A Social Movement in First Person Singular: The Colours of the “Colourful Revolution” in North Macedonia

Abstract

The true identity of the Colourful Revolution in North Macedonia was subject to contrasting public discourses. The authors provide a combined descriptive and micro-level empirical analysis, based on an original dataset, to prove that the Colourful Revolution complies with the essential elements of a social movement. They elaborate the main features of its collective identity by focusing on the perceptions of its participants (567 protesters were surveyed). A firm campaign for resignation of the executive government and for free judicial processes of the criminal charges for high-level political figures was detected. The Colourful Revolution’s repertoire contained calls for freedom, justice and solidarity, and the movement demonstrated strong unity beyond its internal social, ethnic and party diversity. The Colourful Revolution’s successful horizontal organization relied mostly on the internet, but the opposition political parties also played an important role in the processes of mobilization and endurance through time.