Gruevski and ancient Macedonism

[Tsontos]

Gruevski has clearly decided to adopt and promote 'ancient Macedonism' ie. the idea of cultural inheritance, continuity with ancient Macedonia of FYROM. He has done this much more than previous FYROM governments like Gligorov's which saw fit to publically declare FYROM has no connection with ancient macedonia, presumably so he could appease Greeks and make accepting them as "Macedonia" easier. He seems to have been much more adept at diplomacy than Gruevski.

Manifestations of his ancient macedonism since coming to power:

-Alexander the Great Airport
-Hunza visit
-Alexander the Great statue (in Prilep?)
-Phillip statue - cant remember where that is and was it built under Gruevski's tenure? Wasilj?
-resurrection of vergina star at government rallies and around the country in general under Gruevski tenure
-government websites promoting ancient macedonism (see this thread - not sure if this was done equally as much or less before Gruevski though.


What other examples can you think of in regards to Gruevski's ancient Macedonism? Maybe Wasilj can help us out here. I want to put together an article about this subject so any pictures and evidence is appreciated.

[Truth Bearer]

What about Aristotelis statue in front of their only University??

[Tsontos]

It's in front of their parliament isnt it? Was that built under Gruevski too?

[Truth Bearer]

Yes yr right it is in front of their parliament along with mother Teresa.....

[Vasco]

It wasn't a statue of Aristotle of the expected iconomorphological type, but statue of a prominent Roman citizen.Anyway, one of the latest movies is a proposal to build an imposing statue of Alexander surrounded by 8 fountains, each of them supported by 8 lions at Skoplje's main square.

All the main moves are mentioned by Tsontos, but apart from those which are official there is lot of irredentist stuff in the entire reunion of "Deca Begalci", primarily in the rethorics as well as in the prevalent, private media sector where ancient Macedonism gets space in articles about the new-otherwise heavily sponsored-archaeological discoveries.Much of that is not available in English. Also the towns are full of posters, for example like the recent one advocating boycott of Greek resorts during the summer etc.

[Truth Bearer]

Good we don't wont trailer trash tourists in Greece anyway.....

[Vasco]

Article by Nebojša Jakonov, the "Globus" political weekly, June 2008


Сите, имено, имаме став како нашиот државен врв и дипломатијата треба да ги водат преговорите во спорот околу името што го имаме со соседна Грција. Сите „паметуваме“ за стратешките гео-политички насоки во кои треба да ни се движи државата (едни велејќи дека сета среќа и бериќет ни е во евро-атланските алијанси, други горливо тврдејќи дека не се плука во стариот бунар и дека чарето треба да си го бараме со оние кои ни се поблиски). Сите сме експерти и знаеме како треба да се разреши енигмата околу идниот статус на Косово. Да не говориме за тоа дека небаре веќе нема човек во Македонија кој не знае ама баш се' за замрсената историја на ова мало балканско парче земја (од она дека сме народ со библиско потекло, па до тоа дека за неколку години, кај и да е, ќе се ревидира Букурештанскиот договор и ние, оп, еве не' без виза на Хагиа Триада на летен одмор). Со еден збор, сите знаеме се', ама некако слабо „покриен“ ни останува просторот на секојдневниот, како би рекол Мол, на баналниот живот, каде, нели, човек треба да се занимава и со такви прашања како да си го извади лебот и како да си ги плати сметките.

Namely, we all have an attitude how our officials and the diplomacy should lead the negotiations in the conflict about the name we have with the neighboring Greece. We are all "smarting" about the strategical geo-political paths via which our state should move (some of us stating that the entire happiness and prosperity is found in the Euro-Atlantic alliances while others passionately claiming that one should not spit up the stream and that we should find our fortune with those that are closer to us)
We are all experts and we know how the enigma about the future status of Kosovo should be solved.Let us not speak that, indeed, there is no man in Macedonia who doesn't know everything about this tiny stretch of Balkan soil (from the fact that we are people with Biblical origin all the way to the revision of Bucharest Treaty in four years and-hop!-we'll go to Hagia Triada on vacation without visa). With one word, we all know everything but somewhat weakly we "cover" the space of everyday, just like Mole would say, banal life, where a man should put to himself such question like how to pull his bread and pay his bills.

[Vasco]

The left poster: "Ja sakam Makedonija": "I love Macedonia".
The right poster: "Ne letuvaj* tamu kade što go negiraat tvojot nacionalen identitet": "Do not spend your summer holiday somewhere where they negate your national identity".

"Letuvaj" from "Letuvanje" lit: "summering".

[Makedonia25]

Originally Posted by Wasilj

The left poster: "Ja sakam Makedonija": "I love Macedonia".
The right poster: "Ne letuvaj* tamu kade što go negiraat tvojot nacionalen identitet": "Do not spend your summer holiday somewhere where they negate your national identity".

"Letuvaj" from "Letuvanje" lit: "summering".

Yeah, I guess they have to advertise NOT to spend time in Greece which got 16 million tourists last year.. Maybe they can continue to going to their local beaches.. Oops, I forgot.. What beaches???

Oh yeah, there's always Lake Ohrid.. And although its freshwater, I've heard they go swimming there lol!

[Bardas]

[quote=Wasilj;88602Also the towns are full of posters, for example like the recent one advocating boycott of Greek resorts during the summer etc.[/QUOTE]

Fyromians boycotting Greece will have zero effect on tourism. But I think your end is missing out lot more from a potential lucrative Greek tourist traffic north of Evzone and Nike. Already something like 100,000 Greeks (could be more not sure of the numbers) visit Turkey each year and the number to Albania is growing. I read an article last year that you had built a ski resort on the border that was going to target Greek tourists. So its obvious which side is going to lose more.