Political amoebae


Ilo Trajkovski

Amoebae are considered the simplest single-celled living organisms. On the other hand, it is said that there are everywhere. Despite all the changes that have taken place on planet Earth they have survived hundreds of millions of years. Persistently filling all the waters, all the organisms! The secret of their durability and omnipresence lies in the characteristics of their habitus. First, they are simple, they cannot be any simpler. Secondly, they are fluid. They adapt their appearance, their shape to the environment they are in. Thirdly, they are asexual. They reproduce without losing time on sexual foreplay and play. All these features of the amoeba arise from the teleology of their existence. If we accept that everything on this planet has a certain goal, a certain telos (hence teleology) – the purpose of the existence of amoebae is self-preservation. Nothing more and nothing less.
Some other creatures on planet Earth have other goals in life. For people, for instance, as a separate living organism, we believe that they have higher goals. For us, it’s not just about bare existence and keeping ourselves alive. Also, humans as living organisms are far more complex than amoebae. They take the top spot on the list of mammal genera. Humans, after they take human form, and before they deform, are two-legged creatures. And the third difference between amoebas and humans is that for humans, sex is not simply reproductive but also a self-poetic experience.
And yet the notion of the amoeba, above assigned by the three basic traits, is very often used to describe certain human characters. For this purpose, the word “amoeba” is used metaphorically. In the world of politics, for example, a Japanese policy connoisseur speaks of Japanese “amoeba politics”. An American analyst in the extreme polarization of the American political class recognizes the “amoeba syndrome” of division due to its self-preservation. One thinker of Australian political life develops “amoeba theory of Australian politics”. Even here, in a recent sharp polemic among two representatives of the Macedonian political and educational elite, the amoeba metaphor has found its place in our country.
The relevance of this idea of ​​understanding people’s behavior is back these days. Due to the occurrence of many circumstances, amoebic steps of prominent people from the world of politics, as well as the worlds most closely associated with it – academic, cultural, sports – have multiplied. We recognize them in various pro-SDSM or Pro-VMRO’s statements. It can also be from some other pro… party orientation. Basically, they are recognized by their spinelessness. Yes, it is true that this epithet is most often used by VMRO’s critique of SDSM for their “spinelessness and anti-Macedonianism”. But spinelessness, as a phenomenon, was nurtured by the previous government as well. Let’s recall the spinelessness criticism against the academics, for example, and others who “in the role of small children, were sitting in their chairs, and allowed… the party leader… so pompously promote his Master thesis in the temple of the white-haired wise men”.
There’s nothing strange in the fact that current and past authorities attract and feed political amoebae. This is nothing new. What is strange in recent years is their proliferation and self-promoting themselves as pro-SDSM. Regarding this phenomenon, the critical evaluation of one of the most prominent French intellectuals on the liberal right-wing, Raymond Aron, can be applied. Aron, in the preface to his book “The Opium of the Intellectuals”, says that his criticism is not directed at the Communists, but towards the pro-Communists, that is, those who take advantage of communism and the Communists. These are intellectuals who do not belong to the Communist Party, but publicly appear as sympathizers and supporters of the creation of that party, i.e. of the Soviet Union.
In our case, these are the ones who take advantage of the power. Depending on which party is in power, they declare themselves as undesignated party defenders of the creation called “partisan state”. At this point, they are the pro-SDSM. Everything that the functionaries of the given party power are doing is presented if not as absolutely good, then at least as better of the previous one. For them, any criticism of the current government is a criticism from the positions of the previous government. These intellectual amoebae are the fiercest apologists of the present one. So they reach the highest party organs, and from there they will only jump into some of the state positions.
The dispute is not here with the SDSM or with the VMRO people as lined party members. They, like all the consistent followers of a particular cause – whether it is political, religious, or simply conspiratorial – have a certain idea and implement it with specific actions. But, how can one fight with pro-SDSM. They, in the desire to prove themselves, become bigger popes than the Pope himself. This is an old problem for marginal people who join an emerging group or a group that has recently come to power. As marginals, in order to become and be accepted by the dominant group, they must take actions to convince the guards of the party gates that they are, and have always been, genuine party members. In demonstrating their loyalty they demonstrate energetic and convincing characteristic of people who suffer from a dissociative political identity disorder.
Today, for instance, they say that Mrs. Todevska should not be have been criticized and demand responsibility from for her omission in the performance of the national anthem, that it was timid to resign from the post of Deputy Minister of Education, that the Prime Minister acted correctly by protecting this or that publicly mocked party staff, that …
For such political amoebae, any reminder directed to the government that it has forgotten its goal due to which it come to power (to bring justice for all) is speculative idealism. Political amoebas are adapting to the situation and at the same time infect the organism in which they penetrate or have already deeply penetrated.

Views expressed in this article are personal views of the author and do not represent the editorial policy of Nezavisen Vesnik