WHY MACEDONIANS DON’T WANT THEIR FREEDOM?

Svetlana Dicheva:
We have here in our studio Georgi Grozdev, a writer and publisher. He’s here with “Breakfast on the Grass” on the occasion of the new book by Lyubcho Georgievski “Face Turned to the Truth”. The author of this book is an exceptionally interesting person, some even claim he could return to the political stage in Macedonia. He’s a man of untraditional, modern thinking focused on the present and future, rather than only backwards – to the past. I’d like us to talk about two things mentioned in the book – gerontocracy (gerontophilia) and, imagine, casinos and banana democracy…

Georgi Grozdev:
Hello! Thank you for the invitation. These two topics seem quite different at first glance and seem not to have any connection, however, in the documentary book “Face Turned to the Truth”, which is comprised of essays, interviews, articles from 1990 to June 2007, such a connection exists. Some of the most scathing arrows of journalistic expressions by the author have been aimed at gerontocracy in Macedonia which is also mentioned in the conclusion by the translator Konstantin Ikonomov. This gerontocracy, which has been overwhelmed by a Yugo-nostalgia, is far from any thought of good neighborliness towards Bulgaria. I’m talking about a social layer which still directs, behind the scenes and on stage, the social life of our neighbor Macedonia. This is not a conclusion of mine, or of the translator, but is one of Lyubcho Georgievski’s main topics and anguishes. He was able to see the first copies of his book just recently and was very glad with its polygraphic layout, as well as the way it was made up.

Sv.Dicheva:
But doesn’t the future belong to the young? The author is a young man, this whole gerontocracy should be in the past, in Tito’s decades.

G.Grozdev:
This is one of the paradoxes of the more backward societies, including the Balkan ones, I encounter as a publisher of Balkan literature. In reality, the path to the future is covered by idle myths for domestic use, as I call them.

Sv. Dicheva:
Just a little while ago you mentioned the aquarelle Balkan borders…

G.Grozdev:
But that is still related to the domestic use myths. Each myth-busting causes scandals and Lyubcho Georgievski is often in the epicenter of these scandals or at the edge. His personality, like a magnet, attracts many pro’s and con’s. At the same time, the “geronts” as Konstantin Ikonomov calls them, block the way to the future, encapsulate its society and culture. How do they divert attention from the problem? From the problem of a lacking sober outlook on reality. By pumping up folklore thinking through the media, which by the way is done all over the Balkans, Bulgaria is no exception. This thinking is characteristic of people who like to stand in front of a mirror and are obsessed by different manias of grandeur related to geographic maps, territorial borders, which are absolutely aquarelle in their minds.

That sort of thinking is so tragically backward in comparison to the values and criteria of the European Union of which Bulgaria is now a member, while Macedonia, God willing, will become one in the future. The free movement of people, values and capital supposes law observation and bill payment, whereas who is who, and how far into his or her mind different motives lie, that is his or her own business.

Sv. Dicheva:
What about casinos? Let’s touch on this topic too. Actually we are becoming something like the Las Vegas of the Balkans. This is in the book too…

G. Grozdev:
Yes, Lyubcho Georgievski’s great anguish is that Macedonians don’t want their freedom. That ambivalence is a deep scar of theirs. They publicly speak one thing, informally – another. We’re talking about all sorts of culture and other figures. This ambivalence, this forsaking of the pursuit of freedom has direct consequence which is discussed in the author’s second book translated into Bulgarian. The first one was poetic - “City”. We presented it in January. Eventually, consequences are measured by one basic index – poverty.

This poverty in the state of hurried capitalism we live in leads to the fact that for the majority of people healthcare and education are inaccessible, while at the same time, as we see here in Bulgaria, there are casinos popping up on every corner.

According to some theoreticians this is a sign that what has prevailed is a democracy Latin-American style. Bulgaria already has small towns with nothing else running but a casino. Here is one thing we have in common between our troubles and the troubles and worries of the book which have no national colors, just a social, humanitarian and existential aspects.

The main issues Lyubcho Georgievski raises that I, as a reader, see for myself are: Are banana democracies the future of the Balkans? How much longer will gerontocracy be a barrier to the future and will imprison others as well into the freezer of history instead of looking for new roads and bridges to our neighbors for the purpose of common progress?

The key word here is the building of bridges and that has been the tradition in our publishing house for over 16 years. By the way, when the author and I discussed his book I wished him the bridges on his Balkan roads be in place in both directions. Because I have some Balkan stories which tell of how on the Balkans when you go one way the bridge is there, when you return – it’s gone…

Sv. Dicheva:
All these Balkan paradoxes, however, cannot be abandoned as if on a remote exotic island. Even if there is a desire for such amateurism, who will ever let us do it within United Europe?

G. Grozdev:
This is truly a very political question. I, unfortunately, don’t deal in politics and don’t understand it much. These are topics taken from documentaries and which our readers can ponder on. The book also contains much information about the current topic “Macedonia” which is so multi-faceted. Lyubcho Georgievski is a Bulgarian citizen as of recently and the acceptance of the Bulgarian citizenship is an expression of his respect to his ancestral roots, as he says. As is known, the classics of Macedonian literature wrote in their mother tongue – Bulgarian. Several decades later, in order to read interesting authors from Macedonia, among which is Lyubcho Georgievski, we have to adapt and translate from a language used on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia full of dialects, Serbian words and all kinds of foreign words, something Konstantin Ikonomov writes about. A specially trained person has to make certain efforts and in this case this person is called a translator.

Sv. Dicheva:
Fine, Mr. Grozdev, let’s leave our listeners to read the book. It’s good for them to know in advance what the subject is. We’ll finish this conversation with a quote from the book “Face Turned to the Truth”.

“About a hundred years ago the Serbian philologist Novakovic said that the creation of a Macedonian language should be sustained but that at least a third of it should be Serbian words so that one day an assimilation could be done. This has been fully accomplished today. We’ve accepted almost the entire Serbian alphabet and a big portion of Serbian vocabulary, thus denouncing our own millennial tradition.”

I think this proves beyond doubt why Lyubcho Georgievski has so many enemies.


/”Breakfast on the Grass”, Bulgarian National Radio, 25.08.2007/