The “Bulgarian” Mara Buneva paraded, but what will we do with the “Macedonian” Mara Buneva? How long will we hide it and suppress it?
Author: Katerina Topallova
I’ll simplify – history is nothing but a series of events that praise or blame… As the case may be, of course! And such cases follow us in abundance these days. Or to put it with Churchillian insight, because I write the story, it’s nice and kind to me! Of course depending on how I approach and interpret it. A full glass looks different when we perceive it from different angles, but the fact that it is full is still believable – the starting point from which we begin to build the story. Therefore, the ability and precision with which we can analyze and interpret the past is very important, processes that reflect on our present and future, defining our whole being. Who are we and why are we – here and now?
Yes! Who we are”? And what are we looking for here – “right here and now”, on January 14 at the quay of the Vardar River in the center of Skopje? A procession irradiated with iconography not/Macedonian, not/European, not offensive and many other NO, NO, NO and NO etc. An iconography whose elements touch the dark side of history, awakening and exasperating even the most sensitive parts of not only the Macedonian but also the European sentiment (keeping in mind that modern Europe rests on anti-fascist foundations). It seems that we are experiencing the most fruitful days of “Bulgarian fascism” as the Bulgarian Jew Zhak Natan would say to the fighters – prisoners in one of the cells of the Bulgarian military camp in Eni Koj, Macedonia, during the War.
“Bulgarian fascism” translated into high chauvinism (judging by the statements from the event) expressed by the ideological leaders of the much-desired and realized “celebration” near Vardar, from which we who live on the western side of Osogova and seriously will We shamed them on the eastern side of the “mountain”. Pastors without a flock, with wolf teeth in the campaign… He who comes to his friends and does not pay attention to the gifts he brings, does not deserve to have friends.
The same procession decorated with Bulgarian flags and representations of historical figures, proven Bulgarian collaborators and pro-Bulgarians of Nazism and fascism from the last century, almost every year tries to ask us hundreds of questions as a society, which our country must seriously address give answers, to analyze them and to answer them, or to tell them in the language of the street (such as the messages from the event) to chew them up and spit them out!? For this I will return to the scene of the crime with a conclusion…
Mara Buneva from Tetovo is no longer a CAUSE, but an REASON!U prehtë në paqe!
On January 13, 1928, at the quay of the Vardar River with the then name “Vojvoda Radomir Putnik”, the VMRO member, the young Mara Buneva, killed the chief of the Serbian police in Skopje, Velimir Preliq, during the Serbian occupation. in the Macedonian part of Vardar. At least that’s what the official part of history says… And we leave the details to the historians. Heroine Buneva tried to commit suicide, but succumbed to her injuries the next day in the hospital… So this place on the quay is still synonymous with defiance, defiance and heroism. Among other things, it is history that studies all world wrongdoing! So, this small episode also falls into such a categorization.
But what can we learn from this event today? Where do We and Them go wrong in all this? What is the essential thing missing to complete the story in its entirety? Without forgetting that history gives answers only to those who know how to ask the right questions!?
Why the reasoning? Because the Bulgarian side very skillfully and cunningly uses its five minutes to prove who is older – the chicken or the egg? The sharp future of Macedonia’s European integrations, which has been repeatedly blackmailed and blocked, has already moved towards new historical challenges… Fear of a neighboring reaction that may require a new VETO! So let’s sit down, so as not to harm European progress! The same Bulgarian organizations and movements paraded through the official labyrinths of Bulgarian politics and are supported by it. Tracks don’t lie! The state knew all this and did not prevent it! And lack of reaction means collapse and failure of action. Not allowed for serious sites! But we are far from that…
Anti-Macedonian statements in public, Nazi salutes in the European Parliament, video clips with irredentist content, territorial claims, the opening of Bulgarian “cultural” clubs for whom culture is terra incognita, endless provocations that the official Bulgarian policy not only encouraged and participated in, on the contrary, she pretended to be blind and deaf. All respect for exceptions!
Those who closely follow the Macedonian-Bulgarian relations are aware that such practice and rhetoric will continue in the future, and not only the misuse of the name of Mara Buneva, but also the deepening of the problem, crossing all borders of absurdity, aiming for complete brainlessness. Is the same scenario waiting for us or even worse on February 4 in “Sveti Spase”, the birthday of Goce Dellčev? There are announcements. This is another challenge for the government…
But what worries me the most is our passive and indolent attitude… Where are we in all this history? Why don’t we persistently want to mature and rise above the understanding of otherness in a contemporary context? Why do we persistently, as institutions and as citizens, create an unnecessary barrier to everything that we think is alien and foreign to us? Macedonia gave birth to the same Buneva! Why do we run away from pages of history that we don’t like or think we don’t like? How long will we be eclectic of our history? What we like is ours, but what else isn’t! But is this Buneva’s story? It is time to get out of the retrograde ideological matrix of understanding history, because this only confirms the opinion that history is nothing but a pile of lies, which we have agreed to absorb. We must understand that those things that we do not like in history or refuse to identify with them, for a variety of reasons (in this case ideological) are part of our being and who we are today, whether we like it or not!
I am sure that the heroine Buneva would reject such orchestrated folklore that misuses her name. Well, the “Bulgarian” Mara Buneva passed, but what will we do with the “Macedonian” Mara Buneva? How long will we hide it and suppress it?