 Diatribe - Dean Kalimniou
http://diatribe-column.blogspot.com/ Quote: |
Diatribe is a weekly opinionative column by Dean Kalimniou, which is published in Melbourne's Neos Kosmos English Edition Newspaper. It deals generally with issues of interest to the Greek Community in Australia.
| Articles relating to Macedonia can be posted in this thread. Quote: PROTOPOGROM
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Shakespeare
The right to protest forms an integral part of the democratic system. It is also a very important tenet of Judaism. For example ,the Talmud prescribes that: “Who can protest an injustice but does not, is an accomplice to the act.” The recent rally by members of the FYROMian community was not a protest though. Instead, it was a manifestation of hatred Greek-towards Greece and Greek-Australians that was so blatant and unapologetic, as to have caused great disquiet. Never before has Melbourne’s civic life been disrupted by such instances of racial intolerance. The boorish and despicable displays of racism, which included implied threats of violence against Greeks, coupled with the presence of state politicians at this vicious proto-pogrom and some coverage as a novelty by the mainstream media, have caused Greek-Australians to scratch their heads and ask: “Why didn’t we get so much public attention?” and “Why didn’t politicians come to our rally.”
The first question can easily be answered. We were well behaved. The tens of thousands of Greeks who converged upon Parliament House last October to show support for the Australian government’s co-operative stance over the naming dispute between Greece and FYROM did so in an orderly and respectful fashion, abjuring any form of racial slurs at the expense of the FYROMian community and with a great respect for the principles of ethnic and cultural cohesion and diversity. As such, our rally was just another peaceful ‘ethnic event,’ of marginal importance to the mainstream. The FYROMian community’s rally was rowdy and hate-driven. Such things are newsworthy, as they serve to reinforce, sometimes deservedly, certain stereotypes about ‘ethnics’ and how they can’t leave their troubles ‘at home.’
The second question, as to why politicians attended the FYROMIAN proto-pogrom is characteristic of a community that, owing to the insularity that has ensued by its magnitude, displays only a slight comprehension of the context in which it exists. It also magnifies the way that our misconceptions have caused us to focus on aspects of the Macedonian issue that are, except to the parties concerned irrelevant. For example, we believe that history proves our contention and that we are ‘right.’ As such, our Zoroastrian consciousness cannot understand why, in the face of the ‘truth,’ politicians would deny that truth and by their presence at an opposing function, support a ‘lie.’ After all, are we not a bigger group.
George Seitz, the state member for Keilor, is a case in point. At a recent Cyprus youth forum, he took me aside and outlined a few ideas he had about strengthening the Greek position on Cyprus. As a result of that, and his presence at the forum, it was held by those attending that “he is a friend of the Greeks.” George Seitz also attended the recent protopogrom. As such, many members of the Greek-Australian community are currently confused by the “missed signals” he is purportedly sending. Is he friend or foe? The answer of course is, that like the vast majority of parliamentarians, he is neither. Conceivably, he couldn’t care less whether FYROM is named Macedonia, Narnia or Western Bulgaria. Instead, he is merely doing what any other astute politician would do: trying to keep his constituents happy.
Doing so however, comes at a cost, especially when one is invited to attend a rally that is ostensibly a protest over the Australian government’s policy with regard to the naming dispute, and which turns out to be a racist proto-pogrom. For starters, one runs the risk of being branded with the same brush. With that in mind, on behalf of the Pan-Macedonian Federation of Australia, I wrote a letter to Mr Seitz, endeavouring to point out some of the pitfalls of his misconceived presence at Hatefest 08. Omitting formal and irrelevant parts, it read as follows:
“On 24 May 2008, members of the so-called “Macedonian” community converged upon State Parliament House, ostensibly to protest against the Australian Government not recognising the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as “Republic of Macedonia.”
You attended this rally.
While we fully support the right of every citizen to protest over issues that concern them, we are incensed by the rally of 24 May 2008, which appeared more to be a racist and violent ‘hate rally’ against Greek-Australians and Greece.
Under the pretext of peaceful protest, attendees at the rally displayed racially intolerant behaviour that threatens to upset the ethnic cohesion of Victorian society. In a deliberate attempt to provoke the religious feelings of Greek-Australians, they defaced the Greek flag by replacing the cross with a red swastika. They also carried banners with slogans that vilified the Greek people, such as: “Fascist Greeks.”
We note that this seems to imitate recent manifestations of anti-Hellenism taking place within the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where a similar defacement of the Greek flag took place. The swastika itself, is a defacement of the Christian cross. In its name, countless atrocities were committed on millions of innocent and defenceless people. Thus, the conversion of a symbol of peace and love into a symbol of hatred and evil is a particularly offensive and insensitive one, considering that the area now comprised by FYROM was allied to the Nazis who perpetrated the greatest genocide ever in the history of humanity: the Holocaust.
Fittingly, the Jewish community of Greece has had this to say about the defancement of the Greek flag: “The defacing of the national symbol…constitute unacceptable actions and an insult to the Greek people as a whole including members of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki… These actions become more heinous because Greece was among the first countries in Europe to clash with the tide fascism and the first to defeat Axis Forces on the battlefield in WWII, [referring to the Albanian front (1940-1941], where Jewish and Christian Greeks fought side by side. Furthermore, the use - for the sake of creating impressions --of symbols that are directly linked with the period of the worst crimes committed against humanity is an insult to the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust and those who survived the horror of the Nazi concentration camps. Our Community welcomes the stance adopted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a descendant of the Mallah family from Thessaloniki, who backed Greece's positions on the self-evident Greekness of Macedonia.”
Your attendance at this rally has given rise to the belief with the Greek community that you support the defacement of greek national symbols with the swastika and endorse such anti-Greek racist behaviour. While we are sure that this is not the case, your confirmation of this, espcially for the purposes of the press, would be most reasurring.
Under the guise of ‘peaceful protest’ the attendees at the rally also made inappropriate irredentist claims against Greek territory. Protesters carried a banner proclaiming “Solun (a Slavonic term for Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece) will be the capital of Macedonia again,” while other banners proclaimed “We will never retreat from Macedonian lands.” Particularly concerning was the widespread display of maps portraying a vastly expanded Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, including lands that belong to the countries of Albania, Bulgaria and Greece.
Again, your attendance at the rally has given rise to the belief that you support the violation of the territorial integrity of Greece. Please reassure us that this is not so.
Surely in a mature multicultural society, diversity in all its forms must be respected. Sadly, it appears that notions of mutual respect and harmony were lost on the attendees of the rally, some of whom openly displayed guns and knives. Are we to assume that they were advertising that they have the means to further their irredentist and racist aims? Notably, few if any banners carried by the protesters made any reference to Australian Government policy. This rally appears to have been purely designed to incite ethnic conflict and to express hatred against Greek-Australians. Indeed, the display of weapons, manifestations of hate and making of threats against Albanian, Bulgarian and Greek territory have caused great fear and disquiet among these ethnic communities.
The Pan-Macedonian Federation of Australia emphatically states that such violent, racist and irredentist behaviour as displayed by the attendees of the 24 May 2008 hate rally has no place in our society and is completely un-Australian. We voice our concern at the aggressive manner in which Australians whose origins derive from FYROM concern themselves with matters that have little to do with Australia but which threaten to provoke ethnic conflict and upset the equilibrium of our community. As such, we cannot but express our disappointment at your attendance at this contentious rally.
The Pan-Macedonian Federation of Australia applauds the Australian government’s decision not to recognised FYROM as “the Republic of Macedonia,” mindful of the fact that the term Macedonia denotes a geographic area, not an ethnic term. It is the home and cultural metropolis of a multitude of peoples and it cannot be usurped by one nation and denied to others, on the basis of race. Please let us have your written commitment to the current policy of the Australian government.”
To date, no reply has been received to this letter. However we are quite certain that George Seitz does not endorse any manifestations of hatred towards Greeks, that he considers the defacement of the cross by a swastika as offensive as all other right-thinking people do, and considers territorial designs upon Greek territory and the display of weapons at “peaceful protests,” to be nothing more than the deluded bravado and rage of a frustrated, insecure and impotent minority. Given that his presence at the protopogrom could send the message to other minorities with an axe to grind that such heinous behaviour is acceptable in the public domain, we are sure that George Seitz profoundly regrets attending it. Perhaps his Greek-Australian constituents (of which there are not a few), may seek further clarifications from him in this regard, closer to the next state election.
The lesson to be drawn from all this is twofold. The first is that the token presence of a politician, at a rally especially at state level, does not equal a point scored for the opposition. It should merely be viewed as what it is: a member trying to placate his constituents. George Seitz’s presence at the proto-pogrom is embarrassing and problematic for him, rather than beneficial to his ‘hosts.’ Secondly, it is futile focusing all our energies upon trying to convince disinterested parliamentarians of the ‘truth.’ Instead, we should be speaking to them in a language that they will understand: conceiving ways to outline why it would be advantageous to uphold the already self-evident ‘truth.’ By no means must we be used as pawns in a wider political game as deluded masses to be cajoled and placated in order to serve a higher purpose. And what is of greatest pride, is that in accordance with out own humanitarian tradition, we do not, as our detractors do, vilify and abuse others on the basis of race. Instead, we restrict ourselves to the issue at hand, campaign for it passionately but respectfully, knowing full well the import of the words of Elie Weisel: “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Until next week, Што правиш овде?
DEAN KALIMNIOU
| http://diatribe-column.blogspot.com/...otopogrom.html Quote: NATO AND SMUT
In many ways, it is ironic that Mr Atanas Botev, a citizen of the state that is governed at Skopje and an anthropoid harbouring pretensions of being an artist, (Atanas of course is the original of its corrupted Greek derivative ‘Athanasios,’ which in various south Slavonic signifies immortality,) chose to deface the Greek flag by replacing its cross with a swastika recently, an act that was widely publicized by the Greek media and which has inflamed Greek passions during the most crucial NATO membership talks. Apparently, this flag, and Botev’s portrayal of Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis as a Nazi officer had been temporarily erected upon Skopjan billboards, in anticipation of Greece’s veto of FYROM’s NATO accession bid, by way of advertisement for an art exhibition.
Indeed, it is most ironic that Botev chose to deface the symbol of the cross, given that it was the Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius who, during the early years of the Byzantine Empire, took the time out to learn the Slavonic dialects of the Balkans and introduced Christianity to the erstwhile pagan Slavonic peoples of the region. In doing so, they also introduced as an ancillary to their spiritual enlightenment, the rudimentary form of the alphabet which is still used by the majority of Slavonic peoples to this day and also, a good dollop of Byzantine civilisation, which still forms the basis of Balkan culture to this day and of each states’ national identity. A field trip to the surviving Byzantine and Ottoman-era churches of the regions of Achrida (modern day Ochrid) and Monastiri (modern day Bitolj) are most instructive in this regard. One of the first things that the visitor will notice is the predomination of Greek inscriptions in the frescoes of these churches. Given that Hellenism and Christianity are inextricably linked in the popular consciousness of the region, Botev’s defacement of the cross is a powerful manifestation of the identity hysteria and schizophrenia currently afflicting his compatriots. In their quest to disassociate themselves from and denigrate their neighbours, they are in actual fact, impugning the substructure of their own culture, as they come to realize that its foundations are Hellenic - something which according to them, should be hated. Consequently, they entrap themselves in a vicious cycle of self-loathing and fantasy.
Ironic too is the choice of the swastika as the design with which to deface the cross. For during the Second World War, the majority of the Slavonic inhabitants of the region sallied out to meet and welcome the Bulgarian army and is Nazi allies as liberators. It is estimated that up to 40% of the soldiers comprising the Bulgarian occupation battalions of the region during the war, were drawn from the enthusiastic local population. Thus again, Botev’s self-loathing and schizophrenia of identity assumes a telling parable. At a time, not so long ago, when there was no nonsense about ethnic identity or naming disputes, the people of this region identified themselves as Bulgarians and as such, actively assisted the armed forces of their compatriots in carrying out Nazi kreigpolitik. Botev’s defacement of the cross by transforming it into a Nazi hakenkeuz, is thus nothing more than another manifestation of self-loathing and guilt, as well as a vain and rather childish attempt to transfer guilt and an unacceptable past upon modern-day perceived enemies, in the hope that its descendants no longer have to face it. It is in short, an evasion of responsibility.
The swastika itself, is a defacement of the Christian cross. In its name, countless atrocities were committed on millions of innocent and defenceless people. Thus, the conversion of a symbol of peace and love into a symbol of hatred and evil is a particularly offensive and insensitive one, considering that the Bulgarian army was allied to the Nazis who perpetrated the greatest genocide ever in the history of humanity: the Holocaust.
Fittingly, the Jewish community of Greece has this to say about Botev’s artistic efforts: “The defacing of the national symbol and the attempt to depict the Greek prime minister to a Nazi officer constitute unacceptable actions and an insult to the Greek people as a whole including members of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki… These actions become more heinous because Greece was among the first countries in Europe to clash with the tide fascism and the first to defeat Axis Forces on the battlefield in WWII, [referring to the Albanian front (1940-1941], where Jewish and Christian Greeks fought side by side. Furthermore, the use - for the sake of creating impressions --of symbols that are directly linked with the period of the worst crimes committed against humanity is an insult to the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust and those who survived the horror of the Nazi concentration camps. Our Community welcomes the stance adopted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a descendant of the Mallah family from Thessaloniki, who backed Greece's positions on the self-evident Greekness of Macedonia.”
This being so, it would be silly to permit too much publicity to Botev’s attempts at artistic endeavour, as this would give him ill-deserved and undue prominence. A cursory glance at his ‘art’ on the internet reveals that among other things he has a penchant for drawing cartoons. Of the three displayed on the website “Macedonian (sic) Comic Art” and attributed to him, the first, entitled Alisa, presents a prepubescent schoolgirl being accosted by a nude muscular male with the head of a Playboy bunny, holding a fish. The second cartoon portrays a ghastly, corpse-like ghoul in various stages of decomposition, sporting a huge erection, while being caressed by two ecstatic females, possessed of large breasts and firm, round buttocks. The ghoul, who bears more than a passing resemblance to the artist, is snarling, while tweaking one of the female’s nipples. The last of the cartoons portrays the lower part of the female body, with an eye staring out of the vagina. This then, appears to be the person who the Greek public has allowed to inflame its passions - a purveyor of smut, whose pornographic fantasies seem to come dangerously close to crossing the line into necrophilia and paedophilia. The best thing we can possibly do is to show him the contempt he deserves by shunning him, while at the same time muse in wonderment at the level of the artistic discourse in Skopje and especially how it captures the popular imagination.
At any rate, it could be argued that Greek genius and comedian Tzimis Panousis’ replacement of the cross on the Geek flag with the hammer and sickle could be just as offensive, given that this symbol too, could be taken to allude to the millions that have perished through the persecution, purging and wars that have taken place in the name of Marxism since the installation of the first communistic government in Russia in 1917 and Botev’s feeble attempts to gain attention should be relegated where they belong, the dustbin of history.
If the Greek people are to be offended by anything, it should be the smug and self-righteous assurances by various NATO powers, that the non-resolution of the naming dispute between Greece and the No-name Republic does not give Greece the right to veto its accession to NATO. A not very ample amount of street-logic could be easily employed in order to argue the point successfully. Quite simply, NATO is a club and Greece is a member of it. Each member of the club is allowed a certain amount of face control. This is known as a veto. Just as a bouncer is entitled to exclude non-members from entering a club on members night because he doesn’t like their face, taste in footwear or the ultra-violet aura surrounding their person, so too can members of NATO, exclude others from entering their club. Of course the perennial preppies of the State Department, who spent their years at Harvard using daddy’s social position in order to bribe and buy their way into White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant sororities would have an axe to grind against those members who got to enter clubs, just because they were cool.
Another argument that does not cut the lutenica, is the one proffered by the same scoffing Western diplomats, namely that it is paranoid and stupid for Greece to argue that the No-Name State’s insistence upon calling itself Macedonia, is a prelude to it formulating irredentist claims upon Greek territory. Casting aside for the moment, incidences such as the printing of the unreleased Skopjan banknote depicting Thessalonican Ottoman landmarks and the removal from the No-name States’ first constitution of references to that State coming to the assistance of ‘minorities’ in other countries, we can agree that the No-Name State can no more successfully invade another country than it can manage to keep its own struggling, multi-ethnic polity in any state of coherency. This however does not mean that this NATO candidate state is averse to petty and coarse displays of retro-nationalism. Indeed, it would be paranoid and stupid to think otherwise.
Consider the picture accompanying this diatribe. The male bending over in it, is the No-Name State’s Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski. He is laying a wreath at a monument dedicated to the Bulgarian nationalist hero, Goce Delčev. Above him, is pinned a map of what irredentist Slavs refer to as ‘Greater Macedonia,’ that is, the territory, comprising parts of Greece, Bulgaria and Albania, which they would like to incorporate into the No-Name State. Is this then the act of a head of a responsible, post-twentieth century government? Or is this rather, yet another characteristic of a government which derives its politics from the dashing side-burned but ultimately fatally flawed romantic patriots of the Baroque Era?
What all of this does show, is that the No-Name State is unable to carry on civil bi-lateral relations with NATO members that don’t buy its unique brand of re-constituted nationalism. How can such an unreliable and politically immature State be entrusted with such weighty tasks as the oppression of Iraq or the continued production of Opium in Orozgan? Perhaps the incident a few years ago, where the No Name State rounded up a few hapless Pakistani illegal immigrants and killed them, proudly announcing to the world that it had thwarted an Islamic terrorist cell and had kicked a goal in the ‘War against Terror,’ is instructive.
Greece is right to veto the No-Name State. It is an infantile conglomeration of groups struggling to deal with their own identity and ethnic minorities and grossly unable to indulge in meaningful relationships with other countries. The inclusion of such an archaic polity, in preference to better developed and cohesive states such as the Ukraine or Georgia, in NATO is of next to no value. And if that was not a clinching argument - then this is: Rumours have it that in preparation for the No-Name States’ accession to NATO, national artist Atanas Botev has been commissioned to re-design the NATO logo (being derived from the symbols of the ancient No-Namian kings), by replacing the four compass points with suitably engorged phalluses. Каде е тоалетот?
DEAN KALIMNIOU
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Φωτιά και τσεκούρι στους προσκυνημένους
-Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης |
06-23-2008, 07:38 PM
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