Refugees in Macedonia newspaper supplement
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 11:12:35 +0300 (EET DST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Refugees in Macedonia newspaper supplement
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Eran Fraenkel <[email protected]>
Refugees in Macedonia newspaper supplement
Please see the attached announcement of Search for Common Ground's
recent media initiative in response to the Kovoso Crisis and the
presence of refugees in Macedonia.
Thank you,
Eran Fraenkel, Executive Director
Search for Common Ground in Macedonia
8 Udarna brigada 31-1-5
91000 Skopje
Republic of Macedonia
------------
REFUGEES IN MACEDONIA:
NEW FRIENDSHIPS OR NEW DIVISIONS
Refugees have been arriving in Macedonia by the hundreds of thousands
for weeks. Everyone "knows" what they think; what they want; what they
do or do not intend. Everyone" knows" what the impact of the refugees
on Macedonia has been and what it is likely to be in the future. Such
knowledge circulates throughout Macedonia through the normal channels
of mass communication: gossip, rumor.
Until today.
On Monday, May 11, 1999, refugees and Macedonian citizens were given
their first opportunity to look into each other's mirrors and to see
themselves reflected. This was accomplished through an extraordinary
journalistic effort conducted by Search for Common Ground in Macedonia
(SCGM) in cooperation with two daily newspapers, Fakti (Albanian) and
Makedonija Denes (Macedonian).
SCGM succeeded in assembling a team of journalsits, Macedonians and
Albanians from Macedonia, as well as a leading Kosovar intellectual,
who wrote a set of 14 articles about refugees in Macedonia. Published
under the title, Refugees in Macedonia: New Friendships or New
Divisions, these articles examine issues confronting all three
communities as they struggle to make sense of the crisis and how their
lives have been effected. This approach contrasts with other media
that focus exclusively the tragic plight of the refugees, to the
exclusion of Macedonia's other communities.
60,000 copies of Refugees in Macedonia have been printed, 30,000 each
in Macedonian and Albanian. Nearly all the Albanian-language copies
were inserted as a supplement to Fakti; some were sold through the
paper's normal distribution channels, but most were distributed free
of charge throughout the refugee camps. Of the Macedonian-language
copies, 12,000 were inserted as a supplement to Makedoniija Denes and
sold, whereas the remainder are being distributed free of charge
throughout Macedonia. Additionally, the texts are being translated
into English for publication and distribution to international
organizations and foreign journalists in Macedonia. This text will
eventually be posted on the Web.
Reactions to Refugees in Macedonia have been overwhelmingly favorable.
Fakti sold out within hours of its appearance on the street. A
Japanese television crew learned about this project and filmed in a
refugee camp as the papers were being distributed by a relief
organization.
A poignant and totally unexpected outcome was when SCGM received a
call from a reader who recognized his lost relative, a 4- or
5-year-old refugee, whose photograph appears on the back cover of the
publication. We have now taken steps to reunite them.
Two other publications, one Albanian and one Macedonian, today
contacted Search for Common Ground in Macedonia with requests to be
included in any further activities of this sort. We are currently
planning on continuing with this effort once monthly for at least
three more months.
As much as SCGM may feel it deserves to take credit for this, we want
to congratulate the journalists: for their willingness to stand up for
their principles in public, and for their stand against ignorance and
for building bridges of understanding.
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================