48 Europe The EconomistMarch 21st 2020
2A
lexanderthegreatisofftothe
dump.If theauthoritiesinSkopje,
thecapitalofNorthMacedonia,have
theirway,statuesandmonumentsglori-
fyinghim,hisfatherPhilipII andother
ancient,mythicalandmoremodern
Macedoniansaroundthecitywillsoon
beyankedofftheirpedestalsanddis-
patchedtoa distantparkona reclaimed
rubbishtip.
Skopjewasrefurbishedbytheprevi-
ouscityauthorities,wholostpowerin
2017.Oneaimoftheir€685m($765m)
renovationprojectwastoinstilpridein
anantiqueMacedonianpastcentringon
Alexander,thegeneralwhocreatedan
empirestretchingasfareastasPakistan
bytheageof30.ButGreeksregardAlex-
anderaswhollytheirs,andreckonthat
Skopje’sclaimtohimisabsurd.The
territorynowoccupiedbyNorthMac-
edoniawasnot,theyargue,evenpartof
theancientkingdomofMacedonia(the
Romansaddedit totheirprovinceofthat
namelateron.)Byclaiminghim,North
Macedoniapoisonedrelationswith
Greece,theregionaleconomichegemon.
A newcoalitiongovernmentfinally
managedtoendthe27-year-oldconflict
withGreecein 2018 byagreeingtochange
thecountry’snamefromMacedonia
(whichisthenameofa Greekregion)to
NorthMacedonia.
TheSocialDemocratswhonowrun
Skopjehavetalkedofremovinga giant
Alexanderstatue,andothersofhimand
otherheroes,thoughdonelittle.Costis
onereason,saysNikolaNaumoski,themayor’schiefofstaff,butpoliticsisa
biggerone.Everystatueis“likea land-
mine”,hesays.If theyareremoved,
protestswillerupt.Forthatreason,the
governmentpressedthecityauthorities
toholdoffonpurgingtheplinths.
However,inOctoberFrancevetoed
theopeningofeuaccessiontalkswith
NorthMacedonia,infuriatingitsgovern-
ment.Anelectionwascalledshortly
afterwards,butisnowupintheair,
thankstothecoronavirus.If thenation-
alistsreturntopower,theywillstopthe
statuesfrombeingremoved.Butif the
incumbentSocialDemocratswin,says
MrNaumoski,Alexanderwillbetakinga
longwalkinthepark.DeplinthingAlexander
NorthMacedoniaSKOPJE
Thepoliticsoftearingdownstatuesofa manwhoconqueredtheancientworldA junkyard-bound general?ered in parks or shopping in crowded street
markets, ignoring advice to stay in. The
next day, Mr Macron addressed the nation
again, deploring the fact that people were
behaving “as if, basically, life had not
changed”. He suspended the second-round
vote, due on March 22nd, shut France
down, and declared, “We are at war.”
Why did Mr Macron not delay the elec-
tions earlier? His former health minister
now says she knew it was a “masquerade”
to go ahead. It turns out that postponement
was still on the table as late as March 12th.
Delaying a democratic vote, however, was a
decision that required cross-party consen-
sus, at least politically. There was already a
climate of suspicion at the government’s
recent use of a decree to pass its pension re-
form. Gérard Larcher, president of the Sen-
ate, opposed a postponement. Christian Ja-
cob, the Republican leader (who has sincecontracted covid-19), had said publicly that
a delay would constitute a coup d’état.
Moreover, the scientific council advising
the president suggested that voting would
not pose a health hazard if sanitary rules
were followed.
As France deals with an acceleration of
cases, such questions will become second-
order. A military hospital is being mobil-
ised in Alsace, one of the worst-affected re-
gions. Fully 66% of the French told a poll
that they found Mr Macron’s first address,
which mixed solemnity and science with
much-needed warmth, convincing. An as-
tonishing 35m people, more than half the
entire population, watched his second.
And, despite disapproving of the decision
to hold a first-round vote, 57% of the
French think he and his government are
managing the crisis well—his highest ap-
proval rating for a very long time. 7T
he worldmight be heading into its
biggest crisis since the second world
war, Russians may be sweeping the shelves
of supermarkets clean, but Vladimir Putin
knows his priorities. On March 17th he de-
creed that his country must hold an “all-
people vote” on a constitutional change de-
signed to keep himself in power indefinite-
ly. “Against the background of the
pandemic, Putin’s decision seems crimi-
nal,” tweeted Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most
prominent opposition figure.
Mr Putin later said the vote could be
postponed if need be, but for now it is to be
held on April 22nd—the birthday of Vladi-
mir Lenin. It is as meaningless as were
elections in the Soviet Union The amend-
ments that give the president vast powers
and reset the clock on his term limits have
already been signed into law by Mr Putin
and approved by a pliant Constitutional
Court. Ekaterina Schulmann, a political
scientist, said on Facebook about the court
that “rarely has the spirit of slavery and in-
tellectual cowardice revealed itself so fully
in a written text.”
The spectacle of a “people’s approval” is
likely to stretch over several days, requires
no minimum turnout or independent ver-
ification and will include home and elec-
tronic voting. “Putin was too scared to hold
a proper referendum so he came up with
this fake procedure,” says Mr Navalny. “The
Kremlin is desperate to draw us into it,
count us up and then declare victory,” he
adds. He has refused to participate in it. On
March 15th a group of 350 lawyers, intellec-
tuals and journalists signed an open letter
warning of a constitutional coup that
threatens to plunge the country into a na-
tional conflict. Three days later the number
of signatures had swelled to 30,000.
Even Mr Putin’s loyalists feel deceived.
“Lying to foreigners is one thing. Lying to
his own people is quite another,” one for-
mer military officer says. The growing fear
of a covid-19 outbreak in Russia, where the
number of cases has been suspiciously low,
and Mr Putin’s insistence on sticking with
the vote, despite his government’s decision
to close borders and schools, could exacer-
bate that anger. Many people remember the
Kremlin lying about the scale of the Cher-
nobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Mr Putin’s
amended constitution proclaims today’s
Russia to be the heir to the Soviet Union,
whose falsehood-filled propaganda rag
was called, simply: “Truth”. 7A backlash to Vladimir Putin’s
power-grab beginsRussiaThe new Soviet
Union