No politician, diplomat, bureaucrat or journalist I've ever asked this question has answered it. Yet they're quick to tell me to give away my ethnic identity. They try to convince me that the forced renaming of Macedonia, the redefining of what it has ever meant to be Macedonian, and the literal rewriting of Macedonian history is a “good thing because it resolves a diplomatic dispute”. What they're really telling me is that my ethnic group is lesser than theirs.

...And this is how Macedonian politicians, from both major parties, have always governed the Republic of Macedonia – with no balls. It's painfully obvious that they should have never played the game. You can't win by just playing defence – eventually the other team will score, and they will score a lot. And Macedonian politicians have played the game so poorly, they not only made their own team (the Republic of Macedonia) lose, they've taken all of Macedonia's partitioned territory – and all Macedonians, past, present and future – down with them.

If the West's anti-Macedonian arguments were applied elsewhere, then the countries – and their people – that declared independence after the Iron Curtain fell would be deemed “brand new”. So, they didn't have a history before 1991. The Armenian genocide didn't occur because there were no Armenians. Nameless, non-existent sub-humans were slaughtered by the Turks. All Ukrainians were six years old when the famous “Ukraine is game to you” Seinfeld episode aired. Quite a big accomplishment having been given a starring role on the greatest TV show ever for a brand-new invented nationality.

Published in The Foreign Policy Journal. By Bill Nicholov, President, MHRMI:

What if your ethnic identity was being given away while the Western world participated in its demise, then celebrated with claims that a “diplomatic dispute” was being solved?

Published in GlobalResearch.ca, by Bill Nicholov, President, MHRMI: Macedonian schoolchildren will no longer be taught that Macedonian heroes are Macedonian. They will be told that they're "Bulgarian". They will be taught that ancient Macedonians were "Greek". Both notions are tragically laughable...

There is a typical Macedonian problem that is inadvertently aiding in our downfall – and that is the belligerent reluctance of wealthy or high-profile Macedonians to act in the face of adversity. Our country's name and identity have been forcibly changed and handed to our oppressors, our history is being rewritten, everything that our ancestors fought for is being wiped out, everything that we’re currently fighting for is being wiped out - yet they won't act.

By Stojko Stojkov, Co-President of OMO Ilinden PIRIN: As a Macedonian from Pirin Macedonia, and an activist in the Macedonian movement in Bulgaria, I'm often bothered by the following issue: why is it that all countries in the Balkans care about their minorities living outside of their borders, all except Macedonia! Is this some kind of a unique feature of our state? Where does this absolute lack of desire - to care for and to at least verbally support your compatriots across the border - come from? Is the lack of compassion and solidarity a unique Macedonian character trait?

If someone told you that a name used to describe their ethnic group is deeply offensive, would you continue to use that name and even try to convince them that it is not offensive?

NO. So stop calling me a “North Macedonian” from “North Macedonia”. I am Macedonian from Macedonia. Any other term is designed to negate my ethnic identity. Maybe you didn't know that before, but you do now...

One of my kids' friends was talking about how his ethnic group doesn't get along with another ethnic group because of long-standing tensions between the two. He discussed how his parents taught him how “bad” the other group was. He then asked, "So who do you hate?“ Our answer - ”Nobody." But how do I tell my kids that a lot of people hate us? We're Macedonian...

Nancy April, a teenager in Newfoundland enjoyed all the pleasures of the Canadian north. Its landscape, wildlife and bountiful supply of fish by the sea. Most importantly, she reveled in the time spent with her family and tribe’s people and the centuries of traditions that defined them. Eventually though, another group of people encroached on her tribe’s land and cut-off their access to the area’s food supply, slowly starving them to death. Her father died. Then her mother. Then her sister. Soon enough, Nancy was the only one left from her tribe. Then she died.