EIR 2022

DATA FOR INFOGRAPHICS

Country: North Macedonia

Political Statements

 The newly formed political party LEVICA (The Left), which has the central position in
the last few reports on Islamophobia, continues to spread this kind of hatred. After the
local elections, in almost all municipalities, this party has its own elected councilors. In
the Municipality of Centar, Skopje, the independent advisory group "Chance for Centar"
proposed the author of the report, Mersiha Smailović, as a council representative in one
primary school in Skopje. At the council session, which was publicly available 1, the
councilor of LEVICA (The Left) party, Marija Srebrova, said the following: “I want to
comment on your proposal... a series of criminal charges and through her organization
she has organized the recruitment of people for radical Islamism. She and her husband
have been banned from several European countries for the same thing, and you want to
get her into a school board where elementary school kids are decided. After a
controversial proposal you could not have. To bring AL Qaeda into their school, you
want.”

1
 Legalizing Islamophobia

 A bill was proposed against so-called separatism including an amendment to prohibit the
wearing of the veil for women under the age of 18 in public spaces, an amendment
prohibiting the burkini in public swimming pools, and an amendment prohibiting veiled
mothers from accompanying their children on school trips.