MARCHING FOR MACEDONIA'S NAME AND IDENTITY

On Saturday 24th of May the Macedonian Community of Victoria will assemble at Carlton Gardens and thereafter march before the Parliament of Victoria to stage a peaceful rally.

The rally is organised to seek from Australia a more balanced, and appropriate foreign policy approach to Macedonia. Macedonians want Australia to respect Macedonia's right to self-identification and recognise her historical and constitutional name. In addition, Macedonians want the Federal Government to withdraw the discriminating Commonwealth directive of 1994 that designates the Macedonians as "Slav-Macedonians".

Macedonians will also rally to condemn the continuation of: the Greek genocide against Macedonians, institutional racism, repression, persecution, ethnic cleansing, human rights violations and the denial of the indigenous Macedonian minority by Greece.

Following the Second Balkan War (1912-1913) Macedonia was divided among the neighbouring states: Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Consequently Macedonia was partitioned between Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria with the Bucharest Treaty on August 10, 1913. Since then the Macedonians' human and national rights have been denied by these states, particularly by Greece.

Greece is engaged in a systematic, well-planned and expertly organised propaganda. She is distorting and falsifying the history of Macedonia to try and legitimise the annexed Macedonian territory under occupation.

"The Greek government's denial of the existence of the Macedonian minority violates international human rights agreements to which Greece is a party." Actually "Greece seeks to excuse her persecution of her minorities and the deprivation of their rights to property, citizenship and free speech, by simply denying the existence of any minorities." Greece's denial of the Macedonian minority clearly contravenes its obligations under international law.

"Greece's efforts to suppress the distinct Macedonian identity extend to Macedonians all over the world, including Australia... To appease the Greek Government and its international lobby, Australia has refused to recognise the independent Republic of Macedonia under its proper name... This is despite the fact that the majority of member states of the United Nations (over 120 countries), including the USA, Russia, China and Canada, have now recognised the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name."

"The Australian Government's failure to respect the right of Macedonians to self-identification affects over 80,000 Australians of Macedonian origin." Macedonians believe that Australia should try to prevent the importation of racism and avoid it being translated into political policies.

"A multicultural society like Australia should be discouraging ethnocentric human rights violations, rather than reinforcing them with its own policy of denying the Macedonians the right to self-identification" as with the directive of 1994.

If Australia can confront China regarding the human rights of Tibetans, surely, it could find the courage to speak out against the violations of the Macedonians' human rights by Greece.

Macedonians insist that Australia support the many international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Society for Human Rights as well as the U.S. Department of State to call upon Greece to respect the rights of its minorities and to remind her that a person's ethnic identity is a matter to be determined by the individual and not by the state.

Macedonia is involved in both Iraq and Afghanistan alongside Australia in the coalition defending the same values and principles. Macedonians believe the friendship and partnership between Macedonia and Australia in the "war on terror" should induce better relations between the two countries. They also expect the Rudd Government to pursue a balanced, independent and proactive foreign policy that stands up for human rights, social justice, peace and stability toward Macedonia and Macedonians.