Open Discussion
with Lyndon LaRouche

Hyatt Regency-Reston Hotel, Washington D.C. Schiller Institute Conference September 1-3, 2001

The following remarks were made Sept. 1 by Prof. Nestor Oginar, leader of the Macedonian Diaspora in North America. Professor Oginar was attending the Schiller Institute's annual Labor Day conference in Northern Virginia. He spoke from the floor shortly after Lyndon LaRouche's keynote address to the conference. Subheads have been added.

The Balkans-Southeast Europe has been, historically, one of the most crucial areas in the world. It has been, in the literal sense of the word, the land-bridge between Europe and Asia. It is a crossroads of different cultures, nations, religions, and ethnic groups. It is also a strategically crucial area between North-Central Europe and the South, the Middle East, Africa, Asia: It is the key bridge, the connecting point between East and West.

This area, for the last 100 years at least, could have been arguably one of the most economically developed areas in the world. Unfortunately, those world powers who want to prevent an economic and mutually beneficial collaboration and prosperity of the Balkan peoples have an interest to set it on fire, which is happening right now! It has been their way to maintain the oligarchical control of the world, at any cost, even if it involves destruction of entire countries, nations, cultures, and societies—which is nothing but a genocide, a bloody crime against humanity.

So, we have had this history of war and suffering in the Balkans for generations and generations. Ask my beloved, my suffering Macedonian people and they will tell you. Look at them now, as they are today, hopeless, humiliated, homeless, displaced, ethnically cleansed, economically impoverished, under military aggression, under military occupation, wounded in body and soul, bleeding and dying, attacked by the wild Albanian terrorist hordes, and their puppetmasters, disguised as NATO and the "International Community," all in the name of peacekeeping, war-preventing, and human rights. What a sham, what a shame, what a theater of the absurd!

Let me stress this point again: Macedonia is being destroyed, dismantled, completely annihilated from the map of the world, as a country, as a nation-state, as a society, as a constitutional democracy, as a peaceful member state of the United Nations. Astonishingly, all this is happening on the world stage before the wide open eyes of an apathetic audience. - We Are Defending an Idea -

But I cannot, we cannot blame only the mercenary KLA, which are but a proxy, or better yet the puppets, of greater and more insidious forces, whose commands they obey. We have to look at these forces, the real puppet-masters, more closely, because what is at stake is not just the very existence of Macedonia, because what we are defending isn't just one small, proud, ancient, biblical land—Macedonia. We are defending, ladies and gentlemen, an idea, an ideal; above all we are defending a principle: the principle that Macedonia, like every other country in the community of mankind, has the fundamental, the inalienable right to its own national sovereignty, to its own self-determination, to its own national independence, and national dignity. The right of the people to be free of violence, of foreign interference and war-mongering, from political and economic blackmail and coercion. The right of a people to organize its own democratic, economic, and cultural development.

And I contend before you that this is the reason why we the Macedonians have a moral obligation, and a right to ask for the help of any individual, any institution, any country of goodwill, include this illustrious Institute. Because we are convinced that in defending Macedonia on principle, we are defending a universal principle.

I am convinced as I stand here before you now, that Macedonia must take and will take the lead on the international stage in the universal struggle of humanity against this New World Globalized Order, piloted and manipulated by the predatory oligarchs, hiding in their headquarters in London, Washington, Brussels, or Wall Street. Just as in the manner in which my ancient and glorious king, Alexander of Macedonia, defeated the old oligarchs of the Persian Empire, 2,330 years ago, just as Apostle Paul responded to the pleading voice of the biblical Macedonian man to come and help, we the Macedonian people, drawing on our rich, long history, that has survived many invasions, must stand up and fight an honorable and great battle of ideas, and give our contribution in the changing of the world system of injustice and looting to a more just and humane one.

We call upon you, all of you, to join us the Macedonians in our fight against those who in the Balkans and elsewhere have drawn the geo-racist designs of maps, to join us in our struggle to fight the Zbigniew Brzezinskis of the world, the Henry Kissingers of the world, the Lord Owens of the world, the Lord Robertsons, the Javier Solanas, the James Wolfensons of the world, and the list goes on and on, ad infinitum.

We have a moral obligation to recognize that there is a monstrous design, a monstrous racism behind the policies and ideologies of these people and their likes, and we must do everything together to thwart them.

Ladies and gentlemen, need I remind you that we live in some of the most tragic, dangerous, and trying times of our era, which test the very fiber of our souls and consciousness as members of different nations of the civilized world, at the threshold of the 21st century? I can stand proudly here before you and state clearly that as a Macedonian, and as an intellectual, I feel that Macedonia is not defeated, the Macedonian people are not defeated, the people who know, love, and cherish the common welfare of mankind are not defeated. So long as our spirit is untouched, we are not defeated; so long as our pride and dignity survive, we are not conquered.

From this platform, I appeal to all of my fellow Macedonians, to all of my fellow Americans, to all of my fellows present here at this esteemed gathering, to all of mankind: We must resist the evil, dark forces that threaten to destabilize the world. We must resist the very same forces that, like hungry vultures, have descended upon the innocent living organism of Macedonia. In order to do that, we must recognize, I repeat, we must recognize that we are all drifting in a vast, dark sea of crisis, pilotless and starless. - LaRouche on the Crisis -

I am reminded here of a profound thought, expressed by Mr. Lyndon LaRouche and published in the Aug. 20 issue of the New Federalist. Let me quote it for you: "Two things are required. First thing: people have to recognize how bad the crisis is. They also have to recognize how elementary in nature the solution is. And only when that perception of crisis occurs do we have the possibility, politically, of doing what we must do."

For me, personally, as a Macedonian, but also as a human being, the biggest enemy with which we all are confronted in our time is not the Albanian terrorist organization KLA, it is not their mentors and puppet-masters embodied in NATO, the EU [European Union], and the "International Community." The biggest enemy of us all is the one that dwells and lurks within ourselves. Within the dark recesses of our detached and immobilized minds. The enemy is in our demoralization, in our apathy, in our resignation, in our moral capitulation, in our complacency and our readiness to accept the reality, the Hegelian reality, as it is thrust at us, on a daily basis.

But I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn't know, that we the Macedonians have it in us, in our blood, in our veins, all the strength of our striving humanity, our national and cultural heritage, to strive, to overcome, to vanquish and never to yield, to all of our enemies from within or without.

Countless generations of our proud Macedonian ancestors have bestowed on us a priceless heritage and tradition of resistance, of fighting and never yielding to the forces of evil, no matter how powerful they may be. Our resistance must spring forth from the generosity of our hearts, from the clarity of our minds, and from the nobility of our spirit. We owe these values to our children, and all new generations. - We Are Not Helpless Sheep -

When we succeed to extricate ourselves from the double psychological trap of imposed fear and induced impotence, when we begin to realize that we are embarked on a mission of grandiose and epic proportions, only then will we be able to understand that we are not alone, isolated, abandoned, and helpless sheep surrounded with the army of enemies, and we can summon strength to fight and to resist.

Only then will we be able to realize that a small band of petty oligarchs, plutocrats, speculators, and usurers masked behind the metaphors of the international community, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, NATO, and others, have subjected virtually the entire world to destruction, and that my beloved and proud Macedonia is only another victim in the vast gallery of horror.

The only advantage of this evil is their ability, by way of brutal force and deception, to carry out the policy of "Divide et Impera," divide and conquer, to project the image of omnipotence, omniscience, and invincibility, and to bully, frighten, degrade, and humiliate, morally and psychologically, the countries which they choose to victimize in their pathological laboratories.

I must say, over and over, so that I may be understood, that our allegedly invincible enemy is not nearly so powerful as they like to be perceived.

I tell you that right now, as I speak, they are shivering in their offices, wherever they are, at the very notion that tiny Macedonia and its people will rise en masse, by the millions, and say, "It is enough!" Stop this unjust invasion! Stop this military occupation! We do not accept this framework agreement being imposed on our pathetic, corrupt, inexperienced, and cowardly government by way of military force, and political and economic blackmail. We refuse to accept it because it is in contradiction with the universal principles of democracy, with the Constitution of Macedonia as a nation-state, with the democratic processes as they are practiced all over the world, and with international law and order as we know it.

Like the Nazi-Fascist apparatus of World War II, NATO, the International Community, and its pathetic proxies, have overestimated their real strength, and we know that they are beginning to rot and collapse from within, as does the financial system that spawned them. - We Must Be Greater Than Ourselves -

So, you see, ladies and gentlemen, that there is no reason, no room, for pessimism. We can win! As indeed we must! The real war, the factor that determines the final outcome, is not a military war, it is a battle of ideas. It is a war of principles to be fought and played out, ultimately, in the theater of civilized humanity. The historical situation we encounter today requires from all of us, in the paraphrase of the great German poet and humanist, Friederich Schiller, that we become bigger than ourselves, so that a great historical moment does not find us again—small people.

Ladies and gentlemen, Let me conclude by reiterating the thought that we must not remain the mere spectator at what is happening. That no man is an island, an entity unto himself. If Macedonia is destroyed, can Europe ever be the same? Will she not be diminished, dishonored, and humiliated? And, for that matter, can the world ever be the same after the demise of Macedonia?

That's why it is crucial that we organize and unite in our struggle to save and preserve Macedonia, not only as a country, a nation-state, a constitutional democracy, but an idea, and an ideal founded on the inalienable universal principles of liberty, equality, justice, and dignity of the common man!

Macedonia is our one, only, and last remaining hope, and we must save her!