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Macedonism (Macedonian and Serbian: Македонизам, Bulgarian: Македонизъм, all transliterated: Makedonizam, and Greek: Μακεδονισμός - Makedonismós) is a political term used in a polemic sense to refer to a set of ideas perceived as characteristic of ethnic Macedonian nationalism by some Bulgarian and Greek authors, where it has strong pejorative connotations. It is occasionally used in international scholarship and in an apologetic sense in isolated examples from some Macedonian authors.
Origins
The roots of the concept were first developed in the late 19th century, in the context of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian initiatives to take control over the region of Macedonia, which was at that time ruled by the Ottoman Empire. It was originally used in a contemptuous manner to refer to Macedonians who believed they constituted a distinct ethnic group, separate from their neighbours. The first to use the term "Macedonist" was the Bulgarian author Petko Slaveykov, who coined the term in his article The Macedonian Question, published in the newspaper Makedoniya in 1871, to criticise those Macedonians espousing such views. Another early recorded use of the term "Macedonism" is found in a report by the Serbian politician Stojan Novaković from 1887. He proposed to employ the Macedonist ideology as a means to counteract the Bulgarian influence in Macedonia, thereby promoting Serbian interests in the region.
We have often heard from the Macedonists that they are not Bulgarians but Macedonians, descendants of the Ancient Macedonians, and have always waited to hear some proof of this, but have never heard it. The Macedonists have never shown us the basis for their beliefs. They insist on their Macedonian origin...
— Petko Slaveykov,
Ideas
Among the views and opinions that are often perceived as representative of Macedonian nationalism and criticised as parts of "Macedonism" by those who use the term are the following:
- The disputed level of racial continuity between the modern Macedonians and ancient autochthonous peoples of the region (i.e. Ancient Macedonians);
- The idea that there is a fundamental, ethnogenetic distinction between Macedonians and Bulgarians, going back much further than the political divisions between the two nations during the 20th century; (see Identities of the ethnic Macedonians)
- The belief that this distinction is related to the inheritance of ethnic elements of the ancient non-Slavic tribe of the Bulgars, supposed to form an essential part of modern Bulgarian but not Macedonian heritage; (see Origins of the ethnic Macedonians, Ethnogenesis of the Bulgarians)
- Irridentist political views about the neighbouring regions of Greek Macedonia ("Aegean Macedonia") and parts of southwest Bulgaria ("Pirin Macedonia") and about ethnic Macedonian minorities living in these areas, connected to the irredentist concept of a United Macedonia.
Other, related areas of Macedonian–Bulgarian national polemics relate to:
- The presence of the Bulgars in Medieval Macedonia and their connection to today's Macedonians; (see Kouber)
- The ethnic character of various medieval historical figures and entities, including the saints Cyril and Methodius, the medieval Tsar Samuil and his kingdom, and the medieval Archbishopric of Ohrid;
- The historical role of the Bulgarian Exarchate and the ethnic character of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization;
- The historical role of various Macedonian insurgent movements during Ottoman rule (see Ilinden Uprising) and during the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia in World War II; (see National Liberation War of Macedonia)
- The opinion that a separate Macedonian nationhood was the artificial product of a Communist plot during the 20th century and the belief of some Bulgarians that Macedonians — for whatever reason — constitute a subgroup of the Bulgarian people. (see Demographic history of Macedonia)
On the other hand, areas of Macedonian–Greek national polemics relate to:
- The cultural identity of the ancient Macedonians and the classification of the ancient Macedonian language and their relation to the contemporary Macedonian and Greek languages and people. (see Origins of the Greeks, The Arnaiz-Villena controversy)
Macedonism has faced strong criticism from moderate political views in the Republic of Macedonia.
Notes
- Nikolaĭ Genov, Anna Krŭsteva, (2001) Recent Social Trends in Bulgaria, 1960-1995, Page 74
- Society for Macedonian Studies, Macedonianism FYROM'S Expansionist Designs against Greece, 1944-2006, Ephesus - Society for Macedonian Studies, 2007 ISBN 978-960-8326-30-9, Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
- Kentrotis, Kyriakos (1996): "Echoes from the Past: Greece and the Macedonian Controversy", in: Richard Gillespie (ed.) Mediterranean Politics, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, p. 85–101
- Evangelos Kofos (1994): "Remarks on FYROM 's new school textbooks"
- John D. Bell, edited by Sabrina P Ramet - (1999) The Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe Since 1989, Page 252
- The "Mi-An" encyclopedia - a great victory for Macedonism
- The Macedonian (Old-New) Issue. Mirjana Maleska, Institute of Sociological and Political Research, Skopje, Macedonia. New Balkan Politics - Journal of Politics ISSUE 3.
- Example cited in: Loring Danforth (1995), The Macedonian Conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world, Page 45
- From the report of S. Novakovic to the Minister of Education in Belgrade about 'Macedonism' as a transitional stage in Serbianizing the Macedonian Bulgarians - BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - Institute of History - Bulgarian Language Institute, MACEDONIA, DOCUMENTS AND MATERIALS - Sofia 1978.
- The Macedonian Question
- Representative of the anti-"Macedonist" criticism from the Bulgarian side is the work by Bozhidar Dimitrov (2003), The Ten Lies of Macedonism, Sofia.
- Minchev, Dimiter: "Macedonia and Bulgaria". In: B. A. Cook (ed.), Europe since 1945: An Encyclopedia Taylor and Francis, 2001. ISBN 0815340583, pg. 808.
- Tracing the script and the language of the Ancient Macedonian, Professor Tome Boshevski, Aristotel Tentov.
- Ancient Macedonian Genes in the the Modern Macedonian Nation not-related to the Greek Nation
- Denko Maleski, politician of the Republic of Macedonia (foreign minister from 1991 to 1993 and ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997), Utrinski Vesnik newspaper, October 16, 2006: "The lack of capability by Macedonists in condition of democracy, also contributes to the vision of their opponents. The creation of the Macedonian nation, for almost half of a century, was done in a condition of single-party dictatorship. In those times, there was no difference between science and ideology, so the Macedonian historiography, unopposed by anybody, comfortably performed a selection of the historic material from which the Macedonian identity was created. There is nothing atypical here for the process of the creation of any modern nation, except when falsification from the type of substitution of the word “Bulgarian” with the word “Macedonian” were made. In a case which that was not possible, the persons from history were proclaimed for Bulgarian agents who crossed into some imaginary pure Macedonian space.
But when we had to encourage the moderate Greek political variant and move into a direction of reconciliation among peoples, our nationalism was modelled according to the Greek one. The direct descendants of Alexander the Great raised the fallen flag on which the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia was written and led the people in the final confrontation with the Hellenes (Greeks), the direct descendants of Greek gods. This warlike attitude of the "winners" which was a consequence of the fear of politician from heavy and unpopular compromises had its price. In those years, we lost our capability for strategic dialogue. With Greeks? No, with ourselves. Since then, namely, we reach towards some fictional ethnic purity which we seek in the depths of the history and we are angry at those which dare to call us Slavs and our language and culture Slavic!? We are angry when they name us what we -if we have to define ourselves in such categories- are, showing that we are people full with complexes which are ashamed for ourselves. We lost our capability for reasonable judgement, someone shall say, because the past of the Balkans teaches us that to be wise among fools is foolish. Maybe. Maybe the British historians are right when they say that in history one can find confirmation for every modern thesis, so, we could say, also for the one that we are descendants of the Ancient Macedonians…"