Ecology and Personal Ecology

Komaja’s Green Campaign

“The greater the number of people for whom you do good, the greater also is your feeling of bliss” – said Aba Aziz Makaja (civil name Franjo Milicevic), the founder and head of the Komaja community, one Summer School. Makaja’s spiritual, but also artistic work and endeavours do not stop with the individual or immediate community. His work also encompasses the changing of social consciousness, for example changing society’s attitude towards its surroundings.

At Makaja’s initiative, Komaja’s Green Campaign for the cleaning of city streets and parks took place from early April through the end of June, 2002, in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. Citizens joined in on this eco-action, with its slogan “Some like it clean,” in droves.  Several thousand took part.
Moral and technical support were given to this project by a large number of state institutions, among which were

1. the Ministry for Ecology of the Republic of Macedonia,
2. the Mayor of Skopje,
3. the Mayors of all Skopje districts in which the action took place,
4. city communal enterprises, and
5. the state Bureau for the Development of Education.

Moreover, in both Skopje’s primary and high schools, Komaja’s call to action wasannouncedpublicly.

This eco-event was exceptionally successful – thanks also to the great attention paid it by the Macedonian media. For example, out of fifteen TV reports on Komaja’s Green Campaign, almost half were broadcast by the national state-run television.  Many contributions and announcements were also regularly broadcast from other city radio stations, as well as the state Macedonian Radio.  Likewise, all the major Macedonian newspapers reported regularly on this ecological action, the largest of its kind to date in the history of the Republic of Macedonia. Many companies supported the action financially, although the greatest monetary and material support was given by Komaja’s international organizations.

The whole event resulted in a significant increase of awareness, in both citizens and public authorities, as to the importance of green areas and general city cleanliness for creating a better quality of life. We are happy to point out that following this Green Campaign in Skopje and Macedonia, similar eco-projects have become more frequent. Komaja also wanted to bring attention to the fact that it is essential to connect external/physical ecology with the internal/personal – pure thoughts, pure feelings, pure words and pure actions!  In accordance with Makaja’s Living Art, the main aim of this campaign was to sensitize citizens to the interdependence of these two ecological aspects.