For over two weeks, tens of thousands of Macedonian citizens from over a dozen cities have rallied together in what has been dubbed the “Colorful Revolution” to protest against state corruption and impunity. The movement takes its name from protesters tossing paint on government buildings and landmarks. The demonstrations began after President Gjorge Ivanov announced a pardon for more than 50 top politicians and their associates who were under investigation for abuses of power. Last year, the political opposition revealed the country's secret service under ex-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had secretly wiretapped over 20,000 people; in those conversations, top Macedonian officials seem to implicate themselves in a variety of misdeeds including election fraud, which the Macedonian Special Prosecutor's Office was investigating until the president's pardon on April 12. Since then, the movement has grown in strength, and participants are eagerly sharing their organizing tactics online in the hopes of encouraging others to join in. Here's how they're going about it. The protests are organized ‘horizontally’ by a loose network of activists, including members of NGOs and civic initiatives, as well as members of some opposition parties — and any individual citizen who joins. A set of common principles is what unites them, and this has been essential in defining the movement. For example, one graphic shared on Twitter laid out the protesters’ beliefs plainly: “Why do I protest, and what is the Colorful Revolution?” via @MKColorful Зошто Протестирам и што е ШаренаРеволуција? 1. Оваа борба е против авторитарниот и корумпиран режим, чие олицетворение е Никола Груевски. 2. Оваа борба е немирна, но ненасилна. 3. Ни една група од граѓанското општество нема монопол врз борбата против авторитарниот режим. Секој/а граѓанин/ка што се согласува со овие принципи е дел од #Протестирам и #ШаренаРеволуција. Ги повикуваме сите оние кои се согласуваат со овие принципи да излезат на протести. Why do I protest, and what is the Colorful Revolution? 1. This is a struggle against the authoritarian and corrupt regime, personified by ex-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. 2. This struggle is not peaceful [in the sense of passive], but it is strictly nonviolent. 3. No civil society organization holds the monopoly on the struggle against the authoritarian regime. Every citizen adhering with these principles is part of “I protest” (#протестирам) and the #ColorfulRevolution. We call upon all who agree with these principles to come out and protest. Participants have taken this decentralized approach as a way to attract more people and to prevent anyone from “hijacking” the protest for their own cause. Colorful Revolution's protesters often experiment and disagree on various approaches, and resolve differences through open discussion. Reflecting the linguistic diversity of Macedonia, the protesters have been sharing information about the demands in various local languages, like Macedonian, Albanian (#protestoj!), Roma, as well as English. Even the English translation of the term #ColorfulRevolution was a result of “the wisdom of crowds.” The Macedonian term #ШаренаРеволуција (“sharena revolucija” in the Latin alphabet) refers to mix of various colors, and can be translated as “multicolored” too. However, “colorful” stuck, especially after Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle used it within their article titled, “Protesters hit Macedonia's capital with paint balls and soap suds in a ‘Colorful Revolution’.” I held an informal poll on Twitter to see what Macedonian users thought about the translation. Results showed respondents overwhelmingly agreed with Deutsche Welle's choice: Кој е подобар превод за #шаренареволуција односно #шаренатареволуција. Пинг #протестирам #п. Pls RT. — Filip Stojanovski (@razvigor) April 20, 2016 Which translation is more suitable: Multicolor Revolution, Multicolored Revolution or Colorful Revolution? Participants are often seen wearing T-shirts with a stylized logo of the three most prominent special public prosecutors, Lenče Risteska, Katica Janeva and Fatime Fetai, against the acronym “СЈО” (for Special Public Prosecutor's Office, in Macedonian). The original design was shared online for people to download and make their own t-shirts as a sign of support for the anti-corruption efforts of the prosecutors. Photo by Vančo Džambaski, CC BY-SA. Soon, over a dozen designers started making logos and other visual materials, and posting them online in high resolution for public use. The web page sharena-revolucija.ie.mk collects these designs in one place, providing an easy to use digital resource. Participants have used them to make t-shirts, banners, stickers, various badges and flags.