United Macedonia Diaspora

[Bratot]

Who's the UMD representative in SA? ;-)

[UMDiaspora.org]

Bratot - we do not have an official representative in South Australia but we do have members. If you are interested in helping establish regional operations for UMD, please e-mail Ordan Andreevski at [email protected] or [email protected]. UMD has prepared a handbook how to establish regional operations.

Actually, there is an important project that needs to be taken care of in South Australia (it is related to the joint Macedonian-Australian relations), it was brought to our attention few months ago. If anyone can help let us know.

[UMDiaspora.org]

Vangelovski - and you work for the Australian government? What have you done to get the Australian government to recognize Macedonia? SAD!

[Bratot]

SA was for South Africa

[UMDiaspora.org]

No rep. in South Africa. Here is some info. about South Africa-Macedonia relations: http://www.dfa.gov.za/foreign/bilateral/fyrom.html#int VERY DISTURBING!

[Makedonska_Kafana]

UMD is not taking full-credit. All of this was a result of combined efforts, which UMD played a LARGE part in. United, We Can!

100% false, outright lie

- The United States of America recognized Macedonia by the name Republic of Macedonia. The Secretary Of State Colin Powell made the decision on November 3, immediately after the elections. The Department of State spokesman Richard Boucher stated: "We have now decided to refer to Macedonia officially as the Republic of Macedonia. By recognizing Macedonia's chosen constitutional name, we wish to underscore the U.S. commitment to a permanent, multiethnic, democratic Macedonian state within its existing borders....Macedonia's success is in our interest and in the interest of all its neighbors. Macedonia is an important and steadfast partner of the United States in the global war on terrorism, contributing troops to coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan"

Lui Temelkovski, a Toronto-area parliamentarian who was born in what is now known as the Republic of Macedonia, introduced the bill in the House of Commons. Mr. Temelkovski said his bill was prompted by lobbying on the part of the Macedonian community of Toronto (GTA) , which includes about 1,000 members in his riding.

UMD, tell me why Colin Powell is on the record stating that in retrospect if he had to do it over (recognize Macedonia) he would not have gone to President Bush. Do you take credit for his change of thinking as well - fyROM?

Post me ANYTHING from the Governments of the USA or Canada websites that states the UMD had ANY impact on their recognition of Macedonia. If you played a large part prove it here.

[Rogi]

A client of mine came up with a great idea for his business. I told him numerous times that I thought it was a good idea.

He followed through with his idea and has made tens of millions from it.

I suppose by UMD's logic, I could claim to have been a large part of that, when in fact I didn't do anything other than say "your idea is great". What a load of crap.

[Makedonska_Kafana]

Rogi, what the UMD is trying to do is take (steal) credit for a few people who are now members of the UMD, support them financially and anything else they can dream up. In both cases (name recognition) UMD had nothing to do with the final decisions made and for an organization only 6 years old they really love to cover their members in their own ...

How did we ever last the previous 100 years before the UMD?

NOTE

The UMD is so powerful they let the Greek lobby (Soros types) take away the original Sonce from their credit card in DIASPORA and they do not use it proudly at any of their events .. now, thats powerful. (FEAR) Why are they still doing business with a company that supports Greeks?

UMD is not taking full-credit. All of this was a result of combined efforts, which UMD played a LARGE part in.

Click here UMD air miles

[Vangelovski]

Vangelovski - and you work for the Australian government? What have you done to get the Australian government to recognize Macedonia? SAD!

The question still remains, what are these "results" that UMD has "achieved"??? It seems like your only "results" are claiming credit for activities you had nothing to do with.

[Vangelovski]

A client of mine came up with a great idea for his business. I told him numerous times that I thought it was a good idea.

He followed through with his idea and has made tens of millions from it.

I suppose by UMD's logic, I could claim to have been a large part of that, when in fact I didn't do anything other than say "your idea is great". What a load of crap.

Rogi, by UMD's logic, you are also entitled to a LARGE proportion of those millions he made!

[UMDiaspora.org]

$2,000 more donated to UMD! $11,000 left!

[Makedonska_Kafana]

Tom, maybe George Soros (New world Order) is secretly supporting the UMD and paying these governments billions of dollars to recognize Macedonia by name and change their Foreign Policies?

Meto, how many FREE Masons have donated to the UMD?

WikiLeaks

[UMDiaspora.org]

Ivona Grimberg, a Macedonian-American, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, wrote a very nice letter on why UMD matters to her and why all Macedonians wherever they may be in the world should support the United Macedonian Diaspora. She talks about how she got involved in UMD, and what she did/does as a volunteer. Thanks to her e-mail, UMD raised $2,000 since yesterday and is now at the $14,000 mark. UMD needs to raise another $11,000 by December 31st, 2010 to receive a $25,000 grant.

Please read Ivona's letter by clicking here: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/W...id=NdO4xBdtBLs

[Pelister]

Tom, maybe George Soros (New world Order) is secretly supporting the UMD and paying these governments billions of dollars to recognize Macedonia by name and change their Foreign Policies?

Meto, how many FREE Masons have donated to the UMD?

WikiLeaks

I wouldn't be surprised if Soros is funding the UMD, after all they share a very similar ideology and 'vision' for Macedonia - you know this 'civic' State that is 'multiethnic', 'decentralized' and highly federalized. In that regard UMD and Soros have that much in common. While UMD talk about our 'Integration' they don't tell Macedonians that the E.U model is taking power away from our central government, and giving it to the Albanians. Then we hear about Meto Koloski defending the interests of Albanians for the war of 2001, and a picture starts to take shape of how our real enemies are.

Meto, has UMD received funding from Soros?

[UMDiaspora.org]

UMD does not received funding from Soros...if you have proof, show it..until then get off your BS.

Pelister - name one time Meto Koloski defended the interests of Albanians? (Don't give us BS about statements that Albanians enjoy full rights in Macedonia, because they do, more than Macedonians in Albania).

Here are Meto Koloski's personal views on decentralization: http://www.maknews.com/html/articles.../koloski8.html

On the Albanians:

http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/koloski/moyana.html

http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/koloski/koloski5.html

Meto supported the referendum in Macedonia in November 2004 and protested on the streets of Skopje in support of it:

Cutting off Dialogue



>>News Homepage

November 3, 2004

By Metodija A. Koloski*

Cutting off dialogue with a person who represents a nation will not help the situation. We must all sit down with the people who represent Macedonia and discuss with them the problems of our country.

Born and raised in New Jersey to one of the oldest founding families of Sts. Kiril and Metodij Macedonian Orthodox Church (of which I am a board member), I would like to clarify the misunderstanding on the two articles published back September in Macedonian daily newspaper Vreme. Specifically this is my opinion of what transpired.

On September 18th, 2004 the Macedonian radio program that airs every Saturday in New Jersey, announced an open forum scheduled for Friday, September 24th with President Crvenkovski to be held at Sts. Kiril and Metodij regarding the issues facing the Republic of Macedonia, as well as those related to the Macedonian Diaspora. The same day our parish board secretary sent an invitation to community leaders informing us that a meeting was scheduled on September 19th to discuss Crvenkovski’s New Jersey visit.

President Crvenkovski’s last met with representatives from the Macedonian-American community in New York City/New Jersey during his November 2003 visit to the States, when he was still Prime Minister. Neither President Crvenkovski nor the community leaders (including myself) were pleased with the outcome. Crvenkovski stressed at this meeting that Macedonian-Americans needed to invest in Macedonia and work together with the Albanian-Americans from Macedonia to lobby the US government to support Macedonia’s bid to enter Euro Atlantic Institutions, such as NATO and the EU.

If Macedonia were internally economically friendly and stable, perhaps Macedonian-Americans would invest. Furthermore, it is too optimistic and idealistic to think that Albanian-Americans from Macedonia would like to invest and work for the good of Macedonia. Generally, Albanian-Americans lobby for Albania, not Macedonia, because often they do not recognize Macedonia or the Macedonian people as sovereign! Little did I know Crvenkovski would meet that same day with the Albanian-American community for a working lunch session. US Ambassador Butler, who has failed to responsibly assert American values in Macedonia, was also present. Thank God he is only appointed for 3 years! Butler said to us “sonceto gree nad makedonskiot narod (the sun shines radiantly upon the Macedonian nation),” which is bizarre since Ambassador Butler has not publicly acknowledged to the world the American position on the abuses and ethnic cleansing of Macedonians.

Nearly 40 prominent Macedonian businessmen and community leaders from Struga and the villages surrounding Struga came to the September 19th meeting in New Jersey. They threatened to boycott Crvenkovski if the church decided to go forth with the September 24th meeting. Upon being asked whether President Crvenkovski should be given the right to a meeting with our community, one of the most influential, respected, active, and well-spoken individuals in our community made his opinion loud and clear, “Crvenkovski ne e pozhelen vo nashata zaednica (Crvenkovski is not wanted in our community),” and that he would not be a party to any delegation meeting with Crvenkovski. His comments set the tone for the remainder of the meeting.

By a unanimous vote, the Macedonian-American community in New Jersey decided Crvenkovski would be boycotted and not allowed to set foot in our community centers. They view Crvenkovski as an enemy to Macedonia’s national interests. How would you feel if your worst enemy entered your home? Representatives of the World Macedonian Congress, present at the September 19th meeting declared Crvenkovski persona non-grata in our community.

Regardless if I agree with their decision, this is something to be proud and happy about: A Macedonian community stood up for what they believed in, and they decided to take action against people who they see as not working in the national interest of Macedonia and the Macedonian people. (On a side note, the attendees at the meeting agreed also that the Macedonian community in New Jersey must stand firm and show our brothers and sisters in Macedonia that we stand a 100% behind them in their actions against the territorial division and rape of Macedonia.).

At the meeting on Friday, September 24th Crvenkovski reiterated, as in his many speeches, he is against the referendum but knows that a referendum is a democratic right of all people. His speech, which brought nothing new to the table from what we read in the newspapers, lasted about 20 minutes. Nonetheless, it is better to hear for yourself what the politicians are saying than reading it in the news. One community leader—attending the meeting as an individual, without representing any organization, asked Crvenkovski a few questions. I thought four were the most crucial to the existence of the Macedonian nation-state: How come Macedonia has not passed a law on the declaration of an anthem, flag, and coat of arms? How come the National Albanian flag is used in Tetovo and Gostivar? Why was the Albanian language given official status? Do you guarantee that once Macedonia joins NATO our borders will not be changed?

Crvenkovski answered “most of us here remember a time when in Tetovo you would find the Macedonian, Albanian, and Yugoslav flags hanging freely over the town without any problem." This is nonsense! Neither Tito, nor Milosevic would have allowed this! I do not know where Crvenkovski was basing his information on.

According to historical sources and the stories my grandparents would tell me, there was a time when Macedonians had to flee their homes in northern Greece or be persecuted by the Greek government who denies permission to these people to come back home to this very day. There was a time for several hundreds of years where the Macedonian people were ethnically cleansed with the sanctioned abduction of young Macedonian boys by a dictatorial Ottoman empire. Macedonia needs a President that is at least one thousand years old if it is to effectively represent it’s people; obviously, my article is sarcastic, but that is exactly what a President should not be.

Crvenkovski went on with “...back in 1974, the law of Macedonia guaranteed all minorities to speak their own languages in Parliament...” The security of the country is in jeopardy when people of a nation cannot communicate; a socialist Tito regime that instituted the 1974 rules does not operate anymore! Today Macedonia is—and should be—a democracy for the Macedonian citizens regardless of ethnicity, race, or religion. Crvenkovski did not address the other important questions.

I asked why the Macedonian government plans to shut down the Agency of Emigration and open a sector under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the Diaspora. Crvenkovski stated that there used to be 21 ministries, now there are 14 and he believes a small country like Macedonia should have no more than 10. He told us that he believes it is the duty of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the Diaspora. I do not know about you, but as a Macedonian, I do not consider myself a matter of foreign affairs. But what do you expect when Macedonians who have left Macedonia for a year cannot even vote in our embassies?

Minister Mitreva stated that when she came to the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, they had no plans to deal with the Diaspora. On October 1st, the sector in the Ministry will be opened for the first time. The Agency used to be a “Matica (QueenBee)”, then a Ministry, now is an Agency and soon will be lowered to the status of Sector. I agree there should be a sector, but the Agency should not be shut down. I believe it should go back to the status of Matica. The Matica used to be a very active organization, published a monthly news magazine, and regularly published books on the Diaspora. At present, due to the Macedonian government’s lethargic position toward the Macedonian Diaspora, the Agency’s role has fallen, and they have become very inactive.

Crvenkovski ended with “look how the Jews control what policies are passed in Israel, like them you can do the same with Macedonia.” It is a strong message, but it seems that he only said it to try to win our support. Ironically, what he failed to realize is that there were members of our audience who are Macedonian, but of the Judaic faith; these Jewish Macedonians do not want control of Israel, but instead they want what was taken from them by oppressive regimes many decades ago; they want their national identity back! Parliament may want to consider making Macedonian History a prerequisite to being President!

What are we doing? My fellow Macedonians, we are going to lose our country if we don’t do something! We must work together to solve Macedonia’s problems. Crvenkovski, Buchkovski, Gruevski, or others might not be the right ones for Macedonia at the moment, but we must deal and work with it. Crvenkovski will be president for 5 years; a lot can change in Macedonia in 5 years. Macedonia, hopefully, might be recognized by the world under its constitutional name and it might be all Crvenkovski’s doing. Then we shall praise him for being a true Macedonian. In Macedonia, a person can lose or gain popularity in a matter of hours. Cutting off dialogue with a person who represents a nation will not help the situation. We must all sit down with the people who represent Macedonia and discuss with them the problems of our country.

To this end, I urge all Macedonians to get out on November 7th and vote in favor of the referendum. Do not be scared by the threat tactics of Butler and Sahlin, Macedonia will join NATO and the EU.

Hope for my Homeland Macedonia



>>News Homepage

August 17, 2004


By Metodija A. Koloski
I have hope and am optimistic that my homeland and my ethnic Macedonian brothers and sisters will prevail in the end! All are aware of the coalition government's proposal to territorially divide Macedonia along ethnic lines, granting the Albanian minority a majority in certain municipalities, which unfortunately smells fishy to me. I have been following this whole matter on territorial division nonsense since it arose. In America, where I was born and currently live, we read and listen to news about Macedonia, but you cannot actually grasp what is happening unless you're in Macedonia. I'm very excited to be here at such an important time where there is so much action and reactions from the civilian force in this country. It is at this time the Macedonians in Macedonia and around the world all become politicians.

"What are you in the Diaspora doing for the homeland?" is a question everyone asks me here. I sometimes also ask myself this question, unfortunately. There is a stereotypical idealism and perception of the Diaspora. The common perception of the Diaspora is that they left during hard times, made their money in a foreign land, and now without putting their hands in their pockets and donating or investing want to dictate and advise Macedonians that live in Macedonia. We, in Macedonia, are labeled as foreigners and most often hard-core nationalists, which is not necessarily true.

It intrigues me how when Croatian people in the Diaspora visit their homeland are considered Croatian, which is also the same with the Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians, etc...yet, we, Macedonians that visit the homeland are considered foreigners. In Croatia, around 30 parliamentary seats are held by Diaspora members, yet, we, hold none in Macedonia. Of course, we have to do research and study their example in order to implement it in our system.

What does one have to prove to be considered a true Macedonian? I did not have a choice when I was born in America; had I known I might have chosen another country, but we do not have that choice, only God does. Nonetheless, I love America, and I'm very thankful for the many opportunities it has given me especially the current education I'm receiving. But, we do not and should not forget where our roots are. Most Macedonians, who have left the homeland, think about Macedonia. Most travel to Macedonia often, most send money to their families. In America, we have around 34 church communities, and some very strong and wealthy, but the unfortunate reality is that there is not much unity.

An identity crisis exists among a lot of Macedonians, not just in the Diaspora but also in the homeland. This is not their fault, but the fault of many years of assimilation, genocide, oppression, and other tragedies. My father always said the history of Macedonia is a tragedy, similar to Armenians and Jews, but look how united they are, and look how united we are. I always ask myself why we're not united, and have come up with many reasons, but there are too many to write in one column.

My friend from Chicago told me in 2001 that we must unite because "Nasite dedovci ginea za nasata tatkovina toa e premnogu golema zrtva i nie ne smeeme nikogas da go zaboravime toa." (Our grandfathers were being killed for our fatherland. That sacrifice is too great and we must never forget
it.) I believe in this quote very strongly and remind all my friends and family of this constantly. We must never forget what happened to our forefathers, but we also must not repeat history. Right now we have an independent country called Macedonia, which some people are trying to take away from us.

I am, like most of the Diaspora, very disappointed in the current situation in Macedonia. The Ohrid Framework Agreement is an embarrassment upon us as an emerging democratic nation-state and on our territorial integrity.
Macedonia has lost its' independence because we listen to and act on the advice of foreign diplomats rather thinking and acting for ourselves. Our country is being divided along ethnic lines and languages, which the international community is supporting claiming it will make Macedonia a true multi-ethnic society and will help us get in Euro-Atlantic institutions. I wish things were so dandy in reality; these foreign diplomats should look at how multi-ethnic their respected countries are.

Everyone in Macedonia and the Diaspora blames the four wolves, Greeks, Albanians, Bulgarians, and Serbians, for our faith. I agree that they are at fault for a lot of the tragedies that have befallen Macedonia and Macedonians, but I do not blame anyone but us for our current situation. I think this is a strong phrase, but in order to unite we must look within the mirror and open our eyes. We must not let someone take our homeland away. I am a very optimistic person and believe we shall prevail in the end, but if we do not unite now, we will not prevail in anything.

To this end, the Diaspora calls upon the President, the Prime Minister of Macedonia, and His Beatitude, Archbishop Stefan to sign a joint protocol calling upon the unity of all Macedonian church and ethnic organizations in the Diaspora to work, support, and strengthen Macedonia in the world's power centers, such as Washington, London, Brussels and Moscow. These three individuals must address this matter decisively once and for all in order to unite the Diaspora. Unity is the only savior for my homeland Macedonia and my dear ethnic Macedonian brothers and sisters in and out of Macedonia!
The author is the co-founder and coordinator of the Macedonian Orthodox Youth Association of North America.