Abdication of responsibility
“When you abdicate your responsibility, others will use it for their own grim purposes.” Canadian clinical psychologist, author, and lecturer, Jordan B. Peterson
Put another way, when you abdicate your responsibility, others will step in and do what they want. The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia – before April 11, 1991, the League of Communists of Macedonia – is an excellent example of what should be a responsible party abdicating their responsibility to the country and allowing others to step in.
SDSM has abdicated responsibility in many areas but I want to focus on one area in particular now – the defense of the Macedonian state and the Macedonian people. This party and their so-called leadership have not stood for the rights of Macedonians and Macedonia as an independent nation-state in their entire history. When they have been in government since 1991, they have given away (not traded, but given away): Macedonia’s good name, parts of Macedonia’s identity, Macedonian culture and trademarks, passports, contracts both foreign and domestic, and much more, and they will continue to give away whatever is left to give away as long as they remain in power.
In abdicating their own responsibility, these Macedonian elitists (political parties, NGOs, the media, and academia), have allowed in its place to come, among other things, Albanian adventurism, “for their own grim purposes.” Adventurism from the ethnic minority Albanian leadership in Macedonia and from the Republic of Albania, and from the ethnic minority Albanians in Serbia as well.
These Albanian narcistic and chauvinist leaders have been and are continuing to build a mythical narrative that the Albanians throughout Southeastern Europe are an ancient people and kingdom, and, because that kingdom no longer exists, the Albanians of Southeastern Europe are now victims with political grievances who can legitimately rebuild that kingdom. Again, that is the narrative they have been building, peddling to foreign diplomats, and pushing in their respective countries and regions. (And no, before someone shouts “But what about the Macedonians and their mythmaking!” I literally do not know a single Macedonian who wants to recreate Alexander’s Macedon – the only thing Macedonians want is to be able to live in Macedonia with all of the rights accorded to other nation-states with one majority ethnic group such as Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, etc.)
Here is a picture of the above: Artan Grubi holding a bullhorn pointed directly in Hristijan Miskoski’s face, Grubi shoving his index finger pointedly into Miskoski's chest while shouting “I’m a victim, give me more rights!” as Miskoski stoically stares back, a thin smile on his face. Kovachevski hovers nearby, his face to the ground, shoulders shrugging in defeat, and all around them stands the Amen choir, the US and EU ambassadors, all chanting their liturgy in unison, “Yes, Albanians are victims, give them all they ask.”
Enough. The Albanian “leadership” (and I use that term loosely) in Macedonia are entitled and coddled. It’s been 22 years since the so-called Ohrid Framework Agreement and the Albanian “leadership” in Macedonia will never stop crying “victim!” and demanding ever more rights. “How much is enough” the young reporter asked American oilman J. Paul Getty when he became the world’s first dollar billionaire? “Just one dollar more,” came Getty’s response. “How many times must we give these victim mongers in Macedonia one more thing” the Macedonians are asking of their government?
This is their plan and their strategy: Ali Ahmeti summed that up when responding to the ongoing split in his own party, stating “Our statute does not allow factions. Every action outside of the statute leads to anarchy. The most democratic option is for the minority to join the majority in its opinion.” Ah, yes, the “most democratic option.” Anyone who opposes us must simply give up their position and agree with our position. Exactly what the SDSM/DUI government is telling VMRO and hundreds of thousands of Macedonians who are tired of being pissed on from the heights of Kale and their government in Macedonia. The “most democratic option” for the US Embassy together with their vassals and junior partners in the form of the EU embassies, is for Macedonians who do not want any more humiliations and demands put upon them to give up their “old fashioned” ideas about identity and join with SDSM and DUI. There is no other way for these villains and scoundrels: my way or the highway.
Because of this abdication of responsibility, leaving others to use it for their own grim purposes, Macedonia finds itself in an almost perpetual crisis.
Author Jared Diamond lists a 12-step strategy for a nation dealing with a crisis and one of those is identity. Step six: “You are more likely to succeed if you have ‘ego strength,’ which for states translates as a sense of national identity.” Granted, at the individual and local level, I believe that Macedonians’ sense of the Macedonian identity has grown since SDS/DUI came to power, but, as I have written before, when others see that the national identity of Macedonia as a state is weakened, and deliberately by its own government, there is a temptation among those others to take a literal bite out of Macedonia. Throw into that mix the elite who breezily assert that they are “citizens of the world” plus the ethnic Albanian minority leadership who attempt to assert, more often these days, the “supremacy” of an Albanian identity (best evidenced by their use of the flag of the Republic of Albania throughout Macedonia, and at governmental institutions), and you have a dangerous situation.
The only way out of this crisis is to accept responsibility and act on it. Here’s one way: certainly, the most recent proposal by VMRO for use of the Croatian constitution as a model is a reasonable – and responsible – one. And this is the way it works in the legislative arena: your side wants something but is not quite powerful enough to simply take it from you; they need you to a certain degree. You may agree to give them what they want, but you want something in return. You both give a little and each get something. This is called politics. But in the current situation, SDSM only wants to take and give nothing in return. This is called authoritarianism.
The abdication of responsibility by SDSM will only continue to lead to the grim purposes of DUI and the other ethnic Albanian parities in Macedonia, despite their differences.