CRUSADERS AND SARACENS

Dictators will stay in power as long as people are divided. Unite, before they crush you! This is a thought that I want to elaborate more comprehensively, but tonight, I will give it a more trivial dimension. I wrote this on the second day after the inter-ethnic and interreligious quarrels rose again in Macedonia. I will return to my original thought of the beginning of this note, some other time, and will be more responsible to its real weight. Here, I will just use it to begin a note about Crusaders and Saracens in Skopje in the 21^st century.

Well, it all started with the government’s "next step" of the “Skopje 2014” project (worth 200 million euro or more) in the face of the so-called museum church on the Kale of Skopje. (The church alone is worth 1.7 million euro.) The leading political party of the Albanians (DUI), otherwise a coalition party in the government, argued against it. The leading Macedonian part of the government decided to freeze the project. For the time being...

The dispute started over night, literally. Actually, the government carried on building the church over night, secretly, despite its promise that the project will stop. Can you imagine? Government sneaks like a thief (over night) to a construction site to continue building a church! A crowd of angry Albanians, led by high DUI officials crumbled the construction down on Thursday night. Great! Of all issues that torment all citizens (including Albanians) in the country, these politicians picked a religious one. The Pride-Minister knows where to strike…

Yes! It was a great, sacred night. “Religion-driven” quest against “religion-driven” Pride-Minister, who probably believes he’s a conquistador or something... Crusaders and Saracens, Skopje, 21^st century. Bizarre!

It caused a wave of ethnic tensions, of course. Nationalist-idiotic journalists, editors, and politicians enjoy the games again. The nationalist rhetoric, the entire arsenal, didn’t bring any new, neither less filth. Moreover, the latest incident is both inter-ethnic and interreligious. Politicians, both those in power and in opposition must be very happy with this. The more distraction from government’s wrongdoings and opposition’s incapability to offer real solutions, the better… And, people bought it, as usual…

Unemployment, poverty, international isolation, crime, corruption, violation of human rights, dictatorial behavior of those in power – will continue growing, as long as ethnic divisions and tensions exist. Those responsible of people’s troubles will get away with it, and people will hate each other for being different. Again…

That’s where I connected my thought at the beginning with these events: As long as politicians manage to divide people over this and such issues, they – the people – will be unable to unite against little-big wannabe dictators. Meanwhile, Crusaders and Saracens will fight a war of the past that will cost us the future. And, will turn this ugly city into even uglier village.

Um, wannabe dictators… I like this one.