There was a wall and the wall has fallen
But, they wasted no time in raising another one
And in the shadow of the wars an identity got stolen!
Me and my brother, freezing in a cold winter morning
No heating, no food, no electricity nor oil!
An embargo because of some history fraud
Breaking all the moral standards and the law!
They renamed a country
FYROM instead of Macedonia
A blackmail was accepted
In order to get our resources back
So what’s the point of that...
Former Yugoslav Republic and a Former Ottoman Province
And a Former Byzantine Province and a Roman one too
A Former Kingdom and a Former Empire
Kneeling for mercy
In front of the world
Trading the name for survival
Dealing the dignity for life
But the time has passed
It’s been enough humiliation
Call me by my name
I don’t ask for more
The world must not ignore
The being of a nation
Say Macedonia!
Let the Sun light the darkness we live in
Once in a while a star falls
But this time a star would be born!
This poem is inspired by an ongoing political proccess about recognizing The Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name. It's not meant to be offensive, and it is as politically correct as possible :) I'm not a nationalist, but I just can not accept being FYROM-ized. It's kind of insulting... So, I thought that it would be good to announce such an important topic [I mean, a country 15 years after gaining its independance is fighting for being recognized under its own legitimate name...]
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Call me by My Name
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11 comments:
Hello Shepard,
If it makes you feel any better, my 2004 Almanac (by Encyclopedia Britannica) lists Macedonia under 'M' with it's official name as Republika Makedonija [member of the UN under the name TFYRM. I already thought it's name was Macedonia and that's what I usually hear. I guess the UN designation is not doing whatever they had in mind.
Welcome!
well, thanks for understanding :) and i'm glad the world is starting to acknowledge..
at first, before posting this poem, i was afraid that there could be some controversies or reactions, but it's always couraging when the first comment is positive..
Our world is full of controversies. What makes a country is not its name, history, language or religion, it's the people! You have kept your spirit throughout time and never forgot who you are, which makes you a proud and independent member of the world.
I'm glad our two countries share a past and I hope we'll share a bright future, like equals. Bulgaria will always be your friend.
I started a blog, Say: Macedonia, where I plan to post the emails that I send to various institutions that use the shameful acronym FYROM when addressing my country. I will also post the responses, if I get any. So far, nothing.
And BTW, my country, Republic of Macedonia, agreed and signed upon using the following temporary name: "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", according to this resolution. Not FYROM!
The acronym FYROM is offensive to us. Also the temporary name, which Macedonia was forced to accept as a temporary solution. Actually, anything different from "Macedonia" is out of the question. And no country has the right to tell another country what its name should be. What UN is doing (nothing), as well as EU (also nothing), just shows that global politics has nothing to do with justice, but with interest.
The UN is too busy with UN to help us. Fortunately, more than 120 countries have already acknowledged Macedonia as "Republic of Macedonia", including USA, and our diplomacy is negotiating with the others.
Say: Macedonia. We are Macedonians. Our country is Macedonia. World, we are pleased to meet you.
@ Filip
I`ll have to disagree partly with your comment.
"What makes a country is not its name, history, language or religion, it's the people!"
What makes a country is it`s people but more precisely the culture of it`s people and what makes one`s culture if not the history the language or the religion, among other things of course :)
btw nice effort Vuna, goo on!!!
I've always known it as Macedonia. That FYROm is too much tongue twisting for me, and rather ridicilous if I may say :)
Anywho, nice poem! regards from the States.
@ darko156
Thanks for your comment. Of course, I agree with you. But let me explain what I meant.
Sometimes language changes (as in Bulgaria - before the Cyrillic alphabet there were more ancient languages). History is often interpreted differently and religion... well, anyone can change their religion.
It's the people and how they perceive themselves that makes them a nation and a country. That's why the people should have the ultimate say.
@ Filip
It's the people and how they perceive themselves that makes them a nation and a country. That's why the people should have the ultimate say.
Right to the point!
This is ridiculous! You people call yourselves Macedonians and are not only trying to steal a name that is clearly Greek but also steal Greece's history. Anyone who has studied history knows that you are nothing but a bunch of liers! If anyone is interested in learning the real story and background of Macedonia should read this: http://macedonians.multiply.com/reviews/item/1 real evidence and not claims made by people who have no morals or scruples. Misinforming people has to stop NOW!
Daniela just look this picture from 1912.
http://faq.macedonia.org/images/bigmkd2.jpg
The pictures never lies!
Now you know the truth about MACEDONIA.
The truth about Macedonia...
• Simple answers to frequently used Slavic arguments
In this section we will attempt to answer a series of arguments used frequently to question the Greek identity of Macedonia.
"Greece officially denied the use of the name Macedonia after the Balkan wars."
This is a very inaccurate argument. There are several examples of state institutions and private businesses using the name Macedonia which operate in Greece since the early 1900s. These are just a few of them:
The "Macedonia" newspaper (1912)
The Society for Macedonian Studies (1939) [web site]
The museum of ancient Macedonia (1961) [web site]
The museum of the Macedonian struggle (1979) [web site]
Greece has been actively using the name Macedonia since its liberation from the Ottoman empire. If Greece's official position was to "deny the existence of Macedonia" how would it be possible for hundreds of private companies to be named after Macedonia?
"Greece has changed the "Macedonian" names of locations in the Macedonia region."
The Greek names are older than the Slavic ones and most of them have their roots in ancient Greece. The Greek names of the towns in Macedonia are also mentioned in the Bible. A characteristic example is Thessaloniki. This city was founded in 315 bc by the Macedonian king Kasssandros and it was named after Alexanders' half sister - Thessaloniki. How could the Greeks change the name from Solun (as the Slavs claim) to Thessaloniki in 1912 if that was the original name? The name Thessaloniki is even mentioned in the bible by St Paul. Why did he address his letters (epistoles) to the people of Thessaloniki and not the to the people of Solun?
What about the Greek names of towns inside FYROM used during the Ottoman times? Did Greece change them as well?
"Today's 'Greeks' and ancient 'Hellenes have no relation between them."
How is it possible for the people who live in the same region, speak the same language and have the same names and culture not to be descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the region? Similarly we could say that today's Egyptians are not descendants of ancient Egyptians and today's Chinese people are not descedants of ancient Chinese.
The name 'Greek' is in fact ancient as well as the famous philosopher Aristotelis verifies:
"...and she was not there forever, but after the cataclysm of Defkalion, which occurred in the Hellenic area, in fact, in the ancient Hellas, which was around Dodoni, and it changed many times the flow of Acheloos river. In that area live the Selloi and the ones that were once called Graecoi and are now called Hellenes..." [Aristotelis Meteorologika, I, 14]
"There is a large Macedonian minority in Greece"
There is no "Macedonian minority" in Greece because there is no such nationality. There is a small group of people who speak a Slavic dialect which is in fact different from what is claimed to be the "Macedonian language" These people are not a "Macedonian minority" as they consider themselves Greeks. There is also an even smaller group of Slav propagandists who are trying to create a Macedonian minority in Greece. Anyone who didn't consider him/herself Greek could and should have left Greece during the exchange of populations in 1919.
"One million people in Greece consider themselves Macedonians"
In the 1996 parliament elections in Greece the political party of the people who claim to be a "Macedonian minority" gained 3.485 votes (official result). In the 2000 parliament elections they didn't take up part at all. Of course there is no doubt of the integrity of the election procedures since Greece is a member of the European Union. If there was such a large number of "Macedonians" in Greece (1/10th) wouldn't be easy for them to stand up against the "Greek occupation"?
"Greece acquired illegally Aegean Macedonia in 1913"
Greece acquired 51% of Macedonia in 1913 as a result of the treaty of Bucharest. International treaties are not illegal. Furthermore Greece in 1913 was not a powerful country to acquire any land it desired. This land was "given" to Greece because it historically belonged to Greece and its residents were Greek.
"What gives Greece the right to name another country? This issue is straightforward, every country has the right to call itself whatever it wishes."
This is a misleading statement. The author knows very well why Greece is objecting to the use of the name Macedonia. In fact every country has the right to chose its own name as far as it does not belong to another country's history. The name Macedonia belongs to the Greek history. Greece has the right to protect its history and heritage.
"Saints Cyril and Methdje (or Kirl and Metodi) were not Greeks but Macedonians."
Saints Cyrilos and Methodios were Greeks born in Thessaloniki and this is well known to all Christians. Pope John Paul the B' in an official apostolic homily to the entire Catholic Church proclaimed that Methodius and Cyril "Greek brethren born in Thessaloniki" are consecrated as "heavenly protectors of Europe". John Paul B' repeated this statement in a speech delivered in the church of Saint Clements, in Rome. You can see the original document here.
"Greece stole the Macedonian history"
Greece does not 'steal' history. It has its own lengthy and respected history. It is the only thing that Greece has plenty of it. The Greek history and culture is respected by all the countries in the world. People who don't have their own history need to 'steal' someone else's...
"Linguistic science has at its disposal a very limited quantity of Macedonian words. A very limited quantity in this case is a quantity indeed, that Greeks cannot ignore."
This argument proves the Greek point that the "Macedonian language" was a Greek a dialect. There only exists "a limited quantity of Macedonian words" because the Macedonian dialect had "limited" differences from the Greek language.
How could it be possible for a separate "ancient Macedonian language" to disappeared after what Alexander had achieved?
"If Philip united and not conquered the Greeks why did Alexander leave 25.000 men of his army in Macedonia when he is about to face the strongest and most numerous army in the world?"
No sensible leader would go on a quest taking ALL his army with him and leaving his homeland unprotected!
And of course he did not leave 25.000 men in Macedonia because he was afraid of the other Greeks. Macedonia had lots of real enemies at its northern border (Illyrians, Dardanians,Paionians etc).
"If Macedonians were Greek then why only 30% of Alexander's army were Greek?"
The right question to ask is 'why as many as 30% of Alexander's army were from the rest of Greece?' After all Macedonians and Greeks were supposed to be enemies! The Macedonians 'conquered' the Greeks according to the Slavic version of the Macedonian history. The fact that a very significant part of Alexander's army were non-Macedonian Greeks shows the truth.
"Ancient Macedonians did not take part in the Olympic Games"
This is another false statement. It can be easily proved that people from Macedonia took part in the Olympic Games. For a list Macedonians who won the Olympic Games the click here.
"Ancient Macedonians fought against Greece."
This is another misleading statement. It is well known that the ancient Greek states were largely independed of each other and that often led to wars between them. Some well-known examples are the Peolloponisian was between Athens and Sparti, the Athenians quest in the island of Mitilini, the brutal war between Sparti and Thebes and many more. A war between two ancient Greek regions did not mean that one of them was not Greek.
"There are no ancient monuments written in the Macedonian language because Greek archaeologists destroy them when they are recovered."
Even if we accept that this is true it still doesn't explain why aren't there any monuments in the rest of Macedonia!
What about the ancient monuments in FYROM and Bulgaria?
What about the ancient monuments on Alexander's route in Asia?
Why aren't there any "non Greek Macedonian monuments" ?
Oh, I know why! The Greek archaeologists must have destroyed them as well !!!
"If in fact, "Macedonia is Greece", how come they feel the need to emphasize, to shout, and to proclaim over and over again? After all, we never hear them proclaiming that 'Thebes is Greece', or 'Sparta is Greece' ".
If the Salvs wanted to name heir country "Republic of Thebes" or "Republic of Sparta" who would shout out "Thebes and Sparta are Greek". But they are claiming to be Macedonians so we shout that
"MACEDONIA WAS GREEK"
"MACEDONIA IS GREEK"
"MACEDONIA WILL BE FOREVER GREEK"
If you have an argument which is not answered in this page please email us.
http://truth.macedonia.gr © Real Macedonia 2001
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