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[saura]

Sa do doja ta gjeja kete artikullin me siper ne anglisht.

Darius ...

The socio-cultural roots of the Greek economic crisis


The economic crisis in Greece which threatens to act as a locomotive power that will force most of the countries in the European south to exit the Eurozone, has triggered many discussions and predictions concerning the future of Europe as an entity.

By Dimitris Epikouris

Numerous analyses find their way to the media on a daily basis, all attempting to explain the repercussions of Greece’s inability to reform and lead itself to an economic growth that will eventually free the country from the constantly increasing need of borrowing money to satisfy its basic needs.

However, all those reports and economic analyses have something in common. They fail to deeply examine the socio-cultural roots of the greek crisis. If one does not take into account the idiosyncrasy and the psycho-synthesis of the modern Greek people, will just miss the point.

Modern Greece is by no means related either genetically or culturally to the ancient cosmos and the people who once occupied this land. The modern greeks are just an intermixture of Balkan tribes (Albanians/Arvanites, Slavs, Wlachs) which in the process of time mingled with northern africans, armenians and other tribes of Anatolia, not to mention the francs and the venetians who were also dominantly present in this land.

Those groups were mainly involved in agriculture and animal breeding. A significant number of them had been employed by the ottomans to serve in the army because the local inhabitants were hard natured and warlike.
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The socio-cultural roots of the Greek economic crisis
Transmetuar më 24.05.2012 21:19
The economic crisis in Greece which threatens to act as a locomotive power that will force most of the countries in the European south to exit the Eurozone, has triggered many discussions and predictions concerning the future of Europe as an entity.

By Dimitris Epikouris

Numerous analyses find their way to the media on a daily basis, all attempting to explain the repercussions of Greece’s inability to reform and lead itself to an economic growth that will eventually free the country from the constantly increasing need of borrowing money to satisfy its basic needs.

However, all those reports and economic analyses have something in common. They fail to deeply examine the socio-cultural roots of the greek crisis. If one does not take into account the idiosyncrasy and the psycho-synthesis of the modern Greek people, will just miss the point.

Modern Greece is by no means related either genetically or culturally to the ancient cosmos and the people who once occupied this land. The modern greeks are just an intermixture of Balkan tribes (Albanians/Arvanites, Slavs, Wlachs) which in the process of time mingled with northern africans, armenians and other tribes of Anatolia, not to mention the francs and the venetians who were also dominantly present in this land.

Those groups were mainly involved in agriculture and animal breeding. A significant number of them had been employed by the ottomans to serve in the army because the local inhabitants were hard natured and warlike.

During the Byzantium era, those tribes were christianized while the few remaining descendants of the ancient greeks who refused to convert to christianity were either persecuted and killed by the christian emperors or died of several plague waves that occurred quite frequently back in those days. Another factor that contributed to the reduction of the population was piracy. It is a well known fact that the city of Sparta had been almost abandoned and unoccupied for 400 years while Athens and especially the area around the Acropolis was a place for pasturing sheep.

The attempts to “Hellenize” those intermixed tribes were mainly made by European sovereign states which needed a protectorate to promote their interests. The geographic location of Greece is still considered as the connecting doorway between East and West. The European romantics who dreamed of reviving the ancient Hellenic cosmos through the mountain savages also bear a degree of responsibility for the false identity that was given to the modern Greeks.

The superfluous and simultaneously disastrous decision to name as “Hellenes” (Greeks) that intermixture of tribes eventually placed a very heavy burden upon them simply because they lacked the proper educational background that would enable them to develop the necessary awareness that would help them identify themselves with the ancient inhabitants of this land.

The Eastern Church was forcefully against any kind of education as it wanted its subservient believers not to read anything but the Bible. The role that the Church played during the years of the ottoman presence was catastrophic for the majority of the people because it was the main and the most effective collaborator of the sultan either through collecting taxes or contributing to the suppression of every revolt against the ottoman authority. The Church was surely rewarded by the Divan with a humongous amount of land enough to rank it as the biggest landowner of the country.
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The socio-cultural roots of the Greek economic crisis
Transmetuar më 24.05.2012 21:19
The economic crisis in Greece which threatens to act as a locomotive power that will force most of the countries in the European south to exit the Eurozone, has triggered many discussions and predictions concerning the future of Europe as an entity.

By Dimitris Epikouris

Numerous analyses find their way to the media on a daily basis, all attempting to explain the repercussions of Greece’s inability to reform and lead itself to an economic growth that will eventually free the country from the constantly increasing need of borrowing money to satisfy its basic needs.

However, all those reports and economic analyses have something in common. They fail to deeply examine the socio-cultural roots of the greek crisis. If one does not take into account the idiosyncrasy and the psycho-synthesis of the modern Greek people, will just miss the point.

Modern Greece is by no means related either genetically or culturally to the ancient cosmos and the people who once occupied this land. The modern greeks are just an intermixture of Balkan tribes (Albanians/Arvanites, Slavs, Wlachs) which in the process of time mingled with northern africans, armenians and other tribes of Anatolia, not to mention the francs and the venetians who were also dominantly present in this land.

Those groups were mainly involved in agriculture and animal breeding. A significant number of them had been employed by the ottomans to serve in the army because the local inhabitants were hard natured and warlike.

During the Byzantium era, those tribes were christianized while the few remaining descendants of the ancient greeks who refused to convert to christianity were either persecuted and killed by the christian emperors or died of several plague waves that occurred quite frequently back in those days. Another factor that contributed to the reduction of the population was piracy. It is a well known fact that the city of Sparta had been almost abandoned and unoccupied for 400 years while Athens and especially the area around the Acropolis was a place for pasturing sheep.

The attempts to “Hellenize” those intermixed tribes were mainly made by European sovereign states which needed a protectorate to promote their interests. The geographic location of Greece is still considered as the connecting doorway between East and West. The European romantics who dreamed of reviving the ancient Hellenic cosmos through the mountain savages also bear a degree of responsibility for the false identity that was given to the modern Greeks.

The superfluous and simultaneously disastrous decision to name as “Hellenes” (Greeks) that intermixture of tribes eventually placed a very heavy burden upon them simply because they lacked the proper educational background that would enable them to develop the necessary awareness that would help them identify themselves with the ancient inhabitants of this land.

The Eastern Church was forcefully against any kind of education as it wanted its subservient believers not to read anything but the Bible. The role that the Church played during the years of the ottoman presence was catastrophic for the majority of the people because it was the main and the most effective collaborator of the sultan either through collecting taxes or contributing to the suppression of every revolt against the ottoman authority. The Church was surely rewarded by the Divan with a humongous amount of land enough to rank it as the biggest landowner of the country.

The confusing identity of being a Hellene and a christian at the same time still haunts most of the people in this land. Most of the people in Greece have been made to believe that they are the pure descendants of Pericles, Socrates, Leonidas and Alexander the Great while they consider it quite natural to be christian orthodox as well. Two completely conflicting worlds co-exist abnormally in the socio-cultural background of modern greeks.

The revolution of 1821 against the ottomans that eventually led to the formation of the modern Greek state couldn’t have been achieved without the contribution of the European superpowers of that era. The sea battle of Navarino that marked the creation of modern Greece reflects the need of the Europeans to use this land as their protectorate governed by regimes that were either appointed or imposed by the European financial interests. Modern Greece has always been victimized and exploited by the superpowers while its role in the sociopolitical arena has never been autonomous.

The modern Greek citizens who had never experienced the gifts of Renaissance, Enlightment and Industrialization remain culturally underdeveloped even today. Greece has been governed by the offsprings of the family clans that ruled the land right after the collapse of the byzantine empire and although it is true that democracy was born in this part of the world, it is not true that the ancestors of modern Greeks are the ones who first created it.

In the 50’s and 60’s thousands of modern Greeks were forced to abandon their villages and either migrate abroad or seek employment in the big city centers where factories were built and needed cheap labor. The countryside was abandoned and the cities experienced an unprecedented overpopulation that led to severe demographic and environmental problems since there was no urban planning (there isn’t one even today).
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The socio-cultural roots of the Greek economic crisis
Transmetuar më 24.05.2012 21:19
The economic crisis in Greece which threatens to act as a locomotive power that will force most of the countries in the European south to exit the Eurozone, has triggered many discussions and predictions concerning the future of Europe as an entity.

By Dimitris Epikouris

Numerous analyses find their way to the media on a daily basis, all attempting to explain the repercussions of Greece’s inability to reform and lead itself to an economic growth that will eventually free the country from the constantly increasing need of borrowing money to satisfy its basic needs.

However, all those reports and economic analyses have something in common. They fail to deeply examine the socio-cultural roots of the greek crisis. If one does not take into account the idiosyncrasy and the psycho-synthesis of the modern Greek people, will just miss the point.

Modern Greece is by no means related either genetically or culturally to the ancient cosmos and the people who once occupied this land. The modern greeks are just an intermixture of Balkan tribes (Albanians/Arvanites, Slavs, Wlachs) which in the process of time mingled with northern africans, armenians and other tribes of Anatolia, not to mention the francs and the venetians who were also dominantly present in this land.

Those groups were mainly involved in agriculture and animal breeding. A significant number of them had been employed by the ottomans to serve in the army because the local inhabitants were hard natured and warlike.

During the Byzantium era, those tribes were christianized while the few remaining descendants of the ancient greeks who refused to convert to christianity were either persecuted and killed by the christian emperors or died of several plague waves that occurred quite frequently back in those days. Another factor that contributed to the reduction of the population was piracy. It is a well known fact that the city of Sparta had been almost abandoned and unoccupied for 400 years while Athens and especially the area around the Acropolis was a place for pasturing sheep.

The attempts to “Hellenize” those intermixed tribes were mainly made by European sovereign states which needed a protectorate to promote their interests. The geographic location of Greece is still considered as the connecting doorway between East and West. The European romantics who dreamed of reviving the ancient Hellenic cosmos through the mountain savages also bear a degree of responsibility for the false identity that was given to the modern Greeks.

The superfluous and simultaneously disastrous decision to name as “Hellenes” (Greeks) that intermixture of tribes eventually placed a very heavy burden upon them simply because they lacked the proper educational background that would enable them to develop the necessary awareness that would help them identify themselves with the ancient inhabitants of this land.

The Eastern Church was forcefully against any kind of education as it wanted its subservient believers not to read anything but the Bible. The role that the Church played during the years of the ottoman presence was catastrophic for the majority of the people because it was the main and the most effective collaborator of the sultan either through collecting taxes or contributing to the suppression of every revolt against the ottoman authority. The Church was surely rewarded by the Divan with a humongous amount of land enough to rank it as the biggest landowner of the country.

The confusing identity of being a Hellene and a christian at the same time still haunts most of the people in this land. Most of the people in Greece have been made to believe that they are the pure descendants of Pericles, Socrates, Leonidas and Alexander the Great while they consider it quite natural to be christian orthodox as well. Two completely conflicting worlds co-exist abnormally in the socio-cultural background of modern greeks.

The revolution of 1821 against the ottomans that eventually led to the formation of the modern Greek state couldn’t have been achieved without the contribution of the European superpowers of that era. The sea battle of Navarino that marked the creation of modern Greece reflects the need of the Europeans to use this land as their protectorate governed by regimes that were either appointed or imposed by the European financial interests. Modern Greece has always been victimized and exploited by the superpowers while its role in the sociopolitical arena has never been autonomous.

The modern Greek citizens who had never experienced the gifts of Renaissance, Enlightment and Industrialization remain culturally underdeveloped even today. Greece has been governed by the offsprings of the family clans that ruled the land right after the collapse of the byzantine empire and although it is true that democracy was born in this part of the world, it is not true that the ancestors of modern Greeks are the ones who first created it.

In the 50’s and 60’s thousands of modern Greeks were forced to abandon their villages and either migrate abroad or seek employment in the big city centers where factories were built and needed cheap labor. The countryside was abandoned and the cities experienced an unprecedented overpopulation that led to severe demographic and environmental problems since there was no urban planning (there isn’t one even today).

The rural depopulation, however, created another great problem that few politicians have dared to tackle: The disease of urbanism. The constant flow of villagers showed that the motives to abandon their villages were not only based on their need for employment but also on their desire to experience the “urban style” of living with a sense of hedonistic lust. Contrary to the US southerners who take pride in their heritage and their land, the greek villagers preferred to come to big city centers and work as industrial workers or clerks instead of remaining in their land and cultivating it. They believed that “easy living” can only be found in the big cities.

The military junta in 1967 encouraged the “love for urbanism” of the villagers even more.

Two main political parties emerged after the fall of the military junta. The “New Democracy” party and the “Panhellenic Socialist Party” also known as “PASOK”. The first one had a conservative approach and the second one a supposedly socialist one. Both of them, however, had one thing in common: They made sure that everything should be directly or indirectly controlled by the state. In order to achieve their goal which was no other than to remain in power as long as possible, they found a destructive way of doing that. Thus, the state was transformed into an enormous employment agency.

Those two political parties hired thousands of unqualified individuals to work in the public sector. The regimes borrowed money from the European Union to finance the fat salaries and the special privileges of their public servant armies. Prosperity in the private sector came only if it interweaved with the public one. No matter what somebody did, no matter what public service he wished to have, he simply couldn’t have it unless he bribed. Bureaucracy and corruption have always been interwoven.

The degree of corruption in modern Greece is by far higher than the one in many Asian, South American and African countries. The country stopped producing anything since ¼ of its workforce was employed by the state. Finding a job in the public sector became every young person’s dream. It was no longer important what academic credentials one had. What mattered was what kind of political connections he had so as to be placed somewhere in the public sector where he would be handsomely paid without doing anything! The populist rhetoric applied by both those political parties created a new kind of roman-like ethics among the people. Undoubtedly, this grotesque political system is a unique modern Greek invention. Having conservative (right wing, anti-communist) regimes with a Stalinist approach of implementing the authority of the state is something that can only be found in the country of Greece
John Maynard Keynes’ suggestion of “first stabilize and then reform” cannot find any application here because the Greek economy can never be stabilized as it overflows with useless and counterproductive public servants.

All the above mentioned facts may sound a bit surprising to someone from another western state. Well, nothing should be surprising, nothing at all.

It is impossible for the descendants of chicken and sheep thieves, who lived on top of mountains and inside caves, rarely took a shower, kidnapped their hick wives from their parents and robbed villages, to understand how civilized nations function not to mention to feel Europeans. It is also impossible for a nation that never experienced the gifts of Enlightment, Democracy and the Industrial Revolution to be able to adapt to the constantly evolving international economy.

If someone wonders why the rest European Union countries are so stiff against Greece, it is perhaps because they are ignorant of the real situation here. They lack the necessary knowledge to fully comprehend the socio-cultural roots of the modern greek state.

Greece will never be a purely European country. It can’t be. It doesn’t want to be.

[Billy Joe]

The economic crisis in Greece which threatens to act as a locomotive power that will force most of the countries in the european south to exit the Eurozone, has triggered many discussions and predictions concerning the future of Europe as an entity. Numerous analyses find their way to the media on a daily basis, all attempting to explain the repercussions of Greece’s inability to reform and lead itself to an economic growth that will eventually free the country from the constantly increasing need of borrowing money to satisfy its basic needs.

However, all those reports and economic analyses have something in common. They fail to deeply examine the socio-cultural roots of the greek crisis. If one does not take into account the idiosyncrasy and the psycho-synthesis of the modern greek people, will just miss the point.

Modern Greece is by no means related either genetically or culturally to the ancient cosmos and the people who once occupied this land. The modern greeks are just an intermixture of balkan tribes (albanians/arvanites, slavs, vlachs) which in the process of time mingled with northern africans, armenians and other tribes of Anatolia, not to mention the francs and the venetians who were also dominantly present in this land.

Those groups were mainly involved in agriculture and animal breeding. A significant number of them had been employed by the ottomans to serve in the army because the local inhabitants were hard natured and warlike.

During the byzantium era, those tribes were christianized while the few remaining descendants of the ancient greeks who refused to convert to christianity were either persecuted and killed by the christian emperors or died of several plague waves that occurred quite frequently back in those days. Another factor that contributed to the reduction of the population was piracy. It is a well known fact that the city of Sparta had been almost abandoned and unoccupied for 400 years while Athens and especially the area around the Acropolis was a place for pasturing sheep.

The attempts to “hellenize” those intermixed tribes were mainly made by european sovereign states which needed a protectorate to promote their interests. The geographic location of Greece is still considered as the connecting doorway between East and West. The european romantics who dreamed of reviving the ancient hellenic cosmos through the mountain savages also bear a degree of responsibility for the false identity that was given to the modern greeks.

The superfluous and simultaneously disastrous decision to name as “hellenes” (greeks) that intermixture of tribes eventually placed a very heavy burden upon them simply because they lacked the proper educational background that would enable them to develop the necessary awareness that would help them identify themselves with the ancient inhabitants of this land.

These mountainous hard natured shepherds were made to believe that they were not only the offsprings of the ancient greeks but also the christian God’s blessed people. Everyone can observe that there is no comparison between these people and the ancient greeks. No resemblance whatsoever physically, aesthetically and mentally.

The Eastern Church was forcefully against any kind of education as it wanted its subservient believers not to read anything but the Bible. The role that the Church played during the years of the ottoman presence was catastrophic for the majority of the people because it was the main and the most effective collaborator of the sultan either through collecting taxes or contributing to the suppression of every revolt against the ottoman authority. The Church was surely rewarded by the Divan with a humongous amount of land enough to rank it as the biggest landowner of the country.

The confusing identity of being a hellene and a christian at the same time still haunts most of the people in this land. Most of the people in Greece have been made to believe that they are the pure descendants of Pericles, Socrates, Leonidas and Alexander the Great while they consider it quite natural to be christian orthodox as well. Two completely conflicting worlds co-exist abnormally in the socio-cultural background of modern Greeks.

The revolution of 1821 against the ottomans that eventually led to the formation of the modern greek state couldn’t have been achieved without the contribution of the european superpowers of that era. The seabattle of Navarino that marked the creation of modern Greece reflects the need of the europeans to use this land as their protectorate governed by regimes that were either appointed or imposed by the european financial interests. Modern Greece has always been victimized and exploited by the superpowers while its role in the sociopolitical arena has never been autonomous.

The modern greek citizens who had never experienced the gifts of Renaissance, Enlightment and Industrialization remain culturally underdeveloped even today. Greece has been governed by the offsprings of the family clans that ruled the land right after the collapse of the byzantine empire and although it is true that democracy was born in this part of the world, it is not true that the ancestors of modern greeks are the ones who first created it.

The Church continues to dominate the politics in this land. Greece is the last theocratic state in Europe. If someone wishes to have a career in politics, he had better “bow” to the local Church bosses first.

In the 50’s and 60’s thousands of modern greeks were forced to abandon their villages and either migrate abroad or seek employment in the big city centers where factories were built and needed cheap labor. The countryside was abandoned and the cities experienced an unprecedented overpopulation that led to severe demographic and environmental problems since there was no urban planning (there isn’t one even today).

The rural depopulation, however, created another great problem that few politicians have dared to tackle: The disease of urbanism. The constant flow of villagers showed that the motives to abandon their villages were not only based on their need for employment but also on their desire to experience the “urban style” of living with a sense of hedonistic lust. Contrary to the US southerners who take pride in their heritage and their land, the greek villagers preferred to come to big city centers and work as industrial workers or clerks instead of remaining in their land and cultivating it. They believed that “easy living” can only be found in the big cities.

The military junta in 1967 encouraged the “love for urbanism” of the villagers even more.

Two main political parties emerged after the fall of the military junta. The “New Democracy” party and the “Panhellenic Socialist Party” also known as “PASOK”. The first one had a conservative approach and the second one a supposedly socialist one. Both of them, however, had one thing in common: They made sure that everything should be directly or indirectly controlled by the state. In order to achieve their goal which was no other than to remain in power as long as possible, they found a destructive way of doing that. Thus, the state was transformed into an enormous employment agency.

Those two political parties hired thousands of unqualified individuals to work in the public sector. The regimes borrowed money from the European Union to finance the fat salaries and the special privileges of their public servant armies. Prosperity in the private sector came only if it interweaved with the public one. No matter what somebody did, no matter what public service he wished to have, he simply couldn’t have it unless he bribed. Bureaucracy and corruption have always been interwoven.

The degree of corruption in modern Greece is by far higher than the one in many Asian, South American and African countries. The country stopped producing anything since ¼ of its workforce was employed by the state. Finding a job in the public sector became every young person’s dream. It was no longer important what academic credentials one had. What mattered was what kind of political connections he had so as to be placed somewhere in the public sector where he would be handsomely paid without doing anything! The populist rhetoric applied by both those political parties created a new kind of roman-like ethics among the people. Undoubtedly, this grotesque political system is a unique modern greek invention. Having conservative (right wing, anti-communist) regimes with a stalinistic approach of implementing the authority of the state is something that can only be found in the country of Greece.


The modern greeks are noted for having mastered the art of creating conspiracy theories. The whole world is supposedly plotting against them because of their racial “superiority”. John Maynard Keynes’ suggestion of “first stabilize and then reform” cannot find any application here because the greek economy can never be stabilized as it overflows with useless and counterproductive public servants.

All the above mentioned facts may sound a bit surprising to someone from another western state. Well, nothing should be surprising, nothing at all.

It is impossible for the descendants of chicken and sheep thieves, who lived on top of mountains and inside caves, rarely took a shower, kidnapped their hick wives from their parents and robbed villages, to understand how civilized nations function not to mention to feel europeans. It is also impossible for a nation that never experienced the gifts of Enlightment, Democracy and the Industrial Revolution to be able to adapt to the constantly evolving international economy.

If someone wonders why the rest European Union countries are so stiff against Greece, it is perhaps because they are ignorant of the real situation here. They lack the necessary knowledge to fully comprehend the socio-cultural roots of the modern greek state. Greece will never be a purely european country. It can’t be. It doesn’t want to be.



FEEL FREE TO SPREAD IT AROUND TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KNOW WHAT’S UP WITH CURRENT GREEK CRISIS! (ALBPELASGIAN).


http://www.albpelasgian.com/the-soci...ic-crisis.html

[saura]

Ahahaha vetem se me kan dale shume here... rregulloje vete se nuk kam nerva

[Billy Joe]

Nje artikull tjeter i Dimitris Epikouris

26
May
THE MODERN GREEK STATE (An analysis)

The purpose of this small note is to set some things straight concerning the formation of the Modern Greek State and the problems that came along with it which continue to haunt the citizens of this once sacred land until this very day.

The formation of the Modern Greek State

Undoubtedly, Alexander the Great was one of the greatest historical figures in the history of mankind. His Hellenic origin and culture cannot be doubted by anyone who wishes to claim that he knows ancient history (alb. note: author’s claim has no ground to stand on for Macedonians were not part of Greek ethnos). In other words, Macedonia has been an undivided part of Hellenism and there is no denial about it. There is also no doubt about the cultural contribution of Alexander to the Asiatic peoples in terms of bringing them to contact with a higher form of civilization and customs came along with him. However, one of the biggest mistakes of Alexander was his attempt to unite the Greek city States under his sovereignty.

The notion of an independent POLIS (City) was something very sacred to the ancient Greeks and although there was the “Omaimon” (the same blood), the “Omothriskon” (the same religion) and the “Omoglosson” (the same language), each city wished to maintain its full independence from all the other states and every citizen had the role of the citizen-hoplite meaning that he not only was involved in the decision making processes of his city but also had the duty as a hoplite to defend his sacred land (polis). The people who did not participate in public matters were called “Idiotes” which literally meant “private people”. However metaphorically, it meant “stupid” and “uncouth”. That’s how the word “idiot” came about.

Each polis had its very own gods as its protectors and its own way of being governed depending on the degree of democracy that it had. So, by destroying the notion of Polis, Alexander brought about the end of the Hellenic world. The Byzantines were in fact a continuation of the Roman Empire possessing many elements of the Roman governance and civil practices. However, with the dominance of Christianity, the Byzantine Empire became a deeply theocratic state that sought to uproot every Hellenic element that had remained because it felt that the ancient Hellenic view of cosmos that encouraged the cultivation of the Arts and Sciences as well as philosophy.

This was done purposely because if Byzantium had been democratic and not theocratic, the people would have been awakened and would not have remained subservient subjects. They would have demanded to be active citizens once again. Knowing that the true Hellenes (the Greeks) were not easy to govern, the Byzantines attempted to either eliminate the Hellenic population (The Christian savage Urlich and his Gothic tribes that leveled the city of Sparta) or mix the Hellenes with other peoples from the depths of Asia Minor and the Balkans. Thousands of Armenians were brought to Peloponnese. The bishops of Mystras and many Byzantine emperors like Manuel Katakouzinos and Theodore the I, Palaiologos, brought thousands of Illyrians and Wallachians (Vlachoi) to mainland Greece from the North.

We also had many Slavic tribes that came down from the North and mixed with the Illyrians (who are the ancestors of the modern day “Arvanites”). During the Ottoman rule, besides that population mixing, we had the Francs and the Venetians. So, it would be a joke to say that a Modern Greek carries the genes of Socrates, Plato or Leonidas in his blood. A recent survey showed that 41% of the last names of the Greeks living in the Attica area have hellenized Illyrian (Arvanites) last names. These modern Greeks have nothing to do with the Classical ones, the Greeks of the time of Pericles, the philosophers, the scientists, the politicians, the poets and the playwrights. These people lived in tribes and were very clannish. Clans fought one another over livestock and land ownership matters up until the very recent past.

The Illyrians, however, as well as their descendants, the “Arvanites”, were ancient Pelasgic tribes as the ancient Greeks were. Besides that, the Greek Arvanites are the ones who fought for the independence of Greece in 1821 and before. So, it would be a mistake not to call these people “Greeks” at least genetically. The same goes for the Wallachians and all the Balkan tribes that have been living in this land for more than 1,000 years. After all, it would be a fatal mistake not to call these people Greeks since ethnic purity is not a realistic notion especially if more than 3,000 years have passed and the land has been invaded and occupied by several conquerors so many times.

A Hellene can be anyone who participates in the Hellenic Education (Paideia) regardless of his place of birth, his complexion and his ethnic origin. A Hellene can be anyone who accepts as his cultural heritage what the ancient Hellenic world once created. Someone may be born here in Greece and have no idea of the Greek civilization while someone else who was born let’s say in the US may be more Greek than the one who was born here due to his love for the ancient Hellenic cosmos. In other words, Hellenism is a state of mind and has nothing to do with genetics.

When the Modern Greek state was formed, a great historian and multilingual scholar, Konstantinos Sathas, was called to find the historical facts that connected the ancient Hellenes and the Byzantines. Sathas, a wealthy man from Galaxidion researched all the libraries of Europe and studied many documents only to discover that there wasn’t such a connection. He wrote many books and I suggest that the readers look for them. The best one in which he presents his findings is called “Greek Stradioti (an Italian word meaning “the soldiers”) in the West” (he also talks about the Greek missionaries who fought in European lands). During his visits, he found documents written by Byzantine monks that were used to misinform the residents of major cities including Athens. Some of them, stated:

“-We are a lost Hebrew tribe. We are Christians that’s all. You see this ancient building? (showing the Parthenon). It was the palace of King Solomon’s daughter.

When the locals saw European travelers were visiting the ancient Greek ruins and the locals saw them, they would ask their local orthodox priests who were they and what those “foreigners” were looking for.

-“They are looking for the “Hellandides” (the illiterate priests couldn’t even spell the name “Hellenes”). Hellandides were worshipping “idols” and God got mad and eliminated them from the face of the Earth.”

So, the few ancient Greek genes that were in the Modern Greeks could surface since all those people had lost everything that connected them with the past of those who lived in this ancient land.

When Sathas returned and presented his findings to the authorities of the Modern Greek state, he was not only completely ignored but also not compensated for all the money he had spent for research during the twenty years he travelled back and forth researching. He died very poor and completely blind in a Paris-France apartment. The “connection” job was given to fanatic Christian “historian” Konstantine Paparigopoulos who concocted and crafted historical “evidence” to prove the connection between the ancient Hellenes and the Byzantines.

However, in a letter that Paparigopoulos had written accusing Sathas of being unwilling to tamper with the historical truth, he says: “As a historian, I must admit that you are right. As a Greek Orthodox, however, I am against you.”

All of Sathas’ works have been made available to the public through the university of Crete and Livanis Publications (one of the biggest publishing houses in Greece). The 1821 revolution wasn’t the first attempt of the Modern Greeks to free themselves from the Ottomans. There had been numerous attempts before but all of them failed simply because the Greek Orthodox Church sided with the Sultan to wipe out the revolutionaries since it was given a lot of land property and special privileges by the Ottomans. It is a well known historical fact that the Church excommunicated everyone who dared to doubt the authority of the Ottomans not to mention start a rebellion against them. The fairy tale that the monks preserved the ancient heritage and the language is no longer accepted by scholars and the people who read history. There was not such a thing as the “hidden school” (Kryfon Scholeion) simply because the Ottomans had allowed the construction of clergy schools as an attempt to help the clergy reproduce themselves by “producing” more monks. The only thing that was taught in the so called “hidden schools” was reading and writing psalms and prayers. Nothing about the ancient Hellas was taught. That brings me to another hot issue: Do you know how the huge land property of the church came about? Let me tell you how:

During the Ottoman years, no citizen was allowed to have property but the church. So, the locals gave the property to church hoping that after the liberation of the land, they would get it back. It never happened. The 1821 revolution was made to help the land get rid of its three tyrants:

The Ottomans, the rich dignitaries and collaborators of the Sultan and the priests. It succeeded in only one: Only the Ottomans were kicked out. The rest remain even in these days and continue to have the same power they had back then.

As you all may know, the battleship of Navarino was what saved the Greek revolution and helped the creation of the Modern Greek state. The Modern Greek state has nothing in common with the ancient Greek notion of Polis. It was artificially made as a state-parody, a protectorate that would serve the needs of the rich industrialized nations that wanted to have a satellite country that would serve their commercial and trade needs due to its unique geographical position that connects the East with the West. Every time there was a shift of power, this little protectorate, paid heavy prices (Balkan Wars, Asia Minor Catastrophe, WWII, etc). Its existence began with heavy loans that prevented it from becoming sovereign and autonomous.

At times, it enjoyed a mediocre sense of independence but it never lasted long enough. Now, it has become the dumping site of illegal aliens and money laundering. Almost all politicians that have governed this poor state are selected and promoted by the rich patrons of the West. These politicians did nothing but execute orders aimed at transforming this once sacred land into a poor protectorate, a ridiculous country that everybody laughs at. We are the only land in Europe where out of the 3,5 million people in the work force where 1.5 million of them are counterproductive public servants who do not work and get paid while nobody can fire them because the laws and the constitution protect them. We are the only European country where theocracy rules, interferes with political matters, acts like a shrewd businessman, owns most of the land, causes major financial scandals and contributes significantly to political corruption without being afraid of getting caught. As far as the ancient Hellenes are concerned, all I can say is that we, modern Greeks with a few exceptions, are their clowns, not even their cheap imitations politically, religiously, linguistically and culturally. I am not saying genetically, because the “Greekness” or in other words the desire to feel and behave like an ancient Greek has to do with the elements of spirituality, love for knowledge and reason as well as humanitarianism. Modern Greeks neither possess nor wish to possess these elements. One last thing: Can somebody explain to me how come the ancient Greeks were so smart in terms of science, art, philosophy, theater, drama, etc and at the same time were so “stupid” according to Christians) in their religious beliefs?

The answer is simple: We have been taught to look at the Hellenic cosmos through Christian eyes. That doesn’t enable us to understand the depths of the ancient Greek world.

[Darius]

Ky Dhimitri qeka fantastik. Sa mire do ishte sikur Ballkani te kishte me shume njerez te tille realiste. Problemi nuk zgjidhet duke e shmangur apo mohuar por duke e identifikuar e pranuar. Ne menyren sesi godet mentalitetin dhe psikologjine sociale te shoqerise greke, ky miku i afrohet realizmit te Kadarese. Kudos Dhimitraq !!!

p.s. faleminderit te gjitheve qe sollen artikullin apo links ne anglisht

[javan]

Ky Dhimitri qeka fantastik. Sa mire do ishte sikur Ballkani te kishte me shume njerez te tille realiste. Problemi nuk zgjidhet duke e shmangur apo mohuar por duke e identifikuar e pranuar. Ne menyren sesi godet mentalitetin dhe psikologjine sociale te shoqerise greke, ky miku i afrohet realizmit te Kadarese. Kudos Dhimitraq !!!

p.s. faleminderit te gjitheve qe sollen artikullin apo links ne anglisht

E lexove gje artikullin, apo vetem rreshtin e pare dhe paragrafin e fundit?

[Darius]

Natyrisht qe e lexova javan (gjithmone i lexoj gjerat deri ne fund). Po mos pretendo me shume se kaq sa ka shkruar. Ne fund te fundit ky miku mbetet grek.

[javan]

Kete ma quan realizem si i Kadarese?

The bishops of Mystras and many Byzantine emperors like Manuel Katakouzinos and Theodore the I, Palaiologos, brought thousands of Illyrians and Wallachians (Vlachoi) to mainland Greece from the North.

Une per vete, lexova vec 2 paragrafe ne fillim dhe 3 rreshta ne fund. Ky shefi duhet mesuar qe theokracine dhe Bizantin i solli raca e vet sirio-egjiptiane, pas modelit aziatik qe perfaqesonte.

[Darius]

Jo realizem si te Kadarese quaj ate qe ai i bie te veteve dhe nuk shfajson aspak. Sic te thashe, mos pretendo aq shume nga greku. Per ate qe i kane mesuar ne shkolle, shume ka thene.

[javan]

Nuk eshte realizem t'i biesh te tuajve, por te mbash anen e realitetit (te drejtes) pa marre parasysh se kujt i bie goditja.

Me sa duket kriza nuk po e pengon grekun te shtrije tubat e naftes me Italine ne Korfuz, pavaresisht se shkaterron mbetetjet arkeologjike te nje kombi qe pretendon te jete i veti.