The referendum is not an election
Lejla Sabit
Singers sin less when they sing than when they speak. The party division among them, ie which singer was performing on which political party’s rally, and to which political party a certain singer belongs to, is irrelevant to the referendum because the voting of citizens is a historic act and can not be compared to elections.
When singers sing for political parties, they put their popularity on the worst stall and resemble mercenaries, not professionals. Artists, whether poets, writers, painters, sculptors, actors or musicians according to the world’s unwritten rules are always against violence, abuse of power and authority, against injustices and any kind of discrimination, restriction of freedom and creativity, against any violation of human rights. Freedom and equality among people are their greatest inspiration. Politics and money often degrade artists by abusing their name in power battles. Unfortunately, this partisation, whose sad consequences we see now as well, has strongly affected the art world, especially when the creators put themselves on the side of fake patriotism and were hired for money and privileges to do the work of politicians.
The referendum is something completely different. It is not an election, it is a decision for the future of the state. The vote for European Macedonia is not a vote for a political party. The referendum and democratization of Macedonia, the acceptance of European values is of great value for true artists and creators. If anything, they can consider their political commitments as their own private matter, as it is everywhere in the world. It is in their greatest interest to belong to an audience that does not worship them because of their political affiliation, but because of their work.
People do not love music and songs because of the political affiliation of the singer or composer. It was not by chance that lyric poems became the most patriotic in history. The referendum, in fact, is a good opportunity to bring professionals and popular musicians closer together than it does in other areas of art and science. The division among university professors is much more pronounced in the line of politics, and less in science. In particular, nobody leads a scientific debate on the exact sciences because there are different evidence there, political and populist talks do not apply. When today’s party scientists face such evidence, they immediately attack them using unreasonable insults, which are unseemly for such individuals. They are attacking the person, not what was written or said. They are silent about things when they are called to give interpretations. And often because of their nationalistic motives, academics and professors become ordinary political propagandists.
If science and scientific authorities are spent on party and political needs, due to the popularity of music and the high number of music fans, this category of artists becomes the most exposed to the pressures and influences of corruption by the political parties. The referendum on European Macedonia can help our Macedonian music stars end this abuse, once and for all. Those who sing, mean no evil.