Macedonia: Peace March scheduled for Saturday, March 17

The different ethnic groups in Macedonia are organizing a March for Peace on Saturday as an expression of concern about the crimes of discrimination that are seen as precursors to civil war.

The march is scheduled for Saturday March 17, 2012 at 2pm at the City Park of Skopje, and the event is being spread via Facebook event [mk] Event tweetvite [mk] account Twitter Zaedno za mir (Together for Peace) and tags # PAZmk, # ZaednoZaMir, # or # marshnamirot ZZM .

The initiative [mk] is being organized by activists and some 50 civil society organizations, with the participation of artists and media personalities from all local ethnic groups who do not want to watch a replay of the 2001 conflict (also known under the concept of "Second Break" [mk]). They say:

Poster Together for Peace. The balloon symbol superimposed with words is also published as a profile picture on Facebook.

We are:
IN FAVOR of Peace!
YES on living together and not separately!
A calm tensions PLEASE!
FOR the good of all people!
IN FAVOR of Friendship!
FOR a society without violence!
Without prejudice or manipulation!
We welcome all who are in favor of reduced conflict and all who work to raise awareness of living together!
This is a matter of civic and human consciousness.
Plant the seed of love.
We want and we can do!

The march comes as a reaction to a series of inter-ethnic acts of violence [in], including slow reactions [ mk , sq ] and disputed by the authorities about the murder Gostiva after / during a discussion about places to park February 28, post-funeral protests and the stoning of certain premises, followed by a series of incidents involving violent attacks in the form of "revenge" "spontaneous" - beating passersby on the streets of several cities in Macedonia and transportation Skopje public, leaving dozens of people with serious injuries.

All these events were accompanied by a biased coverage by the media, to the point of overt violent speech [mk] in most business circles ethnic / linguistic split that remain operational . The period of deteriorating security situation in Macedonia began in late January [in], and was preceded by a long-term effort to mobilize nationalist government-instigated ethnic Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties in their "own "ethnic groups, and a" tradition "judicial impunity or leniency towards the perpetrators of de facto hate crime . (The concept of hate crime is not covered as such in the legal system in Macedonia, although the incitement of ethnic or racial hatred is a very serious offense.)

Poster Peace March for Nebojsha Galevski - Bane.

The participants of this initiative have been expressing their commitment to live together with their peers from different ethnic groups by performing translations of this appeal, and also produced several other works. For example, the graphic designer Nebojsha Gelevski-Bane created the poster shown above, and film and theater director Srđan Janićijević posted another chart for peace, and a video PSA.

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Translated by Javier Marcelo Tavella · View original post [en] · Comments (0)
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