Author: Ivana Jelača

Monthly monitoring highlights: a range of hateful discourse throughout March

April 12, 2023

Throughout the month of March, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse.

Transphobia and Homophobia in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina

In Albania, Syri TV’s morning show called ‘Kafe Shqeto’ invited a member of the queer community in Albania – Luana Myrto – a transgender woman as well as Linda Pano, the wife of an evangelical pastor Akil Pano. Akil Pano is known for leading the Alliance for the Protection of the Family. Both individuals were invited onto the show under the discussion and topic ‘Who is pushing children towards the LGBTQ+ community?’ The debate quickly turned sour when accusations from Linda Pano were made, claiming that the LGBTQ+ propaganda is pushing children towards the queer community. She, furthermore, misused information from a Gallup poll that shows that ‘20% of children consider themselves part of the queer community and 80% of children are undecided’. Moreover, the host of the show repeatedly referred to Luana Myrto by her previous (male) name, thereby completely dismissing her integrity. Referring to Luana with her previous name is disrespectful and insulting. To add to this, article published by Syri.net, the outlet’s portal, who captured key moments from the debate, portrayed extreme bias against the LGBTQ+ community. This contributes to upholding transphobic rhetoric and disrespectful portrayal of members of the queer community. Media portals should maintain an unbiased position and not serve to spread discriminatory rhetoric and opinion against any individual or group. Furthermore, hosts on shows should be held accountable to be respectful and considerate towards their guests.

In Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a screening of the film ‘Pride’ was planned to be held on 18^th March, joined with a panel discussion and informal gathering with music was also planned at the DKC Incel Facility. In reaction to the proposed event, the association ‘Srpsko Sabranje Baštionik’ published an open letter a few days earlier, which they send to the addresses of the President of Republika Srpska, the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska as well as the Mayor of Banja Luka in which they requested a ban on the use of the public space ‘for such gatherings and activities’. This included ‘preventing gathering, highlighting and promoting symbols that offend the religious, moral and freedom of the inhabitants of Banja Luka and Republika Srpska’. They requested from the President a legislation which would serve the purpose of ‘protecting family, spiritual and traditional values.’ As a result of the request and demand from many government representatives and non-governmental organisations, the event was eventually banned. Despite this decision, the activists still gathered in the premises of organisation Transparency International where they were subsequently attacked, leaving three individuals were injured.

The whole situation was a direct consequence of the hate speech and discriminatory statements against the LGBTQ+ community that have been normalised by government officials and other individuals in positions of power, such as the Mayor of Banja Luka, Draško Stanivuković, President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and other representatives of the authorities in the Republika Srpska, who threatened the right to public gathering of citizens who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. Politicians who have a large platform and influence should not spread or uphold anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, which can provoke more violence towards the community.

Religious Discrimination in Montenegro

March in Montenegro was the period of presidential elections which saw several hate speech incidents and a rise in discrimination and tension between political opponents. Ivan Vuković, the mayor of Podgorica, gave a speech during one of the final conventions of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) before the presidential elections. His speech contained a number of hate speech elements including religious discriminatory rhetoric. During his speech, Vuković used negative labels towards his political opponents; stereotypes, generalisations, and insults which were aimed at Serbian people in Montenegro and the Serbian Orthodox Church members of Montenegro, and insults pointing to all religious people. Vuković even used labels such as the ’real Montenegrin government’ when referring to the current government where officials from the Serbian party in Montenegro, Democratic Front were present. He even went as far as to insinuate that the political opponents would kill ‘ten of us’ as this was allegedly the words of his political opponent Jakov Milatović during another heated event. Despite the claim and accusation, it has never been proven that Milatović did say these words.

Political debates in Montenegro often contains harmful language to label political opponents, usually targeting religion and ethnicity. This only culminated during the presidential campaign. Indeed, Montenegrin nationalists, headed by DPS often use insulting terminology to undermine the opposition by labelling them as lesser people, less educated and backwards with less rights than ‘real’ Montenegrins, further spreading discrimination and tension between various groups and members in society.

Ethnic Discrimination in Serbia

During a press conference earlier this month, the Mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić gave an extremely problematic response when asked to comment on solving the issue of the Roma community living in unhygienic informal settlements. He quoted that it was necessary for the Roma community to want a “normal life” then proceeded to mention that the Roma community refuse to integrate into society and that the help which the city has offered them in the form of social housing has all been in vain. He justified this by saying that they have either misused it or did not use it at all because, according to him, “they tear our carpentry and sanitary ware, sell everything that can be sold, they cause problems for their neighbours and in the end, they return to their unhygienic settlements”.

In response to Šapić’s statement there was a large uproar from various civil society organisations and associations for Roma rights. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality also demanded for the mayor to publicly apologise. Although many media outlets did end up reporting critically on Šapić’s statement exposing and condemning it as racist, some of the most popular media in the country such as Kurir and Informer did not report on this at all. Meanwhile, media platforms Blic and Telegraf only quoted his statements uncritically and without questioning them. By permitting such rhetoric and hateful language to go unchallenged, this only further perpetuates the systematic and societal discrimination and exclusion of Roma community in the country, whilst taking away the responsibility of institutions to ensure equal opportunities. None of the most popular media in the country have seriously tackled the issue of systemic discrimination of Roma and institutional responses to that.

Sexism in Kosovo and North Macedonia

In Kosovo, a Member of Parliament of the Self-Determination Movement Arjeta Fejza recently stated that femicide is present in Kosovar society. In reaction to this, a Member of Parliament of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Ganimete Musliu, spoke out and claimed that this is wrong and there is no femicide in the country. She claimed that women are not killed due to the fact that they are women, but that there is violence against women, and it should be punishable by law. Musliu also claimed that one should be careful because everything which is said in Parliament will be exposed in reports later on. The Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu reacted to this statement and pointed out how ‘criminals listen to you, and are encouraged by such speeches.’

Femicide involves the intentional killing of women based on their gender and is a phenomenon which is observed worldwide, including Kosovo. By denying femicide and gender-based violence, this only serves to undermine the experiences which are committed towards victims of it and violence. This further supports the culture of non-recognition of violence that women face as a specific problem and consequently the responsibility that institutions bear to prevent it. Rhetoric like this expressed by Members of Parliament can only further justify and perpetuate the cycle of violence towards women with little to no consequence. Public figures bear the responsibility and hold the power to address these issues and prevent them from occurring in society and should therefore take these matters seriously instead of denying their existence.

In North Macedonia on March 8^th – International Women’s Day – a group of people protesting for women’s rights and solidarity joined a march before several institutions, raising awareness for women’s rights across the country. The protest gained a large media coverage and focus from several TV and online media outlets, who reported on the march. One of the images captured from the march included a young woman who can be seen to be holding up a sign which reads ‘F**k off, Church’. This image provoked a number of reactions on social media who went on to call, name and shame her using all kinds of profanities. They also proceeded on to share her social media profiles, including screenshots in an effort to expose and shame her. In addition to this, individuals also began to vehemently attack the woman for being an employee of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and similarly, went on to call out other people from the organization. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights is often attacked by several social media users who accuse them of being tied up with the ruling party, and for being politically biased in their intervention of cases and situation where they protest or seek more women’s rights. The violation of the young woman’s privacy including the image which circulated around and exposure of her social media resulted in the surge of attacks and verbal abuse on social media. In conclusion, straying away the public attention from the cause of the protest for women’s rights in the country, only undermines the importance of the event itself.

THE INVISIBLE BURDEN ON WOMEN JOURNALISTS

April 11, 2023

NEW REPORT CONFIRMS WIDE SCALE SEXISM IN KOSOVO’S NEWSROOMS.

The majority of journalists reporting from the field on most Kosovar television networks are women. They even report in dangerous situations, such as during the recent tensions in the north of Kosovo. They do it all: protests, parties, vox-pop and more. More noteworthy is that over the years there has been a marked increase in the number of women journalists covering politics, a field that has traditionally been dominated by men.

Despite the predominance of women journalists in the field and in politics, after the evening news when political talk shows infiltrate our homes, women start to disappear from the screen. We see instead panels of men. This perpetuates the idea that women’s voices and expertise are less valuable and that women are not valued contributors to social or political dialogue.
This gender imbalance and the reinforcing of harmful gender stereotypes is evident in the output of media outlets. This deprives us of different perspectives. Women, in particular, are far less likely than men to be featured as subjects in newscasts, perpetuating a distorted and biased view of society.

The discrepancy between the visibility of women journalists in fieldwork and in panel discussions and other media content was also highlighted in research published last month, which I led. The survey for this report included 265 women — journalists, photojournalists, moderators, editors, editors-in-chief, directors, lecturers and video editors — employed in all types of media organizations.

The findings from this survey started at the request of the journalists themselves. In 2021, the Peaceful Change initiative (PCi) brought together dozens of women journalists from Kosovo and Serbia for an hours-long virtual meeting to talk about gender representation in the media and the experiences of women in newsrooms.

At the time of the research, Covid-19 continued to be an entrenched part of life. It was clear that the pandemic was further exacerbating inequalities and that many of the hidden experiences of the crisis were gendered. For example, there was the burden of unpaid work, which fell more and more on women’s shoulders. There was also an increase in the number of cases of gender-based violence.

WOMEN IN THE MEDIA RESEARCH FINDINGS

About 50% of respondents earn less than the national average;
39.2% work more than 40 hours a week;
More than 40% cover politics;
21.5% believe they earn less than their male colleagues for the same job;
26.4% or one in four women was a victim of sexual harassment;
20% have been discriminated against because of appearance and 28.3% because of age;
49.1% think that their private life has suffered because of work and 29.1% think that their private life affects their work to a great extent;
70% believe that women are less present than men in media content.

Likewise, we witnessed how among the women who were on the front line of the pandemic, such as nurses or cashiers, there were also journalists who were reporting from the moment the first cases emerged in Kosovo.

During the virtual meeting in 2021 the participants agreed that their considerable workload was only one problem. Worse still was that the sexism that perpetuates the oppression of women is not only present within media content, but also in the workplace.

Two years later, stories about the harsh and unsafe environment in newsrooms have turned into tangible and clear documentation.

About half of the women surveyed earn less than the average salary in Kosovo, which in 2021 was 484 euros. Meanwhile, almost 40% of them work more than 40 hours a week. Of course, more analysis is needed to determine whether these insufficient economic conditions are a consequence of the gender pay gap or just a familiar portrait of worker’s exploitation in Kosovo’s newsrooms. The survey did not analyze the salaries of male employees in the newsroom.

The research shows how women journalists encounter obstacles, confrontations and additional difficulties due to being discriminated against on the basis of gender. Some of the forms of discrimination highlighted in the research are sexual harassment, ageism and the lack of support for journalists who are mothers.

“I quit my job”

The research revealed that sexual harassment is a serious concern in many media outlets, where one in four women are a victim of sexual harassment (26.4%).

A significant number stated that the harassers are their male colleagues — journalists, editors-in-chief, managers, directors, cameramen and video editors. Examples of the sexual harassment included inappropriate or unwanted sexual gestures, making sexual comments or jokes and harassment through spam messages and calls. Some women journalists also reported forms of sexual assault, such as fondling or unwanted sexual touching.

Outside the newsroom, harassers included men who hold public positions within institutions and political parties, but also businessmen and others who were important sources for the women journalist’s articles and research.

Although the survey did not ask women if they had reported sexual harassment to their supervisors, some indicated that when they did report it, they were met with discouragement and indifference.

The frightening and traumatizing experience of sexual harassment in the workplace is particularly illustrated in the same response given by at least three respondents:

“I quit my job.”

Sexual harassment is an abuse of power and privilege. The media has a critical role to play in combating sexual harassment and holding abusers of power accountable. Instead, the media is too often complicit in allowing this abuse to continue, creating a toxic culture of fear and silence that undermines the safety and well-being of employees.

Directors, editors-in-chief and other leaders in the media must take a stand and establish clear guidelines for reporting sexual harassment. They must provide support and resources for victims and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions. It is essential that leading figures within the media recognize that sexual harassment not only endangers the integrity of women, but also prevents newsrooms from joining the global fight against gender discrimination in the workplace.

In addition to an abundance of evidence about how journalists are objectified and sexually harassed in their workplace and are faced with unwanted sexual advances, women journalists are also objectified by editors and managers for the purposes of news production.

“I have been asked to look more sensual and attractive when I have interviews with any artist,” said one of the respondents.

How can the media effectively combat gender discrimination in society if it does not first address it within the media industry itself? As is, the media is perpetuating harmful gender roles that encourage the objectification and dehumanization that pave the way for gender-based violence.

Ageism and lack of support for journalists who are mothers

Nearly 30% of respondents stated that they have been discriminated against because of their age. This applies both to younger journalists (18-24) and to those over 55. For example, a number of young women reported receiving derogatory remarks from editors and not being taken seriously by sources because of their age.

The urgency is obvious — media outlets must start discussing ways to keep older women journalists in the newsrooms, instead of losing their valuable knowledge and expertise. Similar to the overall labor market, the lack of participation of older women in newsrooms and panels suggests that newsrooms are also failing to accommodate older, more experienced women journalists.

The latter is not only a matter of justice, but also a matter of quality journalism. Experienced journalists bring a level of depth, context and institutional memory to their reporting that is difficult to replicate. This is also part of the media’s responsibility to the audience — to provide journalism that informs from different perspectives and experiences.

The fact that women are not welcome in the media after a certain point in their lives is also reflected in the answers of a significant group of respondents who say that they are facing difficulties in career progression due to family life.

“Since I have to come home when my child returns from school or when the kindergarten closes, sometimes I have to push my career goals to the side. I get involved as little as possible in training and discussion tables in order not to waste time, because I have a family at home who expect care from me,” answered one of them.

Almost 30% said that their family responsibilities have a major impact on their media engagement, while half of them responded that their personal life has some kind of impact.

Considering how the burden of unpaid work and parenting falls disproportionately on the shoulders of Kosovar women compared to their male partners — for single mothers it’s even worse — it’s no surprise that the compiled data shows that 97% of those who answered that family responsibilities influence their career “a lot” are married with children.

Journalists, along with other mothers, have to shoulder the burden of public policy failures and the lack of progressive legislation, putting mothers in economic hardship and reinforcing the harmful notion that they are the absolute caretakers of their homes.

The media, instead of condemning mothers because of cultural norms, should find solutions and join the conversation that many newsrooms around the world are having about how to facilitate the family-work balance of women in journalism.

It is vital that the media in Kosovo apply feminist concepts and policies to employment and media production, thereby addressing power relations and taking into consideration gender and the interaction of social identities that structure experiences in the workplace. Only in this way can the media create an inclusive and diverse environment that supports and empowers women journalists.

When women journalists are given equal opportunities and their perspectives are valued, the media can better represent and reflect the diverse voices and experiences of individuals and social groups. In this way, the media can lead the way to a fairer and more equal society.

Author: Dafina Halili

Photo: Kosovo 2.0

This article was originally produced for and published by Kosovo 2.0. It has been re-published here with permission.

WHY DOES SERBIA GROW MANY A SAPIC AND JUST THE ODD GARY LINEKER

April 10, 2023

Manipulating the myth of Kosovo, the politics of Aleksandar Vučić has enabled public/media discourse to become consumed with hatred towards vulnerable groups (women, the LGBTQ+ population, people of different religious and political affiliations) and almost completely devoid of empathy and solidarity.

When former British footballer and current sports presenter Gary Lineker tweeted about the UK government’s controversial migration bill, BBC’s management cut his airtime. The reaction by the British public as well as by prominent figures including his Match of the Day co-hosts was immediate.

Lineker’s tweet characterised the UK government’s migration bill as “immeasurably cruel” and “directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

On the other side of Europe, in Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, a former water polo athlete and the current Mayor of Belgrade, said that the integration of the Roma is impossible unless they want it and used stereotypes that are commonly used against the Rome population:

“There have been attempts to provide Roma families with permanent accommodation, but they do not stay there for long. They rip out doors and windows, strip the plumbing, sell all that can be sold, cause disturbance to their neighbours and eventually return to their unhygienic settlements.”

Serbia’s Roma Party filed charges against him but despite the criticism he received – mostly from the Roma community – Šapić continued with the same narrative and mentioned that he did not consider his comments discriminatory, as he had not referred to the entire Roma community. He claimed he was not concerned about criminal charges filed against him by the Roma Party. Nataša Tasić Knežević, who is an opera singer and member of SNS, as well as Roma herself and an activist for the rights of the Roma people, commented on Šapić’s statement by saying that he “offended Belgrade and all people who live there“.

Mensur Haliti, director of the Office for Roma Initiatives and Democracy at the Open Society Foundation, stated for Serbian daily newspaper Danas that Šapić’s words “are racist and violate international, European and state laws,” whereas Branko Đurić, the editor of the television show Romanipen went one step further and stated for the weekly Vreme that Šapić “recreates dangerous concepts that once led the Roma to the guillotine and gas chambers”.

Lineker and Šapić’s cases may be different but the way they were reported by the Serbian media is indicative of the Serbian media environment. For the media close to Serbia’s government, Lineker’s case was not covered widely. In general, positive representations that do not serve the government’s agenda are rare. More independent media on the other hand, covered Lineker’s case widely and called attention to Šapić’s inappropriate comments.

Hatred ‒ a pattern for personal advancement

By looking at those two cases comparatively it becomes clear that the Serbian media environment lacks from positive representation of diversity-related issues. Why is it so difficult for the country’s media to share examples of solidarity and empathy towards those who do not have a voice or whose voice is rarely heard?

Nebojša Milenković, a writer, art historian and curator, who constantly points out the anomalies of Serbian society, says that the reason for this lies in the fact that Serbian society is neither decent nor civilized:

“As a society we are dead, or clinically dead. There are ordered and decent societies in which people do not degrade one another, in which institutions do not degrade the citizens, and we do not have either one of these qualities: neither are we decent nor civilized. It pains to realize that it pays off, so to say, to generate hatred. The highest state officials spread nothing but hatred around them. The President deploys an overbearing, arrogant and unseemly manner of speaking when he talks about his political opponents and the media, or anyone who dares say anything he considers unwelcome. It creates a pattern, a model, a desirable norm of behaviour, so the members of his party think that hatred is a reference for personal advancement. The Serbian Parliament is an arena for exercising hatred. There is not a trace of parliamentarism or democracy there. They compete at reciprocating insults and being creative in expressing hatred. Serbia is not ruled by Aleksandar Vučić. Serbia is ruled by hatred and fear. Vučić himself is terrified and panic-stricken, and he knows only too well why he should be afraid,”
Milenković told RDN.

The case of Kosovo still seems to be present in every conversation in Serbia’s public domain and it influences different political and media narratives. Milenković underlines that present-day Serbia has been brought up on the myth that Kosovo is the heart of Serbia, which has been the platform Vučić has used to win elections.

“The talk about Serbia-Kosovo agreement is a generator that brutalizes our society. What lies ahead of us is a dramatic period in which those from “the patriotic Serbia” will fight among themselves, and what they call patriotism is anything but that. This distorted view of patriotism now metastasizes in the form of media messages, posters, messages on pavements, murals, fabricated affairs… There are, of course, incidents of defending common logic. We may be able to recall numerous instances of solidarity and empathy in the public/media sphere, but they still remain incidents, which is what decency has become here ‒ an incident. The reason for that is the fear that dominates the society. It is like a virus, it spreads faster, faster than Corona for example. On the other hand, courage is like a virus, too. It could also spread if it were a desirable model of behaviour. As for the reason why it is not, the answer lies in the pathologies of our society; for there are dogmatic societies, in which the truths are not questioned but created by a single person, and then there are questioning societies ‒ developed societies in which there is a dialogue and where people exchange their opinions,” Milenković explains and adds that Kosovo has become a multiple risk for Serbian citizens in every way: it has become a personal issue of Aleksandar Vučić, whom the representatives of the international community have approached with a “take it or leave it” ultimatum ‒ “those who refuse take the blame for everything”, which shows that the international community, too, treats the peoples of this region and their representatives with astounding disrespect.

Examples of solidarity expressed by public figures in Serbia may be rare, but they exist. For example, the singer Seka Aleksić publicly opposed the leader of the right-wing movement Dveri Boško Obradović, who feels that in vitro fertilization by donor reproductive material from Spain and Denmark requires “particular moral and ethical assessment”.

“You have offended all people who struggle to become parents in this way, shame on you. Who are you to decide and impose opinions? It is God who grants children, whether through natural conception, IVF or with donor eggs, and brings joy to thousands of families. Do you know how many couples struggle like this?” posted Aleksić on Twitter, as the media report.

The actor Milan Marić also spreads solidarity and empathy in the public sphere whenever he can. As a host of the recently held national Eurovision selection, he used the opportunity to send a message to the auditorium speaking against violence against women, children, the elderly and the LGBTQ+ population. For a long time, the writer Vladimir Arsenijević has used the power of public speaking and his personal integrity to stand up for the weak and vulnerable. Since the beginning of war in Ukraine, Arsenijević has been helping collect aid and speaking publicly about the importance of understanding the Ukrainian situation. He took aid to Ukraine, and organized residence in Serbia for Ukrainian writers. Arsenijević, as well as Milenković, finds that the reasons for the poor state of the Serbian society and media, which are often blamed for everything, lie in what we live, which according to him is “the result of revisionism, self-victimization and utter inability to take responsibility for anything”.

After all, is that not the best answer to the question why there are more and more of those like Šapić and fewer and fewer of those like Lineker in the Serbian society?

Author: Snežana Miletić

Photo: LCV / Shutterstock

TROLL OF THE MONTH: Stefan Lazarov, YouTube influencer

April 3, 2023

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region.

A popular North Macedonian YouTuber and influencer by the name of Stefan Lazarov recently published a podcast episode which featured a well-known journalist with decades of experience, Dragan Pavlovic-Latas. During the show, amongst other things, the two individuals began to discuss the guest’s sexual past. Latas openly admitted to a case of rape of a young woman when he was 15-16 years old. Whilst describing the rape, both Latas and Lazarov were laughing about the situation. Lazarov is a popular YouTuber in the country, with a large number of followers of around 77,500, highlighting his large viewership.

Following the publication of the podcast, there was an avalanche of reaction on social media, which both criticised and publicly shamed the release of the interview. The pressure on the YouTuber resulted in him removing the video from his channel. Furthermore, the contents of the show and the story Latas discussed caught the attention of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. According to the organisation the fact that the video received over 50,000 views and the issue of rape and sexual violence was deemed a topic and source of laughter only serves to portray the ‘realistic representation of how we treat women victims of violence’. Furthermore, the Committee highlighted how the fact that the topic was deemed a source of amusement is something which only further highlights the ‘painful indicator of what normalising a culture of violence looks like in practice and where institutional inaction and the lack of clear attitudes and policies that protect victims rather than abusers can lead to.’ The Committee rightfully pointed out the ongoing issue within society whereby incidents such as these involving abuse and non-consensual acts of violence are deemed a laughing matter. No form of sexual abuse or violence towards women should ever be seen as a matter of mockery or source of entertainment – they are crimes and should therefore be treated as such. Individuals should face the consequences and punishment for such actions.

Alongside the reaction from the public, institutions, and civil society organizations, the Department for Computer Crime at the Ministry of Internal Affairs submitted a request to the Basic Public Prosecutor’s office in Skopje resulting in a case being opened.

Furthermore, despite the video being deleted and removed from Lazarov’s channel, it has since then been re-uploaded by an unknown YouTube account and only recently deleted in the past few days. Although it is not known who the YouTube channel is associated with or for what means it was re-uploaded, it is extremely problematic that such content continued to have a platform and visibility.

Sexual harassment and violence towards women in any form holds no justification. Permitting Latas to discuss rape that he committed, whilst laughing and mocking the situation is highly problematic. Violence towards women is an issue which continues to exist within society and highlights the lack of both institutional protection of women and the societal attitudes towards rape and sexual abuse. Incidents like these can be seen to normalise these acts of abuse. Mocking and laughing at the topics discussed rather than condemning the situation and reporting Latas for his acts, only serves to relativise such behaviour within society. Relativisation of gender-based violence is a frequent practice in the Western Balkans, which RDN 2.0 monitoring confirms. However, Lazarov has a responsibility to be accountable for what he releases on his YouTube channel and should face the consequences for allowing such content to go unchallenged on his platform.

THE ALBANIANS SAILING TO THE U.K.

April 1, 2023

XENOPHOBIA AND SIMPLISTIC NARRATIVES HARM ALBANIAN ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN THE U.K.

Last November, the British Home Office Secretary Suella Braverman raised the alarm in Parliament about “an invasion of the southern coast by illegal boats.” She emphasized in particular the increase in Albanian arrivals, whom she accused of scamming the U.K. government and taking advantage of laws meant to prevent slavery and trafficking and to support victims. She argued that individuals coming from a country deemed safe by the U.K. government, as Albania is, should be stripped of their right to claim asylum and that there should be further restrictions of immigration to the U.K.

In the months since there has been an increase in inflammatory statements targeting the Albanian community in the U.K. In particular, the Conservative party and affiliated media outlets have brought disproportionate focus to bear on young Albanian men “flooding” the British shores and engaging in illegal gang activity.

Amid a deepening economic crisis, the political elite and mainstream media have joined forces in creating a moral panic focused on supposed security threats and the economic cost of immigration and its impact on the British taxpayers in an attempt to deflect public attention from the real causes of soaring inequality.

Treating migrants as a demographic, security or economic threat is a classic political maneuver in the U.K. that the Tories in particular have been using for decades in their quest for a homogeneous Britain.

For instance, in the post-war period, thousands of non-white migrants from the British Commonwealth settled permanently in the U.K., transforming the ethnic and racial make-up of British society. These demographic changes sparked a racist backlash among many in the country, including among the political leadership. Former conservative leader and prime minister Margaret Thatcher was frequently criticized by communities of color for overtly racist or dog-whistle statements, such as sympathizing with some Brits’ racial anxieties of being “swamped by people with a different culture.”

NIGEL FARAGE CLAIMED A “FLOOD” OF ALBANIAN MEN WERE STORMING THE U.K. AND THAT THE MAJORITY OF THESE MEN ARE PRONE TO ORGANIZED CRIME.

We see the most recent version of this xenophobia in the treatment of Albanian migrants who are presented as a dangerous masculine force invading the country. Reduced to “scammers” who are “linked with gangs,” we are presented with a portrait of Albanians as a homogenous group of single young men who are a threat to society and unwilling to assimilate into British society.

For example, during a BBC interview, Nigel Farage (former Brexit Party leader) claimed a “flood” of Albanian men were storming the U.K. and that the majority of these men are prone to organized crime.

Most Albanians crossing the English channel in small boats are indeed men and boys. Figures from the Home Office state that from 2018 to June 2022, 95% of Albanian small boat arrivals were male. People like Farage use this fact and twist it, creating dehumanizing generalizations that erase the complicated and intersecting factors that lead young Albanians to flee Albania for the U.K.

The scaremongering creates a racist discourse about Albanians. Despite the fact that Albanians consider themselves as “white,” are generally accepted as such, the vilification of Albanian immigrants is arguably a racialized process of differentiation, what scholar Avtar Brah calls the “racialisation of ethnicity.” The monolithic image of the threatening Albanian male migrant, prone to pathological forms of masculinity and characterized by a proximity to illegal activity, differs little from other racist white European narratives of outsiders.

The Conservative narrative not only creates this false portrait of the Albanian man, it also erases the Albanian women seeking asylum in the U.K., women who are in need of protection and have been ignored or overlooked.

In reality, Albanians are pushed or pulled to the U.K. due to coming from one of Europe’s poorest countries, and the social problems that emerge from such an impoverished place. Young Albanians are pushed into the hands of traffickers due to poverty or low education, domestic violence or sexual abuse, blood feuds, violence, labor exploitation, homelessness or ethnic discrimination (in the case of Roma or Egyptians).

AROUND 85% OF ALBANIAN ADULTS REFERRED INTO THE U.K.’S NATIONAL REFERRAL MECHANISM WERE RECOGNIZED AS GENUINE VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING AND MODERN SLAVERY.

According to a 2019 report by Asylum Research Center, “Albania: Trafficked boys and young men,” trafficking of men and boys in the north of Albania remains a serious human rights issue. Epidemic corruption and a weak legal system has enabled the proliferation of trafficking criminal gangs. As the study shows, the traffickers take advantage of the impoverishment of these communities and manipulate them with false promises of job opportunities, only to abandon the migrants on the shores after pocketing their fee, or forcing them into exploitative labor conditions in the U.K. to pay off inflated debts.

How safe is a country like Albania?

Many migrant experts have criticized how the Conservative party has singled-out Albanian asylum-seekers. “Refugee Council,” a charity with experience providing practical support for Albanian asylum seekers, notes that there are a staggeringly high number of victims of sexual and criminal exploitation in Albania.

Albanians have also for some time been one of the largest groups trafficked into the U.K. In 2022, the U.S. Department of State published a report stating that 2,511 Albanian nationals were victims of trafficking in the U.K., making them the most at-risk foreign nationality in the country for trafficking. According to Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit (MiCLU), a legal hub based in London that offers strategic litigation, between 2019 and 2022 around 85% of Albanian adults referred into National Referral Mechanism (the U.K.’s national framework for identifying and supporting potential victims of modern slavery) were recognized as genuine victims of trafficking and modern slavery.

The U.N. Refugee Convention particularly notes armed conflicts and wars as creating the type of persecution that would grant somebody refugee status, but it does not limit legitimate grounds for claiming asylum only to war. A wide range of factors are listed as legitimating claims to refugee status and asylum, such as race or ethnicity, political opinion, religion, and membership in specific social groups. Many fear persecution, even if there is no state of war.

Despite Albania being designated a safe country and not in a state of war, there is an astounding level of corruption, sexual violence, domestic violence and other societal issues that the state has long been incapable of addressing. Despite criticism from British politicians and media, the Home Office, which itself has been criticized for its anti-Albanianism, has been forced to recognize this fact when they actually look into the asylum claims of Albanian migrants — for the 12 month period ending in June 2022, 90% of Albanian women claiming asylum were granted a visa and recognized as in genuine need of protection.

Based on my volunteering experience with Albanian asylum-seekers in the U.K., the diverse lived experiences of asylum claimants from Albania should not be bracketed under rigid categories such as economic migrants. It is not solely poverty driving these people to the U.K. The demonization of Albanians as scammers of modern slavery laws is racist and wrong.

A number of organizations in the U.K. have condemned the offensive rhetoric directed at Albanians and have called out the recent failures to provide safe legal routes for asylum-seeking as a form of state-sanctioned violence. Human rights activists are asking the Home Office to embrace a trauma-informed asylum system, one which does not blame a particular national group for the U.K.’s flawed immigration policies, but instead invests in increasing capacities for the adequate accommodation of refugees and faster asylum-processing system.

Author: Kristina Millona

Photo credit: K2.0.

This article was originally produced for and published by Kosovo 2.0 within the framework of RDN 2.0 project. It has been re-published here with permission.

This article was produced based on the media monitoring done by the Reporting Diversity Network 2.0, with the financial support of the European Union, Balkan Trust for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.

Monthly Monitoring Highlights: sexism, ethnic and religious tensions during February

March 17, 2023

Throughout the month of February, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month we have witnessed sexism, religious and ethnic discrimination, and homophobia in the Western Balkans media.

Sexism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Albania

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, portal Klix.ba published an article regarding the composition of the new state government. However, when reporting on a female member, Jovanka Božović Milovanović, who has been appointed to become the head of the cabinet of the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications the article focused on a separate, unrelated period of her life. The article, ‘The actress from the Crvena Jabuka video became the head of the cabinet of Forto’s deputy’ concentrated on her appearance in a music video instead of highlighting her academic achievements and career as an individual who is taking up a new important position within the government. Crvena Jabuka – a pop rock band formed in Sarajevo in the 80s – was very popular in Yugoslavia in the 80s and 90s. Jovanka Božović Milovanović was described in the beginning of the article as an individual who graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts and who had studied literature, but was shortly then reduced to the role of an individual who made an appearance in a music video. This article failed to cover important information such as the competence and expertise of the head of the cabinet to be. Such treatment is not unusual when it comes to women in public life in the Balkans, but it indeed represents sexist practices that are harmful for women and the rest of society.

In Serbia, on K1 television during the show ‘Ako progovorim’ (If I speak out), the host of the show, Gordana Goca Tržan, was talking about the experience of women being harassed in public places, including receiving inappropriate comments from men. During the discussion, Tržan turned to the audience and posed the question ‘Have you ever had the experience, girls, of walking down the street and someone honking at you from a building or a car and saying, ‘hey little girl, you look good?.’ Many of the women in the audience responded that they had indeed had those experiences. Tržan then asked them if they were happy when this happened to them or if it ‘terribly annoys them and sexually harasses them’. The audience responded, with the majority saying that they were not pleased with it. Tržan responded ‘are you normal? Well, if it weren’t for those on the construction sites, no one would ever tell you that you’re a hot chick’.

This dialogue and rhetoric are extremely dangerous and problematic, amplified by the fact that such ideas and narratives are promoted by a host on a television program with a large viewership. Furthermore, this commentary was met with laughter and a clap from guests on the show and from some individuals in the audience, thereby, encouraging such statements. The entire rhetoric is both sexist, undermining the experience of those who have been victims of harassment be it sexual, physical, or verbal, and fails to address sexual harassment as a social issue. Sharing and promoting such ideas only serves to justify this behavior and further promote sexism in society whilst encouraging cat calling and other forms of harassment in public spaces. This clip from the show went viral on social media and received a large amount of criticism.

On TV Klan in Albania, an investigative journalism show called ‘Stop’ recently reported on a rape case which occurred in the town of Belsh where a man raped a 20-year-old woman ‘with mental disabilities’ – as implied in the show. The man was reported to the police after which he was granted permission to face the family of the girl and was then eventually let free. Following this, the ‘Stop’ show’s journalists interviewed both the perpetrator and the victim. The victim was asked extremely disturbing questions including ‘how did he open your legs?’ and ‘what were you wearing?’ This first and foremost violates the woman’s privacy and integrity, and moreover, is both insensitive and callous following an extremely traumatic event.

Sexual trauma and rape are extremely disturbing events and are illegal, but have not been treated like that by the TV Klan. Having a victim interviewed on live television and asked a series of insensitive questions regarding her experience goes against all moral and ethical guidelines. This is extremely problematic and completely ignores the emotions and dignity of the victim in question. Both the TV show and journalists should be held responsible for failing to adhere to journalistic standards when reporting on rape and sexual violence. Allowing such events to take place with no repercussion only further allows for instances like these to be repeated in the future. Furthermore, this only further strays away from the important issue of violence towards women and the lack of adequate responses and consequences of such actions.

Homophobia in Kosovo

In Kosovo, a member of the parliament of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Albana Bytyqi, told online media outlet Insajderi that she and her political party will not be voting for the Civil Code, that would recognise same sex civil partnerships. Her justification and reasoning behind this decision was on the basis that she did not want her children to ‘go astray’ tomorrow and tell her that she voted for the Civil Code, thereby, taking away that right from them. This statement was also conveyed by the online media Insajderi on their Facebook page, which resulted in several comments supporting the member of parliament’s decision and alongside this, using the language of hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community.

Having a member of parliament and an individual of political power and influence express homophobic narratives and ideas of ‘going astray’ is very problematic. Every individual regardless of their sexual orientation should have equal rights and freedom of choice to love and live with whom they desire. Spreading rhetoric like this only further spurs on homophobic and anti-LGBTQ+ narratives in society. In Kosovo, the majority opposes the LGBTQ+ community and often use hateful language against them. Politicians and those in power have a moral responsibility to prevent the spread of hate and be aware of the influence of their opinions on society. Furthermore, media such as Insajderi should not provide the platform for the further spread of hateful, anti-LGBTQ+ narratives.

Ethnic Discrimination in North Macedonia

Journalist Milenko Nedelkovski recently published a tweet which translated reads as follows: “Did SDS enter the Shiptar government?” With this tweet Nedelkovski was insinuating that Albanian parties are in fact the main rulers of the government and not the SDSM party – the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia. Milenko Nedelkovski is a long-time supporter of the policies and public officials of the largest conservative party, which is also currently the opposition party, known as VMRO-DPMNE. He has been very vocal on several occasions about his distrust in Albanian parties and has often expressed hateful narratives and rhetoric toward the ethnic-Albanian people in North Macedonia.

The tweet received over seven thousand views, reaching a large audience. Ethnic discrimination holds no place in political narratives, especially in a country where it can influence relations between two major ethnic groups. Having an individual with a large viewership express hateful narratives towards the ethnic-Albanian population in North Macedonia is very harmful and only serves to create divide and tension in the country.

Religious discrimination in Montenegro

Rožaje is a town located in the northeast of Montenegro which is inhabited by predominantly Muslims. It has one Orthodox Church, which was recently repaired and repainted with the help of donations from the Muslim community. However, it was recently discovered that following the redecoration, a fresco was painted on a wall, which sparked controversy and dispute in the country. The fresco depicted Muslim men with knives, holding torches, heading towards the church. Alongside this, a man with a knife stands above a crib with a baby, its mother by its side.

This image sparked debate and outcry from the Islamic Community in Montenegro, with its head, Rifat Fejzic, warning that the fresco is ‘inciting ethnic divisions with the country’. Moreover, it was discovered that the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro had indeed approved such a painting to be drawn.

A drawing like this, which is clearly aimed at targeting a religious group, is extremely dangerous and creates further division in the town of Rožaje. Moreover, in a country like Montenegro with a sensitive political climate and characterised by a variety of religious communities, incidents like these can spark tension amongst groups in society.

Even though most media reported on this situation critically, warning that it might deepen religious intolerance, some right-oriented and pro-Serbian media used it to incite hate. Online portal IN4S interviewed Budimir Aleksić, Member of Parliament from the Democratic Front, a pro-Serbian party, about the issue. Aleksić used the situation to attack political opponents, accusing the former ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) of historical revisionism, and disregarding the feelings of the Muslim community in Montenegro. All criticism of the frescos was labeled as an attack on the church. Other Pro- Serbian portals, such as Borba and Pogled, republished the interview.

TROLL OF THE MONTH: Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska

March 7, 2023

February Troll is Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, for, once again, denying the genocide in Srebrenica.

In July 2021, the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time, Valentin Inzko, used his power to impose amendments to the country’s criminal code in order to ban ‘the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals’, if it was ‘likely to incite to violence or hatred”. It included a punishment of imprisonment ranging between six months to five years.

According to Inzko, the main driving forces behind the decision were a concerning number of individuals and public authorities who questioned the legitimacy of rulings by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the glorification of convicted war criminals.

Despite the law being put into place, denial of the Srebrenica genocide and the public glorification of war criminals continued without any consequences. Many political leaders in Republika Srpska to this day refuse to accept that the events, which took place at Srebrenica in 1995, constitute an act of genocide even though the International Court of Justice recognized it as such.

This month (In February 2023), the current High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, amended the Law on Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Centre, to allow for excess donations and funds for burials and monuments to be redirected to other needs of the centre. The Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Centre serves as a memorial-cemetery to honour the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

However, this decision was not accepted by all political leaders in the country, namely Milorad Dodik, President of the Republika Srpska. During a press conference, he publicly rejected the recent amendment of the law and openly voiced his denial of the events which occurred at Srebrenica as being an act of genocide. According to him, “genocide did not happen there, we all know that here in the Republika Srpska”. Milorad Dodik and his party have on numerous occasions denied the genocide in Srebrenica, claiming it to be a massacre that cannot fall under the qualification of genocide.

BIRN (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network) recently obtained documents showing the reasons behind the lack of a single indictment since the ban on ‘the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals’ was imposed. In the article by BIRN, it was revealed that from the time the ban was brought in back in July 2021 to the end of 2022, state prosecutors decided ‘not to conduct a total of 27 investigations into alleged denial and glorification offences’. One of the arguments used by alleged perpetrators was that freedom of speech was guaranteed under the county’s constitution.

However, regardless of this, denying the genocide that occurred in Srebrenica is first and foremost extremely harmful and disrespectful to the victims and their families. There is no justification for acts of genocide and both the perpetrators and those who deny the events having taken place, should face the consequences of doing so. Political leaders, such as Dodik who have a large influence over public opinion and hold high positions of power, should be held responsible for their actions, and abide by the law whilst equally facing the repercussions of failing to do so.

THE WAR IN UKRAINE, SCAMS AND COVID CONSPIRACIES

February 28, 2023

FACT-CHECKING IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA.

At Raskrinkavanje — a fact-checking website devoted to debunking disinformation and misinformation circulating in the news and on social media — 2022 was a busy year. The disinformation trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) mostly revolved around the invasion of Ukraine, the General elections held in October, conspiratorial echoes of the covid-19 “infodemic” and a steady stream of social media scams.

The year started with an explosion of false narratives about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, ranging from claims that nothing was even happening to accusations that the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was fleeing the country after “instigating” the war.

Some of the early falsehoods related to the war were difficult to check, as independent and reliable sources were hard to reach in the combat zone. But many were just recycled versions of old propaganda tales, like Ukraine being a “nazi state,” or hosting U.S. biolabs set up to “destroy Russian DNA.” The story about laboratories (spread locally by the Russian Embassy in BiH) fit in with QAnon conspiracy theories, so it was quickly picked up by their followers who praised Putin’s attack on Ukraine as a fight to “save humanity” from the “satanist cabal.”

Less phantasmagoric, but equally false, were the narratives of Serbian tabloids and nationalist websites that consistently mirrored Putin’s war propaganda. They famously portrayed Ukraine as the aggressor, took the opportunity to revamp old falsehoods about the “Western media staging wars” and amplified disinformation from trolls on social networks. One of the frequent false claims was that NATO has troops on the ground in Ukraine, but the same sources simultaneously also claimed that Ukraine had lost the support of the EU and/or NATO, whose high officials supposedly advocated for making concessions to Russia in order to end the war.

When the attack started, an international cooperative of fact-checkers and a database of fact-checks was established almost immediately to exchange information more quickly and efficiently. Six months into the invasion, the regional fact-checking network SEE Check also made a detailed overview of the claims, sources and targets of disinformation about the war that were spreading in the Balkans.

The elections

In BiH, 2022 was an election year, and the campaign made the usual ripples in the disinformation ecosystem: “phantom websites” popped up again to pose as news media while attempting to advance a party or a candidate; photoshopped pictures of real or made up candidates were circulating on social media; and political parties used “brigading” on social media to promote their messages during the campaign.

Once again we saw the complete alignment of the media in the Republika Srpska and the SNSD (the entity’s ruling party led by Milorad Dodik) in spreading disinformation about opposition parties and candidates. The go-to move of Dodik’s political propaganda is to make up coup plots and conspiracies against him and to portray the opposition as “traitorous.”

IN 2022, THE NARRATIVES GOT MORE OUTLANDISH AND ELABORATE.

In 2022, however, the narratives got more outlandish and elaborate. For example, RTRS, the entity’s public broadcaster, promoted a ridiculous claim that NATO is planning to kidnap Dodik and used a forged document as “proof” that the U.S. Embassy in BiH paid for the campaign of Jelena Trivić, the candidate challenging Dodik for the position of president of Republika Srpska.

An infodemic

After two years of battling conspiracy theories that sprung from the pandemic, in 2022 we published research about the Bosnian public’s belief in various disinformation narratives. We learned that about 25% of the population exhibits strong belief in conspiracy theories, another 25% dismiss them, but a little over 50% are somewhere in the middle, either undecided about the veracity of such stories, or prone to believing some but not others.

One of the questions we asked was about the claim that covid-19 is not an infectious disease, but a result of “poisoning from the air.” This was a pandemic rendition of the old conspiracy theory about “chemtrails,” which claims that the white condensation trails behind airplanes are toxic substances that are part of a secret plan to depopulate the Earth.

The claim that covid is induced by chemtrails received the support of 24% of the participants, while 51% disagreed and 25% were undecided. However, looking into social networks, one would think that almost everyone believes we’re being poisoned from the sky: the story has remained staunchly persistent and viral ever since the pandemic broke out.

In the past year, various things were randomly connected to chemtrails in the conspiratorial imaginaries including Saharan dust clouds, “biolabs” and pre-election campaigns of fringe politicians. The story is often told as a triumphant tale of governments, reputable institutions or whistleblowers admitting that chemtrails are real, sometimes paired with dubious and potentially risky advice on how to protect yourself against this nonexistent threat.

Another undying trend is that of anti-vaccination propaganda, forever using false claims or deliberately misinterpreting statistics to portray immunization as “deadly.” Without a shred of evidence, covid-19 vaccines are accused of “killing millions” in the past year, linked to various unrelated deaths, excess mortality, child mortality, miscarriages, drops in fertility, HIV/AIDS, or cancer.

MANY OF THESE CLAIMS ARE NEW ITERATIONS OF OLD STORIES THAT HAVE BEEN DEBUNKED TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

Many of these claims are just new iterations of old stories that have been debunked time and time again, but they are believed by 55 to 60% of unvaccinated people in BiH. The unfortunate trend of people with medical backgrounds spreading anti-vaccination falsehoods has also continued.

But we also had some new, particularly bizarre anti-vaccination “hits” this year. The story of a judge that ruled that “vaccine deaths” should be treated as suicide was first linked to a non-existent court trial in France, then in Germany. According to similar types of sources a civil war even broke out in the neighboring Austria over “forced immunization;” Australia’s government tried to administer vaccines by spraying them from the sky, “chemtrails” style; and a combination of 5G signals, chemtrails and vaccines have produced a mysterious phenomenon where people and animals spin themselves into “ballerina deaths.”

For a while, monkeypox had been one of the hot topics in conspiratorial websites, where it was presented as a “gay disease,” replaying some of the covid-19 narratives, but with a homophobic twist.

What awaits in 2023?

Another type of disinformation that is likely to remain ubiquitous is pseudomedicine, used relentlessly by various bad actors from clickbait websites to conspiracy theorists and quack doctors who sell untested supplements or “treatments.” All of them earn money by promoting dangerous claims about “natural cancer cures” and miracle cure-alls, ascribing these powers to everything from petroleum to lemon, baking soda, or coconut oil.

Fake interviews with local celebrities or testimonies of made-up doctors who recommend bogus health products are another type of pseudomedical claim we see frequently. This has become particularly widespread in the past few years, with most of such cases leading back to a single company that has sued us for writing about fraudulent advertising practices used to sell their products. Fake Facebook giveaways of everything from cash prizes and smartphones to cars and houses are another type of scam that keeps returning year after year.

But we are seeing some new and emerging trends as well, most coming from English-speaking right-wing influencers and conspiracy theorists. Climate change denial has started seeping into the local online space, which is a particularly ironic development given the BiH’s enormous problems with air pollution. In these narratives, global warming is presented as a hoax perpetrated by the “New World Order” in order to establish control over the population. This large narrative has birthed many side plots, like claims that people will be forced to eat insects, or that car ownership may become illegal.

We noticed that anti-abortion narratives, seemingly imported from similar outside sources, are also rising in visibility, with groups based in the U.S. aiming to reach vulnerable women in BiH using, among other things, false claims about abortion risks. Disinformation targeting LGBTQ+ people has also been more present this year, mostly spilling over from Serbia, where Europride was targeted and scapegoated. But BiH had its own, home-grown political instrumentalization of homophobia, with attempts to build and use resentment against the Pride parade in the pre-election campaign.

Raskrinkavanje had its fifth birthday this year and, based on what we’ve been seeing so far, we can be fairly certain that some timeless classics, like conspiracy theories about the moon landing and 9/11 attack, will continue to circulate as they did in the past year.

Sadly, there’s plenty to keep fact-checkers busy.

Author: Tijana Cvijetičanin

Photo: Majlinda Hoxha / K2.0.

This article was originally produced for and published by Kosovo 2.0. It has been re-published here with permission.

This article is the fifth in a series of articles from fact-checking platforms in the Balkans. Through this series, fact-checkers from Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia elaborate on common trends in disinformation and malinformation.

FIGHTING DISINFORMATION IN NORTH MACEDONIA

February 21, 2023

MALIGN AND UNDEMOCRATIC INFLUENCES ARE TRYING TO HOLD US BACK.

Disinformation comes in waves. Sometimes you are flooded in it, other times it makes itself scarce. When the media landscape is flooded with news, the disinformation also becomes plentiful. And the other way around.

The strength of a disinformation wave depends on the type of the news flooding the shores of public discourse. If a news event or aspect of current affairs that is targeted with disinformation has an end date, so will the disinformation about it. If the topic is open-ended, disinformation will follow it for quite some time.

A prime example is the persistence of covid-19 and vaccine disinformation, which has been exacerbated by the existing networks of indoctrinated individuals (like the anti-vax movement) just waiting to come out from the shadows and spread their narratives and fake stories.

Similar movements are seizing the day peddling fake medicines and cures. All of a sudden all kinds of pills and remedies have appeared accompanied by claims of healing covid-19 and other illnesses. The selling point for these “medicines” are that they cure various diseases caused or exacerbated by covid-19 or by covid vaccines. These vaccines do not cause any illnesses, of course, but why gripe over details?

And then came the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Strangely, many of the same internet and social media properties spreading covid disinformation also spread pro-Kremlin disinformation. These individuals are geniuses, it seems. Their field of expertise is unimaginably wide. No matter the subject, they are ready, willing and capable to lie about it.

At the beginning there was a lot of confusion. You could see the peddlers of disinformation switching to a testing mode, trying to discover what would work on their victims’ tortured minds and what wouldn’t. You could also see they were scraping from the bottom of the disinformation barrel: they used scenes from video games and claimed it was footage of a dog fight between Ukrainian and Russian combat aircraft. Many of these accounts were rehashing pictures and videos from 2014 or even from the 1990s Yugoslav wars and presenting them as scenes from the current war, often claiming the image or video depicted Ukrainian soldiers doing something bad.

MANY OF THE SAME SOCIAL MEDIA PROPERTIES SPREADING COVID DISINFORMATION ALSO SPREAD PRO-KREMLIN DISINFORMATION.

But as time passed the production of pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation shifted gear and sped up. The quality improved and you could feel there was some logic behind the specific disinformation; you could see they were using at least a little bit of truth as bait to gain confidence from readers before they poison the content with a ton of lies on top.

As Russian battlefield losses mounted the inspiration for lies diminished. It’s hard to lie with any confidence when the whole world sees you losing territory for months. You can see that the Kremlin’s efforts to find or invent Nazis in Ukraine, for example, preferably among Ukrainian leadership, has lost steam and became an impossible task.

Kremlin propagandists think that social media users leave their brains at the kitchen table before going to the living room and opening their devices to catch up on the latest news and stumbling upon their latest lies.

For example, they claimed that a teen girl right-wing extremist who was in the news in 2014 was Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky’s niece. She isn’t. And it wasn’t hard for the fact checkers in Ukraine and abroad to check the claim. This was similar to the imaginary Nazi insignia on one of the beads of a bracelet seen around the wrist of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Nazi insignia that no one else was able to see, except the Kremlin propagandists’ “eagle eyes.”

Networks of disinformation

One can also notice attempts of (rather basic and crude) “market segmentation” in the Kremlin’s disinformation efforts and the targeting of specific countries, reinforced by already existing pro-Kremlin networks.

For years now, the Kremlin has been getting close to various fringe groups and movements. While they work to gain influence over extreme left-wing, neo-Stalinist or communist groups, they are also happy to cozy up to nationalists, traditionalists, the ultra-religious, autocrats, anti-LGBT activists, biker gangs and even militias, depending on local situations.

In many of these groups the Kremlin has created or tried to create their own networks and associations, such as Russian-domestic friendship associations. They often try to organize a few local Russians alongside the group, even if it’s just a couple because a couple Russians alongside some pro-Russian locals does the trick for them — especially if they are internet proficient and ready to amplify the Kremlin’s propaganda in the local context and in the local language.

WHILE THE KREMLIN WORKS TO GAIN INFLUENCE OVER EXTREME LEFT-WING OR NEO-STALINIST GROUPS, THEY’RE HAPPY TO COZY UP TO NATIONALISTS, THE ULTRA-RELIGIOUS, ANTI-LGBT ACTIVISTS, OR BIKER GANGS.

When the networks are not enough, they use the official social media accounts of local Russian embassies. If international attention is required, the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in London can do the trick, but if they want the disinformation to fly under the radar and not to be picked up by international media, then the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in а smaller non-English-speaking country is called upon.

But when they want to sow fear, rage and division among their enemies, because it suits their political goals, they search for points of contention and disagreements among them. Then they try to amplify and widen such disagreements. They simply side with one of the parties against the other one, stoking anger and suspicion that the side receiving Kremlin support is actually working hand-in-hand with the Kremlin.

This is exactly what they did when trying to exploit Macedonian-Bulgarian disagreement over history and language, which led to a Bulgarian veto over the start of North Macedonia’s EU accession negotiations. They used the Twitter account of their embassy in Skopje to side with North Macedonia, thus enraging Bulgaria in an attempt to widen the gap between the two neighboring countries.

With the row between North Macedonia and Bulgaria now in high gear, with accusations and counter-accusations flying back and forth, and with North Macedonia’s accession negotiations starting to look barely reachable, it seems things have gone the way the Kremlin wanted, which leaves greater potential for future Russian meddling and influence-peddling in the Balkans.

Fighting malign influences, what can be done?

At the Metamorphosis Foundation, where I work as a fact-checking editor, we are trying to discover, analyze and unmask foreign undemocratic and malign influences, especially those attempting to undermine the long-pursued strategic orientation of North Macedonia as a future fully integrated Euro-Atlantic partner, dependable member of NATO and one-day EU member.

This is not important only for North Macedonia, but for all the other Western Balkan countries, which all face some degree of malign influence from Russia and attempts to hold them back from the European path.

With an established base of Russian influence in the country, Serbia is especially vulnerable to the Kremlin’s malign activities. This same influence is also deeply established in Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as among Serbs in the north of Kosovo.

Cracks in public opinion regarding Russia’s aggression against Ukraine can be spotted in North Macedonia. The fact that North Macedonia has been an EU candidate country since 2005 and hasn’t moved forward at all, despite the change of the country’s name as requested by Greece, has pushed some Macedonians over the edge, making them lose their confidence in the West and to look elsewhere regarding their country’s prosperity and security.

Our long term efforts to strengthen the public’s confidence in Euro-Atlantic institutions and keep the malign propaganda at bay in North Macedonia and the region are being implemented with the help of our international partners and in close cooperation with our partners from all over Western Balkans.

We are monitoring and analyzing public sources of disinformation, using public interest journalism, as well as our fact-checking experience to stop foreign malign and undemocratic influences by fighting disinformation and unmasking manipulation, preventing the spread of fear, anger, manufactured disputes and everything else coming out from the propaganda textbooks of the bad actors.

This is part of our fight to preserve and strengthen democracy in our region and lessen the opportunities for bad actors to spread propaganda and disinformation.

Author: Vladimir Petreski

Photo: Majlinda Hoxha / K2.0.

This article was originally produced for and published by Kosovo 2.0. It has been re-published here with permission.

This article is the fourth in a series of articles from fact-checking platforms in the Balkans. Through this series, fact-checkers from Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia elaborate on common trends in disinformation and malinformation.