Rozczarowanie niespełnionymi obietnicami – dorastanie w prowincjonalnym macedońskim mieście
Disenchantment with Unfulfilled Promises – Adolescence in a Provincial Macedonian Town

Summary/Abstract: In the last decade, significant social movements have emerged in Southeast Europe. Citizens, mostly in the capital cities, objected to the corrupt political class and their criminal entanglements, privatization of public space, environmental degradation or NATO military pacts. As a result, we witnessed violent clashes between law enforcement and protesters, resignations of politicians and revolts. However, not everyone was protesting and – as shown in the case of Macedonia – not all citizens supported new pro-European transformation. This paper is about those who decided not to engage in protests and passively observe protest during so called the “Colorful Revolution” in Macedonia. The starting points for my analysis are the following questions: in which terms can we describe human existence when their agency is invisible or does not take affective from? Why instead of political engagement does political indifference arise? Drawing on the terms such as hope and disenchantment, I argue that passiveness and political apathy, which I observed among my research participants, was caused by the disenchantment with unfulfilled promises carried out by independence of Macedonia in 1991.

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