MAK-NEWS 27/04/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: "Demetrios E. Paneras" <dep@bu.edu>

CONTENTS

  • [01] GLIGOROV RECEIVES BRITISH UNDERSECRETARY

  • [02] MACEDONIA SLOWLY INCLUDED IN PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE

  • [03] STEFKOV MET CRETTIEN

  • [04] CONFERENCE ON CULTURAL FEATURES AND DIFFERENCES

  • [05] GOVERNMENT BRIEFS

  • [06] STRIKE WILL CERTAINLY BE HELD

  • [07] POLICE WILL INTERVENE IF NECESSARY

  • [08] WORKERS IN INSOLVENT FIRMS AND PENSIONERS AGAINST STRIKE

  • [09] HEARING IN TETOVO BEGUN YESTERDAY

  • [10] MACEDONIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE APPEALS FOR FAIR TRIAL

  • [11] TRADE UNION ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY

  • [12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: DISSATISFACTION AND PROFITEERING (Nova Makedonija, 27 April 1995)

    •

    M I L S N E W S

    Skopje, 27 April 1995

    [01] GLIGOROV RECEIVES BRITISH UNDERSECRETARY

    Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov yesterday received John Coules, permanent under-secretary in the British Foreign Office, accompanied by the British ambassador to Macedonia, Tony Milson. They discussed bilateral relations, positively evaluating their development, and also conferred about Macedonia's relations with neighboring countries. Coules again stressed his country's interest in Macedonia, stating the British official standpoint on the embargo as an unacceptable and illegal act.

    [02] MACEDONIA SLOWLY INCLUDED IN PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE

    Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski yesterday received Colonel Lee Alloway, Director of US joint teams for implementation of the "Bridge to America" program, comprised of all member countries of the Partnership for Peace Initiative. The meeting was attended by Dragoljub Botsinov, Chief-of-staff of the Macedonian Army and Victor Comras, Head of the US Liaison Office in Skopje. The talks underlined the successful bilateral cooperation in the field of defense and the possibilities for their further development.

    [03] STEFKOV MET CRETTIEN

    Macedonian Minister Sasho Stefkov took part in the Conference of Political Internationals held in Ottawa, Canada, April 23 - 26, as a representative of the Liberal Party of Macedonia. Stefkov met with Jean Crettien, Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party there, delivering a message from the Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski. They exchanged opinions on the bilateral relations and ways to develop them further.

    [04] CONFERENCE ON CULTURAL FEATURES AND DIFFERENCES

    In Sydney yesterday, UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros- Ghali opened the Conference on Cultural Specific Features and Differences. The conference is being attended by a delegation from the Macedonian community in Australia, led by Macedonian Minister of Education Emilija Simoska. She gave an introductory speech on ethnic relations in Macedonia. Yesterday, Simoska met with Australian Foreign Minister Garret Evans and Minister on Ethnic Relations Nick Bolcus. Macedonians living in Sydney took the opportunity to organize a peaceful demonstration in front of the building, protesting against the Australian Federal Government's decision to rename Macedonians on the continent "Slav- Macedonians".

    [05] GOVERNMENT BRIEFS

    At a press-conference yesterday, spokesman for the Macedonian Government Djuner Ismail briefed reporters on the government session of two days ago. The cabinet, he said, wrote the text for the Expropriation Act and the draft-law on an IMF $85 million for Macedonia, decided to form a public enterprise in charge of natural gas, and accepted proposed changes in the Law on Chance Games. Djuner said Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski and representatives of the Independent Trade Union met yesterday when the Union repeated its demands. Djuner stated the viewpoints of the Government regarding the public meeting scheduled for noon today. A portion of the Independent Union's demands are probably a result of a lack of information (those requiring free education, health and social security), and some of them are highly political, as shown by the fact that several political parties out of the main stream have joined the Union in its demands in the past few days.

    [06] STRIKE WILL CERTAINLY BE HELD

    Regardless of the fact that representatives of the Union met with Prime Minister Crvendovski, the general strike organized by the Independent Trade Union Association, scheduled for noon today at the Macedonia square in Skopje, will most certainly be held, Union officials said at yesterday's press-conference. The strike will continue as long as it is necessary, that is until the 17 demands are fully met by the Government. Reporters were told that the Union met with Crvenkovski twice yesterday and that the latter asked them to postpone the strike. President Gligorov, it was said, also summoned Union officials to accuse them of attempting to destroy the legal establishment and of hiding political goals behind their social demands.

    [07] POLICE WILL INTERVENE IF NECESSARY

    Wth regard to the announced public meeting due today, the Macedonian Ministry of the Interior issued a statement saying, "In order to provide safety during the public meeting referred to as general strike, the Ministry, in accordance with its authorities, will undertake all measures necessary. Reminding the organizers of their obligation to maintain peace during the demonstration, the Ministry points to their responsibility for potential unwanted consequences, such as violence by participants or blocking of major roads as threatened. In such cases, the Ministry will undertake all appropriate legal measures."

    [08] WORKERS IN INSOLVENT FIRMS AND PENSIONERS AGAINST STRIKE

    The Association of Workers in Insolvent Firms in Macedonia said it does not endorse the general strike announced for today by the Independent Union Association. Workers believe the aim of the protest is not social, but political in nature. The Association of Pensioners in Macedonia also issued a public statement to say it has had no contacts with the Independent Union and stressed its disagreement with the meeting.

    [09] HEARING IN TETOVO BEGUN YESTERDAY

    The Tetovo Municipal Court opened yesterday the hearing against Fadil Suleimani, accused of inciting to resistance, and Milaim Feiziu, charged with participation in crowds and preventing police officers from executing Government orders, all pertaining to the university in the Albanian language. The hearing was attended by about 50 reporters from Macedonia and abroad, OSCE officials, and representatives of political parties of Albanians in Macedonia. The court has summoned a dozen journalists who were at the scene during the events in Mala Recica to act as witnesses. The defendant Suleimani spoke in Albanian, Macedonian and Serbian, whereas Feiziu spoke only in Macedonian in order to, as he said, express his protest against his groundless imprisonment. At a request of the Public Prosecutor, the hearing was interrupted due to the protest meeting in front of the courthouse, organized by parties of Albanians as a sign of support for the accused. Following the meeting, the hearing was resumed. The protest march began exactly at noon with nearly 10,000 well organized citizens. Demonstrators demanded that all accused be unconditionally released. The crowds were addressed by leaders and representatives of the Association of Albanian Women in Macedonia, PDPA, PDA-Islamic Road, PDP- National Unity and NDP, all stating full support for the university in Tetovo and the defendants. This, they said, is not a process against Suleimani and Feiziu, but against the Albanian idea of higher education, progress and the perspective of generations to come. Arben Dzaferi, leader of PDPA, said the proceedings are just another farce. The meeting, monitored by OSCE and UNPREDEP officials and numerous reporters, lasted for an hour.

    [10] MACEDONIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE APPEALS FOR FAIR TRIAL

    The Helsinki Human Rights Committee in Macedonia said they expect the trial of Suleimani and Feiziu will be fair and in accordance with both current laws in the country and international conventions. "We believe," the announcement says, "that this hearing will confirm Macedonia's determination to organize itself as a legal state and to help transfer the issue of higher education for Albanians from the political arena into the sphere of dialogue among intellectuals who would discuss and resolve the problem without national euphoria."

    [11] TRADE UNION ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY

    In Skopje, yesterday, a celebration took place to mark the 50th anniversary of the Trade Union Association in Macedonia. President Gligorov was among the many present, along with Dushan Petrevski, Head of the Chamber of Commerce, and Minister of Economy Risto Ivanov. Union President Zhivko Tolevski spoke of the class awakening of the Macedonian workers in the past, their inclusion in progressive socialist movements and the activities of the Union nowadays. He said the Union, which started as an organization with 31,000 members, now has a membership of over 360,000, organized in 15 trade unions. The Union, he stressed, will continue to struggle for the social and economic rights of the workers, dissociating itself from both the Government and the opposition.

    [12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: DISSATISFACTION AND PROFITEERING

    (Nova Makedonija, 27 April 1995)

    Several elements regarding the "meeting of the hungry", due at noon today at the Macedonia square in Skopje and in a few other cities not disclosed until yesterday confirms suspicions that citizens who are united by social problems may easily be manipulated and used in achieving certain political goals. The Independent Trade Union Association has called on all those dissatisfied with their social situation to express their protest at today's "general strike", refuting any political motivation of the demonstration until the very last moment. Union leaders claimed the meeting is a purely economic action, warmly welcoming at the same time the support of opposition political parties. Now, what does this indicate? The first thought that comes to mind is that the Independent Union realizes it lacks power, or even better, experience to bring the initiative to an end in a successful and "clean" manner. Therefore, all support is welcome, especially if it means more massive crowds. A certain amateurism in the work of this Union could have been noticed even before, primarily in the character of the demands which were supposed to be only economic and not political, as well as in their composition, especially after the first version of the demands presented on February 21. The second version with which the Union will go out in the streets today consists of obvious corrections in the text. For instance, the first demand in the initial version was to have the Privatization Act appealed. Now, however, the issue becomes a series of demands for a productive and economically justified privatization, new employment and without liquidating companies. The Union even requests a referendum on models for the privatization process. The second demand from the old version, to withdraw the Law on Reconstruction of Highest Loss-producing Companies, is no longer on the list. The list now does not include even the previous demands for mechanisms for prosecution of individuals involved in organized economic crimes, nor an abolishment of the Law on Purchase of Social Apartments. Furthermore, the Union now insists on payment of the two delayed pensions and regular pensions in the future with smaller differences between pensions. However, this time the demand has been placed at the end of the text. No longer does the Union request that all bankruptcy proceedings be stopped and all workers from insolvent firms be returned to their jobs. Now, there is a new demand, to reduce the number of jobs in the current governing administration and in companies' management and to provide material and social security for workers in insolvent firms. The initial 10 per cent of the frozen foreign currency of citizens, demanded to be paid out monthly, is now changed to a demand for defreezing of the total frozen funds. The problems concerning farmers are now classified in 4 points: stimulate agricultural policy with premiums and regressive payments; control over flow of goods, promote farmers' interests for budgeted funds and guarantee their civil and human rights. The Union also gave up its concrete demands for opening of the REK Bitola case, which deals with the status of citizens usurping social apartments and the basic conditions for work of the Union's Coordinating Committee. Instead, they insist on replacing the existing and guaranteed social welfare with monthly compensation for every unemployed citizen, and the state is asked to provide stable social funds. The demand to have suspended Union activists regain their jobs has been replaced with a demand for defined relations between the Government and the Unions, based on a law on union organizing. The demand for free health services and education is also new. The Union assures that today's strike will be under strict control, without politics and with signs with controlled slogans. If so and if everything remains within the framework of the constitutional right to strike, everything will be all right. But, will the politically inexperienced independent union officials and the dissatisfied masses be able to ignore all the potential political provocation? Let us not forget that the Union said that the social part of their initiative ended yesterday, and the political part will come on the scene today. They will ask the administration to resign and will demand a new, transition government to act until new elections are held within 3 months. This is exactly where the opposition parties see their chance, since they promised to use every opportunity to bring down the current government. It seems that the Union's economic demands will be difficult to separate from the unavoidable political elements; the interests are just too intermingled. The opposition parties promised to provide large masses for the meeting and it is only logical to expect them to try and profit from the event, as they are deprived of the opportunity to publicly present their viewpoints through Parliament or Government. In addition, their agenda is to make it difficult for the current government to carry out its program and, if possible, overthrow the ruling administration.

    (end)

    mils-news 27 April '95

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