zgjohu.com.mk | Civic Movement Wake Up! - Skopje

A group of Macedonian students were peacefully protesting against the building of an orthodox Church in the center of Skopje. Another group of Macedonians, that included orthodox priests, were protesting against the first group. The second group was offending the first group very loudly with the extremely derogatory term "SHIPTARI, SHIPTARI (Albanians, Albanians)". At the end, the second group attacked the first group and the protests of both groups ended up violent. Neither SDSM nor VMRO DPMNE condemned this ultranationalist unleash at the center of Skopje.

 More concerning than the physical violence is the "satanization" of the Albanians by their fellow citizens, which is now being conducted in more sophisticated ways in the field of culture, cultural and spiritual heritage and in the sport arenas. We thought that the "satanizing" of the Albanians ended up in the last decade with the infamous paroles like "Gas chambers for the Albanians" and "A good Albanian is only a dead Albanian".

 Yesterday's incident confirmed the extreme Albanophobia by a part of our fellow countrymen Macedonians. This church is being built with the taxpayers money, which includes Albanians, Turks, Bosniacs, Roma, Macedonian Muslims, that makeup half of the population of the country. Which mosque has been built with buget money? Even more scandalous is that this church is being build on top of the house of the Albanian Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mother Theresa.

 On the other hand, The Government transferred the house of Mother Theresa, builds an orthodox church instead at that location, refuses to rebuild the Burmali Mosque, inaugurates tens of buildings with the blessing of the Orthodox Church only, including the last one on top of the location of the Ibni Pajko Mosque. This extreme ignorance is a strong message to the non Macedonian and on Orthodox fellow citizens. The philharmonic palace, national library, many roads and schools, will be visited only by Orthodox Macedonians?

 Even the Constitutional Court said STOP to the monoethnic projects, such as the so-called Law on Birth Rates, whereas the citizens denied the violence and the ethnic shifts in Struga, but unfortunately the Government is ignoring all attempts to build a multiethnic, multireligious, multicultural state.

Frustrated by the bloodshed at the general elections of last year, disappointed with the conduct of the Parliamentary election of June 1, 2008, saddened by the low democratic culture during the election campaign as well as on Election Day that decrease human and national values: 

We, the representatives of civil society, media, intellectuals and university professors, insist that the local and presidential election of March 22 confirm the democratic maturity of the citizens of Macedonia and reconfirm the dedication, the necessary will and capacity of the citizens and political parties to conduct elections in accordance with international standards.

The undersigned in particularly appeal to the leaders of the Albanian political parties to engage maximally and to influence with their authority among their membership for correct, peaceful and democratic flow of elections in our country and seal our road towards the European Union and NATO in a dignified manner.

We, the representatives of the civil society, media, intellectuals and university professors, pledge to engage with all our capacities to contribute in the proper conduct of elections through awareness raising campaigns to motivate the citizens to go out and vote.

We appeal to all actors of the 2009 elections to engage sincerely by giving concrete contribution for an excellent flow of elections. In this occasion, we invite all citizens to exercise their undisputable democratic right to vote by respecting the principle one person, one vote and to take active part in building their future.

Any form of exercised violence will be considered as an obscure stain of our values and we will insist that the responsible persons are brought before justice and be punished properly.

Elections when people are killed and wounded are absolutely irrelevant and failed.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Kosovo, Civic Movement WAKE UP! Skopje is organizing a solemn academy and has the honor of inviting you to join us on Monday, 16 February 2009, 19:30 hrs at the Albanian Theatre in Skopje.

Civic Movement Wake Up! Skopje would like to congratulate the American people and the free world on the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America and the leader of the free world. God bless the United States of America. "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our
founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."  "To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

Albanians remain endlessly thankful for the support of the American people for freedom and equality of the Albanians in the Balkans and remain a loyal partner in developing democracy in accordance with EuroAmerican values.