Captive minds did not remain in the past

Erol Rizaov

The captive state of Nikola Gruevski’s decade-long regime was liberated three years ago by a peaceful and bloodless revolution, but the captive minds did not remain chained to the past. They are alive and well, we have been harvesting their poisonous fruits in the past few days, at a time when the progressive world and our future allies are giving us full support on the road to the future. The sow seed of hate and distrust on the threshold of Macedonia’s greatest success in recent history.
We can easily recognize them for they are clearly visible, proud of their backwardness and ignorance to the level of a hundred and thirty years ago. It is that kind of sediment and filth that for years and decades pollutes not only the human environment but also the happiness of all citizens. The explosion of emotion and ignorance in those heads becomes a great evil whenever a historical breakthrough is in sight. Macedonia, before its biggest victory 75 years after the anti-fascist war and ASNOM, is again faced with decay that feeds off and “drinks from the sewer of history”. They call it patriotism, just like the successors of right-wing South American dictatorships. The only ones who are more dangerous and more harmful are those who know things well, and are manipulating exactly that part of the public that has been their victim for years.
Membership in NATO and the European Union is a historic achievement whose dimensions are so great and significant that they justify any sacrifice on that bumpy road that we will devour with great bitterness as we reach the European family, when the danger of state survival finally ceases and true development begins. Negotiations with the EU over the next eight, ten or fifteen years or more, it depends on us how long they will last, will be the most difficult task that will fall into the sacred obligation of many current and future generations.
The race for power in the coming years only makes sense if it is aimed at who will meet the obligations arising from the Brussels chapters faster and better. It lists everything that needs to be done, everything for which a party war now waged by sowing hate, and everything that is justified criticism of the moves of the government and the opposition. These domestic tasks include democratic processes and the rule of law and the law-abiding state, human rights and freedoms, the functioning of the administration and institutions of the system, economy, culture, science, infrastructure, standards, education, healthcare, ecology and living environment, agriculture and a million more tasks of interest to the citizens and the country. Wide field for political, and any other competition for the parties, but also for the citizens in the competitive and big European market.
There are several questions whose answers reveal the great lies and deceits that bombard the Macedonian public in these moments when, for the very first time, we clearly see and hear the support of Europe and the United States and many other influential countries and statesmen, public figures and thinkers. Ask those patriots of ours whether it is possible for the NATO and the EU accession negotiations to proceed successfully without the signed and ratified agreements with Greece and Bulgaria, and finally with all neighboring countries, and without the support of the United States. Can those negotiations be led by people, politicians and party servants who do not recognize those agreements and who in the fight for power preach that they can reach better agreements with the neighbors. They will answer with a question: What is the price for joining NATO and the EU, by changing the name of the country, national identity, history, nationality of Goce Delchev and other Macedonian activists, non-recognition of Macedonian language, citizenship, cultural achievements and a series of other questions, with the obligatory lie: “We are all for joining the EU and NATO, but not at this cost”.
There is no way that are for the EU and for NATO with such indecisive politics. It is quite easy to act as some atomic, great power between Tabanovce and Gevgelija. The fact that the keyword in the name of the country, Macedonia, the only one in the world with that name, became world-wide recognized is not an argument for them. All the four additions to the name Macedonia, federal, popular, socialist and former Yugoslavia, have been changing in the 75 years since we have a parliamentary state, and only the words Republic of Macedonia have remained unchanged. So it is now with the name Republic of North Macedonia. So far we have not heard that at least one person has changed their identity, or nationality since the Prespa Agreement with Greece was signed. We have not seen a single document denying Macedonian citizenship, or belonging to a Macedonian nation. Has anyone other than us denied the modern Macedonian language, and has anyone asked for our language to be deleted from the United Nations language bar? No one. The Macedonian language is deleted every day by those who have not read anything in their mother tongue, who do not know their own language, nor the creators of the literary language, yet know how to insult the great figures who have created the modern literary language.
The next painful question that is so susceptible to manipulation is the danger of erasing Macedonian history, and to whom Alexander the Great and Goce Delchev belong, to whom King Samoil belongs and whose is the entire range of ancient and Macedonian activists and revolutionaries of recent history. Here too we see the sad plagues and consequences of the devastation left by Balkan politics and politicians, kings and tsars on the consciousness of their citizens. All Balkan countries, for the same events and persons, have large political and ideological factories producing history a thousand times greater than poverty per capita. History cannot be written by governments and state committees, even if they were made up of the most skilled professionals. History cannot be erased. No one can change the past. It can be forged and embellished. Everyone wants a glorious past.
Instant history, the DIY kind, is not unknown in many countries, even in the most democratic ones. But no one can stop scientific research. Sooner or later, they find their way to the truth according to the strict scientific disciplines of the auxiliary historical sciences. Lies and counterfeits cannot last forever. Politicians and various committees cannot stop scientists in their work. What politicians and governments can and should do is remove hatred and tensions between neighbors and nations due to wrong politics and historical falsifications, and truths, if you will, if they are used with hatred towards present generations for something that has happened in the distant and recent past.
History is full of examples of individuals belonging to many nations and cultures regardless of their nationality. In the coming years of negotiations with the EU, we and our neighbors have a chance to learn that blackmail and pressure do not make a lasting deal. Both Bulgarians and Macedonians learn to recognize the futility of attempting to get into the minds of the common historical figures who lived and fought over a hundred years ago for an autonomous and independent Macedonia, whether they declared themselves as Macedonians in some circumstances, or Bulgarians in other.