Homophobia in the Contemporary Public Discourse in Macedonia: Constructing homosexuality as national Other

HOMOPHOBIA IN THE CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC DISCOURSE IN

MACEDONIA: Constructing homosexuality as national Other

Misha Popovikj 2010

Abstract:

In the spring of 2010, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia proposed an anti-discrimination law which excluded sexual orientation as a basis of discrimination. This essay takes this starting point and aims to provide an answer why the Macedonian case became the regional exception, as other countries adopted laws which included such provisions. The analysis is focused on the contemporary national (re)imagination and explores the discursive practices which narrate homosexuality as the national Other. The essay shows how Macedonian ethno-national identity is rigidly produced along patriarchal gender and sexual order. Its attempt to create a coherent narrative of the ethno-national identity effectively excludes homosexuals outside of the community. This is done so, because homosexuality is seen as a destabilising factor. In Macedonia, this is paired with a perceived external threat by the implied ethnic Other – the Albanians and the liberalising 'colonialism' of Europe. The discursive pairing with potential threats to the ethnicity, maintains the hierarchical order of the society in which the nationalists remain as a dominant force since ethnicity is the basis of political legitimacy.

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Introduction

In the spring of 2010, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia voted a legislation

aiming to protect and counteract discrimination as a social practice. This law, among

other things, was a result of the need to harmonise the local legal system with that of the

European Union, as Macedonia is a candidate state. One of the controversies of the law is

that the final version excluded the explicit section on sexual orientation as a basis of

discrimination. To add up to the controversy, such provision existed in previous drafts of

the proposal, and the government apparently edited out these sections not long before

the proposal was submitted to the Assembly.

All similar laws in other countries of the region have included such provision. In this

respect, Macedonia, at least until the writing of this text, is the only country that

managed to exclude the otherwise usual inclusion of sexual orientation in such laws,

under the influence of the idea about European values, EU conditionality to the candidate

states as well as the European human rights legislative. To put this into context, there

were several internal and external pressures against doing this. Within the domestic

political sphere, the matter was made controversial within the media sphere and

advocated by parts of the civil sector that demanded the inclusion of sexual orientation in

the law. On the other hand, perhaps more interestingly, there was an external pressure

by the European Union against doing this; both implicitly by the understanding that a

candidate country should make its laws in accordance to the common legislation of the

EU, and by explicit reaction by foreign diplomats, that sexual orientation should be

explicitly present in the legislation. In this respect, according to news reports, the

European commissioner for enlargement, Stefan Fule, sent a letter to the Macedonian

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Prime Minister in which the European Commission specifically asks that the law should

be in accordance with its directives that include sexual orientation.1

Taking this as a starting point, the essay examines why this has happened. It will show

that the traditionalist representations of the homosexuals outside of the national body are

particularly salient in the Macedonian context of nation building. As it will be shown, the

human rights debate became a casualty of an intensified process of national re-imagining.

The strive to reassert a national imaginary for and of the common Macedonian, to

underline the preferred heterosexual gender order, promote the faith, family and

tradition as the basis for a valuable life are the main points of such processes. In this

context, policies and representational strategies mainly by institutions such as the political

parties and the Orthodox Church coincided with the debate about the discrimination on

the grounds of sexual orientation. These constructed the homosexual outside of the

symbolic boundaries of the ethno-national community therefore denying its protection.

The focus of this research has been the discourse happening particularly within the

Macedonian ethnic community. Macedonia is a multi-ethnic society in the Balkans

consisting of Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Roma, Serbs and so on. Until 2001,

according to the Constitution, it was defined as a national state of the Macedonians. After

a short conflict in 2001 between the authorities and ethnic Albanian insurgents, a peace

treaty was signed resulting in a redefinition of the state as the other ethnic communities

became constitutive. This gives a multi-ethnic character to the state itself with an assured

coalition government between a Macedonian and Albanian party.2 The reason for

1 Tanja Milevska, ‘Ekskluzivno A1 go objavuva pismoto od File do Vladata (A1 exclusively publishes the

letter from Fule to the Government)’, A1 Vesti (A1, 2010) <http://a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=122085> [accessed 15 April 2010].

2 Such practice of coalition governments between Macedonian and Albanian parties was present before the conflict.

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focusing solely on the Macedonian bloc is that I am interested how the processes of

(re)constructing ethno-national identity of the Macedonians affected the representation

of homosexuality. What makes the Macedonian community interesting for this research

is that it was subjected to an intensified identity politics in the last period. The aim of this

research then is to show how this became the reason for an emphasised exclusionary

representation of homosexuality within such national context.

Approaching the problem

For the purposes of this essay, ethnicity and nation in terms of Macedonian ethnicity and

nation will be used as synonyms. The justification for this is that aside in the very narrow

interpretation of citizenship, the notion of Macedonian does not have any transcending

civic national meaning.

The theoretical starting point for the analysis that follows goes along the lines of social

constructivism. This broad approach is based on the preposition that there is no essence

in social phenomena, as they are constructs of the social life itself. In terms of this essay,

the ideas of ethnicity, nation and sexuality will be taken as such constructs.

In terms of nations and nationalism, this essay takes in consideration the notion outlined

by Benedict Anderson, that nations are imagined communities. He puts nations as modern

phenomena, born in the age of Enlightenment when 'nations dream of being free [… and

the...] emblem of this freedom is the sovereign state.'3 This concept of a sovereign state is

important for my approach as, although the Republic of Macedonia is independent state,

the actual subject of this research is threaded with the problem of sovereignty. As it will

3 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 2006th edn (London; New York: Verso, 1983), p. 7.

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be shown later, part of the controversy deals with representing governmental policies

and stances as part of the sovereign right to govern on popular (or in this case – national)

demand. Another feature of a nation is its limits and the presence of borders with other

nations.4 However, perhaps the two most important features of a nation are the

imagination itself, as the 'communion' of fellows5 and the very idea of a community as it

'is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship.'6 These provide the base for

maintaining an interest in close reading of the ways in which the Macedonian ethno-

national community is being imagined as narrated.

However, although Anderson leaves a hint that they are being 'flattened' in the field of

the imaginary, I hope to go beyond this. In this sense, I adopt Brubaker's criticism of the

constructivist scholarship, which, despite its successfulness in explaining the origin of

nations and nationalism, frequently assumes the existence of other groups such as, for

instance, ethnicities.7 In this essay, therefore, there will be an attempt to approach the

ideas of nation, ethnicity, and to a smaller extent the homosexual community as a 'field of

differentiated and competitive positions or stances adopted by different organisations,

parties, movements, or individual political entrepreneurs, [...] each seeking to monopolize

the legitimate representation of the group.'8 This puts forward the notion of

representation of the group, rather than the group itself as the subject of analysis. It

therefore permits the understanding of an implied incoherence in the fields of

representation of ethnic and national identity and the need and strategies of different

4 Anderson, p. 7. 5 Anderson, p. 6. 6 Anderson, p. 7. 7 Rogers Brubaker, Ethnicity Without Groups (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2006). 8 Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 61. To be fair, here Brubaker discusses about national minorities, however, he bases his argument around the work of Pierre Bourdieu who writes in a general manner about groups and group activity. Brubaker takes a more general approach in his work titled Ethnicity without groups.

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actors to assert themselves and bring 'order'. Going back to the initial vocabulary of

Benedict Anderson, there might be a diverse set of imaginations about the community

and the (mainly) political struggle between actors is about who will assume a more

dominant position in narrating such imaginary. Or, as Brubaker suggests, 'ethnicity, race

and nationhood are fundamentally ways of perceiving, interpreting, and representing the

social world.'9

Such approach is useful in outlining two topics. The first one is the notion of non-

uniform perception of Macedonian identity. In the case of homosexuality in Macedonia,

this approach also underlies the necessity to adopt relativistic stance over their supposed

groupness. From the one hand, as it will be shown, the representation of the gay

community in Macedonia has tended to apply the perspective of monolithic group. This,

facilitates hostile representational strategies of the homosexual while hiding the diversity

of the homosexual population when one takes in consideration the other acted

identifications of the individuals. It is therefore important to apply the same analytical

tool-kit when assuming the population to be a community. However, as the focus of the

research is the representations and categories that are ascribed to homosexuals by others,

in this case the nationalists, it would be relatively safe to assume a certain sense of

groupness.

Taking that the central point of analysis should be the national(ist) rhetoric, the approach

towards the material is that of post-structuralist discourse theory which analyses 'the

more or less sedimented rules and meanings' of identity.10 It analyses the 'language

9 Brubaker, p. 17. 10 Jacob Torfing, ‘The Linguistic Turn: Foucault, Laclau, Mouffe and Zizek’, in The Handbook of Political

Sociology : States, Civil Societies, and Globalization, ed. by Thomas Janoski and others (New York: Cambridge, 2005), p. 2.

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games' that structure identity.11 In this sense, it sees identity as constructed within

various discourses.12 This way, the essay will examine how the nationalist discourse

constitutes the national identity of the Macedonians. It will focus especially on how

certain images and meanings become embedded in the narrative of the national identity,

while others, through the exercise of power become excluded.13 This process of exclusion

helps constitute the relationship between the Self and Other as it 'stabilises [their]

meanings'14. Having this in mind, the relation between representing national identity and

homosexuals will be examined from the standpoint of the need to construct a coherent

narrative. Central to the process of analysis of discourse are the relations of difference

and equivalence. This strategy of grouping different identities or emphasising their

difference plays a role in the construction of identity.15 In such a way, it will be shown

how homosexuality is emphasised as different to national identity, while at the same time

it is paired with other categories such as perversion or internal enemy in order to

emphasise that difference.

The research was conducted analysing the discourse and national narratives employed

while debating homosexuality and sexual orientation in Macedonia in general. It has

specifically taken in consideration the debate revolving around the controversy over the

anti-discrimination legislation. The analysis is conducted over various written material

such as political party doctrines and manifestos, media debate, newspaper articles and

opinions as well as official parliamentary discussion. It takes into consideration three

levels of debate: a highly official communication acted out in the Parliament or

11 Torfing, p. 2. 12 Torfing, p. 3. 13 Torfing, pp. 3-4; Richard Mole, ‘Sexuality and Nationality: Homophobic Discourse and the "National

Threat" in Contemporary Latvia’ (London, 2010), p. 11 <http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/SexualityNationality.pdf> [accessed 1 August 2010].

14 Mole, p. 11. 15 Torfing, p. 16.

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institutional policies; a somewhat semi-official debate taken by various officials, members

of parliament or opinion makers; and lastly an informal debate mediated mainly in the

media, particularly on the Internet, such as blogs, internet forums or social networks.

Voting out sexual orientation

On 8th of April 2010, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia passed a legislation

aiming to combat and protect against various forms of discrimination.16 It had, however,

passed a version of the law that did not feature protection against discrimination on the

grounds of sexual orientation. This version was submitted by the Government led by the

conservative ethnic Macedonian party IMRO-DPMNU17 which edited out the provisions

of sexual orientation in the proposed draft. The main party in opposition, the Social

Democratic Union18 left the vote out of protest since it regarded the law as steering the

country away of its European integration. Amongst other reasons for that, according to

that party, was the exclusion of the provision on sexual orientation. However, the

argument for such a reaction was solely based on the needs to accommodate to the

policies and practices of the countries part of the European Union.19

The main reason that the governing party expressed in their explanation is that the

notion of ‘other forms of discrimination’ keeps an open space for any claims on grounds

16 Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Session 100 of Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia (Skopje,

2010). 17 Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity

(Vnatreshna Makedonska Revolucionerna Organizacija – Demokratska Partija za Makedonsko

Nacionalno Edinstvo)

18 Socijal-demokratski sojuz na Makedonija (SDSM)

19 Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia.

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of sexual orientation.20 It has, however, in numerous occasions claimed that excluding

sexual orientation is in line with their demo-Christian background which seeks to

preserve the traditional outlook of the Macedonian society. This claim is a result of not

only the voter structure and the need to represent them, but, as it will be shown, an effort

to represent the party as the legitimate representative of the national community.

The significant majority of the population holds conservative and intolerant attitude

towards homosexuals. As a study in 2009 shows, 91,6 percent of the population does not

approve of homosexuals.21 This high percent is reflected in both major voting blocks of

Macedonians and Albanians. Therefore, it becomes obvious that one might build a usable

basis of criticism during elections. As the practice shows, one earlier draft of the anti-

discrimination law, in 2005 when SDUM was on power, was withdrawn as the party

expected that it would be used against them in the forthcoming elections in 2006.22 In

2009, 88 percent of SDUM voters did not approve of homosexuality.23 This clearly shows

that no party, especially the larger ones, would be immune to attacks that might swing

away voters on accusation about supporting homosexuals. Similarly, for IMRO-DPMNU,

a support for sexual orientation in the forthcoming law against discrimination would have

meant a similar risk as 95.2 percent of their supporters do not approve of

homosexuality.24 Additionally, 97 percent of the rural population holds this opinion, a

target group regarded as traditional voter basis for the party.25

20 Goce Mihajlovski, ‘Gruevski Firm About the Law for Anti-Discrimination (Gruevski Na Svoeto Za

Zakonot Za Antidiskriminacija)’ <http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=122139> [accessed 24 April 2010].

21 Sasho Klekovski, Relation Towards Traditional/Secular Values (Skopje: MCMS, 2009), p. 6 <http://mcms.org.mk/en/component/content/article/634-odnosot-kon-tradicionalnite-sekularnite-vrednosti.html> [accessed 8 January 2010].

22 ‘A2 Debata’, A2 Debata (Debate on A2) (A2 Televizia, 2010). This conclusion is based on statements by Zarko Trajanoski (activist) and Ljiljana Popovska (member of the Assembly) – both of them involved with the preparation of the 2005 draft. The support was supposedly withdrawn from all the major parties, both in government and opposition. Statements given on a television debate.

23 Klekovski, p. 8. 24 Klekovski, p. 8. 25 Klekovski, p. 7.

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During the 1990s, as a post-socialist country,26 Macedonia went through a process of

social transformation and nationalist revival. This social transformation, from one system

to another, brought, as other scholars argue, ‘adoption of traditional conservative values’

as a way of dealing with the changes.27 This, according to Dioli gained ‘particular

intensity in the sphere of family and gender relations, with re-patriarchalisation of social

structures’.28 Series of studies have shown that the Macedonian society is increasingly

becoming traditionalist.29

This makeup was used by IMRO-DPMNU in order to put forward their ideas on how to

shape society. In 2006, they won the parliamentary elections with a significant victory

over SDUM. Their victory came after a few years of reforms in the party under which, it

was transformed from a nationalist party, dedicated in, as its name says - the national

unity of Macedonians, to a conservative party built on the likes of the European Peoples

Party. In this sense, the party broadened its scope of ideological interests, constructing

positions, approaches and policies on a wide variety of issues. Their Doctrine30 is a

document that represents a basis for developing their approach in general, and puts the

idea of the nation (in a narrow sense) along other ideas such as tradition, family, rule of

law and economy which are designated as values in the text. This emphasis on values

threads their policies, especially those aimed at identity politics.

'Normalisation'

26 Part of the former Yugoslavia.

27 Irene Dioli, ‘Back to a Nostalgic Future: The Queeroslav Utopia’, Sextures, 1 (2009), p. 4. 28 Dioli, p. 4. 29 Klekovski, p. 9. 30 VMRO-DPMNE, ‘Doktrina Na VMRO-DPMNE (Doctrine of IMRO-DPMNU)’, 2007.

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Prior to 2006, the narratives of the national identity of Macedonians did not suffer

tremendous reconstructions during the immediate period of transformation from the

socialist system. Apart from redefining the state as an independent nation-state based on

the ethnic principle, the national narrative did not steer specifically away from the

outlines set out during socialism. This reflected the socialist foundations of the nation-

building process. As the national historiography was established during that period,31 the

narrative was made coherent to many socialist principles. In this way tradition

increasingly became framed as backwardness as the socialist regime positioned itself as a

modernising force. Additionally, along the way of such modernisation, a secular public

life was promoted in the national narrative and in the domains of the family, the

increasing access of women to education reshaped its form and size. This narrative,

however, was not coherent to the social relations and attitudes as they (as said

previously) remained relatively traditional. Therefore, along their conservative position,

IMRO-DPMNU became determined to bring coherence in the narrative of the national

identity by implementing various projects and campaigns that emphasised traditional

values. In this way, by co-opting the values by representing themselves as protectors of

tradition, the party might harness the 'symbolic capital' that these values bring.32 By

doing this, going back to the initial approach this text takes on groups, IMRO-DPMNU

acquires a dominant position in the network of relations that determines ethno-national

identity.

Three manifestations of this politics of identity seem relevant for the topic of this work.

The first is the emphasis on the family and the importance the Government has put on

promoting family values. One of the projects conducted by the government of IMRO-

31 The state historiographical institutions, the codification of the language and the establishment of the

Macedonian Orthodox Church happened during socialism.

32 Pierre Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice, Reprinted. (Stanford Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1990).

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DPMNU was promoting the practice of having large families as part of the Macedonian

tradition.33 The importance of family in societies that undergo transformation from

socialism has been previously studied. The security of the private domain and the

romanticised vision of family life in the nationalistic narrative, have put weight on the

importance of family life.34 As ethnic nationalist imaginaries depend on patriarchal

concepts of families, they entrench traditional concepts as national normative.

In another segment, the Government of IMRO-DPMNU attempted to implement religious

studies in the state education.35 This attempt was justified on the grounds that children

should learn about the importance of religion. This effort was largely supported by the

Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Islamic Community as they saw potential to

increase their authority within the respective communities. This attempt was a result of

an already increasing authority of these institutions. The importance of studying about

orthodox Christianity was considered to be very important to understanding the national

identity itself.36

Emphasizing traditional family and Christianity as, perhaps, crucial determinants of

identity, creates a very specific conditions where gender and sexuality are determined by

conservative values. In this respect, heterosexuality becomes a very important norm in

evaluating membership in the group. At the same time, by confusing the gender and

33 The Government of the Republic of Macedonia, ‘The Government Prepares as Strategy to Stimulate

Increase of Newborn Children (Vladata Podgotvuva Strategiya so Stimulativni Merki Za Porast Na Novorodenite Deca)’, 2007 <http://www.vmro-dpmne.org.mk/mk/zapis.asp?id=2517> [accessed 1 September 2010].

34 Susan Gal and Gail Kligman, The Politics of Gender After Socialism (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000); Richard Mole, ‘Sexuality and Nationality: Homophobic Discourse and the "National Threat" in Contemporary Latvia’ (London, 2010) <http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/SexualityNationality.pdf> [accessed 1 August 2010].

35 Olivera Vojnovska, ‘The Government Introduces Religious Studies Together with Nine Year Elementary System (Vladata Ja Vmetna Veronaukata Vo Paket so Devetoletkata)’, Utrinski Vesnik, 12 April 2007, 2356 edition <http://www.utrinski.com.mk/?ItemID=936F881081198A42BD7E7EE76340EC10> [accessed 1 September 2010].

36 This is visible, for instance, in the Doctrine of IMRO-DPMNU

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sexual order, homosexuality is considered as bringing instability to the national

identity.37

This implied instability becomes enhanced in the identity politics. Thus, homosexuals are

easily constructed as a serious destabilising factor to the nation, whose identity is already

under threat. Stychin notices that even in Quebec, where the national identity is

constructed as open to homosexual identity, in times of crisis, it becomes homophobic.38

In the case of Macedonia, as the new nationalist narrative claims, it was weakened by the

period of socialism, which becomes the period of discontinuity. On the other hand, the

dispute with Greece over the name issue39 became a crucial identity question.

Domestically, preserving the national identity became equated with preserving the name

‘Macedonia’. This discursively framed external threats not only in the image of Greece,

but in other foreign complexes, such as the European Union or NATO, who urge for

compromise.40

As it will be shown bellow, homosexuals are constructed as threats along these lines.

They are represented as threatening to undermine the foundations of the national

identity as insiders as well as outsiders. The following analysis will first outline the

discursive construction of the national representation of the Self. It will then follow with

explaining the processes of exclusion – representing homosexuals as not only different

37 Sasho A Lambevski, ‘Suck My Nation - Masculinity, Ethnicity and the Politics of (Homo)sex’,

Sexualities, 2 (1999), 397-419; Mole; George L. Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality (New York: Howard Fertig, 1985).

38 Carl Stychin, ‘Queer Nations: Nationalism, Sexuality and the Discourse of Rights in Quebec’, Feminist Legal Studies, 5 (1997), 3-34 <doi:10.1007/BF02684854>.

39 The Republic of Greece disputes the usage of the name Macedonia as it claims it implies territorial

claims over its region called Macedonia.

40 BBC News, ‘Greece Rejects Macedonia Nato Bid’, 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7280723.stm> [accessed 1 September 2010].

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than what is considered to be Macedonian, but essentially – its opposition. This way,

they discursively become the Other.

The Real Macedonians

The Doctrine of IMRO-DPMNU employs the idea of the real Man in order to assert an

understanding of the common, average Macedonian, thus contributing to the

construction of the way the community is being imagined. The real Man, as they claim, is

the person they are speaking to. In this section I will concentrate mostly on this document

as it seems to be part of the reproduction of the new dominant national narrative as well

as a starting point for the development of policies, campaigns and projects that I will

analyse towards the end of the section.

'The Man we are speaking to is a real Man, who wants a dignified life for oneself,

one's family, and one's country, as well as conditions in which one can work,

create and breathe openly.'41

This clearly underlies that the 'pillars' of the Macedonian identity seem to be 'faith,

family, tradition and ownership (property).'42 These foundations become a tool-kit of

social life, a necessary perspective, stance or a repository of experience and knowledge.

But, perhaps most importantly, these 'pillars' are supposed to direct the Macedonians in

times of change.

41 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 4. 42 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 5.

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'Therefore we concentrate on values connected with the real Man: personal and

national freedom, religiousness […], the family as a foundation of society and

tradition, which gives orientation to the real Man facing the challenges of

transition and globalisation.' 43

This excerpt outlines the national narrative in Macedonia most succinctly. It narrates the

most important features of the plot onto which individual behaviour of the members

should be modelled.

It begins with linking the personal freedom of the individual with that of the nation. This

suggests that individual personality is inevitably connected with a sense of belonging to

various degrees of group identity, starting from the family to a broader community.44

However, while such a statement is not necessarily problematic in its own, the text very

quickly produces a misbalance in the way such relationship between the individual and

its groups is portrayed.

'There is no active individual if he does not have any filling of belonging. If his

right to a membership of a nation or ethnic community is taken away, then he

looses the right to free activity.'45

What this suggests is a fundamental determinism of the individual by very specific group

memberships. This way, the freedom of national and ethnic identification is normatively

linked with the ideas of freedom, not necessarily strictly in the domain of human rights,

43 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 7. 44 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 5. 45 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 5.

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but as the basis for individual agency itself. Following this, the individual subjectivity

becomes a product of a usable national and/or ethnic identity. Macedonian ethnic, or

national identity, thus becomes imagined as an overarching identification of the

individual, a vehicle through which other acts of identification are negotiated. This

enables ethnicity, or nationhood to thread its discourse in other domains of various

identities.

This becomes interesting when the national narrative needs to be reconciled with the

idea of Macedonia as a part of Europe. It has to be negotiated for two reasons.

Macedonia, as a Republic, strives towards EU membership and the integrative processes

are seen as a sign of progress and good governance. Additionally, the Macedonian nation

is constructed as part of the European family of nations. This is assumed from both

geographical points of view as well as cultural. The European identity thus becomes a

desired self-image for the individual and for the nation. However, in the Doctrine,

although there is a place acknowledging that Macedonia should belong to such European

family and shared values, again constructs the national identification as a medium

between the individual and Europe. It thus positions the national discourse to act as a

buffer in between, with a potential to translate European identity and values.

Another foundation of what defines the Macedonian identity, according to the Doctrine

is the religiousness. The text goes on to totalize religiosity as yet another overarching

feature of the national identity by claiming that 'Macedonians believe in God.'46

Employing a strategy of forgetting a substantial part of the recent secular history, the

national discourse erases diversity. This rhetoric extends beyond the ideas about the

Macedonian ethnic identification, as the text promotes Macedonia – the state, as a home

46 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 21.

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of various groups that believe in God, whether it is that of the Christians, Muslims or

some other.47 However, what is important here is that atheists are not mentioned.

Effectively, both of these premises – the implied assumption that all Macedonians believe

in God and forgetting that atheists live in the country, maps the latter as outside of the

national border.

In this context, perhaps more importantly, religiousness (and with that, the Church) is

positioned as having historically crucial role in maintaining the national identity.

'Tradition, along with the faith and the Church, was a protector guarding the

identity of the Macedonian throughout the ages.'48

This is an inheritance of the Ottoman Empire, where official identity in relation to the

state was taken on the grounds of religion. The ‘milet’ system provided protection of

several religions which acted as an intermediary between the individual and the state.

Thus, group identity, until the end of the nineteenth century was predominantly based on

religion.49 The narrative of the Doctrine, however, brings forward the national character

of such identity and places the Church in specified national borders. It constructs it as ‘a

centre of the education of the Macedonian people’ as well as a ‘pillar of the human

decency and the public moral.’50

Perhaps the most exploited trope in this latest wave of national narrative re-imagination

has been the emphasis of the family. As outlined previously, family is seen as one of the

pillars of the Macedonians, at least in the narrative field. In the Doctrine, the connection

of the real Man to his/her family is expressed frequently as it is one of the layers through 47 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 21. 48 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 19. 49 Hugh Poulton, Who Are the Macedonians?, 2nd edn (London: C. Hurst, 2000). 50 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 21.

18

which the Macedonian is connected to the society. Or more specifically, it is the

institution where 'the child becomes human.'51 Additionally, the well-being of his/her

family is portrayed, along that of the nation, as one of the fundamental determining

factors of the motivation of the individual. In this respect, the real Man is portrayed as a

selfless personality, without important individual interests or motivation, except of those

serving collective purposes.

This narrative is reproduced in various ways; however the underlying messages are

always connected with the ideas of national development, preservation or well-being.

One such example is the 'Make Your Future'52 policy and its media campaign. The policy

was based on demographic figures that showed population decline within the non-

Albanian communities. This prompted the Government to develop a policy that would

financially encourage families to have children in the regions with a very low childbirth

figures. Additionally, it was followed by an intensive media campaign that promoted

larger families and the benefits of having children. This project, aside from being

portrayed as basically demographic, it was largely nationalizing. Firstly by way of

regionalising the effects that, accidentally or not, follows regional ethnic distribution of

the different communities. However, secondly, the media campaign added a layer of

lifestyle that followed traditional image of the family as a national model. One, perhaps

paradigmatic, video advert from that campaign contrasted two married couples. The

careerist couple postpones having children as opportunities for additional levels of

education or employment occur. The couple eventually grows old and unhappy, unlike

51 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 16. 52 'Sozdaj idnina'

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the other couple, which decides to invest in having children.53 Interestingly enough, the

Doctrine of IMRO-DPMNU acknowledges that the contemporary family is under pressure

of modern life and economic hardship.54 However, the video narrative of the campaign

reconciles with the Doctrine in the way as shaping the primacy of the family. Apart from

acknowledging the difficult conditions in which couples raise their children, the Doctrine

does not offer a clear way of including childless couples in its normative arrangement.55

What this media portrait does is establishing a coherent image of how a family life and

attitude towards families should look like. On the one hand, it rests on the idea that

traditional families in Macedonia were large, in the sense that they consisted of more

than one or two children. While this may be historically true, as historical statistics

shows,56 the contemporary portrait offers and essentialist interpretation. As many

researchers have previously shown, the family structure and size throughout history have

been constantly shaped by various factors, and culture (read tradition) is not the only

determinant.57 However, portraying a large family as natural to the identity of

Macedonians went in line with an implicit normative campaign that securitized the issue

of declining demographics as a matter of national importance. In this way, the figures

were used to spread the image that the nation is dying out. In a newspaper column, one

member of IMRO-DPMNU writes in a newspaper column:

53 Ministry for Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Macedonia, ‘Sozdaj Idnina (Make Your Future)’,

TV Advertisment. A copy of the video clip for research purposes was kindly provided by 'New Moment', Skopje – the agency that produced it.

54 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 16. 55 As it will be shown further bellow in the text, it does quite the opposite. 56 The following research shows how the change in several factors, namely education and the role of

women, as well as the modernising project change the face of family in Yugoslavia, with some specific accounts of Macedonia, that was part of the federation. George W. Hoffman, ‘Yugoslavia: Changing Character of Rural Life and Rural Economy’, American Slavic and East European Review, 18 (1959), 555-578; Rose M. Somerville, ‘The Family in Yugoslavia’, Journal of Marriage and Family, 27 (1965), 350-362.

57 See more in: David I. Kertzer, ‘Household History and Sociological Theory’, Annual Review of Sociology, 17 (1991), 155-179; Marzio Barbagli and David I. Kertzer, ‘Introduction’, in The History of the European Family, ed. by Marzio Barbagli and David I. Kertzer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003); Divna Lakinska-Popovska and Suzana Bornarova, ‘Families in the Republic of Macedonia’, in Families in Eastern Europe, ed. by Mihaela Robila (Oxford: Elsavier JAI, 2004), pp. 103-120.

20

'It is time to see the elephant in the room. To spot the obvious, to see the numbers.

We are dying and disappearing. No genocide, occupier or illness has killed as

many people as the numbers of the last 30 years. What will the trends that happen

bring?'58

This brings the importance of the family closer to that of the national reproduction, as

the term used for people in the original is narod, a name that extends beyond a generic

meaning to the domains of groups such as ethnicities and nations. The idea of large

families, and their portrayal as traditional, sticks well into a gendered outlook of the

nation and its well-being.

In general, ethno-nationalist perspective sees the family as a unit of its own biological

reproduction. On a symbolic level, the nation is imagined as extending from a family.59

This proved to be a tool for securing allegiance to the nation as 'images of women as

chaste, modest mothers and preservers of tradition were central to the ideology of

nationalism.'60 One archetypal example in the Macedonian case comes from a poem called

'The Sirdar', which tells the story of the death of Kuzman, a local hero, and his mother

Neda. This mother-son relationship can be read as a metaphor about the nation and its

heroes. The poem was created in the second half of the nineteenth century, and might be

seen in the context of the romantic strive towards national awakening. The hero Kuzman

dies in a fight against a foreign group of bandits that was harassing the population. His

58 Vlatko Gjorchev, ‘Inflation of Death, Recesion and Life (Inflacija Na Smrtta, Recesiya Na Zhivotot)’,

Dnevnik, 10 July 2009, para. 2 <http://www.dnevnik.com.mk/?itemID=F301B9CC18A4004796081138BFB3DEF0&arc=1> [accessed 16 January 2010]. Emphasis added.

59 Nira Yuval-Davis, Gender and Nation (London: Sage Publication, 1997). 60 Nickie Charles and Helen Hintjens, Gender, Ethnicity, and Political Ideologies (London ;;New York:

Routledge, 1998), p. 3.

21

role is that of a kapidan, which means a protector. And while Kuzman dies in a battle,

Neda is portrayed as a hero too, as he is 'her womb's first fruit'.61 This metaphor extends

to show that she holds all the characteristics of a hero, as she is portrayed as an Amazon

or a 'lioness', however she does not become one, until she invests them into her son. This

fits into the gendered map of the national imaginary, where there is a clear distinction

between males as protectors and women as reproducers of the nation. Or in the words of

Neda:

My sobbing, these my tears of ice that flow and my cold cries Are tribute and libation. 'Tis for your daughters and your brides that tears should fill your eyes Who now have no salvation.62

This narrative is reproduced even today in the processes of (re)establishing the collective

memory of the members of the nation. In a recent commemoration to the soldiers who

died in the conflict of 2001, a government minister used a gendered metaphor to attribute

the contribution they have as the sons of Macedonia.63

This mapping of gender roles outlined the gender perspective of how the nation should

be imagined. The men were founders and protectors of the nation 'while women were

guardians of morality and tradition'.64 This set-up is a reflection of a gendered division of

labour embedded in the national imaginary early on in the period of nation building, as

the rising bourgeoisies modelled it in their own image, as opposed for the instinctiveness

of the working classes and the excess of the aristocracy.65 And as putting forward the

61 Grigor Prlichev and Graham Reid, The Sirdar, 1860, v. 90

<http://www.cybermacedonia.com/gligoser.html> [accessed 31 August 2010]. 62 Prlichev and Reid, vv. 101-4. 63 ‘9 Godini Karpalak (9 Years from Karpalak)’, Kirilica.com.mk, 2010, para. 7

<http://kirilica.com.mk/vest.asp?id=54184> [accessed 9 August 2010]. 64 Nickie Charles and Helen Hintjens, Gender, Ethnicity, and Political Ideologies (London ;;New York:

Routledge, 1998), p. 2. 65 Mosse.

22

notions of families as units of national reproduction and the gendered map of national

order an imaginary, heterosexuality becomes an implied notion of the national identity. It

'thus becomes a taken-for-granted attribute of the nation and dominant group norm'.66

Accordingly, the Doctrine of IMRO-DPMNU asserts that:

'For IMRO-DPMNU the family as a union between one man and one woman,

sharing a care about the children, is a natural form of a community. There is no

real alternative to family.'67

This further confirms the heterosexual normativity in the Macedonian national narrative.

From the discursive field, this was reflected in the amendment of the law on family,

where marriage was further specified as male-female relationship, to bring it even closer

to the narrative of the Doctrine. Furthermore, the claim that it is the only natural form of,

I would add intimate, community, brings the heterosexual model family as a value

position in the particular truth-regime set out by the nationalist discourse. This has, as it

will be shown later, a significant effect in the mode of public debate about homosexuality

and the discourse within which it was mediated.

Having said this, the particular context of the Macedonian society adds to the framing of

the ethno-national perspective. The Republic of Macedonia is defined as a state

constituted of different ethnic communities not only in terms of their existence, but as

constitutive part of the state. This emphasis on the different ethnicities as the political

establishment of the state discourages the civic outlook on society by the main actors in

state policy. A result of this is the existence of a highly patriarchal view on gender and

66 Mole, p. 10. 67 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 16.

23

sexuality that, in theory, is understood to be emphasised by such ethnic/cultural

pluralism.68

In summary, the narrative of the Macedonian national identity set out by the Doctrine of

IMRO-DPMNU as well as other projects and policies rests on the ideas of tradition,

religion and the family. These ideas are presented in a highly nationalizing fashion as all

of them are represented as crucial and deterministic factors of the group and are only

rarely directly linked to the individual. The last point of this section would then be the

notion, written in the Doctrine, that these foundations of the national identity help the

Macedonians to find their way in times of transition and globalisation. This is very

similar to what was outlined previously about the community (read nation) mediating

between the individual and Europe. Following the same interpretation, the narrative

suggests the traditional values as a perspective and a value system according to which

the contemporary and forthcoming social changes should be understood. I have put this

explicitly at the end of the section as it is a narrative that is used throughout the

commentary about homosexuality and the debate around the controversy over the anti-

discrimination law. In this way, the traditional world-view was used in establishing the

debate, while at the same time, discursively, the need to protect the national tradition

was put as a highest priority.

Othering

In the period before and after the voting of the anti-discrimination law, there was an

intensive debate and controversy over the issue. The party opposition challenged the

Government's move as anti-European while parts of the civil sector argued further about

68 Mole, p. 10.

24

the impediment of human rights. The generic response, by those favouring the exclusion

of sexual orientation in the law, might be explained on the lines that this was against

Macedonian traditions. In general, three different narrative lines can be discerned from

the representations of the homosexual in the nationalistic discourse in Macedonia. The

first one revolves around the notion of homosexuality as unnatural or illness. The second

narrative argues that homosexuality goes against the tradition and the Macedonian

identity. The third narrative plot suggests that homosexuality is a foreign import. All

three narratives were used in order to represent the homosexual as an outsider, both in

the context of ethnicity and nationhood, and more generally, the political body of the

nation-state.

Homosexuality as not normal

One approach to discussing homosexuality in Macedonia was that of presenting it as

illness. Over the years, there have been reports of homosexuals being sent for treatment

by psychiatrists. These cases were publicised by activists of the civil society in their

attempts to address the issue of the medical practice by some professionals and their

refusal to adhere to the guidance by the World Health Organization.

Perhaps the best example about the use of the professional discourse in representing

homosexuality as something abnormal was a controversy in the Macedonian Assembly,

during a session of a commission on human rights, discussing the proposed anti-

discrimination law. One of the speakers was a member of the conservative IMRO-

DPMNU, who, amongst others, assumed his professional training as a physician when

addressing the issue. In what turned out to be a lecture of medicine during the hearing of

the Commission, Jovan Ginev explained that homosexuality, which he referred to as

25

'intersexualism' is a 'pathological condition caused by various factors [such as]

chromosomal, gonads, phenotype, psychological or social, which needs to be treated.'69

This commentary became immediately controversial and an object of reaction by various

actors such as activists, the media and even foreign diplomats. It was nevertheless used to

back up a traditionalist view on homosexuality as something abnormal. This brings up to

the fore an array of comments about other cases where university professors were

accused of teaching homosexuality as an illness to students of psychology.70 Additionally,

in the areas of secondary education, this medical discourse is also perpetuated. In one

school textbook on pedagogy, homosexuality is described as:

'Homosexuality and lesbianism are variants of sexual urge and, of course, as

perversions, manifest in the affinity of the individual towards a sexual partner of

the same sex. This can be present within males and females, however, it is less

frequent amongst women. Amongst such oriented persons, in both sexes, there

are many neurotic and psychotic personalities.'71

Aside from being labelled as a perversion, it is also enlisted as a significant social problem

together with 'prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases and rape' as well as alcoholism

and drug abuse.72 This frames homosexuality in a very particular way. Aside from,

supposedly being a health condition, these statements suggest that it is and important

69 The Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Transcript (Skopje: The Assembly of the Republic of

Macedonia, 2010), p. 5 <http://www.sobranie.mk/ext/sessiondetails1.aspx?Id=49e06717-6ba7-46b3-87f4-04813bdf364d> [accessed 20 May 2010].

70 ‘Famous Professors Spread Homophobia (Poznati Profesori Shirat Homofobiya)’, Vreme, 3 February 2007, 973 edition <http://www.vreme.com.mk/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=9&tabid=1&EditionID=1001&ArticleID=66016> [accessed 21 August 2010].

71 Marija Kostova, Aneta Barakovska and Eli Makazlieva, Pedagogy (Pedagogiya) (Skopje: Prosvetno delo, 2005), p. 203.

72 Kostova, Barakovska and Makazlieva, p. 202.

26

social ill. It becomes categorized with non-related social phenomena in a chain of

equivalence as a discursive move in order to emphasize the threat to the imagined Self.

There are numerous examples of medicine and biology being used to discursively

represent homosexuality as outside the borders of normality in Macedonia.73 However,

the point here is to outline the medical discourse, and its bearing to the nationalist

discourse on homosexuality. Along the thoughts of Michel Foucault, medical and

educational institutions contribute to the establishment of the truth-regime that

discursively represents homosexuality outside, what is considered to be, normal. This is

later transformed into the domains of respectability, which has more relation to the

nationalistic doctrine.

Homosexuality against Macedonian national identity

Aside from the notions of perversion, that are transformed into the domains of national

respectability, perhaps the two most important tropes that the nationalistic discourse

'inherits' from the medical is the division between males and females and the biology of

reproduction. In the medical 'lecture' that the parliament member Jovan Ginev gave to his

colleagues during a commission hearing he designated 'intersexuals' as having 'elements

of the two sexes, i.e. they are neither male nor females.'74 This, as outlined before, is the

basis for the threat of confusion in the patriarchal gender order characteristic,

experienced in the nationalistic narrative. Another important trope is when the inability

to reproduce becomes a signal for regarding homosexuality as unnatural.

73 For an interesting, and activist driven, analysis of some cases about framing homosexuality in

Macedonia see: Zarko Trajanoski, ‘The Shadow of Homosexuality Hovers Over Macedonia’, Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, 8-9 (2005), 201-239.

74 The Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, p. 5.

27

'Homosexuality is a deviation and it is not natural. The nature created males and

females to make children.' (Citatel – a pseudonym of a reader)75

This becomes transformed in the problem of not reproducing the nation, as a communal

owner of ones body. Such discourse is echoed particularly intensively in the Internet

sphere: in user discussions on forums, Facebook or on news reports on various media.

This narrative is based on the relation between the family, tradition and religion. As

outlined previously, these three notions are narrated as the foundations of the

Macedonian national identity. This subsection contains an analysis of how IMRO-

DPMNU together with the MOC discursively represent homosexuality as endangering

the typical way of life, and how this is later reproduced in the media.

The discourse revolves around the idea that life based on traditional and family values is

essential to the nation as it reproduces the values that contributed to the endurance of the

nation, both physically and culturally. The Doctrine of IMRO-DPMNU states that '[t]here

is a need to find the old traditional values of typical Macedonian way of life throughout

the ages.'76 The issue is framed against the individual, and is almost solely based on the

prudence of the group identities – that of nationhood. In this context, there is a tendency

to reshape the national narrative in contrast to the recent past, in order to produce

discontinuity with the period of transition or the socialist regime before 1991.

75 ‘Fuere Dissappointed from the Statement by the Representative D-R Ginev (Fuere Razocharan Od

Izjavata Na Pratenikot D-R Ginev)’, AlfaTV <http://vesti.alfa.mk/default.aspx?mid=36&eventid=19710> [accessed 18 March 2010].

76 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 19.

28

'The [left-wing] concept of freedom turned into a society which is a slave to the

principle of desire, and egoistical self-fulfilment. This concept threw away the

faith, neglected the family, eradicated “the bravery to raise children”.'77

This emphasises the need to connect the contemporary national identity with the non-

socialist past. However, it produces a chain of equivalence between certain political

orientations with non-traditional lifestyles – a domain where homosexuality is

categorized. Thus, desire becomes a national problem as it is shaped to stand against

raising children. In light of the campaigns to have large families, amongst other factors,

losing the traditional role of women was listed as an important factor of the population

decrease. In similar fashion, the Macedonian Orthodox Church expresses its concern over

a falling numbers of Christian Orthodox populations when convening its opinion about

the anti-discrimination law.78 This clearly sets out a context over which the remaining of

the messages is narrated. In the same way, as non-traditional women are represented to

decrease the population,79 homosexuals cannot occupy a position of national contributor.

The statement taken from the Doctrine reveals another aspect of viewing homosexuality

as decadence. Stressing 'egoistical self-fulfilment' and 'culture of narcissism and

selfishness '80, while not overtly mentioning homosexuality, is used to portray life outside

the ethos of family life and traditions. In this way, family and tradition signals

respectability and marries the cultural and physical reproduction of the nation. This

leaves no space for homosexuals, thus producing them outside of these boundaries. In an

account of a homophobic debate around 2005, Zarko Trajanoski gives examples of

77 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 7. 78 The Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, ‘The Synod Takes a Position on the Law Against

Discrimination (Sinodot Zazema Stav Po Odnos Na Zakonot Za Antidiskirminaciya)’, 2010, para. 2 <http://www.mpc.org.mk/vest.asp?id=4274> [accessed 12 March 2010].

79 Republic of Macedonia: The Government, ‘Media Statement 07/11/2007’, 2007 <http://www.vmro-dpmne.org.mk/mk/zapis.asp?id=2517> [accessed 17 August 2009].

80 VMRO-DPMNE, p. 7.

29

homosexuality being labelled as a signal for decadent civilization.81 Citing a newspaper

column by university professor Risto Soluncev, he shows how homosexuality is

represented as a 'deterioration of the ethical system [which] has elapsed and has started

to rot and decompose'.82

Playing along the lines of obscenity, and portraying the homosexual population of

Macedonia in decadence was most notably exemplified in a newspaper article by an

unidentified author in one edition of the daily 'Vecer'. While the article83 has more to do

with another part of discursive framing of homosexuality in Macedonia, which will be

analysed in a section bellow, the point here is that it used a picture of three men having

sex in order to incite a very specific portrayal of the homosexual population.84 Namely,

the photography was featured as a front cover of the daily edition and caused

controversy as it was considered inappropriate for the newspaper. The image was

captioned with the words:

'”Vecher” has nothing against homosexuals. On the contrary. Here is even an

image of them, for the enjoyment of their tolerant eyes. We apologise to all the

rest, intolerant.'85

The narrative of the image suggests that homosexuality was necessarily connected with

sexual excess, pornography and non-monogamous sexual relationship. At the same time

81 Zarko Trajanoski, ‘The Shadow of Homosexuality Hovers Over Macedonia’, Identities: Journal for

Politics, Gender and Culture, 8-9 (2005), 201-239 (p. 209). 82 Trajanoski, 201-239 (pp. 209-210). 83 Vecher, ‘Vlade Milchin Will Face Court for the Pro-Gay Statemens (Za Propederskite Izjavi Vlade

Milchin Kje Odi Na Sud)’, Vecher (Skopje, 1 November 2009), 14278 edition <http://www.vecer.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=47A18CEBFE29304B8E5D30118CEC4F5A> [accessed 21 August 2010].

84 See image 1 85 Vecher.

30

it produces a meaning that tolerance justifies the behaviour presented in the image. It

therefore alters the meaning of tolerating homosexuality and presents it as an attack on

public decency. At the same time, the intolerant majority is presented as a victim of such

processes.

Another, perhaps more common discursive practice is representing the homosexuals as

uncommon to the image of the average Macedonian. This has to do with the constructed

image of the real Macedonian, a notion outlined previously. One such example comes

from a statement made by Vlatko Gjorchev, a representative of IMRO-DPMNU in a

television debate about discrimination against homosexuals in Macedonia. When asked

about his opinion on the matter, he replied:

'[homosexuality] is an affinity out of which we should not make a social norm […]

no one says that they should be discriminated, on the contrary, I think they are

not discriminated in Macedonia […] it is out of order to label the whole society in

which our people, people living in Macedonia, which barely make ends meet, as

discriminating chauvinists […] on the contrary, Macedonia is a country of tolerant

people, humane people, domakjini[*], people that love their country and their

families not discriminating anyone'.86

This statement is a toned down approach in constructing homosexuality outside the

national identity. It is mainly focused on suggesting that homosexuals are a special part

of the population and do not share a similar life of the everyday Macedonian. Such effects

86 ‘A2 Debata’, A2 Debata (Debate on A2) (A2 Televizia, 2010). Emphasis added. [*]'Domakjini'

is a plural form of domakjin which can mean: head of family, responsible person in the context of a

household.

31

are made employing the notions of our people when talking about heterosexuals. It

reaffirms the lines set out in constructing the national narrative that the real people are

those dedicated to their families and their country.

Perhaps more interesting is the suggestion that the homophobia should not be sought at

the everyday hardworking population – a type of identification to which anybody can

attach. This statement, given as a rhetorical defence against an assumed allegation of

Macedonians as being homophobes, attempts to draw a line between the economic status

and sexual orientation or an opinion about it. This ultimately should signify that

homosexuals occupy a very specific social status. In a similar manner, in an opinion

expressed on the website of IMRO-DPMNU, Vlatko Gjorchev writes again:

'In Skopje, almost anyone knows about the sexual orientation of many presenters,

hairdressers, actors or actresses... And all of them are respected, none of them

discriminated.'87

This specification obfuscates the idea that homosexuals occupy a number of other

professions and position, and are present thought the social sphere. Presenting

homosexuals as part of the artistic (I would add show-business) circles, whilst employing

a discourse of permissiveness is not something new and is partly used to contain the

image about the 'distribution' of homosexuals across society.88 This appropriation of

common identity images to heterosexuals permits the national identity of the

Macedonians to be kept within the boundaries set out by the nationalist discourse.

87 Vladimir Gjorchev, ‘Phobia and Hating of the 'Fighters for Human Rights' (Fobichnosta I Hejterstvoto

Na "borcite Za Chovekovi Prava")’, para. 8 <http://www.vmro-dpmne.org.mk/mk/zapis.asp?id=6241> [accessed 5 September 2010].

88 Mosse.

32

This discursive practice of constructing homosexuals as opposed to Macedonian national

identity was further extended in the domain of the contemporary political relations. In

this sense, the term homosexual became linked with various other internal threats to the

national Self. One of the discursive strategies was to use public moral to denounce

political opponents. In this way, as we go back to the example from the daily newspaper

'Vecher',89 the article was used as a personal attack against personalities on the grounds

that they were supporting homosexuals. The photograph depicting a sexual intercourse

between three men was thus suggestively used to portray the three activists that were the

object of the attack. For some of the nationalists, homosexuals were even equated with

the ethnic Other of the Macedonian national identity – the Albanian ethnicity. An

example of such discursive practice was seen during the incident of the student March

protests of 2009. A group of students and activists, opposed the intention of the

Government to build a Church with public funds on the main square of Skopje, were

attacked by a counter-protesters chanting nationalist slogans and carrying Orthodox

Christian symbols. One influential media opinion maker, and a blogger, called for the

counter-protest the previous night claiming that 'a bunch of gays and atheists' are going

to protest against a Church.90 While some of the human rights activists working on the

issues of sexual orientation might have been involved in the protest, the preparation did

not suggest any direct connection between those two. Therefore, the anti-traditionalist

challenge against building a Church was quickly framed as a homosexual (and atheist

plot). On the day of the incident, however, the chain of equivalence was further extended,

as the protesters were denounced by the counter-protesters with the name 'Shiptari'. This

derogatory term in Macedonian language used for calling Albanians showed the

discursive practice in full, as the anti-traditionalist reaction towards a nationalist project 89 Vecher. 90 Janko Ilkoski, ‘Support for the Construction of the Main Square Church! (Poddrshka Za Izgradba Na

Crkvata Na Ploshtad!)’, Jadi Burek, para. 1 <http://jadiburek.blog.com.mk/node/219489> [accessed 31 August 2010].

33

was quickly transformed to encompass the ethnic imagined enemy. In this context, a

name of a radical nationalist Facebook group called 'Death to Gays and Shiptars' is a

result of such framing practice.91 This is however present mostly on the Internet, and in

radical circles, as the political parties do not go into stirring up inter-ethnic relations.

However, perhaps the most widely used rhetoric strategy was linking the non-

governmental human rights activism with a profound anti-Macedonian and, above all

anti-traditionalist agenda. Namely, during the debate about the anti-discrimination law,

the human rights pro-gay advocacy was labelled as having a hidden agenda of

establishing a legal frame for promoting same-sex marriages and possibilities of same-sex

couples adopting children. In the aforementioned television debate, the representative of

IMRO-DPMNU successfully shifted the topic from a discussion about the law to the

implied danger of profoundly changing the way the Macedonian society looks. In a

subsequent newspaper column, he develops the approach constructing the idea of a

coalition between NGOs and the opposition party – a handful of people that want to

undermine the popular majority and the traditional way of life. The rights of

homosexuals are once again linked with other categories such as polygamy or incest.92

Homosexuality as a foreign import

In the period of the 1990s, when nationalism in the Balkans was intensive, homosexuality

was considered as a foreign import. This was largely because activism on issues of

91 Unknown, ‘Death to Gays and Shiptars (Smrt Za Pederi I Shiptari)’

<http://www.facebook.com/pages/SMRT-ZA-PEDERI-I-SIPTARI/> [accessed 5 September 2010]. 92 Vlatko Gjorchev, ‘The Suggestions of SDMU, MASSO and Soros Are Not Acceptable (Predlozite Na

SDSM, MASSO I Soros Ne Se Prifatlivi)’, Shpic (Skopje, 5 February 2010) <http://www.spic.com.mk/kolumna/predlozite-na-sdsm-masso-i-soros-se-neprifatlivi.html> [accessed 21 August 2010].

34

homosexuality was mostly funded by foreign donors.93 The image was that activists,

funded by foreign organisations, are conspiring against the nation and the state. Their

efforts are to corrupt the '”pure” national character'.94 In this way, one can discern two

inter-related representations – that of the foreign homosexual and of the activist with a

foreign agenda. These two are rarely represented as isolated from each other, but for the

purposes of analysis, these images will be explained separately.

In their statement about the anti-discrimination law, the Macedonian Orthodox Church

uses discursive pairing (equivalence) between homosexuals and foreigners.

‘The citizens […], as well as the foreigners who live in her [the state], should not

be discriminated for their own personal properties, attitudes and affinities.’95

This statement exemplifies this discursive strategy. In the previous part of the statement,

the MOC talks about the importance of the anti-discrimination law for the citizens. Only

when they come to state that people should not be discriminated in their privacy, even

though sexual orientation should not be in the law, they start mentioning foreigners. This

is awkward to the previous part, as it bears no logical relation. All the previous forms of

identity (or categories) for the citizens, that they face against sexual orientation, such as

gender, ethnicity or social status, are equally relevant for the foreigners. It thus

emphasises the image of a foreign homosexual, rather than the homosexual citizen.96

Ironically, during the debate about the anti-discrimination law, some professional

opinions, given in defence of the right to be protected on the grounds of sexual

orientation, enhanced this idea. Taking for example the parliamentary hearing on the

93 Dioli, p. 4. 94 Dioli, p. 4. 95 The Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. 96 As the Church is representing itself as a national institution, I consider their usage of citizen not only in

the strict civic sense in which parts of the messages are conveyed but also the ethno-national

understanding of memebership.

35

Special Commission on Human Rights, many of the experts expressed their opinion that

despite the shortcomings of the law, homosexuals would be protected by the European

Charter for Human Rights and the European Court.97 While this is true, these opinions

did not tackle the problem directly. These international organisations and treaties equally

protect all of the categories used in the law. In this way, the experts failed to realise that

omitting sexual orientation excludes homosexuals from the domestic political sphere. By

not stressing the importance that all of the categories should be the subject of a domestic

law, resulting from a general policy of human rights recognition, the experts,

accidentally, contributed to the image of homosexuals as foreigners. In this way,

borrowing the analytical conclusion of Blagojevic,98 the paradox of human rights

protection becomes clear. Framing homosexuals outside of the political community,

reduces them to bare human beings. On the lines of the ideas of Georgio Agamben,99 she

argues that this reduction grants them universal human rights, which, however, puts

them in a more difficult position. The idea is that recognising human rights of excluded

groups, on the grounds of them being simply human, further emphasises their exclusion.

This is a result of the fact that they receive protection (status) precisely because they are

excluded out of the political community.100 In this way, protecting homosexuals in

Macedonia, by way of utilising (only) the international law helps maintain their position

as outsiders.

Taking on the idea that homosexuality cannot be inherently Macedonian, the nationalist

discourse eventually constructs it as a foreign influence.

97 The Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. 98 Jelisavewta Blagojevic, ‘An Adieu to Europe: The Impossible Necessity of Balkan Politics’, Identities:

Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, 2008, 16. 99 Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer (Stanford Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1998). 100 Blagojevic, 16.

36

‘The Macedonians are far away from this. It is thus pointless for them to

culturally destroy themselves by force, making themselves accept everything in an

inferior way from a different culture.’101

This example, given in Trajanoski,102 underlines the image of the superiority of the

culture against the implied decadence of homosexuality. It goes beyond the initial idea

that homosexuality, by not being complementary to the foundations of the Macedonian

identity, stands against it. What it brings to the fore is the suggestion that it is a foreign

body in the Macedonian organism, in most cases administered by force or against will.

This trope of pressure to accept something is present in most of the discourse. As shown

in the analysis of Trajanoski, the foreign funded campaigns for promoting the rights of

sexual minorities in Macedonia are always seen problematically. Describing a campaign

called ‘Face the difference’, funded by the US Embassy in Skopje, he notes the reaction of

the former president Boris Trajkovski:

‘U.S. taxpayer funds should not be used to promote alternative lifestyles in my

country, and I do not believe that most Americans would appreciate this. […] This

is deeply offensive to most people in Macedonia which represents a very

conservative mix of the Orthodox Christian and Muslim faiths.’103

The campaign consisted of several billboards that confronted the public with images of

homosexuals. This approach obviously triggered controversy however, as the example 101 Risto Solunchev, ‘Who Is Here, Actually, a Homosexual? (Koj E Ovde, Vprochem,

Homoseksualec?)’, Forum, 2004. 102 Trajanoski, 201-239. 103 Originally taken from: Kerri Houston, ‘Diplomatic Missteps: The State Department Works for the

American Left in Macedonia.’, National Review (New York, 6 January 2004) <http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/houston200401060853.asp> [accessed 1 September 2010].

37

shows, it was largely because some foreign force was, apparently trying to install

homosexual lifestyle into the fabric of society. This statement, however, does not suggest

the possibility that within the society, such alternative lifestyles already exist.

In the case of the anti-discrimination law, this notion was frequently employed. Since the

conditionality for the law was coming from the European Union, it was often suggested

that this liberalising policies will change the way Macedonian society is shaped.

Commenting on the issue of the European integration, in a television debate, one

parliament member said that Macedonia should choose whether it would change like a

society on the likes of Poland, or should be similar to ‘certain parts of Amsterdam’.104 In

this way, integrating towards Europe is portrayed as holding a dangerous possibility of

transformation, using popular stereotypes about the city of Amsterdam and its liberal

image. Having in mind that traditional values have been outlined as tools for evaluating

social change in times of globalisation, EU’s liberal agenda becomes designated as ‘neo-

colonialism’.105 Therefore, the foreign funded activism promoting rights of sexual

orientation becomes the external threat to the traditional society, and perhaps – the state.

In this way, the ‘NGO industry’106 becomes the internal collaborator of a gay lobby which

wants to change tradition. This label of industry, in the right-wing discourse, is most

commonly used to define organisations funded by the Open Society Institute in Skopje --

commonly known as ‘the Soros foundation’. Discursively, it frequently goes beyond that

in order to include the liberal and anti-traditionalist parts of civil society. In this way, a

pairing between the local party opposition, human rights activists and George Soros is

104 ‘A2 Debata’, A2 Debata (Debate on A2) (A2 Televizia, 2010). 105 ‘A2 Debata’, A2 Debata (Debate on A2) (A2 Televizia, 2010). 106 Vladimir Gjorchev, ‘Non-Governmental Sector for Destroying Governments (Nevladin Sektor Za

Rushenje Vladi’, Shpic (Skopje, 2010), 2010.03.19 edition <http://www.spic.com.mk/kolumna/nevladin-sektor-za-rusenje-vladi.html> [accessed 1 September 2010].

38

frequently being made in order to suggest an axis between their works. Or in the words

of a foreign commentator:

‘Macedonia has been overrun by all manner of foreign invaders for thousands of

years — Romans, Turks, Greeks, Nazis, and even billionaire leftist George

Soros’.107

Similar understanding has been increasingly present throughout the nationalist discourse

in Macedonia as individuals whose work has emphasised liberal and anti-nationalist

agenda are frequently called sorosoyds.108 This helps obfuscate the internal debate on

human rights based on sexual orientation. By presenting this activism as a result of

foreign colonialism, it transfers the focus from human rights towards the domains of

national sovereignty and it becomes a matter of national security and threat.

‘Do we have an attempt for an NGO dictatorship? […] Who wants to dictate the

agenda of our society? Whose is the sovereignty in one society? […] However, the

sovereignty of a state comes from its citizens, and the laws are made in the

Assembly. The change of the name and identity, homosexual marriages,

decriminalisation and legalisation of drugs, bringing down the government… All

those are legitimate aims of SDMU and the Soros-infantry. But if they want it

passed, they should win the elections’.109

This statement is a result of the nexus where all the previous lines of nationalist

narration about homosexuality meet. The danger of homosexuality to the identity (as a

representation of a container of traditional life) becomes connected with the activist

107 Houston. 108 Because of size, the influence of George Soros (or OSI) on the NGO sector could not be taken in

consideration. To be fair, not all of the funding of activism is funded by OSI. The further usage of the

name is due to its properties as representation of external colloniser in South Eastern Europe, rather than

the man himself.

109 Vladimir Gjorchev.

39

circles and their representations as the enemies of the state. They are paired with the

internal political threat of a party opposition, the agenda of spreading homosexual

lifestyle as a cultural threat and, lastly, the external coloniser, whether it is EU or George

Soros.

Opposition

As the idea of a coherent national narrative is to present a unifying image of an assumed

homogenous identity, homosexual identity necessarily becomes a subject of a pluralistic

revision. It therefore weakens the narrative structure of a firm ethno-national identity.

Interestingly enough, much of the activism on issues of sexual orientation or

homosexuality in the period since 2006 has been also devoted in challenging nationalism

in general. Aside from the simple operative projects of various organisations dealing with

these issues, some of the prominent activists were at the same time engaged in a broader

opposition to the romanticised redefinition of the national Self of the Macedonians. In

this way, parts of the representatives of the homosexual community were thus seen as

members of groups that opposed nationalism which facilitated the images of

homosexuals, in general, as oppositional, unpatriotic and so on.

Much of this activism is situational, whether it happens on the ground or within the

online social networks. One example shows the strategy of subverting the grandiose

mythology that nationalism constructed around the image of Alexander the Great. A

group called ‘Alexander Bi the Great’ expressed their support for the Government in

their idea to build an enormous statue of the greatest bisexual in history.

40

‘We, the bisexuals, have always seen in Alexander an icon of our lifestyle. We

have seen a man, who not only united the world, but united people of different

sexual orientations.’110

This act appropriated the symbolic capital invested by nationalists in Alexander the Great

and subverted it to promote his alternative sexuality. In this way, antinationalists tried to

dissolve parts of the nationalist narrative, or uncovered its internal instability.

As there are very few openly non-straight activists, and most of them have aligned in the

anti-nationalist critique of the current policies, it becomes relatively easy for the

nationalist to construct ‘plausible’ image of the homosexual in Macedonia. Currently, the

construction of an entire image of the community is made by exploiting the portraits of a

small number of activists and a handful of public figures for which it is (publicly)

assumed that they are gay. Building especially on the images of the activists, and the

results of their anti-nationalist activities, the nationalist discourse easily transforms this

to an image that homosexuals stand against the well-being of the nation.

The problem of representation thus becomes obvious. The homosexuals in liberal parts of

the Macedonian society become vocal unlike others who remain silent or anonymous.

This prevents the expression of the image of homosexuals as associated to various kind of

other groupness, amongst others – ethnicity. Analysing, for instance, the homosexual

authorship on the Macedonian blogosphere, reveals focus on two main topics. The first is

producing content about homosexual experience in a journaling or artistic form. The

110 This is only an account of the act. As it went virally over email and Facebook, with time was

probably closed by authors as it is not available anymore. Assosiation of citizen 'Aleksandar Bi Makedonski', ‘Alexander Bi Macedonian (Aleksandar Bi Makedonski)’ <http://femgerila.mobitype.com/_p_200_utm_source_feed_utm_medium_feed_utm_campaign_feed.html> [accessed 1 September 2010].

41

second focus, however is a certain form of online activism, which is, again, relatively

anti-nationalist. One of the authors that produced a fair amount of his own activist

writing is Outboy,111 a pseudonym of a gay ethnic Macedonian. The reason for focusing

on this author particularly was the iconography that he used in the design of his website

and the more focused writing on the issue of homosexuality than his more prolific fellow

blogger Sataniel.112 In this context, Outboy’s approach is very peculiar. The design of his

website unifies the rainbow flag with the national (not state) banner of Macedonia.113

This banner represents the symbol of the Vergina Sun – the original national flag of the

Republic of Macedonia which was changed due to pressure from Greece as it is a

contested symbol between the two countries. From then, and through time, it became

disassociated with the state and, some would say, became a signal for nationalists. This

symbolically positions Outboy’s applied iconography closer to the national imaginary

and suggests a presence of homosexuals within the ethnicity. However, at the same time,

he adopts a relatively anti-nationalist and atheist stances which produces an ambiguous

picture about his position. His open claims that he is a conservative are supported with

adopting a representation of the local homosexual community as predominantly

promiscuous and he frequently criticises it. Not only does he mimic the nationalist

narratives of the immorality of homosexuality, but he adopts the vocabulary. This is

perhaps best exemplified in his commentary about the activities of ‘the Soros foundation’

in the field of LGBT activism where he describes:

111 His blog can be found on http://outboy.blog.mk

112 Sataniel’s website can be found on http://sataniel.blog.mk – A focus on the Macedonian gay

blogosphere is an interesting topic for future research especially in context of its relation to on-the-ground

activism by NGOs.

113 See image 2

42

‘As long as a world class sponzorusha who sees men as sex objects, represents

herself as “all-round president of all Macedonian gays”, the prospects of change

are dim.’114

This comment is implicitly addressed to the president of an NGO dealing with LGBT

issues. The language of the message is very strong, describing him in female gender and

using the term ‘sponzorusha’ which means someone who is sponsored, usually for sexual

favours. But, perhaps more importantly, the comment borrows the conceptualisation

outlined above, where the activism and the community are discursively reduced to

singulars. The example of Outboy shows that there is a difficulty in producing a simple

image of the homosexual community either way. However, it shows that even

homosexuals borrow the repository of representations that are produced by the

nationalist discourse.

Conclusion

This essay showed that the Macedonian ethno-national identity is rigidly produced along

patriarchal gender and sexual order. Its attempt to create a coherent narrative of the

ethno-national identity effectively excluded homosexuals outside of the community. This

is done so, because homosexuality is seen as a destabilising factor.

In the array of the national identity, homosexuality is constructed as inevitably against

traditional life, as tradition is spaced between family and religiousness. In this sense,

family is put at the disposal of national reproduction and by this logic, homosexuals

114 Outboy, ‘Homosexual Marriages. Overview (Homoseksualni Brakovi. Pregled)’

<http://outboy.blog.mk/2010/07/29/homoseksualni-brakovi-pregled/> [accessed 8 September 2010].

43

cannot contribute to the nation. Since reproduction is framed as an issue of national

security, homosexuals effectively become a problematic element of society in the views of

nationalists. Ulitimately, by confusing the sexual and gender order of male-female

dychotomy they destabilise the patriarchy, identity and the nation as they relativise the

roles of women as cultural and biological reproducers and men as masculine protectors of

the nation.

In Macedonia, this is paired with a perceived external threat by the implied ethnic Other

– the Albanians and the liberalising 'collonialism' of Europe. The discrusive pairing with

potential threats to the ethnicity, maintans the hierarchical order of the society in which

the nationalists remain as a dominant force since ethnicity is the basis of political

legitimacy. In this sense, playing along traditionalist/nationalist discourse seems to

gather the 'symbolic capital' needed to claim legitimacy for, at leat – the Macedonian

ethnicity.

On the other hand, the European liberal discourse seems to hold the possibility of

destabilising the otherwise stabilised ethno-national identities as it suggests development

in the fields of cultural pluralism that transcend ethnic narratives. The support and the

politicized issue of sexual orientation thus became a signal for development of other

identities that challenge the rigid ethnic borders.

44

Appendix

Image 1: Front page of the Vecher newspaper Copyright: Vecher

45

Image 2: Oytboy.blog.mk Copyright: outboy.blog.mk

46

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