examples of Greekling behavior
Panayote Elias Dimitras
Greek Helsinki Monitor
(AIM Athens, 2/12/1999)
"Criminal, pervert, murderer, imposter,
blood-thirsty,
gangster, slayer, naive, criminal,
butcher, stupid, killer,
foolish, unscrupulous, disgraceful,
dishonest, rascal.
These are some of the adjectives I
found in the Greek
media of the last few days about the
US President,"
wrote writer Nikos Dimou in his weekly
column in
"Ethnos" (14/11/1999). He had not seen
the following
quote of another columnist, Nikos Vardiambasis
("Eleftherotypia" 13/11): "Clinton
is a miserable little
Hitler that Adolph himself would not
have made him
even deputy commander of an army camp,
because
[Clinton] is stupid." No wonder then
foreign diplomats
and correspondents in Athens were saying
that
"Athens is the most anti-American European
capital"
("Ta Nea" 20/11).
Is that anti-Americanism new or resurgent?
In the same
weekly ("Ependytis" 20/11), two journalists
disagreed.
One spoke of a "recent anti-American
climate that
flared up in Greece after the undeclared
war in Kosovo;"
while the other argued that "only foolish
or
presumptuous people can be surprised
by the extent of
anti-American feelings in Greece, feelings
that are
traditionally very strong." In fact,
Professor of
International Relations and current
Greek Ambassador
to the Council of Europe Dimitris Constas
made two,
apparently contradictory, arguments.
"The stereotypes
of the early 1980s (when political
statements and
actions against the USA, lacked practical
value but had
major consequences to our relations
with the at the
time one of the two superpowers) persist
today" he
wrote in "Eleftherotypia" (11/11);
"an effusion of an -
unprecedented at least in the 1990s-
anti-Americanism"
he commented in "Ta Nea" (27/11).
A careful analysis of Greek public opinion
trends would
show that a deep-rooted anti-Western
and anti-
American sentiment has traditionally
prevailed. It has
been substantial both on the right,
influenced by the
Orthodox-based, hence anti-Catholic
and consequently
anti-Western, traditional Greek culture;
and on the left,
for which the West had always symbolized
imperialism
and capitalism. In the late 1980s,
these attitudes
appeared on the wane, as communism
was eroding
and the PASOK socialist government
had come to
admit that Greece's interests lied
with the West. Even
then, though, public opinion analysts
were warning that
anti-Westernism was dormant rather
than eliminated.
The Balkan crisis that followed the
collapse of the old
"world order" triggered the reawakening
of nationalism
in Greece (as in many other Balkan
countries),
especially because most politicians
played up latent
traditional fears among Greeks of irredentist
threats by
Greece's neighbors; while some went
as far as reviving
equally latent Greek irredentist claims
against its
neighbors. American and European policies
were
perceived as not fully satisfactory
to Greek positions;
worse, they were also thought as emphasizing
human
and minority rights at the expense
of imajorities and
stability. So, rather than adapting
their views to the
needs of a new, more open, world order,
Greeks (like
Serbs) opted to turn against the "new
crusaders."
A front page column of the "Kathimerini"
English
language insert to the "Interntaional
Herald Tribune"'s
Athens edition (Costas Iordanidis,
15/11) was eloquent:
"Implementing the American model in
the case of the
Balkans means implementing 'democracy
and
tolerance of different ethnic and religious
groups' in a
new order. The fact that this model
is capable of
destabilizing specific state entities
does not appear to
bother Washington." After all, the
newspaper's newly
promoted editor-in-chief of its international
news
section, George Kapopoulos, was arguing
that "in the
name of a rapprochement with the West,
the current
governments in FYROM, Romania, and
Bulgaria, have
adopted a 'submissive' attitude towards
irredentist-
minority threats. While the rapprochement
-with NATO
and EU doors closed- remains questionable,
the cost of
concessions will be very high for the
current
leaderships" (2/11). For him, the existence
of minorities
is tantamount today to the presence
of "minority and
nationalist irredentism" in Hungary,
Slovakia, Romania
and Bulgaria (7/11). He is certain
that "around 2015,
the Albanian element will be a majority
in Skopje"
[meaning of course Macedonia, not just
its capital]
which will threaten the country's "stability
and integrity"
and, in turn, the region's "status
quo as shaped with
the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913" (2/11).
It is in the same paper though that
a very lucid analysis
was also written. "While we consider
as strategic target
Greece's integration of the EMU and
the West; while
we are allies of the US and NATO members;
(...) we
give the impression at the same time
to be opposed to
the West, its values and its choices.
The leading role in
the development of such attitude is
played by a broad,
apparently disparate, 'alliance' that
has recently
emerged between the henceforth vehemently
nationalist
KKE, the fanatic Orthodox reinforced
by Christodoulos'
election as Archbishop, and the nationalist
circles in
the two major parties. The old right-wingers,
for
example, speak the same language with
the
communists" (Yannis Loverdos 14/11).
Under such circumstances, "the rapid
development of a
diffused anti-Americanism that is not
based on specific
issues nor does it have specific demands,
and that
leads to all kinds of reactions is
a negative symptom"
wrote Christina Poulidou in "Avghi"
(14/11). How
widespread is that phenomenon? Former
conservative
New Democracy (ND) minister and now
independent
deputy Vasilis Kontogiannopoulos wrote
that "the
outdated ideological reflexes of the
Left meet with the
nationalist reflexes of the populist
Right in an extremist
and leveling anti-Americanism which
keeps Greece
hostage" ("Ta Nea" 13/11). Prime Minister
Costas
Simitis even said: "I am sorry that
ND is an anti-
American, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist
party or
movement" ("Avghi" 12/11).
Indeed, the largest pro-ND newspaper
"Eleftheros
Typos," in an editorial (14/11), accused
the Greek
government of "submissiveness" and
the US of
engaging in the "national humiliation"
of Greece. THis
debate took place as US President Bill
Clinton was to
visit Greece: a trip initially scheduled
for 13-15
November, postponed for a week and
shortened to 24
hours (19-20/11), partly because of
an avalanche of
negative reactions and planned demonstrations.
"Demonstrations for the people to express
their
displeasure with the New World Order,
and with the
subservience that plagues not only
the Greek but all
European governments; (=85) displeasure
with
government policy and, especially,
with some
subservient journalists, from both
Greece and the
West, who are ruthless murderers of
human dignity."
These harsh words were written by George
Stamatopoulos, a journalist in "Eleftherotypia"
(19/11),
who thus showed little respect even
for his colleagues
with views different than his.
Leading PASOK politicians also voiced
or made known
strong reactions. Former Minister Stelios
Papathemelis
considered Clinton's visit "a useless
trip [that] now
becomes dangerous" ("Eleftheros Typos"
14/11).
PASOK's youth, along with those of
the communist
KKE, the leftist Coalition, and the
socialist splinter
DIKKI, declared "the representative
of American
imperialist policy persona non grata
in our country" ("To
Vima" 15/11). Eleven personalities
-including two former
leading PASOK politicians (Manolis
Glezos and
Manolis Drettakis) and former Minister
and current
PASOK deputy Professor George Mangakis-
issued a
very strong statement ("Eleftheriotypia"
15/11). "We are
exasperated even by the thought that
the US
President's presence will contaminate
the sanctified -
with the blood of sacrifice- soil of
our motherland. We
forbid him to set foot on Pnyka Hill
-the temple of
Democracy- and Parthenon -the temple
of ineffable
beauty. We regret that the Greek government
ignores
the feelings of the Greek people towards
a murderer of
people, ideals, values, beauty and
life. We are happy to
feel proud that once again the Greek
people resists and
fights against the charge of barbarism
and will therefore
be present in his mobilization against
the visit of the
lord of the planet."
It was finally reported, and never denied,
that one of the
top PASOK leaders and Minister of Environment
and
Public Works, Costas Laliotis, opposed
Clinton's visit
arguing it will lead to PASOK's losing
the elections and
opted to be absent for 'urgent business'
in Salonica
when he came during it. It was reminded
that he is also
notorious for his absence from all
EU ministerial
councils of his competence. Alexis
Papachelas, in his
related column, called him an "inward
looking party
apparatchik, remnant of the 1970s,
unadaptable to the
ever changing world" ("To Vima" 15/11).
Sadly for him, but not so surprising
for Greek
observers, Turkish minority deputy
of the Coalition party
Mustafa Mustafa voiced an equally primitive
anti-
Americanism. He allied himself with
mainstream Greek
politicians notorious for their hostility
towards the
Turkish minority and towards the US
Department of
State for reporting annually, among
other things, on
that minority's human rights problems.
"Peoples have
visions, hopes and values and do not
need the values
and the visions of the lord of the
planet [common
attribute of Clinton in the Greek debate].
The problem
lies not with the person of the lord
of the planet; but
with the values and the visions that
the US wants to
impose on humanity" Mustafa said while
marching to
protest Clinton's visit ("Paratiritis"
22/11).
Visiting Athens on the eve of Clinton's
trip, world-
renowned sociologist Edgar Morin commented
on the
emerging reactions: "I am afraid that
this is
fundamental irrationalism. Greeks turn
themselves on
and steam themselves up every now and
then over
some issue, like the Macedonian issue,
that
incredible war hysteria without a war"
("Eleftherotypia"
25/11). One of Greece's major problems
is, however,
that many of its intellectuals who
favor a cosmopolitan,
secular Greece appear to pretend that
anti-
Americanism and anti-Westernism in
Greece are
marginal, hence negligible, phenomena.
In a letter to
the editor of "Washington Post" (13/11)
Professors Ted
Couloumbis and Thanos Veremis -respectively
director
general and president of the Hellenic
Foundation for
European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP),
the country's
main 'think tank'- argued that "admittedly,
President
Clinton's planned visit to Greece has
caused a furor in
the marginal (left-of-center) sector
of Greek politics.
These forces are represented by the
Greek Communist
Party (which enjoys about 6.5 percent
of the popular
vote) and a disgruntled offshoot party
of PASOK, called
the Democratic Socialist Movement ([DIKKI]
representing about 6 percent of the
national total). The
rest of the parties in Parliament may
differ -on some
occasions- with U.S. and NATO decisions,
such as the
one to begin a bombing campaign against
the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, but in no way
can they be
referred to as anti-American and anti-European.
In fact,
public opinion surveys show the Greek
people as
reflecting one of the highest rates
of approval regarding
Greece's EU membership. It should be
emphasized that the people in Greece
who vocally
oppose the president's visit are a
mix of
unreconstructed left-wingers, together
with remnants of
an extreme right-wing faction that
still longs for the
days (1967-74) when Greece was an 'authoritarian
paradise."
It was, we believe convincingly, argued
above that anti-
Americanism and the reactions to Clinton's
visit were
much more widespread than these two
academics
claimed. While opinion polls showed
that, before the
visit, 61% of Greeks wanted its postponement
vs. 24%
who welcomed it; 12% had a positive
opinion of Bill
Clinton vs. 80% who had a negative
opinion. "Ethnos"
which published (8/11) that Greater
Athens telephone
poll
(carried out by Alco between 3-5/11)
interpreted these high negative
percentages as anti-Americanism. There
has been no other country in the
world, especially the democratic one,
where a visit of the US president
created as much hostility as in Greece.
Just like there is probably no
other country where the Pope is declared
persona non grata and cancels
his visit plans, as happened with Greece
in early September 1999. Greeks
have recently seen on television the
Pontiff's visits to officially
communist Cuba, mainly Orthodox Romania,
and mainly Hindu India. They
apparently were unmoved and have remained
proud to be the only country
that "dares say no to Clinton and the
Pope."
Many Greeks probably believe that, being
descendents of Aristotle and
Plato, they know better than the rest
of humanity. In fact, after Clinton
left, most of those voices that spoke
against his visit, as they had
sided with Milosevic and Ocalan before,
found in the World Trade
Organization late November summit in
Seattle a new battleground. Because
there, "who will 'prevail' is of utmost
importance for the future of
European Civilization; if some things
are not accepted, the latter will
not be able to survive." The threat
was of course coming from the USA,
whose drive for the liberalization
of international trade would lead to
"a production process based on children
and slaves," where "the 'First'
World attempts to copy 'Third' World
production models, so as to secure a
larger profit margin." "The USA wants
a return to the Middle Ages" was
the title "Eleftherotypia" chose for
that interview (30/11) with
Professor of Labor Law John Koukiadis,
leading Eurodeputy of the
governing PASOK party...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder if these Helsinki monitor
members are paid to write such
"info". Anyway here are some comments on the
nonsense and half-truths that are written here.
1. I agree that
Clinton is "criminal, pervert, murderer, impostor, gangster, slayer, naive,
criminal, butcher, stupid, killer,
foolish, unscrupulous, disgraceful, dishonest,
rascal". I don't know if he is blood-thirsty, but it
doesn't matter since all the previous characterizations
are true. I would also add he is a great liar and
hypocrite, as well as a puppet of various
trusts.
2. Greek people
are against the American empire, and not against American people.
Many of us
have immigrated to America during hard times,
and there are many intermarriages between Greeks
and Americans. I myself have some American
friends and I correspond via Internet with many
Americans - most of them don't like
their government too. Perhaps they are anti-americans, don't
you think?
3. Not All Greeks
have the same point of view. There are communists who are angry at
Americans
because they would prefer to be at the
Soviet block. There are anarchists who dislike the "Soviet
block" as well as the "Western block"
and hate all tyrannical super-powers. There are Orthodox
Christians who do not like the abortion law,
that is in effect in our country and is similar to the
American one. Papandreou's American
wife, Margaret, made her best to legalize abortions and many
people cannot forget this. All of them, as
well as other Greeks who are not communists or anarchists
or church-goers, know very well that America
imposed the junta of colonels (Clinton himself admitted
this) and supported Turkey during the
Cyprus invasion. We also know very well that America
encourages Turkey to ask some of our islands
and to violate Athens F.I.R. America incites the tension
between these two countries, in order to sell
arms to both. The main reason this miserable Clinton
came here, was to sell arms. He made a ridiculous
statement, that he is willing to give us arms so that
we can fight terrorism!!! It seems he believes
we are mentally retarded.
4. Moreover,
Greeks see every injustice that happens all over the world and feel sympathy
for every
suppressed nation or groups of people. We
can't forget Vietnam, Iraq and other cases were the dirty
US government poke its nose for "humanitarian
reasons". We also can't stand hypocrisy, since
America always turns a blind eye when its
own collaborators torture people. The undeclared war
against Yugoslavia was a terrible injustice.
Milosevic who is now presented as a "Hitler of the
Balkans" (quite stupid characterization) was
previously portrayed by American officials as "our man at
Dayton".
5. State Department
and US officials try hard to find "violations of human rights" in order
to blackmail
sovereign nations, and Helsinki monitor is
exactly an organization of such kind. They try so hard to
find something to poke their nose here,
especially with the Muslim minority that lives in Thrace.
Another theme is the FYROM state who wanted
to use the name "Macedonia' and talked about an
alleged "Macedonian" nationality. This nationality
simply does not exist. Macedonians were one Greek
tribe that lived in Macedonia and used a Greek
dialect. Their descendants are alive and well - and
Greeks. Alexander the Great came from Macedonia.
A part of this area now belongs to Greece while
another one was given to Yugoslavia. Tito
was among those who cultivated the myth about this
alleged "macedonian" national entity, and
Bulgarians also have their share. Unfortunately, the Greek
communist party collaborated in this rewriting
of history. The people who live in Skopje are mostly
Slavs and Albanians, not "Macedonians"; to
claim they are descendants of Alexander and to use the
"Vergina sun" is ridiculous for everyone who
knows a little History. To declare this, is not
"nationalism", is just respect to History.
It is interesting that Greeks do not call this state "Macedonia",
but "Skopje" or "FYROM". I do not wonder why
the author of this article does not use the
terminology used by most Greeks. He must discover
some "suppressed minorities". But when the
Greek minority who lives in Skopje denounced
that they were forced to change the Greek ending in
their names (-idis, -iadis, -opoulos, -iou
etc.) to "Macedonian" ones (-of!!!), and that even the
tombstones with the Greek names were destroyed
in the graveyards, no "international organization"
paid attention.
6. But I wonder
WHERE does the author of this article see the "new, more open, world order".
To
the encouragement of the Albanian nationalism,
that dreams to create a "Great Albania" by taking
parts of Yugoslavia - and many parts of Greece?
To the humanitarian bombings? Since he does not
look like an idiot, he is probably paid to
write such nonsense. He is not the first, and not the last to do so.
7. We don't
have " irredentist claims against our neighbors", but we can't forget the
REAL genocides
made by the Turkish regime against the Greek
people. We don't like this fascist state, but we have
nothing against Turks - that's why we were
the first that went to help the victims of the earthquake this
year.
8. People like
the author of this article are constantly talking about "Western values
as democracy,
human rights" as if we don't know about such
values and we have to import them from the West.
Personally I doubt that Washington is bothered
in such values. Go ask the Indians if there is
democracy and respect of human rights in America.
9. Another subject
is that US governments try to impose some allegedly "religious" movements
like
Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses, and to
provide special privileges for them. We see this as
another kind of intervention. These are not
religions, but destructive cults and multinational
corporations and exploit their members in
every possible way. Their followers have no idea of what
these organizations are doing. Two years ago
a district attorney made an investigation in Scientology's
offices and found documents, that prove
this organization -which is forbidden in Germany- not only
exploits its members financially, not only
uses "therapies" that are dangerous for the health, but also
has a spy-ring over politicians, Church officials
and others. Moreover, Scientology does not accept
journalist as members, but is very interested
on militaries, and asks them many questions on matters of
national security. This organization, who
at first presented itself as a "philosophical association" that
"has nothing to do with religion" now present
itself as a "religion" which is"persecuted" because Greeks
are "fanatics". In Greece there is religious
tolerance, but we don't accept organizations who come to
us using a religious facade, in order
not to pay taxes or to spy in a more comfortable way. All these
"religious" movements use the term "persecuted
minority", a term that says nothing about their actions.
Mafia is ALSO a "persecuted minority", but
WHY?
10. ND
is not "anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist party or movement".
It is exactly the
opposite. But since it has to gain some votes,
it uses this facade. It is unbelievable what political
parties can do for vote-hunting.
11. "We are
exasperated even by the thought that the US President's presence will
contaminate the sanctified - with the blood
of sacrifice- soil of our motherland. We forbid him
to set foot on Pnyka Hill -the temple of Democracy-
and Parthenon -the temple of ineffable
beauty. We regret that the Greek government
ignores the feelings of the Greek people towards
a murderer of people, ideals, values, beauty
and life. We are happy to feel proud that once
again the Greek people resists and fights
against the charge of barbarism and will therefore be
present in his mobilization against the visit
of the lord of the planet." I totally agree - except of
the term "lord of the planet". It seems that
US presidents are "lords of the planet", but I don't believe
they are. They are just puppets. And mr. Bush
(father) was more convincing on this role.
12. Some pro-Western
people express a very mean spirit, when they say "let's forget about the
past
and collaborate with USA, this will provide
us financially". They also used the "argument" that our
behavior is "unadaptable to the ever changing
world". A well-payed agent named Andrianopoulos
writes such articles in the foreign press,
and accuses all those who don't agree with him as
"nationalists". One day he declared on a TV
program that we can profit from the destruction of
Yugoslavia! Thank God most Greeks can't
accept such arguments. Honor and dignity are of a great
significance here.
When someone is talking about "collaboration",
it is good to define what he/she means. We can
collaborate with the USA in REAL humanitarian
programs - feed the hungry and the like - we are not
prejudiced to everything that comes from America.
But concerning helping them to kill people, HELL
NO. It is horrible to collaborate with butchers
and killers to earn some profit. It makes you less
human.
13. So I agree
that "some subservient journalists, from both Greece and the West, are
ruthless
murderers of human dignity". The author of
this "Greek Helsinki monitor" article belongs there too.
I hope he sells his dignity in a high price
- though dignity has no price...
14. "There is
probably no other country where the Pope is declared persona non grata
and
cancels his visit plans, as happened with
Greece in early September 1999. Greeks have recently
seen on television the Pontiff's visits to
officially communist Cuba, mainly Orthodox Romania,
and mainly Hindu India. They apparently were
unmoved and have remained proud to be the
only country that "dares say no to Clinton
and the Pope." There are some "details" concerning
the Pope's visit. Pope has two qualities:
he is both a religious and a state leader (Vatican). In Greece
he was accepted as a state leader, but not
as a religious one, that's why he himself preferred not to
come here. He wants us to welcome him as "the
head of Christianity". For the Orthodox Church, he is
just the heretical bishop of Rome.
It is true that Greeks don't like the Pope.
The reasons are that
a) he has never
apologize for the crimes
his predecessors had perpetrate against Greeks
and other Orthodox (just remember the Serbs during
W.W.II).
b) Vatican still
uses a religious movement created by the Popes, in order to proselytize
Orthodox
people. In Greek this religious movement is
called "unia" (Uniate church in English). Unia exists
since the time of the Crusades. Its priests
imitate the Orthodox ones: they wear vestments similar to
the Orthodox, they have Churches with Byzantine
iconography and chant in a Byzantine way, but they
say Pope is the leader of the Church, a dogma
unacceptable by the Orthodox people. These priests
come to the patients in the hospitals and
pretend they are Orthodox. When you start to ask what they
believe, they say "oh, dogma does not matter".
This is a lie. The only reason for their existence, is that
dogma DOES matter to them and to their master,
that's why he tries to impose it this way. As long as
the Pope crafty supports this trojan horse
he is not welcome here, because we simply don't like to be
cheated in any way.
c) Greek people
believe that Pope and his predecessors gave Christianity a bad name because
of
"holy wars", indulgence, Inquisition, collaboration
with Hitler, violent proselytism of pagans and
Orthodox Christians. In Greece the priests
were mostly friends of the people, and not dominators and
cosmic rulers.
d) Greeks also
don't like the business of the "Holy see" (Holy Spirit bank etc.). If Castro
wants to
have business with the Pope, he can do so,
but this does not mean we will imitate him. Orthodox
Romania came to an accommodation with the
Pope for mainly financial reasons. Greeks are not
attracted by this idea.
15. Last but
not least. Some "admirers of the Western civilization" accuse us that we
are "too Eastern"
and use the term "Balkans" as an evil thing.
Others say "we belong in the West". Though "Western
civilization" started here, we belong only
to ourselves. It worths to insist on this difference and not to
sell out. No one can buy our sympathy and
solidarity. We will give it where we have to.