The malignant influence of certain media and academics
Keith Brown wants you to forget your past.
Balkan Insight wants you to call yourselves “North Macedonians” and wants you to call everything that should be called simply “Macedonian” as “North Macedonian.”
If these were isolated incidents by unknown individuals and organizations, I would not be alarmed. But they are not.
Keith Brown is Director of the Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. He has written two books about Macedonia and was a Fulbright Fellow at the Institute for National History in Skopje, Macedonia in 2012–13. You can read his bio here and learn more about his teaching and interests. I first met him when he was teaching at Brown University in Rhode Island when we were able to show our documentary film “A Name is a Name.” It was at that event (in 2015) when he told me that he thought the name of Macedonia should be the “Central Balkan Republic.”
Brown is from the United Kingdom but, in reading some of the materials put out by the Melikian Center, you’ll note that he fancies himself a “citizen of the world” which, as I have noted before, means a citizen of nowhere. I have interacted with him on several occasions and find him to be a pleasant enough man, but his worldview, like that of many others of his stature, is firmly set against the idea of nation-states and sovereignty, and in favor of transnational governments and institutions.
In a recent interview published on Global Voices, “ Brown explains the importance of critical thinking when learning history.” He states that for him, “…critical thinking demands, paradoxically, that we try to unlearn what actually happened…” As an example, he praises the so-called “1619 Project” of the New York Times, which seeks to make the founding of the United States of America as 1619 when the first slaves were brought to American shores, and not July 4, 1776, the birthday of American independence. The 1619 Project has been rounded criticized by historians and in the past few months it has been revealed that the newspaper itself edited parts of its description of the project without letting the public know that it had done so. This, for the so-called “newspaper of record” is completely dishonest. The fact that Brown praises the project should make one think about where he is coming from as a historian.
My argument with Brown here is this: the Republic of Macedonia, as a modern-day, nation-state, was formed in 1991. That is a fact. The Macedonians as a people with a distinct identity, language, culture, history, and more, is much, much older. How old? I don’t know. But what I do know is the following: for the sake of the national security of Macedonia and the stability of region, it is vital that Macedonia’s history as the Macedonian people see it, be taught and handed down from one generation to the next. Brown’s argument that “unlearn” what we have been taught is therefore, in my judgement, dangerous. Again, going back to what he told me about the name of the country, I would submit that while he agrees that Macedonians do exist as a people and speak the Macedonian language (which is taught at ASU), he is also trying to discount Macedonia’s history, culture, and heritage and that this is dangerous because it gives “permission” in a way, to others, who seek to divide and destroy Macedonia, like Bulgaria which covets Macedonia. When the Bulgarian Foreign Minister insists that Macedonians must acknowledge their “Bulgarian roots” and essentially agree that Macedonians are “Bulgarians” combined with Brow’s insistence that we “unlearn” our past, then real danger is not far behind.
Moving on to Balkan Insight.
Balkan Insight is a pseudo-news publication that, if it relied on subscriptions and advertisements from the private sector might last but two weeks as a publication. But it is funded, primarily, by taxpayer money — the taxpayers of the United States and EU, mostly through their embassies and various governmental agencies (NATO as well) as well as a handful of think tanks and foundations. Their worldview is center to far left and, like Brown, they do not believe in the idea of nation-states and sovereignty.
Lately, Balkan Insight has been referring to Macedonians as “North Macedonians,” in their “reporting” (I would call it opinion pieces). In October of this year alone, three articles about Macedonia referred to “North Macedonian” “MPs,” “NGOs,” “accession talks,” and the capital city of Skopje as being “North Macedonian.” In the past they have written about “North Macedonian society,” “North Macedonian media outlets,” the “North Macedonian Social Democrat Leader Zoran Zaev,” and more. They, more than others, should be aware of just how wrong this is leading me to believe that a) they are sloppy and cannot edit, or b) they are being deliberate in using this adjective. It is likely a combination of both but considering those who fund them, the elites in the West, and those who read them, mostly those same elites, plus other media outlets, this could lead to a situation that gives, again, “permission” to others to call Macedonians “North Macedonians” and to label what should be simply “Macedonian” as “North Macedonian.”
(I maintain an updated list of all those media outlets, and others, who use this adjective. You can read this list here)
These are but two examples from the media and academia of those who have influence and their malignant influence. I am not stating that they, as individual writers, professors, and others, are malign themselves, but their work, and their worldview, trends toward a very negative influence on Macedonia. Something of which to be aware.
