President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova addressed today the Gala Academy on the occasion of 11 October – National Uprising Day, which was held under her auspices at the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle for Independence.
The Military Orchestra of the Army performed a mix of Macedonian patriotic and partisan songs at the Gala Academy.
Below is the integral address of President Siljanovska Davkova:
Respected citizens,
Esteemed attendees,
In the history of every nation, there are periods of great turmoil that can only be overcome by courageous decisions. Such a dark period was the World War II, when almost all of Europe was under fascist occupation, and when Hitler and his allies seemed unstoppable and invincible. In such conditions, on 11 October 1941, the Macedonian nation reached for the inexhaustible human right to resist oppression, injustice and occupation and, courageously, without hesitation, chose the right side in the biggest war in the history of mankind. 11 October is the milestone that determined our future, the day when we bravely and decisively joined the anti-fascist coalition of freedom-loving and justice-loving peoples.
The heroic fight against fascism brought us together, reborn us and gave us legitimacy as a nation to self-determine and create a free Macedonian state at the First Session of ASNOM. As one of the greatest democratic triumphs of humanity, anti-fascism allowed us to perform on the historical stage as equals and with a clear conscience to participate in the reconstruction of the destroyed world. It is no coincidence that the Macedonian state that the people of Ilinden longed for and that the anti-fascists fought for lasts for already 80 years. Its present and its future are fused with its past.
No one freed us. We liberated ourselves with the help of the 110,000-strong National Liberation Army of Macedonia. No one gave us the country. We fought for it ourselves. For us, the anti-fascist war was simultaneously a national liberation war, which ended up with 24,000 victims on our side.
Therefore, we must not allow historical revisionism and relativization of the national liberation and anti-fascist struggle, because that would undermine the Ilinden and anti-fascist foundations on which the Macedonian state is founded. This would devalue the sacrifice of thousands of young fighters who selflessly died for freedom and justice. We must not allow that.
Distinguished guests,
As a daughter of a partisan, I know very well that my father and his comrades had two weapons in the uneven struggle with the fascist occupier. The first was the gun. The second was the song. Some of the most important battles in the national liberation war were won with the revolutionary songs that gave courage to the fighters to consolidate the free territory, to march the February Campaign and to create the ASNOM Macedonia. One of the most popular was exactly the song that we heard at the beginning of today’s celebration.
Written by Vlado Maleski and first sung in Struga at the transition from 1941 to 1942, “Denes nad Makedonija se ragja” (“Today above Macedonia”) symbolizes the unstoppable fight for justice, speaks of the continuity with Ilinden and foreshadows the freedom of Macedonia.
However, the Macedonian anthem includes a warning. Have you ever wondered why the lyrics of the anthem are sung in the present tense instead of the past tense? Why, after ASNOM, we do not sing that the new sun of freedom has already been born over Macedonia, that the Macedonians have already fought for their justice? Why, even after 8 September 1991, is the Macedonian anthem still in the present tense and not in the past tense?
I believe this is partly due to the very nature of freedom and justice. Each new generation faces new challenges, and must fight for these supreme values anew, internalize them, make them their own. Each new generation, including ours, should make its own sacrifice for freedom and justice, because only sacrifice makes us aware of their value. And the greatest sacrifice should be made by those who have the greatest responsibility – the people, the political leaders, elected by the Macedonian citizens to represent them, to promote them and, with their personal example, to fight for the state’s interests.
Respected fellow citizens,
The purpose of the existence of every state, including ours, the Macedonian state, is to protect freedom and enforce justice. People who neglect freedom and neglect justice will inevitably stop caring about the state.
Moreover, when we talk about freedom, we do not mean only political freedom from occupiers, but also freedom from needs and poverty, freedom to plan life and progress without family ties, bribery and party membership, but only with one’s own knowledge, abilities and competencies.
When we talk about justice, we do not only mean justice, but also social, environmental and generational justice. A prerequisite for justice is the rule of law, rather than the rule of people.
From today’s point of view, it can be said that in the anthem, in the words “The Macedonians are fighting for their rights”, our independence is also summed up. For the past 33 years, we have been fighting for recognition of independence, for membership in international organizations, for preservation of peace, order and coexistence on our territory. Even today, that fight for our rights continues.
As the partisans fought against the injustices and atrocities of the fascist occupation, so we must fight daily against the injustices of our time, against social injustice and poverty, against corruption and nepotism. We need to fight against unjust obstacles and blockages of our European integration, but also against attempts to forge our history and erase our collective memory. We must constantly, daily, fight for freedom and justice, because the people who do not fight have already lost the struggle.
But, in order to persevere in that struggle, we need to return to the sources again and again. This leads us to the question, whether today, when the Macedonian national anthem is performed, we stand passively or, like the partisans, we actively participate in that act? Do we just listen to it or, like the partisans, do we sing the Macedonian anthem from the heart? Because the anthem is not a ceremonial decoration, but a symbol of the Macedonian state in which the Macedonian story of the continuous struggle for justice and freedom is encoded.
Every time we sing the Macedonian anthem, we make a small step towards pushing out the selfish ME and MY, to make more room for the altruistic WE and OUR, for the Macedonian state as our common good, for the public interest that exceeds the narrow personal, party, and other interests.
At the same time, WE and OURS is neither, nor must it be reduced to any ethnic, religious or ideological category. Read the manifestos and proclamations of the NOV and POM Headquarters and you shall see that they are addressed to Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, Serbs, Roma and others. Look at the monuments engraved with the names of the fighters and you shall notice the coexistence in combat action. Take a look at the participants of ASNOM and you shall see Macedonia in miniature, with all its ethnic, religious, social and ideological diversity. Macedonians who fight for their justice are not only ethnic Macedonians, but also all Macedonian citizens who experience and love this country as their homeland. All those who want their children, their young people not to move abroad, but to stay here, in their homeland, to work, start families and build a future.
Dear fellow citizens,
As more than 80 years ago, we are living today in a period of great upheaval that can only be overcome by courageous decisions. There are wars and suffering in the world again, even in regions close to our own. Our ancestors came together to achieve jointly what they could not achieve separately – a free Macedonian state, laid down on just ideals. We should leave mutual divisions aside and unite around our struggle, which is no longer a struggle for political freedom, but for prosperity of the state and the Macedonian citizens. This is how we will build a future for the young people in a just and prosperous Macedonian society.
Only if we build Macedonia as a decent place for all its citizens to live in, we will be able to rightly say, sing that Macedonia is, indeed, free and lives freely.
May we celebrate 11 October – the National Uprising Day for many more years!
Long live the Macedonian state!
