Skopje, 29 November 2023 (MIA) - North Macedonia is designed to be a successful multi-ethnic model. Therefore, it is crucial to defend this model in an appropriate manner, with genuine information and political concepts that protect it. Nationalism is an attractive idea that is often used in pre-election campaigns, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj.

According to Marichikj, nationalism is a strong side of weak political options.

“In today's context, weak political options, exemplified by parties like Levica and VMRO-DPMNE, must turn to these tools due to their lack of substantial offerings. Lately, there have been situations where a lawmaker presented an image from a different event, claiming it to be a situation here. The purpose of these attacks is to substitute the lack of ideas of those political options and supplement them with nationalism. Through emotions, through feelings,” Marichikj said in an interview with CIVIL Media.

He highlighted that nationalism, together with disinformation propaganda and hate speech, are the most serious challenges to democracy.

“The fight against disinformation and hate speech as malignant phenomena in the struggle for a democratic society is ongoing and part of everyday life, reflecting events both globally and within the country. North Macedonia, as a recent member of NATO and a candidate country for EU membership, we are a consistent target of malicious attacks involving disinformation, hate speech, nationalism, and everything aimed at undermining citizens' trust in the EU, eroding confidence in democracy, and, overall, destabilizing the system,” Marichikj said.

He believed that citizens are targeted daily by disinformation attacks, and a significant portion falls victim to these disinformation. Therefore, as he noted, it is necessary to approach this issue with equal attention and significance, just like any other issue.

“Here, the role of civil society is crucial. I believe it is necessary to speak up more boldly and openly, pointing out false news, disinformation, and hate speech, if we want to safeguard the sound structure of our democratic society,” Marichikj said.

Photo: Secretariat for European Affairs