In Northern Macedonia, the anger of youth in the face of murderous corruption – Liberation

Kocani hopes to obtain justice, in silence. Behind a half -ruined cereal factory, workers and a excavator are busy at the end of the martyred city cemetery, and its 30,000 traumatized inhabitants. On Sunday, March 16, around 3 a.m., pyrotechnic devices are used during a hip-hop concert in this city of Macedonia located 100 km east of Skopje. The ceiling of the « Pulse » disco instantly bares. The results are dramatic: 60 deaths (including the driver of an ambulance by heart attack) and more than 180 injured, the vast majority of young people aged 15 to 25.

Nearly thirty graves have been dug in a hurry, covered with plastic flowers. The juvenile and smiling faces of the victims contrast with the tears and despair of loved ones, frozen in pain. « My niece died in the fire, my brother has not yet announced it to his son, Saute Dragan, a 59 -year -old delivery man, returned from his Australian emigration to support his family. This disaster, It’s 100 % because of corruption. For years, no one worried about the security conditions in this nightclub. And they need evidence to stop people? But look here: 59 proofs …  » The nightclub actually operated at double its official capacity with a falsified license, in a building without adequate security standards.

In the aftermath of the disaster, young people from the city, exasperated, destroyed a coffee belonging to the owner. An explosion of cathartic anger that Venko Krstveski understands. At 32, the only independent elected representative of the municipal council survived the flames. Still in shock, he denounces the illegal constructions and the clientelist system of the two majority parties which have dominated the North Macedonia for more than thirty years: the VMRO-DPMNE, of a populist right, and the SDSM, of center-left. “These parties are cancer for our society. Their politicization of all institutions causes these disasters. It takes a change to breathe better moral values. ” Behind him, blue death opinions have been fixed on all the trees border the river. Here, everyone has lost a loved one, a friend, and knows someone treated in a hospital abroad.

The death by asphyxiation of these dozens of young people also traumatized the 1.8 million Macedonians. After seven days of mourning and gatherings held in silence in all the cities of the country, thousands of people let their anger burst on Monday, March 24, in a evening watered by spring showers. « Assassins », « Justice for the victims », The cries of rage then fused before the Parliament and the imposing government marble palace. In their viewfinder: a political elite held responsible for one of the worst disasters in the history of the small country of the Balkans.

Tears and tight teeth, the emotion is palpable in the crowd that manifests along the boulevards of the capital. But exasperation prevails. « If they don’t want to be killed in turn, people have to wake up, » Lances Kristina, 21, a sign in memory of the victims in hand. As long as justice does not exist in this country, we must continue to protest. ” As The accident at Novi Sad station in neighboring SerbiaKocani’s fire has become a symbol of the murderous corruption that eats away at society.

Faced with the first accusations, the authorities displayed their responsiveness and their determination. A former minister, two former councilors and the current mayor of Kocani, a vigil, as is the owner of the box …, dozens of people were quickly placed in pre -trial detention. Not enough to calm a youth who can no longer go from the passers and the impunity from which relatives of power, local or national. « Unfortunately, we undergo a system which, because of corruption and the lack of responsibility, causes the death of many people, Accuses Nenad, a 34 -year -old computer teacher. If the laws had been respected and if everyone was doing their job, these people would not be deceased. ”

« Dead of corruption »: The first details of the current survey seem to prove right to the collective signs « Who’s tour? ». Trained on social networks, this citizen initiative demands the publication of the complete documentation concerning the nightclub, as well as the criminal and political responsibility of all the institutions involved. « This nightclub had been closed by the public inspection, but, as if by magic, it reopened, denounces, trembling lips, Marija Arsenkova, one of the organizers of the demonstration. We know why: to make a profit on the back of young innocent people who just wanted to have fun. ” Of the same age as the victims, the crowd conspires official buildings.

If the Macedonian Gen Z expresses its rage in broad daylight, it is because the tragedy of Kocani is part of a suite of deadly accidents on which hovers the shadow of the Bakchichs of Corruption: 14 dead in the fire of Tetovo hospital in 2021, 45 in a bus accident in November of the same year … In early February, demonstrations had already agitated the country after the death of a girl, The already condemned son of an army officer. Each time, the incur of the judicial system arouses indignation and exasperation. « This time, we decided to change our slogan » Who’s tour?  » in “the system is next”, continues Marija Arsenkova, dressed in a yellow vest, like the students of Serbia that has been demonstrating since November against corruption. We are tired of undergoing it: this is the system that must be the next victim! ”

While anti-corruption mobilizations shave power in neighboring Serbia and Greece, the nationalist right-wing government fears contagion, and it accuses the opposition of instrumentalizing tragedy. Local elections are planned in the fall, and the memory of the «  »Color Revolution  » From 2016, which already denounced the corrupt regime of ex-president Gjorge Ivanov, haunts the oldest of the demonstrators. But this cynical political game, made up of fake news And intimidation, is rejected by youth who no longer wants to see emigration as the only salvation board and claims justice. « Corruption kills Macedonia, Summarizes Stoyan Raskov, 36, responsible for a local NGO in Kocani. Older generations are afraid and do not know what to do. But the new generation will not show any leniency: we will fight against this corruption and start to change this country. ”