From: sachz@montebello.ecom.unimelb.EDU.AU (SAS)
Subject: "Ta Moglena" - Discovered by Athens? 
Followup-To:  soc.culture.yugoslavia,soc.culture.greek
Originator: sachz@montebello.ecom.unimelb.EDU.AU
Organization: Dept. Engineering Computer Resources, Melbourne Uni.
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 01:29:05 GMT


"TA MOGLENA" - DISCOVERED BY ATHENS?

   We convey the text from the local monthly "Ta Moglena" which
comes out in Sabotsko and deals mainly with the problems of the
population in the Aegean part of Macedonia.

   So, they uncovered us unexpectedly! They could hear us from
the very beginning even in the low winter temperatures but chose 
to ignore our very existence, and at the most convenient
opportunity - unexpectedly and at once they rushed into our lives!

   Partly the crisis in Yugoslavia, partly the protests here and
there and something about the likelihood of the international plan,
is what made them "pud aside their own not exactly small problems"
and focus all their attention to stooping over us.

   Here you have whole columns in the Athenian newspapers in which
"at last"are noted our problems and then are followed by journalistic
daily travels to our ghostly villages and above that "dangerous"
missions to our inaccessable regions where we are experiencing the
"worry" of official and unofficial authorities of the Greek state.

   But other than epithets and compliments, there was nothing.
Much is said about the heroes of peac even if it comes to war in
a new edition, for the protectors of the bordes, for the villages -
the protectors of hellenism, of Thermopily and Marathons of Greece,
and of everything else that is fitting to enable them to lift our
souls, so that they can inflate our pride, in order to make us forget
the past.

   Sensational pictures, courageous writings and tales and photographs
complete the whole deed.

   And there you have it. And who said that our regions are neglected,
which slanderer said that its people are regarded as second class 
citizens and that they are oppressed?

   One would ask himself: Who would believe him? Because they didn't
convince neither us nor most of the population in our regions. 
Actually, its hardly the first time we have seen such things. If
their reporters were at all honest, we could talk about their
objectivity, at least of the fact that they noted the problems which
brought about our present day miseries. They clearly avoided getting
involved in the essence about our problems. They were content with
sensational words, and even mentioned some responsibility but they
barely even touched the surface of the subjetc itself.

   No sirs, that was no ordinary omission, what that country did 
against the native population was ruthless persecution.

   Was our culture protected? Was it cultivated and allowed to be
enriched? The motto "returning to roots" theoretically was being
belivered to all, but in practice we were excluded and those still
being excluded are us, the locals, born here in Macedonia.

   We are those who constantly have to adjust and chameleonize,
and to search for and uncover our roots in one concrete historical
past and only that which will be allowed by some wiseman.

   Our language has sufferred the same but to a greater extent. 
One means of communication between the people, the instrument of 
advancement and cultivation of our culture was brutually persecuted,
strictly prohibited by the laws of the official state, was defamed
and mocked by all, even by those intellectuals who would normally
be regarded as having "progressive" thinking and tendencies.

   And what are the tendencies towards the Macedonian people -
those who if they had endured everything - killings, torture, 
castor-oil, allforms of humiliation, assimilation, persecution
within and outside Greece, compulsory removal, political emigration,
which to this day bring disgrace to Greece. In particular the recent
prohibition of the repatriation of our political refugees present
provocations against international agreements, the Conference on
European Security and Cooperation, and the Paris Charter which 
ironically was also signed by Greece.

   No sirs, we won't accept the crumbs you are attempting to offer.

   We want all our rights in accordance with Greece's constitution
and all international agreements in which it is clear that they are
sanctioned and protected.

Abstralisko Makedonski Nedelnik, 1 Sep 92.