· March, 2011

Stories about North Macedonia from March, 2011

Macedonia: Early Elections Scheduled for June 5

  30 March 2011

The biggest Macedonian opposition party announced [MKD] today that they will participate in the early elections in spite of the failure of negotiations with the government on the conditions that would ensure fairness. About two hours later, the Prime Minister responded [MKD] that the ruling party would suggest to the...

Macedonia: Personal Steps Against Economic Crisis

  28 March 2011

Bojana Jankovska blogs [MKD] on how she deals with the economic crisis at a personal level: make a deal with family members to use electrical appliances during “cheaper” hours of the day, possibly cancel central heating, locate the cheapest neighborhood store for regular grocery shopping, and lock your credit card...

Macedonia: No to Violence Against Women

  28 March 2011

Gordana Angelichin writes on Mladi!nfo about how she and two friends organized the V-Day Macedonia campaign from October 2010 to March 2011, as part of the global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls.

Macedonia: Critique of Video for Eurosong 2011 Entry

  27 March 2011

Karro compares [MKD] the video (but not the song) of the Macedonian entry for this year's Eurovision festival, “The Russian Girl” by Vlatko Ilievski, to the video of “The Only Exception” by Paramore (clips embedded in the blog post).

Macedonia: QR Campaign to Aid Japan

  23 March 2011

It.com.mk noted [MKD] that Kalina Zografska, Kristijan Ivanovski and Iva Dujak started an independent campaign using QR codes containing Japanese proverbs, quotes and links, to promote the humanitarian concert “Heart for Japan” [MKD] (#srcejp) and remind Skopje's citizens of the legacy of Kenzo Tange, a Japanese architect who helped rebuild...

Macedonia, Japan: Anime vs. Reality

  23 March 2011

poljaff, a contributor to Japan@MK blog, compared [MKD] the experiences of learning about Japanese culture and disaster response by watching the award-winning anime Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 a year ago, and intensely following the aftermath of the March 11 catastrophe. According to her, reality is much scarier, but the Japanese people...

Macedonia: Meme of the Day – on Envy

  23 March 2011

Jasna Soptrajanova Vrteva posted this message on her Facebook profile [MKD]: “When tempted to envy someone – they've a charmed life, they have it so easy … and they're always cheerful, joyful, smiling, in high spirits … – stop and think: they might have a charmed life because they work...

Macedonia: A Requiem for Democracy

  22 March 2011

Filip Stojanovski translates Macedonian bloggers' comments on how the public democratic dialog within state institutions has been replaced with private meetings between leaders of the biggest political parties.

Macedonia: Census Postponed Till October

  19 March 2011

As anticipated, the Macedonian parliament adopted a new law on Wednesday, which postpones the Census [MKD]–originally scheduled for April–until October. Political leaders [MKD] have still not set the date for the early elections: May and June are rumored as the likeliest time right now.

Macedonia: Holocaust Memorial Center Opens in Skopje

  15 March 2011

Balkanalysis.com writes about the Holocaust Memorial Center opening ceremony, held in the capital of Macedonia on March 11: “Even though things will never be as they once were in a country where little more than 200 Jews survive, at least for a moment one could feel something of what the...

Macedonia: Goverment as “Donor”

  8 March 2011

Volan objects [MKD] to using the term “donations” by the government officials, who use taxpayers’ money for photo opportunities that present them as sponsors instead of spenders. The latest example: buying buses from Ukraine for the state-owned public transport enterprise in Skopje.

Macedonia: What About the Census?

  3 March 2011

A number of Balkan countries were scheduled to run a census this spring: Macedonia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Albania, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Filip Stojanovski reviews what Macedonian bloggers are writing about the political aspects of the procedure.