MACEDONIA

To the Macedonian and international public

As citizens of the Republic of Macedonia and as intellectuals we are employing the only means available to us with the sole purpose to contribute to stop the violence in our country. We appear before the domestic and international public with the knowledge, consciousness and good will we can offer, deeply convinced that our proclamation will find its way to all those who are responsible for preserving peace in the Balkans: citizens, political actors, civil society, our neighbours and the international community.

1. The threats Macedonia faces today go beyond its independence and territorial integrity; they severely jeopardize all universal values that Macedonia patiently and persistently tried to achieve and implement during the last ten years.

2. In today's Macedonia we must defend the right to live in peace and human dignity in the family of the Balkan and European nations and states.

3. Macedonia, which used to be known as an 'oasis of peace' in the Balkans, has served as a bright example and exception from the 'rule' that dominated in the other war-torn societies in the territory of former Yugoslavia. One must not forget the fact that it was Macedonia who served as a paradigm for successful conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Many still see Macedonia as the last hope for multiethnic coexistence, therefore deserving every efforts to make it so remain.

4. We strongly condemn the militant and irresponsible behaviour of some groups of extremists that create a big risk of implosion of the Macedonian society and put the Albanian population in the country in a shameful light.

5. We appeal to intellectuals and peace-minded people of any ethnic origin to resist all attempts at involving our common country in intra-state conflict or even wider Balkan war scenarios.

6. We plead to the international media and the wider international public to help us affirm and promote the positive values Macedonian society has achieved during the past decade, however modest tregardless how modest they may look from the Western perspective. Macedonian citizens and institutions with strong support and investments from the international community have been working on a painful but rewarding process of democratic transition and the creation of inter-ethnic modus vivendi. Irresponsible and unprofessional reporting on Macedonia can only fuel the conflict. We need a peace-promoting journalism emphasizing the values already incorporated in Macedonian society and pointing at paths to develop them further, for what peace is more than crucial: it is the only possible framework.

7. We support our constitutional institutions as the only mechanism of resolving conflicts in a peaceful way. We must also remind domestic and international decision makers of their grave historical responsibility before future generations.

8. We invite all our foreign colleagues and friends, who have been our dear guests or hosts, to help us in these difficult times with their public engagement in their own countries. We appeal to them to show their solidarity with our country and people, who now need them the most. Our appeal is in particular directed to all the researchers on peace and conflicts who made books, studies and projects on Macedonia's peace story during the past decade. Their creed is now jeopardized, as are our lives and future. Therefore we invite them to visit us NOW and HERE and help us overcome these horrible times in the oasis of peace.

FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF SKOPJE
MACEDONIA

Skopje, 21 March 2001