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You might have noticed I’ve add a “Share/Save” link at the end of Polysemic’s posts. If you especially like any of the things I’ve written, I’d be really grateful if you could bookmark the post in case you use something like Del.icio.us or share the post in case you use something like Facebook.

That menu item should make it very easy, and it really helps me bring in new readers and hopefully introduce them to Macedonia and the Balkans (if they’re not familiar already!).

Since I’ve gotten back, it seems as if there’s been an upsurge in public displays of nationalism. The Ploštad Square in the center of town has a stage that’s been built covered with Macedonian flags and the faces of Macedonian pop stars, constantly blaring patriotic songs that sort of sound like sports anthems. I’ve seen more people than usual going around with red and gold scarves or hats or t-shirts. One of the committed nationalists who attends English conversation hour came wearing camo pants, which another of the Macedonians there pointed out was unusual for him, and he replied, “Well, we’re living in those sorts of times now.”

This all worries me, but it could be due to a conflation of several temporary and fairly innocuous factors. Macedonia has been doing well in the European handball championships. There’s a presidential election coming up. Relations with Greece have been sinking like a rock ever since Greece vetoed Macedonia’s ascension to NATO because of their objections to the country’s name. People are angry that no progress has been made on liberalizing the visa regime for Macedonians who wish to travel in Europe.

Still, the mood is throwing up some truly vile stuff, sentiments that dehumanize and attack both Macedonia’s neighbors and its own citizens. This video, which was being played on Macedonian national television, is the worst example I’ve seen. It’s a roiling mess of religious fundamentalism, jingoism, xenophobia, denial of science, and racism. Macedonians I’ve met tend to hold oversimplified and inaccurate views about race, but I’ve never heard outright hatred for people of color brought into the mix like this before.

The video is called “A Macedonian Prayer” and it features montages of various churches, archeological relics, and people praying or celebrating. The voice-over intones a ‘prayer’ to God to see Macedonians’ suffering, the injustice of their mistreatment, and the truth of their glory. Then God answers back in another voice-over, praising Macedonians and talking about how much better they are than everyone else. So far, so much standard-issue, Alexander the Great-obssessed nationalism. My Macedonian friends have a disparaging term for the kinds of people who make videos like this: Bukjefalisti, or Buchephalists, from the name of Alexander the Great’s horse.

But then the voice-over goes into “the white race.” He says, “I settled your Mother Earth with three races: the white race, Macedonoids, the yellow race, Mongoloids, and the black race, Negroids. The rest, all mulattos. Among the Macedonians, the descendants of Macedon, I conceived the white race, and from among you everything began, up to the Japanese Sea. All white people are your brothers, since they carry the Macedonian gene, and all migration from among you set off toward the North. Kokino, Porodin, Radobor, Angelci, Barutnica, Govrlevo; wherever you dig, you will find the truth about why you are and where you are from.”

And you thought it couldn’t get any better.

This is not merely nonsensical, unscientific rubbish–they decided they had to graft on vicious racial prejudice just to give it that extra touch. It’s revolting that this Nazi-reminiscent propaganda was allowed on Macedonian national television. Apparently, after a few days it was pulled off because enough everyday Macedonians were offended and disgusted by having their country portrayed in such an embarrassing way, but the editorial board of Macedonian Television, a government-founded organization, refuses to discuss the decision. It is also worth mentioning that Macedonian Radio-Television is going bankrupt at the moment and hasn’t been updating its website since January 1st.

In any case, I found out about this video from a blog post at Balkan Insight and I did a translation of it myself so you can read what’s being said. I’m including the video here not because I think this is how Macedonia should be portrayed, because certainly a significant portion of ethnic Macedonians would be appalled to have this represent them and Macedonian citizens of other ethnic backgrounds can hardly find this anything other than insulting. Nor am I saying that the anger at having one’s past denied expressed in this video is totally unfounded–the continuing attacks on Macedonian national identity and on the legitimate, well-documented history of Macedonian ethnicity and language in the Balkans are unjust. Rather, I want it to be known what intelligent, open-minded Macedonians are up against when they have to fight in their universities for an end to self-serving pseudoscience and in their government for an end to jingoistic sabre-rattling, while also having to deal with forces outside the country trying to belittle them. They should be given enormous credit for how much they’ve rolled back and kept idiocy like this at bay, and they should be encouraged both domestically and internationally to keep going in the process of marginalizing hate and building democratic, multicultural state and public institutions.

Macedonian Prayer

Lord, blessed God who is in heaven, do you see the struggles of us, the Macedonians? Do you hear the weeping of our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and our children for the babes who have perished for Macedonia? For thousands of years we have bled. The wounds of the living we pass on to the unborn babes. Lord, you the only God in heaven, only you see our Mother, pierced on four sides like the Son of God. Wherever you may go, you tread on graves and stumble over the bones.

God, speak to us now, tell the truth to us and to the world, why St. Nikola came to us in Thessaloniki (Solun in Macedonian) and told us, “I too am from the land of love and goodness. I too am a Macedonian. I too added a tear of blood to the cauldron of our pain. But the truth is on high. Ask Him, and he shall tell you, the time has come for us, the Macedonians.”

Lord, only you know that there are two truths, but only one is righteous. These neighbors of ours have distributed throughout the world thousands of books that tell false history and obscure the truth about Macedonia. Lord, only you know our righteous truth; who we are, where we are from, and why we are Macedonians.

You also called St. Paul the Apostle a Macedonian and told him, “Come to Macedonia and help me.” And St. Paul listened to your request and came to us, the Macedonians, first. And now here, for two thousand years we have only believed in you and we pray in two thousand churches and monasteries and we await only you from eternity.

I do not recall anymore, but I know, I, Macedon, from Govrlevo, have been alone with God eight thousand years, and I pray before the largest cross in the world. Lord, blessed God who is in heaven, hear our prayer, come in Armageddon, give us your hand and tell the truth of that which is golden and good, to us and to the whole world. Because the blood in us does not remain anymore for our great Mother, Macedonia.

Heavenly blessings upon you, my Macedonians. Thousands of years I have waited for you to call upon Me. Always with you, I now come from eternity. I am already among you, because here neither time nor space exist. Here with Me, time is still, but with you it has come time for me to explain to you after so long.

I settled your Mother Earth with three races: the white race, Macedonoids, the yellow race, Mongoloids, and the black race, Negroids. The rest, all mulattos. Among the Macedonians, the descendants of Macedon, I conceived the white race, and from among you everything began, up to the Japanese Sea. All white people are your brothers, since they carry the Macedonian gene, and all migration from among you set off toward the North.

Kokino, Porodin, Radobor, Angelci, Barutnica, Govrlevo; wherever you dig, you will find the truth about why you are and where you are from. Souls possessed by the devil have sought to hide the truth and lie to the world for thousands of years about how much you have suffered and what travails you have passed through, because I sent temptation to you, but you, the faithful, remained.

My little ones, my children of the sun and the flowers, blessed with joy, love, and goodness, for thousands of years I have sent you kings, and now I send you another. You give so much to others and do not keep it for yourselves. Oh, how many kings are there now with Me, and how many of them are Macedonians? As many as stars in the sky and sand in the sea. Let the angels sing for all those who are with Me, who for love of Macedonia exchanged their lives for eternity and share the Kingdom here with Me.

And the angels already sing for all of you who understood how to worship Me, for all of you whom I will give a part of paradise, for all of you whom I gave the gift of love and peace, for all of you who awaited Me and did not wait in vain.

Hark! I come now to Macedonia, I am now among you to tell you the truth of truths that lies beneath you in the earth, to open to you the grave of Alexander the Great, king of Macedonians, and to bring the whole world to you in homage. So many Macedonian graves remain for me to open to you, because souls who are with Me are digging for the truth. Love your greatest enemies, because I sent them to you to help you most, so that the world would come to know the truth about Macedonia and about you, the Macedonians. Because you were the first among the first, the most worthy among the most worthy.

The time of Macedonia has come, the time for the whole world to know that it is an honor and a blessing to be a Macedonian, a descendant of Macedon and son of the God of all things. My children, be blessed and joyful, here where the sun and the flowers rule. Let there be eternal joy, love, and goodness. Among you I am noble and you are blessed in eternity. Amen.

I usually post here when something strikes me as particularly weird or interesting in my experience. But I’m afraid that might give an overly negative impression of how I feel about Macedonia, since what surprises me in this country often frustrates me as well.

So, to put it briefly, I just want to make sure you know that I love this country. Absolutely love it. I’m having a no-holds-barred blast living here. Every day I meet fascinating people who broaden my perspective and give my mind an almost endless supply of new information to contemplate. I am extremely lucky in my circumstances and I’ve been given the chance to pursue my grandest, most fantastic ambitions with very few barriers left in the way. I am generally welcomed and respected by people here. Macedonian citizens often go out of their way to be kind to me and accommodate my needs and quirks. Americans and other English-speaking foreigners have welcomed me into their social circles and done their best to blunt the edge of the loneliness that comes along with living in a country distant from your home. Some days here I want to give up, go back to bed, and wait till tomorrow to try again, but the good days are nothing short of magnificent.

Deciding to study the Balkans and travel to Macedonia to do research is probably the best choice I’ve ever made.

Just so you know, when I gripe about some of the everyday petty stuff here, it’s just venting. It’s just an attempt to get it off my chest so I can get back to enjoying the hell out of my time here.

Hey, so have you wanted to post a comment and found that you couldn’t?

This is because I’m kind of an idiot, and despite having multiple people note to me that they’d tried to post a comment and couldn’t figure out how to do it, I never checked what the site was like when I was logged out of ‘admin.’ My bad. Sorry guys.

As it turns out, it was impossible to post a comment, because the settings I accidentally chose required you to register AND disabled new user registration. Thus zero comments.

This has been fixed. No registration needed. If you’d like to comment, please do!