Violência policial junta jovens Macedónios em protestos

Tal como em Portugal, realizaram-se eleições legislativas na Macedónia no dia 5 de Junho. O acto eleitoral, ao contrário dos anteriores, decorreu sem grandes problemas e as organizações internacionais foram unânimes em declarar estas eleições justas e livres, mas o dia não terminaria sem tragédia: por volta da meia-noite, quando os apoiantes do partido vencedor se juntavam na praça central de Skopje a festejar a re-eleição do primeiro-ministro Nikola Gruevski, Martin Neshkovski, de 23 anos, foi espancado até à morte por Igor Spasov, membro dos “Tigres”, as forças especiais da polícia Macedónia.

As razões por detrás deste brutal ataque estão, ainda hoje, no segredo dos deuses, já que Igor, detido pela polícia na passada terça-feira, recusou-se a colaborar com a investigação. O que se sabe é que, de imediato, as autoridades procuraram abafar o assunto, tentando fazer passar o espancamento como um “acidente”. A esmagadora maioria dos órgãos de comunicação social, controlados direta ou indiretamente pelo Governo, decidiram ignorar o assunto, procurando fazê-lo cair no esquecimento. Felizmente, isso não foi possível, devido a uma imediata e forte reação de algumas centenas de jovens macedónios que, organizando-se via redes sociais, iniciaram no dia 6 o que viria a ser uma série de protestos diários contra a violência policial e a atitude sobranceira das autoridades.

O Governo, por seu lado, continua a ignorar a gravidade do caso e procura ilibar-se. A Ministra da Administração Interna recusa demitir-se, alegando não ter responsabilidades no caso, mesmo que não saiba responder quando lhe perguntam o que faziam elementos dos Tigres entre a multidão na noite de dia 5. O jornal Vreme, um dos poucos media independentes do país, revelou fotos que mostram o alegado assassino seguindo Gruevski pelas ruas, momentos antes do ataque; o canal de televisão A1 revelou igualmente imagens da inauguração duma clínica em 2008 em que se vê claramente Igor Spasov atuando como segurança do primeiro-ministro. A conclusão é simples: as forças especiais da polícia Macedónia estão a ser usadas como segurança privada do primeiro-ministro.

A tentativa de ignorar o caso e as suas responsabilidades, tanto da parte do Governo como da própria Polícia, apenas fortaleceram os protestos, que de dia para dia foram chamando cada vez mais pessoas para a rua. Alguns partidos políticos tentaram associar-se aos protestos, mas foram de imediato postos de lado; agora, os protestantes caminham pelas ruas de Skopje com uma tarja com uma frase tão simples quanto poderosa: não somos um partido. Este grupo cada vez maior de jovens não tem pretensões políticas nem quer uma revolução; quer apenas que seja feita justiça e que os responsáveis paguem pelo crime, seja quem matou Martin Neshkovski ou quem mandou Igor Spasov estar junto do primeiro-ministro nessa noite.

Martin Neskovski’s death: a silence stronger than words

Almost four days after the death of Martin Neskovski (the kid’s real name) the Macedonian media and police continue to pretend that nothing has happened. Every day the square is filled with young protesters, who gather under the slogan “Stop police brutality”, but you wouldn’t know if it was up to the local newspapers and TV stations. This deliberate attempt to make this issue go away by simply not talking about it is the biggest admission of guilt the police and the government could ever give. No words could ever be as strong as their silence.

"Stop police brutality", the slogan and logo adopted by the protesters

Igor Spasov, the alleged killer, has been arrested and will stay in prison for 30 days, but every one else with connections to this case is happily denying any responsibility. Gordana Jankuloska, the Minister of Interior, refuses to resign on the grounds that she sees no political motivation behind the killing; even if that were true (which I’m pretty sure is not) the simple fact that a cop brutally killed a young man should be reason for her to step down. Only a shameless person could think otherwise.

A picture of Martin Neskovski, held by a protester in Square Macedonia (Photo: A1)

The police, on the other hand, is doing everything they can to keep the investigation as far away from public eye as possible. The coroner’s report, for example, was sent to them on Monday at lunch time, but they have only commented on its contents yesterday. In fact, later that day they actually denied having any such information in their possession. Everything is prepared to try to make the case go away and be forgotten. It is, then, up to the citizens of this country to stand up for Martin and respect his memory by demanding justice. I’m afraid he won’t get it any other way.

Daniel’s death and Macedonia’s dangerous path

Last Sunday Macedonia held early parliamentary elections, which saw the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE confirm their majority, though by a smaller margin that the previous elections three years past. The voting went on without much fuss, unlike the previous elections in 2008, and despite some minor irregularities all international organizations deemed the vote as fair and correct. However, the day was not to end without tragedy, as during the celebrations of DPMNE’s supporters in Skopje’s central square, a 23-year-old kid, so far identified only as Daniel, was beaten to death.

So far, much is unclear about how the incident started and who perpetrated the crime. Many rumors are circulating, mostly because most of the mainstream media, controlled by businessmen connected to the government, chose to largely ignore it, and the police has not been very open to discuss it as well; this has given space to speculation. The strongest rumors indicate that it was a member of the Alpha team, the Macedonian police special forces, who has beaten young Daniel to death. The reasons for this brutal attack are also unclear, as many point out the youngster tried to attack the party’s supporters, some one from the prime minister’s entourage or even the prime minister himself.

Protest against police brutality last night in Skopje's central square (Photo: Netpress)

No matter what the cause may have been, there is obviously no reason for such brutality. The fact that it happened on election’s night, along with the fact that most media close to the government has chosen to ignore it (as well as the first statement from the police, claiming there were no external signs of violence on his body), leads me to believe that the attack on Daniel was politically motivated; regardless of what he might have done, this represents the abuse of force typical of an arrogant leadership boarding on dictatorship. It’s a cause for concern, one more in a country where intimidation techniques have been used more often than not to quiet dissent and silence the opposition.

From all the smoke screens caused by the media and police silence and their attempt to dismiss this as a minor incident, there is one thing that remains clear: Macedonia is going down a dangerous path. Maybe it’s a little too early to make a clear judgement on what happened on Sunday night, but it seems to be part of a pattern that has been a trademark of Nikola Gruevski’s governments. There is no space for the voices of those who have a different opinion from the current rulers. None of us can say what were Daniel’s political views, but whatever those were, they seem to have been the reason behind this attack and his death. I can only think of one type of country in which this is a common practice: third world dictatorships.

A verdadeira Democracia

Quando se fala em actos de democracia, a primeira coisa que vem à cabeça da maioria das pessoas é o acto eleitoral. As eleições permitem estabelecer a premissa base dum sistema democrático: é o povo quem decide por quem irá ser governado. Através do seu voto, os cidadãos de um determinado país dão legitimidade a um grupo de pessoas para governar o dito país. Nós legitimamos o poder.

O problema começa aqui. Chegados ao topo do poder político, aqueles que dependem de nós para lá chegar esquecem-se rapidamente deste facto, usando todos os instrumentos ao seu alcance para impôr a sua vontade sobre os eleitores, independentemente do que estes pensam. A legitimização do poder não deveria ser usada como uma carta branca, mas é, e tem sido esta atitude dos poderosos perante o poder que tem deteriorado o tecido social, deste e de outros países.

Uma bastonada dói o mesmo, seja quem fôr que esteja sentado na cadeira do poder...

Numa democracia real, a polícia não pode ser usada para bater naqueles que pensam de forma diferente. Isso chama-se ditadura, mas por muito que me tentem convencer que isso já não existe em Portugal ou Espanha, eu vejo o assalto policial aos acampados em Lisboa e Barcelona e não consigo encontrar diferenças: é a polícia a bater em quem ousa pensar e falar diferente. Isto, meus caros, não é democracia, por muitas eleições que se façam para legitimar o poder.

Isto tudo para dizer que o verdadeiro acto democrático não é colocar a cruz num boletim de voto e enfiá-lo na urna, como se isso nos validasse como cidadãos politicamente activos; o verdadeiro acto democrático está em cada um de nós, todos os dias, pensarmos por nós próprios, e usarmos as nossas acções e ideias em prol duma verdadeira sociedade democrática. A verdadeira democracia nasce nos acampamentos de Lisboa e Madrid, não no Parlamento. Somos nós a democracia, não eles. Mas enquanto a maioria das pessoas continuar iludida com a farsa eleitoral, montada para satisfazer a nossa ilusão democrática, o fosso que tem sido cavado entre eles e nós continuará a crescer.

The sanctity of marriage

Angry Birds in real life

Hi, my name is André, and I’m angrybirdaholic. And, apparently, not the only one. Deutsche Telekom built this amazing IRL level of Angry Birds for a new commercial. It was shot in the catalan city of Terrassa and I love every little bit of it, from the exploding pigs to the ska version of the theme song (that is now playing on a loop in my head). Can I play with one of these, please? =)

Tim Minchin is a very funny guy…

…and quite a romantic, if you ask me. =)

Why I stopped giving Facebook personal information

I don’t like Facebook. Not the website itself; even though it’s filled with uninteresting and perfectly dispensable crap, it’s a good way to stay in touch with friends and know what they’re up to. What I dislike about Facebook is the company, the people behind the wall posts, the status updates and all the little “like” buttons spread all over the internet.

There are more than a few reasons for this, and every now and then the company makes the headlines for the wrong reasons, showing the evil side of the social network that keeps me from using it as much as I might like in different circumstances. This most recent episode in the war against Google is just another example. The two companies are fighting for the data produced by Facebook’s users, but if Zuckerberg and his pals try to convince that it’s to protect you, don’t listen; they’re only trying to protect their ability to offer more targeted ads to you via the information you give them about yourself, an advantage they have over Google if your profile is private.

Is the Zuck Dr. Evil IRL? (image by Geekcomforts.com)

I abhor hypocrisy, and Facebook are masters at it. They want the internet to regard them as a special company, that deserves a special set of rules. They want all their users to go public, to make their personal profiles available to the world, but they don’t want anybody else to use that information. They want to be able to import contact information from other media, be it Twitter, Gmail or Yahoo!, but they don’t allow any other website to do the same with their contacts information. And, worst than anything else, they never ever ever delete the information you upload on the site, even if you “delete” your account.

This is why I stopped uploading anything personal to Facebook. If there is a Youtube video, or an interesting website, or some photos I took, or whatever I want to share with my friends, I will put it here and use Facebook only to publish the link to the blog. The real content will stay here, on my blog, where I have absolute control over what happens to it. If I choose to delete it, so be it, I will be done with it. That is a power we do not have in Facebook. Their vision is one of ownership: once you share it with us, it’s ours to keep. And all the information they have on you and me and everyone else is worth billions to the company. Unknowingly, we’re feeding the machine with every like button we click. More than wanting to be the Internet, they want to be our lives. And until we all realize this and stop falling into the trap of “sharing” and “liking” every little thing on the web through Facebook, they will continue to be successful, by selling our personal information.

But my bet is this won’t last forever. Every company that tried to be bigger than the Internet itself fell, eventually, and the same will happen to Facebook. It seems impossible today, sure, but there will come a day in which our lives will go on without it. I’m guessing that will be a happy day.

Pomplamoose cover Angry Birds theme

The wonderful Pomplamoose, an indie duo and Youtube darlings from San Francisco, have covered the Angry Birds theme in adorable fashion. If you liked this song, check out their Youtube channel.

Mono: beautiful post-rock from Japan

I’ve fallen in love with the music of Mono, a Japanese post-rock band. Their beautiful and intricate compositions, filled with layered guitar melodies, make me drift. Listening to their music brings me some 10/12 years back, when I started listening to post-rock via the brilliant Sigur Rós. It was a total discovery for me, and Mono are bringing that sense of new that I felt with the first impressions of Ágætis byrjun. Below is Battle to Heaven, my favourite song from their latest release Hymn to the Immortal Wind. I hope you’ll enjoy.