Makedonska Kafana

Ilinden 2010

By Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com
August 1, 2010

Every year around this time I am compelled to write something about Ilinden to remind myself and my readers of what it’s all about. To remind us all of our never ending struggles and sacrifices we made as people and to remind us of the sacrifices our not so distant ancestors made when on August 2nd, 1903 they rose en masse to fight for liberty and to form a Macedonian state.

This year I chose to quote the words of Giorgio Nurigiani, a non-Macedonian, but rare person who truly understood not only the Macedonian plight but the Macedonian spirit which he captured by his eloquent words that follow. Enjoy!

The Ilinden rising, declared on 2nd August 1903 , will always arouse admiration in the hearts of later generations since its powerful exploits and romantic heroism are above all expressions of that intense will for freedom and the desire for national and political independence which sum up all the Macedonian ethnic characteristics.

It is a heroic time when lamentations turn into triumphs, prayers into threats, despair into shining prophecy.

Its initial moments are lost in the murk and unconscious discontent of the Macedonian revolutionaries, partly cleared by those organized outside which formed a vast organizational and ideological basis in the work of the Central Revolutionary Committee led by Dame Gruev, Gotse Delchev, Pere Toshev and others. Its sublime moments go up to the successes obtained by the Republic of Krushevo , the choicest fruit of the Macedonian revolution.

If the Ilinden rising is the crown of ten years of revolutionary activity on the part of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, the Republic of Krushevo is the most glorious page of the rising which showed the reasons for the Macedonian people's struggle in action in the most telling way.

Their driving power was the consciousness of a duty towards their people. Their inspiration was the well-being of the Macedonian people. Their ideal was a free Macedonian State . The small town of Krushevo, situated in the form of an amphitheatre in a hollow of Mount Baba 3,300 feet above sea level, near which rise the ancient fortresses surviving from the times of the Romans, was the first Macedonian town where, on 2nd August 1903, was raised the manly cry Hurrah! Long live Macedonia ! Down with the Ottomans! Its Macedonian inhabitants, elated with the victory of the revolution, were the first to greet their new-won freedom with tears of joy. Here in this little town, immediately after the victorious march of Nikola Karev and Pitu Guli and their men, a revolutionary government was set up. From here resounded the first burning speeches of the Republic of Krushevo , addressed to the Ottoman population, inviting them, too, to take part in the fight against tyranny.

The proclamation of the first republic of the Balkans, drawn up in the Macedonian language, is a memorable document: Fellow townsmen and dear neighbours!

We, your neighbours and acquaintances in fair Krushevo and its smiling villages, without distinction of creed or nationality, being no longer able to bear the tyranny of the traitors, thirsting for blood and human flesh, who wish to reduce us to beggary and make our dear, rich land a wilderness, have today lifted up our heads and decided to defend ourselves with arms against these enemies of us and you. You know very well that we are not evil people; you understand that continual oppression has driven us to stake all on a bid to live like men or die like heroes!

Having lived on this earth as brothers from the times of our ancestors, we consider you as on our side and wish to remain so till the end.

We have not aimed our guns at you. That would have been an insult on our part. We have not taken up arms against a peaceful, hardworking people who earn their bread in the sweat of their brows; you are our brothers with whom we have lived together in the past and shall do so in the future. We have not risen to kill, to burn your houses, steal and loot.

The ruin inflicted on our poor, bloodstained Macedonia by numerous despots is enough. We have not risen to convert your mothers and sisters, your wives and daughters to Christianity. We are not traitors, but revolutionaries sworn to die for justice and freedom. We are rebelling against tyranny and slavery, against traitors, against the violators of our honour and those who exploit our sweat and labour.

We sympathize with you as brothers, for we understand that you are slaves like us, slaves of the kings and their lord-lings, slaves of the aggressors and destroyers who set fire to our country on all sides and have forced us to make a stand for justice, freedom and a life fit for men. We invite you to take part in the struggle, too. Come, brother Moslems, and fight the common foe! Come under the banner of independent Macedonia . Come and break the chains of slavery that we may be saved from torture and suffering. Come, brothers, join your hearts and minds with ours in the fight for freedom that our families may be able to live, work and progress in peace.

Dear neighbours! We understand that as Ottomans, Albanians and Moslems you think that the kingdom is yours and that you are not slaves since the Sultan's flag bears the crescent not the cross. That you are mistaken, you will soon see and understand. We shall fight for you and for ourselves, and if need be shall die to the last man under the flag of our common freedom. Freedom or death is written on our brows and on our banner of blood and there is no going back. May God bless our holy struggle!

Long live all true sons of Macedonia who fight for justice and freedom!

These simple but burningly sincere words of the insurgent slaves were profoundly moving. And although their time had not yet come, they were not just voices crying in the wilderness. They were understood by Sinan, the Turkish headman of a nearby Turkish village. ‘From your letter’, he wrote, ‘we realize that you are not evil people; you have left your homes not to attack peaceful people like us, but the wicked and the tyrants who defend them. However, those you seek are not among us; they have fled to the towns. For our part, we promise you we will stand firm. God help those seeking justice!’

At Krushevo, under the rays of temporary liberty, fraternity and equality, national hatreds were dispelled and peace and concord reigned. For eleven whole days Krushevo lived as a little independent state and, although in miniature, clothed with flesh and blood that ideal which spurred Macedonians to fight against tyranny up to the Ilinden rising.

The Ilinden rising is an achievement of great importance for the Macedonian people. There are things in it which stagger the imagination and cause this general insurrection to be ranked as a great historical event.

The whole people rose with a frenzied, irresistible urge for immediate freedom. The Macedonian people's faith made them believe in their creative possibilities, for only a people strong in spirit is able to pluck up courage and with full confidence venture on a historic undertaking before which the faint-hearted and waverers stop short, paralyzed by indecision.

Through this courageous rising, unique of its kind for noble daring, the Macedonian people expressed not only its love of freedom and justice, but also its moral power. This rising remains even today an unrepeatable human attack and an act of supreme self-sacrifice for a people's freedom.

Ilinden will remain in history a sacred name for every Macedonian. It is written on the tables of the laws of this people and will shine for evermore, because it is the magnificent expression of the Macedonian's limitless love for his native land, his unquenchable thirst for freedom, his inflexible will for a new life, it is the real inner essence of his being.

It is not possible to speak of the epic of Ilinden which expressed the age-long hatred of the Macedonian slave in an unprecedented way without also speaking of the man who incarnated it, and who set the hatred of the Macedonian slave moving on the road to revolution, on the road to freedom: Gotse Delchev.

He was not only a great condottiero, he was one of the most upright, noble and idealistic natures born under the Macedonian sky: a blend of inflexible strength and will, a broad and lofty mind, a sensitive and generous soul; obedience to every moral principle, self-denying service, intolerance of any manifestation of weakness or cowardice from whatever quarter it came: these are the characteristic qualities of this great son of Macedonia.

Gotse Delchev was born at Kukush on January 23rd, 1872 . Nourished by a fanatical patriotism, of high moral fiber and combative spirit, and also highly talented, Gotse Delchev grew up and matured in a stormy period when the air was charged with aspirations and tensions, when enslaved Macedonia groaned under the tyrant's oppressive yoke.

While still a pupil at the Catholic school and afterwards at that of the Exarchate of Kukush, Gotse Delchev stood out for his spontaneous open-heartedness. Later, as a student at the grammar school at Solun, he concerned himself with wider problems, particularly with revolutionary literature. His favourite authors were Christo Botev, Zahari Stojanov, Darwin, Pisarev, Flamarion and many others.

He was an avowed Macedonian and an upright patriot; he was always deeply interested in the honour and glory of his fatherland, the purity and survival of his mother tongue, and on various occasions and in various ways these interests were effectively displayed.

Gotse's education was greatly influenced by the revolutionary societies of the boys at the Solun grammar school, of one of which he was president. The favourite song of these societies was:

Vardar murmurs and foaming
Reflects in its turbulent waters.
Mother most wretched bemoans
Miserably her wretchedness...

After Solun, Gotse entered the military academy at Sofia . The future revolutionary, whose course to follow is by now determined, prepares himself actively for his work in the service of his people. After a few years in Sofia , Gotse took a post as teacher in the village Novo Selo, not far from the town of Shtip , and with Dame Gruev began to plot the Macedonian revolution. It is just here that his tempestuous revolutionary romance begins. He is a revolutionary-organizer and a teacher of citizenship. He teaches both old and young to devote all their energies to the fatherland with firmness and dignity. He introduces his pedagogic regime into the school, explicitly declaring: any boy who is not able to jump over his desk at the end of the year shall not go up into the next class; any boy who has never won when hit must understand that I shall hit him, too; any boy who comes to me with tales about his class-mates shall have his tongue cut out; any boy guilty of a mean action you shall punish yourselves...

As regards revolutionary activity, he also taught each one to rely on his own strength. Before the conspirators gathered in secret meetings, he and Dame Gruev spoke of the great example of the struggle for the unification of Italy . Their hearers were inspired by the life stories of the great revolutionaries Garibaldi and Mazzini. He was fanatically convinced that the liberation of Macedonia depended on the independent existence of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and on the revolution to be carried out by the Macedonian people themselves. ‘The liberation of Macedonia will come about by internal risings; anyone who expects to liberate Macedonia in any other way is deceiving himself and others.’” (“ Macedonia Yesterday and Today”, by Giorgio Nurigiani, Teleuropa, Rome 1967, pages 43 to 49).

Happy Ilinden!

Other articles by Risto Stefov:

http://www.maknews.com/html/articles.html#stefov
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3446


The “Blame game” another Old Greek Trick!

By Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com

July 18, 2010

Just recently I received a phone call from a very disappointed Macedonian activist who complained to me about another Macedonians activist, both of whom I shall not name, who said that among others I, Risto Stefov, am “somehow” responsible for Macedonians living in Greece, you know the non-existent ones, losing their pension because of the articles I write that constantly criticize Greece! Yes, you heard it right! Some senior citizens of Macedonian descent living in “democratic” Greece today have been informed that they may no longer be receiving their pensions because people like me have ruined it for them with the constant criticism of Greece ! In other words, seniors will not be getting their pensions because of my criticism of Greece !

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to bizarro world!

Well, where do I begin?

Let me begin by saying that this, coming from Greeks, is nothing new and now that the Greek government has no more money to pay its senior citizens, I too have become a “scapegoat”. Instead of admitting that they screwed up and put the blame on themselves where it belongs, some Greeks are now blaming their economic problems on everyone including Germany , one of Greece ’s strongest financial supporters. So should anyone be surprised that the Greeks would blame me for their problems as well?

But this is more than just straight forward blame. This is an attempt to shirk responsibility for their own inadequacies and project it onto others; a typical Greek ploy. It is also an attempt to “fool” some Macedonians into believing that “somehow” I and other Macedonians like myself, or in this case “Greek expatriates”, are to blame for Greece’s economic troubles.

What this in fact implies is that the senior citizens in Greece , at least those of Macedonian descent, will lose their pensions because expatriates like me are fighting for their human rights! This is yet another opportunistic Greek trick to kill two birds with one stone; hide their economic inadequacies from their own people and at the same time blame others for it. In the case of the non-existent Macedonians, blame their expatriates for their problems. Let the Macedonians focus their anger at their own people; you never know they may turn on each other! It has worked before!

If the Greek objective here is to shut me down and stop Macedonians from writing negative things about Greece ’s dismal treatment of the Macedonians, then there are easier ways to address the issue. For example;

1. If Greece will immediately recognize the Macedonian ethnic identity, language and country. And,

2. If Greece will immediately recognize the Macedonians living in Greece and afford their overdue human rights. And,

3. If Greece will immediately repatriate all the Macedonians who it exiled over the years, including the 28,000 refugee children from the Greek Civil War, and return their citizenship, rights and properties. And,

4. If Greece will accept responsibility for the crimes it committed against the Macedonian people over the years and make amends for them. And,

5. If Greece will apologize to the world for the lies it spread not only about the Macedonian people but also about the other minorities living there and about the so-called “Greek” identity.

Then I and others like me will stop writing “negative things” about Greece . It’s that simple!

Everything I stated above is “doable” and within Greece ’s power and means to accomplish and if Greece decides to follow up on it, I will not only stop “the negative publicity”, I will personally become Greece ’s greatest advocate!

But let us not fool ourselves into thinking, even for an instant, that Greece will now do such a thing for the Macedonians “out of the goodness of its heart” given its track record and the “harm” it has done to them for over a century now.

The only way Greece will do “anything” other than what it has being doing in the past is if Greece “changes” and is “reformed” into a truly democratic country. And that has to come from the inside. But as long as Greek citizens continue to vote for the same parties and for the same politicians and support the same “racist” policies, we will continue to get the same “racist attitudes” we have always gotten from their governments!

Just to bring you up to date, Greeks not only deny the Macedonian people their human rights such as not allowing them to speak their language, practice their culture and traditions, etc., Greeks go beyond that and also rob the Macedonians of their constitutional and fundamental rights as citizens of that country.

Expatriates and still citizens of Greece (of Macedonian descent) living in the Diaspora today have frequently been denied access to Greek administrative services because they go to Macedonian churches, attend Macedonian functions, or donate money to Macedonian organizations. But again, this is nothing new; Macedonians have been penalized by this Greek practice for years even here in Canada .

Many expatriates who are still citizens of Greece have reported that they have been threatened with having their property confiscated, denied entry into Greece and with bodily harm if they continue to be involved in Macedonian activities.

One woman complained to me that the Greeks were threatening to confiscate her property back in Greece if she continued to speak in support of the Republic of Macedonia . After receiving their Greek pensions, a Macedonian couple stopped attending Macedonian functions, fearing that they might lose their pensions if they were reported to the Greek authorities. A man told me that he applied for his pension some time ago and, even though he believes he qualifies for it, the Greeks would not give it to him. They told him that he was not getting his pension because he had been involved in Macedonian activities and if he wanted a pension he should ask the “Skopjans” for one.

Even if this man, for other reasons, did not qualify to get a pension the Greeks most likely would not tell him the truth about why he was not getting a pension. They would rather make him believe that he did not deserve a pension because he was Macedonian. This is done to spite him and to serve as an example to others.

I have also met people here in Canada who are afraid to talk to me, fearing that if they are seen talking to me they would be reported to the Greek authorities and would lose their properties in Greece . Some fear that they will be blacklisted and prohibited from entering Greece .

All these things are happening here in Canada , today; a reality which many Macedonians (from Greek occupied Macedonia ) have to live with and endure!

From what I gather, “democratic” Greece still uses incentives and fear mongering to keep its citizens in check.

From what I gather, these pensions that Greece offers, especially to its expatriates of Macedonian descent, are used more as incentives to keep the Macedonian communities in the Diaspora divided and dysfunctional. They give the grandparents a small pension and that way they have the entire family, if not loyal to Greece , then not loyal to Macedonia either. The more families that the Greeks can keep out of the Macedonian community the less strength the Macedonian community will have! Offering expatriates pensions and then threatening to take them away is a way for Greeks to keep Macedonians under their control!

Macedonians who have been threatened this way should not be afraid of the Greeks. If that happens to them then they should be hiring a lawyer and finding out what the law has to say. As Greek citizens, in matters like pensions, they are protected by law and by the Greek constitution. What the Greeks are telling you; i.e. that you will be losing your pension in Greece because of what I and others do here in Canada is utter nonsense.

It is time for us Macedonians to stop blaming each other for what the Greeks are doing to us. It is time for you to stop blaming me for what the Greeks threaten to do to you simply because I am speaking up on your behalf. Do you really think that your situation would “somehow” improve if only I were to stop writing and keep quiet?

As a people and as Macedonians we have been under the “Greek thumb” for an entire century and the Greeks have done “nothing” for us nor have they allowed us to do for ourselves. Know that Greek occupied Macedonia is a Greek colony where the colonists from Asia Minor living on our lands have more rights than we do. When are we going to wake up and face this reality? While the entire world is enjoying its rights, we still, willingly if I may add, remain passive and subservient to our occupiers, the Greeks!

As Macedonians we don’t want the Greeks to do anything for us except to let us be what we are. But as tax paying citizens of that country you have legal and constitutional rights that equally apply to all citizens. You are Macedonians, not criminals. But it seems that criminals in Greece have more rights than Macedonians. Perhaps that is because “criminals” know their rights and fight for them! What are you doing about your rights?

I know fear over the years has crept into your psyche and as Macedonians under Greek occupation fear has entered out genes. But enough is enough, if we don’t stand up for ourselves and demand our rights, no one will and forever we will live in fear.

If you ask me to stop writing then who will write about your pain? If I stop writing then we all will have to endure that pain in darkness and in silence and no one will ever know about it. Haven’t we suffered enough?

Other articles by Risto Stefov:

http://www.maknews.com/html/articles.html#stefov
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3446

Old habits never die

By Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com

June 27, 2010

After proving to the Greeks, a hundred times over, that Macedonians do exist and have existed since Neolithic times, or as my friend Tone from Slovenia would say “the Macedonians lived in Macedonia uninterrupted for at least 40,000 if not 70,000 or even 100,000 years!”, we still have Greeks “insisting” that Macedonians do not exist and that the only people that can call themselves Macedonians are Greeks who live in Macedonia!

How does one interpret this and what does one make of it? Allow me to say that, the way I see it, Greece and most Greeks have not changed a bit since their Philhellene patrons sent them on their way and gave them their “fake” Modern Greek identity. Greece is like a sailing ship without a rudder and no amount of “wishing” or in this case “providing proof” can change its course or attitude towards the Macedonians. What is truly “changing”, especially lately, is not the Greeks but the general population’s understanding of Greece and its treatment of the Macedonians.

Macedonians like me, born and raised in Greece , understand perfectly well where they stand with regards to Greece . What Greece has done to us is so bizarre and unbelievable that even fellow Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia have difficulty accepting it. Many think we made things up! One of the most hurtful things to hear from them is “it couldn’t have been that bad, could it? Nobody does that to people!”

It took me more than four years to get through to them, to make them understand that our plight in Greece is “real” and that indeed we were treated miserably. Think of it this way; we did not change our personal names voluntarily. We did not rename our place names voluntarily. We did not stop speaking our Macedonian language because we wanted to. We did not drink castor oil voluntarily when we were caught speaking Macedonian. We did not leave our lands and abandon our homes because we felt like it. All these things were forced upon us by Greece , the same Greece which today you call “democratic” and the “cradle of democracy”. Yes, people do “bad” things to other people and yes they were done to us Macedonians in Greece !

I suspect that my Macedonian compatriots believed me only because Greece began to show its belligerence towards the Republic of Macedonia . Then ironically, these same people began to tell me their problems with Greece and that Greece had no right to do “bad things” to them, especially since they had done nothing wrong to Greece ! All I can say to them now is “welcome to my world”!

It has always been my intention to “inform” the “uninformed” Macedonians and let them know who they are dealing with, with regards to Greece . It has also been my aim to lead the Macedonians away from their “defensive” role of having to “justify themselves and their existence”, especially to the Greeks.

The Greeks, through their bizarre and unsubstantiated accusations, have become good at putting Macedonians on the defensive. All the Greeks have to do is say: “Macedonians do not exist”, “you are not Macedonians, Macedonians are Greeks”, “Tito created the Macedonian identity”, “you are Slavs who came to Macedonia during the 6th century AD”, “you are communists”, “you are autonomists”, “you are Skopjans”, “you are filthy Gypsies”, “you are Bulgarians”, “you are Fyromians”, etc. and you can be sure that, instead of walking away, Macedonians will take the defensive and respond to the accusations!

After being “shocked” by such ridiculous claims, Macedonians immediately take the defensive and, in spite of the ridiculousness of the claims, try to prove the opposite. Using factual and historical information they again and again prove to the Greeks that “yes Macedonians do exist” and here is the evidence in history books, gravestones, old newspapers, etc., which proves it. Unfortunately there is never enough “proof” or evidence to satisfy the Greek desire.

It has been my experience that Greeks “couldn’t care less” if God himself stood before them and testified that “Yes Macedonians do exist and here they are!” because the Greeks are not after “finding proof”. They just want Macedonians to “go off on tangents” and idly spin their wheels. That way they can control what Macedonians do!

I have personally watched Greeks demand proof of the Macedonians for over forty years and from what I have learned from history, they have been doing this for over two centuries. It has always been a “Greek ploy” to put Macedonians on the defensive because Greeks know that this way they can control the Macedonians! But I believe it is more complicated than that. I believe it is also an assimilation method, a technique of turning Macedonians into Greeks. No matter how much “proof” Macedonians produce, it is never enough! So there is a tendency for people to simply “give up”, accepting that the Greeks may be right and that Macedonians indeed may not exist!

You see, besides making the “existence of Macedonians” very elusive and impossible to prove, Greeks have made it easier for people to believe that they are “Greeks” because no Greek will ever question or ask a Macedonian for “proof” or ridicule them if they say they are “Greek”!

Seeking acceptance from the Greeks (I don’t know why people would want it but they do) is not “the be all and end all” of our problems as some people may think. But it does have its benefits. Seeking proof of their existence forces Macedonians to think and learn more about themselves, which has been of great benefit to me.

Macedonia’s enemies had an entire century to distort Macedonia’s history and to prove to the world that Macedonians don’t exist, implying that the only heirs of the Macedonian heritage are the Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians and Albanians. But to do this they had to use lies and deception and now that Macedonians appeared literally “out of nowhere” Macedonia’s enemies are stunned and don’t know what to say so they continue with their policy of denial insisting that, in spite of the “Macedonian presence” before them, Macedonians still don’t exist!

But, as long as Macedonians “keep taking the bait” over and over and assuming a “defensive” role, they will never break the “Greek shackles”! The Greeks “have the Macedonians where they want them” and no amount of proof will convince the Greeks to release them because frankly that is not their aim!

That is why it has been my mission to take this “war of words” away from the Greeks and deploy it in a new strategy;

(1) Continue to expose Greek (and Bulgarian) lies and propaganda about the Macedonians, and
(2) Open a new front and expose the Greek lies about themselves.

If Macedonians want to “play” on a “level playing field” with the Greeks then they must learn to go beyond always taking the defensive and once in a while take the offensive and “challenge” the Greeks regarding the validity of their identity!

By now all my readers should know that the Greeks are a “fake” identity, artificially created by the Western Philhellenes and, in spite of their lies and falsehood, they still have the “upper hand” on the Macedonians! Why is that?

Macedonians have no defense against this because as long as they continue to take the defensive, Greeks will lead them and take them where they want them to go! Case in point; “name negotiations”! We all know Greece couldn’t care less about “the name” it only cares to “destroy the Macedonian identity” but here we are “negotiating” about “the name” because Greece led us to this!

Greeks will continue to lie and deny the Macedonian right to exist as long as the Macedonians let them, as they have done in the past. The best defense for Macedonians is to take control of the situation away from the Greeks and themselves lead this “war of words”. Macedonians must learn to demand from the Greeks what the Greeks demand of them. Macedonians must challenge the “Greek right to existence” as the Greeks have done to the Macedonians!

There was “never” a need to reply to Greek demands for “proof” of our God given right to exist!

Since Macedonians are challenged on this subject, they now have the right to challenge the Greeks right back and demand of them “proof” of their existence.

Let us demand of them, what they have demanded of us for years, to “prove” that they are Greeks! Let’s attack their “Greek identity” as they have attacked ours.

It is only fair that we deliver to the Greeks what they have been delivering to us for over a century!

I also have a warning for all Macedonians to “beware” of “Greeks” and “Bulgarians” bearing gifts. Our enemies have consolidated their forces and have invaded our space. They come dressed in Macedonian clothing, call themselves “Macedonians”, speak the words we want to hear and are all around us but we cannot see them for who they are! Their motives are to divide and weaken us, to take our power away from us. So please be vigilant, trust no one and always be suspicious of everyone. This is not a joke. If we are to survive we need to look beyond what is before us; we need to be able to spot a Trojan horse and to foresee and understand the consequences associated with “offers” being made to us! Words are cheep; we need to look beyond the “sweet patriotic” words whispered in our ears!

If Greece and Bulgaria will go as far as “publicly” denying our existence then you can’t even imagine how far they will go “privately” to do us harm in every possible way!

Greece and Bulgaria are prepared to offer Macedonia entry into the European Union, if the Macedonians voluntarily change their own country’s God given name. So what is wrong with “changing” your country’s name “just a little bit”, they ask? You will still be Macedonians. Right?

Why should Macedonians do that? How is changing their own name going to benefit the Macedonians? What will be the consequences and what will the Macedonians face in the future if they do that? And most importantly, how will this benefit Greece , since Greece , our worst enemy, is the only country asking for this?

If it were up to me I would not do anything Greece asks of me because I don’t trust Greece , as my experience has shown, “nothing good for the Macedonians has ever come out Greece ”! In fact, I am willing to go a step further and say that Greece has been the “worst” tormentor of the Macedonian people in Macedonia ’s history!

If we rush into things because we are being challenged and put on the defensive by Greece , we will make “regrettable” mistakes.

The fact that Macedonian authorities today are in the process of “negotiating” with Greece over our name IS one such “regrettable” mistake.

It is imperative that we think very carefully before we act and be suspicious of any and all offers put before us, especially by our enemies, so that in the future we can avoid being trapped! And if we want to eliminate any risk of “making even a bigger mistake” we need to “stop” the “negotiations” with Greece NOW and immediately withdraw from these talks.

If Greece has made it its mission to destroy the Macedonian identity, what makes you think Greece will stop “if we give in a little” on our God given name?

If there is pressure from the International Community to “settle” the so-called “name dispute” as soon as possible and if Macedonian authorities do “give in” to this pressure, what makes you think this same International Community will not come back in the future again and again pressuring Macedonia to make more concessions?

The “world” usually follows “precedents” and once a “precedent” is set, Macedonia, even by another name, will have no choice but to “give in” to International pressure again and again because “Macedonia by another name” will be known as the country that “gives in” to demands. And what will “ Macedonia by another name” gain by giving up its God given biblical name? Will it gain entry into the dysfunctional European Union, a union which may or may not exist in the next five years? It may or may not but are the sacrifices worth it?

Living in the Diaspora, I cannot even imagine the humiliation that Macedonians will have to endure from the Greeks, Bulgarians and their supporters if Macedonia changes its name. And what will our ancestors, who spilled blood to defend our Macedonia , say if they could speak? Will they approve of this change?

Countries like Greece and Bulgaria , which refuse to recognize the Macedonian identity, could not possibly have anything good to offer the Macedonians.

Greece and Bulgaria will continue to lie and deceive the world about the Macedonians because it is in their best interest to do so. So it us up to us Macedonians to not only expose their lies and deceit but to also expose their “motives” towards us, our lands and our country. And as a friend recently reminded me, “Greeks and Bulgarians” or rather “Grkomani and Bulgaromani” have become friends not because they want to partition the Republic of Macedonia in some future time. They have become friends because “they have already agreed to partition the Republic of Macedonia ”! It will only be a matter of time if we let them!

Other articles by Risto Stefov:

http://www.maknews.com/html/articles.html#stefov
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3446