In Greece, a Little Goes a Long Way

Marilyn Harding

"A little goes a long way" is usually the mantra of the travel companies encouraging clients to take advantage of Greece, this economically-beleaguered but scenic and hospitable country. I notice here on Aegina Island that huge tourist coaches are on the increase. They careen these mountain roads on a race to the sites before returning to the ferry for the dash to the next island of their one-day tour.

But this is not what I am talking about. Not about bargain holidays or stretching a travel budget. I am talking about how in Greece right now we can give a little and have it return a great deal more.

Every country is known primarily by its collective cultural persona. The national character is perceived by the behavior of politicians, bureaucrats and the effect of its economic skill and power in the global game. And when a country is disadvantaged by these standards, the world rushes in to take advantage. Or so it seems.

I despair when I hear what others say of Greece outside of the country, "the people brought it on themselves," "'they're lazy" "they're looking for a handout." But I know a different reality. In fact I am an active participant in a different reality. And here it is.

Underneath the skin of the collective national persona are 11 million plus stories. I am one of them. I am Philhellene. I chose to come here from a more "advantaged" country because there is a pulse to this land that is hard to measure by our material standards. It is beguilingly beautiful from north to south and east to west including its hundreds of islands with such diversity of ancient mountains, teal blue seas and rich arable lands. In the still-wild mountains, herbs and wildflowers grow in unmolested natural abundance. Six thousand species of flora and 200 species of olive trees offer up a precious pharmacopeia unmatched in most other lands.

...read more

WHY THE GREEKS?

-At the Assembly, they discussed, debated, and, finally, voted on important issues such as changing voting laws or how to fight the Persians who wanted to control Greece.

-Why deal with the Greeks?

Said someone once causing me huge surprise.

-Their time has passed, now is the turn of others to lead the world.

If anything, the above attitude shows ignorance of both the world and of local history. Skillfully, the education of all countries (with few exceptions) has passed the idea that Greek history is something that concerns the Greeks. But is it so? Clearly not! John Stuart Mill said that:

"The Battle of Marathon, even as an event in English history, is more important than the Battle of Hastings. If the issue of that day had been different, the Britons and the Saxons might still have been wandering in the woods."[1]

Regarding more recent history, the historian Eugen Weber said:

"After all, the civilization of the West is a by-product of the will of Byzantium to survive."

These are two of the thousands of quotes concerning the contribution of the Greeks and the inextricable link between Greek history with the individual histories of the peoples of the world. I will not analyze it further. The proof of what I say is out there for anyone interested.

Since the contribution of my ancestors to global history and civilization is a fact, I will grab only one thing, DEMOCRACY! This, alone, is a serious reason for the expulsion of the Greeks from education. Reasonable, since which power would teach their young how to overturn it? Because, dear reader, at this time on planet Earth, there is not one democratic state!
2500 years ago, a society managed to achieve what all societies seek: the good life! No other has achieved it since. Once, a descendant of Solon sought to make a new Seisachtheia[2] that would lead back to democracy and good living, again on the same soil. However, he was considered very dangerous and his existence was terminated. The killers found asylum in the embassy of a "superpower" of that era. However, Ioannis Kapodistrias managed to organize the closest to a democratic state that exists right now in the world: Switzerland!

Democracy, has historically proven to be the means to achieve well-living.The answers, the. ... know-how is there offered to us selflessly by the most sophisticated, democratic society that has ever existed; the Athens of Solon, Cleisthenes, Ephialtes[3], Pericles but mainly the Athenian Citizens. If education has expelled the Greeks from its school curricula, there is infinite literature out there for the restless spirits. I am sure that whoever grapples with anything Greek would understand much. Like, for example, the shameless campaign against the Greeks especially in recent years when capitalism begins to show its true, anti-democratic face.

So my answer to the question why should one deal with the Greeks:

“As mankind tries to achieve the "good life" Greeks are the ones we should deal with.”

[1]Importance in World History

It was John Stuart Mill who said that the Battle of Marathon was a more important event in British history than the Battle of Hastings. If the Greek army had been defeated at Marathon, then who knows how world history might have panned out? We might not have had any of the great Greek innovations passed down to us today. The great Greek playwright Aeschylus was present at the battle, and his death would have changed the development of Greek tragedy as an art form. Though it is easy to ask 'What if?' of every major event in history, the Athenian victory was clearly very important, both for Ancient Greece and the world in the future. http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A10083395

[2]Seisachtheia (Greek: σεισάχθεια, from σείειν seiein, to shake, and ἄχθος achthos, burden, i.e. the relief of burdens) was a set of laws instituted by the Athenian lawmaker Solon (c. 638 BC–558 BC) in order to rectify the widespread serfdom and slavery that had run rampant in Athens by the 6th century BC, by debt relief.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seisachtheia)

[3] Ephialtes (Greek: Ἐφιάλτης, Ephialtēs) was an ancient Athenian politician and an early leader of the democratic movement there. In the late 460s BC, he oversaw reforms that diminished the power of the Areopagus, a traditional bastion of conservatism, and which are considered by many modern historians to mark the beginning of the "radical democracy" for which Athens would become famous. These powers included the scrutiny and control of office holders, and the judicial functions in state trials. He introduced pay for public officeholders, reduced the property qualifications for holding a public office, and created a new definition of citizenship.[1] Ephialtes, however, would not live to participate in this new form of government for long. In 461 BC, he was assassinated, probably at the instigation of resentful oligarchs, and the political leadership of Athens passed to his deputy, Pericles.

The Greek Secret

A video, anyone should watch!

Hellenism: set of values focused to elevate man, puts him at the center of the universe, making even the Gods subjected to human frailty, and man himself "far above all material things". Not affected by external factors, it does not change its course because there is no central planning, marches haughtily, idifferent for the existance of rival ideas, and this is why it is not vengeful. Does not proselytize, does not select fans and followers. It is universal-human, everyone who comes in contact with it becomes an apostle without an obligation to follow some standard or doctrine. It is a machine put forward by the Greeks (Hellenes) and has since then, been operated alone, independent, powered by all the bright and restless spirits who share its ideas, conciously or unconciously. It is everywhere and always, in space and time so it si UNSTOPPABLE!
The main thing is that Hellenism is a constantly evolving process.

Ethnic Greeks Slaughtered, Greek Diaspora Silent

Extremism and private interests fuel next Greek Genocide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— August 29, 2013

The prayers of Foreign Mujahedeen in Syria are moments away from being answered. The United States is days away from becoming the de factor air force of Al-Qaeda, in their struggle to overthrow Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad. The eve of a second Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Genocide is upon us.

Syria is home to a large Arabized ethnic Greek population, as well as a small community of Greek expatriates. Already in Rebel-held areas, ethnic Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians live in fear of Sharia Law and forced conversion to Islam. What may have started as a secular motivated uprising for Democracy in Syria has now clearly transformed into a full-blown Islamist Revolution. In which, all ethno-religious minorities are being targeted for extermination.

In recent months alone, the world has witnessed a Massacre at Al-Duwayr outside of Homs, in which Jihadists slaughtered women and children, forcing roughly 100 ethnic Greek families to flee in terror. There has also been a mass exodus of Assyrians from Deir al-Zour and Hasakah, and the infamous Khan al-Assal Massacre, in which Jihadists used Chemical Weapons and executed numerous unarmed civilians and soldiers.

These outrageous attacks on our ethnic brethren combined with the continued support for the perpetrators of these crimes have led to the launch of “Operation Antioch” in hopes of preventing another Greek Genocide. Will Greek America sit back and allow our brethren to be used as sacrificial lambs for yet another ill-advised U.S. foreign policy?

We urge all Greek Americans to call their local Senators and Congressmen today and demand their support S. 1201, Protecting Americans from the Proliferation of Weapons to Terrorist Act of 2013, a bipartisan which hopes to stop funding directly and indirectly military operations in Syria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo1092t9yJU#t=50

Operation Antioch is an independently operated campaign to raise awareness about the suffering of the innocent Antiochian Greeks within the ongoing Humanitarian Crisis in Syria

For more information on what is happening to the ethnic Greeks of Syria and what you can do, please visit our blog operationantioch.blogspot.com

========================

Learn more about Operation Antioch

http://operationantioch.blogspot.com

Follow us on Facebook at /operationantioch

source: http://infognomonpolitics.blogspot.gr

Minoan colonies in America?

READ AND DOWNLOAD FOR FREE IN PDF FORMAT 

Sounds unbelievable, but may be true. Numerous findings seem to concede that the Minoans were keen navigators who crossed the Atlantic. They created colonies even in Canada and exploited local copper mines. All this before Columbus!

Tassos Kafantaris

a.Kafantaris@gmail.com

It has not been many years since I heard the Professor of the University of Patras Anthony Kantaratos, talking specifically - about the possibility of ancient Greeks had arrived in …America, searching for new sources of metals.

I admit that I smiled then, thinking about all the other unlikely I had read about the ancient Greeks in America, Australia or Japan. And I would keep this story in my subconscious, if not learned about a recent book – The Lost Empire of Atlantis of Gavin Menzies- which returned resoundingly the issue and raised a host of discussion on the internet. Gavin Menzies, in his book, initially follows the Minoan traces in Asia Minor, in Egypt, in Yemen, in India and Ceylon- where the Sangam epics of the Tamil still speak about “the magnificent ships of the Greeks bringing gold and leave laden with pepper…”. Surprised by the museum findings which vindicated Strabo and Ptolemy, the author not only considered the navigation secrets held by the Minoans, but also where they found all those quantities of metals that they traded. The copper mines of Cyprus as it is historically known could not even meet the requirements of the Pharaohs. Yet the Minoans gave them bronze saws doped with tin to cut the stone blocks of the …pyramids. As was written in the records of the Acadian king Skarga, the Minoan ships brought since 2350 BC tin from Spain and Britain. And then this unlikely finding of 1450 BC at the Akrotirion in Santorini where did it come from? Lasioderma serricorne, meaning larva of the tobacco leaf! Yes the smoke that we all knew that first arrived in Europe in 16th century AD from the American continent. So, Menzies, now turned west  searching to find whether-and how-those intrepid sailors had not only crossed the portals of Hercules, but had also arrived in the New World.

Minoans and Mycenaeans on the Atlantic coast

The roadmap that was unfolded in the rest of the book by this 72 years old former officer of the British navy was not unprecedented: Two years ago, at the TV channel NET (watch video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtfCGg-o04A), and in the newspaper  NEA (www.tanea.gr/politismos/article/?aid=4557236) , geology professor and member of the Central Archaeological Council Margiolakos Elias , had supported the idea that our ancestors had explored the coastal areas of Spain, France, Britain and Ireland in search of minerals and perhaps had arrived in Iceland, Greenland and America.

Specifically, the rationale of Mr. Mariolakos was given in a writing of him that you can find published on the Internet. There initially informs us how a geologist deals with one such issue: "The geomythology is a branch of earth science that deals with physical and geological conditions prevailing during the mythological era and, through this analysis, finds the connection between geology and mythology. My own experience as a geologist who has spent his life studying the geology of Greece, showed that (...) in Greek mythology are included physical and geological  processes that evolve in very remote areas, such as in the North Atlantic and elsewhere '. And then analyzes in detail the ancient sources examined, such as the work of Plutarch "On the face shown attached to cycles of the moon."

The “suspect” mines

Skeptical as I was in my quest to give "evidence". From what he told me I concluded that there were two keys to unlock the case of "Greeks in America." One was a metallurgical inexplicable: U.S. archaeologists have found 5,000 open copper mines (almost entirely pure) on the shores of Lake Superior, Michigan between the U.S. and Canada, where there have been exported some 500,000 tonnes between 2470 to 1050 BC ., which ... nobody knows where they went! Specifically, the Indians in these regions then were  living in the Stone Age, and only after 1500 BC began to use limited amounts of copper - and those only for jewelry. So who was the "thief" and from where and how did they come? Since the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia were those then passing through the Bronze Age (and copper was then more expensive than gold), the suspicions directed thither. By striking coincidence indeed, the mysterious massive copper mining both in North America and in Spain and Britain stopped around 1350 BC - The time the volcano of Thera (Santorini) determined the fate of the Minoans. And the Greeks who received the baton (Mycenaeans Achaeans initially, Dorians and Ionians then) are the ones who tell long trips in Ogygia (Iceland), the Sea of Kronos (North Atlantic) and the westernmost coast. On how they went, the answer could only be given to the key called knowledge of ocean currents - currents of the ocean that Homer described as βαθύρροο, meaning  flows deeply and βαθυδίνη,  twist in the deep. The current of the Gulf of Mexico, the famous Gulf Stream, twists the Atlantic branching in loops that penetrate the Mediterranean and the Baltic. Anyone who knows these places and Waterslides and place properly his hull onto them can "flies". For example - says Mariolakos - Plutarch concluded  that a boat like the "Argo" could have traveled the 900 km distance between Britain and Iceland in 5 days (4-5 miles / hour).

Minoan sea cruises in the sea of Kronos (North Atlantic)

Minoan words and sketches of ships await their explanation on the rocks of the coast of the Baltic.

The arguments of Professor Mariolakos were impressive and seemed reasonable. The achievement extraordinary but he could not be satisfied only with the evidence that ancient ships like the "Argo" could go so far - let alone the even more ancient Minoan ships. I remembered a story of 2010 by a Norwegian newspaper, according to which mysterious letters of the period from 1800 to 1000 BC had been carved in granite. These letters deciphered as Minoan by the Norwegian linguist and scholar Kjell Aartun who was honored about it with the gold medal of the king. In Aartun, the Minoan words translated "Soft and pure", referring to the largest deposit of silver across Europe which were found by these incredible treasure hunters in the Kongsberg  region of Oslo. But had they left other traces behind them?

 I asked Dr. Mina Tsikritsi who previously had identified the "earthen computer navigation" of the Minoans about it. When contacting us he questioned the interpretation of Aartun, but was certain that it was Minoans, as a recent study of him added evidence supporting the theory of Professor Mariolakos for passage to the other side of the ocean. He specifically said:

Plutarch on Canada

 One of the beaches –veins-  of copper in Lake Superior in the U.S., with traces of ancient mining

- "Plutarch writes:" As to the great continent, from which the great sea is contained in a circle from the other islands is less in distance, but the Ogygia about five thousand stages traveling by boat with oars. (...) from the mainland Greeks residing nearby places around vagina no less than the Maiotida (lake), whose mouth is in line with the mouth of the Caspian Sea. "The distances between Greenland, Newfoundland and Baffin Island in Canada is about 1,140 km, and between Newfoundland and Baffin Island is about 1,300 km A report that around the bay there are Greeks reveals a Greek colony in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The important thing in this description is that it provides geographic information that are correct. Indeed, the Gulf of St. Lawrence resembles Maeotid lake (Sea of Azov, Black Sea) and is slightly larger. As for the information that the mouth of the bay is in line with the mouth of the Caspian, looking in Google Earth anyone can easily discern that the two ports are located at latitude 47th, so on the same line. This information is the only reference in ancient literature that shows us that they were able, at that time, to determine the latitude of a place. But there is something more in Plutarch that I consider proof that the theory of travel to America  is true".

So What..

- "He says:" When the star of Saturn, which we call Bright (Φαίνοντα) while those nocturia, arrived in Taurus after a period of thirty years, after much time preparing for the sacrifice ... (start the return journey). "This enables us to control the astronomical period was possibly made this trip recounts. Plato had classified the planets in the solar system in order from outside to inside relative to the Earth, with the following names: Fainontas (Saturn) Faethontas (Jupiter) Pyroentas (Mars), Lucifer (Venus) , Stilvontas (Mercury), Sun and Moon. The name Fainontas etymologically means that which is visible, while the word nocturia means this is the last to be seen in the night.

Using special astronomy program I have checked the geographical coordinates of Canada in the time of Plutarch (1st century AD.) At what date and in what month the planet Saturn is in the constellation of Taurus before the sun rises. I have confirmed that every 30 lunar years appears indeed the phenomenon of Saturn rising in Taurus. Then, again, Plutarch says: "The islands are inhabited by Greeks over and watch the sun hide for less than an hour for thirty days. And the night there is a light darkness and dawn shines from the west." Since the return journey began early June, then we need to check where they faced the sun hiding under an hour for 30 days. With appropriate program found that at the time of the first century. B.C. Greenland (60 degrees north) the sun set for an hour between 04.05 am and this was for a period of one month, from 9/6 up to 9/7. This identification indicates that they initially traveled north, reaching close to the Arctic Circle, where the sea was called Cronion Sea (Sea of Cronus). In this area night has actually a dawn like darkness and light. This astronomical connection, combined with the geographical knowledge of the two sites that have the same latitude, shows that the journey described by Plutarch - from America to Carthage, 86 AD - actually happened.

The reasoning was shocking, but what held me was that we were measuring data of a longer trip of the Roman era - a time when perhaps the travelers had in use the Antikythera Mechanism onboard. What evidence do we have that Minoan ships achieved the journey? Surprises from the land of the Vikings gave us the answer.

Traces and intrigues in the New World

What remained was to find relevant evidence on the shores of St. Lawrence or Lake Superior to accept as likely the unlikely of the Minoans presence in America. Menzies mentioned such  the “ 1.200 Minoan finds around Lake Superior “. So I set out to find them.

It was revealed that the findings are indeed a lot: the first non-Indian elements were found in mining copper veins, at the Keweenaw Peninsula of Lake Superior - near a village called ... Lavrion  (Laurium). There was also found a petroglyph of a highly symbolic Minoan ship. Also in Newberry, Michigan, had already in 1896 been found three statues and a label with "strange writing ". Nobody could interpret it then, but when Evans went to the excavations of Knossos - in 1900 - it became apparent that the writing was also related to Linear A.

The abundance of 'imaging elements "referring to the Mediterranean was subsequently found in private hands, with most of them ending up to unknown collectors and many of them  - gold and silver - is rumored to have been melted by the greedy predators. Most were found in 1925 by a farmer in Illinois, Orville Lowery, and in 1982 by an adventurer named Russ Burrows, who claimed to have found a sanctuary and 13 undisturbed tombs in a cave complex, also in Illinois.

To sum up briefly, the listed Internet findings on American soil include numerous stones with engraved- on them-  forms of soldiers in uniforms reminiscent Minoans, Philistines, Mycenaeans, Phoenicians and Egyptians, many Petroglyphs with Minoan and Egyptian types of ships, and other inscriptions with Cypro-Minoan writing and other composited with Etruscan, Latin and Greek words. The most eloquent optically element (if proven authentic) is a medal that was found in Cleveland, Ohio in 2006, the Minoan axe on one side and on the other the Prince of Lilies that we know from the mural in the palace of Knossos (1690 BC)!

Self proclaimed Archaeologists – Messiahs

The issue got more complicated when the "Indiana Jones of the Bronze age" were approached by "archaeologists - militants" of the Mormon Church, who were attempting to vindicate the spoken by their prophets that, America was colonized by... Jews around 2000 BC. Since then an incredible carousel has been erected with nterpretations of any kind -of the findings- to “spring up” on the non scientific magazine Ancient American, while the official archeology is absent. This paradoxical situation has led to a weakness of the crossing of the truth of the allegations and to the expression of fiery theories. For example, a epigraphologist  named Paul Schaffranke claimed in his 1995 lecture that he deciphered the composite writing of the ancient plates and that it tells an incredible Requiem of those first settlers of America: that Greeks of Alexandria – fugitives of the now Christian Roman Empire - the last refuges, strongheld to the Phoenician Mauritania, and from there came together in the Great Lakes, to build their gross and last kingdom!

Indians with Cretan DNA

The only scientific fact that we have to support all the scenarios of colonization of the Mediterranean is the genetic study: «Origin and Diffusion of mtDNA Haplogroup X», 2003 (vl.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1180497 /) . In this was detected that the mtDNA haplogroup X2 that is encountered in the Cretans in a high percentage (7.2%) occurs at a similarly high rate (to 5%) in 20,000 members of the Native American tribes of the Northeast America! In such a "Eurasian conclusion" was reached also the cranial comparative study of the University of Michigan «Old World sources of the first New World human inhabitants: a comparative craniofacial view», 2001. Then, in 2008, the work of a team of researchers from universities in Greece, USA, Canada, Russia and Turkey, under the professor of the Aristotle University, Constantine Triandafyllidis turned the projector of the genetic tracing back further: he concluded -by DNA- that Minoans had settled in Crete coming from Anatolia - the same place that in the 2nd millennium BC was conquered by the Hittites.

And then I remembered that Minos had married the witch princess of Colchis, Pasiphae. Was Colchis the sister kingdom of the expatriated Minoans? Scenario that fits well with the fact that Georgian epigraphologists insist that the language of the Phaistos Disk is in hieratic script of the ancient Colchis. And what was said in the "Argonauts" by Orpheus about the Argonauts escape to the Baltic through Borysthenes (Dnieper) and their course to the island of Medea’s sister, Circe, to the coast of Mauritania, delivers a new meaning for the extent of Minoan naval.

Should we rewrite the books?

But are all these enough to write again the history books, to forget that Columbus was from “Chios" and to engage that "the Last of the Mohicans was a Cretan patriot"? Not yet. Some mummies that were found in the "colonization" of America and in the neighborhood of Stonehenge in England perhaps illuminate better the case. But we will be sure if only archaeologists decide officially.

"Why", I asked Professor Mariolakos, "Since you are a member of the Central Archaeological Council (KAS), do not send an archaeological expedition on Lake Superior;”. "We should, as by now identified and sunken port projects have been found in the region," he replied. "From a scientific perspective, the Greek scientists can carry out the research project - and within one to two years we will have the answers. However, the APC is an Advisory Council, which does not form the research department policy and therefore can not take this decision. Besides the ministry, of course, there are the archaeological departments of the University. But in order to do such a thing, we must find both the necessary resources and will by our  archaeologists ", added meaningful.

Source: “TO VIMA” newspaper Sunday April 8th 2012.

Related:

Prehistoric connections Crete / Norway . English version

http://araenil.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/evidence-of-prehistoric-connections-crete-norway/

Cherokees Spoke Greek and Came from East Mediterranean - See more at:

http://dnaconsultants.com/announcements/cherokees-spoke-greek-and-came-from-east-mediterranean#sthash.65D24aXH.dpuf

Connecticut's 5th Century Church

Connecticuts 5th Century Church by GREECEANDWORLD

U.S. Historian Says Ulysses Reached America

By Stella Tsolakidou on November 22, 2012 In Featured, History, News

The first researcher, who questioned the prevailing theory that Ulysses wandered the Mediterranean Sea for years before the gods allowed him to set foot once again on his beloved Ithaca, was an American historian from Chicago, Henriette Mertz.

In 1964, Mertz suggested with conviction in her book The Wine Dark Sea: Homer’s Heroic Epic of the North Atlantic that Ulysses, in many of the adventures described in Homer’s epic The Odyssey went outside the Mediterranean.

Based on her research and explorations in North America, Mertz proposed that Ulysses had reached the shores of North America with the help of the sea currents.

Mertz studied the speed of sea currents in conjunction with the time it took Ulysses to travel from one place to the other, reading carefully through Homer’s original descriptions and observations. She said she identified the exact locations Ulysses visited in the then unknown part of the world, which have lately revealed archaeological treasures dating back to the ancient Greek hero’s time.

Mertz took her research one step further and designed a detailed chart containing all of Ulysses’ journey stations after the fall of Troy and on his way back home. The map points out the island of the Sirens, the exact point on the American coastline that harbored the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis, and the actual sea route Ulysses took to get back to Ithaca (assisted all the way by the powerful and swift current of the Gulf Stream).

The study of Siegfried Petrides in 1994, Odyssey – a Naval Epic of the Greeks in America, came to strengthen Mertz’s findings and proposals. According to Petrides, the Greeks have a naval history that starts from at least 7250 B.C. as proved by the findings in Frachthi cave in Argolida.

“… The uniqueness of the Greek geographical area, namely its location in the relatively small Aegean Sea with its hundreds of islands, allowed the prehistoric Greek inhabitants to develop the technology of sea communications very early. Over the years and with the accumulated experience of sea voyages, sailors from the Aegean became more brave and started sailing off to the North and the Black Sea, to the South in Egypt and Phoenicia, and to the West to Italy and the Iberian Peninsula.

“They discovered that the sea they had been sailing was everywhere surrounded by land and had only one exit. They did not hesitate to leave the familiar waters and travel to the North in order to get precious metals, and they did the same westwards as well” he wrote.

read more

How much is a life?

11-11-2012: A man killed himself with a broken glass, cutting his throat in front of a crowded square. He died in a lake of blood. A friend of mine was there, talking to that 30 year old man until he passed away. Another victim of the "crisis". Another mother's son dead to so as the banks to be saved! This is our 21st century civilization!!!

11-13-2012: A 35 year old woman jumped from the roof ending such her life as she couldn't stand to financial problems she was facing.΄

11-14-2012: Brutally chose the 20 year old girl to put an end to her life. After the horror of the tragedy revealed in a dark strait of Melissia territory in Athens. The 20 year-old girl who was unemployed ablaze herself.

Around 9 pm Tuesday, the police informed that residents near the Melissia territory, behind the hospital Amalia Fleming, heard a woman screaming in the darkness and saw a flash while listening to one muffled noise. Some perceived a black object was stationary on the road. The more adventurous who approached froze at the sight of the charred corpse. This morning a middle-aged neighbor went to declare the disappearance of a 20-year daughter. He was shown the gruesome forensic photography. The father acknowledged weeping his daughter. According to what have become known, the victim was an unemployed girl who lived on the Mavromichalis street . (source: enikos.gr)

related: http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2012/04/greek-pensioner-commits-suicide-in.html

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2012/05/if-this-is-europe-we-dont-want-it.html

The German Consul hunted by workers in Greece

A warm welcome accorded to the envoy of Angela Merkel, Hans Fouchtel, employees in municipalities out of the Thessaloniki International Exhibition.

The "fire" was lit after the statement of Hans Joachim Fouchtel that "1,000 Germans  can do the job of 3,000 Greeks" today in Thessaloniki, the second day of the proceedings of the third Greco-German Assembly, protesters who had gathered in the building of the  Thessaloniki International Exhibition, attacked members of the German delegation with water bottles, hunting the German consul, Wolfgang Hoelscher-Obermaier.

The demonstrators had gathered from early morning to protest for the statements of Fouchtel and managed to enter the site in attendance of members of the Assembly of unguarded area of ​​the TIF.

source: http://www.zougla.gr/greece/article/tora-entasi-sti-de8

The arrogance of the Germans against the Greeks has generated much anti German feeling of the Greek people, which most likely will not have good results!

Merkel Outraged about Greeks on Strike; She May Consider to Impose Curfew?

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics, Society
German Chancellor Angela Merkel stunned 200 parliamentarians and journalists in Europe Parliament when she fiercely opposed Greeks launching strikes and protests.

“You have to tell them, ‘It is not right, that every time I go on strike when a privatization is due,  it is not right that a railway company is not able to pay its employees due to the ticket fares, it is not OK if the government ministries do not cooperate with each other, it’s not OK if one has a taxation system, but not paying taxes.”

I assume, that the aversion and the lack of understanding for the frustration and anger of austerity-ridden Greeks, have very much to do with the former DDR-mentality of Frau Merkel, where even basic labour rights were forbidden and hardly one dared to whisper “b” when Honnecker was singing ”A”.

...read more

Greeks say NO to new austerity. Watch live

Huge gathering outside the Greek Parliament House at Syntagma Square. Athenian Greeks anti-austerity protest.

http://www.zougla.gr/live

How the greeks created western civilization

How the greeks created western civilization

Bruce Thornton

In the classics departments of today’s universities, Bruce Thornton says, the Greeks are accused of stealing their achievements from black Egyptians, of oppressing their wives and daughters, and of hypocritically speculating about freedom while holding slaves. Most of all, classic Greek culture has come under attack precisely because its glorious achievement, extended into history, is what defines the West and makes it distinct. In Greek Ways, Thornton clears away these misconceptions. Writing with wit and erudition, he discusses in fascinating detail those areas of Greek life - sexuality and sexual roles; slavery and war; philosophy and politics - that some modern critics have made into “contested sites.” Perhaps more importantly, he also reclaims the importance of those core ideas the Greeks invented, ideas about human fate and purpose that have shaped the modern world. Nearly seventy years ago, Edith Hamilton published The Greek Way, a book that educated two generations of readers about the debt we owe the handful of city-states that developed “the spirit of the West” some 2500 years ago. Bruce Thornton’s Greek Ways is for our time what Hamilton’s book was for a prior era: a classic inquiry holding up a mirror to Greek culture in which we can see ourselves.

amazon.com

The Imperial trap for Berlin

Excerpt from the article: The "triangle" of the crisis, the "friendly" advice of the City to the Germans or the Imperial trap for Berlin EPIKERA magazine 156th issue.

When the disaster occurs,  when the dust settles, the people of Europe will begin to blame each other and everyone will blame the Greeks. The Germans and other Europeans leaders blame Greece as responsible for all the ills of Europe.

.... In late September, the Financial Times of London published an unusually brutal editorial, urging the EU, ECB and IMF to avoid paying Greece the sixth installment of the agreed loan. The editorial explained that Greece was not required to respond to international financial obligations until the end of the year. If not paid by installment, the Greek government would be unable to pay the salaries and pensions, the editorial stated, representing investors and broker of the City. (In the weeks that followed the publication of the editorial, the Greek government faced the threat of interruption of funding, began operating under the rule of absolute confusion and panic, slaughtering virtually all social classes under the supervision of the troika which was sent to Greece and in fact acted as a high level economic killer .)

The Brits know the Greeks and the Germans much better than what the Greeks and the Germans know themselves. Fought against them and defeated them repeatedly and in different ways. Investors and traders in the City may provide a possible outcome if followed their advice - and it is followed. Their advice will accelerate the destruction of Greece, resulting that Greece and Europe will be watered down so much that they will not be able to deal with them. It is also likely that the Greek people will be pushed out sooner or later to some kind of insurrection or rebellion, first against the Greek government, but probably against Germany and the EU. Someone can not criticize the Greeks. They made the second most important European revolution after the French and convened a National Assembly in 1822, when Napoleon was defeated and the Holy Alliance that ruled Europe at the time condemned any rebellion. Also organized the most massive resistance movement during World War II, taking into account the country's population.

Investors and traders in the City also know very well the German temperament, they know that Germans love discipline to the same extent that the Greeks love rebellion. They believe that Berlin would react to an uprising in Greece with a hard, rigid and non-political way. Germany and the EU's political and economic weight are able to induce in Greece an even bigger disaster than it' s already been caused by their policies - and with the cooperation of the Greek government. But do not have the means to avoid the financial and mainly political, ideological and geopolitical implications of the destruction of a small but simultaneously the most historical country in Europe. They can do it, and probably will, but this will accelerate their destruction. If after their adventures in the Middle East Americans rely on the "law of unintended consequences", we should introduce in Europe the new "law of asymmetric effects."

The idea of ​​political unification of Europe will accept a mortal blow. Already the political climate in Europe is poisoned. Both the "rich" and the "poor" Eurozone countries have begun to protest against the" assistance" to Greece, ignoring the fact that the Greeks are not helped in any way,  the banks are and they destroy Greece, and in some cases they speculate and profit from the difficulties of a member country of the EU. Everyone in Europe has begun to seek national solutions. In France, which has always been the political barometer of the whole continent, the fascist National Front of Marine Le Pen is now a socially acceptable political power. The fundamental political office that created and maintained postwar prosperity, democracy and peace in Europe is undermined rapidly before our eyes.

When the disaster occurs  when the dust settles, the people of Europe will begin to blame each other and everyone will blame the Greeks. The Germans and other Europeans leaders blame  Greece as responsible for all the ills of Europe and invoke as a pretext for an excuse to impose draconian economic and social policies in Germany and Europe. From their side Greeks will be disappointed because they are refused to Europe, to which they were oriented for two and a half centuries.They will not turn against the "markets" because they have no "address" and "phone number", but against Europe and especially Germany, accusing them for the destruction of their country -for the second time in less than a century. They will remember that the Germans did not pay war reparations and did not return the gold they stole from the Bank of Greece. They will reopen the contracts case of Siemens and other companies, given that European companies massively bribe Greek politicians. The International Herald Tribune, Time and the Financial Times will publish a story about hunger in Athens or analyze the weakness of Europeans to solving their problems. The implication of such a development are obvious. First of all, the image of the social catastrophe in Greece will be used to terrorize all European citizens to accept the salaries and pensions that banks will allow governments to give them. Second, all but the Germans will come to the same conclusion: "The Germans do not change." They remain the same. We can not trust them.

This is exactly the fundamental psychological and ideological mechanism used after the Second World War by the Empire to dominate over in Germany and Europe, to keep the continent divided and dependent, despite the economic, social, and spiritual achievements. And it will be a historic irony if the German nationalism contribute once again to undermine the German national interests ....

in greek

HOW THE GREEK LANGUAGE FERTILIZED THE LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD Part.2

How the Greek language fertilized the languages of the world p.2

HOW THE GREEK LANGUAGE FERTILIZED THE LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD

How the Greek Language Fertilized the Languages of the Word

read part 2

Western negative stereotypes about Greeks from the Middle Ages to today

by Athanasios Kotsakis

With the Roman conquest, the Greek world came essentially in close contact with the Latin for the first time. This coexistence had multiple parameters. Apart from cultural osmosis between the two sides (both the effects of Greek culture in Roman and other Roman hiring practices and institutions in the East by the Eastern Roman Empire), the two worlds came in conflict with each other since the early Middle Ages. There were rivalries and frictions, even in ecclesiastical level, between the Old and the New Rome. Those frictions eventually led to the schism between Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians.The relations between the East and the West deteriorated after the great migration that took place in the era between the 3rd and the 5th century AD, when Germanic tribes flooded Western Europe and overthrew the western part of the empire, occupying Rome (476 AD). Yet, despite the raids, looting and destruction in the eastern part of the empire, the Germanic tribes were not able to prevail there. Prominent members of the aristocracy in Constantinople founded the "Panhellenic", an institution with strong anti-german orientation. Panhellenic's ultimate goal was the expulsion of the Germanic tribes from the area of the Eastern Roman Empire, a goal that was eventually achieved during the popular revolt in 400 AD. The aftermath of the riot was the extermination of the Goth Warlord Gaina and of all the Goths who had settled in the vicinity Constantinople.

Since then the Byzantine Empire will continue to be in conflict with the Germanic tribes and the western principalities, culminating in the ideological conflict with the empire of the Frankish ruler Charlemagne and his successors, who claimed the title of "Roman Empire" (800 AD). Wanting even to monopolize this title, Western leaders called the Byzantine emperor simply "king of the Greeks" and not "Roman", who in turn called the emperor of the West just "king" and the Franks 'barbarian race ".

Liutprando da Cremona and his picture for the Byzantines

In the context of diplomatic contacts between the two sides, the German Emperor Otto I (962-973), founder of the later Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, sent Lombard Liutprand, bishop of Cremona, to Constantinople, to negotiate with emperor Nikiforos Fokas, regarding the match of his son, Otto II with Theophano, a greek princess. But it seems that the bad behavior the Byzantines showed to Liutprand - the latter having been sent there as a representative of the German prince, that is a usurper of Roman legality in the Byzantines' eyes - enraged him so much that he wrote a very passionate and strongly critical report on his trip to Constantinople with the Latin title: "De Legatione Constantinopolitana". This text, which probably reflected not only his personal views but also the prevailing attitudes in the Western world, is considered to be useful for modern historians, in order for them to trace the roots of Western anti-Greek feelings. In this book the Greeks are presented as "frivolous," "stupid", "flatterers," "covetous," "deceitful," "crooks," "untrustworthy," "liars," "traitors" etc. , This opinion the Middle-Age Westerners held about Byzantine Greeks may be interpreted in the light of certain "inferiority complexes" of the early Medieval West towards the thriving eastern empire.

In particular, according to Liutprand, "Nikiforos is a truly monstrous creature, a pygmy with giant head, with eyes like the mole, with short beard, broad, thick, whitish. The forehead is one finger wide, his hair scruffy crowning his untamed and wild face, as if he were Iopas.The skin is blackish as if he were Ethiopian .. He is big-bellied with weak glutes. His thighs are large, with disproportionately short of stature, his legs wide. He wore an old peasant cloak, frayed and dirty. His words are cheeky, but his mind is like a fox and like Ulysses he is liar and perjurer" In addition, the Byzantine emperor: is boor, Padfoot, cuckold, effeminate, hairy, uncouth, barbarous, brutal, "walks like an old lady and has a goat's face."
            
Continuing, Liutprand says: "The king of the Greeks is hairy, wearing a cloak with long sleeves and feminine guise, he is a liar, deceiver, ruthless, sly fox, arrogant, stingy, greedy, eating garlic, onions and leeks and drinks valnion. Instead, the king of the Franks is good looking, he is not wearing women's clothes, he covers his head, he is sincere, he is not deceiving anyone,he knows when to be compassionate, strict when necessary, he always has real humility, he never becomes a miser, he does not eat garlic, onions and leeks to make savings on the animals."

Also:- The Emperor cheats (...) and does not tell anyone the truth. He did as the Greeks always do".

- "Greeks are of uncertain faith: Latins, look carefully! Do not believe them, nor hear their words. How much more will they lie in order for Argos to prevail! ".

- "The perjurer Greece."

- "The deception derives from the Greeks, so that everyone can judge them from a single crime."

- "How much ready are the Greeks to swear on the head of another."

- "The skimpy dinner begins and ends with lettuce, once closed the dinner of their ancestors."

In the latter passages there is use of negative stereotypes about Greeks, that derives from Roman antiquity, which as it turns out, were in use and during the Middle Ages. The latter phrase, though not at all flattering to the Greeks, proves that Westerners saw the Byzantines descendants of the ancient Greeks, as they are faced as a single entity. And the negative characterizations against the Greeks and especially against the Byzantine emperor are clearly excessive and exude empathy.

So nearly a century before the schism of 1054 the existence of negative stereotypes established, on a part of Westerns and especially the Germans, concerning, in particular, the reliability of the Greeks and their hostility towards the West. From 1054 onwards the characterization of the "schismatic" or more rarely of the "heretic" will be added to the anti-Greek stereotypes, given that the Roman-Catholic Church did not regard the Orthodox heretics but only schismatics . Since the late 11th century  by conducting the 1st Crusade and especially after the fall of the Byzantine Empire by the troops of the Fourth Crusade, relations between the two sides dramatically deteriorated. The defeated Greeks will face not only the oppression but also the mocking of Western conquerors, who thought of them as "people of scribes."

The Chronicle of the Morea and the image of the Greeks

The rivalry between "Roman" (Greek) and Franks (medievalFrench) is reflected in the "Chronicle of Morea", a text of the 14th century, probably written by Gasmoulo of Peloponnese (f758-761, 769):

«Τίς νὰ πιστέψῃ εἰς Ρωμαῖον εἰς λόγον εἴτε εἰς ὅρκον;
λέγουσιν ὅτι εἶναι Χριστιανοὶ καὶ στὸν Θεὸν πιστεύουν·
ἐμᾶς τοὺς Φράγκους μέμφονται, λέγουν, κατηγοροῦν μας,
σκύλους μᾶς ὀνομάζουσι, ἀτοί τους ἐπαινοῦνται (…) Ἀκούσατε τὲς αἵρεσες, τὲς ἔχουν οἱ Ρωμαῖοι».

«Ἀκούσατε οἱ ἅπαντες, Φράγκοι τε καὶ Ρωμαῖοι,
ὅσοι πιστεύετε εἰς Χριστόν, τὸ βάφτισμα φορεῖτε,
ἐλᾶτε ἐδῶ νὰ ἀκούσετε ὑπόθεσιν μεγάλην,
τὴν κακοσύνην τῶν Ρωμαίων, τὴν ἀπιστίαν ὅπου ἔχουν.
Ποῖος νὰ θαρρέσῃ εἰς αὐτούς, ὅρκον νὰ τοὺς πιστέψῃ,
ἀφῶν τὸν Θεὸν οὐ σέβονται, ἀφέντη οὐκ ἀγαποῦσιν; ὁ εἷς τὸν ἄλλον οὐκ ἀγαπᾷ μόνον μὲ πονηρίαν». (στ. 724-730).

Regarding the split between the two Churches (1054) Chronicle of the Morea says:

«Οἱ Φράγκοι γὰρ καὶ οἱ Ρωμαῖοι πίστιν μίαν ἐκρατοῦσαν·
τῆς οἰκουμένης οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, Φράγκοι τε καὶ Ρωμαῖοι,
οἱ πατριάρχαι κ᾿ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς οἱ πρῶτοι τῆς οἰκουμένης,
ἐπαῖρναν τὴν χειροτονίαν ἕκαστος ἀπὸ ἐκεῖνον,
ὅπου ἦτον Πάπας κι ἀρχιερεὺς εἰς τὸ σκαμνὶ τῆς Ρώμης.
Διαβόντα γὰρ χρόνοι πολλοὶ αὐτεῖνοι οἱ Ρωμαῖοι,
Ἕλληνες εἶχαν τὸ ὄνομα, οὕτως τοὺς ὠνομάζαν,
- πολλὰ ἦσαν ἀλαζονικοί, ἀκομὴ τὸ κρατοῦσιν -
ἀπὸ τὴν Ρώμη ἀπήρασιν τὸ ὄνομα τῶν Ρωμαίων.
Ἀπ᾿ αὔτης τῆς ἀλαζονείας, τὴν ἔπαρσιν ὅπου εἶχαν
ἀφήκασιν τὸν ὄρδιναν τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς Ρώμης,
καὶ στήκουν ὡς σχισματικοί, μόνι τὸ καῦχος ἔχουν.
Τηρήσετε, ἄρχοντες καλοί, τὴν ἀπιστίαν ὅπου ἔχουν·
λέγουν ὅτι εἶναι Χριστιανοί, καὶ ἀλήθειαν οὐ κρατοῦσιν·
τὸν ὅρκον τους οὐδὲν κρατοῦν, οὐδὲ Θεὸν φοβοῦνται·

μόνον τὸ βάφτισμα ἔχουσι τὸ τῆς χριστιανωσύνης» (στ. 789-804).

"Anti-Greek" Western stereotypes of modern times until the Greek Revolution

The negative pattern for the Greeks will be repeated to a degree in works of Western travelers who visited the Aegean in the 16th,17th and 18th century, as in these of the Western officials. 

For example:- The Venetian monk Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623) called the Greeks  "infidels" and said they need "a little bread and lots of whacking" ("poco pane e molte bastonate") and should be treated as wild beasts, they must be constantly humiliated and prevented from training with weapons.

- The Italian Pilgrim Zuarllardo writes in the late 16th century: "We should not trust the Greeks too. they are known enemies. "

- The French Aegean traveler  Jean Thévenot (1633-1667) said that: "The Greeks are covetous, infidels, traitors, pedophiles, very vindictive, hypocritical and very superstitious," and that " They hate the Catholics more than the Turks."

- The French Jesuit Robert Saulger (1637-1709) called the Orthodox inhabitants of the Cyclades "schismatic" and "superstitious" and believed that the Greeks are "pride when they are greater, but humble when they lose and sometimes by necessity are liars". " Also, "They are crafty, a little unstable and truthful in their friendship. So in the East will refer to the Greek  infidelity and will tell you to believe the opposite of those that the Greeks believe." But these supplements do not apply to everyone, because in the Aegean Islands met "many who were very sincere, honest and prudent."


It should be noted that these passages are not representative of the Western writers who refer to the Greek Orthodox population of the Aegean. Anti-Greek feelings is not usually the most dominant element in their writings. However, repetition in modern times of medieval negative stereotypes about Greeks is something that could not pass unnoticed. This phenomenon is obviously part of the overall climate of the time in the western area where the image of the Greeks (Hellenes) is generally not the most positive.

Only later, with the emergence of artistic and ideological currents, such as Romanticism, will the interest rekindle  in Western Europe not only in ancient Greece, but also in the fate of the contemporaries, enslaved Greeks. Many Western Europeans will indeed come as volunteers to fight alongside the Greeks during the Greek Revolution (1821-1829), a phenomenon that will be repeated until the Greco-Turkish war of 1897 and the Cretan revolutions of 1866 and 1896, as in the First Balkan War (1912-13), mostly by Italian Garibaldini.

On the other hand, Westerners Hellenists will significantly promote the Greek (Hellenic) letters (eg Louis, King of Bavaria and father of Otto of Greece) and despite the unilateral persistence in ancient Greece and the rejection of the Byzantine past, they could be described as real and warm Philhellenes, given the practical support in the Greek (hellenic) national liberation struggle. However cases of other Western Europeans who favoured greek (hellenic) but who were also violent anti-Hellenes as the Dutchman Cornelius de Pauw, the Prussian Jacob Salomon Bartholdy, the English William Gell and Thomas Thorthon, and also the British Richard Chandler and Charles Perry, who argued that modern Greeks are "resourceful, cunning and crafty people" and "deceitful, crooks and traitors."did not disappear. The most famous scholar, however, in this category was the Austrian Philip James Fallmerayer (1790-1861), who was best known for his theories regarding the absence of any relationship between ancient modern Greeks (Hellenes).

Also in the mid 19th century the image of Greeks (Hellenes) for much of the Western public opinion was very negative, given the reluctance of Greece (Hellas) for alliance with the Western coalition, which campaigned against Russia during the Crimean War (1853-1856 ) and the mission of Greek (Hellenes) volunteers alongside the Russians. The overall picture, however, of the Westerns for the Orthodox world was generally not the best, as opposed for example with the image that had many for the Muslims, but at the time allied Ottoman Empire.

Western European and especially German negative stereotypes about Greeks (Hellenes) (late 19th - early 21st century.)

Dealing with the ancient Greek (hellenic) past and the promotion of Greek (hellenic) letters will continue primarily from the German educational and research institutions throughout the 20th century, but the geopolitical conflict between the two countries, which are found in opposite camps during the two world Wars will not favor the occurrence of philhellenic feelings for the modern Greeks, although there have been several Germans philhellenes throughout the last half a century. Already almost from the first day of the Federal Government, of Bismarck (late 19th cent.), Some Greeks blamed the Germans -as part of their geopolitical ambitions- they wished to govern Greece "as a province of Bavaria" under the doctrine of "Deutschland über Alles".Also noted that the tight embrace between Germany and the Ottoman Empire before and during the First World War was not unrelated to the systematic extermination of Hellenism in Asia Minor by the Neo Turks, who were planned by German officers - consultants, as Fr C. Otto Liman von Sanders who called the Asia Minor Greeks "hostile elements, inspired by revolutionary ideas from outside", which should be prosecuted mercilessly. During the Nazi period there is evidence indicating that the Greeks (Hellenes) were accused as "lazy and cafe  habitues", that  the Germans said they would oblige them to work "as they know how to put slaves to work."

Today, 70 years later, the scene is repeated in some way with one another form.The military invasion of the Third Reich in Greece (Hellas) has been replaced by common consent of the German economic penetration, reaching far to undermine our national sovereignty, in a quasi-re-known from the 30s and 40s as "living space" of Germany (" Lebensraum ").

Also, articles in the German press, especially in broad popular consumption, characterize the Greeks (Hellenes) "vermin," "lazy," "crooks," "thieves," "liars," "worthless," "untrustworthy," who should be punished with harsh economic measures or the loss of part of their territory (eg some islands or even the Acropolis itself!), preferably in favor of Turkey. Similar types of publications have been identified in other countries such as Denmark and other Nordic countries, secondarily in England and rarely in France, but above all perhaps in Holland, where in addition to the above, the Greeks (Hellenes) are seen as "inventors" of gay sex . Often Greek (hellenic) immigrants living in central and northern Europe, mainly in German-speaking and Nordic countries, face the ridicule and scurrilous attacks of a not insignificant portion of the indigenous populations there.

But such a war  is not limited to the Greeks (Hellenes), although our people is at the forefront lately of the peoples encountered derogatory, primarily by the Protestant north. Mediterranean peoples, and especially Catholics, with not particularly great appeal to economic growth, are treated as category B Europeans, on one hand effected by the current economic crisis on the other, ridiculed by some partners in northern Europe, they have been characterized as "lazy ", 

"parasite", " pigs ", etc. , While believing that they are "sinners" who should be "imprisoned".

The existence of these stereotypes is obviously a product of various combinations of parameters: firstly the current politico-economic conditions and also the different glimpse into the personality, culture and historical and cultural background among the peoples of Europe. It seems that has somehow developed in Europe a psychological gap between the Protestant north and Catholic (and Orthodox) South, which, however, due to the gradual spread of economic crisis and north of the Alps, begins to subside, though perhaps not at the expected degree.

Moreover, the fact that Greece is a true European country, but not essentially Western, as orthodox, seem not to create favorable conditions for developing this very friendly feelings of the western side of cycles that affect to some extent the common opinion, some of which connect or identify Greece (Hellas) with their enemy, Russia, even talking about "slavic-orthodox" culture and has become a reason for the existence of an "unholy alliance" or an "axis of evil" of the Greek Orthodox and Serbs during the wars of former Yugoslavia in the '90s. Also, in the German press of the era was pulled from the limbo of history the theory of Fallmerayer, for obvious reasons, and maps were circulated to Greece as a patchwork of peoples, with the eastern Aegean islands belonging to Turkey.

Of course phenomena of suspicion and hostility toward the West, especially to the Germans, have been observed previously on a part of some Greek Orthodox, given the many negative experiences accumulated from centuries of coexistence with the West. So in light of the above could be interpreted the phenomenon of being in Europe today some negative stereotypes about Greeks, and certainly in line with the general historical background of relations between the Greeks and the West.
However, the peoples of the West, including parts of northern European populations, begin to understand now the real causes of the current global economic crisis, developing in many cases philhellenic feelings, even philhellenic action: eg movement "Je suis  Grecque" («I'm Greek"), developed in Nantes, France from the end of 2011, which has spread to other countries, is perhaps the first important example of European solidarity movement to the Greek people . Also, from February 2012 Italian mayors offer symbolic salary in favor of the Greek people in the solidarity movement philhellenic "Magna Grecia" («Great Greece").

The Greek (Hellenic) civilization and the human values, which it represents, may constitute a realistic alternative, universal character anthropocentric proposal against the Protestant value system and the instrumentalist Anglo-Saxon thought, a product which is now the dominant socio-economic anti-human, neoliberal model emergence of the individual benefit. The struggle today is not so among the Greeks (Hellenes) and the West, but between peoples and the global financial oligarchs and their oppressors. The request to return to the values ​​of Greek (hellenic) culture seems now increasingly imperative for all mankind, this helps the Greeks to get closer to with the peoples of Western Europe, leaving behind any prejudices and passions of the past.

Published in the journal "Νέος Λόγιος Ερμής" (January - April 2012).

related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWI3uEJnOlI&list=PL4D25B85C43A26CD6