Commons in North Macedonia: a Documentary by Freedom Square

Although the contemporary Macedonian society is not yet dominated by a strong commons discourse it features several structured and visible cases of commons as a struggle or a governance model. Should these cases be given more attention and be more closely researched they could potentially become a tendency in North Macedonia, rather than simply isolated examples.

This documentary is part of a series of media work produced by Freedom Square, aimed to popularize and contextualize the commons struggle/governance cases as a new sustainable political model.

The film further aims to amplify the stories of several such cases and bring them out of their small local context into the global discussion concerned with the potential of what these new and old governance models can offer to our current and future societies. From self-governed water supply systems that have been functioning for decades to the opposition of mines in rural areas and environmental protection of common resources, the documentary presents these successful cases of local mobilisation.

Using this potential is very important in times of very strong nationalist narratives and mythologies, accompanied by the uncontrollable and often state-sponsored power of the private capital.

In this regard, North Macedonia has gone through a very promising recent past, with mobilizations of various kinds, ranging from the protection of natural or urban resources to micro-models of governance that make it worth to seriously rethink our political reality . In producing this documentary it was important for us to acknowledge that even though they find themselves in a different geopolitical situation on a state level, the local communities in this country struggle with the same problems and tackle them in similar ways to communities in Albania, Greece, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and others in the region and beyond.

Ivana Dragsic