Talk:Macedonia for the Macedonians

Gladstone and Ethnic Macedonians.
There are no sources supporting that Gladstone appealed for the rights of the ethnic Macedonians. He appealed for self-determination of the peoples who resided in the region, while Britain regarded the creation of an autonomous Macedonia with a Christian governor as a possible solution of the Macedonian issue. On that occasion, the British journalist G. W. Steevens noted in the preface of the brochure containing the letter of Gladstone, that he has used "Macedonians" as a collective name of the diverse population of the region. Steevens explained that there were at least six different kind of Macedonians at that time. Once Gladstone launched the motto, this maxim became widely known. In 1898, the historian William Miller argued against Gladstone's proclamation and his motto, arguing that this idea would not be practical, as a Macedonian nation did not exist at the time, and that a problem for the Macedonian state would be the mixture of different warring nationalities. By that reason per Allen Upward that phrase could not have been used by anybody, who had a first hand knowledge of that country. Jingiby (talk) 06:35, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * User:Okrados, North Macedonia was established in 1991, while Serbia and Bulgaria during 19th century. The slogan was raised by Gladstone in 1897. Please explain how he knew about the existence of that country, which was established after he died. Jingiby (talk) 16:03, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * As I am sure you know, under the Ottomans, nearly all people identified and were identified by the Ottomans with a Christian Exarchate. There were only two exarchates at the time, the Bulgarian and Greek ones. The inhabitants of Macedonia largely spoke a Slavic language and would therefore identify with the Bulgarian exarchate as they did not understand or consider themselves Greek. Simply put, just because some called themselves Bulgarians because they identified with the Bulgarian exarchate, that does not mean that they were Bulgarians, only Orthodox Christians. This is clearly demonstrate in one of the letters by the Macedonian Metropolitan, Theodosius of Skopje to the Pope asking to be taken into the Catholic Church as the Macedonians were being forcefully assimilated by the Bulgarians. Back to your question, while you are obviously correct in saying that Gladstone didn't know about the establishment of North Macedonia in 1991, he had advocated for an independent Macedonia, even if on the basis of region. The historical region of Macedonia was divided amongst those who identified with the Greek exarchate, those who identified with the Bulgarian exarchate, Muslim Turks and Albanians as well as Jews, Gypsies etc. Just as how one calling himself a Macedonian because of his region does not make him a modern day Macedonian, one calling himself a Bulgarian because of the larger religious affiliation does not make him a modern day Bulgarian. That being said, Gladstone had advocated for a multi-ethnic independent Christian Macedonia which in reality, is the modern day state of North Macedonia. Just because some identified with the Bulgarian exarchate and called themselves Bulgarians, does not mean that an ethnic consciousness of a Macedonian peoples distinct of the Bulgarians or Greeks, did not exist. The successor to what Gladstone said in his maxim of Macedonia for the Macedonians is the Republic of North Macedonia. Okrados (talk) 22:01, 20 May 2021 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Okrados (talk • contribs) 21:58, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * May you provide a reliable secondary source about your claim: The successor to what Gladstone said in his maxim of Macedonia for the Macedonians is the Republic of North Macedonia.Jingiby (talk) 03:20, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * In Andrew Rossos' book, Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History, around page 100-105, Rossos talks about the identification of Slavs in the region of Macedonia with the Bulgarian Exarchate in Ottoman times. He goes on to talk about how Bulgarians and Macedonians were distinct in those times but were grouped together as a result of archaic Ottoman classification systems which conflated religion and ethnicity as I had talked about previously. Therefore, when Gladstone mentioned a free and independent Macedonia headed by a Christian governor, he was referring to the Macedonian peoples and an independent state for them which were distinct as mentioned above. As a result, it could be viewed that when Gladstone advocated for a Macedonia for the Macedonians, the realization of that idea is the modern day Republic of North Macedonia which not only fulfills his envisioning of a multi-ethnic state but also that for a nation led by Slavic Macedonians. Okrados (talk) 04:10, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Are you kidding? Jingiby (talk) 06:37, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * You mind explaining what's wrong?Okrados (talk) 07:05, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Please, provide a secondary reliable source about Gladstone ideas, confirming he envisioned the creation of a new state of ethnic Macedonians, located in the area of today North Macedonia, as part of an imagined Balkan Federation. Jingiby (talk) 08:43, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Jingiby, you are a paid actor to spread propaganda. Your make revisions day and night, almost 24/7. Tell me how this is possible if there are not multiple people using one account to push propaganda non-stop. It is a great shame that Wikipedia allows this to continue. I thought with the two arbitrations so far this issue would stop, but it has not. It seems that more drastic measures are needed. 77.28.22.215 (talk) 10:59, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Separate sections
I have tried to bring the views on the slogan in chronological order and have created 2 separate sections about to divide clearly different time-opinions and to weight them. Jingiby (talk) 16:16, 24 July 2023 (UTC)