After name row, Macedonia faces revising how to teach its history

[Risto the Great]

After name row, Macedonia faces revising how to teach its history
Read more at

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...ry----10418810

SKOPJE: From piles of toys cluttering the attic of his family home in Skopje, Nikola Cvetoski eventually extracts the "Legend of Ancient Macedonia".

With this big, red book written by a local politician and published two years after Macedonia's 1991 independence, "society told us that everything we had been taught was no longer the truth," he told AFP.

"Suddenly, the schools were demanding that students buy this book," fumed the 65-year-old retired mechanic, who grew up during Josip Broz Tito's regime when Macedonia was part of communist Yugoslavia.

Macedonia's history textbooks now look set for another overhaul as the Balkans country closes in on a settlement with neighbouring Greece in a decades-long, bitter dispute over the right to call itself the Republic of Macedonia.

But revising the national narrative, built up over more than two decades, may prove harder than changing the country's name.

"NATIONAL ROMANTICISM"

Under Tito, a common Yugoslav identity was promoted that eclipsed learning at school in Macedonia about the likes of ancient warrior king Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great, and his father Philip II.

But after the war-torn former Yugoslav Federation disintegrated during the 1990s, Macedonia like other Balkan countries saw a return of old nationalist sentiments that had been hushed by Tito's regime.

Historian Todor Cepreganov said there was a "renewal of a national romanticism" in Macedonia, which would be boosted by right-wing leader Nikola Gruevski's grip on power from 2006 to 2016.

As a result, Macedonian history textbooks started to look quite different.

By the 2011 edition, pupils aged 11 and 12 learned how, in the Macedonian state under Philip, the ancient king had "conquered the Hellenic colonies".

And that his son, "Alexander the Macedonian", had "managed to defeat them (the Greeks), forcing them to recognise his authority", the textbook reads.

Indeed, even if reconciliation now looks on the cards with Greece in the name row, both countries continue to stake a claim to Alexander the Great.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

For more than a quarter of a century, Greece and Macedonia have rowed over the right of the former Yugoslav republic to call itself Macedonia, which Athens objects to because it has its own northern province of that name.

Greece fears the name, Republic of Macedonia, may imply territorial ambitions and also accuses Skopje of trying to usurp the heritage of the ancient Macedonians and stake a claim to Alexander the Great.

After recent talks between the two neighbours, a resolution may now be close.

But the longer term challenge could be how to recast the way Macedonians have been taught -- literally through their history textbooks -- to view and feel about their own history and culture.

For national celebrations, Macedonian children are dressed in clothes resembling those from ancient times. Some of their parents, meanwhile, view Macedonians not as Slavs but rather direct descendants of Philip and Alexander.

"BRAINWASHING"

Higher education has not been spared either.

In a 2010 archeology textbook from the eastern Goce Delcev University in Stip, "ancient Macedonia" is described as the "Balkans region where Macedonians were reigning", and not as part of Greece, although it became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece.

For Damjan Todorovski, a 59-year-old teacher from the southwestern city of Bitola, all "textbooks introduced after 2006 contained systematic brainwashing, not education".

"There was no Macedonian state until 1945 ... What are we talking about?" said Sonja Trajanovska, a pupil's mother in her 40s from Skopje.

"I will not allow my child to be indoctrinated by nationalism and falsified history."

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev's Social Democrats (SDSM) pledged shortly after taking office last September to undertake a complete revision of textbooks.

"ANGERS THE GREEKS"

"One cannot impose on our children assumptions and hatred, notably towards our neighbours," said Petar Atanasov, tasked with education within the SDSM.

"But this should be done by experts and professors, not politicians," he added.

Teachers, especially the younger ones who themselves have been educated during the last couple of decades, need to accept a new change of direction in the teaching of Macedonian history.

"An eternity will be needed to repair the damage," warned 87-year-old retired history teacher Marija Veskova.

But her 28-year-old peer Natasa, who refused to give her surname, is worried.

"I don't understand why we should be ashamed of what we are. Alexander was Macedonian. And we are afraid to say it since it angers the Greeks."

Looks like there might be hope in the young Macedonians after all. .... And most of the older ones need to lobotomised. Stupid ignorant sheep. Shame on their Titovianisms.

[Amphipolis]

Alexander was certainly Macedonian and that does not anger Greeks at all. The statement "Alexander was not Greek" is probably how she should put it.

And what the hell is this? "There was no Macedonian state until 1945 ... What are we talking about?"

And which book is that? ("Suddenly, the schools were demanding that students buy this book," Legend of Ancient Macedonia). What does it say? How come our forum missed that?

[Risto the Great]

They are the product of your friend Tito. They became good Serbs during this era, just like my relatives have now become good Greeks in Greece. That's what happens. Are you that stupid or just pretending?

[Amphipolis]

Originally Posted by Risto the Great

They are the product of your friend Tito. They became good Serbs during this era, just like my relatives have now become good Greeks in Greece. That's what happens. Are you that stupid or just pretending?

It is these people who are stupid or at least confused.

Tito was not our friend and he did not create Serbs. Actually, I think your interest in Alexander is also a product of Greece.

[Risto the Great]

Yes, the older ones are indeed very confused. They forgot about what Macedonians did way before Tito slipped then a few commie dinars.

Serbs were the dominant race in Yugo days. You love Serbs now, therefore Tito must have been your friend. Greece was a product of Germany, France, Britain and Russia, therefore Alexander probably had more to do with them. And let us not forget he was in fact Macedonian.

[Struja]

Originally Posted by Amphipolis

Alexander was certainly Macedonian and that does not anger Greeks at all. The statement "Alexander was not Greek" is probably how she should put it.

And what the hell is this? "There was no Macedonian state until 1945 ... What are we talking about?"

And which book is that? ("Suddenly, the schools were demanding that students buy this book," Legend of Ancient Macedonia). What does it say? How come our forum missed that?

Not sure if your Greek, but if so, bravo to you...

Legend of Ancient Macedonia? A new book the fyromians are reading these days?

[sydney]

Don’t be fooled by this Greek apparatchik and his play on words. It’s sweet how in their universities the next wave of apparatchiks-in-training still churn out ‘Why the Ancient Macedonians were Greek’ papers and pat each other on the back. Because you see, only their revisions are acceptable. Even Pavlov acknowledges these guys are next level.