Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI)

[Bill77]

I hope you guys don't mind me posting this here. It is in line with the name negotiations that MHRMI and AMHRC demand it ends.

Again its a MINA report and again its good to see they are not one sided with a political party, instead they report (as always) for Macedonian best interest imho.

Then Why Negotiate?
Thursday, 08 September 2011

In front of at least 60,000 people gathered in downtown Skopje, Macedonia's PM as well as the president, parliament speaker and others congratulated the 20th independence anniversary to all Macedonians at home and abroad.

The prime minister called for unity, according to him there is nothing better than a strong unified nation inside. He also called on everyone to defend the natural right to a name and identity.

"They ask me what is our policy on the name issue. This is our policy and we are not moving from it an inch, but we also ask for the support of our citizens.

There will be no change to the Macedonian constitution with the goal being change of the name. The name was Macedonia and will remain Macedonia. We won't accept ideas or suggestions that will interfere with our identity, language, the uniquness of the Macedonian nation and the language.
We won't allow any solution to be accepted by politicians or individuals or Parliament without putting it through a referendum where the majority of the citizens would agree with such solution.
This are our red lines, lets all make them OUR red lines. United we are stronger!" said Gruevski in a speech standing opposite Alexander the Great monument.

Three Macedonian MPs, the ones from Europe, Canada and Australia/Asia will submit a request to Parliament to nullify the Interim Agreement with Greece and put an end to the negotiations they see as outrageous and demeaning. Parliament will debate this in their upcoming sessions.

Macedonian Government officials for the first time ever, read aloud the names of Macedonian patriots assassinated and imprisoned by the Yugoslav communists and the secret police.
http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/19085/1/

Do any of you from MHRMI or AMHRC keep in contact and have some type of input with these Three Macedonian MPs, the ones from Europe, Canada and Australia?

I take my hat off to them for this push. Lets hope they make a change

[Vangelovski]

Ivanov with his usual contradictory and meaningless BS.

I hope the information about the three diaspora MPs is correct and not just more rumours.

[AMHRC]

I hope you guys don't mind me posting this here. It is in line with the name negotiations that MHRMI and AMHRC demand it ends.

Again its a MINA report and again its good to see they are not one sided with a political party, instead they report (as always) for Macedonian best interest imho.






Do any of you from MHRMI or AMHRC keep in contact and have some type of input with these Three Macedonian MPs, the ones from Europe, Canada and Australia?

I take my hat off to them for this push. Lets hope they make a change

Bill,

Our contact with these people has up to this point, been quite minimal. However, we did speak indirectly to them via the medium of the last issue of the AMHRC Review, which was published in June of this year. In the editorial, we broached this very issue with them - encouraging them to take the voice of the diaspora, on the matter of the "name negotiations" into the Macedonian parliament.

Whether this and or our campaign in general (to which over 170 Macedonian organisations have signed on) influenced their action in any way, is difficult to say. Hopefully we will hear more about it all from the diaspora representatives themselves, in the not too distant future.

AMHRC.

[makedonche]

AMHRC
In your usual humble manner you have gone about your efforts tirelessly and I commend you for all your work and take this opportunity to credit you with more influence than you are prepared to acknowledge!
It is my unwavering humble opinion that your great work has had and is having a far greater impact than has been credited to your organisation!

[Bill77]

Bill,

Our contact with these people has up to this point, been quite minimal. However, we did speak indirectly to them via the medium of the last issue of the AMHRC Review, which was published in June of this year. In the editorial, we broached this very issue with them - encouraging them to take the voice of the diaspora, on the matter of the "name negotiations" into the Macedonian parliament.

Whether this and or our campaign in general (to which over 170 Macedonian organisations have signed on) influenced their action in any way, is difficult to say. Hopefully we will hear more about it all from the diaspora representatives themselves, in the not too distant future.

AMHRC.

I think you guys play a major part. With the "End Negotiation" campaign, blind Freddy (or Sasho ) would have seen this campaign and became influenced. Like Makedonce said, you guys are to humble.

[George S.]

I for one would not trust organizations like the umd to deliver anything from the diaspora.Why let them make a kasha out of it all.When you have proper concerned organizations like AMHRC doing their best.As was said will the politicians listen?Will they stop??that's the 64$ question.

[Risto the Great]

that's the 64$ question.

With the UMD, it always appears to be a $64 question. They keep asking for money yet often give the impression of hijacking AMHRC initiatives.

[Pelister]

The effects of this information campaign can only be positive. It is giving many Macedonians hope, many who have not been told the whole truth and who have been feeling helpless, while their 'leaders' tinker with our identity behind closed doors. Gruevski and Ivanov will continue to say they will not accept ideas for a name change, but this is clearly a lie. If I were a Macedonian citizen I would file a law suite against Gruevski for High Treason. I think there is a good case for it. He has been lying to the Macedonian people about his intentions. Clearly, he is meddling with our identity, and clearly he intends to change the name, proven already by his suggestion "Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)" which the New Greeks rejected.

I think that it would be good to continue this campaign. Have the backers and supporters of the campaign, which include many associations, clubs, societies ...etc, put there personal name on an advertisement. For example, the Pelister Football Club, might like to have their name on a billboard campaign to end the negotiations. Its a good way of achieving a high level of saturation. I would like to see another interview with Professor Janev, who denounces the whole thing. Surely he has supporters over there who can be used in a positive way to end this thing.

[Risto the Great]

MHRMI and AMHRC Reiterate Demand That Macedonia End Name Negotiations

Toronto, Canada and Melbourne, Australia (September 8, 2011) - On the occasion of the Republic of Macedonia's 20th anniversary of its independence, Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) and the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) reiterate our demand that Macedonia immediately cease negotiations over its name.

It is a disgrace that Macedonia, by participating in the negotiations, is violating its own most basic human right, that of self-identification. It is reprehensible that the Western world, despite having recognized Macedonia, is insisting that Macedonia change its name.

MHRMI and AMHRC initiated the Our Name is Macedonia campaign in July 2010, an ad campaign which demands an end to the negotiations, and which has gained overwhelming support from Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia and throughout the world.

As stated in the Our Name is Macedonia campaign, "We are winning. Over 130 countries have recognized Macedonia, including four of the five permanent UN Security Council members. We have the power to end this. Stop negotiating our own name".

MHRMI and AMHRC demand that Macedonia vehemently defend our name and immediately end the name negotiations. Furthermore, we demand:

• an end to the "temporary reference" of "FYROM" or "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"
• that Macedonia revert to the original flag
• that Macedonia withdraws from the 1995 Interim Accord

Our organizations also:

• condemn every Macedonian government for capitulating to Greek racism and to the United States and Western Europe and continuing the name negotiations
• condemn the US government and Western European governments for threatening to withdraw "support" for Macedonia and demanding that it changes its name

Finally, MHRMI and AMHRC call on every Macedonian organization and individual to sign on to the Our Name is Macedonia campaign.

https://www.mhrmi.org/our_name_is_macedonia

Silence is not an option. Our Name is Macedonia.

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Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. For more information: www.mhrmi.org, twitter.com/mhrmi, facebook, [email protected], 1-416-850-7125.

Established in 1984 the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) is a non governmental organisation that advocates before governments, international institutions and broader communities about combating discrimination and promoting basic human rights. Our aspiration is to ensure that Macedonian communities and other excluded groups throughout the world are recognised, respected and afforded equitable treatment. For more information please visit www.macedonianhr.org.au, or contact AMHRC by email [email protected] or via +61 3 93298960.

What a lovely press release.
One wonders whether this is too offensive for the delicate souls that pitter patter about in their daily lives thinking happy thoughts about Macedonia.

[Vangelovski]

What a lovely press release.
One wonders whether this is too offensive for the delicate souls that pitter patter about in their daily lives thinking happy thoughts about Macedonia.

Especially that bit about making 'vehement demands'!

[George S.]

any news on how the campaign is going whether the govt will take note.

[AMHRC]

any news on how the campaign is going whether the govt will take note.

George, no news on the government. Though, note well, that this campaign has been more about encouraging the citizenry of Macedonia, to tell the government that it rejects the whole notion of the government "negotiating" Macedonia's name.

[MHRMI]

MHRMI Response to National Post Letter "Canadian Greekson’t rewrite Balkan history"

MHRMI Response to National Post Letter "Canadian Greeks: Don’t rewrite Balkan history"

Why the National Post chose to be "objective" and let the Greek community have equal time in responding to the recent op-ed about Macedonia is beyond me. One should not give the oppressor the opportunity to justify its brutal actions against the oppressed.

The vast majority of readers, understandably, have no interest in hearing the long, drawn out version of Greece's romanticized history. Greece is the only country in the Western world to claim that it has no ethnic minorities and proudly proclaims its "ethnic purity". Dangerous statements coming from the self-proclaimed "birthplace of democracy".

In their Letters to the Editor, the Consul General of Greece and various Greek organizations referred to the Republic of Macedonia as "FYROM". ("In sharp contrast to Greece's constructive efforts, FYROM Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski..." and "This is what Canadians should consider when they hear the complaints of the FYROM partisans..."). No Macedonian introduces him or herself as being from "FYROM". These statements show readers what the official Greek position is: deny the very existence of a country and an ethnic group. They've taken their directive from the top. Former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis admitted in 1995 that Greece initiated the nonsensical "name dispute" to continue to deny the existence of its large, indigenous Macedonian minority. Before partisans from the FOCOG go into an uproar, I clearly meant to say "indigenous". It is a fact that Macedonia was divided in 1913 and Greece annexed 51% of its territory. They like to say "liberated" but one does not slaughter and expel people after a "liberation".

By the way, FOCOG stands for "Former Ottoman Colony of Greece" but, my mistake, "Greece" did not exist during the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans or at any time in history. It was created by the West in the 1830s. Also, after Greece tried to eradicate Macedonia's existence, it only started to claim that it owned the name Macedonia in 1988. The region of Macedonia that it annexed was officially renamed as such in 1988. Before that, they referred to it as "Northern Greece".

Of course, Greece continues to deny the existence of Macedonian people - a very difficult task when one, or several million, are standing in front of you.

The fact remains, Macedonia has existed since antiquity and has always been called Macedonia. Case closed. Or should be.

Despite Greece's intense propaganda campaign, more than 130 countries (including Canada, the United States, Russia, China, and over two thirds of all UN members, including four of five permanent UN Security Council members) have recognized the Republic of Macedonia. Macedonia must stop negotiating its own name and the rest of the world must stop calling for a "solution" to the "name dispute". These countries should immediately denounce the name negotiations and stop allowing Greece to hold the rest of the world hostage because of its xenophobic policies.

Furthermore, Greece must be penalized for persecuting its ethnic minorities and for blatantly lying about its economic situation and begging, and getting, huge bailout money from the European Union. But since the EU is intent on handing out this money, how about doing so after Greece starts behaving like a democracy?

Bill Nicholov, President
Macedonian Human Rights Movement International

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Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. For more information: www.mhrmi.org, twitter.com/mhrmi, facebook.com/mhrmi, [email protected], 1-416-850-7125.

[Zarni]

That was a hard hitting repsonse I liked it no need to be polite

Have Greeks learnt anything at least change your strategy of attack coz it is old a used

[Daniel the Great]

Nice response, well said.