Jason Miko and the movie - A name is a name

[Makedonska_Kafana]

Clearly any Macedonian that doesn't buy this Video inst part of the cause

Well if we want more of these films and people are going to take personal financial risks we need major support from the Macedonian diaspora. It takes a combination of support and corporate sponsorship to make it possible.

At bare minimum of 15,000 people must view it or groups buy the film in bulk just to cover costs. How many Macedonians live in diaspora countries? Every church should buy 100 copies to help ..

[Vangelovski]

Jason Miko

Who is he? Is he Macedonian? If not, what are his motivations?

An associate just pointed out to me a comment he made on facebook:

Sometimes the US gets it right: "While the MACEDONIAns need to “climb down” on issues such as naming their airport, they have a reasonable case on other topics such as their language, the name of their citizenship, etc. Some “climbing down” is needed on both sides."

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=781539257

[fyrOM]

Doesn’t help much but it’s a start.

http://www.jasonmiko.com/about.html

[Phoenix]

Who is he? Is he Macedonian? If not, what are his motivations?

An associate just pointed out to me a comment he made on facebook:



http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/...p?id=781539257

"climbing down"...is the guy serious, we're already sitting in the gutter.

I thought Miko was generally pro-Macedonia, that is until somebody pays him more to represent their side of the debate...

[Bill77]

Vangelovski,

I am not sure if you already know, but Jason Milko is one of the producers of the Doco "A name is a Name" He is the one that came down to Australia as some kind of special guest or promoter when they were showing the doco around the world.

That quote you posted was from a cable by wikileaks. Here is a post regarding this leak by RTG

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showpost.php?p=82312&postcount=121

[fyrOM]

I thought that statement sounded familiar…I think its not by him.
see
Macedonian Truth Forum > General Discussions > World Macedonian Diaspora Post097

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4237&page=10

[Risto the Great]

I would love to be proven wrong. But I suspect Miko is a classier version of the opportunistic Macedonian who hangs around Macedonian events selling patriotic ornaments for personal gain.

I regard the Name is a Name film as something like my description above.

[Vangelovski]

Vangelovski,

I am not sure if you already know, but Jason Milko is one of the producers of the Doco "A name is a Name" He is the one that came down to Australia as some kind of special guest or promoter when they were showing the doco around the world.

That quote you posted was from a cable by wikileaks. Here is a post regarding this leak by RTG

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...&postcount=121

I know he is the producer of that documentary. I also know where there quote is from. The question is why is he promoting it and suggesting that the analysis is reasonable?

On that note, I havn't seen 'A name is a name', but I have not heard good reviews from friends that have. I can't really comment on it until I actually see it though.

[blackcactus]

Jason is a US citizen of Hungarian ancestry, he has spent about 7 years in Macedonia, he loves the place (I have talked with him), he is extremely well spoken, even using Macedonian to address people

The film-documentary 'Name is a Name' is in my opinion a nice 'first' production from this guy, he wanted to high-light the stupidity of our name situation, and the Human rights issue that this exposes

The movie is more Human rights than strictly political propaganda, virtually everyone from the directing, production, music, is non-Macedonian

The movie is most valuable as a gentle way of informing non-Macedonian's of our Human rights issues

Jason does encourage Macedonians to step up and defend themselves vigorously, and that is partially why he has put the movie out to the Macedonian community around the World

The people involved in this movie are very well intentioned, but they are not Macedonians, and therefore lack the true anger we feel

Jason is releasing another movie about Lerin in the near future, he is also considering doing a movie-documentary about the Macedonians in Greece, and as some point another one about the diaspora

From meeting him and listening in on a Q&A he is a genuine advocate for Macedonian Human rights, but he is not a Macedonian, so don't expect the same anger from him as we may all feel

To get down on this bloke and his movie would only be shooting ourselves in the foot



PS: Factoid: The Iceland Government was to have a screening of this documentary (as it was directed by an Icelandic director and they wanted to support it) but was canceled only days before, the Greek government threatened Iceland with "consequences" (barriers to EU integration) if they showed this documentary formally to senior diplomats

[Phoenix]

The movie is most valuable as a genital way of informing non-Macedonian's of our Human rights issues

...so in other words we're fucked...?

sorry BC, couldn't help myself...

[blackcactus]

...so in other words we're fucked...?

sorry BC, couldn't help myself...

Trust you to spot that

I've edited it for clarity now

[Vangelovski]

I don't expect him to show any "anger", but I don't see how he can support human rights if he thinks we need to "climb down" in relation to some of them. Perhaps he only supports some human rights and not others?? Though, that is a massive contradiction!

[Risto the Great]

Anger ostensibly can come from non-Macedonians.
In this instance, if Miko is in agreement that Macedonians need to "step-down" in relation to some rights, then one wonders what even motivates a non-Macedonian to concern himself with Macedonian affairs.

I am left with the same conclusion that I reached at the end of watching the film. Ours is a battle that Macedonians must initiate and drive.

[Mr Brandy]

Jason didn't make those statements - he posted them to his page - presumably to foster a debate which then took place with 20 odd comments. The statement came out of the wiki-leaks if I recall.

[Bill77]

The end of the day, Jason is not Macedonian therefor he would never feel and totally understand what it really means to be a Macedonian. Otherwise obviously he would not back such comments.

I am sure he does sympathize with the Macedonians and as BC said,"The people involved in this movie are very well intentioned". But i am also sure that opportunism is the driving force behind any support he shows publicly or activities he gets involved with. This should not come as a surprise, especially when we have our own (Macedonians) that try to benefit from our dilemma (some in a more sinister way), why would it be strange for a non Macedonian to capitalize on the situation.

Regarding A Name Is A Name, i felt the production quality was quite amateurish. It looked like scenes were just slapped in, a feeling that it was done in a hurry just for the sake of getting something out there. Its something that anyone could have done with a camcorder and a basic film creation software on their computer. Mabe they had a funding issue which could be an excuse.

But in saying all this, any exposure would be valuable i guess, regardless of motives.