If an ethnic group told you that a certain name used to describe them is deeply offensive, would you continue to use that name and even try to convince them that it is not offensive?
No. So stop calling me a “North Macedonian” from “North Macedonia”. Stop trying to convince me that redefining my entire ethnic group and taking away our right to self-determination and self-identification is not offensive. Stop trying to tell me that the forced renaming of Macedonia, the mandated rewriting of our history (led by our most vocal oppressor, Greece!), and the redefinition of everything it ever meant to be Macedonian is not offensive. And stop telling me that stripping away my name and identity because our oppressors demand it solves a “diplomatic dispute”.
Our name is Macedonia and our identity, history, ethnicity and language are Macedonian – despite the current US-led forced renaming of our country in order to satisfy its misguided, racist foreign policy and to appease our oppressors. Interested in learning more? You should also be interested in preventing our eradication. See my op-ed in the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal detailing the brutal violation of Macedonians’ most basic of human rights, and Canada’s shocking support of our demise.
The disturbing messages I mentioned above are the exact messages that Macedonians are receiving from Western politicians, diplomats and journalists. My response is, “put yourselves in our shoes”: After hearing these outrageous claims from the people listed below, I personally asked them the following:
- To Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland,“If you were of Macedonian, instead of Ukrainian ethnic background, what would Canada’s policy be? Would you support the handing over of Ukraine’s name, identity and history to Russia?”
- To Kati Csaba, Canada’s Ambassador to Macedonia, “Kati, you told me that you are of Hungarian descent. So what if Hungary was forcibly renamed “West Hungary” and the definition of “Hungarian” was suddenly given to Romania? What if Hungarian history was being rewritten by a group of Romanians, as Macedonian history is being rewritten by a panel of Greek diplomats (as per Article 8 (5) of the anti-Macedonian Prespa Agreement). What would you do if there was a 19-page document telling you that you and your ancestors suddenly have a new identity and that everything you ever knew about your ethnic group is now being changed?”
- To Helene Laverdiere, the New Democratic Party’s Foreign Affairs Critic, “Did you even read the 19-page ‘agreement’ that eradicates our Macedonian ethnicity? What if the same agreement was rammed down Francophones’ throats and you were told that it solved a diplomatic dispute?”
This is what Macedonians are being forced to endure. And this is us:
In 1913, the entire region of Macedonia was partitioned among Serbia (now the independent Republic of Macedonia), Bulgaria, Greece and Albania. Macedonians have been fighting attempts at eradication, forcible assimilation and competing claims to our name since then. So how can Macedonia be Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Albanian all at once? Macedonia is Macedonian. Let’s not forget the irony too, that Greece outlawed the term “Macedonia” in 1913 and denied its existence until a dramatic propaganda switch in 1988, when it began a campaign of trying to deceive the world into believing that Macedonia belonged to them.
Do not allow cultural misappropriation to be rewarded. Do not allow political games and corruption to erase an age-old nationality. Our name is Macedonia. Join us in defending it. We would do the same for you.
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Bill Nicholov is President of Macedonian Human Rights Movement International.
