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EDITORIAL
As a continuation of the spirit of disturbed relations between some media and some NGO, several questions emerged immediately after the elections. Where are the NGO now? Have all the problems been solved at once? Will the corruption disappear as the old government leaves?
The fastest and the most appropriate dement are the activities of the coalition “Macedonia without Corruption” and the second NGO Fair – forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia.
The coalition “Macedonia without Corruption” has agreed several urgent steps: they offered cooperation to the new government in the elimination of corruption, it they asked for an on-time election of a National Anti-corruption Commission and involvement of NGO representatives in the Commission, and they expressed to do the monitoring at the elections and the appointment of functionaries. Apart from the media activities, Coalition representatives have had separate meetings with the President of the Parliament Mr. Nikola Popovski, with political representatives of the new coalition partners and the ambassadors of from several countries.
The second NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia, took place from 92 October to 1 November. In an air of partnership, the main organizers are four organizations: MCIC, OSIMF, ISC and CRS. Besides them, fourteen other organizations organized their panels and meetings. Participants were the leading civic activists and experts. There were also many respectable politicians, intermediaries, journalists, and, of course, a lot of citizens. About 200 organizations participated in the exhibition part. Visitors were citizens from all profiles.
All the energy and will that was mobilized encouraged several participants and organizers to assess this event a success.
The event itself is a success, too. Its openness, criticism and possibility to discuss questions of great importance present a success. All discussions were open, without limits. It enabled the presentation of not only the mainstreams, but the opposed, as well. Great criticism and self-criticism was expressed. Important issues were discussed and alternatives to the leading political trends were offered.
However, in accordance with my attitudes regarding results, we should not appreciate only the success on organizational level, but the success in terms of changes and influence that should be assessed at the next, i.e. the third NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia. In the meantime, we need to find alternatives to turn the agreements into action that will result in the changes we want.
These activities, as well as the NGO election activities, raised their profile.
We are here. We need to act further.
There is a hidden danger here, called unreal expectations. There are a lot of problems. Most of them take time and handling with the reasons, not consequences. Most of these problems are responsibilities of the other actors. Therefore we should encourage mutual partnerships and partnerships with the state and the private sector. Only together we can make it.
Saso Klekoski
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