Life after life

Zvonko Davidovic

I was born and still live in a small, wondrous country that we call the Republic of Macedonia, which some of our neighbors call the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. My country is on the European continent, but everyone calls us Balkanians. Part of the people living on this piece of land think that their origins are Slavic and belong to the group of Slavic peoples, while other part of the citizens think they are descendants of Alexander the Great.  Part of the people think the other part are traitors, while the latter part considers the former as foreign mercenaries. Everyone here considers the other to be something, but most often this thing turns out to be nothing, still everyone insults and curses everyone else.
In addition to the double name, we have double standards when it comes to laws, we have two prosecutors, two criminal codes. Many citizens also have two citizenships. In my country we have parties from the Macedonian national bloc and the Albanian national bloc. Macedonian parties are again the two largest ones that periodically exchange power.

In my country, we also have double lives, one which we lived before the second one came, the life for all.

In the life before life, which some call a regime, we lived in installments and loans, we lived with debts and loans. In that life before the pensions were low, and the unemployment was high, the people in debt and poor, the government rich and wasteful. Baroque was made out of cardboard, galleys were placed in an unnavigable river, palm trees were planted, and the lindens, the poplars and the birch trees were torn. Instead of greenery and grass, every inch of it was covered in concrete.
Jobs were given through political parties, and tenders were through family connections. The Parliament was working for the Government, and the MPs granted their wishes by raising their hands or pressing a button. Everyone was independent in their work and decision-making by order from the government and the party. The party and the government offered candidates for judges, and the panel of judges independently chose them by order from the ‘notebook’. In order not to forget the government, the president of the judicial council reminded the prime minister through the secretary which positions were vacant, for the government to propose candidates for judges whom they will choose. The most incompetent were in the highest positions in the judiciary, and the even less competent were elected to the sessions after coordination in the offices. Justice and law were equal for all ordinary people, but not for party members and business partners. They were some other rules. The detention was determined just as it was and redeemed, as they pleased, or as they ordered.

They could build and steal, and were held accountable and went to detention only if they were prosecuted by the Public Prosecution, while they went to business trips or on vacations in Greece , if they were prosecuted by the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

The ACMIS made manual-automatic distribution of court cases, upon request and order by the presidents of the Primary Court in Skopje and the highest Supreme Court, and due to this success, the Judicial Council rewarded the presidents for good manipulation with an ACMIS application.

And then the ‘bombs’ went off and the truth hit us with all its vigor, which was pleasurable to some, and very uncomfortable to others, of course. The Colorful Revolution came and went, and the regime went with it, and so came life after that previous life.

In the life after life, the so-called life for all, we continued to live in installments and loans, with debts and borrowings. Pensions remain low and unemployment is high, the people are in debt and poor, but now, in this life, the government is also poor and the state is in debt. There is nothing more to be built because there is no money, the one who spent the previous spent life, the galleys were left on dry land, and the palm trees dried up.

Employment is still through political parties, the Parliament is extended to the Government, and MPs, by raising their hands or pressing the button, grant their wishes. Everyone is independent in their work and decision-making, but this time, clientelist and subordinate in order to flirt with the government and to preserve their undeserved place given by the previous life. . The same ‘sunflowers’ sit in the same councils and are now pretending as if they never heard, saw or even knew anything. Sycophantic and submissive, as their characters, they are now courting the new government to forget both them and their illegal acts. The most incompetent are still in the highest ranks of the judiciary, and those who are even less competent continue to be elected at the sessions after coordination in the offices. Justice and law are equal for all ordinary people, but not for those who are party members and business partners of the previous life – inclusiveness, what can you do. The detention is determined just as it is and is administered by law, as they please and they go to detention only if they are prosecuted by the public prosecutor, and not if it’s done by the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

For the ACMIS, the facts were established and the evidence was collected, but not the perpetrators, no one in this life has been held accountable for their acts in the previous life.

I have to admit that life has indeed come for all, especially for criminals and the most responsible for the previous life and regime. They do not have one hair missing from their heads, nor a denar from their stolen money.