Confronting the Communist Past in Macedonia: New Injustices in the Name of Justice
Date Issued
2022-09
Author(s)
Abstract
The fall of Yugoslavia has opened the door to the creation of an
independent and democratic Macedonian state. With this
opening, the Macedonian political elites have faced a great
number of challenges. Among them, the issue which was
particularly prominent was the confrontation with the
communist past/heritage. Interestingly, over the years the
Macedonian political elites had a completely different approach
to this issue. During the 90s, the party that emerged from the
bosom of the Communist Party decided to ignore this issue. The
change of the government in 1998 contributed to the start of
certain steps in confrontation with the problematic communist
past in Macedonia. Still, such steps were undertaken too slowly,
softly and insufficiently. In the end, such an approach of the
Macedonian political elites has paved the road for facing the
communist past to be misused for revenge and for political
party purposes. Such misuse was performed after 2006 through
the implementation of the scandalous process of lustration, as well as, by abusing the fate of the victims of the communist regime. The process of lustration especially through its creation and implementation, contrary to the recommendation of the international organizations, had produced new wounds and injustices for the Macedonian society. Additionally, providing
moral satisfaction for the communist victims through the
project called “Skopje 2014” was overshadowed by a great
number of corruptive scandals connected to this project. Thus,
the Macedonian story of confronting the communist past has
become another sad story of the Macedonian transition – Issue
abused for political points and financial motives, not for the
promotion and provision of justice, reconciliation and
democracy.
independent and democratic Macedonian state. With this
opening, the Macedonian political elites have faced a great
number of challenges. Among them, the issue which was
particularly prominent was the confrontation with the
communist past/heritage. Interestingly, over the years the
Macedonian political elites had a completely different approach
to this issue. During the 90s, the party that emerged from the
bosom of the Communist Party decided to ignore this issue. The
change of the government in 1998 contributed to the start of
certain steps in confrontation with the problematic communist
past in Macedonia. Still, such steps were undertaken too slowly,
softly and insufficiently. In the end, such an approach of the
Macedonian political elites has paved the road for facing the
communist past to be misused for revenge and for political
party purposes. Such misuse was performed after 2006 through
the implementation of the scandalous process of lustration, as well as, by abusing the fate of the victims of the communist regime. The process of lustration especially through its creation and implementation, contrary to the recommendation of the international organizations, had produced new wounds and injustices for the Macedonian society. Additionally, providing
moral satisfaction for the communist victims through the
project called “Skopje 2014” was overshadowed by a great
number of corruptive scandals connected to this project. Thus,
the Macedonian story of confronting the communist past has
become another sad story of the Macedonian transition – Issue
abused for political points and financial motives, not for the
promotion and provision of justice, reconciliation and
democracy.
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