The Macedonian Digest
“From the readers for the readers”
Edition 34 – October 2008
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Editor’s Notes
Many thanks to our contributors for taking the time to write. Please keep your stories coming.
Also please check out this link:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/viewByAuthor?authorID=3446
Risto…
Feature Stories
Parliament adopts resolution on Aegean refugees
Skopje, August 27 (MIA) - The Parliament of Macedonia adopted Wednesday unanimously by acclamation a Resolution on the Refugees from Military Actions in the Republic of Greece during the Civil and Second World War. It envisages the Government to support the legal struggle of the Aegeans with regard to returning the seized properties during Greece's Civil War and to inform the Parliament on the course of the procedure every six months.
A group of legislators from all parliamentary parties put forward the Resolution on the Refugees from Military Actions in the Republic of Greece During the Civil and Second World War.
Civil associations of refugee children and other citizens exiled following 1949 and the end of the civil war in Greece, referred to the Parliament's Standing Inquiry Committee for Protection of Civil Freedoms and Rights with a petition in 2004. In the past few years, the committee reviewed the petition exhaustively as well as the request, voiced by the associations, the Parliament to take and declare appropriate positions before the local and international public.
As a result of the unified positions, the Standing Inquiry Committee and 11 MPs from all parties filed the Resolution on the Refugees from Military Actions in the Republic of Greece During the Civil and Second World War to Parliament's President on 14 Dec. 2007.
According to historians and data obtained by international organisations for human rights protection, a bulk of the hundreds of thousands of people that fled Greece during the civil war were Macedonians, most of them children.
In an attempt to raise the issues of the Macedonians in Greece and exiled civilians after the civil war, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Speaker Trajko Veljanoski sent letters to their colleagues, international representatives and organisations.
The discrimination of Macedonian refugees from Greece's civil war was the topic of discussion last October in the Council of Europe. Back then, a group of members of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly urged Greece to amend the 1982 Amnesty Law and the Law on Return on Properties from 1985, because they discriminate those who are not of Greek origin. The Greek Government recognizes only ethnic Greeks, whereas the others, including the Macedonians, are deprived of the rights ensured by these two laws - return of citizenship and properties belonging to the civil war refugees.
On Friday (Aug. 22) the chairman of the refugee association, Gjorgi Donevski met with Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski, who said that the association's long-term demand for MPs to review those problems was met.
- I expect for the resolution to clearly notify what the Parliament, Government, ministries and other institutions shall do for regaining our rights. For sixty years the Aegean Macedonians have been wandering across many European countries, Australia, Canada, US, deprived of their rights to visit own birthplaces in Aegean Macedonia, to take care for their properties. I believe that by Europe's, and above all the help of the Republic of Macedonia, we shall realize our rights, Donevski said. ba/fd/12:51
Macedonia
seeks international involvement in minority issue
19:31 Mon 18 Aug 2008 - Spasena Baramova
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/macedo ... 6/catid_68
Over the weekend of August 15 to 17 2008, Skopje once again turned to the international community to seek out its involvement in solving the issue with what it calls the Macedonian minority in Greece.
This happened via letters that speaker of Macedonian parliament Trajko Veljanovski sent to European Union countries, the United States, Russia, China and Australia, among others; international organisations such as Nato, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe; and institutions such as the European Parliament, requesting their support to help resolve the matter, website Balkan Insight said, quoting local media.
“Athens’ practice violates the European Human Rights Convention and the Framework Convention for Protection of National Minorities, which Greece has signed,” Veljanovski wrote, referring to alleged discrimination against the Macedonians in Greece, involving banning them from using their language and practising their culture, Balkan Insight reported.
Earlier this summer, Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski sent similar letters to the EU and Nato, this way tying the issue of the Macedonian minority in Greece to the ongoing name dispute between the two Balkan neighbours, something that has been poisoning their relations for 17 years.
The dispute focuses on Greek demands that Macedonia change its name since it coincides with that of the northern Greek province. According to Athens, this implies Skopje's territorial claims towards Greece.
The climax of the name issue came in April 2008, when Greece vetoed Macedonia getting invited to join Nato at a summit of the military alliance in Bucharest. Since then, ties between the two have been exacerbated and now Athens is threatening to block the launch of the official accession talks of Skopje with the EU.
Following the issue of the Macedonian minority in Greece, Gruevski later brought up other issues to be discussed on the sidelines of the name dispute, such as the Greek recognition of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski, however, slammed this move as counter-productive.
Moreover, following the last round of UN-mediated talks in New York City held last week, after meeting separately with both sides, UN special envoy Matthew Nimitz said that it was his responsibility to help resolve only the name row and that no other issues were to be discussed.
BULGARIAN SHAM OR GREEK FOOLISHNESS
By Dusan Sinadinoski-Detroit
In their haste to distort the truth about the Macedonian nationality many Greeks often rely on groundless and foolish contentions. When on April 10, 2008 The New York Times told the truth about the Macedonian nationality and scolded Greece for obstructing the Macedonian accession to NATO (thus, interfering with NATO’s future expansion) the Greeks barraged the newspaper with all kinds of foolish arguments in defense of the Greek action. Many of the slanderous comments were even aimed at the USA, which shows how disloyal and anti-American some Greeks can be. One of those comments to NY Times, also published in a Greeks Online, seems to be quoting a certain L. D. Woodruff, who allegedly was an official from the US State Department, to have claimed that there was no distinct and separate Macedonian nationality. It appears that the reference to L. D. Woodruff was intended to suggest that his claim was an authentic US Government position. However, a further inquiry into this claim reveals not only that this deceptive montage is one more Greek ring added to their string of lies about Macedonian nationality, however, more importantly, this time this deceit was conspicuously brushed with Bulgarian spices.
The reference to L. D. Woodruff takes us back a century ago at the time of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, when the fate of Macedonia was being decided. At the end of World War I Macedonia once again became a hotly contested country and a source of clandestine and diplomatic machinations. Greece and Serbia were trying to retain their parts of Macedonia which they secured for themselves with the Bucharest Treaty of 1913 while Bulgaria, after losing the Second Balkan War and World War I, was trying to figure out diplomatic ways to either regain Macedonia for itself or to wrestle her away from Serbia and Greece by supporting a creation of an autonomous Macedonian state. Meanwhile, President Woodrow Wilson was also considering whether to make Macedonia an autonomous state or how best to protect the Macedonian minorities in Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria. This diplomatic stage on which the Macedonian drama played out was, therefore, a cause for an intensive lobbying for the Macedonian pie by Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. However, to England and France the peacemaking of Macedonia was a means to promote their own individual interests in the Balkans.
One of those lobbyists at the Paris Peace Conference was L. D. Woodruff. He also believed that Macedonia should be made an autonomous state. In his letter to E. H. Kerr, secretary to Mr. Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister, dated April 9, 1919 in Paris, after first expressing doubts about the idea of a Yugoslav federation, Mr. Woodruff wrote that “the next best thing, I’m convinced, is an autonomous Macedonia. That would give the 250,000 refugees in Bulgaria a chance to return to their Macedonian homes.” It seems that Mr. Woodruff is implying that the Macedonian refugees in Bulgaria were not displaced by the war but by a political persecution. “Under their own government”, he further wrote, “the Macedonians could freely decide their future fate.” Clearly Mr. Woodruff here is in line with President Wilson’s idea of some kind of self-determination for Macedonia, including that of autonomy, because the Macedonians were not free. But if Mr. Woodruff claims that there are no Macedonians but only Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians, Gypsies and other nationalities living in Macedonia, why would he want an autonomous Macedonian state for the Macedonians!
Perhaps one way to understand what Mr. Woodruff has in mind here is that the Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbs of Macedonia consider Macedonia as their home country rather than the countries of their brethren. In this sense, which ever state rules Macedonia, the Macedonian population, because of its mixed nature, would consider themselves as dominated by a foreign power. For example, as Mr. Woodruff further explains, “the Macedonian population cannot enjoy free expression while under Greek domination.” He then asked this question: “If the Greek imprison, as they have recently done, American missionaries in the city of Salonika, what would be the state of the Macedonian population, especially in the provinces?” Mr. Woodruff did not live long enough to witness the fulfillment of his premonitions, but Greece indeed proved Mr. Woodruff’s predictions accurate by implementing “pacific measures such as imprisonment murder and exile” against the Macedonian population.
But this notion of autonomous Macedonia was not the reason why L. D. Woodruff came to Paris. While he was careful not to expose his true reasons behind his claim for autonomous Macedonia, he nonetheless, gave us some clues as to what his impression of an autonomous Macedonian state may look like. In an autonomous Macedonia, “whether the population of Macedonia is Serbian, Greek, or mixed”, he writes, “it would than enjoy freedom from foreign yoke.” What is immediately conspicuous in this passage is the omission of the name “Bulgarian” from this grouping of oppressors of the Macedonian population. He again, in defending his cause for independent Macedonia, repeated this line of thought when he wrote that “free expression cannot be possibly given with impunity while under Serbian and Greek domination”. Thus it seems quite obvious that Mr. Woodruff came to Paris to promote the Bulgarian vision of Macedonia.
In this letter to Mr. Kerr, L. D. Woodruff came close to reveal his true reason for arguing for an autonomous Macedonia, but he was careful not to cause a furious British reaction. However, in an earlier letter to President Wilson, dated Dec. 11, 1918, Mr. Woodruff clearly revealed his true Bulgarian sympathy. He wrote President Wilson that “in fulfillment of your high purpose to apply the principle of nationality alike to conquered and conquering nations, we respectively urge that, in the settlement of boundaries in the Balkans, due and full consideration be given to the evidence of unbiased wittiness, that the world be may be spared a repetition of such a disastrous wrongs as were perpetrated against…the Bulgarian nation in 1878 and 1913. Moreover, he also pointed out to Mr. Wilson that “in the territory of our Macedonian field, existing from Skopia and Ochrida to Drama, the great bulk of the population is Bulgarian in origin.” Clearly there is no ambiguity here as to on which side of the Macedonian field L. D. Woodruff resided.
But this is not the first time for Mr. Woodruff to manipulate the truth in the Bulgarian favor. As a missionary to the American Board in the Balkans, Mr. Woodruff also stood on the Bulgarian side even when the entire world observed the atrocities committed by the Bulgarian army against the Turkish soldiers following the fall of Andranople. In an article of the New York Times, published on October 25, 1913 he wrote that while he was in charge of relief efforts among the Turkish prisoners he “found them in a bad way, as during the siege we ran out of food, and the majority of the prisoners almost died of starvation. This condition, however, was in no way attributable to the Bulgarians, who did everything possible after the fall of the city to relieve conditions. I was given carte blanche by the Bulgarians to draw on the Bulgarian military supplies for anything I considered necessary for the well-being of the Turkish prisoners.” There should be no doubt that Mr. Woodruff took upon himself to defend the Bulgarians against the accusations for which the rest of the world condemned Bulgaria.
Mr. Woodruff died on June 14, 1922 in Sofia. He was a pastor at Congregational Church in Cleveland and performed missionary work in Bulgaria. While in Bulgaria he was teaching at the Samokov Schools. During the Paris Peace Conference he represented the Bulgarian government. For his outstanding service to the Bulgarian state, in 1926 Bulgaria awarded the American Missionary Schools a sizable land of 114 acres in Gorna Banya, near the foot of Mt. Vitosha and only five miles from Sofia, where the American College of Sophia was built. Thus, Sophia became an inspirational center for the growing Protestant movement in Bulgaria. Even the Metropolitan of Sofia, Archbishop Stefan, as the archival records of Samokov Missionary Schools reveal, wrote: "We welcome the idea with joy and feel that it will serve to strengthen and ennoble our national character." Indeed, an exemplary missionary work by L. D. Woodruff in exchange for little bit of Bulgarian soul.
This is, therefore, the truth behind the Bulgarian sham. It is now quite obvious that Greeks this time got their facts about L. D. Woodruff’s connection to US State Department totally confused with the Bulgarian state. It is so sad to find out that the Greek foolishness leads them straight to the fox’s trap. However, what is so hard to figure out here is whether the Bulgarians are that shrewd or the Greeks are that foolish!
To Pontiki: Romania caught Greece off guard
Friday 15.08.2008 /14:40/ (MINA)
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs neither found
out, nor reacted when grounds were laid in the Council of Europe for recognition
of the Macedonian language as protected regional or minority language.
This was done in line with Romania's decision to grant such status, Greece-based "To
Pontiki" newspaper writes.
On 1 May 2008 Romania joined the CoE European map of regional or minority
languages, recognising the existence and necessity of protecting the Macedonian
language on its territory. Until now, "To Pontiki" reports, Macedonia
hadn't had the opportunity to raise the issue involving existence and protection
of the Macedonian minority in CoE members countries, because the basic condition
required some of them to recognise the language as regional or minority
one as well.
- Greece can claim that the issue on recognising the Macedonian language
and minority had never existed and will never exist. However, since it was recognised
as protected regional minority language in Romania, there's a possibility other
Macedonian neighbouring countries to do the same, writes the newspaper.
"To Pontiki" adds that diplomats in Strasbourg claim that in
the foreseeable future the Macedonian language, i.e. Macedonian minority who
speaks the language, will be recognised by their neighbours and by other states,
whereas Greece will remain firm in its positions that there is neither a Macedonian
language nor a Macedonian minority on its territory.
The issue of Macedonian language and minority in Greece was initiated two
years ago by watchdog group Human Right Watch. It suggested the Athens Government
to recognise the existence of the Macedonian ethnic minority, its language and
cultural traditions, to lift the limitations for free expression, to solve the
issue involving the Macedonian political refugees from Greece and to allow them
to return and to obtain Greek citizenship, "To Pontiki" writes.
As an example, Romanian and World footballing legend George Haghi is of Macedonian
descent, his grand parents were forced out of Aegean Macedonia by the Greek
Fascist Government. They resettled on the Black Sea in Romani.
Not another BIG Greek Lie?
Few Q's for the Greeks
For whom did the Greek state print in 1925 the Primer
of the Macedonian Language “ABECEDAR”? Even before the printing of this
book, in an official but secret census the Macedonian language was clearly
mentioned. The “non-existent” Macedonian minority spoke a “non-existent”
language?
2. Who are these that were mentioned in all official national censuses
of the Greek state up until 1951 as “macedophones”, “slavophone Macedonians”,
of “Slavic”, “non-Greek” or “unstable” national consciousness, of “declared Slavic
beliefs”? What happened to them, after 1951?
3. Is it possible that they “no longer exist” as former Minister Pangalos
stated some years ago?
4. If they don’t exist, exactly how did they “disappear”?
5. If they still exist, why then does Greece keep calling them “non-existent”
every time someone brings up this subject?
6. Why was the population of whole villages back in the 60s forced to make
collective oaths, in order to stop using the “cursed Slavic idiom”?
7. Under what excuse did the Greek state allow in 1982 the repatriation
only of the political refugees who were “Greek by genus”? This indirectly but
clearly means that the thousands of political refugees who had lost their citizenship
and cannot return to their birth places are defined as “non-Greek by genus”.
The relatives of these people who remained within the Greek borders do not constitute
an ethnic minority then?
8. Why Greece, with its official and unofficial structures, has created
a whole mechanism to impede even a short-term visit to Greece from these political
refugees who have clearly stated a non-Greek national conscience? Because of
whom was the notorious “unwanted list” in Greek border crossings created, why
is it still valid and enhanced today, including not only political refugees but
also financial immigrants of Macedonian origin?
9. If what Greece claims to be true, that Macedonians are Greeks only,
is indeed true, then why does the country prohibit for 18 years now the registration
of the cultural association “Home of Macedonian Culture”, pretentiously ignoring
relevant rulings in favour of the registration from the European Court for Human
Rights?
10. Why is Greece reluctant to conduct an official census of all ethnic
and linguistic minorities, in order to have an indisputable proof of the existence
or non-existence of the Macedonian minority?
And last but not least, maybe the most important question of all. How is
it possible that Greece, a country that constantly fancies itself to be the “cradle
of civilization and democracy” is de facto denying at the same time elementary,
fundamental human rights to its citizens, like the right to self determination
and all that derives from it in educational and cultural fields? Why is Greece
not ratifying any of the relevant international conventions it readily signed
in the first place??
By Pesijazal
I have a source
for you here on how "Greek" modern Greeks really are
“This revival also allowed the Byzantines to decolonize
the Greek mainland. The success of that effort would prove crucial to the
survival of Greek culture in future centuries, after the other lands had
fallen away. Having overrun nearly all of the Greek mainland, the cities,
the islands, by the tenth century the Slavs in Greece had been converted
to Orthodox Christianity and thoroughly Hellenized. Today the only evidence
of the Slav's arrival is the presence of Slavic place names, some five
hundred or so of them, scattered charmingly throughout the Greek countryside.”
Source: Sailing From Byzantium, by Colin Wells, page 183.
Mr. Wells was educated in Oxford if that means anything.
Posted by TrueMacedonian
From the International Scene
Don't Forget Yugoslavia
By John Pilger
The secrets of the crushing of Yugoslavia are emerging,
telling us more about how the modern world is policed. The former chief
prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in The
Hague, Carla Del Ponte, this year published her memoir, The Hunt: Me and
War Criminals. Largely ignored in Britain, the book reveals unpalatable
truths about the West's intervention in Kosovo, which has echoes in the
Caucasus.
The tribunal was set up and bankrolled principally by the United States.
Del Ponte's role was to investigate the crimes committed as Yugoslavia was dismembered
in the 1990s. She insisted that this include NATO's 78-day bombing of Serbia
and Kosovo in 1999, which killed hundreds of people in hospitals, schools, churches,
parks, and television studios and destroyed economic infrastructure. "If
I am not willing to [prosecute NATO personnel]," said Del Ponte, "I
must give up my mission." It was a sham. Under pressure from Washington
and London, an investigation into NATO war crimes was scrapped.
Readers will recall that the justification for the NATO bombing was that
the Serbs were committing "genocide" in the secessionist province of
Kosovo against ethnic Albanians. David Scheffer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for
war crimes, announced that as many as "225,000 ethnic Albanian men aged
between 14 and 59" may have been murdered. Tony Blair invoked the Holocaust
and "the spirit of the Second World War." The West's heroic allies
were the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), whose murderous record was set aside.
The British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, told them to call him anytime on his
mobile phone.
With the NATO bombing over, international teams descended upon Kosovo to
exhume the "holocaust." The FBI failed to find a single mass grave
and went home. The Spanish forensic team did the same, its leader angrily denouncing "a
semantic pirouette by the war propaganda machines." A year later, Del Ponte's
tribunal announced the final count of the dead in Kosovo: 2,788. This included
combatants on both sides and Serbs and Roma murdered by the KLA. There was no
genocide in Kosovo. The "holocaust" was a lie. The NATO attack had
been fraudulent.
That was not all, says Del Ponte in her book: the KLA kidnapped hundreds
of Serbs and transported them to Albania, where their kidneys and other body
parts were removed; these were then sold for transplant in other countries. She
also says there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the Kosovar Albanians for
war crimes, but the investigation "was nipped in the bud" so that the
tribunal's focus would be on "crimes committed by Serbia." She says
the Hague judges were terrified of the Kosovar Albanians – the very people in
whose name NATO had attacked Serbia.
Indeed, even as Blair the war leader was on a triumphant tour of "liberated" Kosovo,
the KLA was ethnically cleansing more than 200,000 Serbs and Roma from the province.
Last February the "international community," led by the U.S., recognized
Kosovo, which has no formal economy and is run, in effect, by criminal gangs
that traffic in drugs, contraband, and women. But it has one valuable asset:
the U.S. military base Camp Bondsteel, described by the Council of Europe's human
rights commissioner as "a smaller version of Guantanamo." Del Ponte,
a Swiss diplomat, has been told by her own government to stop promoting her book.
Yugoslavia was a uniquely independent and multi-ethnic, if imperfect, federation
that stood as a political and economic bridge in the Cold War. This was not acceptable
to the expanding European Community, especially newly united Germany, which had
begun a drive east to dominate its "natural market" in the Yugoslav
provinces of Croatia and Slovenia. By the time the Europeans met at Maastricht
in 1991, a secret deal had been struck; Germany recognized Croatia, and Yugoslavia
was doomed. In Washington, the U.S. ensured that the struggling Yugoslav economy
was denied World Bank loans and the defunct NATO was reinvented as an enforcer.
At a 1999 Kosovo "peace" conference in France, the Serbs were told
to accept occupation by NATO forces and a market economy, or be bombed into submission.
It was the perfect precursor to the bloodbaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Posted by Frank
Although rigorously socialist in developing her industrial
base, Yugoslavia allowed a certain amount of capitalist incursions, in
the spirit of pluralism. This openness to western investment, however,
sowed the seeds of the federation's demise. Infusions of foreign capital
over the years were not minor anomalies in the planned economies of the
six republics. Foreign indebtedness acted as a timed-release toxin, gradually
corroding the functioning of the state.
Meanwhile, Yugoslavia enjoyed stability and peace. Throughout the 1960s
and 1970s, the growth of Yugoslavia's gross domestic product averaged 6.1%. There
was 91% literacy and an average life expectancy of 72 years. The state provided
housing, health care, education, and child care. Citizens lived well on a per
capita income of $3,000 a year (in 1980 dollars), with one month paid vacation,
plus a year's maternity leave, if needed. Respect for workers was a central concern
of government and society.
But Marshal Tito, who designed, fine-tuned, and ruled this orderly state
with a firm hand for 35 years, passed on in May of 1980. Western powers quickly
altered their stance toward Yugoslavia. Since the country's socialist core had
not precluded financial relationships with the West, indebtedness to foreign
banks had been increasing gradually for decades. At the time of Tito's death,
the U.S. and other international creditors imposed the first of many "macro-economic
reforms" on Yugoslavia. This "debt restructuring" demanded the
currency be devaluated. As reported in a World Bank study, Strategy for Restructuring,
the economy sputtered and stalled. But that was just the beginning.
Enter Cold Warrior Ronald Reagan. In 1982, Reagan issued National Security
Decision Directive 54, a "Secret Sensitive" document. The Directive
advocated "expanded efforts to promote 'a quiet revolution' to overthrow
Communist governments while reintegrating the countries of Eastern Europe into
a market-oriented economy." In 1984, the Reagan administration directly
targeted Yugoslavia with NSDD 133, "United States Policy toward Yugoslavia",
calling for increased intervention (Covert Action Quarterly, Winter 1992). With
Tito gone, the U.S. moved to reorganize this sovereign nation. A successful socialist
state outside the Western bloc would not be tolerated.
The International Monetary Fund became the chief weapon used to destroy
Balkan unity. Increased ethnic friction, then, can be seen as only a secondary
cause of the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. As British economist and political
analyst Sean Gervasi has stated, "Foreign intervention was designed to create
precisely the conflicts which the Western powers decried."
IMF austerity measures were imposed in autumn 1989. The currency was further
devalued, wages frozen, and state industries deemed "unprofitable under
structural adjustment" (worker-owned companies) were closed. Unemployment
immediately rose 20%. The federal government in Belgrade regularly transferred
treasury payments to the republics and autonomous regions. Those payments were
now stopped, the funds mandated by the IMF to service foreign debt. As the Berlin
Wall was falling, wages in Yugoslavia fell 41%.
At this juncture, Prime Minister Ante Markovic visited Washington and reported
worriedly that ethnic tensions were rising in the republics (New York Times,
10/14/89). George Bush convinced Markovic of the wisdom of more debt restructuring.
An emergency foreign aid package was negotiated when Markovic promised to return
home and liberalize constitutional controls on foreign investments. Markovic's
ensuing legislation forced over one thousand by-then insolvent enterprises into
bankruptcy. These companies could subsequently be purchased 'for a song' by Western
investors.
Next, 650,000 Yugoslav workers struck. Although travail was increasing
within the republics due to the precipitous decline, workers united in solidarity
across all ethnic lines. It was in this atmosphere that Communist party leader
Slobodan Milosevic came to power in the fall 1990 elections, railing against
the dire conditions. Milosevic's gravest error was in not building upon worker
solidarity at this juncture by appealing for the unity of all Yugoslavians. He
lacked either the decency or the diplomacy to address each republic's complaints
as the federation groaned and strained under economic duress. At a time when
nationalist/separatist tendencies were flaring up in the republics, Milosevic
fanned the flames by calling only for a united Serbia.
By Kathryn Albrecht (Posted by Buktop)
Issues
Dear Barack Obama,
I am a life-long Democrat and I will be there on election day to support the platform of our party that includes an end to the costly military occupation of Iraq, a new commitment to affordable healthcare for all Americans, a cleaner and safer environment, and new opportunities for working people to receive a fair share of the nation’s wealth.
However, I am concerned that you and your campaign staff may be making a fatal miscalculation by taking the Greek side in the dispute between Macedonia and Greece. I appreciate the fact that every politician must reach out to significant ethnic constituencies and address their concerns, and communities such as the Jewish and the Greek always command serious attention. As a Macedonian American, I can appreciate that our relatively small community of some several hundred thousand people will not deserve the attention of some others, but you need to know that many of us live in the critical midwestern states of Michigan and Ohio.
All those of my ethnic group are keenly aware of your co-sponsorship of Senate Resolution 300 as a reward for the generous funding of your political campaigns by Greek Americans. That resolution calls upon “FYROM” [Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia] to negotiate a new name for itself with Greece. While reasonable people might disagree on what is a reasonable compromise on this international name issue, the official Greek position that we the Macedonian people must give up our national and ethnic identity is absolutely unacceptable to us.
By taking the Greek side in this dispute over our name and identity, you have essentially alienated a largely working class constituency consisting of tens of thousands in several states that are critical to your election in November. However, it is not too late to make some amends to Macedonian Americans before the upcoming election. What you would need to do is to simply acknowledge that we have the right to our self-identity. Acknowledge that negotiations with Greece over the name Macedonia is only reasonable if it involves efforts to distinguish between regions of geographical and historical Macedonia. The Greek people have no right whatsoever to deny the Macedonian people their identity.
Let Greeks and Macedonians in the U.S. know that you will be an honest broker in any negotiations over the name dispute between their two peoples. Let them know that you will continue to be a friend to the Greek people, but you will be a true friend, one who tells his friends when they have need of honest feedback for their own good. There is no such thing as a friend who is purchased. I look forward to voting for you in the fall, and to urging as many of my fellow Macedonian Americans in the key presidential campaign states of Michigan and Ohio to vote for you, as a man who represents the best interests of all the people, not just a few self-interested groups with special agendas.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Seraphinoff
Greenbank, Washington,USA
Ph. 1-360-678-4168
For further information on the name dispute please see my presentation at Portland State University in April, accessed at website: http://jsis.washington.edu/ellison/reecasnwconf2008.shtml
Chairman of Macedonian Parliament requested rights for the Macedonian minority in Greece from Great Powers
Skopje. The Chairman of the Macedonian Parliament
Trajko Veljanovski requested from the Great Powers rights for the Macedonian
Minority in Greece by sending letters to Chairmen of Parliaments in Russia,
USA, China, Brazil, Canada, Australia and many others, the correspondent
of FOCUS News Agency in Skopje announced.
The same letters have been sent to Parliamentary Assemblies of International
Organizations Council of Europe, OSCE, NATO, European Parliament, etc.
The letter puts forward the issue for the situation of the so-called Macedonian
Ethnic Minority in Greece.
Posted by VMRO
Concerns
The use of the term "Skopia-Skopianos" by
the Greeks (officially by all politicians and the Media, in Greece and
abroad) should be stopped! I think the Macedonian Government, by the diplomatic
offices in Athens and Solun, should make a note of protest for the use
by Greek government ministers (see Bakoyanni) and all the politicians and
the Greek Media of the term Skopia (to name the State of Macedonia) and
Skopiani for the Macedonian citizens. The Interim Agreement says that the
provisional name in the UN is Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and
not Republic of Skopia. The citizens of the Republic of Macedonia should
be referred to by Greeks as Former Yugoslavian Macedonians and not as Skopians.
They are MACEDONIAN, by the Interim Agreement.
This proves that after 15 years a signed agreement in the UN is not respected
by the Greek part, and who will guarantee that a new agreement on the name of
the Republic of Macedonia will be respected by the Greeks? This is the most important
issue.
By Vodenka
Choices
To the Citizens of the Republic of Macedonia:
http://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0807B&L=MAKNWS-L&T=0&F=&S=&P=8332
It has been both a privilege and an honor to serve
you these past 2 years as Minister without Portfolio responsible for Foreign
Investment. I am the third generation of my family to serve the Republic
of Macedonia and I did this with the highest ethical, moral, and customer
service standards possible.
My grandfather, after whom I was named, was the head of a Parliamentary
opposition party before and during World War II and he was also a Senator representing
Macedonia in the Federal Parliament in Belgrade. His civil engineering firm built
most of the structures in Skopje and around the country that survived the 1963
earthquake including the building jointly housing the Parliament and the Presidency
of the Republic. My late father, Vuko Tashkovich, was the co-chairman of the
World Macedonian Congress in the early 1990s when it was a true representation
of the Diaspora and he was also the Chairman of the U.S.-Macedonian Business
Council.
I am very pleased by the work that I accomplished for you during this time
because the effects will eventually be felt by many of you for many years to
come. For about a few thousand families across the country, my work has already
been appreciated (even if you did not realize that I was involved) because of
the jobs, back-salary payments, and/or pensions that were created
or saved as a direct result of my work.
Sometime during the month of August, I will prepare an open letter to you
outlining all of the successes of my small team of hard-working employees.
I am aware that my work was not especially visible in the media during
these past 2 years, but as a Minister without Portfolio, my job was not to attract
attention to myself but to carry out the program of the coalition government
and the senior governmental leaders quietly and efficiently. Please remember
that I was a technocrat and not a politician.
Thank you once again for this opportunity to serve.
Yours sincerely,
Gligor Tashkovich
Free Advice
The current Russia/Georgia conflict is a perfect
example of why NATO membership would be devastating for Macedonia.
If Georgia and Macedonia had both been admitted to NATO previously, then
Macedonia would currently be in a state of war with Russia.
Obviously, the conflict does have repercussions for Macedonia, but Macedonia
does not have a direct interest in it. Certainly Macedonian civilians have done
nothing to deserve being drawn into a vicious war against a nuclear power (and
a former ally at that).
Why does everyone believe that "military alliances" are the best
route toward peace??? I understand the need for defense, and the need for friends
in the international arena, especially for a country as small as Macedonia. But
military alliances rarely prevent conflicts; they simply raise the stakes, and
greatly increase the likelihood that an international incident (an assassination
perhaps) will escalate into another world war.
The Macedonian government should act to protect the interests of Macedonians,
not Georgians or Americans or Australians or anyone else. Macedonia should declare
itself a neutral power, like Sweden or Switzerland. It should extend peaceful
and friendly relations to all
other nations insofar as possible, but, in keeping with the advice of the
founders of the U.S. (back when it was a peaceful and law-abiding nation), "entangling
alliances" with none. Not the U.S., not Russia, not China, not anyone.
Joe
Sir, let me explain to you why my Macedonian friends
have reacted to you the way they have. All of their lives, they have been
subjected to YOUR version of history as being the correct one - the only
one - and the only world-view.
This narrative or world-view of yours, however has excluded them - their
history and their very existence. Is this omission one of truth or one of lies,
when the Macedonian people are right here amongst us?
By virtue of what those of us have been taught, who adopt the Greek line,
only, and follow it to the letter, we will have to conclude that the Macedonians
do not exist - or at least not on their terms. People have constantly tried to
'teach' them that they exist but as somebody else altogether - different to what
they know they are.
They are then only left with the recourse to constantly battle by trying
to prove to people like you, who they are, and it is a frustrating and painful
existence!
They have had this questioning and debating of who they are all of their
lives, and you must understand, they have their oral histories, and their own
experiences which we constantly deny them and tell them they have it 'wrong'.
But how can a life experience that is lived be judged and termed wrong?
How cruel it is in fact to question anybodies life experience!!
Imagine living your whole life like that, just because you knew in your
heart who you are, and could be nothing else - but you were 'corrected' or denied
- everyday, by people who held this ideology...
Would you feel angry and fed up, in the present?
HLM
Just how 'Greek' was the Byzantine Empire?
Take a look at the ethnic origin of all its emperors and I'll let you all
be the judge
Constantinian dynasty (306-363)
Constantine I (306-337) - ILLYRIAN, born in Nish, Serbia.
Constantine II (337-361) - ILLYRIAN, son of Constantine I, born in Sremska
Mitrovica, Serbia.
Julian (361-363) - ILLYRIAN, son of Constantine I's Brother.
Non-dynastic (363-364)
Jovian (363-364) - ILLYRIAN, born in Belgrade, Serbia.
Valentinian-Theodosian dynasty (364-377)
Valentinian I (364-375) - ILLYRIAN, Born in Vinkovci, Croatia.
Valens (375-378) - ILLYRIAN, Brother of Valentinian I, born in Vinkovci,
Croatia.
Gratian (378-379) - ILLYRIAN, born in Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia.
Theodosius I (379-395) - SPANISH, born in Cauca, Spain.
Arcadius (395-408) - SPANISH, son of Theodosius I.
Theodosius II (408-450) - SPANISH, son of Arcadius.
Pulcheria (450-453) - SPANISH, daughter of Arcadius.
Marcian (450-457) - THRACIAN, born in Thrace, exact village or town unknown.
Leonid dynasty (457-518)
Leo I (457-474) - THRACIAN, born in Thrace, exact village or town unknown.
Leo II (474-474) - THRACIAN, KURDISH, Son of Zeno and grandson of Leo I.
Zeno (474-475) - KURDISH, born in Isauria, Turkey.
Basiliscus (475-476) - ILLYRIAN, Born in the northern Balkans, exact village
or town unknown.
Zeno (476-491) - KURDISH, restored as emperor.
Anastasius I (491-518) - ILLYRIAN, born in Durres, Albania.
Justinian dynasty (518-602)
Justin I (518-527) - ILLYRIAN, born in Nish, Serbia. (his real name was Istok).
Justinian I (527-565) - MACEDONIAN, born in Gradiste, Republic of Macedonia.
Justin II (565-578) - MACEDONIAN, nephew of Justinian I.
Tiberius II Constantine (578-582) - THRACIAN, born in Thrace, exact village
or town unknown.
Maurice (582-602) - ARMENIAN, born in Arabissus, Turkey.
Non-dynastic (602-610)
Phocas (602-610) - THRACIAN, born in Thrace, exact village or town unknown.
Heraclian dynasty (610-711)
Heraclius (610–641) - ARMENIAN, born in Cappodocia, Turkey.
Constantine III (641-641) - ARMENIAN, son of Heraclius, born in Lazica, Republic
of Georgia.
Heraklonas (641-641) - ARMENIAN, son of Heraclius, born in Lazica, Republic
of Georgia.
Constans II (641–668) - ARMENIAN, son of Constatine III.
Mezezius (668–669) - ARMENIAN, born in Malazgirt, Turkey.
Constantine IV (668–685) - ARMENIAN, son of Constans II.
Justinian II (685–695) - ARMENIAN, son of Constatine IV.
Leontios (695–698) - KURDISH, born in Isauria, Turkey.
Tiberios III (698–705) - GERMAN, born in Germany, exact village or town unknown.
Justinian II (705–711) - ARMENIAN, restored.
Non-dynastic (711-717)
Philippikos Bardanes (711–713) - ARMENIAN, born in Armenia, exact village
or town unknown.
Anastasios II (713–715) - UNKNOWN, possibly Armenian.
Theodosios III (715–717) - GERMAN, son of Tiberios III.
Isaurian dynasty (717-802)
Leo III (717–741) - KURDISH, born in Maras, Turkey.
Constantine V Kopronymos (741-741) - KURDISH, son of Leo III.
Artabasdus (741–743) - ARMENIAN, born in Armenia, exact village or town unknown.
Constantine V Kopronymos (743–775) - KURDISH, restored as emperor.
Leo IV (775–780) - KURDISH/KHAZAR son of Constantine V and a Khazar mother.
Constantine VI (780–797) - KURDISH/KHAZAR, son of Leo IV.
Irene (797–802) - GREEK, born in Athens and ironically deposed and exiled
to Lesbos.
Nikephoros dynasty (802-813)
Nikephoros I (802–811) - ARAB, born in Selef, Turkey.
Staurakios (811-811) - ARAB, son of Nikephoros I.
Michael I Rangabe (811–813) - UNKNOWN.
Non-dynastic (813-820)
Leo V (813–820) - ARMENIAN, born in Armenia, exact village or town unknown.
Phrygian dynasty (820-867)
Michael II (820-829) - ARMENIAN, Born in Amorium, Turkey.
Theophilus (829-842) - ARMENIAN, son of Michael II and an Armenian mother.
Theodora (842-855) - ARMENIAN, born in Paphlagonia, Turkey.
Michael III (855-867) - ARMENIAN, son of Theophilus.
Macedonian dynasty (867-1056)
Basil I (867-886) - ARMENIAN, born in Macedonia, exact village or town unknown.
Leo VI (886-912) - ARMENIAN, son of Michael III.
Alexander (912-913) - ARMENIAN, son of Basil I.
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (908-959) - ARMENIAN, son of Leo VI
Romanos I Lekapenos (920-944) - ARMENIAN, born in Lakape, Republic of Armenia.
Romanos II Porphyrogennetos (959-963) - ARMENIAN, son of Constantine VII
Porphyrogennetos.
Nikephoros II Phokas (963-969) - ARMENIAN, born in Cappodocia, Turkey.
John I Tzimiskes (969-976) - ARMENIAN, born in Cappodocia, Turkey.
Basil II (976-1025) - ARMENIAN, exact village or town unknown.
Constantine VIII (1025-1028) - ARMENIAN, son of Romanos II Porphyrogennetos.
Zoe (1028-1050) - ARMENIAN, daugter of Constantine VIII.
Romanos III Argyros (1028-1034) - ARMENIAN, great grandson of Romanos I.
Michael IV (1034-1041) - PAPHLAGONIAN, born in Paphlagonia, Turkey.
Michael V (1041-1042) - PAPHLAGONIAN, nephew of Michael IV.
Theodora (1042-1042) - ARMENIAN, daughter of Constantine VIII.
Constantine IX (1042-1055) - UNKNOWN, possibly Armenian.
Theodora (1055-1056) - ARMENIAN, restored as emperor.
Non-dynastic (1056-1057)
Michael VI the General (1056–1057) - UNKNOWN.
Komnenid dynasty (1057-1059)
Isaac I Komnenos (1057–1059) - ARMENIAN, family originates from Paphlagonia,
Turkey.
Doukid dynasty (1059-1081)
Constantine X (1059-1067) - PAPHLAGONIAN, born exact village or town unknown.
Michael VII (1067-1090) - PAPHLAGONIAN, son of Constantine X.
Romanos IV (1067-1071) - ARMENIAN, family originates from Cappodocia, Turkey.
Nikephoros III (1078-1081) - ITALIAN, descended from the Fabii, a leading
patrician family from Rome.
Komnenid dynasty (1081-1185)
Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) - ARMENIAN, nephew of Isaac I Komnenos, family
originates from Paphlagonia, Turkey.
John II Komnenos (1118-1143) - ARMENIAN, son of Alexios I Komnenos.
Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180) - ARMENIAN, son of Andronikos I Komnenos.
Alexios II Komnenos (1180-1183) - ARMENIAN, son of Manuel I Komnenos.
Andronikos I Michael VIII Palaiologos 1183-1185) - ARMENIAN, grandson of
Alexios I.
Angelid dynasty (1185-1204)
Isaac II Angelos (1185-1195) - ARMENIAN, grandson of Alexios I Komnenos.
Alexios III Angelos (1195-1203) - ARMENIAN, grandson of Alexios I Komnenos.
Isaac II Angelos (1203-1205) - ARMENIAN, restored as emperor.
Alexios IV Angelos (1203-1204) - ARMENIAN, son of Isaac II Angelos.
Nikolaos Kanabos (1204-1205) - UNKNOWN.
Alexios V Doukas (1204-1205) - PAPHLAGONIAN, descended from the Ducas family
who originate from Paphlagonia, Turkey.
Latin dynasty - Empire of Constantinople (1204-1237)
Baldwin I (1204–06) - FRENCH, born in Valenciennes, France.
Henry (1206–1217) - FRENCH, born in Valenciennes, France.
Peter (1217-1217) - FRENCH, born in Auxerre, France.
Yolande (1217–1219) - FRENCH, sister of Balwin I.
Robert (1221–1228) - FRENCH, born in Flanders, France.
Baldwin II Porphyrogennetos (1228–1261) - FRENCH, son of Yolande.
John (1231–1237) - FRENCH, born in Brienne, France.
Laskarid dynasty - Empire of Nicaea (1204-1261)
Constantine Laskaris (1204-1204) - UNKNOWN.
Theodore I Laskaris (1174–1222) - UNKNOWN.
John III Doukas Vatatzes (1222–1254) - ARMENIAN, cousin of Isaac II Angelos.
Theodore II Doukas Laskaris (1254–1258) - UNKNOWN.
John IV Doukas Laskaris (1258–1261) - UNKNOWN.
Palaiologan Dynasty (1259-1453)
Michael VIII Palaiologos (1259–1282) - ARMENIAN, descended from both the
Armenian Ducas and Komnenos families.
Andronikos II Palaiologos the Elder (1282–1328) - ARMENIAN, son of Michael
VIII Palaiologos.
Andronikos III Palaiologos the Younger (1328–1341) - ARMENIAN , son of and
Michael IX Palaiologos and princess Rita of Armenia.
John V Palaiologos (1341–1347) - ARMENIAN, son of Andronikos III Palaiologos
the Younger.
John VI Kantakouzenos (1347–1354) - GREEK, born in Morea.
John V Palaiologos (1354–1376) - ARMENIAN, restored as emperor.
Andronikos IV Palaiologos (1376–1379) - ARMENIAN, son of John V Palaiologos.
John VII Palaiologos (1376-1379) - ARMENIAN, son of Andronikos IV Palaiologos.
John V Palaiologos (1379–1390) - ARMENIAN, restored as emperor.
John VII Palaiologos (1390-1390) - ARMENIAN, son of Andronikos IV Palaiologos.
John V Palaiologos (1390–1391) - ARMENIAN, son of Andronikos III Palaiologos.
Manuel II Palaiologos (1391–1425) - ARMENIAN, son of John V Palaiologos.
John VII Palaiologos (1399–1402) - ARMENIAN, restored as emperor.
John VIII Palaiologos (1425–1448) - ARMENIAN, son of Manuel II Palaiologos.
Constantine XI Palaiologos Dragases (1449–1453) - ARMENIAN, son of Manuel
II Palaiologos.
Posted by Robert
History
Stobi - Investigations
The major significance of Stobi today is due to the fact that it is located at the most important crossroad in the Republic of Macedonia, on the road from the countries of Central and Western Europe to Greece. This line of communication existed already in the prehistoric period, which explains why Stobi as a site was discovered already by the first travelers who conscientiously documented the ancient monuments of these regions. J. G. von Hahn and Leon Heuzey in the 1850s and l860s respectively mentioned the existence of an ancient city at the confluence of the Crna and the Vardar. At the beginning of the 20th century, N. Vulic and A. von Premerstein, after the discovery of several inscriptions, suggested that here were located the remains of the ancient city of Stobi. But until World War I and the digging of trenches by the German army in the Episcopal Basilica, there were no indications of the existence of monumental buildings.
These military trenches prompted the first excavations on the site by the German and Bulgarian armies, but systematic archaeological investigations began only in 1924. Between 1924 and 1934 a large number of the buildings that are now accessible to the public were investigated; work at the site continued until the outbreak of World War II. Excavations were carried out by the National Museum at Beograd under the direction of the well known investigators Balduin Saria and Vladimir Petkovic until 1934, and JozoPetrovic and Djor dje Mano-Zissi from 1935.
By 1941 the following structures had been excavated: the Episcopal Basilica, Theater, Via Sacra, part of the Porta Heraklea, Episcopal Residence, House of the Fuller, Central/ Synagogue Basilica, two baths, Theodosian Palace, House of Parthenius, and House of Peristeria. Later work at the site, between 1955 and 1969, carried out by the Archaeological Museum at Skopje and the Agency for the Protection of the Monuments of Culture, was more in the nature of research and conservation. From 1970 until 1980 a Joint American- Yugoslav project worked at Stobi; its goal was the complete investigation of the existing buildings at the Episcopal Basilica, Central/Synagogue Basilica, and Theater. In those investigations were uncovered the Baptistery of the Episcopal Basilica, the Early Roman Casa Romana; the Inner City Wall, a part of the West Cemetery, and the Early Church under the Episcopal Basilica.
During the 1980s, in addition to the partial investigations by B. Aleksova of the Early Church under the Episcopal Basilica, primary attention was given to the conservation of structures investigated during the previous decades. The Agency for the Protection of Monuments of Culture carried out conservation and protective activities. In 1992 and 1995 two enormous salvage excavations took place in the West Cemetery, and between 2000 and 2002 investigations and efforts toward conservation of the southwest city wall. In 2000 research began under the auspices of a scientific project, Pre-Roman Stobi: Settlement and Culture, which in 2001 was supported by funding from USAID.
Source: Dr. Eleonora Petrova, “Stobi”, Skopje, Museum of Macedonia, 2007
Translated by Dr. Carolyn Snively
To be continued
Stories
My name is Anita Bosevska. I was born in Australia, but my background is Macedonian.
My parents both came to Australia as young adults and have since made it their permanent residence.
Although I live here, I have been brought up in a traditional Macedonian way. Macedonia has always been a major influence in my life as I live and interact with Australian Macedonians every day.
As a child growing up my parents took me to Macedonia a few times and introduced me to that lifestyle. I have always enjoyed the depth of tradition and the hospitality of the Macedonian people, therefore I keep on going back now as a young adult.
My father’s side of the family is from the Vardarska part of Macedonia and my mother’s from the Aegean part. As a child my father and grandmother always told me stories of Macedonia’s history and more recent recollections about my grandmother’s experience of war and being kicked out of her homeland.
These stories intrigued me and therefore I did my own research about these troubled days.
On a recent tour through Europe, I traveled to many different countries and experienced many different cultures. All who asked me what nationality I was were delighted with my response that I am Macedonian Australian; except those in Greece.
I do not like to get involved in politics as I like to see the bigger picture of human society and our existence but from the first step I took into that country I was racially targeted because I would not back down to their opinions and views of what they thought was history.
I could not believe the lack of hospitality towards a tourist pouring money into their economy and the amount of dead end arguments they tried to start with me over the Greek-Macedonian issue, just because I would not admit that the Macedonians were ‘Serbs’. They would not give up in their pursuit to change my mind, hounding me constantly about the issue. I can tell you they were not too happy when I was offended by their allegations about Macedonians and I called them Greeks Turks.
One evening in the island of Mykonos, I was sitting in my hotel room with some friends chatting and an intoxicated Greek man uninvited started to talk to us. He asked me where are you from? I replied, “From Australia.” He then went on to say, “You look European.” I then replied “Yes, my parents are from Macedonia.” “Ah Thessaloniki” he said. “NO Macedonia,” I replied. He then said, “What Macedonia”? “Macedonia is Greek you are Serb”. With offence I said no, Serbians are Serbians I am Macedonian from Macedonia, you understand. He then said “No you are Slav FYROM.” I then said louder “No, Greeks stole Macedonia and now you claim to be Macedonian. Pick what nationality you are, Greek or Macedonian; you can’t be both.”
He then stormed off to my response. About 20 minutes later he returned with an angry face and said, “You Macedonian huh”? And I said “Yes I am and are you Greek?” He said “yes” still angry, His eyes were staring right through me. Then I ended it with “Now get lost and leave us alone.”
This was honestly one of about eight arguments I had in Greece. What I did find in my experience in Greece was that the older generation when confronted with the issue or any mention of Macedonia almost always went white in the face and looked quite frightened. The younger generation honestly from the bottom of their hearts believe that Macedonia was theirs and I quote from another Greek man who said to me “The Greeks were there first” and this they learned in school which is being passed on to young children.
It was a sad moment for me to have to encounter the propaganda about Macedonia and the Macedonian people which has been spread to a new generation that is filled with hatred towards a people that simply want to be acknowledged for their identity as a nation. For me I was angry at history and so-called scholars who let this propaganda get this far and encourage more racism in this world.
All the hardships that my grandparents had to endure by getting driven out of their homes and forced to take up a new and foreign identity was all forgotten and instead these people were teaching the world that the blame was on the Macedonian people.
What upset me the most was that my grandfather, originally from an Aegean village called Pozarsko, was an alcoholic his whole life due to this occurrence in his life. He constantly raved on about how hurt he was that they took his home and split up his family and how he was not allowed by the Greek government to go back to his village and see his home and brother. I was angry that my grandfather’s lifelong pain which eventually led him to his death was not even considered or acknowledged by these ignorant people who refuse to see the truth.
Wherever I went in Greece I noticed that they were doing whatever possible to convince themselves about Macedonia. To me it felt like they were trying too hard to convince themselves. When I asked them to explain exactly how they had been living there since the days of Alexander they replied with some rubbish about how Alexander roamed the place with the Assyrians and also something about Troy. This was quite hilarious to me as these three subjects of history did not even live in each other’s lifetime let alone set up cities together.
On my return to Macedonia I met with my mother’s cousin who is also an Aegean Macedonian who lives in Greece and sadly on telling her of my recent experiences in Greece replied by saying that it is nothing compared to the discrimination they endure if they admit to their Macedonian heritage.
It is a shame that fictional views are being spread and the powers that are meant to bring stability and justice to nations really are just looking out for their own political gains. How can we be honest and abiding citizens, something that we have been taught through our education and justice systems when the major government systems which make these laws choose to turn a blind eye to genocide of the Macedonian people for politics? A nation with so much tradition, culture and adversity cannot claim their birthright to the history and lands their ancestors were from, the Macedonian people a friendly and peaceful nation, who has proved for generations that it can co-exist with different cultures and people have suffered long enough.
Before my grandfather died he left me his vision, of one day reclaiming and making Macedonia one again. Hopefully in my lifetime. Until that time I will continue to educate my family and friends about Macedonia and tell them stories that were passed on to me so that the Macedonian spirit will never be forgotten.
Anita Bosevska
Passage from 'Salonica Terminus'
By Fred. A. Reed
"The 'natives' posses no written language -
some say they have no language at all, only debased Patios - their traditions
are oral, their history passed on furtively from the mouths of the elders,
their songs and dances proscribed. For even well intentioned, broad minded
men.....they escape examination, cannot be understood, and are not easily
inserted into the complex analytical schemata which the Greek mind is capable
of devising. They are people of the shadow, these Macedonians; phantoms.
Their speech, fleeting whispers spirited away by the wind; their land,
clods of anonymous earth wrapped in newly printed title deeds; their existence,
a pang of abstract conscience. And though invisible, yet they do not disappear."
The People Time Forgot...
The indigenous peoples of any land always possess certain unique characteristics
that are not found in codified societies. Why is that? Because these are the
people who more or less sprang from the land they live on. They always were there
as far back as they can remember and they feel as though they belong to the land,
the way that children belong to or are bound to their parents. They are nature's
children and the land is nature's land; this is all they have ever known and
all that they ever needed to understand.
People who seek to own the land that they live on do so out of a fear that
it will be taken away from them, since they last acquired it from the native
owners.
It is the knowledge that something that was never originally yours in the
first place can be taken away from you again, which creates fear and hostility
inside of them. The conquerors took away what was not rightfully theirs and Pandora's
box bestowed on them the ill-fated diseases of paranoia and phobias, as they
must constantly try to reinforce their ownership and guard it even to the point
of willingly destroying what they own, rather than share it with others, as two
unique entities.
Conquerors understand how to 'own' something but not how to 'love' it.
This is the main difference between conquerors and indigenous people, who are
less hostile, less aggressive, more tolerant and peaceful, as they are generally
more concerned with the preservation of what they truly love (hence why war is
not a highly favoured choice for most Indigenous people) by virtue of the connection
they have with the most primal elements of their heritage.
'Their [Macedonian] traditions are oral, their history passed on furtively
from the mouths of the elders, their songs and dances proscribed'
Do people who organically came to be where they are, need to prove that
they 'own' the land?
Do children need to prove they came from their parents?
Obviously not, as the ties that bind person to land are free-formed.
Indigenous people usually exist in aggregates or groups that are subject
to less frequently occurring influences from groups who differ vastly from
themselves, therefore language and culture are quite markedly preserved,
regardless as to whether they are practiced in written form or in oral tradition.
The people themselves exist very much like a process of nature, as they are
not products of territorial conquests or mass migrations. The knowledge of
who they are remains largely in their possession, in the form of an ancestral
universal consciousness, as it is sung to babies in their sleep and moved
along from old to young.
'The 'natives' [Macedonians] posses no written language - some say they
have no language at all...'
Their survival, their culture, their way of life is viewed by themselves
as the natural life cycle. They therefore don't have any need for books to be
written to tell them who they are. They have kin who weave the most magic of
spells as they entrance the minds of each new generation with the glory of the
legends that are abundant in the folklore of the their oral traditions.
These members of the extended family unit are the storytellers and, in
these forms of society, the elderly are highly valued members as they are seen
to be the carriers of the peoples' stories and past.
Over time in an oral-based tradition society often develops extremely well
pronounced lyrical qualities. The expressionism that is used to verbally convey
a story will find itself translated into greater elements of creativity and poetry
and hence why so many writings derived from oral-based traditions are written
mostly as hymns and epics as the most prevalent forms of narrative styles.
'For even well intentioned, broad minded men.....they [Macedonians] escape
examination, cannot be understood...'
They have not been subjected to studies as they live in their natural state,
thus they have escaped being 'pinned' down by classifications and definitions
and stereotypical labeling.
An apt analogy would be the dead butterfly that is captured, pinned, examined
under a microscope and then classified and labeled. It is cut down in the
prime of its life and beauty in order to be studied so it can be understood,
in the name of 'knowledge', by the scientist and now graces the wall of a
museum.
Its counterpart is the butterfly that is alive, living freely in its natural
environment. It remains strikingly beautiful, in its colours, its vibrancy and
its brief lifespan, drawing more admiration in its natural state than the dead,
pinned butterfly, now gathering dust, in its artificially preserved place amongst
ancient relics and tomes of books written about it, analyzing it and describing
it, etc. for the sole purpose of being understood.
Is one butterfly’s existence more beautiful or valuable than the life of
another?
The main difference in the existence of these two butterflies lies in the
clinically established identification of one, as opposed to the freely occurring
nature of the other.
Can one exist more than the other because one is found dead in a book and
the other avoided scientific detection? Can one exist less because it avoided
detection, defied classification and has managed to survive and leave behind
offspring which continue to fly around freely, equally as resplendent?
“Greek” as the dominant modern-day nationality must be the focal group
of attention in the learned establishment. This is to the detriment of the Macedonian
nationality because Macedonians are perceived as a threat to Greece’s sovereignty.
One nationality, “Greek” is “classified” in order to make it look as concrete
as possible and therefore empowered, while the other, the Macedonian nationality
which is feared as a threat is to be diminished, to remain powerless to a point
of being erased into a theoretical abstraction.
One example of such a threat is Macedonia's distinct ancient history which
contradicts Greece's ancient history. Both existed, yet one identity is obscured
to the point of non-existence, or completely absorbed by the other.
Like the butterflies both existed and still exist no matter how they are
'classified'.
There is valid evidence for both to exist even though the evidence is not
in its prescribed form.
'[Macedonians] ..Are not easily inserted into the complex analytical schemata
which the Greek mind is capable of devising.'
The new Greek masters who have fabricated a nation that has been codified
and ratified, as a contrived entity rather than a naturally occurring one, must
manufacture an identity and a conviction.
This will involve taking history and ethnicities belonging to others and
absorbing them forcefully and superficially into the newly constructed model
to make it seem as though it always existed that way, as well as provide moral
and rational justification. The perception must be created that the model is
truthful and accurate, as well as righteous.
Politics of power have no foundation in morality as they are self-seeking
towards their own end.
The dominant group uses various devices to implement and maintain deception.
Historical evidence that contradicts the new model must be hidden and eradicated
in order to successfully maintain the lie.
Books are written to fit a pre-established view rather than to portray
facts and the truth. As an arbitrary ideology, power has no morality and only
seeks to exist at the expense of all others by erasing whatever appears to threaten
its establishment and perpetuation. People are taught how to think, how to act
and how to conduct themselves within this narrow definition.
Since this type of society is not a naturally occurring phenomenon but
a man-made one, its survival depends on codes and rules that must be adhered
to. Questioning these, flouting them, or deviating from the established mind-set
is viewed as a threat to the existence of this model. Behaviour therefore must
be closely 'regulated' through propaganda in the form of ‘education’, intimidation
and consequences imposed on individuals by the collective group.
This unfortunately is the dark side of the Greek mindset, the ideology
of Greek nationalism; the very phenomenon that drives the discourse of power
politics.
For one reason or another scientists focused on the Ancient Greeks, placed
them under their microscopes, dissected them, made sense of their characteristics
and catalogued them in their books. Having them interpreted and identified in
the best possible manner that they could understand, they were satisfied with
their discovery.
Even a relatively simple organism such as a butterfly unfortunately cannot
be accurately understood when it is dead, unless its behaviour was observed when
it was alive.
How accurate are the analytical models used by scientists of old to capture
an understanding of the complex essence of men long dead, let alone to depict
'history' accurately?
Add to the equation issues such as political agendas, personal biases,
principles of reductionism, out-dated value systems, needs to establish a particular
model of the world-view, needs to serve the dominant global powers of the time
and the 'Truth' is completely lost.
Ancient Macedonians could not be made to neatly fit the required perception,
as they posed a threat to the established construct of the dominant historical
mode.
They were people who clearly existed outside of classification and outside
of modern political interests. The Ancient Macedonians were molded to serve the
political ends of others and their lands were viewed as desirable to others.
Obscuring their past and present existence became necessary because if
they were allowed to take their rightful place in history they would be a threat
to the new conqueror and expropriator of the land. Acts committed against them
such as their culture being taken away by war, crime, atrocities committed against
them, deceptions, cover-ups, distortions of truth and injustices would all boil
to the surface.
Thus history was written by the victors and placed in books that came to
lie in libraries and learning establishments as if this one small sphere of people
(the ancient Greeks) could possibly and accurately have represented all the ancient
historical truths that existed during their time.
That however does not mean that the remaining people, the ones left outside
of this marginally small circle, did not exist or were not just as brilliant
as those whose accounts were captured in the books!
'They are people of the shadow, these Macedonians; phantoms. Their speech,
fleeting whispers spirited away by the wind; their land, clods of anonymous earth
wrapped in newly printed title deeds; their existence, a pang of abstract conscience.
And though invisible, yet they do not disappear.’
The Macedonians and their ancient ancestors existed and they still exist
to this day. They possess forms of their memories in folklore, art, symbols,
cultural rites, resilience of the human spirit, richly metaphorical poetry and
their Macedonian language which has survived for centuries handed down from generation-to-generation
as a living language.
Their ancient history is newly being written, in many cases, but so what?
While it appears that time may have forgotten the Macedonians because their
language was spoken rather than written; the fact remains that the sun, the most
eloquent symbol for the sustenance of all life and therefore the most non-abstract
entity in creation, continues to rise and to set upon them daily; literally and
symbolically.
Posted by Katerina
Greece
- Nationalism Threatens Democracy - [1 July 1994]
This Is the Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7OAsXTx76c
This is the transcript of that video:
Kapsalis: Papaconstantinou (ex-Foreign Minister) You know, for a long time
we have neglected the cultural dimension of the Byzantine Empire. Now we have
got back to that.
Uechtritz: Michelis Papaconstantinou is quite an expert on Byzantine art,
but his real art is politics. Until last year he was Greece’s Foreign Minister.
Now that he’s out of office, he’s one of the few who’ll admit to political opportunism.
Papaconstantinou: There are a few things that you cannot avoid when you
are the government. You know there are the feelings of the Greek people. Sometimes
the politicians are to blame because they raise those feelings and then they
cannot control them. For instance, we cannot say that Macedonia must be Greek
because it was Greek 2,000 years ago. That’s out of the question.
Uechtritz: The former Foreign Minister may talk of compromise now, but
when in office he had to push the hard line on the Macedonia issue. A hard line
that has encouraged the radical elements in Greek society.
Papaconstantinou: There are some extremist elements in Greece as well as
in any other country. Of course, it is up to the government to control them.
Of course this is a democracy in this country, you cannot stop anyone from saying
anything he likes.
Uechtritz: You can say what you like in Greece, but it’s at your own peril.
There’s an ultra right-wing newspaper in Athens called ‘Stohos’. Its editor talks
openly of creating a greater Hellenic empire.
Kapsalis: The paper supports the Greek positions — it believes that Hellenism
is a strong force and is trying to unite all Greeks regardless of their political
ideologies in a bid to hold back the pressures of the Slavs and the Turks who
are very close to us — and to regain the territories taken by Slavs, Turks and
other neighbouring countries.
Uechtritz: At first it would seem easy to dismiss George Kapsalis as a
crank trying to live out past glories. But he’s dangerous. He politically outs
people. Two weeks earlier he’d printed the names and addresses of Turkish Embassy
staff in Athens. While we were filming here one of those diplomats was ambushed
and assassinated.
And then there’s Anastasia Karakasidou — a Greek academic ousted by ‘Stohos’.
Karakasidou is waging an anti-Greek propaganda. Someone who speaks out
against Greeks cannot remain anonymous.
Karakasidou: It has been devastating. I don’t want to describe home incidents
where I cannot sleep at night or I go paranoid when I see a car outside my house.
Uechtritz: While pregnant with this child, Anastasia Karakasidou was terrorized,
after ‘Stohos’ published her address and car license plate.
The result was a graphic promise of execution, penned in the name of nationalism.
Karakasidou: Well it’s a type of rape which leads to death because it’s
such a violent rape that blood starts flowing from your ears and your eyes.
Uechtritz: Her crime? A private thesis for an American university on the
existence of a Slavic speaking community in Greek Macedonia.
It was leaked, and in February this year, a Greek-American newspaper published
a scenario for the slaying of the ‘traitor’ Anastasia.
Karakasidou: They make her kiss the Greek flag or drink the holy water
or, and drink the holy water, and swallow her papers, the papers she’s writing.
And then finally with a stick that’s painted blue and white, the colours of the
Greek flag, they give her the final blow into her heart, and they’re done with
the traitor. That’s how they describe it.
Dimou: It’s a problem of language. We speak different languages. We speak
a language that is, in a way, charged with all the traumas of our history. It’s
very emotional. There’s fear underneath. There’s a suspicion that people want
to do something evil to Greece.
Uechtritz: Nicos Dimou is one of Greece’s most prominent authors and commentators,
best know perhaps for his book ‘The Misfortune of Being Greek’.
Dimou: And the west speaks a very cool and rational language and they say
“What’s the matter?” For example, “Why are you threatened by Macedonia, they’re
just two million people.” And so on. Logically, the west is right.
Uechtritz: There’s no such rationale in Salonika. The capital of the Greek
province, also called Macedonia, wears its heart and history on its sleeve.
Everywhere, the star of Vergina, symbol of ancient Macedonia, found on Greek
soil. This, say Greeks, gives them exclusive use of the name.
Macedonian Kings, Philip and Alexander, they say, are a part of the history
and heritage their new neighbour is now trying to steal.
No one is more central to this ancestor obsession than Alexander the Great.
In his short life he wielded extraordinary power. But perhaps even he would be
surprised at his extraordinary legacy. Even the very mention of his name can
invoke pride and passion, rage and bitter rhetoric. But by placing so much
emphasis on their glorious past, modern Greeks have created for themselves an
immense psychological burden.
Takis Michas is on holidays, but for two years he’s been carrying around
his own personal burden. It’s still with him. He too was branded a traitor in
national parliament.
Michas: From the very beginning, people who had opposing or dissenting
views were branded as traitors, they were branded as being stooges of foreign
powers and, in many cases, they were taken to court.
Uechtritz: A mainstream newspaper columnist and former minister’s press
secretary, Takis’ mistake was to criticise the unquestioning homage and hysteria
of nationalism. Alexander the Great, he pointed out, was a merciless slayer of
people. Greece’s foreign policy was needlessly antagonistic.
Michas: It could have played the role of the Switzerland of the Balkans.
It could have provided the reference point for all the other Balkan countries
as a country to imitate. Instead of that, Greece started immediately to antagonise
its Balkan neighbours, and it started behaving, in many cases, with the same
lack of maturity as the one exhibited by its neighbours.
Uechtritz: Another borderland, another conflict, one at which the Church
is at play.
Epirus is a province of Greece, bordering Albania.
The frontier runs raggedly through these mountains, but many Greeks, especially
those in the church, don’t recognise it. They call southern Albania Northern
Epirus.
Radio broadcast: Radio Drinoupolis, 89FM a voice of orthodoxy and Hellenism…
Uechtritz: The radio is religious propaganda, aimed at ethnic Greeks in
Albania. And in the Albanian village of Derbijan, it’s being heard.
Father Michelis: It makes us happy to hear these broadcasts. We were Greeks
— our fathers and grandfathers…
Uechtritz: Stalinist Albania banned Father Michelis from practicing his
faith for 24 years. His church was turned into a fertilizer shed. Communism may
have collapsed, but the hardship and oppression linger on, he claims.
Father Michelis: We are a minority here, the only thing we want are our
rights — schools, language and our religion —we don’t care about anything else.
Uechtritz: Life is hard in Europe’s poorest country. Yinnoula Xiga is 53
and spends her days in the field.
Her six children all have left for Greece. She yearns for them and for
unification with Greece.
Xiga: We want this — our children are from here, North Epirus.
Uechtritz: Her faith provides what her lifestyle can’t.
Xiga: We’ve always wanted the Church. It gives us our health. We want the
Church very much — more than the politicians.
Father Michelis: Greece is our mother. That’s why we boast of being Greek.
She should look after us. They must show more interest in us!
Uechtritz: And from across the border, the cry is heard.
Father Apostolis: We feel this region is ours — and it is ours — it is
Northern Epirus. Before the boarders were made this valley was ours.
Uechtritz: Father Apostolis’ church is only a few metres from the Greek-Albanian
border. He speaks openly of Greece ‘liberating’ the orthodox minority in Albania.
Father Apostolis: We have relatives in those villages. My mother comes
from that village — and my grandmother. And soon the time will come for us to
meet again and embrace and to break the borders as they did — and for Greeks
to unite with Greeks.
Michas: One does wonder what is the difference between fundamentalism you
find in the Muslim countries and orthodox fundamentalism which we find in Greece.
Especially when you see priests, leading members of the orthodox church making
statements concerning our diplomatic problems with a neighbouring country.
Uechtritz: And while the church increases its public profile over Albania,
the Greek government is boosting its frontier military presence. 30 kilometers
from the border, tanks and other armoured vehicles in a church compound.
Papaconstantinou: It is not a fact from the part of Albania against Greece.
They’re afraid, they are suspicious, they suspect that we would overthrow their
regime, subordinate their states to expand our borders, which is not the truth.
Uechtritz: Greek-Albanian sensitivities were further heightened last year,
when a senior Greek Orthodox priest was expelled from Albania, allegedly for
sedition. The Greek government was only too willing to take up the church’s cause.
They launched ‘Operation Broom sweep’, a massive campaign to hunt down illegal
immigrants in Greece. Thirty thousand Albanians were rounded up and thrown back
over the border.
And it’s still going on. Each week, Greek patrols pick up hundreds of Albanian
illegals sneaking across the mountains.
But for every one caught, many more slip through. Looking at the pathetic
belongings of this bunch, you can see the motivation for the exodus.
It all adds to the tensions. Two Albanian soldiers shot dead in a mysterious
raid. Albanian and Greek border guards involved in shoot outs.
Already blockading the Macedonian border, Greece now threatens to close
this one.
Albania in turn has accused Greek politicians of war mongering.
So with a stand off on both borders, how does Greece resolve the quandary?
Dimou: It’s an impasse. I don’t see any way out of it because we have talked
ourselves into a situation where we are absolutely dogmatic. We don’t allow any
kind of compromise because any compromise is treason.
Uechtritz: To the north of Greece is the civil war of former Yugoslavia.
Greece does have real concerns on its borders, but in resolving these dilemmas
the state, the church and ultimately the people should consider that it was the
triumph of historical passion over logic that brought such turmoil to its northern
neighbours.
Dimou: Our problem is not a logical problem. I would say that Greece something
like the collective psychotherapy just to get rid of its insecurity. So I think
that we should start understanding that through our insecurity we create more
problems
Posted by SeldomBalance
The
Proto-Slavs, Ancient Egyptians & Hebrews Were Descendants Of Sub-Saharan
African Peoples
A Stone Age archaeological site on the banks of the river
Don in southern Russia has been identified by Scientists as the earliest
known settlement of modern humans in Europe. The discovery suggests that
modern humans left Sub-Saharan Africa less than 50,000 years ago in a migration
push that led them east to Asia and north to Europe.
(The proto-Slav tribes which constituted the Ancient Macedonian state
in the Balkans were distant descendants of these particular "Russian" Sub-Saharan
immigrants!)
This particular wave of Sub-Saharan immigrants probably had a spoken language
but no written script.
What they did have though was a religion. God, The Son of God, and
his Mother. Py-ra, dio and mi > Py-ra, mi & d > "Pyramid".
The Balkans were one of the first places in Europe to harbour life. (This
is where "some of" the "Russian" Sub-Saharan immigrants went).
Even before humans were capable of writing or communicating by using written
words, they had an uncanny ability to draw. On the rocks in caves they drew symbols
of everyday objects like people, animals, etc. Or, they drew phenomena which
represented major events in their lives. What is most interesting about these
rock carvings (petroglyphs) or "rock art", is that they are far more
numerous and prevalent in the "Republic of Macedonia" than anywhere
else in the world. Some of the pieces seem to be over 40 thousand years old and
hold a myriad of carvings from fertility symbols to stars in the sky.
By examining petroglyphs from the Paleolithic period through the ages,
scientists were able to record the evolution of the development of the written
language from simple schematic forms to symbolic shapes and finally to geometric
drawings and letters we use today.
Rock art began with the drawing of stick objects depicting simple messages.
Over time rock art evolved into sophisticated shapes and patterns depicting more
and more complicated messages. Once the artists realised the power of their "written
messages" there was no stopping them. Over time pictographs evolved
into symbols then letters which were given sounds which then made words.
From the evidence discovered, Neolithic Macedonians (if one can call them Macedonians!),
may have been the inventors of the "phonetic language". Because of
the great number of petroglyphs found, scientists are becoming convinced that
the first phonetic alphabet may have originated in Macedonia.
What is most interesting about these prehistoric inscriptions and artifacts
(some which date to about 7,000 BC) is that they are of "Slavic" origin!
(There was no influence from "Ancient Egypt". Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
were created later, and independently. This will be discussed later).
From the Balkans, later generations progressed "inward into Europe" and some
even settled the "coastal region of Anatolia", the "aegean
islands" and the "nearby coastal regions of the middle-east and
north Africa".
There is a place called "Medjugorac" in the Balkans. Me-d/Mother-dio,
ju/zeus, go-ra/the 'life giving'-'ra'. There also have been pyramids discovered
in Bosnia which are older than the Egyptian pyramids.
(Boston University's Curtis Runnels, an expert on the prehistoric Balkans
states that, "Between 27,000 and 12,000 years ago, the Balkans were locked
in the last Glacial maximum, a period of very cold and dry climate with glaciers
in some of the mountain ranges. The only occupants were Upper Paleolithic hunters
and gatherers who left behind open-air camp sites and traces of occupation
in caves. These remains consist of simple stone tools, hearths, and remains of
animals and plants that were consumed for food. These people did not have the
tools or skills to engage in the construction of monumental architecture).
It is thought that the Bosnian pyramids were constructed by ancient proto-Slav
Illyrian inhabitants who lived in the area from 12,000 BC to 500 BC.
As mentioned earlier, modern humans left Sub-Saharan Africa less than 50,000
years ago in a migration push that also led them "east to Asia".
Over time, they too evolved, developed their own languages, cultures and
alphabets.
The cow is sacred to India. There was the Zebu, Bos Indicus (the humped
species) and the Taurine, Bos Taurus (without humps).
"Bos" > "Bozh" > (Zhi)vo-zh(e) > the living-zeus.
All modern domesticated taurine cattle breeds are derived from the now
extinct wild ox-aurochs. Fossils indicating the presence of the Zebu and Taurine
cattles have been found at the "Mohenjo Daro" and "Harappan" sites
of the Indus Valley dating from 2,500 BC.
Mohen-jo > "Make-dio" > Mother of Zeus, Da-ro/Zeus-ra. Ha-ra-ppa(n) > (z)h(iv)i-ra (zhi)vee/the
life giving Ra, lives.
There too is the "Mehrgarh" site in Pakistan. Meh-r/Mother rhea,
ga/zeus, r/ra.
Pyramids have also been found in China. "Beijing" > Bei-ji > (zhi)vee-zhe > Lives
zeus.
It is assumed that the first inhabitants of the Americas were Paleo-"Indians" from
Mongolia who walked across the Bering Strait to Alaska when ice covered its
surface around 15,000 BC. Those first migrants quickly moved south, expanding
their presence throughout the continent within as few as 500 years. The "Indian" tribes
also built pyramids. The Indians of North and Central America, the Inca and
the Maya, call themselves the 'Children of the Sun' or the 'children of light'.
Maja > Ma-ja > Mother of Zeus.
The Ancient Egyptians were an offshoot of the Sub-Saharan Ethiopians
(Nubians). The Hebrews, who lived in Lower Egypt, were an offshoot of the Ancient
Egyptians.
The Hieroglyphic script was the Ancient Egyptian script. The Hieratic script
was a simplified form of the Hieroglyphic script. The Hieratic script was invented
and developed more or less at the same time as the Hieroglyphic script and was
used in parallel with it for everyday purposes.
The early Hebrew script was probably a variant of the Egyptian Hieratic
script.
The proto-Slavs and the Hyksos-Israelite (Hebrews) were not the same peoples.
Pelasgian "proto-Cyrillic" was a Slavic script.
The Minoan "pictorial script" and the later Linear A script were
also both proto-Slavic. (In Homers Iliad, the "Pelasgians" are
identified as Trojans and the inhabitants of Crete!). -There was no Hyksos-Israelite
or ancient Egyptian influence on the above mentioned proto-Slavic scripts.
By Vasko
THE GYMPIE PYRAMID
The Gympie Pyramid is a terraced hill on the outskirts
of Gympie in South East Queensland (Australia). It purportedly had stone
structures on it, built before modern European settlement. It has been
shrouded in mystery and controversy ever since.
It seems that if it isn't Captain Cook, then no one wants to know... Any
mention of possible ancient visitations by Egyptians, Phoenicians, Incas, Portuguese
or Chinese is met with derision and denial. Yet, the Egyptians used eucalyptus
oil in their embalming, and Howard Carter found boomerangs in Tut's tomb!!! (There
is evidence that King Tut may have belonged to the Hyksos-Israelites of Lower
Egypt. There is also an Australian Aboriginal tribe whom, it is said, could be
descendants of Ancient Egyptians.)
There is the city of Machu Pichu in Peru (the lost city of the Incas).
Ma-chu > Ma-zhu/Mother of zeus, Pi-chu > Vi-zhu/Lives zeus.
There are those who believe that the Australian government is wanting to "hide" or "destroy" any
evidence of earlier landing or habitation by societies other than the Dutch and
English.
-Google "Gympie Pyramid" for more information ....
By Vasko
Linear
A (Scota and Gaedel -part 8)
".....in about 1650 BC .....the first usage
of symbolic letters of a rudimentary alphabet were used (in Crete), which
is called Linear A."
".....the precise pronunciation for this alphabet and the nature of
the language it represents are both unknown."
"Thus far, the evidence seems to show that Linear A was used by the
Minoans for their own language, of which we have no knowledge."
"The early Minoan language, known as Etocretan, used the Linear-A
script, and both this language and its script have never been deciphered. Professor
Cyrus Gordon has argued that Etocretan was a Semitic language related to Phoenician,
but this has never been proven -although it has to be said that such a heritage
would make a great deal of sense."
".....it is likely that this Minoan language did spread to Mycenaean
Greece during the early part of the second millennium BC."
Reference: 'Scota: Egyptian Queen of The Scots', by Ralph
Ellis, Adventures Unlimited, USA, 2006, Pages 93, 94, 170.
By A Digest Reader
THE
CHOSEN PEOPLE -Part 2
Prelude:
Jacob deceived his brother, Esau, out of his birthright. Now, it was his
turn to be deceived by his uncle! Although Jacob worked for Laban for seven years
before his wedding, he is tricked into marrying the wrong sister, and forced
to work another seven years in order to marry "Rachel".
Upon his return to Canaan, just before he is reunited with his brother,
Jacob wrestles with a stranger, who turns out to be God Himself.
"From now on you will be known as Israel," the stranger commanded,
vanishing as suddenly as he had appeared. His new name meant 'he who has grappled
with the Lord'. Jacob called the place 'Penuel', saying 'For I have seen God
face to face'. After having cheated to become Isaac's heir and having been
sent away from the land the Lord had especially chosen for Abraham, Jacob had
proven his worth and God had blessed him with a new beginning.
Joseph In Egypt:
The Ishmaelites sold Joseph as a slave to Potiphar, the captain of the
Egyptian royal guard, and he found himself working in the house of the Pharaoh.
People soon noticed that Joseph seemed to be unusually lucky; even Potiphar
realized that everything worked out well when Joseph was around, so he put
him in charge of his household.
Potiphar's wife began to fancy the young man she saw taking control of everything
so well. She took great pleasure in spending her day tracking Joseph down
and finding new ways to flirt with him. Joseph, however, didn't want anything
to do with her. His master, Potiphar had been good to him and there was no
way Joseph would go behind his back. Anyway, loving another man's wife is
a sin against God.
Angry for being rejected Potiphar's wife then set Joseph up. She made up
a story telling Potiphar that Joseph had broken into her room and tried to attack
her. Without giving Joseph a chance to explain, Potiphar had him flung into prison.
The prison warden knew how successful Joseph had been as Pharaoh's housekeeper,
and he made him responsible for taking care of the prison, giving him special
rights and privileges.
God watches over Joseph and gives him the gift to interpret dreams. Two of
the prisoners in Joseph's charge were also members of Pharaoh's household:
his butler and his baker. Joseph interprets the dreams of the butler and
the baker and his predictions come true. The butler was released and soon
went back to his job whilst the baker was put to death.
Two years after the butler had been released from prison, Pharaoh was troubled
by vivid dreams that he couldn't understand. All of his wise men offered opinions
on what they meant, but Pharaoh knew they were only guessing. There seemed to
be no one in the whole of his kingdom who could interpret them correctly. It
was only then that the butler remembered Joseph, and Pharaoh rushed to have him
brought up from the dungeon.
Joseph is the only person who can interpret Pharaoh's dreams and so Pharaoh
appoints him to a position of authority. It is only because of Joseph's gift
of interpretation that the Egyptians survive the seven years of devastating famine.
Joseph is reunited with his brothers in Egypt, but the roles have been
reversed. Joseph forgives them for the past and treats them with love. Jacob
too is reunited with his favourite son.
Over hundreds of years, the descendants of Joseph and his brothers grow and
spread through the country and they become a strong and successful people.
There came a time when the Pharaoh grew worried about the huge number of
powerful Israelites living in Egypt. The Pharaoh came to the conclusion
that the only way to protect his people was to crush the Israelites completely.
He forces them all into slavery, and even gives an order that all Israelite
baby boys must be killed.
(Extracts are from a simplified version of The Old Testament)
By Ljupco
Words
Book and other Reviews
Poetry
Македонија
од Анте Поповски
Еве ја таа проста земја
од дволичен камен
и сонце
Децата уште незаодени каде откопуваат
лобањи по градините
Еве ја таа проста земја
од пајажина
и од води
Мудро слободата кај што ги запишува
селските имиња
Место икони по црквите
И каде летото како судбина
Трае до последниот востанат
Еве ја таа проста земја
од заморено дишење
и од молк
Низ која времето одминува
и пак се враќа
Со неа да го сподели лажното траење.
О, еве ја таа проста земја
од грч
и од чекање
Што ги научи и ѕвездите да шепотат на македонски
А никој не ја знае.
Posted by Tomce
From the Archives
General Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk)
Lord Kinross
1976
Mustafa Kemal, like Alexander the Great, was a Macedonian. Unlike that other great war lord, he came of a modest middle-class family, being the son of a Turkish Customs official. Born in the cosmopolitan city of Salonika, he grew to maturity through the last disturbed decades of the declining Ottoman Empire, whose ultimate fall he was to see and indeed to precipitate.
As a twelve-year-old boy Mustafa, who already had a will of his own, insisted on being sent to a modern military secondary school, thus choosing for himself the best education available to a young Ottoman Turk at this time. Striking a heroic pose he declared to his mother: ‘I was born as a soldier. I shall die as a soldier.’ He might, with equal truth, have prophesied. ‘I was born as a soldier. I shall die as a statesman.’ For he had embarked on a career that might equally lead him into politics. At this period of turbulent change, at the turn of the century, it was the power of the army alone that could overthrow, in the name of democracy, the autocratic rule of the tyrannical Sultan Abdul Hamid.
Such was the objective of Mustafa Kemal’s officer colleagues in Salonika, who had formed with revolutionary intent a Liberal Committee of Union and Progress, and became generally known as the ‘Young Turks’. In 1908, under the leadership of a young major, Enver Bey, they enforced, through a coup d’etat against Abdul Hamid, the re-establishment of a constitution for the empire, which he had abolished some thirty years earlier. Mustafa Kemal played only a minor role in the coup and in the counsels of the Young Turk administration. His revolutionary views were too advanced for Enver and his colleagues; his realistic expression of them was overbearing and brash. To get rid of him they continually posted him out of the way, to such remote stations as Tripoli in North Africa. But with the outbreak of a counter-revolution, staged by the Sultan in Istanbul, he had a chance to show his military capacities as divisional Chief of Staff in the ‘Army of Liberation’, which marched to the city and deposed the Sultan once and for all. This earned for him sufficient status in the army to make political views generally heard -if not indeed heeded. In a forthright speech to the annual party congress of the Committee of Union and Progress, he condemned the association of the army with politics. Army officers, he insisted, should be called upon to decide whether to remain in the party and resign from the army, or to remain in the army and resign from the party. Such realistic views proved unacceptable to the bulk of the delegates. But Mustafa Kemal suited his actions to his principles by withdrawing from politics and immersing himself in his military duties.
As a staff officer attached to the training command of the Third Army, he was serving a government committed to a policy of army reform. For this purpose it had called in German officers to train, re-equip and generally to renew the outdated Turkish forces. Kemal had to co-operate with these German colleagues, reluctant at first in his patriotic pride to do so, but able with his professional conscience to respect soldiery as a science, whether practiced by friends or by enemies, and coming as a true soldier to respect the worth of a German Military Mission to the Turkish Army of Tomorrow.
He soon proved himself an adept instructor in infantry training, lucid and ruthless in analysis as he expounded the replacement of an old by a new tactical system. The practice of army maneuvers in open country, discontinued by Abdul Hamid, was now revived, and these he came to plan and to lead in person, earning the praise of the German Marshal von der Goltz. Mustafa Kemal thus built up for himself a military reputation quite out of proportion to his adjutant-major’s rank.
With his juniors he was strict, reprimanding them for those minor mistakes and omissions that can lead to major disasters in warfare, but inspiring in them the will to excel and consistently winning their loyal admiration. With his Turkish seniors he was often impatient, submitting to them outspoken reports in criticism of staff work and military exercises. Inclined to dismiss him as a mere theorist, who might in practice fail when it came to handling troops in battle, they removed him from his staff post and placed him in command of an infantry regiment. But he proved himself just as able to command troops in the field as to instruct officers at headquarters.
The approach of the First World War found Mustafa Kemal languishing on the fringe of it as military attaché in Bulgaria, where Enver had sent him. In August 1914 a secret alliance, aimed against Russia, was signed between Turkey and Germany. In Sofia and in letters to his comrades in Istanbul Kemal strongly opposed Turkey’s entry into the war on the German side. Not merely had he a personal mistrust of the Germans, but, as a military analyst with a shrewd grasp of strategy, he doubted their professional capacity to win. If they won, they would make a mere satellite of Turkey; if they lost, Turkey would lose everything. He saw clearly that the war would be a long one. Turkey should thus for the present remain neutral, gaining time to re-establish the strength of her army, which had lately suffered severe losses in two successive Balkan wars.
Source:
Military Commanders of the Century The War Lords, edited by Field Marshal Sir Michael Carver, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London
Submitted by Done D., Australia
Captain’s Flat: Saturday, January 15th, 1898
When the progress of a settlement has reached the stage wherein its (2 words illegible) admit opinion to advocate their wants, to ventilate their grievances, and to right their wrongs – in short, to undertake all the functions and responsibilities of the institution known as the public Press; and especially when that institution is actually in their midst with its acknowledged potentialities for good or for evil, accordingly as it is wisely or unwisely directed; it may be said that such settlement or community has taken its place in the higher levels of social existence, and exercises a greater influence on the destinies of the nation of which it forms an integral part. To-day Captain’s Flat is in that proud position. It has not only felt the pulsations and desires indicating the period of transition from adolescence to maturity, it has its desire gratified and its ambition crowned. Men who control the Press, the leaders and veterans of journalism, heard from afar the old Macedonian cry arise from the dwellers of the Flat, “Come over and help us!” And a deaf ear has not been turned to that cry. It is gratifying to find a genuine appreciation of the response so readily made to that appeal. The interest felt in the appearance of the first issue of The Captain’s Flat Mining Record affords evidence of this, and we accept it as an augury of the successful career which lies before the newly floated local journal.
But it is not enough that enthusiasm should merely take the semblance of rejoicing that “the lever that moves the world” is in our midst. The public must demonstrate its appreciation of the boon in a more practical and substantial way. There must be no misconception of the hard fact that the permanent success of our venture depends upon a measure of public support being extended to us sufficient to recoup at least the interest on our outlay and defray working expenses. If more than this come to us in the near future, our expectations will be exceeded. We are here to promote the welfare of the community as a whole.
Source: The Captain’s Flat Minimum Record., Vol. 1, No. 1, Saturday January 15, 1898
Submitted by Done D., Australia
Feedback
Risto,
Your 12th paragraph refers to the 66th anniversary
of the earthquake. Correct me if I'm wrong but the earthquake was around 1963
and 46 would be more correct. I was the first person to be notified in Canada
by the Toronto Star at 3 AM.
Pete
Risto, did you really, at Trenchevski's office, hear
on the tape the authentic voice of mother Teresa (Gondzha Bojadzhi) saying: "I
was born in Skopje, I am a Macedonian?" The story I have read to this
question she had replied: "I was born in Skopje, but I am a citizen
of the world", or something like that.
The reason that the church of the Holy saviour in Skopje and many
other ones of that time are below ground level was an Ottoman
restriction for the heights of the Christian churches, they had to be lower in
height than the mosques (the Jamii).
The St. Pantelejmon in Nerezi was built in 12th century (1164). There
a many churches in the city of Kostur dating from the 11th century
(St. George of Politeia) to the 18th century that resemble the churches and monasteries of
the Byzantine period in the Republic of
Macedonia. In fact the old architecture of the city of Kostur is very similar
to the one of Ohrid.
Indeed, I thank you very much for sharing with us your very
interesting stories and experience of your trip to Macedonia.
Have a good day,
Ilija
E-mail(s) of the Month
Learn the truth first
From Paul Kontellis (vkontell@bigpond.net.au)
Do you realize that the basis of what you say is wrong? From the very earliest of times (pre 500bc), Macedonians where a Greek speaking people considered Greek but often uncultured.
Of coarse Athenians still consider us and everyone outside Athens as uncultured. Read helinacos inclusion of macedonia into to hesiods gynologia. While you’re at this, please realize that you people speak old church Slavonic and write in the 2nd language created by Cyril and Methodius (the first being the Kazar language the very beginning of Slav conscientiousness in so far as Macedonia is concerned, starts with Misticov, and you know that he created the term 'Slavo-Macedonian. This term was applied to people who were referred to as Bulgarians. Old church Slavonic was also referred to as old church Bulgarian. But let me start from the beginning.
Once Athens and Sparta began a 27 year war that engulfed the entire Greek world (yes that includes Macedonia as well as Macedonia always was and will always be part of Greece). there universities all over the world so can learn reality. This war saw the end of what many consider the greatest period of human existence, the city states of Greece. During this time we have the greatest mathematicians, author, scientists and pylosyphors ever. Again backward Macedonia held her own with contributions from Aristotle and the synic Deciplin.
For mine, Philipo was at least as great as his son or any other Greek. He saw in Thebes that now was the time to put Plato’s idea of pan Hellenism into practice. In Corinth, right in the midst of Greeks, Philipo rose to Greek leader. Sparta being the only state refusing to be included.
But history moves on, Philipo is murdered and Alexandro takes control. He proves himself and punishes those who conspire against him. He then conquers the world and makes it Greek. Even though he had disagreements with his teacher, Aristotle, he never forgot the first lesson....never allow a barbarian to lead Greeks, ever. Time moves on and the lands that belonged to Greece then moved on to Rome. An interesting tribe, almost Greek but lacking in the humanity of great fighters like Alexandro, Leoneda or Pyros. As a result the Romans fall to the even more uncultured masses of north western Europe and this at a time Jesus was just about to SHAKE THE WORLD to it's knees. For the first time Greeks and Romans are united freely under the same flag of Christianity. As always that didn't last long and Greeks and Romans split the church in half, catholic and orthodox. (both Greek words in keeping with the language of the bible GREEK.) Constantinople becomes the world’s great city dwarfing all others and Greek continues as the rightful civilization in the rightful place. Soon the Greeks of the Byzantine Empire start to weaken and the Buglars with there slaves (the Slavs) move into the outskirts of European Byzantium as barbaric people do, the Slavs fails to honor their word and they are crushed as an army. (I’m sure you know the horrific details of what Vasilios did to Samuals army.) So these Bulgar/Slavs, the Slavo-Macedonians of Mysticov and the true Macedonians to fools like yourself, are baptized, educated and allowed to stay in the region today known as Prelip. Not many in number, no great abilities to talk of but good enough servants of the empire they became. Then came