Background:

My informant is a twenty-one year old USC student; she’s studying human biology and is currently applying to medical school. She was born in Macedonia, and immigrated to the Long Beach, CA with her mother and stepfather at the age of five. Her father still lives and works as a doctor in Macedonia, and she visits each summer. She speaks the language fluently.

Performance:

“‘Where force rules, justice does not exist.’ It’s not like, commonly used in conversation or anything, but like, I don’t think that’s what these things are for. I think it probably has something to do with all of the, you know, chaos (laughter) in the baltic region and whatnot. The soviets just kind of swooped in and screwed everything up, and so, yeah, where force rules, justice does not exist.”

Thoughts:

This is another politically salient proverb. As Tijana mentioned, it speaks to both the chaotic political situation in the post-war Baltic region as well as current tensions with Russia and the budding nationalist movement in the US. This proverb places a higher value on calm heads and diplomatic solutions than brute force.