DOCSLIB.ORG

AMHR Review 29

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
AMHR Review 29 issue # 29 March 2018 SSN 1839-8639 MHR Review March 2018 page contents... MHR Review #29 published in March 2018 Edited by George Vlahov and Designed by Johnny Tsiglev 3 Public Intellectuals in Macedonia George Vlahov 7 THE ZAEV BRIEFING David Vitkov 10 self-delusion Dr. Tom Vangelovski 13 Проглас 18 Before the Rain Dr. Michael Seraphinoff 22 EFA in Pirin 24 a different view from SOFIA 25 GREEK PROPAGANDA in OTTOMAN MACEDONIA Dr. Dimitar Vamvakovski 28 THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION Victor Sinadinoski The front cover collage by Johnny Tsiglev includes: Edvard Munch's Evening on Karl Johan Street 1892; The dance of life (1899-1900); The Scream 1892; Honore Daumier's They Say the Parisians Are Hard to Please, 1864 Lithograph; A la Bourse, Lithograph; and a 19th century image of Mephisto. MHR Review March 2018 page 2 Public Intellectuals in Macedonia and the Names George Vlahov to have risen, markedly. In essence, they are insisting that the Republic of Macedonia Preamble must change its name in order to satisfy a racist Greek version of history and thereby Located among the heights of conceit, one obtain membership of NATO and the EU. finds commentators of all kinds, though es- They, of course, would not put it that way. pecially noticeable are certain academics and journalists, who present their interpreta- This article is not about whether member- tions, their prejudices, as facts; moreover, ship of the EU and NATO is desirable, within some of them, actually, probably though we will underline: if the notion of re- many of them, the desire to appear to be sponsible citizenship was not something relevant to their milieu, which, understanda- that is almost alien to the bulk of Mace- bly is the dream of many an intellectual, donia's political elite, then it is very likely leads to an advocacy for policies that con- that membership would have been gained, tradict not only their ideological persona, but without an altered appellation, years ago. even rudimentary standards of decency. The state would have been able to mobilise Their expressions of knowledge are also, of the necessary resources, to explain, in the course, warped by power, though they man- relevant centres of power and in interna- age to perform as if the opposite is true; or tional judicial structures, that it is not possi- to behave as if their knowledge of power is ble to surrender what those centres, them- so intimate, that it permits them to insist that selves, advertise as an inalienable right. their perspective is an actuality which ne- Alas, Macedonia's leaders, have instead, cessitates ignoring a fundamental injustice. consistently used the name issue as a In these cases, one is pardonably appre- weapon in the waging of party political hensive about offering a rejoinder, as such power struggles. attention is precisely what is craved. The Among the debris of the collateral damage likelihood is that direct engagement will engendered by those unscrupulous feuds, merely lead to the further inflation of an ego one can find the thinking of those thinkers that proffered personal preferences, as who are asserting, that, it is imperative to truth. alienate the inalienable: "my country is too weak to do anything about it". Too corrupt, Some of the Arguments actually. A serious, principled discussion Therefore we are not going to name names, about the names would also inevitably and rather, we are going to focus on some of the usefully lead to a conversation about Mace- arguments utilised by those unnamed per- donia's gravest problem - the widespread sonalities; i.e. their arguments in favour of anomy in Macedonian society. surrendering the right to self-determination. Remarkably, a number of our cerebral warri- We have resolved to address this matter ors, had been on record and on principle, once more, because, of late, the number of unamenable to designing new designations those who shall remain nameless, appears (Continued on page 4) MHR Review March 2018 page 3 (Continued from page 3) by a right wing nationalist, a fascist, but by a Marxist, a Bolshevik no less... Of course na- during the Gruevski years; now that SDS tionalism has long been a perplexing phe- has firmly put the issue back on the negoti- nomenon for Marxists, but that is another ating table, not that DPMNE ever really took discussion. it off, they have chosen to refute their former selves with zest, in order, one may suppose, Nationalisms to satisfy a misapprehension of how they What is vital to understand here, is that na- might make themselves useful and avoid tionalism is not monolithic, there are types relevance depravation. and the disparities are consequential. In this The right to self-determination is important discourse there is not nationalism, there are but, "well, actually, we are Slavs, Macedoni- nationalisms. At a very basic level, saying "I ans are a Slavic nation"; or "identity is a am Australian", is an expression of national- very deeply personal thing, nobody can take ism. Though it might perhaps be deemed it away from you, even if names are relatively benign, depending on the context. changed"; or "we really don't have anything Then again, there is a substantial difference to do with Antiquity, so a name change re- between aggressive and defensive national- flecting that is in order"; "we need to com- ism and it is painfully obvious who the ag- promise, only the crazy nationalists on our gressor is, in this context. Or is it? Well, not side are refusing"; or "we really are a new for some of our savants. No, several of them nation" etc, all kinds of nonsense, every- have taken to using sarcasm to distort the thing but the truth. Their truth is very simple, truth, to the extent that they have begun to though it appears very few of them have the equate the racist nationalism prevailing in courage to utter it: "We are very aware this Greek society, which has led the bulk of that is wrong, but the Republic of Macedonia society to believe it has the right to revoke cannot survive or prosper without NATO Macedonian society's right to self determi- and EU membership, so we have to do it". A nation, with the activism of Macedonians, very questionable "truth", but at least then who at bottom, are doing nothing more than the real debates could begin and most of attempting to protect that right. Granted, the drivel could be left behind. Who knows, there are Macedonians who are employing candid discussions like that might even ex- ludicrous nationalist arguments to do that, pedite a consensus that leads to a coherent but a substantial difference remains, none- policy in pursuit of winning the very winna- the-less. ble right to self determination. It is too simplistic to enlist the argument that But that path is too prosaic, too jejune, for nationalism is exclusively harmful and must our great sages, many of them prefer to re- be eradicated, full stop. We live in a world of sort to history as fables that have been nations and they are not about to depart agreed upon, crackpot sociology, genericis- from the actual to mere historical. Moreover, ing, essentialising and the promotion of bla- humans create groups, if there were not na- tant double standards, the very things they tional groups, there would be some other criticise "crazy Macedonian nationalists" for. form, it seems to be part of human ontology. No doubt, this is partially caused by an in- While the national form continues, construc- ability to provide serious argumentation in tive social activism should be about promot- favour of ignoring the fundamentals of inter- ing respect between nations, not the mortifi- national law and dispensing with the right to cation of one, a smaller, weaker one, for the self determination. With others, there is an benefit of a racist bully. If the bright sparks embarrassing ignorance that equates a de- who are the focus of our discussion do not fence of self-determination with hateful far have any respect for the feelings and dignity right nationalism. They do not appear to be of their fellow citizens, who consider the pro- aware, like one particular dullard at Balkan tection of their rights and their identity to be Insight, that "The Right of Nations to Self- a serious matter, then at least they should Determination" is a text that was not written have the sense to see they are not weaken- ing nationalism by aiding a much more pow- MHR Review March 2018 page 4 erful and racist form of it. One needs to take porters. Fortunately, there are left wing intel- heed of the fact that the most recent poll in lectuals in Macedonia who are not so easily Greece revealed over 70% of Greeks do not shamed out of their principles, unfortunately, even accept, that the Republic of Mace- they appear to be dwindling in number. donia has the right to have the word 'Macedonia' in its proposed new name. It is Conclusions time to put away childish things and stop The Macedonian nation is new in the sense pretending there are "many" Greeks who that all nations, as the word nation is pres- reject nationalism, that is a fantasy designed ently understood in social theory, were cre- to assuage guilty consciences. ated in modernity, i.e. during the course of Politics and Culture the last 500 years. Yes, all nations are new, including yours, Greek nationalists. Attempt- There is another aspect to this refusal to ing to revoke the right of a nation to self- deal with nationalism in a realistic manner.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Macedonian Films 2016/2017
    MACEDONIAN FILMS 2016/2017 Through its activities over the years, the Macedonian success is yet further confirmation of the efforts of the Macedonian Film Agency, which are directed Film Agency has striven to provide comprehensive towards collaborations and partnerships in the interest of creating quality film projects that will funding for the Macedonian film industry and helped be worthy representatives of Macedonian cinematography. In the interests of promoting the latest to further develop and stimulate film production, film production, the Cannes Film Festival - Marche du film will traditionally host screenings of the international co-productions, film distribution, cinema following upcoming Macedonian films: The Year of the Monkey by Vladimir Blazevski (MK/RS/SI/ networks and film festivals, as well as encouraging the XK), Secret Ingredient by Gjorce Stavreski (MK/GR), and When the Day Had No Name by Teona writing of scripts, promoting the professional education Strugar Mitevska (MK/SI/BE) - a film which entered the official programme of this year’s Berlin of film professionals and promoting Macedonian International Film Festival. cinematography at renowned international film festivals and events by offering favourable conditions We hope that the projects presented on the following pages will attract your attention by offering a to foreign producers, thereby also promoting the Republic of Macedonia as a filming location. unique insight into Macedonian cinematography, Macedonian film professionals and the possibilities The Film Production
    [Show full text]
  • Feeling the Paranoiac, the Schizzo and the Depressive: a Semiotic Analysis of Macedonia’S Emotional Architecture in Before the Rain
    Sasho Alexander Lambevski Feeling the Paranoiac, the Schizzo and the Depressive: A Semiotic Analysis of Macedonia’s Emotional Architecture in Before the Rain Opening Scene A lonely bird’s screech pierces the dark burgundy sunrise sky that segues into a close-up of tomato plants nestled in a luscious little vegetable garden adjacent to an ancient Orthodox Christian monas- tery. The land surrounding the monastery is criss-crossed with innumerable rhizome-like cracks that are covered with a thick layer of dust. Against the annihilating goldness of the sun, and the faded blue of the summer sky marked with gaseous milky traces of supersonic military planes, Kiril,1 a baby-faced monk, admiringly looks and touches the voluptuous crimson tomatoes as if paying homage to these divine fruits of the monks’ loving labour on this not so fertile piece of God’s land. Male children dressed in worn clothes play with fire in which they toss a few unused bullets and a turtle. An elderly Orthodox Christian monk with an old sweet wrinkly face arrives to escort the young monk out of the garden.2 On the distant horizon dark clouds start congregating and one can hear the bolting of a thunder. For a moment, shivers of fear and uneasy foreboding permeate the face of the old monk. ‘Every time it thunders it jolts me. I think, here we go, the shooting has started here too’, he says to the silent young monk. As they walk away from the ancient monastery, they ingest the breathtaking beauty of an old stone church and a tall cypress tree that stand alone on a cliff cutting a bubbling emerald green lake.
    [Show full text]
  • FNE Market Analysis 2019: NORTH MACEDONIA
    FNE Market Analysis 2019: NORTH MACEDONIA SKOPJE: It was a truly exciting year for Macedonian cinematography with great box office results, international success for feature and documentary films, worldwide distribution for domestic titles and their participation in more than 200 film festival selections, and over 60 awards. Honeyland / Medena zemja directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov won three awards at the Sundance International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere, and it has been screened in more than 50 film festivals worldwide, scooping more than 20 awards, alongside a nomination in the European Documentary 2019 category of the European Film Awards.. The film was the official Macedonian submission for an Oscar in the Best International Feature Film category and on 13 January 2020 it was nominated for the Academy Awards in Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film categories. It is not only the first time when a Macedonian film gets two Oscars nominations, but it is also the first time in the history of the Oscars when a documentary is nominated in two categories. Teona Strugar Mitevska’s God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya / Gospod postoi, imeto I e Petrunija, which had its world premiere in the Competition at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, was later distributed in 28 countries worldwide. North Macedonia had a film in the official competition at the Berlin International Film Festival for the first time in the last 20 years. God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya was selected for over 70 festivals and won 25 awards. It also received the European Parliament LUX Prize 2019.
    [Show full text]
  • Before the Rain in a Balkan Context
    Before the Rain in a Balkan Context Dina Iordanova In the early 1990s, young film director Milcho Manchevski, born in Macedonia and educated in America, revisited his native country after years of absence. He felt something pervasively tense in the atmosphere of the early post-Yugoslav years, a sensation of something enormous and fearsome which was about to strike. He resolved to make a movie about this foreboding and to communicate to others the strong apprehension that makes one's blood to ache.2 This is how the beautiful Before the Rain (1994) came about. ..Most Western viewers responded to the film with a straightforward admiration. To them, I was told, the film was of 'educational' value, since it helped in understanding the absurd logic of the Balkan conflict. It was also a stoic prophecy of the things to come. My own reaction to the film was not as clear-cut, however. Its atmosphere and style fascinated me, but still, something was wrong. As an expatriate, equally concerned with the impending trouble in the Balkans, I just could not take the fatalism at face value...Even though director Manchevski rejected the idea that all Balkan nations are doomed to live through the violent nightmare of ethnic war, this was the dominant Western reading of his film. By uncritically continuing the line of traditional representation of the Balkans as a mystic stronghold of stubborn and belligerent people, Before the Rain continued an existing Balkan trend of voluntary self-exoticism. The picture effectively contributed to the perception of Macedonia as a deceptively quiet but potentially explosive powder keg.
    [Show full text]