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The Spirit Of Ilinden - Self-Respect, Defiance And Freedom - Are Still Needed TodayBy Victor Bivell Interview with Nova Makedonija newspaper of Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, 2 August, 2025 1. How is the Ilinden Holiday a holiday for all Macedonians? The Ilinden commemoration and holiday is for all Macedonians everywhere in the world because the spirit behind the Ilinden Uprising is as strong today as it was in 1903 under the Ottomans. That spirit is the strong need for personal and collective freedom, the desire to remove longstanding political oppression, the need to create a secure and prosperous home and homeland for family and friends, and the desire to freely develop and express the Macedonian culture. Almost everywhere we look Macedonians are still under political pressure. The Republic is under pressure from Bulgaria, Greece, the EU and their accomplice in ethnic denial and cultural genocide, France. It is under pressure internally from sections of the Albanian minority who will never be politically satisfied. The Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria continue to be victims of severe ethnic denial and cultural genocide. More progress is needed in Albania. The Macedonian diaspora in many Western countries have long suffered denigration and discrimination. And ethnic denial and denigration are rampant on social media. So the spirit of Ilinden – of self-respect, defiance and freedom – is still very much needed today and Macedonians everywhere are fortunate to have an inspiring legacy in Ilinden that we can all be proud of and learn from. 2. What should Macedonia as a country do at this moment when it is facing several challenges? The new Macedonian government is a big improvement and speaks well in public about defending the Macedonian identity, language and culture. But Macedonia is dealing with oppressors who think long term and the government needs to think and plan equally long term. I think the government also needs to be bolder. It should not be afraid to call publically genocide on the Balkan Wars of 1912-13. (The Carnegie Report called it "extermination".) It should not be afraid to publically call cultural genocide on the destruction and denigration of Macedonian culture. It should not be afraid to publically call ethnic denial on the non-recognition of the Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria. It should not be afraid to publically call out and expose the oppressive behaviours of France and other Western countries that assist Greece and Bulgaria to oppress Macedonians. Our best defence is truth and the courage to use it. 3. The third question - What do you think is important? At Pollitecon Publications I have introduced a new page on the "Macedonian Genocide". This gathers books, reports and other evidence on the various stages of the genocide, cultural genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Macedonians. These stages include: The Ilinden Uprising; The Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian Terrorism from 1903 to 1912; the First and Second Balkan Wars; the Colonization of Aegean Macedonia; the Second World War and the Republic of Macedonia; the Fight for Macedonian Autonomy or Independence in the Greek Civil War; and the ongoing Denial of Macedonian Ethnic Identity. In 2023 the academic journal Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal published my paper: Book Review: Children of the Greek Civil War. This is an excellent book by professor Loring M. Danforth and associate professor Riki Van Boeschoten. My review discusses how the book contains evidence that during the Greek Civil War, the Greek government run Queen Frederica's orphanages contravened Article II (e) of the United Nations' Genocide Convention – "Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group". We need more academics and researchers to explore and write about the many other aspects of the Macedonian genocide. And we need to translate those books and papers into English. We celebrate Ilinden one day of the year. But we need to live the spirit of Ilinden every day of the year. We can do that by having the courage to speak and defend the truth.# Copyright 2 August 2025 Source: www.pollitecon.com |
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