Macedonia’s Pollution Is So Bad That Activists Have Installed ‘Mountain Air Breathing Booths’ in Protest · Global Voices
“Breathing in Skopje harms your health” reads the sign on the “Mountain air booth” in Skopje. Photo by Urban Art Actions, used with permission.
The winter “smog season” has arrived in the Balkans. In Macedonia, faced with high levels of pollution, citizens and activists are turning to parody and protest in order to force the authorities to do their job.
In the grand tradition of guerrilla protest art, the group Urban Art Actions offered a satirical commentary on the ongoing problem by providing residents of the capital city Skopje a breath of “fresh mountain air” with “breathing booths”:
Во знак на поддршка на напорите на граѓаните и еколошките организации за решавање на проблемот со енормното загадување во Скопје екипата наречена Урбани уметнички акции постави 2 кабини за дишење све планински воздух во Скопје односно во Буњаковец и кај пазарчето во Aеродром. Со оваа акција сакаме да помогнеме на граѓаните барем малку да подишат чист воздух. Акцијата ќе продолжи и наредните денови и ќе се носи нов свеж планински воздух. По Скопје акцијата ќе биде спроведена и во Тетово.
As a sign of support for the efforts of citizens and environmental organizations to solve the enormous problem of pollution in Skopje, the team named Urban Art Actions posted two breathing booths with mountain air in Skopje. 278
They are located at Bunjakovec and near the green market in Aerodrom. With this action, we want to help citizens and let them take a breath of fresh air. The action will continue in the following days by bringing new fresh air from nearby mountains. After Skopje, the action will be conducted in Tetovo.
The main causes of air pollution in Macedonia include smoke from burning wood and rubber by increasingly an impoverished population which cannot afford central or electric heating, smoke from factories without filters, dust from construction sites and quarries, and exhaust from motor vehicles.
The Macedonian capital Skopje is especially prone to smog in winter due to inadequate urban planning. The local government had been issuing recommendations for vulnerable people to stay indoors, without providing concrete measures that support children or pregnant women who need to go to school or work. Citizens’ demands for gas masks has noticeably increased.
In the polluted area of Tetovo, a glimmer of hope was provided just before the recent elections in early December. After several years of delaying, the government enforced the law and temporarily closed the metallurgical complex Jugohrom, pending the installation of air filters.
Residents of Skopje can take a breath of “fresh mountain air” through the breathing booths. 609