Modern Greece and the Macedonian Heritage Part 27 Time to Stand Up
Risto Stefov
July 06, 2009
By now everyone must know that without the Macedonian support for the so-called "name dispute" with Greece there would be no "name dispute" at all, just plain old "complaining", "crying" and "throwing temper tantrums" by the Greek side. There is no need for a "mutually agreed upon name" because Macedonians are happy with the existing name, just the way it is. Would any Macedonian contemplate changing the name if there was no pressure from Greece? Certainly not! So where is the need to change the name?
Again this is another Greek ploy to keep Macedonians distracted from pursuing more important matters like the "status of the Macedonians in Greece" and, in the long term, to wear down and break the Macedonian people.
Dear Macedonians itīs time for us to recognize where these Greeks are coming from and where they are going with this so-called "name dispute" and stand up to them and say "no more leading us by our noses"! No more making up issues about nothing! No more lies and deceit! Let us once and for all recognize that without the Macedonian participation in these so-called "name negotiations" Greece has nothing to negotiate and no leg to stand on!
But as long as there is a single (one) Macedonian willing to entertain the Greeks on this issue Greece will continue to push "the need to find a mutually acceptable solution". Greece will continue to parade us around like a bunch of fools who are willing to "negotiate" away our own precious ancestral name and for what? To please the Greeks, the very same people who since 1913 have been planning and executing our demise? Are we that naïve, willing to give up our name so that the Greeks will allow us to cross another "road block" on the road to where? Our own extinction?
Is anyone foolish enough to believe that if we "give in a little" Greece will leave us alone and will never demand anything of us again? How are we going to be sure of that? By signing an agreement? By signing the same kind of agreement that lead us to this situation in the first place? How are we going to enforce such an agreement against a country that has broken every international law known to mankind?
Do you think Greece wants us to change our name because it is afraid of little old Macedonia having "territorial aspirations" against a monster country like Greece? The only country here that has "territorial aspirations" is Greece itself against Macedonia. Greece has never given up on the idea of "possessing" all of Macedonia and has always looked for ways to annex more Macedonian lands. Now it sees its chance coming and is looking for ways to destabilize Macedonia so that it can walk in and take over. Hence the slogan "Macedonia is Greek". If we are not careful it will be 1913 all over again!
If you as a Macedonian believe that we are negotiating a "mutually acceptable solution" then (1) you must also believe we are "not happy" with our current name and (2) you obviously have never been bullied before.
Greece is like a school yard bully picking on a small child demanding the child hand over his lunch money. If the child gives up the money to escape the situation without a fight do you think the bully will be satisfied and will go away and never bother that child again? Or do you think the bully will come back the next day and demand not only the childīs lunch money but also his candy and other goodies. And if the child gives in again and again do you thing the bully will stop "bullying" and go away? NO! Neither will Greece if Macedonia gives in, even a millimeter! So its time to take a stand and say NO to these negotiations and to any other negotiations that may be harmful to Macedonia and the Macedonian people! We are happy with our name just the way it is and we donīt want to talk about it, to anyone, any more. However we are not happy with the way the Greeks are treating us, especially our Macedonian compatriots living in Greece and we DO want to talk about that.
Many of you have written me and expressed your disgust with the way Macedonians are being treated by the Greeks. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about how "Greeks behave" but there is definitely something we can all do about how we react to it. Instead of paying attention to these Greeks and following their lead we need to stand up and simply say enough is enough "we donīt care about your childish issues", and if they donīt like it "too bad"!
On the other hand if you do want to talk about matters of importance with Greeks then take the lead and challenge them to talk about granting human rights to Macedonians and other ethnic groups living in Greece. Now there is a real "issue" you can sink your teeth into.
If you are interested in "talking" letīs start "talking" about how Greeks treated us in the last 100 years. Why donīt we get together (with the Greeks) and talk about how we are going to correct the past wrongs they committed against our people since Greece invaded, occupied, partitioned and annexed our country.
Dear Macedonians we DO have many "disputes" with Greece and NONE are about our name! Our disputes with Greece are exactly what the Greeks donīt want us to think about and that is why they have concocted the "name dispute" to distract us. That is why we must stand up to these bullies and take the lead and say NO to the "name dispute" and YES to "human rights for the Macedonians in Greece".
The name dispute and everything associated with it is nothing more than a Greek ploy to destabilize the Republic of Macedonia so that Greece can one day walk in and annex it, just like it annexed 51% of Macedonia in 1913. This is why Greece has been insisting on using the slogan "Macedonia is Greek".
How is Greece attempting to destabilize Macedonia you say?
By blocking Macedoniaīs entry into International Organizations and keeping Macedonia from achieving prosperity on account of a phony "name dispute". Greece is putting extreme pressure on the Macedonian people to make a decision between two choices. If enough pressure is applied, for a considerable time, Greece hopes to divide the Macedonian people into two opposing camps, one supporting a name change and the other opposing it. To some extent this is already happening today. Such a division has the potential for starting a civil war and destabilizing the country. Be warned, if this is allowed to happen the outcome will be unpredictable and definitely unpleasant and disastrous for Macedonia and the Macedonian people. It is up to us Macedonians to not let this happen by immediately pulling out of the "name negotiations" and to no longer entertain anything to do with our name or ethnic identity. By pulling out from the "talks" we will render this matter "defunct" and no longer a threat!
As I write these words I am reminded of the older days when Krste Misirkov, Yane Sandaski and other Macedonian patriots, who, after the failed 1903 Ilinden Uprising, tried to warn the Macedonian people not to trust Greece and Bulgaria on their "false" promises of offering to "liberate" Macedonia and the Macedonians from the Ottomans. I can understand their frustration when their warnings were ignored and brushed aside as nonsense by people with no foresight. Ten short years later Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria did invade, occupy and partition Macedonia and they did it under the pretense of liberation.
Are we now going to let the same thing happen again? Have we learned nothing from our history? Are we foolish enough to think that our neighbours have relented or have given up on their dreams to possess more of Macedonia? Have we forgotten how both World Wars were started?
How can we be so sure of anything our neighbours say when we know for a fact that we are lied to even about our own existence? The fact that Greece does not recognize the Macedonian ethnic identity is a declaration of war on the Macedonian people.
What troubles me the most about this is, why are we "negotiating", and with our enemies at that, over something that is clearly already ours? And more troubling than that is "what are we getting in return for negotiating away our very own existence?
When it comes to the preservation of our eternal name and precious ethnic identity, all Macedonians from every political party, from every walk of life and from every continent on this planet "must" stand together united and with a single voice to say "NO" to Greece or to anyone else who wishes us harm. That is the only way we can get the "proverbial monkey off our backs" and perhaps earn some respect while doing it! Unity IS our strength! United we stand, divided we fall! Itīs that simple.
Paul wrote:
Macedonian politicians are negotiating our identity. Whether they agree with Greece, or reject Greece's position - is neither here or there. My point is "We" (Macedonians) are the ones who have put our identity up for negotiation. We have only ourselves to blame.
If the Macedonians, instead, had chosen to defend our rights, defend our sovereignty and NOT engaged Greece, our name and our identity would not be open or up for negotiation!
By Paul from www.maknews.com/forum
"As early as 1770īs, intellectuals were prompting what could be termed īcultural evangelismī (Kitromilides 1990) or Hellenization of the highly diverse populations of the Balkans. As Kitromilides remarks, authors of multilingual dictionaries of the period such as Theodoros Kavalliots and Daniel of Moschopolis, invited non-Greeks to Hellenize, pointing out the social mobility benefits associated with Hellenization (Ibid.: 26-7). Similarly, there is evidence that non-Greek speakers themselves saw education and fluency in Greek as a major advantage for themselves and their offspring Vlach, Bulgarian - and Romanian speaking merchants quite often opted for Greek schools in order to be able to benefit from the possibilities that these presented." ("Tormented by History Nationalism in Greece and Turkey", by Umut Ozkirimli and Spiros A. Sofos, page 24)
For those who are still not convinced that the Modern Greek identity is an artificial creation, please continue to read this series of articles.
Authorīs note:
Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.
To be continued.
Many thanks to TrueMacedonian from www.maknews.com for his contribution to this article.
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Again this is another Greek ploy to keep Macedonians distracted from pursuing more important matters like the "status of the Macedonians in Greece" and, in the long term, to wear down and break the Macedonian people.
Dear Macedonians itīs time for us to recognize where these Greeks are coming from and where they are going with this so-called "name dispute" and stand up to them and say "no more leading us by our noses"! No more making up issues about nothing! No more lies and deceit! Let us once and for all recognize that without the Macedonian participation in these so-called "name negotiations" Greece has nothing to negotiate and no leg to stand on!
But as long as there is a single (one) Macedonian willing to entertain the Greeks on this issue Greece will continue to push "the need to find a mutually acceptable solution". Greece will continue to parade us around like a bunch of fools who are willing to "negotiate" away our own precious ancestral name and for what? To please the Greeks, the very same people who since 1913 have been planning and executing our demise? Are we that naïve, willing to give up our name so that the Greeks will allow us to cross another "road block" on the road to where? Our own extinction?
Is anyone foolish enough to believe that if we "give in a little" Greece will leave us alone and will never demand anything of us again? How are we going to be sure of that? By signing an agreement? By signing the same kind of agreement that lead us to this situation in the first place? How are we going to enforce such an agreement against a country that has broken every international law known to mankind?
Do you think Greece wants us to change our name because it is afraid of little old Macedonia having "territorial aspirations" against a monster country like Greece? The only country here that has "territorial aspirations" is Greece itself against Macedonia. Greece has never given up on the idea of "possessing" all of Macedonia and has always looked for ways to annex more Macedonian lands. Now it sees its chance coming and is looking for ways to destabilize Macedonia so that it can walk in and take over. Hence the slogan "Macedonia is Greek". If we are not careful it will be 1913 all over again!
If you as a Macedonian believe that we are negotiating a "mutually acceptable solution" then (1) you must also believe we are "not happy" with our current name and (2) you obviously have never been bullied before.
Greece is like a school yard bully picking on a small child demanding the child hand over his lunch money. If the child gives up the money to escape the situation without a fight do you think the bully will be satisfied and will go away and never bother that child again? Or do you think the bully will come back the next day and demand not only the childīs lunch money but also his candy and other goodies. And if the child gives in again and again do you thing the bully will stop "bullying" and go away? NO! Neither will Greece if Macedonia gives in, even a millimeter! So its time to take a stand and say NO to these negotiations and to any other negotiations that may be harmful to Macedonia and the Macedonian people! We are happy with our name just the way it is and we donīt want to talk about it, to anyone, any more. However we are not happy with the way the Greeks are treating us, especially our Macedonian compatriots living in Greece and we DO want to talk about that.
Many of you have written me and expressed your disgust with the way Macedonians are being treated by the Greeks. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about how "Greeks behave" but there is definitely something we can all do about how we react to it. Instead of paying attention to these Greeks and following their lead we need to stand up and simply say enough is enough "we donīt care about your childish issues", and if they donīt like it "too bad"!
On the other hand if you do want to talk about matters of importance with Greeks then take the lead and challenge them to talk about granting human rights to Macedonians and other ethnic groups living in Greece. Now there is a real "issue" you can sink your teeth into.
If you are interested in "talking" letīs start "talking" about how Greeks treated us in the last 100 years. Why donīt we get together (with the Greeks) and talk about how we are going to correct the past wrongs they committed against our people since Greece invaded, occupied, partitioned and annexed our country.
Dear Macedonians we DO have many "disputes" with Greece and NONE are about our name! Our disputes with Greece are exactly what the Greeks donīt want us to think about and that is why they have concocted the "name dispute" to distract us. That is why we must stand up to these bullies and take the lead and say NO to the "name dispute" and YES to "human rights for the Macedonians in Greece".
The name dispute and everything associated with it is nothing more than a Greek ploy to destabilize the Republic of Macedonia so that Greece can one day walk in and annex it, just like it annexed 51% of Macedonia in 1913. This is why Greece has been insisting on using the slogan "Macedonia is Greek".
How is Greece attempting to destabilize Macedonia you say?
By blocking Macedoniaīs entry into International Organizations and keeping Macedonia from achieving prosperity on account of a phony "name dispute". Greece is putting extreme pressure on the Macedonian people to make a decision between two choices. If enough pressure is applied, for a considerable time, Greece hopes to divide the Macedonian people into two opposing camps, one supporting a name change and the other opposing it. To some extent this is already happening today. Such a division has the potential for starting a civil war and destabilizing the country. Be warned, if this is allowed to happen the outcome will be unpredictable and definitely unpleasant and disastrous for Macedonia and the Macedonian people. It is up to us Macedonians to not let this happen by immediately pulling out of the "name negotiations" and to no longer entertain anything to do with our name or ethnic identity. By pulling out from the "talks" we will render this matter "defunct" and no longer a threat!
As I write these words I am reminded of the older days when Krste Misirkov, Yane Sandaski and other Macedonian patriots, who, after the failed 1903 Ilinden Uprising, tried to warn the Macedonian people not to trust Greece and Bulgaria on their "false" promises of offering to "liberate" Macedonia and the Macedonians from the Ottomans. I can understand their frustration when their warnings were ignored and brushed aside as nonsense by people with no foresight. Ten short years later Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria did invade, occupy and partition Macedonia and they did it under the pretense of liberation.
Are we now going to let the same thing happen again? Have we learned nothing from our history? Are we foolish enough to think that our neighbours have relented or have given up on their dreams to possess more of Macedonia? Have we forgotten how both World Wars were started?
How can we be so sure of anything our neighbours say when we know for a fact that we are lied to even about our own existence? The fact that Greece does not recognize the Macedonian ethnic identity is a declaration of war on the Macedonian people.
What troubles me the most about this is, why are we "negotiating", and with our enemies at that, over something that is clearly already ours? And more troubling than that is "what are we getting in return for negotiating away our very own existence?
When it comes to the preservation of our eternal name and precious ethnic identity, all Macedonians from every political party, from every walk of life and from every continent on this planet "must" stand together united and with a single voice to say "NO" to Greece or to anyone else who wishes us harm. That is the only way we can get the "proverbial monkey off our backs" and perhaps earn some respect while doing it! Unity IS our strength! United we stand, divided we fall! Itīs that simple.
Paul wrote:
Macedonian politicians are negotiating our identity. Whether they agree with Greece, or reject Greece's position - is neither here or there. My point is "We" (Macedonians) are the ones who have put our identity up for negotiation. We have only ourselves to blame.
If the Macedonians, instead, had chosen to defend our rights, defend our sovereignty and NOT engaged Greece, our name and our identity would not be open or up for negotiation!
By Paul from www.maknews.com/forum
"As early as 1770īs, intellectuals were prompting what could be termed īcultural evangelismī (Kitromilides 1990) or Hellenization of the highly diverse populations of the Balkans. As Kitromilides remarks, authors of multilingual dictionaries of the period such as Theodoros Kavalliots and Daniel of Moschopolis, invited non-Greeks to Hellenize, pointing out the social mobility benefits associated with Hellenization (Ibid.: 26-7). Similarly, there is evidence that non-Greek speakers themselves saw education and fluency in Greek as a major advantage for themselves and their offspring Vlach, Bulgarian - and Romanian speaking merchants quite often opted for Greek schools in order to be able to benefit from the possibilities that these presented." ("Tormented by History Nationalism in Greece and Turkey", by Umut Ozkirimli and Spiros A. Sofos, page 24)
For those who are still not convinced that the Modern Greek identity is an artificial creation, please continue to read this series of articles.
Authorīs note:
Dear Macedonians, one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage.
To be continued.
Many thanks to TrueMacedonian from www.maknews.com for his contribution to this article.
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
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