Letters to the Editor
October 20, 2008
Hostile attitudes like FYROM nationalist (Risto Stefov on the American Chronicle) are a perfect examples of the propaganda and downright hate that is being posted online against the Greeks and the Greek American Community .We all know that the majority of people that read these articles know the writings come from a racist and biased self proclaimed Macedonian who hasn’t even lived in FYROM. Then again there are some others (the minority ) that really do believe what is being said about the Greeks online because they are historically challenged or are just racist’s themselves. This is unacceptable ! Here let me break it down for you all to read and understand (in layman terms).
The Prime Minister Dora Bakoyannis of Greece and about 99.9 % of the Greek Community likes to say that these «Macedonians» do not exist. In reality what the Greeks are saying is that they refuse to call these people «Macedonian» (not that there isn’t a super TINY FYROM community and neighborhood in Greece). Then again aren’t there little communities /neighborhoods of various nationalities that clique together just like this everywhere around the world? The answer is «yes».
To define the tension in a simple form rather than technical calling these FYRO-mians «Macedonian» implicitly undermines Greece’s own Macedonians historical identity and it is also a security threat to the country!
About 10 years ago the FYROM government helped organize this small minority group into the «Rainbow party of Greece» (based in Florina Macedonia). Notice Florina sounds Greek right ? Anyways, up until quite recently the FYROM government had claimed Greeks were oppressing hundreds of thousands of «Macedonians» ? OK What is that all about? Listen we all know Greece is a very tiny country with a small population itself and this » Rainbow Party» is less than 1% of the population. Imagine if a group tried to do this in the USA ? Not. There is also a huge patern of hostility, propaganda and outright lies being written and directed at the Greek American Community . I will break it down and simlify it for all of you all to read here in my article.
The first would be to deny that modern Greeks are even related to ancient ones . It’s preposterous to ask isn’t it? FYROM citizens do this and write this online (Ex Risto Stefov here on the American Chronicle) despite TONS of archaeological evidence and fact that Greek speaking people with Greek names knowing the Greek language have lived in Greece and in Macedonia for 4,000 years .
The Slavic’s did not arrive in the region of Greece until 600 AD. In addition, FYROM citizens could easily be much more recent immigrants from Bulgaria or other Slavic states whose numbers are in the hundreds of millions. Whereas tiny Greece is the ONLY native homeland for the Greek people . There are about 10 million Greeks .To make the the argument that FYROM-ians are the «REAL » Macedonians make it even less realistic and preposterous. You have to rationalize and ask yourself this ;»What do the FYROM-ians have in common with the ancients over the Albanians, Bulgarians or Turks?» These were other ethnic groups that have lived on Macedonian lands through history. Modern Greeks can still make sense of the «Koine Greek language» that Alexanderthe Great spoke and also spread to the world that he conquered . Those that speak the Katharevusa language better than those that speak Demotic.
The FYROM nationalists on the other hand speak a Bulgarian-Serbian hybrid that wasn’t even formalized until the 20th century and this is based on Cyrillic. Fact. FYROM-ian’s can’t read a single inscription from ancient Macedonian artifacts that have been dug up by archeologists which are written in (You guessed it !) «Koine Greek! Even their native spelling of «Macedonia» is different. They are «Macedonians» that don’t even speak the language ancient Macedonians spoke. This language was Greek.
Secondly is to deny that ancient Macedonians were even Greeks .Can you imagine? Ok Let’s bring up the Athenian orater Demosthenes who proclaimed that Macedonians were «barbarians «. Sounds so negative right ? Barbarian! Well, what they don’t tell you though the writings is that during any period of conflict between democratic Athens and the Kingdom of Macedonian the Greek city states were generally fighting all of the time. What also isnt being mentioned is that the ancient Greeks used the term «barbarian» as an example like being «un- American» . There are many examples of this in Greek writings. In fact even Socrates once called the Athenians «barbarians» and the list of so called «barbarians » goes on and on …. Get it? Then there is the issue of the Hellanodikai .These were the judges who decided if competitors were Greek enough to compete in Olympics. There are records of Macedonians voluntarily competing in Olympics will before Alexander the Great . See link below http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Macedonians#Participation_in_panhellenic_events
Quoting Alexander’s the Greats own views on his ethnicity at a speech he gave on being admitted to the Olympic games . You will never see this on a FYROM website .
«Men of Athens ,Had I not greatly at heart the common welfare of Hellas I should not have come to tell you; but I am myself Hellene by descent, and I would not willingly see Hellas exchange freedom for slavery….If you prosper in this war, forget not to do something for my freedom; consider the risk I have run, out of zeal for the Hellenic cause, to acquaint you with what Mardonius intends, and to save you from being surprised by the barbarians. I am Alexander of Macedon. (Herodotus, The Histories, 9.45)
Another tactic of propaganda and lies (posted online etc etc ) by FYROM’s so called journalists is the sence of » victimhood». They sob and write about how Greeks are opressive to them . Greece is an entirely different country! No one has been opressed! The facts of what they are really sobbing about is their insecurities about their own ethnic identity . Greece is the super «bad-bad» guy here because well they won’t or ever give up their own identities. The FYROM government has just realized their aren’t many FYROM nationals in Greece and thats a fact . Oh wel…Nice try but it’s not working . I invite you all in the free world to go visit Greece and you shall see for yourself too! Also , what is being argued for some time is that FYROM national «refugees» should be allowed to return to Greece and given «reparations». What is that all about ? A case in point to show how manipulative the FYROM-ians are with words. No one is a victim here not one FYROM-ian .What you don’t read is that those poor victimized «refugees» were Tito backed Slavic communists in Greece that tried to take Greece by force in the mid-20th century. Yes ! This is fact . When Greece had a civil war there where hundreds of thousands of Greek people that had died. hence it’s like asking Greeks to give reparations to the Nazis who wanted to take their whole country away !
The final grand finale of a method is to just throw and post insults online at Greeks and the Greek community .(Example Greeks are racists , Greeks are Nazi’s Greeks are commiting gerocide and Arian) How can you show empathy to these people ? Unfortunately when FYROMIAN ‘s become that hostile there really isn’t much room for any empathy. The Greeks and the Greek American community will not be ethnically cleansed or lectured by a 16 year old country that has all sorts of internal minority problems themselves. If they want something from Greece at this juncture all I can say is» MOLON LABE!». The Greek phrase Molōn labe! (Μολὼν λαβέ; approximate Classical Greek pronunciation [moln labé], Modern Greek [molon lave]), meaning «Come and take them!», is a classical expression of defiance reported by Plutarch in response to the Persian Army’s demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons.. It is roughly corresponding to the modern equivalent English phrase «over my dead body». It is an exemplary use of a laconic phrase.
Macedonia is one and Greek!
Gena Strickland
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