Fighting Fire with Fire

Each time some unsatisfied group hits the streets in Macedonia demanding justice, more rights or whatever they feel they should seek, another group of protestors making exactly the opposite claims raises its voice.

As I write these lines, a group of professors at the state university in Skopje is protesting against government amendments to the education law that they say will curb the freedom of the universities.

At the same time, in the same place, the so-called Student’s Parliament, an apparently very independent and democratic body of students, announced counter-protests, this time in support of the government’s work.

Unlike their colleagues from around the world who lead uprisings and revolutions, our student leaders seem happy with the political establishment. No surprise, then, that so many of them proudly wear their party membership cards as a token of power and prestige.

Curiously, when these same counter-protesters were asked to explain why they supported the government’s new law, or say what parts of the proposed law they were standing up to defend, they went dumb and shunned the cameras.

With the forecast of more protests on the horizon, the counter-protests are multiplying as well.

The other day, doctors in Skopje clinics held a warning strike against poor working conditions. Another group of doctors instantly rushed onto the media to praise the government and attack their colleagues for daring to strike, calling them opposition puppets.

Last week, tobacco growers from across Macedonia went in front of the parliament building, demanding more money for their crops, which they are forced to hand over to few state-selected companies.

Once again, at the same time, a large group rallied in front of the headquarters of the main opposition party. Claiming to be the “real farmers”, they insisted that the situation has never been better and that if the opposition returns in power it will be a catastrophe.

Responding to an attack by using a similar method to one's attacker is not a new practice in Macedonia.

Perhaps the ugliest such “spontaneous” counter-protest was back in March 2009, when people protesting against the building of a state-financed Orthodox church in the heart of Skopje were beaten by an angry mob wearing crosses and citing psalms and who had come out to support the building of the church.

In the end, instead of pursuing the bullies, the police pursued the organizers of the peaceful rally for not having secured permission to hold the event.

To my understanding, it is perfectly normal for those who are dissatisfied to stage protests and strikes and for the opposition to try and court them. It is equally logical for the government to try and calm things down and defend its policies.

But why are supposedly “happy” people randomly staging protest marches against those who say they are unhappy?  And why does the government keep protesting its innocence of all this, as if someone else was directing things?

Either way, the tactics of fighting fire with fire is apparently bearing results. For the time being, the social unrest and protests seem to have dispersed.

Some seem afraid now to come out and state their opinion. Others have lost their will to fight for any cause and don’t believe any social movement can turn things for the better.

But playing fire with fire has always been a risky business. You never know when things may backfire and get out of control.