A View From Afar

(Note: John Sumansky, director of the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurship Education at Misericordia University is in Macedonia teaching entrepreneurship and economics as a Fulbright Scholar. He wrote this editorial as the presidential election was unfolding and observed how people in this Eastern European country reacted to it.)

The U.S. presidential election was a political out-of-body experience for me. I sat in my Tetovo, Macedonia flat watching events unfold in another country—my country.
I stayed up all night watching returns on CNN Europe. Because of the time difference, the election results did not start coming in until after midnight. So, it was 5 a.m.—with me in a caffeine-induced stupor—when I heard that Sen. Obama had reached the 270 electoral votes necessary to become President-elect Obama.
It was exciting, so I flipped through channels to see what other stations were doing. I counted five different stations doing live coverage of the elections in five languages. I was impressed with how much “live’’ coverage was being given to the election from places like Kosovo, Albania, Croatia and Serbia—not to mention BBC and local Macedonian stations. (more)

I can’t say that I was surprised. In the weeks leading up to the election, local residents were quick to ask my thoughts about the election and to offer theirs. Some of their comments had to do with the two candidates’ friendship with Greece and what that implied about their sympathy—or lack of it—with Macedonia on the issue of name. Skopje and Athens are locked in a long-standing dispute over the use of the name “Macedonia”. Many thought Sen. McCain would be more sympathetic to the Macedonian side. Other Macedonians were curious about whether America was ready to elect a black president. Regardless of the issue, locals had a greater level of awareness and interest in the election than I expected.
As I recall, during the time of my last residency in Eastern Europe in 1994, there were no conversations about the U.S. that revealed this level of interest.  I suspect that cable stations like BBC and CNN (now in most homes here) can account for some of the interest and more importantly the informed nature of that interest. Also, Macedonia’s application for membership in the European Union (EU) has made many here more aware of how their future is tied to other countries.
The conversations about America are more informed and more complicated than they were in 1994, going far beyond a simple curiosity about a mysterious place. The United States of America is no longer a mystery to most Eastern Europeans. The conversations I had decades ago about an America where streets were thought to be paved in gold no longer happen. Gone are the days where America was revered, the America that saved Europe in The War, aided poor countries and occupied a high moral ground. The George W. Bush years all but washed away the latter views and replaced them instead with talk about America’s warts and shortcomings: a free press that has all but sold its soul to the party in power, the misadventures in Iraq, the feckless hunt for bin Laden, the “cowboy” who alienated European allies and the American financial excesses now wreaking havoc with the world’s economy and so on.
Yet, amidst this new and more sober view of America, there remain many here who speak sadly of the fact that they may never have a chance to visit, let alone emigrate to America. On local TV there are businesses that advertise “hope” to Macedonians—hope that they can buy a visa to gain access to America. I can tell you, visas are not for sale.
Why is it significant that many in Eastern Europe no longer see America as a dream? In an economy unable to provide jobs to its talented people (40 percent overall unemployment and by some estimates as high as 60 percent for those under 30 years of age), the absence of America as a dream makes life here just a little less hopeful. Today, the reality is that U.S. immigration policies offer them little hope for realizing the dream as my parents did in the early part of the 20th century.
Life is also a little less optimistic for Macedonians because in a real sense many feel left out, even within Eastern Europe. Bulgaria, for example, is now an EU member and as such does not allow easy border crossings for Macedonians. Albania to the west is in no better economic condition that Macedonia. It’s the same for Kosovo to the north. There’s no reason to go to those places. Political tensions remain with Serbia, especially, after Macedonia’s official recognition of Kosovo. To the south is Greece with whom Macedonians have an uneasy relationship because of the Macedonian name and because Greece is also in the EU.
Nowadays, the most hopeful thing for many Macedonians is entrance into the European Union. Some unrealistically see EU membership as the thing that will change life for the better. For their sake, I hope they are right, but I know better. The move to prosperity will be harder than a simple political accession into the EU.
Perhaps EU membership, combined with a revitalized United States, can provide Macedonians with both a working a reality and a dream for tomorrow. Let’s hope, even if the streets are asphalt and not gold.

John Sumansky, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurship Education, and chief information and planning officer at Misericordia University. He was recently named a Fulbright Scholar to teach entrepreneurship and economics to students in the Republic of Macedonia.