parties.
Biljana Jordanovska
camera: Atanas Petrovski
translation: Natasa Cvetkovska
