Greece is not the Cradle of Democracy
Risto Stefov
March 03, 2010
Hardly any time passes before I receive an e-mail from a Greek claiming to have carnal knowledge of the ancient people of the Balkan Peninsula and insisting that they were Greek. "Go to a museum and look at the writing on ancient coins! You see it is all Greek! If the ancient Macedonians did not speak Greek then what language did they speak? Slavic? Hahaha! The ancient Macedonians spoke Greek and worshiped the Greek gods so what else could they have been but Greek? Right?"
Well I don´t want to bore you any further with the usual pre-programmed Greek response that never deviates from the Greek norm and always ends with everything being "Greek".
My question, however, is what does this have to do with you Modern Greeks?
Every time I say something, whether it belongs to ancient times or not, the Greek response is always the same "the ancient Macedonians were Greek" because they spoke Greek and worshiped the Greek gods"! Greeks, why don´t you just one time respond to a direct question? What do the "ancient Greeks" have to do with you?
Contrary to existing historical evidence that proves otherwise you continue to claim that the ancient Macedonians were Greek! Why? Who cares? Allow me to say it again! So what! What do the ancient Macedonians being Greek or not have to do with you the Modern Greeks who today pretend to be who you are not and in practice have proven to be barbarians of the worst kind.
Greece has shamelessly promoted itself as "the cradle of democracy" while practicing the worst kind of barbarism and cultural genocide the world has ever seen!
What kind of democracy refuses to recognize its minorities and strips them of all their human rights? Greece does! There are people living in Greece today who are Macedonians, Albanians, Vlachs, Turks, Roma and others who Greece adamantly claims don´t exist.
What kind of democracy embraces fantasy and rejects reality? Greece does! We all know that the so-called "Greek ethnic identity" is not real but a fabrication of the 19th century Philhellenes. Yet today we have 11 million "pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks" living in Greece. These claims are so fantastic that they boggle the mind! But every time I feel that I have made some headway, getting away from this nonsense, another Greek writes me to tell me how "Greek" he or she is and "how Greek the ancient Macedonians were" and, on top of that, throws another insult at me by calling me a "Slav", a "Fyromian", a "Bulgarian", or a number of other labels that are unfit for print. By the way I am not complaining, please keep the insults coming because they directly reflect on you and continue to remind me why I must write. But once in a while I have to wonder what kind of "democratically friendly people" coming from the "cradle of democracy" would do that to a fellow person for simply stating that he is a Macedonian? So let us examine what "this cradle of democracy" is all about.
The world has been bamboozled into believing that "Greece" is somehow the cradle of democracy. But which Greece, the so-called "Ancient Greece" or the "Modern Greece" because the two, despite Modern Greek claims, are not the same and are mutually exclusive. So, is "ancient Greece" the so-called "cradle of democracy"? Let us examine the facts, but first let us define the word democracy;
Democracy: "government by all the people, direct or representative: State having this; form of society ignoring hereditary class distinction and tolerating minority views." (Page 193, The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1991)
If I recall correctly "ancient Athens" the modern 19th century Albanian village was the most democratic of all City States during ancient times. Then ancient Athens must be the "cradle of democracy". But wasn´t ancient Athens also the city where over 60% of the population was slaves owned by a bunch of white guys? Wasn´t ancient Athens the city where women had absolutely no rights? Wasn´t it the city where women were considered to be "less than human"? Is this your "cradle of democracy" on which the foundation of our modern democracy is built and on which the entire modern western civilization rests? Well not according to the definition of what democracy should be as quoted above directly from the Oxford dictionary! The political system in Athens employed during ancient times is more like a model for Fascism and Nazism than it is a model for our modern democracy; a democracy which respects all people equally including women and minorities.
Could it be then that Modern Greece is the so-called "cradle of democracy"? If it is then let me be the first to say "God help us all"! But all joking aside Modern Greece cannot be "the cradle of democracy" because it is the least tolerant nation in the world when it comes to diversity, human rights and respecting the rights of minorities. Although Greece asserts its principled compliance with many international human rights conventions and covenants, to which it is signatory, the reality is unfortunately entirely different. Ever since 1912 and 1913 when Macedonia was illegally invaded, occupied and partitioned by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, the Macedonian people who found themselves under Greek control had to deal with a concerted program of assimilation and eradication. The Macedonians unfortunately were not the only ones. Greek oppression extended equally to all other minorities living there including the Albanians, Vlachs, Turks, Roma and others. The Macedonians and Turks however were abused by far the most, an abuse that continues to this day. No country that does this to its own people can call itself democratic let alone purport to be "the cradle of democracy".
What amazes me and my Macedonian readers the most is the audacity of some arrogant Greeks who come out full force and with great confidence accusing Macedonians of "cultural theft", "identity theft", "misappropriation of history, acts of which they themselves are guilty. What amazes me even more is the way these Greeks react to my articles, my refutations to their accusations, especially when I point to where the blame should lie. It is easy for them to look us in the face and say we don´t exist but difficult to accept criticism especially about their own fake identity.
I will name no names but one such person, a high ranking politician, who during a public speech, while visiting the Republic of Macedonia, had the audacity to say to the Macedonian people that "Macedonians don´t exist". This person is lucky because the Macedonian people are peaceful. Had this happened anywhere else in the Balkans they would have been fortunate to come out unscathed!
Now what does one do when this happens to them, I mean a Greek telling a Macedonian they don´t exist? I personally write about it and rightfully point to where the fault lies with a counter argument pointing directly back at them. If a Greek says Macedonians don´t exist, I say Greeks don´t exist and prove it with evidence. There is ample evidence to prove it and Greeks know it but don´t like it a bit. Even if there was absolutely no evidence to prove the Greeks are fakes, the Greeks themselves by their absurd claims provide all the evidence one needs. For example, Greeks claim that "everyone in Greece is a pure Greek, descendent from the ancient Greeks". At the same time Greeks maintain that while some Albanians, Vlachs, Turks and others may exist in the Republic of Macedonia, the majority of the people living there are "Slavs" who have descended from somewhere behind the Carpathian Mountains?
Given that the entire Balkan Region was borderless for over two millenniums and open to every invader, settler and conqueror who ever ventured into that region, how can Greeks make the claim that everyone south of a modern border is a pure Greek and everyone, with some exceptions, north of the same border is a "Slav"? How can such claims be made when Greeks know very well, or should know, that the 1913 borders of Macedonia´s division were arbitrarily set? With a border arbitrarily set as recently as 1913 then how can you have pure Greeks on the south side and pure "Slavs" on the north side?
Here again I would like to remind the reader of the conditions under which the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest was signed. This Treaty was signed after the Second Balkan War ended and is the instrument by which Macedonia was partitioned.
Since Macedonia never belonged to any of its neighbours it meant that its neighbours would have to fight each other if they wanted to gain more Macedonian territory. There were no national dividing lines to speak of other than the Patriarchist or Exarchist affiliated villages which existed all over Macedonia. So after the Ottomans were driven out the first Balkan war ended and arbitrary borders were set up more or less where the armies stopped their advance.
Serbia was looking to gain access to the Adriatic Sea but Austria-Hungary and Italy saw to it that it didn´t by proposing the creation of Albania.
This loss of potential territory, especially access to a seaport, on the Serbian side led to a renewed conflict termed the Second Balkan War involving Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.
As a result of this conflict, the original borders proposed after the First Balkan War were shifted and Macedonia was once again arbitrarily partitioned.
According to military historian Dr. Vanche Stojchev, author of the book "Military History of Macedonia" while the Treaty of Bucharest was being drafted in 1913, the occupying armies were still fighting in Macedonia. Every time one side took a hill or a ridge from the others, its military commander telegraphed his counterpart in Bucharest who in turn asked the commission to modify the maps to include the new gains.
"I have uncovered various inconsistencies and anomalies in this treaty which would be of interest and importance to the Macedonian people. For example not many people know that the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest was not ratified by Austro-Hungary. Austro-Hungary was the first Great Power in the Balkans. After the signing of the treaty both Russia and Austro-Hungary called for further revisions which were basically ignored. Russia only accepted the treaty because it was pressured by the other Great Powers which in reality means the treaty may not be valid." Says Professor Dr. Vanche Stojchev
"The reason why Macedonian institutions are not yet affirming the idea that Macedonian roots extend from the ancient times to today is because everything that was taught in Macedonia up to now had to be ´politically correct´. We were taught a politicized history which catered less to reality and more to political aspects on how history should be viewed." Says Professor Dr. Vanche Stojchev
So the bottom line is that Greece arbitrarily acquired Macedonian territories in 1913. At that time all kinds of people lived all over Macedonia. The same people who lived in the Greek part of Macedonia also lived in the Serbian and Bulgarian part of Macedonia. Regardless of their ethnicity be they Macedonians, Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians, or Martians for that matter, they were the same people living on all sides of the 1913 artificially imposed borders.
Then the question that begs to be asked is, how can all these people living on the Greek side be "pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks", and all those people on the Serbian side be newcomer "Slavs" who came from somewhere north of the Carpathian Mountains? If they were the same people then shouldn´t they be the same people today? Yes they are!
And this ladies and gentlemen is where this infamous "Greek claim" falls apart and reveals its flaws. So you don´t have to be a historian, anthropologist, or even a genius to separate facts from Greek myths. The Greek claim that "only pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks live in Greece" is nothing but a common myth propagated so that the fake Modern Greeks can usurp the Greek heritage. And if that is not enough, these same pirates and identity thieves now want to also usurp the Macedonian heritage at the expense of the rightful owners, the Macedonian people!
In reality Greece is another multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Balkan country with the same types of ethnicities that exist all over the Balkans. The ethnicities that exist in the Republic of Macedonia are the same ethnicities that exist in Greece. Unlike the Republic of Macedonia however, which has embraced all its ethnicities living on its soil, Greece has suppressed its true ethnicities and forced them all to accept the myth that they are pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks. Those who did not wish to comply were exiled, imprisoned, tortured, tormented and even killed. Those who still do not wish to comply and claim to be something other than Greek, Greece claims don´t exist. And those are the facts!
As far as Greece being a "democratic country" one has to look at the definition of democracy and see that a democracy Greece is not! A country that is persecuting its minorities by denying them their human rights does not qualify to be called democratic no matter how hard it tries to "market" itself as "democratic".
The question is "why hasn´t Greece recognized its minorities?" the answer to which still remains a mystery.
Other articles by Risto Stefov:
http://www.maknews.com/html/articles.html#stefov
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3446
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Well I don´t want to bore you any further with the usual pre-programmed Greek response that never deviates from the Greek norm and always ends with everything being "Greek".
My question, however, is what does this have to do with you Modern Greeks?
Every time I say something, whether it belongs to ancient times or not, the Greek response is always the same "the ancient Macedonians were Greek" because they spoke Greek and worshiped the Greek gods"! Greeks, why don´t you just one time respond to a direct question? What do the "ancient Greeks" have to do with you?
Contrary to existing historical evidence that proves otherwise you continue to claim that the ancient Macedonians were Greek! Why? Who cares? Allow me to say it again! So what! What do the ancient Macedonians being Greek or not have to do with you the Modern Greeks who today pretend to be who you are not and in practice have proven to be barbarians of the worst kind.
Greece has shamelessly promoted itself as "the cradle of democracy" while practicing the worst kind of barbarism and cultural genocide the world has ever seen!
What kind of democracy refuses to recognize its minorities and strips them of all their human rights? Greece does! There are people living in Greece today who are Macedonians, Albanians, Vlachs, Turks, Roma and others who Greece adamantly claims don´t exist.
What kind of democracy embraces fantasy and rejects reality? Greece does! We all know that the so-called "Greek ethnic identity" is not real but a fabrication of the 19th century Philhellenes. Yet today we have 11 million "pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks" living in Greece. These claims are so fantastic that they boggle the mind! But every time I feel that I have made some headway, getting away from this nonsense, another Greek writes me to tell me how "Greek" he or she is and "how Greek the ancient Macedonians were" and, on top of that, throws another insult at me by calling me a "Slav", a "Fyromian", a "Bulgarian", or a number of other labels that are unfit for print. By the way I am not complaining, please keep the insults coming because they directly reflect on you and continue to remind me why I must write. But once in a while I have to wonder what kind of "democratically friendly people" coming from the "cradle of democracy" would do that to a fellow person for simply stating that he is a Macedonian? So let us examine what "this cradle of democracy" is all about.
The world has been bamboozled into believing that "Greece" is somehow the cradle of democracy. But which Greece, the so-called "Ancient Greece" or the "Modern Greece" because the two, despite Modern Greek claims, are not the same and are mutually exclusive. So, is "ancient Greece" the so-called "cradle of democracy"? Let us examine the facts, but first let us define the word democracy;
Democracy: "government by all the people, direct or representative: State having this; form of society ignoring hereditary class distinction and tolerating minority views." (Page 193, The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1991)
If I recall correctly "ancient Athens" the modern 19th century Albanian village was the most democratic of all City States during ancient times. Then ancient Athens must be the "cradle of democracy". But wasn´t ancient Athens also the city where over 60% of the population was slaves owned by a bunch of white guys? Wasn´t ancient Athens the city where women had absolutely no rights? Wasn´t it the city where women were considered to be "less than human"? Is this your "cradle of democracy" on which the foundation of our modern democracy is built and on which the entire modern western civilization rests? Well not according to the definition of what democracy should be as quoted above directly from the Oxford dictionary! The political system in Athens employed during ancient times is more like a model for Fascism and Nazism than it is a model for our modern democracy; a democracy which respects all people equally including women and minorities.
Could it be then that Modern Greece is the so-called "cradle of democracy"? If it is then let me be the first to say "God help us all"! But all joking aside Modern Greece cannot be "the cradle of democracy" because it is the least tolerant nation in the world when it comes to diversity, human rights and respecting the rights of minorities. Although Greece asserts its principled compliance with many international human rights conventions and covenants, to which it is signatory, the reality is unfortunately entirely different. Ever since 1912 and 1913 when Macedonia was illegally invaded, occupied and partitioned by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, the Macedonian people who found themselves under Greek control had to deal with a concerted program of assimilation and eradication. The Macedonians unfortunately were not the only ones. Greek oppression extended equally to all other minorities living there including the Albanians, Vlachs, Turks, Roma and others. The Macedonians and Turks however were abused by far the most, an abuse that continues to this day. No country that does this to its own people can call itself democratic let alone purport to be "the cradle of democracy".
What amazes me and my Macedonian readers the most is the audacity of some arrogant Greeks who come out full force and with great confidence accusing Macedonians of "cultural theft", "identity theft", "misappropriation of history, acts of which they themselves are guilty. What amazes me even more is the way these Greeks react to my articles, my refutations to their accusations, especially when I point to where the blame should lie. It is easy for them to look us in the face and say we don´t exist but difficult to accept criticism especially about their own fake identity.
I will name no names but one such person, a high ranking politician, who during a public speech, while visiting the Republic of Macedonia, had the audacity to say to the Macedonian people that "Macedonians don´t exist". This person is lucky because the Macedonian people are peaceful. Had this happened anywhere else in the Balkans they would have been fortunate to come out unscathed!
Now what does one do when this happens to them, I mean a Greek telling a Macedonian they don´t exist? I personally write about it and rightfully point to where the fault lies with a counter argument pointing directly back at them. If a Greek says Macedonians don´t exist, I say Greeks don´t exist and prove it with evidence. There is ample evidence to prove it and Greeks know it but don´t like it a bit. Even if there was absolutely no evidence to prove the Greeks are fakes, the Greeks themselves by their absurd claims provide all the evidence one needs. For example, Greeks claim that "everyone in Greece is a pure Greek, descendent from the ancient Greeks". At the same time Greeks maintain that while some Albanians, Vlachs, Turks and others may exist in the Republic of Macedonia, the majority of the people living there are "Slavs" who have descended from somewhere behind the Carpathian Mountains?
Given that the entire Balkan Region was borderless for over two millenniums and open to every invader, settler and conqueror who ever ventured into that region, how can Greeks make the claim that everyone south of a modern border is a pure Greek and everyone, with some exceptions, north of the same border is a "Slav"? How can such claims be made when Greeks know very well, or should know, that the 1913 borders of Macedonia´s division were arbitrarily set? With a border arbitrarily set as recently as 1913 then how can you have pure Greeks on the south side and pure "Slavs" on the north side?
Here again I would like to remind the reader of the conditions under which the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest was signed. This Treaty was signed after the Second Balkan War ended and is the instrument by which Macedonia was partitioned.
Since Macedonia never belonged to any of its neighbours it meant that its neighbours would have to fight each other if they wanted to gain more Macedonian territory. There were no national dividing lines to speak of other than the Patriarchist or Exarchist affiliated villages which existed all over Macedonia. So after the Ottomans were driven out the first Balkan war ended and arbitrary borders were set up more or less where the armies stopped their advance.
Serbia was looking to gain access to the Adriatic Sea but Austria-Hungary and Italy saw to it that it didn´t by proposing the creation of Albania.
This loss of potential territory, especially access to a seaport, on the Serbian side led to a renewed conflict termed the Second Balkan War involving Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.
As a result of this conflict, the original borders proposed after the First Balkan War were shifted and Macedonia was once again arbitrarily partitioned.
According to military historian Dr. Vanche Stojchev, author of the book "Military History of Macedonia" while the Treaty of Bucharest was being drafted in 1913, the occupying armies were still fighting in Macedonia. Every time one side took a hill or a ridge from the others, its military commander telegraphed his counterpart in Bucharest who in turn asked the commission to modify the maps to include the new gains.
"I have uncovered various inconsistencies and anomalies in this treaty which would be of interest and importance to the Macedonian people. For example not many people know that the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest was not ratified by Austro-Hungary. Austro-Hungary was the first Great Power in the Balkans. After the signing of the treaty both Russia and Austro-Hungary called for further revisions which were basically ignored. Russia only accepted the treaty because it was pressured by the other Great Powers which in reality means the treaty may not be valid." Says Professor Dr. Vanche Stojchev
"The reason why Macedonian institutions are not yet affirming the idea that Macedonian roots extend from the ancient times to today is because everything that was taught in Macedonia up to now had to be ´politically correct´. We were taught a politicized history which catered less to reality and more to political aspects on how history should be viewed." Says Professor Dr. Vanche Stojchev
So the bottom line is that Greece arbitrarily acquired Macedonian territories in 1913. At that time all kinds of people lived all over Macedonia. The same people who lived in the Greek part of Macedonia also lived in the Serbian and Bulgarian part of Macedonia. Regardless of their ethnicity be they Macedonians, Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians, or Martians for that matter, they were the same people living on all sides of the 1913 artificially imposed borders.
Then the question that begs to be asked is, how can all these people living on the Greek side be "pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks", and all those people on the Serbian side be newcomer "Slavs" who came from somewhere north of the Carpathian Mountains? If they were the same people then shouldn´t they be the same people today? Yes they are!
And this ladies and gentlemen is where this infamous "Greek claim" falls apart and reveals its flaws. So you don´t have to be a historian, anthropologist, or even a genius to separate facts from Greek myths. The Greek claim that "only pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks live in Greece" is nothing but a common myth propagated so that the fake Modern Greeks can usurp the Greek heritage. And if that is not enough, these same pirates and identity thieves now want to also usurp the Macedonian heritage at the expense of the rightful owners, the Macedonian people!
In reality Greece is another multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Balkan country with the same types of ethnicities that exist all over the Balkans. The ethnicities that exist in the Republic of Macedonia are the same ethnicities that exist in Greece. Unlike the Republic of Macedonia however, which has embraced all its ethnicities living on its soil, Greece has suppressed its true ethnicities and forced them all to accept the myth that they are pure Greeks, descendents of the ancient Greeks. Those who did not wish to comply were exiled, imprisoned, tortured, tormented and even killed. Those who still do not wish to comply and claim to be something other than Greek, Greece claims don´t exist. And those are the facts!
As far as Greece being a "democratic country" one has to look at the definition of democracy and see that a democracy Greece is not! A country that is persecuting its minorities by denying them their human rights does not qualify to be called democratic no matter how hard it tries to "market" itself as "democratic".
The question is "why hasn´t Greece recognized its minorities?" the answer to which still remains a mystery.
Other articles by Risto Stefov:
http://www.maknews.com/html/articles.html#stefov
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3446
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
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