If you lose your identity, you are a nobody

...If many Macedonians sound insecure about their identity, they have reason to be. Greece accuses Macedonia of trying to appropriate its history. In fact, Greece insists that Macedonia change its name. 

But Macedonian cultural anthropologist Aleksandar Ristevski said his compatriots have already done more than enough to appease the Greeks.

“We changed our flag, we are calling ourselves internationally the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, mentioning a country which doesn’t exist for 20 years using some idiotic acronym. We changed the constitution because of them. We changed millions of things. What did we get? Blockage, degradation and sanctions,” Ristevski said...

(full article)

http://www.theworld.org/2011/06/macedonia-gets-a-statue-of-alexander-the-great/

...“If you lose your identity, you are a nobody,” said Alexandar Ristevski, 32, an ethnographer.

Macedonia was promised an invitation to join NATO in 2008, but this was vetoed by Greece because the name issue was unresolved. In 2005, Macedonia also became a candidate for the European Union, but still has no date to start accession talks because of Greek resistance...

(article in New York Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/world/europe/24iht-macedonia24.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=global-home

Macedonians in USA in 1899

Macedonian a "race" according to US Bureau of Immigration 1899!

Macedonian is mentioned as a separate race in Turkey in Europe, Bulgaria and Greece, used by the United States Bureau of Immigration since 1899.

“The Economic Investigations of the United States Immigration Commission” by W. Jett Lauck, published in “The Journal of Political Economy”, Vol. 18, No. 7, (Jul., 1910), pp. 525-549. This is from page 527.

Check out the facebook group: Macedonian Documents

CNN on Macedonia's name issue

The World media finally decided to spend some time, and analyze the "Macedonian issue", the name dispute and the meaningless requests by the Greek government.

The reporter Nic Robertson plastically presents the current situation, interviews the Prime minister Nikola Gruevski, and shows a new perspective on the whole problem.

I think that finally is the time for the World to know that Macedonia is mobbed by Greece, and that all international law are broken in this despute with no ending.

A Name is a Name

Today's press conference in Skopje was held, to inform the media about the on going post production of the 'on the road' documentary "A Name is a Name" and the launching of the trailer on the official web page.

'A Name is a Name' is a film conceived and developed by Icelander Sigurjon Einarsson. Though he now lives in Norway working with rock and roll artists, Sigurjon is a filmmaker by profession.


A cross between a documentary and a feature film, A Name is a Name is instead, a classic ‘road film', made largely on the proverbial and literal road over a period of seven months in the Republic of Macedonia.


At its heart, the film is about a group of people who call themselves Macedonians and what it means to them to be known as such.


The story line is that of a Scandinavian man who comes to Macedonia, rents a motorcycle, and travels around the country talking to Macedonians from all classes and backgrounds. The traveler, as he is known, never speaks on camera and in fact, we never learn his name or what country he hails from (in reality, the traveler is portrayed by director Sigurjon Einarsson). Instead, his thoughts are conveyed through Sir Andrew Motion with subtitles in English for the interviews.

Interspersed throughout the conversations will be Macedonia itself – the stunning landscapes and scenery that make up this gentle country and ancient land. Places and points of interest – monasteries and mosques, historical and archeological sites, towns, little hamlets and cities, lakes and mountains – that make Macedonia what it has been and what it is today. All these will be artfully woven into the narrative.

Musical tracks donated by Macedonian and internationally known artists will be artfully woven throughout the entire production.


Crew


- Sigurjon Einarsson (director)
- Sir Andrew Motion (narration)
- Jason Miko (producer)
- Production House 3X (production)
- Leading cover song 'A Name is a Name' performed by Morten Harket (frontman of the norvegian band A-HA) from his 2008 album 'Letter from Egypt'
- Rest of the soundtrack: Graham Nash - The Hollies (UK), Sigur Rós (Iceland), múm (Iceland), Monte Negro (USA), Kiril Dzajkovski (Macedonia) and Tose Proeski (Macedonia).

(parts from the text were take over from 'A Name is aName' web page)