Burdensome past: Challenging the socialist heritage in Macedonia

Abstract

Analysis of the project "Skopje 2014", a major symbolic reconstruction of Macedonia capital, points towards establishment of ethnocratic regime in the country. Juxtaposed to the treatment of the socialist monuments it reveals the major shift in the historical narrative. This symbolic appropriation accompanies the neoliberal capitalist appropriation of space and is in its service by shifting the debate away from the capitalist accumulation by means of dispossession. The neglect of socialist monuments is indicative of grey-zoning, a governmentality technique easily abused in ethnocratic regimes that allows neoliberal practices to flourish unhindered by any productive public debate. Article concludes with a discussion of the possibilities for articulated resistance.