XHABIR DERALLA
Civil society advocates for values. It’s an exceptionally important instrument in the hands of citizens, to articulate and defend their rights and freedoms, their needs and interests, to set demands and to participate in the creation of policies and practices at the local and national level. Civil society organizations and initiatives are essentially important for civil participation in decision-making processes and their implementation.
And this is not just another trivial conclusion from textbooks and handbooks, but rather a reality. It depends on the people how much they want this to be an ordinary phrase or reality. In that context, allow me to share some thoughts about how the so-called “NGO sector” functions, which some politicians misname, even though they owe everything they have in politics precisely to civil society.
GUARENTEE FOR A DECENT LIFE
Civic education is very important and it has to be free. In an era of digitalization of all aspects of life and amidst a hybrid war that is taking place in the world, educated citizens are a guarantee for a decent life. And it’s no exaggeration to say that civil society itself, with all of its organized and ad-hoc forms, with all of its strengths and weaknesses, is a guarantee for a better life of people and progress of a democratic society. In some way, it’s about equivalence: the more developed a civil society is, the better the life for people.
Civil society has a crucial role in education and creating public awareness. It is also necessary in building a political culture, based on respect for human rights and freedoms, equality, rule of law and democracy.
It’s important to understand that civil society is a driving engine, driver of key processes in society. It’s not concerned with fighting for power, but nevertheless can be a factor for one to come to, stay and leave power.
GOVERNMENT THAT LISTENS TO CIVIL SOCIETY
A government that listens to civil society is a progressive and an open government. Only as such, an open government can be an example of good governance. Certainly, it’s not the only criteria, but surely is very important.
It can also be expressed with the view: We don’t listen to the government; the government listens to us. This also refers to political parties and other structures of power and centers of influence in society. Let’s be clear, here we are talking about truly consistent and original civil association, and for the others, a bit more in the text below.
Democratic is a government that follows and reacts to calls, assessments, praise or criticism for its work. Democratic is a government that at peaceful protests responds with a statement, reasonable police security, and even with a government session, and not with tear gas, beating and arrests.
IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE
Civil society organizations influence government or municipal policies, that is their job. They also influence companies and press for them to adhere to the principles of social responsibility. For example, not to pollute, to respect workers’ rights, to respect gender equality and to value the labour of women and men in the same way, not to discriminate on any grounds, not to exploit children and etc.
There are numerous examples of how civil society organizations and initiatives contribute to improving the quality of life of people in all areas that can be imagined.
It’s difficult to number all the things civil society organizations do on a daily basis. Their activities contribute to peace and reconciliation, respect for diversity, equal access to justice… They help children and young people, organize women, represent vulnerable categories… And that’s not all…
They advocate for green values, write laws, organize petitions, call for protests… Civil society organization help the country improve its security and stability, map out key reforms in the country, fight against armed violence, pave the way to the EU, help farmers, workers, unemployed… They fight against violence, black propaganda and disinformation…
The list by no means ends here. And all this is done on a daily basis, very often with 10 or more working hours, on working, but also non-working days.
Without doubt, this is different from those organizations that are formed by the very centers of power (government, party, intelligence, business and so on). For the experienced, such are easy to recognize.
FAR-REACHING SCOPE OF ACTION
Media, public, activism, advocating and lobbying, drafting laws, monitoring, education, petitions and protests… These are just some of the tools through which citizens organized in civil society organizations and initiatives can influence, and even be a key factor in creating policies and practices at the local and national level.
Basically, it’s a matter of a far-reaching scope of action, if one knows that in the country there are more than 6,500 civil society organizations. Imagine just how many people and working hours that is. They all make a daily contribution to the development of society, the institutions and the country overall.
TENS OF MILLIONS OF EUROS ANNUALLY
The financial resources alone that flow into civil society organizations annually show the size and significance of civil society organizations in the country. Their budgets are a vital contribution both to the economy and to reducing unemployment in the country. Not to mention the contribution of the organizations that directly fight poverty and social inequality.
The civil society sector in the country spends, in fact, 50 to 70 million euros annually, which it receives from foreign donors. This data was shared by the head of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, Aleksandar Krzalovski, who at CIVIL’s conference on June 29, 2021 also said that “the main stereotype is that NGOs are money launderers and unfortunately we have been explaining for 20 years: you can accuse us that we are corrupt, that we steal, but you can’t accuse us that we launder money, since the money comes from legal sources into legal accounts”.
WHO DO THE LIES SUIT?
Indeed, a good question is how have these stereotypes of civil society organizations been carrying on for 20 years. How can a complete lie, something impossible, take root so deeply into the minds of people? It must be of great interest of certain structures of power for that and such prejudice and stereotypes to persevere.
“MCIC has not paid in cash for 15 years. Here, on CIVIL’s banners we can see who the donors are, you can click on those websites and see who the donors are, therefore we cannot be money launderers. Unfortunately, as NGOs we have not managed to break this stereotype – said Krzalovski at the mentioned conference.
Let’s ask the question again. Who is laundering money?! Is it the NGOs or those who are creating and distributing that disinformation in the public?
BETTER THAN THE STATE INSTITUTIONS
However, let’s return to several more positive aspects of the work of civil society organization and initiatives. But it doesn’t concern just the money. Civil society has enormous expertise, often even better that the one of the state institutions.
A large number of organizations have institutional memory, expertise and experience that by far exceed the capacities of the most developed municipalities, and even many institutions at the state level. Not once have we heard statements of senior government representatives that a certain ministry, or that the government does not have sufficient resources to carry out a specific process and that support from the civil sector is needed.
I remember such a statement from Damjan Mancevski, former Minister of Administration and Information Society, who at an event in Brussels (October 3, 2017) said that “civil society is important because it fills the gap of government institutions”. .
Other senior government officials in their statements throughout the years have also not hidden the fact that the government does not have sufficient resources to go through the EU integration path, and that support from civil society will be needed for this. What could be greater proof of the significance and capacities of civil society organizations?
Especially if at the same time we have in consideration that the organizations receive their support and expertise for free, namely, the funds for developing the capacities needed for our country come from developed democracies that have been supporting our country from its independence until today.
KIDNAPPING
Precisely because of the power of civil society and the media, nationalist and anti-democratic centers of power are doing everything they can to isolate and discredit progressive structures and to influence the public and decision-making structures.
In parallel, they are working on creating their “own civil society”, which often uses same or similar language and image as the progressive part of society, with the intention to manipulate people and to gain as much as possible more supporters and wider support in the public and the media. They are kidnapping civil society in order to serve their dirty goals.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN
Surely, we should not forget the other side of the coin. The biggest problem of and with civil society organizations is the detachment of civil society organizations from the citizens, who are their main, if not only constituents (if we exclude the chambers and other similar forms of civic association).
In the civil sector (best known as non-governmental or NGO sector), just like in other sectors (administration, political parties, business and so on), elites are created that are detached from reality or become clients of various centers of power. Some from the very beginning, others, on the other hand, over time compromise themselves by the breath of power and money.
Some of the organizations are proxy structures for support or propaganda of political parties or other structures, among which also foreign intelligence centers.
Long is the list of manipulations and abuse of civil society. What it represents and what takes place in and with civil society surely deserves a lot of serious attention and research. This can only be an introductory note in such an endeavour. Which I’m not lazy to start. Nonetheless…
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
