People: Iskra Geshoska

I could never live without desires

Professional experience: My interests are broad, especially when it comes to a certain social blending. At the moment, my main determination is managing the Cultural Centre "Tocka" and its project Blending of margins, which is also the greatest effort of the civic association Kontrapunkt. Within these activities I am also working as a vice editor of the magazine "Margina". Besides that, my passion is the theatre, which I have been following for years and for which I have been writing critical reviews...

Engagement in the civic sector: For me, the formulation "civic sector" has a more complex meaning that the one offered by the legal regulation. So, I think that everyone can consider themselves anchored in their own engagement or effort for a civic initiative an individual move, not only as part of a civic association. And that is what I am trying to do (more or less successfully) all the time. However, Kontrapunkt has existed since 2001 and in these two and a half years, as it seems, we managed to raise many initiatives and promote a not so formal perspective in acting and changing the society. We are still waiting for the results of that effort. 

Hobbies and interests: Cooking is one of the most creative everyday activities. There I seem to be able to transcend my everyday routine. While I cook, I enter in some completely different levels of my sub-consciousness, a kind of escapism during which my texts and my future steps are born.

Ambitions: Difficult question, for my psychological structure formulates and models the wishes and desires differently...An psychoanalytic once said: "The desire has no real object in reality"...so now you see...however, I am trying to keep them non-frustrating and not so big...well, I want to go to China by train, by Trans-Siberian....

In her free time she reads: Theoretical literature, lately I have been reading authors from the second part of the 20th century, post-structuralists and those treating the cultural and gender critical perspectives and I still discover some good prose writers. 

Where does she go in her free time: It depends on my mood. Usually I walk through the city, I discover some new streets, or watch a film, or I look in one point trying to focus all my problematic thoughts and feelings.

At weekends: I stay mainly in Skopje, doing the above-mentioned activities. 

Which national/local problem does she find especially important and why: It is not one. But one of the major ones is the feeling of "my five minutes" of the people running the country. The lack of power for a long-term thinking, lack of awareness for individual and collective accountability. The personal interest and the self-promotion of our politicians (with some exceptions) are always placed above the country's interest. 

Which global problem does she find especially important and why: Also, it is more than one. Unfortunately, there are more and more problems than relaxing moments. And I find it the greatest problem of all: the illusion and dynamics of the progress, ideological, as well as political, technological, or economical...I find it paradoxically opposite to what has been really going on in the world. What concerns me the most is the "empty acceleration", as Paul Virilio says.

What would she change in Macedonia and the world: In Macedonia, among other things, I would work on "suffocating" the trend of belated national-romanticism with all ethnic groups. In my opinion, that is very dangerous for this small country, which should turn to solving other problems (crime and corruption, not having quality judicial system, education of a doubtful quality, frightening administration, petty bourgeois mentality, excommunication of the marginalized groups, gender (in)sensitivity,.....) As far as the world is concerned...I really don't know, it is too complicated...but I would like to change the trend of strengthening the fascist and totalitarian tendencies promoted by certain nations that find themselves dominant and privileged...

I could never:....live without desires...

Advice/message: Let's not give advice and get to work.