Mayday School: Macedonia the Periphery of the Periphery of Europe

From 30 of April until the 5th of May 2014 on invitation from the Institute for Labour Studies I participated on the Mayday School held in Ljubljana Slovenia. Here, I was discussing on the current political developments in the Balkan countries and class differences that emerged from recent political developments. 

Furthermore, my presentation considered the correlation between the structural reforms of the Macedonian economy and the vast class differences that have emerged because of the race for foreign investments and implementation of the European neoliberal reforms. 

My presentation starts at 36:18, however I strongly recommend the two previous wonderful lectures by Madlen Nikolova speaking about: The 'Creative Class' and the Reproduction of the Neoliberal Ideology in Bulgaria, and Florin Poenaru presenting the: Class Struggle in Romania in Historical Perspective.  

The Decadence of Media in Macedonia: a Farce Slowly Turning into Tragedy

In the past period in Macedonia there was a decline in the ratings of almost all segments of a functional democracy. Consequently the country made a decline in the area of free speech and media liberties. The best example can be found in Press freedom index measured by Reporters Without Borders where Macedonia made a new regress and positioning itself in the 124th place; the lowest in the wider European region.

And as for domestic analysis, the Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers made a study where it summarized the bulkiest problems in the Macedonian journalism. This document is called “The White Book” published in 2014 where bad personal examples of low professional standards and wrecked workers rights are presented. This analysis can be found on the official web site of the Union.

Let us start from the beginning.