Gruevski’s Self-Glorification Rally in Skopje: Success or Desperation?

In a mass-gathering that was meant to display unity of the very leadership that was object of ridicule of the public due to the leaked recording of their obscene gossip of each other, mostly blackmailed members of public administration, loyal VMRO-DPMNE fanatics and people otherwise dependent on public funds started a convention lead by FYROM PM Nikola Gruevski, in “Boris Trajkovski” conference hall in Skopje. It started with enthusiastic reporting by most TV stations (all of which are benefited by government finances) and an introduction by Toni Mihajlovski, actor who ridiculed the mass-surveillance scandal with shallow means, primarily by using Strumica (place of origin of opposition leader Zoran Zaev) dialect. The “fans” of Gruevski carried irredentist maps and banners, Sun of Vergina flags (scenes of which were carefully removed by TV broadcasters by blurring, due to understanding of implications of their presence) as well as the flag of FYROM and standard black-and-red party flags (in one case, a Croatian “Ustaša” flag, referencing Croatian Fascist cooperation with historic VMRO in 1930’s and 1940’s).
The first official speaker was Johan Trčulovski, convicted war criminal by Hague Tribunal who is widely regarded as a hero and “defender (branitel) of the ‘Macedonian’ nation”. Trčulovski ended his short speech with „may long live United Macedonia“ („da živee Obedineta Makedonija“), referencing the ideals of FYROM expansionism. This phrase and the forced usage of otherwise culturally atypical phrase “brothers and sisters” and putting exclusive emphasis on unity of the “makedonski” nation (regardless of the fact that this was certainly demeaning to many present Roma people who were ordered to show up on the rally) may be considered as a deviation into uncompromising extremism.

Ljubiša Georgievski, theatrical director and a prominent member of VMRO since its inception in 1990 (otherwise, a declared Vlach/Aromanian) mentioned cynically, in effect, that “Zaev wants to kill the ‘Macedonian people’ with bombs and that if his bombs were really powerful, one would be sufficient, not ten of them”. After him Gruevski took the platform, stating that “there shall be no elections, but that there shall be a serious response [towards opposition SDSM party]”, adding that the chief power of VMRO-DPMNE is the “people”, alluding to the fulfilled capacity of the conference hall as evidence of popular support for his political party.

The main motif of Gruevski speech was, nevertheless, a defensive one. He emphasized that his government is legitimate through reforms, attracting foreign investments as well as building infrastructure, while the opposition is, according to him, involved in destructive scenarios in favors of foreign centers of power, without offering a concrete political platform for socio-economical progress, without vision for the future. The entire speech of Gruevski had a quality of narration exclusively focused on economic “facts and numbers”, in the best tradition of communist rhetorics. The main theme was that “the people shall know to recognize “achievers” versus “traitors and opportunists”. The highly sophisticated TV broadcasting (it should be noted that no TV station has broadcasted Zoran Zaev’s press conference) had cinematographic quality reminiscent of the coverage of Nurnberg Rally: a close up on the “Leader” and wide-angle shots of approving people saluting him with words and gestures.