Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC)

[EgejskaMakedonia]

hey EgejskaMakedonia how was today's conference?
i will be there tomorrow, looking forward to it

It was very interesting mate. I'm not exactly a morning person haha, but it's definitely worth it. There were three speakers today, predominantly focused on the language aspect. This is an area I'm not too familiar with, so I learnt a whole bunch of things.

[AMHRC]

AMHRC SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE ON THE PARTITION OF MACEDONIA A GREAT SUCCESS!

Melbourne, 9 September 2013



The Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee was honoured to host an international scholarly conference on the Partition of Macedonia and the Balkan Wars of 1912-13.

The conference was held at the Monash University Law Chambers from 4-7 September 2013.

The aim of the conference was to attempt a historical survey of the context and the effects, both short and long term, of the partition of Macedonia on the inhabitants of Macedonia, from a variety of perspectives, especially linguistic, sociological, anthropological and political.

The conference and subsequent post-conference dinner dance event attracted strong interest from the Macedonian community and beyond. A number of very high quality papers were delivered, resulting in stimulating discussions and scholarly debate.

Here is a brief summary of the papers/presentations:

Professor Andrew Rossos of the University of Toronto presented a paper on The Balkan Wars (1912-13) and the Partition of Macedonia: A Historical Perspective. In his paper Professor Rossos placed the partition of Macedonia in the context of the long history of the Macedonian question.

Professor Victor Friedman of the University of Chicago presented a paper titled The Effects of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest on the Languages Spoken in Macedonia. His paper examined the fate of the languages spoken in Macedonia at the time of partition by the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest. Large segments of the population were bi- or multilingual, as evidenced, among other things, by folklore as well as the grammatical and lexical commonalities that characterize the Balkan Sprachbund.

Professor Katerina Kolozova of the University American College-Skopje made a presentation titled Living beyond identity in which she examined how a name points to the narrative of how one identifies, explains, defines, and positions oneself in the world.

Dr. Michael Seraphinoff Discussed two Significant Works of Macedonian Literature that Deal with the Balkan Wars and World War One.

Professor Keith Brown of the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, USA, presented a paper titled How Trauma Travels. His paper sought to understand some of the mechanisms at work, focusing in particular on the transmission of trauma through history, memory and testimony.

George Vlahov of the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee presented a paper titled A Survey of the ‘Macedonian Question’ in Dialogue with Greek Nationalism. His paper surveyed the attempts of the Greek state and some of its supporters to provide historical justifications for preventing the international recognition of the Republic of Macedonia and for denying the right of present-day Macedonians to refer to themselves and their language as Macedonian.

Dr Vasko Nastevski also of the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee presented on The Partition of Macedonia and International Law: From Clausewitz to McDougall. His paper considered the different aspects of international law: from the legal and moral justifications to the preceding armed conflicts; the conduct of belligerents during those conflicts; and the ultimate division of the geographical territory known as Macedonia and the legitimisation of the partition through international treaty.


Professor Loring Danforth of Bates College USA wrote a paper titled The Scholar and the State: Evangelos Kofos on the International Recognition of the Republic of Macedonia. His paper offer an anthropological critique of Evangelos Kofos’ work on the Macedonian conflict, the “global cultural war” between Greeks and Macedonians over the name by which the Republic of Macedonia should be internationally recognized.

Professor Christina Kramer of the University of Toronto presented on Partitioning Language Policy and Status Planning in Macedonia. Her paper focused on how the partition of Macedonia in 1913 led to asymmetric developments in the Macedonian language and, more specifically, the use of Macedonian in a number of public and private domains.

Professor Peter Hill of University of Hamburg presented a paper titled The codification and elaboration of the Macedonian standard language under the conditions of partition. His paper focused on the codification of the Macedonian Standard Language. Like other European standard languages, the MSL contains both indigenous and borrowed elements.

Professor Grace Fielder of the University of Arizona presented a paper on Partition, Linguistic Identity and Language Standardization. Her paper focused on a specific problem of variation in a local linguistic practice in Sofia, Bulgaria, which cannot fully accounted for nor fully understood without reference to the partition of Macedonia in 1913.

Dr Akis Gavriilidis of University of Macedonia, Salonika presented on the topic Who was liberated in 1912? Parts, Wholes and States in partibus. His paper drew on psychoanalysis but also from other theoretical traditions such as translation studies, linguistics and philosophy.

Pandora Petrovska of La Trobe University presented a paper titled Recalibrating the past: using narrative and language education. Her paper explored some of the ways in which Macedonians in the Diaspora have dealt with the consequences of the partition of their homeland, namely the poverty which accompanied the partition, land dispossession and population exchanges. It also considered the refugee experience and the effects of forced migration.

Dr Jim Hlavac of Monash University presented a paper on Partition without fragmentation: a cross-perspective analysis of Macedonian language maintenance in Australia. His paper presented a study of Macedonian language maintenance across three generations of speakers. The study employed a multi-faceted analysis of a well-established speech community and draws on domain-focussed questionnaires, language attitude data, ethno-linguistic vitality questionnaires and video-taped narratives conducted in the minority language.

The conference papers will now be complied into a book which is expected to be published in 2014.

The Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee would like to express its sincere gratitude to all the speakers and those who attended, as well as to the following sponsors of the conference: Macedonian Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (St.George, Epping); Australian Macedonian Youth Association; Macedonian Community of Adelaide and South Australia; Macedonian Australian Orthodox Community of Melbourne (Uspenie na Presveta Bogorodica, Sydenham); Macedonian Community of Brisbane; Jim Thomev; and Macedon Publishers and Translators.

___________
Established in 1984, the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) is a non-governmental organisation that informs and advocates before international institutions, governments and broader communities about combating racism and promoting human rights. Our aspiration is to ensure that Macedonian communities and other excluded groups throughout the world, are recognised, respected and afforded equitable treatment. For more information please visit www.macedonianhr.org.au, email [email protected] or via +61 3 9329 8960.

[George S.]

anything on you tube planned?books etc??

[AMHRC]

anything on you tube planned?books etc??

As stated in the press release, a book will be published some time next year.

[Risto the Great]

Well done AMHRC.
I hear it was an excellently conceived and attended event.

[makedonche]

AMHRC
Well done indeed, humblest apologies for non attendance!

[AMHRC]

Well done AMHRC.
I hear it was an excellently conceived and attended event.

AMHRC
Well done indeed, humblest apologies for non attendance!

Thanks and there is always next time Makedonche.

[AMHRC]

MHR Review no.16 - just released

MHR Review no.16

Click the link for a download option: http://www.macedonianhr.org.au/wip/i...=107&Itemid=99

Inside:

*The Uses and Abuses of Reason – Jim Thomev

*The Irredentism of the Clowns – George Papadakis

*Exclusive Interview with Pando Ashlakov – David Vitkov

*Kerim’s Erroneous Assumptions – Dr. Chris Popov

*Meeting with Australia’s Foreign Minister

*Book Update: The Greek Anti-Macedonian Struggle

*The Poetry of Blazhe Koneski – Dr. Michael Seraphinoff

*Ilinden in Ovchareni – Dimitri Jovanov

*Johnny Tsiglev’s Detsa Begaltsi Exhibition

*Productive AMHRC Conference on the Partition of Macedonia

[EgejskaMakedonia]

Great work as usual AMHRC

[AMHRC]

Great work as usual AMHRC

Thanks EM, it was a shorter one than usual this time, but still enough to make it worthwhile.

[Phoenix]

Great work AMHRC, another enjoyable read.

I found Dr Popov's article very interesting, as it highlights the disturbing degree of indifference that Macedonia's 'diplomats' have for our domestic and international issues.
It just shows that there's no hope that change in Macedonia will cascade down from the political elite and the only hope for change rests with the establishment and nurturing of grassroots movements.

[AMHRC]

Great work AMHRC, another enjoyable read.

I found Dr Popov's article very interesting, as it highlights the disturbing degree of indifference that Macedonia's 'diplomats' have for our domestic and international issues.
It just shows that there's no hope that change in Macedonia will cascade down from the political elite and the only hope for change rests with the establishment and nurturing of grassroots movements.

it's a tough road......

[AMHRC]

MHR Review #17-just released

Macedonian Human Rights Review #17

For a download option please click the link: http://www.macedonianhr.org.au/wip/i...ccat&Itemid=50

Inside this issue:

*Reflections on our Status – George Vlahov
*The Poetry of Mihail Rendzhov – Dr. Michael Seraphinoff
*The Australian Macedonian Drama Group – Jim Thomev
*Good Neighbourliness a la Bulgare – Dr. Chris Popov
*Forthcoming Young Bilbili and Human Rights Tour of Australia
*The Only Solution & Always Behind – George Papadakis
*“Celebrations” of the Council of Europe
*UN Hypocrisy – Bill Nicholov
*A Macedonian Revival – Tom Vangelovski
*Pre & Post Cold War Greece – Dr. Dimitar Ljorovski Vamvakovski

[George S.]

well done guys ,a great read throughout the review.Loooks like everything is very much covered.I'm amazed that after all those years the same issues stil existl.You People are still without basic rights (Macedonians).You got couldn't care less organizations like the un & the eu or nato.THese orgs don't give a stuff about our people.These orgs by their attitude are not going to slove the problems at all about human rights.It comes back to the countrie's themselves to do something about it.I'm still shellshocked how the eu myth perpetuates itself by their fake & uncaring attitude.I'm not sure if Macedonia wants the eu if they know the real truth.THe eu in reality believes in its member state & given it the eu presidency.I thought & Macedonia can't even enter the eu by having met most of the requirements.With the only exception is changing its name. Tom's Revival article was great as well.Please keep it up..

[Vangelovski]

For Discussion - My article in the Latest MHR Review

A Macedonian Revival

Political and social decay among the Macedonian people has been present for a long time. In large part, this has been sustained by a peculiar mindset which has developed over centuries of oppression. Our oppressors have trained the Macedonian attitude to conform, accept its conditions and remain subservient for fear of greater turmoil should we attempt to resist. This mindset has subjected many to lead lives governed by fear, to feelings of inferiority and the need to rely on the ‘benevolence’ of outsiders for self-worth and subsistence. This mindset has permeated all spheres of Macedonian life and, in particular, political life.

The most pronounced example of this is the capitulation surrounding the Interim Accord with Greece and our complete disregard for our inalienable rights and freedom. The Interim Accord has led us to voluntarily, and unnecessarily, negotiate our very identity and partially transfer national sovereignty to Athens with regard to the constitution and national symbols. It also allowed Athens, rather than scientific evidence, to determine historical facts. The fact that Macedonians even contemplated such ideas defies belief. The fact that it has been ongoing for over 20 years is undeniable evidence that Macedonians suffer from a mindset that is self-destructive and, quite frankly, unacceptable adult behaviour.

Goce Delcev diagnosed this condition over a century ago and considered its resolution as our greatest duty. In a nutshell, it was his definition of the Macedonian cause:

Моралната револуција – револуција во умот, срцето и душата на еден ропски народ, е најголемата задача (The moral revolution - the revolution of the mind, heart and soul of an enslaved people, is our greatest task).

Delcev understood that real freedom from oppression begins in the hearts and minds of the oppressed and that a change in mindset needed to happen among each and every Macedonian. As a student of revolutionary history more broadly and the American Revolution specifically, it’s likely that the summation provided by John Adams more than a century earlier may have influenced him:

The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations...This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.

Over a century after Delcev’s attempt to rid our people of this mindset, we may have formal independence in the form of a Macedonian republic, but this freedom is superficial at best, with the majority of Macedonians and their leaders clearly unable or unwilling to freely determine their own affairs and exercise their inalienable rights.

This article is not an attempt to explain in detail the phenomena of this peculiar mindset. Nor is the question whether we require a moral revolution (as Delcev termed it), or a national revival in more modern terms. The focus of this article is about where such a revival needs to come from – within Macedonia or the outside, namely the diaspora?

While there are many examples across history, two prominent ones stand out from the 20th century. Though the contextual details differ to the Macedonian situation, both examples are similar in respect to the need to overcome an embedded and self-destructive mindset among the larger part of the population. The first is that of the American civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. African Americans had suffered for centuries under slavery and even after its formal abolition they were severely persecuted. As a result, African Americans suffered from what is sometimes referred to as a ‘slave mindset’, very similar to the peculiar mindset of our own people. Even though they had been formally freed, many African Americans continued to believe they were inferior and believed that rather than having rights inherent to all human beings, they only had privileges that were bestowed upon them by the white majority.

In the African American experience, their revival came internally. It was led by a small but dedicated group of people who began with a strategy of public education, legislative lobbying, and litigation, and then broadened their strategy to direct action including boycotts, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, marches and similar tactics that relied on mass mobilization, nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience. These community leaders mobilised volunteers to participate in broad-based actions through churches, local grassroots organisations, fraternal societies, and African American-owned businesses. The risks undertaken by these grassroots leaders accomplished an immense societal transformation not only among the African American community, but across the entire nation. They were able to uproot the self-destructive mindset and turn their community into one with purpose.

The second example is that of the Jewish holocaust and the creation of the Israeli state. One wonders whether six million Jews could have been murdered by the Nazi regime had they organised a large-scale resistance movement. Preeminent Holocaust scholar, Raul Hilberg, notes that “on a European-wide scale the Jews had no resistance organization, no blueprint for armed action, no plan even for psychological warfare”. He claims this compliant attitude was a result of centuries of Jewish persecution: “as had been the case so many times before down through the centuries, simply appealing to their oppressors, and complying with orders, would hopefully avoid inflaming the situation and so mitigate the damage done to the Jews until the onslaught abated”.[ii]

Common to the Macedonian situation, the few Jewish organisations that tried to resist the Nazi regime understood the problem they faced. Their analysis of the Jewish mindset was unforgiving, using the following statement in attempt to reverse the mass inertia: "Do not be led like sheep to slaughter".[iii] Unfortunately, it took a catastrophe on an unimaginable scale to undo a mindset of compliance and appeasement. In this instance, it was the Jewish diaspora, out of the horrors of the holocaust, which uncompromisingly led the revival movement and the creation of an Israeli state in which Jews could live free of persecution. The diaspora took direct action, using its financial resources and political influence in ‘host’ countries and organised mass Jewish migration to Israel itself to achieve its goals.

The question remains of how a change in mindset can be accomplished among the Macedonian people – that we have inalienable rights and why it’s important to exercise them. Can it be achieved internally within Macedonia or does the diaspora need to lead this process? Both options are fraught with difficult challenges. At a grassroots level, Macedonians living in Macedonia are indifferent to political life and their rights. Concepts such as inalienable rights and democratic, accountable and transparent governance and institutions are both alien and meaningless. Values such as individual responsibility and obligations to community and country are almost non-existent and rarely taken seriously as the mantra of self-interest dominates.

Self-serving leaders in politics, academia, media and many community organisations are generally unaccountable, corrupt and obsessed with convincing the general public to continue its subservient attitude to foreign dictates for the supposed greater good. Macedonia does not currently have committed leaders who are dedicated to the inalienable rights of its people such as Martin Luther King Jr. It is difficult to see how Delcev’s moral revolution would come from within Macedonia.

On the other hand, while diaspora Macedonians are largely in support of the Macedonian people determining their own affairs free from foreign interests; diaspora influence within Macedonia is limited. Many ‘home’ Macedonians disingenuously dismiss the diaspora as unaware of their struggles and hardships, and their principles as unachievable in Macedonia. However, fault also lies with the diaspora as many lack the zeal of other groups, such as the Jewish diaspora, to assist their brethren and bring about grassroots change.

In addition, there are obviously some diaspora organisations that represent the interests of Macedonian political elites rather than the Macedonian nation. These organisations create confusion and distort both the level of interest in the International Community and its capacity to change the lot of the Macedonian people who continue to believe that their ‘salvation’ lies in foreigners and in multilateral organisations that fail to respect their inalienable rights, and in some instances, actively work to suppress them.

A change in mindset is a long and arduous process. In our case, the challenges are great and it remains to be seen when and where the process will begin. The man that we honour as one of our greatest predecessors reminds us of our condition, which is just as true today as it was then:

“Овчка главо, запомни дека пред оние на кои им должиш можноста да го напишеш своето име човек, треба да стоиш без капа и кога ги псуеш” (You sheep, remember that you must stand before those to whom you owe the ability to call yourself a human being with your hat off, even when you are cursing them).

- Goce Delcev

[i][i] Hilberg, R., 1961, The Destruction of the European Jews (3 volumes), Yale University Press, New Haven.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.