United Macedonia Diaspora

[Vangelovski]

TM,

The Albanians made it quite clear what they viewed as "wrong" with the encyclopaedia - which I have posted. UMD agreed with their view, which they felt warranted a press release.

[TrueMacedonian]

Not for the purpose of playing devils advocate but from what I remember alot of Macedonians in here and everywhere were mad as hell by the "Slav Macedonian" references throughout this Macedonian Encyclopedia.

UMD Condemns Kosovan Parliamentary Speaker’s Attack on Macedonian People
Thursday, 24 September 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 24, 2009 - The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) strongly condemns Kosovan Parliamentary Speaker Jakup Krasniqi’s direct attack on the Macedonian people in response to controversy surrounding the release of the Macedonian Encyclopedia, issued by the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences (MANU).

“We find it extremely tragic that the second-highest ranking official of a neighboring, purportedly friendly state would include as part of his official duties denial of the existence of an entire people. We understand the frustrations that ethnic Albanians feel regarding the mistakes contained within the Macedonian Encyclopedia. However, we remind everyone and Mr. Krasniqi that MANU is reviewing and has promised to correct these mistakes, with input from well-regarded Albanian-Macedonian academics,” said UMD Director of Public Policy, Boban Jovanovski.

“Mr. Krasniqi’s attack on Macedonians is analogous to a mistake by a Canadian professor being met with an attack on all Canadians by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It is simply uncalled for, diminishes the prestige of Mr. Krasniqi’s office, and does nothing to improve inter-ethnic relations, neither in Macedonia, nor in Kosovo. Such rhetoric also undermines progress on the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Macedonia and Kosovo, a process that began when Macedonia recognized Kosovan independence late last year,” Mr. Jovanovski continued.

Founded in 2004, United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) is the leading international non-governmental organization addressing the interests and needs of Macedonians and Macedonian communities throughout the world.

I personally want to see MANU go belly up and think it's time they do die out and let some new blood take the reins and offer everyone a solid encyclopedia without the "slav" word before Macedonian. As far as what the Albanians viewed as "wrong" I do agree because if this is to represent our country why in the hell would these so-called "scholars" use slang to describe these people. I don't care about the politics involved either. I just want to clarify what people are defending here concerning this article.

[Prolet]

Risto, Thank you for the wise question

First of all UMD can only show their opinions and concerns regarding the name issue, me and Phoenix were the first to Criticize the UMD for their soft approaches i know its not good enough and changes need to be made this is perfectly clear. Now we can criticize the UMD and we both have our concerns however you cant doubt the fact that the UMD has done a good job in Promoting Macedonia to the senators there and they helped in gaining a name recognition in Canada and USA.

The fact that the UMD has also chosen to push the fight for name recognition in Australia should also be applauded, the fact that they had direct meetings with Senators,Congressmen,US Generals is also a good thing. Lets also not forget that the UMD did a good job in putting out the fire that the Greeks in USA started in order for USA to reverse its decision of our name recognition.

Back to your question Risto, I think that everybody is human and they make mistakes. Koj Raboti toj i Greshi as long as they can get it right and make sure it doesnt happen again is how it should be. To your second point thats the kind of thing you'd say in private you wouldnt say it in an official statement. I think its a lack of communication more so and these are exactly the types of questions that need to be asked. How to improve the structuring, how to make us stronger, how to unite us and so forth i hope your question is the start of things to come because this is exactly the sort of questions that should be asked.

Just to make myself clear so there is no confusion, its good that the UMD has decided to take the fight to Australia in order to push for a name recognition, we havnt been able to convince the authorities here so far in 20 years now it seems like its getting worse with all the Mike Rann saga, i welcome their courage and commitment but i also expect improvements and issues to be resolved so when the UMD does take the fight to Australia along with the AMHRC who in my opinion have done a fantastic job we should all be united and have a joint cause for our efforts. As long as all parties are willing to work together there is always hope my friend, im a strong believer in that. The Church Communities also need to be in this however we must get our house in order before we can tackle these very important issues, we cant move an inch if we dont have any settled issues here thats the bottom line here.

I will also use the fine example of the two human rights committees in Toronto and Melbourne working together side by side, helping out our Macedonians in Egejska,Pirinska and the Mala Prespa region, we should be following their example of how we can all work together for the same cause.

[Vangelovski]

[quote=TrueMacedonian;36439] As far as what the Albanians viewed as "wrong" I do agree because if this is to represent our country why in the hell would these so-called "scholars" use slang to describe these people. [quote]

TM,

Are you saying you agree with the Albanians that the NLA were not supported by the US, that Ali Ahmeti is not guilty of any war crimes? Or have I misinterpreted?

[Prolet]

Will you please let Mitreski himself explain what exactly he 'remembers' about how the people responsible for the Framework Agreement were greeted in Australia and how that is relevant to answering the thread question?

Absolutley Aleksandrov i never said that A Mitreski shouldnt answer your question.

My question to you is what is your opinion of our community leader in South Australia labeling us as Slav Macedonians?

[TrueMacedonian]

[quote=Vangelovski;36444][quote=TrueMacedonian;36439] As far as what the Albanians viewed as "wrong" I do agree because if this is to represent our country why in the hell would these so-called "scholars" use slang to describe these people.

TM,

Are you saying you agree with the Albanians that the NLA were not supported by the US, that Ali Ahmeti is not guilty of any war crimes? Or have I misinterpreted?

You have mis-interpreted. I said I didn't agree with the use of Slang (Shiptar, Shiptari) that the folks over at MANU used to describe the Albanians. I question their scholarship on terms of professionalism and in terms of the language used to describe people. As much as I love using " " for modern "greeks" on a forum I would never use them in a book or in an article. The way they describe our people using "Slav" before the word Macedonian is not only degrading but shows that they have no clue what the hell they're doing.
Now as far as the info this, again, is the fault of MANU bowing down to the minority.
So again I just want to clarify what people are defending here concerning this article.

[Vangelovski]

Understood.

[Volk]

Risto, this debate is futile, my little scenario is imaginary.

greece wants us destroyed as a nation and will not accept anything less.

We need to move forward in our thinking, the name will NOT change.

[Prolet]

I said I didn't agree with the use of Slang (Shiptar, Shiptari) that the folks over at MANU used to describe the Albanians.

Thats how they call eachother in their language, they are Shiptari,Arnauti etc Nothing wrong with what MANU did there, im more concerned about the Slav issue.

[Risto the Great]

From memory, it wasn't the slang, it was the claim on continued historical presence and denial of Macedonian identity on the ethnic Albanian part that I was more irritated about.