In a speech delivered today at the ASNOM Memorial Center in Pelince to mark the August 2 national holiday, Ilinden – Republic Day, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that every generation faces its own Ilinden, mission and responsibility. According to him, the task of today’s generation is to preserve the strength of the state, make it prosperous and just, and restore people’s belief that it is worth staying and building their future in their own country.
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Mickoski said that commemorating the Ilinden revolutionaries, honoring the work of ASNOM’s state-builders and invoking their names should not be done solely as a sign of respect for the past. He stressed that it should also prompt people to ask themselves a fundamental question: whether today’s generation is a worthy heir to their sacrifice and whether it is courageously shouldering the responsibility they left behind.
“History does not ask us to follow the same path again, but to demonstrate the same courage. Every generation has its own Ilinden. Some generations fought against empires, others sought to establish a state, while some defended freedom with arms. Our generation has a different task, but one that is no easier: to keep the state strong, make it just and prosperous, and once again turn it into a country where people believe it is worth staying, working, creating, raising families and building their future here, in their home and homeland,” Mickoski stressed.
According to the prime minister, the glorious past should not merely serve as a refuge from the present. He said it should serve as a foundation from which to draw strength for everything that remains to be built.
“A people that relies solely on its history slowly begins to lose its future. But no one can stop a people that cherishes its past while courageously building its future. Believe me when I say with complete conviction that this generation’s battle is the last hope for the future of the state. We must not and cannot fail. This generation’s struggle represents the last line and force of resistance against numerous injustices and misguided historical decisions over which we had no influence, but which affected us,” Mickoski said.
He acknowledged that today’s Macedonia is not the country or state envisioned by the participants of Ilinden and ASNOM. However, Mickoski added that restoring such a homeland is precisely the battle facing the current generation.
“I must tell you that, although this may not be enough for some, for many others we are taking measures every day, step by step and with the same determination as before, to restore confidence and create examples in which Macedonia wins. One need only recall the balance of political forces in the country just a few years ago and the extent to which citizens were marginalized in the face of an onslaught by the various interests of political elites. Today, those forces are deep in opposition, divided by personal interests and far from the seats of power that enabled them to live comfortably,” Mickoski said.
