Posted on 01/26/2005 10:36:38 PM PST by shpirag
http://www.petitiononline.com/21ian205/petition.html
To: International romanian community and friends Dear Madam/Dear Sir,
We appeal to you in order to draw your attention regarding the situation of a church built in Malainitsa (northeastern Serbia) by the local Romanian community.
On January 21, the mayor of the locality submitted an official letter to the curate of the church, ordering him to destroy the belfry until January 28 and to proceed with the demolition of the church within 15 days.
This order of the mayoralty is based on the pretense that the church's construction was not approved by the local authorities. The fact is that no building in the village Malainitsa was ever constructed following such a procedure. The Romanian church is the first case when the authorities demand the completion of an approval procedure. Given the situation, this is clearly an unreasonable requirement directed in fact at preventing the Romanian minority to develop its own religious life. The church is built on a private property and no property issues are involved in the matter.
The general framework regarding Romanians in Serbia is confusing. They live compactly in two areas of Serbia. The group in northwest (Vojvodina) is officially recognized as a national minority and is therefore granted all the specific rights of a national minority. The group in northeastern Serbia (the Tymok Region), is officially ignored and, in consequence, no language, education or cultural rights are available for them.
The intention of the local authorities to proceed with the demolition of the church is wrong, immoral and ultimately illegal. Although the Romanians in Malainitsa might have broken some formal legal provisions concerning the need for an approval, such a requirement for them is unreasonable because nobody in the village was ever demanded to obtain such an approval for a private building, as it is usually the case in the countryside. Setting up unreasonable requirements for a minority group in comparison with the usual requested for the majority is a violation of the spirit of the international legislation regarding the protection of national minorities.
In the particular case of the church in Malainitsa, the Serb authorities are clearly in breach of the following provisions of the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for National Minorities:
- article 4, regarding the promotion in all areas of social and cultural life of a "full and effective equality between persons belonging to a national minority and those belonging to the majority"
- article 5, regarding the obligation of the state "to promote the conditions necessary for persons belonging to national minorities to maintain and develop their culture, and to preserve the essential elements of their identity, namely their religion, language, traditions and cultural heritage"
- article 8, regarding the obligation of the state "to recognize that every person belonging to a national minority has the right to manifest his or her religion or belief and to establish religious institutions, organizations and associations".
Hoping that everyone of you can help us to publicize this matter and determine the serbian government to undertake the appropriate measures, we thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
The S.O.S. Romanian church in Malainita, Serbia Petition to International romanian community and friends was created by Fundatia Nationala pentru Romanii de Pretutindeni, Bucuresti and written by Daniela Soros, vicepresedinte FNRP (fundatia@romanii.ro).
Orthodox bump!
The article is full of garbage -- from incorrect spelling of the town (Malainitsa) or region (Tymok), to grammatical errors/omissions - probably dleiberate -- (i.e. serbian with a lowercase "s"), to "logic" one would expect from a two-year old (although she admits the Vlachs -- the Romanian minority there -- may have violated some regulations, the only reason they are being punished is because they are a minority with no rights).
The contextual background Ms Soros leaves out of this insignificant but overblown event goes back to December 6, 2004, when a Romanian archbishop (episkop) came to Malajnica (Malaynitsa), Serbia, unannounced, without even a mayor or the local Serbian bishop knowing, to bless the bell of a new Romanian Orthodox church. The church building itself was built over an existing private home (remodeling) without a permission from building authorities as to the possible violations of any building codes or fire hazards, noise pollution, and so on.
The archbishop used this occasion for separatist and political purposes, with uncalled-for separatist and nationalist message -- an obvious provocation.
The charges made by the author are unsubstantiated by a single verifiable fact or court document. There are almost three dozen national minorities who had no problems being there for the last few hundred years. No one ever tried to push them out, or change their culture. Serbia's laws permit national minority rights and even go farther than most western countries in providing support for them.
Unlike the West (which is supposedly the standard for all to emulate), in Serbia In Serbia, or example, ethnic languages are official languages in addition to Serbian in all areas where a certain minority represents local majority. In Serbia the government that pays for all the ethnic-language schools and programs, newspapers, etc. In the West, one is allowed to observe cultural heritage through schools and cultural events -- on private funds. No American taxpayer will pay for some Romanian child in Chicago to attend Romanian-language schools, or for a Romanian-language newspapers and radio! neither will America give equal status to a foreing language other than English. Yet in Serbia the fifth column minorities have come to expect such benefits from Serbian taxpayers because of their "right" to live in Serbia!
Let me make myself clear about this God-given right to life: there isn't one! Not one of us has a right to life. We have all been condemned to death, no matter how good, how rich, how pretty or how stupid. Life is one unpredictable death row. And without life, all other rights become meaningless.
Rights come with responsibilities. The two go hand-in-hand. The modern world, mostly in America, has redefined this as a unilateral affair, without corresponding responsibilities. So, we have come to expect something that is not ours by nature or by God to expect. We take it for granted rather than to cherish as something that was loaned. As a loan, we are expected to care for it, and pay it back. But the me-me-me cretinism sees it as a gift without any payback necessary.
So this is yet another "I'm the victim" cry of a people who enjoyed life among Serbs without disturbance for hundreds of years and have only now decided that, somehow, the provisions of the European Union apply to Mayevitsa -- but not to Kosovo!
By none other than another Soros humanoid.
in Serbia In Serbia, or example = In Serbia, for xample
In Serbia the government that pays = In Serbia the government pays
Bishops turning up in another patriachate without permission is not good. I trust Patriarch Pavel sent a strong protest.
This kind of thing makes me all the more eager for the contra-canonical situation in North America to be fixed and for us to have our own Patriarchate. The world indeed imitates America, and unfortunately, it seems even some Orthodox bishops in traditionally Orthodox countries, who should know better, to want to emulate the ethnic separatism which had plagued the Church in America since the Bolshevik Revolution cut us off from Moscow and Patriarch Miletius (of sorrowful memory) seized the opportunity to poach territory with the establishement of the Greek Archdiocese.
We in America aren't spiritually mature enough to have our own Patriarchate -- the thought of us on our own without any moorings is a little frightening -- but we should all be under one structure, under the omophorion of an "old world" primate. My vote would be for either Moscow or the Church of Greece proper. Both are real churches with real dioceses and real experience in administering them. But we need to get to where there is only one bishop in each geographical area here in the US, with all Orthodox parishes in that area being ministered to and supervised by a single bishop. Most national churches in the history of the Orthodox Church who received autocephaly had been in existence far longer and were far more stable at the time of receiving autocephaly than our brief and tumultuous existence here.
How often do we read about this sort of thing here in the US when zoning laws are used to bully Church construction projects.
I know of an OCA Church in Reston VA that has been trying to build a church on some property that they purchased several years ago. Their neighbors decided they don't want a church there and they've been using the zoning laws to prevent any construction for nearly a decade.
Someone want to call Soros and seek their aid?
I guess maybe being in the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America under
Bishop BASIL makes me a little more sanguine about our spiritual maturity.
I would just like to dwell on the particular point that renders the whole thing laughable and preposterous. She admits that "...the Romanians in Malainitsa might have broken some formal legal provisions concerning the need for an approval...".
Might have?! Well, they obviously did go against the law. During Miloshevich's reign, they probably would've gotten away with it. Not today. Serbia (especially the bigger cities) has a huge problem with the so-called "wild construction" (rampant illegal const.) and it was about time the Government did something about it. For example, there was this guy who had built a family home atop a residential building in downtown Belgrade! I kid you not!
There is no way the permit was denied on the basis of ethnicity. That is preposterous. There are dozens of Romanian churches across the Serbian northeast (especially in Banat) and one more church -- an Orthodox one, at that! --- wouldn't hurt anybody. For Christ's sake, Serbia (its taxpayers, actually) subsidizes every religion on its territory! And this is the thanks Serbia gets. Imagine if Serbia followed the example of the Western states and cut off all the financial support to the religious/cultural/ethnic/minority groups living in Serbia. I can't imagine what would happen.
Furthermore, "...such a requirement for them is unreasonable because nobody in the village was ever demanded to obtain such an approval for a private building, as it is usually the case in the countryside."
Now, if there's a need for a Romanian church in the village, I bet there's a large number/percentage of Romanians living there. Have they ever had a problem with the local zoning commission? The above paragraph says they have not. Case closed, as far as I am concerned.
Imagine if everybody started building whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted.
These people should learn to respect the laws of the country they live in and get over themselves. And not just the Romanians -- everybody who lives there! I am sick of these yahoos whining about having to respect the law.
I would just like to dwell on the particular point that renders the whole thing laughable and preposterous. She admits that "...the Romanians in Malainitsa might have broken some formal legal provisions concerning the need for an approval...".
Might have?! Well, they obviously did go against the law. During Miloshevich's reign, they probably would've gotten away with it. Not today. Serbia (especially the bigger cities) has a huge problem with the so-called "wild construction" (rampant illegal const.) and it was about time the Government did something about it. For example, there was this guy who had built a family home atop a residential building in downtown Belgrade! I kid you not!
There is no way the permit was denied on the basis of ethnicity. That is preposterous. There are dozens of Romanian churches across the Serbian northeast (especially in Banat) and one more church -- an Orthodox one, at that! --- wouldn't hurt anybody. For Christ's sake, Serbia (its taxpayers, actually) subsidizes every religion on its territory! And this is the thanks Serbia gets. Imagine if Serbia followed the example of the Western states and cut off all the financial support to the religious/cultural/ethnic/minority groups living in Serbia. I can't imagine what would happen.
Furthermore, "...such a requirement for them is unreasonable because nobody in the village was ever demanded to obtain such an approval for a private building, as it is usually the case in the countryside."
Now, if there's a need for a Romanian church in the village, I bet there's a large number/percentage of Romanians living there. Have they ever had a problem with the local zoning commission? The above paragraph says they have not. Case closed, as far as I am concerned.
Imagine if everybody started building whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted.
These people should learn to respect the laws of the country they live in and get over themselves. And not just the Romanians -- everybody who lives there! I am sick of these yahoos whining about having to respect the law.
I could never figure those Serbs out. They piss and moan about their churches and monasteries being destroyed in Kosovo (rightly so), but now they go and destroy a church belonging to their fellow Orthodox believers. I know there were posts about one bishop not infringing on the territory of another bishop...but I am sure the two patriarchs could have settled things more fraternally.
It's not the Serbian Church that's doing this, it's the government enforcing construction laws.
unsee=unseen
Get a permit from the zoning commission first and then build.
There are 15 ministries in Vojvodina's Executive Council (Government). At least 6 ministers are of Hungarian descent. That's about 40%.
Of all places, Voyvodina is the the most multinational and multicultural. What some people neglect top understand is that contrary to the vicious western propaganda -- Serbia has laws, and they apply to all citizens regardless of nationality or religious preference.
This appeal is a bogus attempt to profit from deliberate obfuscation of facts -- by whining, hiding behind (in)famous names and playing a perpetual victim.
I am sure there are. Is this a common name? If so, it would be good to disclaim any connection to George from the start -- lest there be a confusion. If someone writes under George W. Bush, don't you think it would be a good idea to let everyone know it's not the GWB? A little situational awareness goes a long way.
If this lady is a president of some official organization, she needs to get someone who can actually speak and write English correctly to redact her public notices. It just makes the whole thing a little bit more credible. The west is funny about that. Just a friendly advice.
She needs to show, prove, that this particular case has a precedent among Serbs and that the law was applied unfairly. She is making an awful lot of accusations without a shred of evidence to support them. In the west, people assume innocence until guilt is proven. So, the burden of proof is on Ms Soros, not the Serbian mayor, or the Serbs in that region.
Arguing that this was done before is not an excuse. Many people speed but only some get caught and punished with a ticket. I can just see someone appealing to a traffic judge in America by saying he or she received a speeding ticket because he or she is black/Filipino or Filipina, Polish, etc! Good luck! Or to try to argue that others have broken the speed limit and didn't get punished for it! Go ahead, tell Ms Soros to use those arguments in America!
Blowing up a cross and legally removing something that should not be there are two different things. Blowing up anything is a terrorist act unless it is for purposes of legal demolition. If an Orthodox cross was put up illegally it should have been removed, but not blown up. No one has blown up that Romanian church in this particular case.
I don't really give a rat's a$$ if minorities in Serbia have a problem being in Serbia. Corsicans have problems being in France, Catalans and Basques have problems being in Spain, Irish Catholics have problems being in UK, Kurds have problems being in Iraq, Turkey and Iran, etc. What's your point?
The problem is whether some group of people are actively harassed and attacked, if their culture is being systematically destroyed, oppressed etc. and whether the authorities are tacitly supporting it. None of this is going on in Serbia.
As for spelling, Serbia uses Cyrillic alphabet officially. You can spell Serbian names and words by transliterates them into English, using established transliteration method for other Cyrillic languages, or you can use Croatian spelling, which is currently a substitute way of transliterating. If a Serb writes in English, he or she will not spell out New York as NYuyork (although that's how it is spelled in Serbian) or Tina Turner as Tina Tarner. Time to join the rest of the world!
As for minorities and minority rights. Serbia should do as much as and not one iota more than what is being done for minorities in "civilized" countries (read: the west). That does not include taxpayer supported ethnic schools, media and so on. And I can tell you that Serbia is doing above and beyond what the western countries are doing for their minorities.
Granted, I take a bit of a isolationist approach: I am at a pretty traditional and pretty isolated parish, and we have a very traditional priest that I hope we can keep for a long time, and that we will be able to find one equally traditional to replace him. I don't think that the powers that be on the coasts are really going to care what goes on out here in the boonies, and that we can be as traditionally Orthodox as we like, as long as we don't make waves. But do I have assurance that the OCA could deal us a priest at random from St. Vlads or St. Tikhon's and that we'd be happy with him? No.
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