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Some Sources Of Bias In Reporting About Macedonia
An excerpt from the unpublished research paper Nationalistic Influences on
Various Interpretations of Macedonian History
(Dec 2000).
By Filip Stojanovski
Although complete classification of the works of different authors [who write
about Macedonia] is not possible, they can be generalized into three categories:
works done by Balkan historians and publicists, works done by their Western
counterparts, and works done by Western historians/publicists of Balkan origins
(and if you expect "the best of both worlds," you are in for a treat).
About the former group, American historiographer Donald V. Gawronski wrote
the following: "Balkan historiography reflects the changes in Balkan countries
in the twentieth century. Up to the end of World War I the dominant trend in
writing consisted of an emphasis on independence—hence, nationalistic history.
During the inter-war period historians sought to justify independence to the
rest of the world by tracing the origins of their respective nations. World War
II brought Communist control for the Balkans, and history writing, as in Russia,
was used for political purposes," which included building "a sense of
nationalism and unity" under the regime.1
And indeed, the primary school textbooks published while Republic of
Macedonia was part of the union called Socialist Federative Republic of
Yugoslavia promoted what Gawronski called "Marxian philosophy of history."2 It
emphasized the role of the ‘working classes,’ and downplayed the role of
‘reactionary forces’: the Church and the bourgeoisie. Peasant uprisings, for
instance, which were most often spurred by imposition of heavier taxes, were
presented as national uprisings. Although sometimes acknowledging the role of
the Church in regard to preserving the literacy, the textbooks did not mention
of the efforts of Ohrid Archbishops who were asking for foreign aid as part of
their efforts to organize uprisings against the Ottomans in 1589 and 1615.3
But, being non-socialist does not mean that the country’s historiography
moves closer towards more objective history. Greece, the so-called 'cradle of
democracy,' which has not been under Communist rule, provides a prime example of
a country where (romantic) nationalistic history flourished, especially in the
nineties. The same is evident for the countries that become capitalist (again)
in the last ten years. Although some historians from such countries attempt to
be objective and use scientific methods, their general population more often
than not gets nationalist propaganda disguised as history.
Promotion of objectivity among Western historians was also
hindered by political purposes. One such purpose was the fight against communism
during the Cold War. The text "The Communist Insurrection in Greece,"4 written by
a French military expert in the fifties, avoids mentioning the role of
Macedonian ethnic minority during the Greek Civil war. By doing this, it
directly supports the official stance of the Greek state of the day that such
minority does not exist.
Support of political purposes often went hand-in-hand with the market-driven, sensationalist nature of the Western media. American reporters stationed in Belgrade after World War II clearly described the situation:
"They told me that they put a running fight with editors at home and diplomats on the spot in their effort to tell the truth as they see it. They said they were principally handicapped by the demand of their editors for sensations that will make headlines that will sell more papers. They said that they rarely have an opportunity to engage in what Victor Lawson, one-time publisher of the Chicago Daily News, called ‘constructive journalism.’ If there’s an airplane shooting, a riot, or some other development which appears to put Yugoslavia in a bad light, there’s hardly any limit, they said, to the number of words they can cable. But if any one of them tries to send a dispatch which tells how the people are building a new railroad, or increasing their own food supply, or overcoming illiteracy, back comes the ‘hold-down’ order."5
The unofficial, but effective censoring of non-sensationalist material by the Western media was not confined only to this then-socialist country. Balkans was generally ‘invisible’ for the Western audience, unless something really bad is happening. The situation didn’t seem much different at the turn of the century, either. On 29 April 1903, a small group of young Macedonian nationalists called Gemidzhii,6 frustrated by the disinterest of the Great Powers to the problems in their country, created a sensation via terrorist actions in the port of Salonika (Thessaloniki in Greek, Solun in Macedonian, Serbian, Bulgarian). They bombed objects representing the European capitalist interest: the French ship "Guadalquivir," the Ottoman Bank, the Post-Office, the German Club, and others. "The attacks did attract attention of the whole Europe, which become interested in the Macedonian problem, but they also strained the situation in Macedonia even more."7 The behavior of the Western media during the Kosovo Crisis8 of 1999-2000 provides the most recent example of this tendency.
Rebecca West, an English writer who journeyed through Yugoslavia in 1936 and 1937, pinpointed personal prejudices as yet another factor that hindered Westerners’ understanding of the Balkans:
"Hence, each people was perpetually making charges of inhumanity against all its neighbors. The Serb, for example, raised his bitterest complaints against the Turk, but was also ready to accuse the Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Vlachs, and the Albanians for every crime under the sun. English persons, therefore, of humanitarian and reformist disposition constantly went out to the Balkan Peninsula to see who was in fact ill-treating whom, and, being by the very nature of their perfectionist faith unable to accept the horrid hypothesis that everybody was ill-treating everybody else, all come back with a pet Balkan people established in their hearts as suffering and innocent, eternally the massacree and never the massacrer. The same sort of person, devoted to good works and austerities, who is traditionally supposed to keep a cat and a parrot, often set up on the hearth the image of the Albanian or the Bulgarian or the Serbian or the Macedonian Greek people, which had all the force and blandness of pious fantasy."9
Presence of positive and negative bias often sets the tone in writings about the Balkans, even with writers who advocated objectivity: "He was one of the handsomest Serbs I ever knew. And that’s saying a lot, for they turn out the best-looking men in the world here, as you probably know."10 A similar example: Henry Noel Brailsford, "a British journalist who was in Macedonia during 1903 and 1904 providing British relief assistance to victims of the Ilinden-Preobazhenski Uprising,"11 wrote the following about "Bulgarian [peasant] of Macedonia": "He lacks the plausibility, the grace, the quick intelligence of the Greek. He has nothing of the dignified mediæval chivalry of the Albanian. Nor has he physical graces to recommend him; and even the women are unprepossessing."12
Western historians and publicists of Balkan origins seem even more inclined to support nationalistic outlook on history than non-émigrés. Expatriates might perceive nationalism as one of the few remaining links with the "old motherland." Their perspective is often skewed, when compared to the one of their fellows. For example, a page about most important Macedonians, made by amateur historian from Canada, lists seven persons: three historical figures (Alexander the Great, Gotse Delchev and Kiro Gligorov) and four prominent businesspersons from Canadian-Macedonian community. So, it turns out that being the first president of independent Republic of Macedonia is as important to the 'Macedonian cause' as owning a chain of warehouses and a NHL hokey club in Canada.13
Notes
1
Donald V. Gawronski, History—meaning and method (Glenview, IL: Scott-Forresman,
1975), p.89
2
Ibid.
3
“A Letter from Gavril, Archbishop of Ohrid, to the Archduke
Ferdinand of Habsburg” written October 8th 1589, and “The Archbishop
of Ohrid Atanasius Requests Foreign Aid for an Uprising Against the Ottoman
Rule” from 1615, in Documents on the struggle of the Macedonian people,
Volume 1, pp.152-153; 156-158.
4
Captain Labignette, “The Communist Insurrection in
Greece,” in G. Chaliand, Guerrilla Strategies (Berkley, CA: University of
California Press, 1982) p.263-269.
5 Robert St. John, The Silent People Speak (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1948), pp.12.
6 Duncan M. Perry. The politics of terror: the Macedonian liberation movements, 1893-1903 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1988), pp.100-101; 127-128.
7 Ivan Katardzhiev, “I.M.O.R.O. (II),” in Macedonian Review, 3/1990, (Skopje, Macedonia: Cultural Life, 1990) p.143.
8 Noam Chomsky provides detailed analysis in his book The New Military Humanism, Lessons From Kosovo (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1999).
9 West, Rebecca. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey through Yugoslavia. (New York: The Viking Press, 1941). p.20.
10 The Silent People Speak, p.20.
11 The politics of terror, p.22.
12 Will S. Monroe, Bulgaria and Her People, With an Account of the Balkan Wars, Macedonia, and the Macedonian Bulgars (Boston, MA: The Page Company, 1914) p.370.
13 “Famous people of Macedonian descent” in Biser Balkanski, Canadian Macedonian Internet Community <http://www.biserbalkanski.com/famous/> (20 November 2000)
[Originally published
by Reality Macedonia, January 24, 2002:
part 1 and
part 2.] |