I am Macedonian – period!
How is it possible in the 21st century for someone else to decide who I am, or who I am not? Does the „universal human right to self determination“ as declared by the United Nations not apply to me? Am I excluded from this declaration?
How does one become what or who he or she is? Is it the government that decides? The priest, the church, the United Nations…? Who has the power to decide ethnically and nationally who I am, what language I can speak, what songs I can sing, what dances I can dance,…. And if anyone has that right who has given it to him or her?
My mother was Macedonian, my grandmothers were Macedonian, and my great grandmothers were Macedonian as were their parents; they told me so themselves! So what am I now CHINESE? Not that I want to be one but even if I wanted to I cannot be anything but Macedonian because all my ancestors were Macedonian!
In the beginning of the 20th century my ancestors struggled to free themselves and Macedonia from the grip of the Ottoman occupiers as did the other nations in the Balkans. After five centuries of occupation it was time for freedom; time for the Ottomans to leave. The spirit of freedom was felt everywhere and blood was spilled to achieve it. Unfortunately freedom to the Macedonians did not come easily in spite of their effort. Not to Macedonia and not to my ancestors! One tyrant was replaced by three and instead of gaining its freedom Macedonia was again occupied and divided. Worse than before, in addition to losing their homeland, Macedonians now lost their identity and forcibly were made into Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks.