Petition to UNESCO - Against Discrimination of Macedonian Language

In an era when identity is highlighted, it is a tragic paradox that there is so much discrimination within supposedly humanitarian organisations, such as UNESCO, against the Macedonian people and the Macedonian language.

For many Macedonians and people of Macedonian origin, this becomes a desperate existential question. In so many ways such practices of discrimination, and the accumulation of such practices at detailed levels of cultural exchange, have the effect of erasing a key reference point of one's identity - the idea of Macedonian as an identity for the Macedonians. This is felt everyday such that, in Australia for example, where there is tolerance and celebration of many ethnicities, to mention that you are Macedonian (background) resonates with either, silence because the person has not heard of such an origin, discomfort because the person is aware of ethnic tensions, or laissez-faire reaction because the person knows something and wants to make a joke.

It is no joke to always have this central reference of your identity put into question. It is a humanitarian tragedy when there is concerted effort to erase the Macedonian identity, because little by little, these practices of international organisations has that effect. It is a form of linguistic genocide.