"Oh mother, my mother (lamentation)"

This lament is based on a traditional Lebanese Good Friday hymn (Wa Habibi/Beloved). The melody follows a Byzantine theme and the singer's trills and guttural pulsations will probably sound dissonant to classically-trained ears.

Here's my rendition of the lyrics in English:

Oh mother, my mother

my path was sown

with bitterness and absinthe

Oh mother, my mother

my days of youth gave way

under the weight of swords.

Oh heaven, my heaven

send me water

to soak the desert

so that a soothing flower 

may bloom

from my airy frame

Oh mother, my mother

bring me Spring

upon the cross.

Oh mother, my mother

my sun-drenched day 

when will I find you.

Oh heaven, my heaven

dissolve these darkened clouds 

so that I may cross the frontier

and on one evening

upon the mountains

to raise the call

Oh mother, my mother

in my hands today

the nails burn so.

Oh heaven, my heaven

send me water

to soak the desert

so that a soothing flower 

may bloom

from my airy frame

Oh mother, my mother

bring me your Sun

upon the cross.

Can a democracy change its mind? (The Mytilenean debate)

The place is Athens, the year 428 B.C. The war between Sparta and Athens has been raging on for about three years now. Pericles, Athens’s most influential politician, died the previous year in the plague that swept the city. The city is in disarray.

More disturbing news: one of the city’s closest allies and member of the Delian League (something like an ancient NATO), Mytilene, has decided to secede and side with Sparta. The Spartans have decided to help them, but the powerful Athenian navy, which has control of the seas, manages to capture Mytilene with the support of the local pro-Athenian faction.
The Athenian general contacts Athens: What shall we do with Mytilene?

The Athenians assemble to discuss this. The opinion of Cleon, a strident populist, expertly exploits Athenian anxieties and feelings of betrayal and ends up dominating in the debate: Mytilenians must die.

A ship is dispatched to Mytilene to deliver the orders. While the ship is on its way, Athenians strongly opposed to this decision demand a new debate, which is approved.

In this second debate, Cleon is furious and accuses Athenians of being victims of their own pleasure of endless debates in political matters. He urges the population to uphold the decision and not to be traitors to themselves: a decision has been made and we should stick to it.

Diodotus speaks next in support of the opposing view, arguing that haste and anger are the two greatest obstacles to wise counsel. Using Cleon’s arguments against him, he reframes the question: it is not about Mytilene’s guilt or whether it is right for Athens to seek vengeance, but about what is in Athens’s best interests. Would the proposed death penalty deter a potential future revolt and support the efforts of the Mytilenean pro-Athenian faction or would it further alienate Mytilenians?

At the end of the second debate, Diodorus’s rational arguments have swayed the opinion of the assembly towards sparing the general population of Mytilene and executing only the leaders of the revolt. A second ship is dispatched to deliver the new decision and annul the first one. Perhaps because the first ship was in no rush to deliver such grave news, the second ship arrives first and the Mytileneans are spared.

source: Thucydides, "History of the Peloponnesian War", book 3

1821

 

Όλη η ιστορία της επανάστασης σε ένα ντοκιμαντέρ‐αφιέρωμα.

Eurogroup meeting 11/2/2015 - What is at stake?

Eurogroup negotiations starting today will have a lasting effect on European politics. Greece's debt is unsustainable (currently at 171% of GDP) and they will enter the discussions seeking a substantial debt reduction, refusing further bailouts from the Troika (EU, ECB, IMF), and requesting an interim (‘bridging’) loan to ensure the country’s short-term financial needs are met until the end of August, giving the new government enough time to form a solid economic plan.

I find it unlikely that a deal will be struck and the consequences could very well be disastrous. First, the majority of European partners find what little they have heard of the Greek economic plan unconvincing. Secondly, responding positively to the Greek requests means that other debt-stricken countries that have also endured austerity will demand a similar deal - basically transferring wealth from a thrifty economically conservative north, to the much less economically active and less transparent south. I cannot see how the German government can sell this to their electorate. Not only are they ideologically opposed to the Greek economic plan, but even assuming they went along with it they would most certainly lose the support of their electorate - it would be political suicide.

Bellicose rhetoric spewing forth from Athens over the last couple of weeks, reopening old wounds that the European project was created to patch in the first place, has marginalised support for the plight of Greece in Germany. Greece is betting that Germany will budge in the end because not doing so would destabilise the entire Eurozone with unpredictable reverberations in the political and economic spheres. What is at stake is European political stability.

What if there is no agreement? With Greece essentially forced to leave the Eurozone, having distanced itself from its erstwhile partners and seeking patronage in the East, the political status quo of the continent changes. Having an isolated and unpredictable Greece in the strategically important south-eastern corner of Europe whose national interests are no longer aligned with those of the rest of Europe is not a sobering thought. It would hardly be surprising to see a rise in military spending everywhere.

Important dates:
Wednesday 11 February
Emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers, (known as the eurogroup). Greece also loses access to cheapest funding from the European Central Bank.

Thursday 12 February
European leaders meet in Brussels. Alexis Tsipras’s first meeting with all fellow European prime ministers.

Monday 16 February
Deadline to reapply for bailout according to eurogroup head, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Wednesday 18 February
European Central Bank governing council meeting to renew emergency funding.

Saturday 28 February
Greece due to receive final €7.2bn instalment from Troika. Without a deal by this date, Greece could lose access to ECB funding.

"Gemma" by Dimitris Liantinis (paperback edition)

Following the e-book edition of Gemma by Dimitris Liantinis (translation and commentaries by me, introduction and editing by Nikolitsa Georgopoulou-Liantini), I am pleased to announce that the paperback edition is now also available via Amazon/Createspace 

The book includes a short interview of Nikolitsa Liantini at the end.

https://www.createspace.com/4405539

http://www.amazon.com/Gemma-Dimitris-Liantinis/dp/1492179698/

Pericles' Funeral Oration

Thucidides: Pericles' Funeral Oration
 (Θουκιδίδης: Περικλέους Επιτάφιος λόγος)

From History of the Peloponnesian War  (Book 2. 34-46)

"Most of my predecessors in this place have commended him who made this speech part of the law, telling us that it is well that it should be delivered at the burial of those who fall in battle. For myself, I should have thought that the worth which had displayed itself in deeds would be sufficiently rewarded by honours also shown by deeds; such as you now see in this funeral prepared at the people's cost. And I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth. On the one hand, the friend who is familiar with every fact of the story may think that some point has not been set forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on the other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be led by envy to suspect exaggeration if he hears anything above his own nature. For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity. However, since our ancestors have stamped this custom with their approval, it becomes my duty to obey the law and to try to satisfy your several wishes and opinions as best I may.

"I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that they should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like the present. They dwelt in the country without break in the succession from generation to generation, and handed it down free to the present time by their valour. And if our more remote ancestors deserve praise, much more do our own fathers, who added to their inheritance the empire which we now possess, and spared no pains to be able to leave their acquisitions to us of the present generation. Lastly, there are few parts of our dominions that have not been augmented by those of us here, who are still more or less in the vigour of life; while the mother country has been furnished by us with everything that can enable her to depend on her own resources whether for war or for peace. That part of our history which tells of the military achievements which gave us our several possessions, or of the ready valour with which either we or our fathers stemmed the tide of Hellenic or foreign aggression, is a theme too familiar to my hearers for me to dilate on, and I shall therefore pass it by. But what was the road by which we reached our position, what the form of government under which our greatness grew, what the national habits out of which it sprang; these are questions which I may try to solve before I proceed to my panegyric upon these men; since I think this to be a subject upon which on the present occasion a speaker may properly dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether citizens or foreigners, may listen with advantage.

"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.
"Further, we provide plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from business. We celebrate games and sacrifices all the year round, and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure and helps to banish the spleen; while the magnitude of our city draws the produce of the world into our harbour, so that to the Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.

"If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens; while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger. In proof of this it may be noticed that the Lacedaemonians do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their confederates; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbour, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes. Our united force was never yet encountered by any enemy, because we have at once to attend to our marine and to dispatch our citizens by land upon a hundred different services; so that, wherever they engage with some such fraction of our strength, a success against a detachment is magnified into a victory over the nation, and a defeat into a reverse suffered at the hands of our entire people. And yet if with habits not of labour but of ease, and courage not of art but of nature, we are still willing to encounter danger, we have the double advantage of escaping the experience of hardships in anticipation and of facing them in the hour of need as fearlessly as those who are never free from them.

"Nor are these the only points in which our city is worthy of admiration. We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and, instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all. Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours. Yet, of course, the doer of the favour is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly from the very consciousness that the return he makes will be a payment, not a free gift. And it is only the Athenians, who, fearless of consequences, confer their benefits not from calculations of expediency, but in the confidence of liberality.

"In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas, while I doubt if the world can produce a man who, where he has only himself to depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility, as the Athenian. And that this is no mere boast thrown out for the occasion, but plain matter of fact, the power of the state acquired by these habits proves. For Athens alone of her contemporaries is found when tested to be greater than her reputation, and alone gives no occasion to her assailants to blush at the antagonist by whom they have been worsted, or to her subjects to question her title by merit to rule. Rather, the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be ours, since we have not left our power without witness, but have shown it by mighty proofs; and far from needing a Homer for our panegyrist, or other of his craft whose verses might charm for the moment only for the impression which they gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable monuments behind us. Such is the Athens for which these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.

"Indeed if I have dwelt at some length upon the character of our country, it has been to show that our stake in the struggle is not the same as theirs who have no such blessings to lose, and also that the panegyric of the men over whom I am now speaking might be by definite proofs established. That panegyric is now in a great measure complete; for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what the heroism of these and their like have made her, men whose fame, unlike that of most Hellenes, will be found to be only commensurate with their deserts. And if a test of worth be wanted, it is to be found in their closing scene, and this not only in cases in which it set the final seal upon their merit, but also in those in which it gave the first intimation of their having any. For there is justice in the claim that steadfastness in his country's battles should be as a cloak to cover a man's other imperfections; since the good action has blotted out the bad, and his merit as a citizen more than outweighed his demerits as an individual. But none of these allowed either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. No, holding that vengeance upon their enemies was more to be desired than any personal blessings, and reckoning this to be the most glorious of hazards, they joyfully determined to accept the risk, to make sure of their vengeance, and to let their wishes wait; and while committing to hope the uncertainty of final success, in the business before them they thought fit to act boldly and trust in themselves. Thus choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour, but met danger face to face, and after one brief moment, while at the summit of their fortune, escaped, not from their fear, but from their glory.

"So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your country, though these would furnish a valuable text to a speaker even before an audience so alive to them as the present, you must yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her from day to day, till love of her fills your hearts; and then, when all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honour in action that men were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their valour, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution that they could offer. For this offering of their lives made in common by them all they each of them individually received that renown which never grows old, and for a sepulchre, not so much that in which their bones have been deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on which deed or story shall call for its commemoration. For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart. These take as your model and, judging happiness to be the fruit of freedom and freedom of valour, never decline the dangers of war. For it is not the miserable that would most justly be unsparing of their lives; these have nothing to hope for: it is rather they to whom continued life may bring reverses as yet unknown, and to whom a fall, if it came, would be most tremendous in its consequences. And surely, to a man of spirit, the degradation of cowardice must be immeasurably more grievous than the unfelt death which strikes him in the midst of his strength and patriotism!

"Comfort, therefore, not condolence, is what I have to offer to the parents of the dead who may be here. Numberless are the chances to which, as they know, the life of man is subject; but fortunate indeed are they who draw for their lot a death so glorious as that which has caused your mourning, and to whom life has been so exactly measured as to terminate in the happiness in which it has been passed. Still I know that this is a hard saying, especially when those are in question of whom you will constantly be reminded by seeing in the homes of others blessings of which once you also boasted: for grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed. Yet you who are still of an age to beget children must bear up in the hope of having others in their stead; not only will they help you to forget those whom you have lost, but will be to the state at once a reinforcement and a security; for never can a fair or just policy be expected of the citizen who does not, like his fellows, bring to the decision the interests and apprehensions of a father. While those of you who have passed your prime must congratulate yourselves with the thought that the best part of your life was fortunate, and that the brief span that remains will be cheered by the fame of the departed. For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness.

"Turning to the sons or brothers of the dead, I see an arduous struggle before you. When a man is gone, all are wont to praise him, and should your merit be ever so transcendent, you will still find it difficult not merely to overtake, but even to approach their renown. The living have envy to contend with, while those who are no longer in our path are honoured with a goodwill into which rivalry does not enter. On the other hand, if I must say anything on the subject of female excellence to those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised in this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men, whether for good or for bad.

"My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability, and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If deeds be in question, those who are here interred have received part of their honours already, and for the rest, their children will be brought up till manhood at the public expense: the state thus offers a valuable prize, as the garland of victory in this race of valour, for the reward both of those who have fallen and their survivors. And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens.

"And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your relatives, you may depart."

Macedonia - The naming dispute in context

The Balkan region of Macedonia today is a region that includes:
* The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), a current state, also referred to as the Republic of Macedonia.
* Macedonia (Greece) a region of Greece, subdivided into three administrative districts: - West Macedonia - Central Macedonia - East Macedonia and Thrace.
* Pirin Macedonia, an unofficial name for the Blagoevgrad Province, a region of Bulgaria.

Historical Macedonia, Macedon or Macedonia (Greek: Μακεδονία) was the name of a kingdom in the northern-most part of ancient Greece, bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east (Britannica). For a brief period it became the most powerful state in the ancient Near East after Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world, inaugurating the Hellenistic period of Greek history.

The first Macedonian state emerged in the 8th or early 7th century BC under the Argead Dynasty, who allegedly migrated to the region from the southern Greek city of Argos (thus the name Argead). Their first king is recorded as Perdiccas I.

Prior to the 4th century BC, the kingdom covered a region approximately corresponding to the province of Macedonia of modern Greece. It became increasingly Atticised during this period, though prominent Athenians appear to have regarded the Macedonians as uncouth.

We must stop here for an important parenthesis. Just who were the Greeks (Hellenes)? The most popular theory is that the pro-hellenes were made up of various Pelasgic peoples (Dryopes, Kares, Leleges etc) which were later subdued and assimilated by the Greek (Hellenic) tribes. These tribes were the Achaians, Ionians, Aeolians and the Dorians. They were part of the arian tribes that migrated from eastern europe at around the 3rd millenium BC and invaded central europe and the southern balkans. Historical records indicate that these tribes shared a similar language with small idiomatic differences. Their descent came in three waves with first the Ionians, then the Aeolians and Achaians and finally the Dorians. The Dorians were a militaristic tribe and knew how to use iron while the former tribes were still in the bronze age.

Origin of the Hellenic name: The name Hellenes first appears after the Homeric times, around 800 BC. Homer calls the resident peoples of Greece Achaians, Danaei and Agreians. The name "hellenes" becomes popular much later, when the city states had to cooperate to face the Persian invasions, and when Alexander the great expanded the borders of the Hellenistic civilization beyond the Aegean. None of those tribes came as "Greeks"; they became Greeks by being there, all around the Aegean. Language and customs identified them and wove new ties between them (J. M. Roberts The History of the world.). The language spoken today in Greece has the same alphabet and is the direct evolution of the language spoken by those ancient peoples. The name "Greeks" was the name of a Boeotian tribe that migrated to the Italian peninsula in the 8th century BCE and probably through contact with natives there brought the term to represent all Hellenes, which then established itself in Italy and in the West in general.

Who were the ancient Macedonians? There were more than 200 greek city states but we only have precise information for just a handful of them. What we do know is that they had the same customs, spoke and wrote in the same language, were allowed to participate in the Olympic games and worshiped the same gods. Macedonia was a Doric tribe and was no exception to this. However, there was one notable difference. Aristotle divided Greek governments into monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies and democracies, and most historians still use these same divisions. In the Late Bronze Age (the Mycenean period), between about 2000 and 1200 BC, all Greek city-states seem to have been monarchies, ruled by kings. While this changed in time for many of the city states, Macedonia retained this model of governance until much later and as such was regarded as "backwards" by several other city-states, most notably the ones that had made the transition to democracy.

The weakening of Persian power was seen as an opportunity for militaristic Macedonia to expand. Philip sought status and recognition from the other city-states. When he became regent of Macedon in 359 BC he began a steady acquisition of territory at the expense of other Greek states. His ultimate argument was a powerful army which, by the end of his reign, had become the best-trained and organized military force in Greece. He first began by unifying Macedonia and later assimilated other city-states. This expansionist policy was seen as an encroachment upon the interests of Athens. Her power started to decline when previous allies seceded and placed themselves under macedonian patronage. Demosthenes, a prominent orator at the time and a devout democrat, considered the Macedonians `barbarians` and feared that the dominance of the macedonian kingdom would mean an end to democracy but others hailed Philip's vision to unify the city-states and willingly joined the Macedonian expansionist cause.

Eventually a peace treaty was signed after the Macedonian army had defeated the Athenians and Thebans in 338BC. The terms imposed were not harsh but the League that was formed had to agree to go to war with Persia under macedonian leadership. During Alexanders reign, the former democratic city-states tried to break free and become independent again, but were successfully subjugated and the city of Thebes was made an example of: It was razed to the ground and its population was enslaved (335BC). This marks the transition from the city-state period to a unified greece under macedonian leadership.

Important dates:
[323-300 BC] The death of Alexander the Great breaks into a civil war as the leading generals fight over the rule of the Empire. By 300 BC, the Empire is carved up between the dynasties of Alexander's generals Antigonus I, Ptolemy I, and Seleukis I.

[300-146 BC] Philip V (222-179 BC) clashes with Rome that has began an eastward expansion. The two "Macedonian Wars" against the Romans end up in defeat of Philip V's armies. Rome rises to power.

[395] The Roman Empire splits into Western and Eastern. The region of Macedonia falls to the Eastern (Byzantine), a multi-national empire stretching over three continents at its height.

[535] The Slavs overrun the Balkans and mix with the peoples there.

[855-886] Two brothers, Cyril and Methodius from Salonica, create the first Slavonic alphabet and promote Christianity among the Slavic peoples.

[1453] The fall of the empire's capital, Constantinople (Istanbul), to the Ottoman Turks marks the end of the Byzantine empire. The macedonian region is populated by a mix of people of different ethnic origins.

[1789] The French revolution:
The French Revolution paved the way for the modern nation-state. Across Europe radical intellectuals questioned the old monarchical order and encouraged the development of a popular nationalism committed to re-drawing the political map of the continent. The days of multi-national empires were numbered. National awakening also grew out of an intellectual reaction to the Enlightenment that emphasized national identity and developed a romantic view of cultural self-expression through nationhood. It was argued by Hegel (1770-1831) that a sense of nationality was the cement that will hold modern societies together. With most of Europe's peoples still loyal to their local province or city, nationalism was confined to small groups of intellectuals and political radicals. Nationalism came to be seen as the most effective way to create the symbols of resistance and to unite in a common cause. In the Balkans, this meant revolting against the Ottoman empire.

[1821+] After Greek independence, and while the Ottoman empire was crumbling, Greek Nationalism, exemplified by the Megali idea (the Grand Idea), focused on expansion and the forging of a national identity. As such, it was to come into conflict with similar Bulgarian and Serb nationalist expansionist plans. These plans came into conflict ever more frequently with the demographic, linguistic and cultural realities of the peninsula at the time (M. Glenny - The Balkans).

[1878-1879] The treaty of Berlin restored the region of Macedonia and Thrace to the Ottoman Empire. The great powers had now linked their imperial interests to the aspirations of the emerging balkan states. By october 1878, Edinstvo (unity), one of the new nationalist committees which had sprung up in Bulgaria was planning an uprising in the Kresna district. Two local leaders, P. Georgievski-Berovski and Stoian Karastoilov (one a Russian, the other a Pole) began to gather men and weapons. The revolution spreads quickly and focuses on the liberation of slavic regions but is crushed in just over a month by the Ottomans. The Kresna uprising posed in a violent way, and for the first time, the issue of identity of the region. This was the start of the Macedonian Question. Studies of the uprising are largely unknown outside Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and there are discrepancies between them. Historians from each side call the uprising either "Bulgarian" or "Macedonian".

At the time of the Congress of Berlin, the Macedonian region is an extraordinary pot-pourri of cultures, faiths and traditions. The four largest populations are - in no particular order - Greeks, Slavs, Albanians and Turks, although Salonika (Thessaloniki) is also the home of 50,000 Sephardic Jews. There are many other smaller communities too, like the Vlachs (who speak a language akin to romanian) and Roma gypsies. In many parts of central and western macedonia, a greek, a slav, a vlach, a turkish and an albanian dominated village exist side by side in harmony.

To summarize, the region was Europe's most enduring and complex multicultural region.
When the process of fragmentation started with the collapse of the Ottoman empire, the potential for violence and the rise of nationalism was greater there than anywhere else.

The Bulgarians' claim was based on the Slav population and the Bulgarian elite assumed all the Slavs were Bulgarians. This was not unreasonable, since the languages spoken by the slavs were very similar, but with dialectal variation. However, the Slavs of Macedonia referred to themselves as Macedonian though this was not necessarily a denial of their Bulgarian identity. On the other hand, Greeks in the region referred to themselves as both Greeks and Macedonians.

The question of the origins of the modern Macedonians (in FYROM), who feel themselves categorically to be a Slav people distinct from Serbs or Bulgars, provokes a lot of intellectual fanaticism. For example, a nationalist scholar from Skopje will maintain that his nation has existed for thousands of years whereas a more moderate scholar will say that Macedonians first developed a separate identity from Bulgaria about 100 years ago. A Serb will claim that the Macedonians only emerged as a nation at the end of world war II whereas a fourth, Greek or Bulgarian, will maintain that a claim of a macedonian identity by the people of FYROM is ridiculous and that is has never existed.

[1903] The Ilinden uprising:
The Ottoman authorities had long expected an uprising and had steadily strengthened their positions. Colonel Anastasas Iankoff, an agent of Bulgarian interests, began stirring up western Macedonia, in part to destroy the autonomy of the resident macedonian slavs who were planning a more underground, longer-term uprising. The Turkish authorities quickly re-established control and crushed both groups.
In an attept to provoke great power intervention, Gemidzhii, a group of anarchists associated with the most radical wing of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO), a group which planned for the liberation of the region of macedonia and which was under slavic leadership (but not restricted to slavs), started a series of attacks that provoked the wrath of the muslim mob which began lynching the Slav minority in Salonika killing about 60 before the governor imposed martial law.

On August 2, 1903 VMRO launches the Ilinden Uprising against the Turks and declares Macedonian independence. The revolutionaries capture the town of Krushevo and establish a new government. The uprising is brutally crushed by the Turks. Krushevo is bombarded with artillery over several days, with the Greek and Vlach parts particularly hard hit.

[1908] The Young Turk revolution and the collapse of the Ottoman empire:
The importance of the Young Turk revolution is comparable with the Russian revolution of 1917. The speed with which the Sultan's power crumbled astonished the great powers. The Young Turk revolution was a courageous blow to the despotism of the Sultan. It was the start of a wave of modernity that swept throughout Turkey. The Young Turks issued a general amnesty and promised equality of civil rights for all nationalities. However, external powers saw it as a sign of weakness of the Ottoman Empire and the expansionist ambitions were rekindled.

[1912-1913] The balkan wars. 
The Balkan wars were fought mostly on the territory of the region of Macedonia. The first balkan war was fought mainly against the Turks and the second between the former allied powers to determine the new borders.

After the failure of the Kresna uprising, Ottoman rule was harsher. One Greek agent of the time in Kastoria mentions: "the Christian inhabitants of these parts have reached such a point that they would welcome with open arms not only Russian or Bulgarian bands, but also Indochinese bands, if they would promise them to deliver them from the Ottomans". The Greek and Bulgarian forces were desperate to capture Salonica (source: M. Glenny - The Balkans). It was the single greatest prize of the first Balcan war and there had been no prior agreement about it's status. In this case, possession of the city would count for all the law and foreign powers would be unlikely to intervene. The Greek king Constantine beat the Bulgarian division by a matter of hours and entered the city first, establishing Greek dominance.

The Turkish refusal to hand over Adrianopole to Bulgaria, as the peace treaty required, sparked more fighting. Bulgaria and Serbia attacked and though the Turks heroically defended the city, it fell. Estimates of the dead range between 40 to 60 thousand. The treaty of London recognized the union of Crete with Greece and Bulgarian control of Adrianopole (Edirne). Albania became independent. Only one issue remained - the division of Macedonia.

Bulgaria was much weakened by the first Balkan war and the situation between the former allies was still tense. Greece and Serbia saw this as an opportunity and, prompted by a Bulgarian tactical mistake to issue secret attack orders against Serb positions, the Second Balkan war was started.

The Second Balkan war lasted only 1 month. Greeks and Serbs, joined by local Turks, fought against the Bulgarians. Under the treaty of Bucharest (1913) Bulgaria was forced to surrender almost everything it had gained in the first war by sacrificing tens of thousands of its citizens.

[1914+] The greek prime minister Venizelos was a great supporter of the Megali Idea and considered the transformation of Salonika crucial to the Greek expansionist plans. As an ally of the Entente, he realized that Greece would be in an excellent position to realize its territorial claims primarily against Bulgaria and Turkey. However, the Greek King was a Germanophile and publicly supported Greek neutrality. This caused a Greek national schism.

In 1916, Entente troops landed at Pireus and marched into Athens, settling the dispute. After some fighting against the monarchists, Greece eventually joined the Entente and Venizelos was vindicated while the Greek king Costantine was forced into exile. Bulgarians had joined with the Germans.

At the end of the first world war, Yugoslavia did not exist as a country. In November 1918, it was constituted as a kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes without clear borders. This did not settle the national question.

[World War II] Bulgaria was eventually forced to give up neutrality and join the Axis. Yugoslavia made an agreement in Vienna not to permit German troops to enter the country but to allow the transport of war materials through its borders. No further war obligations towards the Axis powers were required and Yugoslavia could remain intact. In return, the Germans supported Yugoslavian expansionist plans to Salonica - which meant Bulgarian aspirations to get it could not be fulfilled. Infuriated by this agreement with the Axis, Yugoslavians revolted (particularly the Serbs) and there was a coup d'etat. An infuriated Hitler ordered the Wermacht to invade the country. Germany quickly occupied the Balkans and during that time the Jews of Salonika were exterminated in the Croatian Ustase camps.

In 1944 the Red Army advanced in the Balkan Peninsula and forced the German forces to retreat. The pre-war borders were restored under U.S. and British pressure because the Bulgarian government was insisting to keep its military units on Greek soil. The Bulgarian Macedonia returned fairly rapidly to normality, but the Bulgarian patriots in Yugoslav Macedonia underwent a process of ethnic cleansing by the Belgrade authorities, and Greek Macedonia was ravaged by the Greek Civil War, which broke out in December 1944 and did not end until October 1949.

After the Greek civil war, a large number of former ELAS fighters took refuge in communist Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and described themselves as "ethnic Macedonians".

[Post World War II] Tito separated Yugoslav Macedonia from Serbia after the war. It became a republic of the new federal Yugoslavia (as the Socialist Republic of Macedonia) in 1946, with its capital at Skopje. Tito also promoted the concept of a separate Macedonian nation, as a means of severing the ties of the Slav population of Yugoslav Macedonia with Bulgaria. Although the regional language is very similar to Bulgarian, the differences were emphasized and the region's historical figures were promoted as being uniquely Macedonian (rather than Serbian or Bulgarian). A separate Macedonian Orthodox Church was established, splitting off from the Serbian Orthodox Church, but it has not been recognized by any other Orthodox Church, including the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Communist Party sought to deter pro-Bulgarian sentiment, which was punished severely; convictions were still being handed down as late as 1991.

Tito had a number of reasons for doing this. First, as an ethnic Croat, he wanted to reduce Serbia's dominance in Yugoslavia; establishing a territory formerly considered Serbian as an equal to Serbia within Yugoslavia achieved this effect. Secondly, he wanted to sever the ties of the Macedonian Slav population with Bulgaria because recognition of that population as Bulgarian would have undermined the unity of the Yugoslav federation. Third of all, Tito sought to justify future Yugoslav claims towards the rest of Macedonia (Pirin and Aegean), in the name of the "liberation" of the region. The potential "Macedonian" state would remain as a constituent republic within Yugoslavia, and so Yugoslavia would manage to get access to the Aegean Sea.

Tito's designs on Macedonia were asserted as early as August, 1944, when in a proclamation he claimed that his goal was to reunify "all parts of Macedonia, divided in 1912 and 1913 by Balkan imperialists". To this end, he opened negotiations with Bulgaria for a new federal state, which would also probably have included Albania, and supported the Greek Communists in the Greek Civil War. The idea of reunification of all of Macedonia under Communist rule was abandoned as late as 1949 when the Greek Communists lost in the Greek Civil War and Tito fell out with the Soviet Union and pro-Soviet Bulgaria.

Sources:
J.M. Roberts - The History of the World
M. Glenny - The Balkans
Britannica
Wikipedia (quotations from referenced sources)

Greece in turmoil

A bill introducing reforms in the public and private sectors was due to be passed through Parliament late last night, just hours after Prime Minister George Papandreou’s meetings with opposition party leaders highlighted the lack of consensus on the changes being undertaken by the government.

Papandreou’s efforts to build consensus between party leaders proved largely unsuccessful. All three of the leaders he met – Aleka Papariga of the Communist Party, Giorgos Karatzeferis of Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) and Antonis Samaras of New Democracy – said they found little or no common ground with the government. “There was no consensus on anything,” said Papariga. “We think that the real battle will start now because the workers will realize that there is no point in negotiating over how much they are going to lose.”

Samaras said ND would continue to support any “common sense” measures, underlining that the conservatives had voted for 33 of the government’s bills. But he added that “consensus is complicity.” Samaras said he was opposed to the bypassing of collective contracts as that would lead to “medieval working conditions.”

The announcement of the new measures affecting working conditions sparked violent riots in Athens.

Είμαστε πιά πρωταθλητές

Απόσπασμα απο σημερινό άρθρο της Kαθημερινής

"Οι αντιδράσεις...
Εκείνη την ώρα, στην πλατεία Συντάγματος εκρήγνυνταν χειροβομβίδες κρότου -λάμψης, ενώ διαδηλωτές με πανό συνέχιζαν να ανεβαίνουν τη Σταδίου. Ενα λεπτό αργότερα, το τοπίο άλλαξε. Η φωτιά στο ισόγειο του κτιρίου φούντωσε και από τα ανοιχτά παράθυρα του β΄ ορόφου άρχισε να βγαίνει πυκνός καπνός. Στο μικρό μπαλκόνι στην πρόσοψη του νεοκλασικού στριμώχθηκαν τέσσερις ή πέντε εργαζόμενοι προσπαθώντας να αναπνεύσουν, ενώ άλλοι που δεν χώρεσαν εκεί άνοιξαν διάπλατα τις μπαλκονόπορτες. Οι αντιδράσεις των διαδηλωτών κλιμακώθηκαν. Εκείνοι που νωρίτερα έκαναν χειρονομίες, τώρα χλεύαζαν τους υπαλλήλους φωνάζοντας «να καείτε ζωντανοί, ρε!», ενώ άλλοι τους καλούσαν ειρωνικά να πηδήσουν στο κενό. Ορισμένοι πιο νηφάλιοι τους έκαναν νόημα να κατέβουν από το κτίριο. Οσοι διαδηλωτές από τα οργανωμένα μπλοκ σάστισαν και κοντοστέκονταν στη θέα των εγκλωβισμένων υπαλλήλων επανέρχονταν στην... τάξη από τους επικεφαλής, οι οποίοι τους φώναζαν «προχωράμε σύντροφοι, προχωράμε». Καθώς τα δευτερόλεπτα κυλούσαν, το μαύρο σύννεφο καπνού από τα παράθυρα του α΄ και β΄ ορόφου έγινε τόσο πυκνό που έκρυψε την πρόσοψη του κτιρίου και τους πανικόβλητους υπαλλήλους που από ένστικτο έσκυβαν για να αναπνεύσουν. Ο ένας από αυτούς έβγαλε το σακάκι του, πέρασε πάνω από το κάγκελο της μπαλκονόπορτας του β΄ ορόφου, πάτησε στη μαρκίζα και πήδησε σε μια πρόχειρη κατασκευή από ελενίτ στην ταράτσα του διπλανού κτιρίου. Αυτή δεν άντεξε το βάρος, και ο νεαρός βρέθηκε στο κενό. Προσγειώθηκε μερικά μέτρα πιο χαμηλά στο πρεβάζι του κινηματογράφου «Απόλλων». Στην άλλη άκρη του κτιρίου της Marfin, άλλος εργαζόμενος, ισορροπώντας πάνω στο κάγκελο και στη μαρκίζα του β΄ ορόφου, κατάφερε να φθάσει στο μπαλκόνι του διπλανού κτίσματος. Στη συνέχεια φάνηκε να προσπαθεί να τραβήξει συναδέλφους του που είχαν μείνει πίσω. Στο μπαλκόνι παρέμεναν δύο γυναίκες κουνώντας ένα χαρτόνι με το οποίο μάταια προσπαθούσαν να απομακρύνουν τον καπνό. Η Πυροσβεστική έφτασε πέντε λεπτά αργότερα. Παρευρισκόμενοι φώναζαν συνθήματα και πετούσαν αντικείμενα εναντίον τους."

Πέραν την κοινωνικοπολιτικής ωριμότητας που τα άνωθεν εκφράζουν και ενώ το Ευρώ βρίσκεται στην κατιούσα (έφτασε χτές στη χαμηλότερη τιμή έναντι του Δολλαρίου εδώ και 14 μήνες)

η δική μας αριστερά οραματίζεται την επικείμενη επανάσταση για την, πλέον καθυστερημένη, εδραίωση του σοσιαλιστικού-κομμουνιστικού ιδεώδους εν Ελλάδι η οποία, ελπίζουν (Αη Φανούρη βάλ' το χέρι σου), οτι θα οδηγήσει στην αναζωπύρωση του παγκόσμιου κομμουνιστικού αγώνα και φάτε μάτια ψάρια, κολιούς, μαργαριτάρια.

Ενώ λοιπόν η αριστερά κάνει βόλτες στα ανθισμένα λιβάδια της ονειροφαντασίας, η αντιπολίτευση αποπειράται να αποσπάσει κομματικά οφέλη απ' την καταστροφή (σιγά, τώρα θα αλλάξουμε πατροπαράδοτες συνήθειες?) και η κυβέρνηση (όπως άλλωστε και η προηγούμενη) δέ ξέρει απο πού να το φυσήξει για να κρυώσει. Η εικόνα του πρωθυπουργού να κλαίει μόνος τα βράδυα στην μαξιλάρα του θά ήταν τουλάχιστον αστεία αν δέν ήταν τόσο κοντά στην αλήθεια.


Σε άλλα νέα, έχει ηλιοφάνεια σήμερα στο Λονδίνο...

Nobelist J.Stiglitz discusses U.S. Stimulus & Greece's Debt Crisis

The risk of Greece sinking

The Guardian - 14 Feb 2010. Article by Will Hutton

British schadenfreude has reached new heights of delicious self-indulgence. There is feverish market speculation that Greece will default on its debt, leave the euro and create a eurozone crisis as other members are pushed by the markets into following. It just proves that the euro is and was a disaster, the thinking goes. Thank God Britain did not join, runs the chorus from right to left, proving once again how wise the sceptics were and how foolish were those (like Will Hutton) who urged entry. Gordon Brown was careful as he answered questions before the European Summit last week to say Greece was an issue only for members of the euro. Britain would stay on the sidelines – gloriously uninvolved and independent from any possible expensive bail out. He was a financial Neville Chamberlain. I half expected him to come back in a twin-engine de Havilland proudly waving a paper – no bailouts and no euro membership in our time.

However, Greece and Germany are not far-away countries of which we know little. Our interdependence is a growing economic and political reality. Britain owns a fifth of Greek bonds; if Greece defaults, the write-offs will impact on our banking system as severely as any other in Europe. We also have no interest in Greece triggering a wave of exits from the euro and the 1930s-style competitive devaluations that will follow. Those dreaming of the free-market utopia of floating exchange rates should be careful for what they wish. By now you might hope there might be just a grain of suspicion about the manias and panics of free financial markets. Hope in vain.

It is worth engaging in a thought experiment. Any monetary regime in Europe has to deal with the reality of living alongside the world's most successful and, until China pipped it in 2009, largest exporter – ­Germany. Either there is the hard deutschmark, a world reserve currency second only to the dollar, against which the rest of Europe consistently devalues, or the euro. Up against the deutschmark, Greece would certainly be devaluing now – but so would Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Holland and probably France. When the financial crisis struck most of them would have been in a similar, if less acute position to Iceland. There would have been a flight from their money markets to Frankfurt and New York. Who thinks Greece, Belgium, Ireland and Austria would not have had an unstoppable bank run? Or could have survived it? There would have been no co-ordination within a world reserve currency zone to bail out stricken banking systems. There would have been no enjoying 1% euro interest rates. No capacity to increase government borrowing to weather the crisis. Europe would have had a bank-run induced slump – and the contagion would have hit Britain hard. It would, simply, have been a variant of 1931.

Or there is what we have. The euro has been a brilliant shock absorber. Icelandic politicians were as eurosceptic as our know-nothing political class – until disaster struck. Faced with the Hobson's choice of permanent economic stagnation, or adjustment within the euro zone and some light at the end of the tunnel, they have plumped for the latter. It is one of the reasons Greece will fight so hard to stay inside the euro; life is even more intolerable outside. If Greece leaves, its new independent currency will collapse; its interest rates will soar; its public debts will become unfinanceable; it really will default on its debt as it has so frequently in the past. It will slide back into being a failed state – with a military coup one all too possible response to the crisis.

It faces no choice but to reform. Greece has been so plundered by its super-rich elite of bankers and ship owners, so fully bought into the conservative doctrine that taxation is a form of coercion akin to slavery, that in key respects it is not a functioning state. The shadow, non tax-paying part of its economy is 30% of the total. Most middle-class professionals – lawyers, accountants and surgeons – insist on being paid in cash to avoid tax. Uncollected tax runs at 13.6% of national output per year – more than the deficit. The civil service is over-manned and corrupt. Everyone mercilessly tries to profit at someone else's expense. Of course Greece falsified its finances for qualification for entry to the euro zone. In this culture you tell the truth only to family. Revealingly, Mr Papandreou is the third member of his family to become prime minister.

There is no national consensus over what constitutes a just distribution of reward and obligation. As a result, its institutions don't function – as the European Commission team assembled at the behest of EU heads of states, backed by officials from the IMF, will soon discover. They will forensically examine how tax is not collected, how pensions are used as patronage and how statistics are rigged – and find a mess. Yet they and the Greek government will have to be careful. There is a mood in Greece ready to reform; witness the proposals to lift the pension age to 63. But if the elite is allowed to go free while the rest of society suffers, there will be revolt from below. Offend norms of fairness and societies risk disintegration and violence – something British politicians might ponder as they compete with visions of public sector wage freezes while ­allowing private sector salaries at the top to grow explosively.

This adjustment is an imperative – but so are two more. Germany's reluctance to offer an unconditional bailout to Greece is more than understandable, and the European deal – some support but only after reform has been shown to be implemented – is within its terms fair enough. Greece's problem is as much political as economic. But if Greece cannot devalue, and if there are social limits to how much it can lower wages, it needs some leeway somewhere . It needs more buoyant markets for Greek goods in the rest of the EU, and in Germany in particular. Chancellor Merkel wants it every which way. She wants no bailouts, a strong euro and Germany to carry on being an export machine. All three are not possible. ­Germany must boost its demand at home and loosen its purse strings if Greece– and the other weak states – are ever going to get out of trouble.

And there is a last reform. The financial markets invented toxic credit default swaps (CDS) – allegedly insurance against bond default which the markets could buy and sell – in the deregulatory mania of the last decade. But England banned trading insurance policies in which nobody took responsibility for paying insurance as the worst form of financial depravity in the 18th century. Now the practice is back as "innovation", except we know after Lehmans that the contracts are as worthless as they were under George I. However, hedge funds love them because they are such a juicy tool with which to speculate. It has been the CDS market that has prompted such a rapid confidence collapse in Greece. As they currently work, they should be banned.

The struggle to reform Greece and find a system of economic governance to make the euro work is all of Europe's battle, notwithstanding Gordon Brown at his evasive worst. If it is lost, we all go down. Western societies were served an awesome warning of the risks contemporary civilisation is running by allowing the rich to make the rules and ignore their obligations. If fairness is put at the heart of the reform programme – both within Greece and between Germany and the rest of Europe – there is a sporting chance of success. If not, the next decade could be very unpleasant indeed.

Method or Madness?

Greece’s policy regarding illegal immigrants used to be very successful: People caught trying to sneak into the country were either forced back across the border or were abandoned to their fate, in the knowledge that the migrants would do all in their power to keep moving on toward more welcoming members of the European Union. Of the hundreds of thousands of people from places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, a small minority chose to seek their fortune in Greece – a country that provided no benefits but did offer more work than what these (mostly) unskilled young men could find at home. In the last couple of years, however, things have become more difficult for those trying to get to more western or northern EU countries, leading to a large concentration of illegal immigrants in some Greek cities, especially Athens and Patras. With minimal – if any – social services to rely on, the migrants formed their own support networks and gravitated toward areas where others of their kind had found lodging – whether in residential neighborhoods or shanties on vacant lots. As time passed and their numbers grew, the new arrivals became a problem for local residents, prompting calls for “something to be done.”

The pressure hit the Greek government in last month’s elections for the European Parliament, when the populist, anti-immigrant Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), was the only party to gain votes – mostly at the ruling New Democracy party’s expense. At their recent summit, the EU leaders finally appeared to heed the cries of Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus, all in the frontline of illegal migration, and expressed “great concern at the dramatic situation in the Mediterranean area.” Among the measures Commissioner for Justice Jacques Barrot is preparing: permitting people to seek asylum in countries other than the ones of first entry, establishing new rules for reception procedures, reuniting minors with their families in other EU countries and setting up an EU office to support asylum seekers. Barrot, who was in Greece the past week, adopted a carrot-and-stick approach, demanding that Greece create a public administration capable of dealing with asylum applications, while also promising to press Turkey to take back migrants who entered Greece from its territory. Ankara refuses to honor a protocol signed with Athens in 2001, saying it does not want to become a dumping ground for unwanted migrants. Greece now says it will help push for repatriation agreements with Afghanistan and Pakistan, so that migrants can go home without staying in Turkey.

Barrot’s proposals aim at bridging the gap between the southern countries that bear the brunt of immigration and the more welcoming countries of Northern and Western Europe, which criticize their southern partners but would like to avoid getting involved in the problem. The problem of illegal immigration is a problem for all Europe, not just the countries that stand on the EU’s porous borders. But it is one thing to need support because a problem is too big for one country and another to force your partners to take over a large part of your duties because of your own incompetence.

The lack of a comprehensive policy over many years and the breathtaking incompetence of state employees charged with dealing with immigrants weigh on the government. The European Union has been forced to both warn Athens of serious consequences if it does not get its act together and to take over a large part of its responsibilities. Instead of this pushing Greece to formulate a serious policy, the government has brushed aside domestic criticism and passed a law that could lead to immigrants – both legal and illegal – being deported without trial, simply by being charged with any crime that carries a jail sentence of three months or more. We can only wonder if this madness is aimed simply at a domestic audience or whether its purpose is the abdication of even more of our responsibilities.

From an article in Kathimerini.

Gift Silver poem

GIFT SILVER POEM

I know that all this is worthless
and that the language I speak
doesn't have an alphabet

Since the sun and the waves
are a syllabic script
which can be deciphered only
in the years of sorrow and exile

And the motherland a fresco
with successive overlays
frankish or slavic which,
should you try to restore,
you are immediately sent to prison and
held responsible

To a crowd of foreign Powers
always through
the intervention of your own

As it happens for the disasters

But let's imagine
that in an old days' threshing-floor
which might be in an apartment-complex
children are playing
and whoever loses

should, according to the rules, tell the others
and give them a truth

Then everyone ends up
holding in his hand
a small

Gift, silver poem.


Odysseas Elytis
"The Tree of Light and The Fourteenth Beauty"

Δώρο Ασημένιο Ποίημα

Ξέρω πως είναι τίποτε όλ' αυτά και πως η γλώσσα
που μιλώ δεν έχει αλφάβητο
Aφού και ο ήλιος και τα κύματα είναι μια γραφή
συλλαβική που την αποκρυπτογραφείς μονάχα στους καιρούς
της λύπης και της εξορίας
Kι η πατρίδα μια τοιχογραφία μ' επιστρώσεις
διαδοχικές φράγκικες ή σλαβικές που αν τύχει και
βαλθείς για να την αποκαταστήσεις πας αμέσως φυλακή
και δίνεις λόγο
Σ' ένα πλήθος Eξουσίες ξένες μέσω της δικής σου
πάντοτε
Όπως γίνεται για τις συμφορές
Όμως ας φανταστούμε σ' ένα παλαιών καιρών αλώνι
που μπορεί να 'ναι και σε πολυκατοικία ότι παίζουνε
παιδιά και ότι αυτός που χάνει
Πρέπει σύμφωνα με τους κανονισμούς να πει στους
άλλους και να δώσει μιαν αλήθεια
Oπόταν βρίσκονται στο τέλος όλοι να κρατούν στο χέρι
τους ένα μικρό
Δώρο ασημένιο ποίημα.

(από το Tο Φωτόδεντρο και η Δέκατη Tέταρτη Oμορφιά,
Ίκαρος 1971)

History Channel documentary on C. P. Cavafy

Sparrowfall (what is that?)

What is that? (Τι είναι αυτό;) 2007 from MovieTeller on Vimeo.

Father and son are sitting on a bench. Suddenly a sparrow lands across them.

Directed by: Constantin Pilavios
Written by: Nikos & Constantin Pilavios
Director of photgraphy: Zoe Manta
Music by: Christos Triantafillou
Sound by: Teo Babouris
Mixed by: Kostas Varibobiotis
Produced by: MovieTeller films

How police shooting of a teenage boy rallied the '€700 generation'

Maria Margaronis in Athens
The Guardian, Saturday 13 December 2008

Thousands of protesters hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at police yesterday, as Greek police reportedly began to run out of teargas after a week of riots that have seen the streets of major cities turned into virtual war zones. Police sources say they have used more than 4,600 teargas capsules in the past week and have contacted Israel and Germany for fresh stocks. The prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, yesterday vowed to keep citizens safe, but students angry at the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the police again attacked officers outside parliament.

"Alexi, these nights are yours," says the graffiti on the subway wall, addressed to the Athens schoolboy killed last Saturday, allegedly by a police bullet. The week of rioting and protest that has left the city in shards belongs, above all, to the young. It is a revolt of schoolchildren and students, most on the streets for the first time. There are reports of children as young as 12 battling riot police, shouting "Cops! Pigs! Murderers!"

The teenagers and twenty-somethings who have come close to toppling the Greek government are not the marginalised: this is no replay of the riots that convulsed Paris in 2005. Many are sons and daughters of the middle classes, shocked at the killing of one of their own, disgusted with the government's incompetence and corruption, enraged by the broken promises of the education system, scared at the prospect of having to work still harder than their exhausted parents.

Some call themselves the "€700 generation" in recognition of the wage they expect their degrees to get them. The intensity of their fury has startled the whole country - including, perhaps, themselves.

Anarchist groups dreaming of revolution played a key part in the first waves of destruction, but this week's protests were not orchestrated by the usual suspects, who relish a good bust-up and a whiff of teargas. There's been no siege of the American embassy, no blaming Bush, very few party slogans.

Though the spectacular violence has dominated the news, thousands have also set out to join in peaceful demonstrations, among them parents worried for their children's future. Linked by the internet, by twitter and text messages, many are trying to distance themselves from the destruction, which they attribute to "extremists, idiots and provocateurs".

The demands of the young are hard to formulate. They want an end to police violence; they want to change things; they want jobs, and hope; they want a better system. If the wish list is slightly vague, the problem itself is amorphous and difficult to name: a crisis of values and institutions, society and economy, vision and leadership.

Politically, Greece is a democracy that never grew up; economically, it remains a poor relation trying to pass in the salons of Europe. Its 20th-century history is a patchwork of coups and conflicts. The civil war that followed Greece's occupation by the Axis powers in the second world war put politics on ice for 30 years. Greece is the only European country where collaborators were rewarded and those who resisted were punished. After the left's defeat by Britain and the US, tens of thousands of resistance sympathisers spent years in prison camps or blacklisted from work.

The military dictatorship of 1967-1974 - brought down by the Turkish invasion of Cyprus after a Greek coup - was the last gasp of that repressive era. Under the conservative statesman Constantine Karamanlis (uncle of the present prime minister) democracy was restored, but institutions remained weak; under the socialist prime minister Andreas Papandreou (father of the present leader of the opposition), liberties were extended but corruption also flourished, hand in a hand with a corrosive leftwing populism.

At the same time, the country has been in the throes of a rapid and painful modernisation. In 40 years Greece has gone from peasant agriculture supported by a large diaspora to a mixed economy drawing foreign investment; from the periphery of the developed world to the middle ranks of Europe and the hub of the new Balkans; from a homogeneous nation where the lucky had jobs for life to a multicultural country where a fifth of the workforce are new immigrants.

Many of its most talented sons and daughters have chosen to work abroad rather than deal with Greece's disorganisation and bureaucracy. The social fabric has worn paper-thin. Few politicians have risen to these challenges; most have relied on the old system of trading votes for favours, or on periodic appeals to nationalism and xenophobia.

Costas Karamanlis' New Democracy government - which enjoys a parliamentary majority of one - has surpassed its predecessors in graft and corruption while imposing punitive economic austerity measures. Greece entered the eurozone in 2001 with a large budget deficit; prices have risen consistently since then. In 2004 the country spent an estimated €10bn on the Olympic games, an unknown portion of it pocketed by contractors and politicians.

The two trade union federations that staged a general strike this week want increased social spending in light of the global recession. But the government has called for bigger pension contributions and removed a tax exemption for some of the poorest self-employed. It has also partially privatised ports and plans to do the same with hospitals and schools - at a time when one in five live in poverty and youth unemployment stands near 25%, the highest in Europe.

Meanwhile, the centre of Athens is full of expensive boutiques; shopping malls sprout like mushrooms in the suburbs. Instead of education, values and understanding, the young are being sold an aspirational "lifestyle" they can't afford, which many of them don't want.

They watch their parents struggling to make ends meet and are told to work hard at school only to find that without connections they can't get a job - or a flat, or decent medical care. Despite the rhetoric of meritocracy Greece still runs on "means", up to the highest levels.

In the weeks before the shooting of Alexis, the papers were full of the latest government scandal, a series of lucrative land swaps carried out for Mount Athos's largest monastery, which involved at least three senior aides to the prime minister and are said to have cost the public more than €100m.

Graft, of course, goes hand in hand with incompetence. The government's failure to contain devastating fires of 2007, in which at least 67 people died and 642,000 acres of farmland and forest were destroyed, was partly due to political tinkering with the fire brigades; the lack of progress in restoring burnt-out areas is due partly to pressure from developers eager to cash in.

Given that precedent, no one in Athens is surprised that the riots have got so wildly out of hand. It is the other shoe dropping - or, as one journalist put it, Nero fiddling for a second time while the city goes up in flames.

Is this a country on the verge of a nervous breakdown? For some time, discontent in Greece has been aggressively policed. The area of Athens where the child was shot - a neighbourhood of ungentrified cafes where young people and anarchists, dope-heads and intellectuals all hang out together - has long been the target of a clean-up operation.

Police violence is not new, it is just that previous victims have been immigrants or Roma and so do not make the media. As usual when there is social dislocation, the far right has gained strength: the populist Orthodox Rally won 10 seats in parliament for the first time last year, and the neo-fascist Golden Dawn organisation is known to have supporters inside the police. Now that the lid has blown off the pressure cooker, repression may take more blatant and more violent forms.

More crucially, there is no obvious way out of the impasse. The problems facing Greece are profound and the recession will pull tensions tighter. Greece has a long tradition of protest and resistance - some of those occupying Athens University claim descent from the students who fell before the junta's tanks in 1973 - but less experience of concerted action to find solutions.

After the violence dies down there will, sooner or later, have to be an election. But the problems the young have exposed have been decades in the making. No one has begun to imagine a solution.

Riots in Greece

'Murderers': protesters' fury boils over as boy shot by police buried

Prime minister holds emergency talks and opposition calls for elections as rioting spreads on eve of general strike

• Helena Smith in Athens
• The Guardian, Wednesday December 10 2008

Running battles between Greek police and thousands of protesters furious at the shooting of a 15-year-old student intensified yesterday as antagonism boiled over outside the cemetery where the youth was being buried.

On the eve of a general strike that threatens to plunge the country into further chaos, security forces fought pitched battles with stone-throwing youths outside Athens's parliament and in Salonika, the northern capital.

As thousands descended on the coastal suburb of Faliro for the funeral of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who was killed by a bullet to the chest on Saturday, hooded youths chanting "pigs, murderers" began baiting police. Before the funeral had ended they began hurling stones, iron bars and marble slabs at officers, sending residents running for cover. As the boy's flower-covered casket was lowered into the ground the air was thick with acrid smoke from successive rounds of teargas fired in retaliation by the police.

The worst civil disturbances to hit Greece in decades, the riots have not only dealt another blow to the already badly dented popularity of the ruling conservatives but also left a trail of devastation.

In Athens alone, officials estimate that more than 200 stores, 50 banks and countless cars have been damaged. Shops are shut and streets devoid of shoppers. Hospitals have also reported an increase in the number of wounded, already believed to have exceeded 70 police and others.

Last night as looters went on the rampage, police in a change of tactics, began making arrests.

With the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, facing growing criticism for his handling of the crisis - and his single-seat majority in the 300-member parliament looking increasingly vulnerable - the opposition leader, George Papandreou, of the Socialists, stepped up calls for early elections. Coming out of emergency talks - requested by Karamanlis in an attempt to contain the crisis - Papandreou said it had become clear the government was incapable of defending the public from rioters.

"It cannot handle this crisis and has lost the trust of the Greek people," said the leader, whose Pasok party has surged in the polls in recent months. "The best thing it can do is resign and let the people find a solution."

That was a view widely shared by many of the leftist and self-styled anarchists fuelling the riots. At the Athens Polytechnic, now the centre of the groups' operations, young men and women broke up marble slabs and quietly stocked up on the firebombs they have been throwing at police. Standing behind makeshift barriers of burning rubbish bins, they promised to turn the unrest into "an uprising the likes of which Greece has never seen".

As the site of the revolt against the colonels' regime in 1974, the polytechnic's colonnaded buildings are off-limits to security forces under a constitutional clause that gives students asylum on its grounds.

"This is not just about the kid, it's about our dreadful education and economic situation. That's what pushed us on to the streets," insisted one youth who called himself Andreas. "It's our belief and hope that this is the beginning of a rebellion against the system."

The chaos, he said, had exposed the deep-seated anger of Greeks who after the introduction of the euro have not only struggled to make ends meet but have increasingly felt deceived by a system that thrived on corruption, party political affiliations and patronage.

"All of us have poor parents who are really struggling," said Andreas as he sat cross-legged before a makeshift fire blazing in the polytechnic's courtyard.

For young Greeks like Andreas, who belong to a lost generation without work or hope, it is a rage that has been fuelled by allegations of corruption and the seemingly relentless scandals involving sex, money and the church which have swirled around the conservatives - and for which, despite public outrage, no one has been punished.

"We all thought it would take one incident for things to go up, and with the police killing of the teenage boy that is exactly what happened," said a veteran political analyst, Konstantinos Angelopoulos.

Yesterday, the rioting spread to Crete and Corfu, where hundreds took to the streets, and intensified in at least a dozen cities across the country. Greek demonstrators occupied the country's consulate in Paris, following protests in London, Berlin and Nicosia on Monday.

Yesterday, Karamanlis appealed to Greece's two largest trade unions to call off strikes that are expected to ground flights and cut ferry links.

The market-oriented government faces growing anger over its tough fiscal policies from workers demanding more state social spending as well as salary and pension increases. Rejecting the prime minister's plea, unions called on workers to participate in the walk-out "and demonstrate our opposition to state repression and the consequences of the [economic] crisis".

Voices from the street

Andreas, 19, student protester "The police are pigs and they deserve what they get. They don't have the balls to go after the anarchists. Instead they pick on us kids, stop us in the streets all the time. It's wrong to smash up shops, but personally I see it as a symbolic act to throw stones and rocks at the police, because they're bastards."

Nikos, 36, fireman "Am I surprised? Of course. Everything has happened so quickly. It's not just that the riots spread so fast, it's their intensity. In Athens we've had 200 cars and 40 buildings go up in flames, most of them in one night. We're all sick with worry."

Sophia, 44, shopkeeper "Twenty years of work down the drain. I turned up at my shop today and they had taken everything, even the lining in the drawers. They managed to get past the steel blinds. Why have they targeted the little man? We're not to blame for the death of a child. Tell me who is going to pay?"

Nikos Yiannos, 18, student "I agree with the protests against the police because, after all, they killed the kid, but I don't agree with the destruction. Our police aren't like police elsewhere in Europe. They aren't educated and it's because they're not properly trained that things have got so out of control."

Zoe Papanidou, 19, student "There were many reasons why these riots happened. The situation was explosive, socially and economically. The state undermines people. You feel it is violating your rights. At some point the lid was going to burst from the pot."