All The More Reason

Many apologies to the avid reader of this blog for my prolonged absence; I have been ensconced in the Macedonian mountains. Actually, Macedonia is one of the few countries to which the travelogue cliche, 'X is a land of contrasts' cannot be applied. Macedonia is a land of no contrasts. There are just mountains. And trees. A tremendous place nonetheless.

Being of pioneering spirit, we decided to take the antiquated train service between Prilep, the hometown of our hosts and Skopje, the capital city. The train itself was fairly delapidated, but the stations were even worse; rusted facades, crumbling buildings. Our Macedonian friend informed us that the last time these stations had been upholstered was in 1979. Why so? This was the last time that Marshall Tito had deigned to visit the southern Yugoslavian province of Macedonia. So, yet another example of how dictators may be bad for civil liberties, but certainly know how to run a railway system.

It was interesting for me to note just how much nostalgia there was for the days of Tito. The people who expressed this point of view were mostly young adults, so it may be possible to put it down to a nostalgic ardour for their childhood, but it cannot be denied that, materially at least, Macedonians enjoyed a higher standard of living in the days of the one party State.

Although having emerged from 'Balkanisation' relatively unscathed compared to its fellow Yugoslav brothers and sisters, Macedonia is still having a pretty rough time of it. Poverty is widespread and corruption is rampant. Petar, our host, described Macedonian democracy thusly: 'One party gets in for four years and steals, then the other party takes over - gives the other party four years to spend its money- and steals more.'

Even at the level of the factory floor, nepotism is the order of the day. Prilep, in the south of the country, is a tobacco town. The farming of this crop is an arduous business. In order to pick at the optimum time, farmers- mostly gypsies- must get up at 3am in the morning. Once harvested, the tobacco is sold to the State owned factory in town. The price that farmers can expect for their crop is related to the 'grade' of the harvest. However, the 'grade' is not, as you might expect, related to the quality of the product. The correlation between the number of friends or relatives you have working in the factory and the revenue you receive is likely to be much stronger. A relatively small example of corruption, admittedly, but from mighty oaks…

There is some cause for optimism though. Macedonia, like many other Balkan states, has its eye on EU membership, and EU investors have their eyes on Macedonia. Skopje is littered with building works which, unlike most of the buildings you see on the side of the average country road, are actually being built according to a set timetable, rather than according to when the next wad of dinars land on the table. The hope must be that good governance will follow, but, like the train between Prilep and Skopje, Macedonia has a rickety path to travel.

Michael P

(Any and all pieces by this author should not be considered opinions endorsed by anyone else with this site)

The cher ministre for foreign affairs in France, Monsieur Philippe Douste-Blazy, has a new plan. Starting July 1st, plane tickets purchased in France will have a toll of one to four euros added to their price. The gains will be used to purchase medicine for third world countries to fight tuberculosis, aids, and malaria. The program is called Unitaid.

I saw an interview with the ministre recently where he described in part, that his motivation had come from a wish to do something more with his position. However, he also emphasized the political consequences of this effort. Individuals were far less likely to try and come into France without papers to get treatment if they knew that they could be treated in their own country.

Watching this interview, I wondered why airlines had not instituted a policy on their own, out of their own goodwill. Someone working for the company could have even done a cost-benefit analysis to see if the positive publicity generated from doing this service would outweigh the extra charge to their customers. Perhaps managers of airlines also have wishes to do something more with their power. But more specifically, I wondered why the French people had not set up private institutions on their own initiative to generate funds to purchase this medicine. Charity.

The best argument I can give for Douste-Blazy is that it would cost too much money for individuals to create these organisations on their own. In other words, it would be more efficient for the government to handle these types of operations. I am not so sure. I would argue that this is the extension and the abuse of one's power for personal ego-gratification and the fortification of the ministre's office.

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the preceding sentence. Part of the reason why I cannot is that the interviewer did not ask him the question. Indeed, what interviewer would wish to be painted as the individual against Unitaid? “What, you were against helping people dying of Aids? For shame.” But someone should be asking these questions, and should be asking them repeatedly. Otherwise, this ministre, or the one after him might place a tax on condoms to help orphans. You are not against helping orphans, are you?

Jonathan Smith

Michael P adds…

I would not even be so charitable as to describe the French government's behaviour as 'largesse'. It is entirely selfish. The Unitaid initiative is a mere trifle in comparison to the enormous damage that France's unstinting support for the Common Agricultural Policy has done to the continent of Africa. Reforming that abomination would do far more good, but ,unsurprisingly, France continues to say 'tant pis!'.