Goce Delcev: Macedonian patriot and hero
On Saturday, February 4, we celebrate the 151st birthday of Goce Delcev, Macedonian patriot and hero. Now laid to rest at the church of Sv. Spas in Skopje, Delcev will be honored and remembered by Macedonians from all walks of life, for his contribution – long in the making – to the independence of Macedonia as a sovereign state.
Also present on Saturday, February 4, both in person and on social media platforms will be various Bulgarians claiming that Goce Delcev is a Bulgarian hero and making the same tired and patently false claims and statements that Macedonians “really are Bulgarians” and that the Macedonian language “really is just Bulgarian.”
We are all tired of their false claims and statements. But as one committed to freedom of speech, I must agree that they certainly have the right to make their false claims.
The trouble with all of this, however, is that it is not just a matter of speech. For many Bulgarians, including many in the Bulgarian government or Bulgarian MEPs, this is a matter of quite literally crushing any thought that Macedonians have of being, well, Macedonian. Using their power, privilege, and position as a member of the European Union, Bulgaria will continue to challenge any attempt by Macedonia and the Macedonians to lay claim to their own, separate, unique identity and history. Bulgaria’s government will continue to use the accession process to the EU as a means of attempting to wrangle out more concessions from Macedonia in order to “allow” Macedonia to progress towards this elusive membership in the EU club, something Macedonia was qualified to begin and started talking about in 2005 – nearly two decades ago.
As I wrote a few years ago, “the attempt by the Government of Bulgaria to dictate the past in the present is a play for the future of Macedonia.” I also noted that this proves something about human nature: concessions to blackmail encourage further blackmail. The current Government of Macedonia has already proven that it is open – and quite willing – to making concessions. That it has done so once (with Greece), proves that it was willing to have done so twice (with Bulgaria). And a third or fourth time if necessary (Bulgaria will always ask for “one more thing,” and Greece will get back in the game, sooner or later, asking for more). And the current Government of Macedonia will continue making these concessions until there is nothing left to concede. And in the meantime, these concessions will continue to demoralize Macedonia and the Macedonians, something which Bulgaria – and Greece – wish to do. And as this happens, it will be applauded by the Western transnational elites, primarily the US State Department and EU apparatchiks who really don’t give a damn for the simple reason that these elites can only exercise power. They have no authority because they haven’t bothered to earn it (something I will write about shortly). To them, every problem is a nail, and they are the hammer.
Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski said, in December, that there is no danger of a Macedonian going to bed one night as a Macedonian and waking up the next morning as a Bulgarian. And that is true because changes like that take a long time. But they do occur, and it is possible for identity to change – or disappear – over time. Remember the Etruscans? You might read about them in history books, but they no longer exist.
“Yes, well that took centuries,” you might counter. And you would be correct, it did take centuries for them and their identity to be wiped off the face of the earth. But it started somewhere, at some point in time.
And this is what the Bulgarians are attempting to do by insisting on “shared cultural heroes and events,” among other things. Again, that’s where it starts. But the end game is eradicating Macedonian identity. And the internationals don’t give a damn about this for a couple of reasons, first, because they don’t care about the issue of identity (they are “citizens of the world” a non-legal fiction) and second, because they know it will take a long time and by then, they will all be dead and forgotten so why should they care in the first place?
My Macedonian friends: never rely on the international community (especially the US State Department and EU) to do the right thing: they are incapable of doing so because they lack any virtues. Oh, they have “values” all right, but no virtues (a distinction I will be writing about).
But back to Goce Delcev.
I’m not going to take a deep dive into history here and pull up past statements or records or anything else. Because historians, and teachers, and others can debate these things all day long.
The essential point here is this: Macedonians celebrate Goce Delcev as a Macedonian hero, vitally important to the eventual formation of the independent nation-state of Macedonia. Goce Delcev’s final resting place is Sv. Spas, in Skopje, a place I have visited several times. Goce Delcev is one of four men mentioned in Macedonia’s national anthem. The town of Delcevo is named after him. And Macedonian schoolchildren learn about him and his importance to them, as Macedonians, in their studies.
Remember all of this as you celebrate Goce Delcev, Macedonian hero and patriot. Teach this history to your children and grandchildren. And cherish his memory.