Originally posted by Soldier of Macedon
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World Macedonian Diaspora
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Originally posted by Makedonska_Kafana View Postwell if slavs do exist which alphabet do they use?
I understand what you say, but I thought the existence of slavs is a myth, along with their so called migration, wouldn't we be better off not going down this path, considering we are Macedonians - nothing else!On Delchev's sarcophagus you can read the following inscription: "We swear the future generations to bury these sacred bones in the capital of Independent Macedonia. August 1923 Illinden"
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great stuff MK as usual."Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
GOTSE DELCEV
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Originally posted by makedonche View Postwouldn't we be better off not going down this path, considering we are Macedonians - nothing else!
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!
Originally posted by Soldier of Macedon View PostWhat is the point that you're trying to make?
Don't read to much into it!Last edited by Makedonska_Kafana; 01-20-2011, 06:01 PM.
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Australian Premiere: Next Year in Lerin, The New Edition
Friday, January 28 · 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Location, Sydney, Hoyts at the Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park
Zoran Lozevski
More Info Jill Daniels is an award- winning British documentary film-maker, whose documentary “Next Year in Lerin” (2000), tells the story of a group of Macedonian survivors of the Greek Civil War (1944-1949). During this war, the conflict between the Allied supported government and Greek communists led to hundreds of thousands of Macedonian children to be taken from their villages in northern Greece and resettled with foster families and orphanages in neighbouring communist states. These refugee children (known as 'detsa begalci') dispersed as far as Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, Canada and Australia, later attempted to find their real families . They all wish to visit their birthplace in Greece, yet have been unable to, because of one anomaly in their passports: their birthplace is written as it was known in Macedonian before the war, instead of the now re - named official Greek version.
Beautifully- shot, the film is a metaphor for voyage: the children's physical voyage from their homes to new families in the 1940s; the emotional voyage in wanting to return home 50 years later and find any trace of their birthplaces; and of Jill Daniels´own voyage through Macedonia and Greece.These different voyages culminate in a reunion in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1998.
In January and February 2011, there will be commemorative 10 year "Director´s Cut" screenings of the film in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. These screenings offer a chance to meet Jill Daniels and to learn about the last ethnic-political refugees of the 20th century, still exiled from their homeland.
See the trailer: YouTube - Next Year in Lerin, The New Edition
Sydney Premiere 28 January tickets available at:
7.30pm: http://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=43618&ref=zl
9.00pm: http://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=43619&ref=zl
Melbourne Premiere 2 February 8.00pm
Astor Theatre cnr Chapel St and Dandenong Rd, St Kilda
Tickets: http://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=43620&ref=zl
Adelaide Premiere 3 February 6.30pm and 7.30pm
Palace Cinema, off Rundle Street
Tickets: www.palacenova.com
Perth Premiere 4 February 7.30pm
Astor Theatre, 659 Beaufort St Mt Lawley
Tickets:www.bocsticketing.com.au
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Where did we lose our country? – Rumours, Lies and Innuendoes
By Risto Stefov
[email protected]
January 30, 2011
One factor that has contributed to losing our country to our neighbours, is the constant loss of our bright and intelligent youth to our enemies.
Ever since Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian influence infiltrated Macedonia in the late 1800’s, our brightest minds have been victims of our neighbours. If they could not “bribe” them with a free education and a chance to fill their heads with anti-Macedonian propaganda, they would try spreading rumours, lies and innuendoes about them to vilify them and tarnish their reputation. If that did not work, they would torment them and make their young lives miserable. Some would flee in exile and the unlucky would be detained, jailed, or executed outright on trumped up charges. Our history is full of such examples!
This was happening so frequently and regularly that many Macedonians came to believe that it was a “curse” for a Macedonian to be born intelligent. Unfortunately, this practice has not ended with the revolutionary days, the World Wars, or the Greek Civil War days and to some extent has continued to this day; not only inside Greek, Bulgarian and Albanian occupied Macedonia but also in democratic countries such as Canada , the USA and Australia .
Our enemies may no longer be able to “kill” our bright, young leaders but they certainly have tried to tarnish their reputations, especially among the Macedonian communities where these young people excel.
This is particularly true in countries like Canada , the USA and Australia where these young leaders are free to express themselves and their Macedonian national consciousness in public. In countries such as these our enemies are prohibited from acting out publicly or interfering in our human rights as Macedonians but it is difficult to stop them from interfering in other ways.
Unfortunately there is very little that can be done to stop our enemies from starting and spreading malicious rumours.
Greeks have been telling the world for a century now that “Macedonians do not exist”. What makes you think that they would not attack the integrity of our leaders in any way they can?
I have seen too many young and bright Macedonian potential leaders destroyed in this way here in Canada . It would be naïve of me to believe that these occurrences were “pure coincidence” and that “no one” was behind them.
Most bright, young Macedonians are very enthusiastic about entering the Macedonian community and volunteering in various organizations. They not only donate hard earned cash, but make time away from their families and from their busy schedules to be part of and to help the Macedonian cause.
No sooner do these young people take a leadership role in an organization and begin to assert influence in the Macedonian community than someone comes along and accuses them of “wrong doing”! And without exception the majority of theses accusations are made by Macedonians close to the organization and without the slightest shred of evidence. In other words accusations are made purely on rumours and lies.
I too have been and still am a victim of such malicious rumours. And for that reason I will use my personal experience to explain here how this “attack on the integrity of an innocent person” can not only destroy that person’s ability to lead but the humiliation leaves them no choice but to withdraw from the Macedonian community altogether!
The first time I was attacked was about seven years ago when a person whom I knew very well accused me of “stealing” money from an organization in which I was an officer. This person, during a telephone conversation, said to me, “People should be ashamed of making a living out of lying to people and stealing their money, especially people who would rather steal than work.” When I asked him to identify the thieves, he named me and another individual.
His accusations caught me by surprise so I didn’t know how to react. I asked him if he had any evidence to support these serious allegations. I found his answer surprising. He said, “I don’t need any evidence, everyone I spoke to is saying that. And if everyone is saying it then they can’t all be wrong!”
Too many of our young and bright leaders have been humiliated in this way and in frustration left uttering the words;
“The hell with this, I don’t need this, I am out of here!”
They disappear, sometimes forever, not only from the organization but from the Macedonian community all-together.
It is not so bad and even understandable when a Greek or Bulgarian does this but it is low, demeaning and intolerable when a Macedonian, whom one personally knows and works with, does it.
Of course if “everyone is saying” it then it must be true but what if everyone is repeating a rumour they heard from someone else? Rumours tend to spread like wild fire and just because “everyone is saying it” does not necessarily make it true!
Unfortunately, and I am saying this with a heavy heart, some of us Macedonians have “not matured” in this regard to be able to say “stop everything”, where is the evidence to prove these allegations?
We as a community have not reached the level where, when we hear such accusations, we question ourselves; is there “evidence” to support and substantiate these accusations? We don’t know how to “judge” yet we accept the role of being judges.
Many people have made attempts to humiliate me in hopes that I too will say “the hell with this, I am out of here” and walk away from everything. It is so easy to do! But then I wonder what would benefit the most from me doing that: the Macedonian cause, for which I have worked very hard, or the cause of our enemies?
Here in Canada we live in a society that believes a person is innocent until proven guilty! So you can accuse me of whatever you want but until you show me evidence to back your accusations, your accusations remain just that: unsubstantiated accusations!
I am not so much concerned about our enemies starting rumours and spreading lies as I am concerned for the “gullible” and “unsuspecting” Macedonians who not only believe such rumours but can’t wait to tell their friends!
For them I have this to say;
When you are approached by someone who says something negative about a person whom you know and who is a community leader, human rights advocate, or whatever, with an unquestionable reputation and who voluntarily works hard out of the goodness of their heart for the Macedonian cause, then ask yourself this question, “Who will benefit the most from denigrating this person?”
Will it be our Macedonian cause or the cause of our enemies?
If you answered “the cause of our enemies” then why would you want to spread harmful information about this person, especially without supporting evidence to substantiate it? Think about it!
Now that I am on a roll, I might as well tell you what other things I have been accused of over the years.
I have been accused of;
- Having my wife write my books and articles for me.
- Having “someone” or a number of sponsors pay me to write my books and articles.
- Having a “team” of people working writing articles for me because “how is it humanly possible” for me, “one person” to produce so much work on my own?
- Having stolen money from a number of organizations, some of which I was not even part of.
- Having someone else pay for my vehicle.
- Having stolen money from my parents. Yes, from my own parents!
- Having stolen money from my aunt.
And the latest rumours are that I have stolen money from the Lerin Region Association, from which I have not been a part since 2005 and that the books and articles I have written are “pure plagiarism”!
All these accusations are made not by Greeks or Bulgarians but by Macedonians, some of whom are close to me and I have known for many years.
I say to them all, where is your evidence, your proof that I have done all this? I can’t say that all these accusations have been made by our enemies but I can say that some have.
How can I tell? The person who accused me of “stealing money” from the Lerin Region Association and of my books being “pure plagiarism” does not know me well enough to make that determination, nor has read my books or is a qualified historian to make the determination that they are “pure plagiarism”. So my own conclusion here is that “someone else has put them up to it!”
Even after all this I did not quit working for the Macedonian cause, neither do I have any intention of quitting, so to whoever is doing this, “You are wasting your time with me!”
What has been done to me, I accept as being part of the role I have undertaken; it comes with the territory. But at the same time it upsets me to see how “gullible” a people we can be. How can we as a people be so “trusting” as to allow our enemies to get between us and without us knowing it?
I am not going to answer to these malicious charges made against me until I see the evidence before me because anyone can make accusations but today we live in countries (outside of Greece and Bulgaria) where people are presumed to be innocent until they are “proven” to be guilty and the operative word here is “proven”!
Given my own personal experience in my own community, which I strive to improve, I hope I have given you some insight as to how our enemies operate and can manipulate our “naiveté” and turn us against one another.
I have read about this kind of manipulation being applied during the old Macedonian revolutionary days when our leaders were vilified and murdered sometimes by our own people. I have read and written about this happening during the Greek Civil War where Macedonians were vilified and executed on trumped up changes. And those who managed to escape, the Greeks vilified by fabricating charges against them labeling them “autonomists”, “communists”, “Tito’s agents” and all kinds of “unsavoury” things!
What is interesting about this is that many Macedonians “believed” the lies and fabricated changes more than they trusted their own leaders. Macedonian leaders, people who were ready and willing to voluntarily give up their lives for them, were being condemned again and again purely on rumours and Greek lies.
Macedonians are not the only “gullible” people who believe the lies of those in authority, but unlike other people, the Macedonians have “suffered immensely” at the hands of such authorities and one would think that by now we would have “wizened-up” to their tricks and learned our lessons. But from what is still happening, apparently not!
So here is my prognosis.
Unless we mature and grow out of this “need” to spread unsubstantiated harmful rumours about ourselves, we will continue to lose and we will continue to unwittingly help our enemies keep a stranglehold on us!
The solution to this problem is very simple!
Let us all pull in one direction. Don’t believe anything anyone tells you unless they have proof and they can show it. Don’t spread rumours yourself. Think carefully about what you say and don’t do anything that may be harmful to the Macedonian cause; because anything “harmful” to the Macedonian cause will aid our enemies!
To be continued.
Other articles by Risto Stefov:
Free electronic books by Risto Stefov available at:
Our Name is Macedonia
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