Featured photo: Meduza platform Stories behind the disparity in property ownership at the expense of women Inheritance of property by women in North Macedonia is so rare that over time it has become a customary practice that is seldom questioned. Like many traditions, this one too is rooted in inequality, upheld only by our socially constrained perceptions of what women “deserve” from their families and communities. Beyond it being blatant discrimination, the issue of women’s property rights cuts deep into gender inequality, both personally and politically. After reading the statistics on the huge discrepancy in property ownership at the expense…

Two recent tragedies—one in North Macedonia and one in Serbia—have sparked waves of student-led protests in Skopje and Belgrade, drawing attention to deep-seated political and institutional failures in both countries. In March, a horrific fire tore through the makeshift Pulse nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killing 61 people and injuring hundreds more. Meanwhile, in Novi Sad, Serbia, the November 2024 collapse of a poorly maintained canopy of the Novi Sad Train Station left 16 dead and shocked the nation. These events have become symbols of long-standing dysfunction within public systems and governance—marked by regulatory negligence, lack of accountability, and political…

Young people at the airport, photo generated by Artificial Intelligence, Gemini “My main motivation for going to study abroad was the desire for change, in the sense that I wanted to experience living somewhere abroad in my twenties,” says one of the Montenegrin students currently studying in Slovenia. The emigration of young people is not just a problem for a society in Montenegro, but also elsewhere in the region. There are many students from other Balkan countries with a similar story. Kristijan is from North Macedonia and he is studying mechanical engineering in Ljubljana. His decision to study abroad was…

Photo generated with artificial intelligence, in Canva The Deputy PM for Good Governance Policies, Arben Fetai, announced on his Facebook profile that he received a death threat on his official email. In less than half a day, media outlets reported on his status along with hate speech comments in the headlines of their articles, writes Portalb.mk. This is not the first time the media has carelessly published politicians’ statements without critically analyzing it, using the situation to generate sensationalism and boost their viewership. Such low-quality journalism has numerous harmful consequences, and in this case, it has only amplified and spread the…

Big Mama, Adelina Tahiri, Saranda Imeri Stafai, and Kaltrina Zekolli Shaqiri. Photo edited by Portalb.mk (photos taken from their social media). Despite visible progress in the fight for women’s rights, increased representation of women in politics and greater attention to issues affecting women, the tendency to express contempt and insult them persists. More specifically, these attacks target women who are increasingly exposed to hate speech due to their profession, especially on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In most cases, this kind of speech is used as a tool to undermine their dignity and social standing, according…

The reason for inciting this campaign on social networks is a post on Facebook from a suspicious closed account, in which the author, without giving further details, says that at the cash register in the “Kipper” market in Gjorce Petrov, the saleswoman refused to tell the prices of the products in the Macedonian language, i.e. at first she wanted to say them in her “native language”. On the social networks Instagram and Twitter in Macedonia, an ethnically based campaign calls for boycott of the “Kipper” and “Kit Go” markets solely based on the fact that the owners are Albanians. The…

Photo illustration by Portalb.mk: Vjosa Osmani and the comments and headlines in the media On the 1st of August 2024, the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, was involved in a diplomatic incident at Skopje International Airport. This incident sparked a lot of controversy in the media and received particularly strong reactions and hate speech from both Macedonian and Serbian outlets, writes Portalb.mk What happened? According to the statements of the authorities, the incident began when security at Skopje International Airport asked Vjosa Osmani to hand over her mobile phone for scanning, something which she refused to do, calling it a violation of international regulations…

Printscreen from the “Patriotic Association” post which incited hatred A student party in Skopje this spring took an unexpected turn when playing an Albanian song towards the end of the event sparked controversy and hate speech on social media. Despite the organization’s inclusive nature, which includes members from diverse ethnic backgrounds, a nationalist group named “Patriotsko drushtvo” (Patriotic Society) on Instagram, self-proclaimed as a “young, ambitious group of patriots filled with enthusiasm,” criticized the inclusion of the song in Albanian, triggering hate speech aimed at the student organization. Whose agenda is undermining the student unity, and how does nationalism, disguised…

In April 2024, the Macedonian Medical Student Association (MMSA) announced on Facebook that the Faculty of Medicine of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (UKIM) in Skopje will host a lecture titled “The Path of Transitioning.” According to the post, the lecture was supposed to cover various aspects of gender-affirming care and medical services. The two speakers at the lecture were set to be a plastic surgeon and an activist who would share her experiences with gender-affirming care in North Macedonia.However, the lecture never took place. The lecture was cancelled after the group “Coalition for the Protection of Children” (KZD), whose…

Considering that political parties in North Macedonia traditionally use nationalist rhetoric to gain political points, hate speech, mainly on ethnic grounds, intensifies significantly in every pre-election period. This year, nothing has changed and the hatred has spread from social networks into the media. The campaign began unofficially with the formation of a technical government, although the campaign for the presidential elections is scheduled to start on April 4 and end on April 22, while the campaign for the parliamentary elections specifically should commence on April 18 and last until May 6, as reported by Portalb.mk. One of the most disturbing…