Dear Mr. Deslis,
Thank you for sharing your concerns and perspective about the upcoming conference at the University of Utah. I hope all supporters of higher education understand that, as a premier research institution, the University of Utah is a strong advocate of rigorous academic exploration and the freedom to engage in that exploration. The “Seventh Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies” offers an opportunity for scholars from around the world to examine cultural, literary and linguistic topics relevant to a broad spectrum of inquiry. We welcome thoughtful, reasoned and well-researched perspectives that add light and knowledge to the global discussion on these topics.
The University of Utah supports the intensive research and academic pursuits of its professors, and endorses all intellectual inquiry that seeks to enhance our understanding of the world and our place in it.
The mission of the University of Utah is to serve the people of Utah and the world through the discovery, creation and application of knowledge; through the dissemination of knowledge by teaching, publication, artistic presentation and technology transfer; and through community engagement. As a preeminent research and teaching university with national and global reach, the University cultivates an academic environment in which the highest standards of intellectual integrity and scholarship are practiced. We zealously preserve academic freedom, promote diversity and equal opportunity, and respect individual beliefs. We advance rigorous interdisciplinary inquiry, international involvement, and social responsibility.
Again, thank you for sharing your concerns and suggestions.
Michael K. Young
-----Original Message-----
From: Aris [mailto:arisdml@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 8:00 PM
To: Rebecca M Riley
Subject: STOP THE ANTI-HELLENIC HATE AT UNIVERSITY OF UTAH!
STOP THE ANTI-HELLENIC HATE AT UNIVERSITY OF UTAH!
Shame on the University of Utah
Dear
The University of Utah, with the help and support of the Skopjian lobby in Washington DC and the support of the Turkish Lobby which has facilitated Turkish government funding of the University of Utah, is launching a conference on Nov 5th 2009 on University of Utah grounds dedicated to advancing false historical revisionism and irredentist propaganda. Speakers will promote neo- Communist false historical revisionism attempting to downplay the immense loss of Hellenic life to terrorism, downplay the suffering (through the use of Child Abduction of Hellenic children and outright war) under Communist and Skopjian occupation, and advance a general atmosphere of anti-Hellenic hate!!!!This is particularly troubling and offensive to the Hellenic-American community of Utah.
Where is the creditability of the U of U when hosting a conference supported by Anti-Hellenic organizations such as the ‘United Macedonian Diaspora’, who’s President is openly racist against Hellenic-Americans? Would the University of Utah be so open to host a conference supported by say an Anti-Semitic or Anti-Mormon organization? Is this the type of company an institution as old as the U od U keeps?
What is the academic importance of screening a conspiracy fiction film, such as The Secret Book? A film in which tells the story of the search for a mystical book written in Glagolitic, the alphabet created by ethnic Hellenic brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius? Full of symbolic undertones of the radical ‘Macedonism’ ideology, which calls for the ‘union’ of ‘occupied’ parts of Macedonia with the FYROM. Self evident in the movies character Pavle Bigorski and his three brothers, which are suppose to symbolize the ‘three regions’ inhabited by so called ‘ethnic Macedonians”.
Where is the academic responsibility of the U of U when allow blatant lies against the historical events of the paidomazoma? An event in which the world witnessed the forced abduction of roughly 28,000 ethnic Hellenic children to be raised in Communist states as Macedonist Janissary, a fact which was recognized by a United Nations Special Committee at the time.
On November 4, 2004, two days after the re-election of President George W. Bush, his administration unilaterally recognized the “Republic of Macedonia.” This action not only abrogated geographic and historic fact, but it also has unleashed a dangerous epidemic of historical revisionism, of which the most obvious symptom is the misappropriation by the government in Skopje of the most famous of Macedonians, Alexander the Great.
We believe that this silliness has gone too far, and that the U.S.A. has no business in supporting the subversion of history. Let us review facts. (The documentation for these facts [here in boldface] can be found attached and at: http://macedonia-evidence.org/documentation.html)
The land in question, with its modern capital at Skopje, was called Paionia in antiquity. Mts. Barnous and Orbelos (which form today the northern limits of Greece) provide a natural barrier that separated, and separates, Macedonia from its northern neighbor. The only real connection is along the Axios/Vardar River and even this valley “does not form a line of communication because it is divided by gorges.”
While it is true that the Paionians were subdued by Philip II, father of Alexander, in 358 B.C. they were not Macedonians and did not live in Macedonia. Likewise, for example, the Egyptians, who were subdued by Alexander, may have been ruled by Macedonians, including the famous Cleopatra, but they were never Macedonians themselves, and Egypt was never called Macedonia.
Rather, Macedonia and Macedonian Greeks have been located for at least 2,500 years just where the modern Greek province of Macedonia is. Exactly this same relationship is true for Attica and Athenian Greeks, Argos and Argive Greeks, Corinth and Corinthian Greeks, etc.
We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of ancient Paionia, who speak Slavic – a language introduced into the Balkans about a millennium after the death of Alexander – can claim him as their national hero. Alexander the Great was thoroughly and indisputably Greek. His great-great-great grandfather, Alexander I, competed in the Olympic Games where participation was limited to Greeks.
Even before Alexander I, the Macedonians traced their ancestry to Argos, and many of their kings used the head of Herakles - the quintessential Greek hero - on their coins.
Euripides – who died and was buried in Macedonia– wrote his play Archelaos in honor of the great-uncle of Alexander, and in Greek. While in Macedonia, Euripides also wrote the Bacchai, again in Greek. Presumably the Macedonian audience could understand what he wrote and what they heard.
Alexander’s father, Philip, won several equestrian victories at Olympia and Delphi, the two most Hellenic of all the sanctuaries in ancient Greece where non-Greeks were not allowed to compete. Even more significantly, Philip was appointed to conduct the Pythian Games at Delphi in 346 B.C. In other words, Alexander the Great’s father and his ancestors were thoroughly Greek. Greek was the language used by Demosthenes and his delegation from Athens when they paid visits to Philip, also in 346 B.C.
Another northern Greek, Aristotle, went off to study for nearly 20 years in the Academy of Plato. Aristotle subsequently returned to Macedonia and became the tutor of Alexander III. They used Greek in their classroom which can still be seen near Naoussa in Macedonia.
Alexander carried with him throughout his conquests Aristotle’s edition of Homer’s Iliad. Alexander also spread Greek language and culture throughout his empire, founding cities and establishing centers of learning. Hence inscriptions concerning such typical Greek institutions as the gymnasium are found as far away as Afghanistan. They are all written in Greek.
The questions follow: Why was Greek the lingua franca all over Alexander’s empire if he was a “Macedonian”? Why was the New Testament, for example, written in Greek?
The answers are clear: Alexander the Great was Greek, not Slavic, and Slavs and their language were nowhere near Alexander or his homeland until 1000 years later. This brings us back to the geographic area known in antiquity as Paionia. Why would the people who live there now call themselves Macedonians and their land Macedonia? Why would they abduct a completely Greek figure and make him their national hero?
The ancient Paionians may or may not have been Greek, but they certainly became Greekish, and they were never Slavs. They were also not Macedonians. Ancient Paionia was a part of the Macedonian Empire. So were Ionia and Syria and Palestine and Egypt and Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Bactria and many more. They may thus have become “Macedonian” temporarily, but none was ever “Macedonia”. The theft of Philip and Alexander by a land that was never Macedonia cannot be justified.
The traditions of ancient Paionia could be adopted by the current residents of that geographical area with considerable justification. But the extension of the geographic term “Macedonia” to cover southern Yugoslavia cannot. Even in the late 19th century, this misuse implied unhealthy territorial aspirations.
The same motivation is to be seen in school maps that show the pseudo-greater Macedonia, stretching from Skopje to Mt. Olympus and labeled in Slavic. The same map and its claims are in calendars, bumper stickers, bank notes, etc., that have been circulating in the new state ever since it declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Why would a poor land-locked new state attempt such historical nonsense? Why would it brazenly mock and provoke its neighbor?
However one might like to characterize such behavior, it is clearly not a force for historical accuracy, nor for stability in the Balkans. It is sad that the United States of America has abetted and encouraged such behavior.
We call upon you, , to help - in whatever ways you deem appropriate - the government in Skopje to understand that it cannot build a national identity at the expense of historic truth. Our common international society cannot survive when history is ignored, much less when history is fabricated.
Thanks
Aristidis D Deslis
President
Hellenic American Society
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