Professor Papastergiadis’ Lecture on Contemporary Migrants

Stella Tsolakidou
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Professor Papastergiadis’ Lecture on Contemporary Migrants

Contemporary migrants have nothing in common with post World War II migrants, supports Professor of Cultural Studies, Media and Communications at the University of Melbourne Nikos Papastergiadis.

The professor delivered a lecture to the Greek community of Melbourne on “The future of Multiculturalism and International Migration”. In his lecture, Mr. Papastergiadis claimed that the migrants of today are completely different in comparison to those migrants leaving their home countries after the end of World War II.

“Contemporary migrants are well educated and do not move to other countries for an extended period of time” said Mr. Papastergiadis adding that “the first generation of migrants visiting Australia had to work really hard to offer their children a better future, while modern migrants move around to secure a better future for themselves and they want to get this future right away”.

Mr. Papastergiadis tried to provide the audience with a multi-level approach of the issue, referring to mass population displacements over the past few centuries and mentioning the variables moulding contemporary migrants and the multicultural society.

Greek-Australian Minister Wants Students to Become More Australian

Stella Tsolakidou
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Greek-Australian Minister Wants Students to Become More Australian

Victorian Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship Nicholas Kotsiras has caused quite a stir with his latest statement proposing the “australisation” of all students around Australia, who will be encouraged to sing the national anthem of the country at least once a week.

Mr. Kotsiras claimed being anxious over the fact that many students do not describe themselves as Australians but rather cling to their own ethnic origins. Therefore, the Greek-Australian Minister wants schools to teach an “Australian education” program which he says will help combat racism.

He does not believe singing the anthem would be divisive or ostracise children from migrant families.

“My policy is about keeping our cultural identity but also uniting us as Victorians, as Australians,” he said. “Now that children are still young, they must be encouraged to integrate to the Australian society, otherwise they will continue feeling like outsiders. And that would threaten the peaceful coexistence of Australia’s multicultural society” continued Mr. Kotsiras.

Opponents of Kotsiras claimed that the Australian anthem is already being sang at schools once a week but does not help students become more Australian in any way. According to them, migrants’ children must be approached in a totally different manner and with much more sensitivity and respect towards their ethnic background.

Mr. Kotsiras’ statement covered the front page of Herald Sun daily and was among the headlines of all Australian newspapers.

“Many times education is far better than legislation,” he told ABC local radio.

Arthur Synodinos’ First Speech Before the Australian Senate

Fani Toli
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Arthur Synodinos’ First Speech Before the Australian Senate

Athanasios (Arthur) Synodinos who has recently entered the Australian Senate is going to give his first speech before the members of the Senate on Wednesday.

The election of Synodinos followed the retirement of former senior minister Helen Coonan earlier in the year.

Mr Synodinos served as chief of staff to Mr Howard between 1996 and 2006 and is held in high regard by both sides of politics as a thinker and strategist.

Mr. Synodinos was born in 1957 in Newcastle, Australia to Greek parents from Kefalonia, Greece. He keeps close contact to the Greek Community and has served in the past in the board of directors of the Greek Community of Canberra.

‘Transition to Christianity’ Exhibition at Onassis Foundation in the USA

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‘Transition to Christianity’ Exhibition at Onassis Foundation in the USA

An exhibition (December 7, 2011 – May 14, 2012) named “Transition to Christianity-Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd-7th Century AD” is jointly organized by the Onassis Foundation (USA) and the Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens with the scholarly support of an advisory committee from the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University.

Many eminent people are intended to be the attendees of the opening day of the exhibition, such as journalists, politicians, businessmen and artists as well as representatives of Onassis Foundation and its president, Antonis Papadimitriou.

The vibrant and complex life of the Eastern Mediterranean during a time of reinvention and renewal will be the subject of a major new exhibition at the Onassis Cultural Center in Midtown Manhattan. The exhibition will bring together more than 170 exceptional objects on loan from Greek museums, as well as museums in Cyprus and the United States.

Incorporating many outstanding works of art that have never before been seen outside Greece, as well as recently discovered works that are being exhibited for the first time anywhere, Transition to Christianity reveals a period of extraordinary and perhaps unexpected creativity in the Greek world of Late Antiquity.

Transition to Christianity will reveal this story through seven thematic sections:

The first section, The End of Antiquity- Cultural and Religious Interactions, bears witness to the survival of the ancient Greek and Roman forms of worship and the mystery cults in the 3rd and 4th centuries, and to Christianity’s rise within this cultural milieu.

The second section, Christianity on the Rise: From Recognition to Authority, surveys the effects of Emperor Constantine the Great’s recognition of Christianity and policy of building magnificent churches in the empire’s great urban centers.

The third section, Urban Realities, focuses on the gradual changes in city life, while the fourth section, Daily Life, presents objects relating to the public entertainments in the Hippodrome.

The sixth section, Death and New Life, reflects the profound inner change brought about by Christianity and the last section will examine the emergence of Christian visual language in the Late Antiquity period.

The Onassis Cultural Center is open to the public Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm, except Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is free.

Greek Community of Corona Celebrates Centenary from Elytis and Gatsos’ Brith

Stella Tsolakidou
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The Greek Orthodox Community of the Transfiguration of Christ paid a musical tribute to Greek poets Odysseas Elytis and Nikos Gatsos on November 13.

In its fourth cultural event of the year, the Greek community celebrated the centenary from the birth of a Nobel laureate Elytis and famous songwriter Gatsos, with readings from their poetry collections and a live musical performance of famous Greek songs based on their lyrics.

Well known Greek-American musician Seraphim Lazos performed and readers included Greek-American educator Peggy Simakos, a teacher at the Transfiguration’s Greek Saturday School as well as Dr. Constantine E. Kosmas, a top Greek-American cardiologist.

The event was organized by the community’s Cultural Committee.

The Director of Greek Education for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Dr. Ioannis Efthymiopoulos attended the event and congratulated the Transfiguration Community and its School for their efforts of keeping alive the Greek culture and spirit.

Chris Vrettos, who served as the master of ceremonies, spoke about the duty of the Greek Diaspora to actively contribute to the spreading of Greek culture and to act as the best ambassadors of the homeland.

During the free luncheon that followed, popular songs of Hadjidakis, Theodorakis, and Xarchakos were heard, echoing the lyrics of Elytis and Gatsos, such as “Axion esti”. The crowd joined in singing these much loved pieces.

Greek Community in Zurich Pays Tribute to Iannis Xenakis

Stella Tsolakidou
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Greek Community in Zurich Pays Tribute to Iannis Xenakis

The Greek community of Zurich organized a tribute event on the Greek ethnic composer, music theorist and architect-engineer Iannis Xenakis on Sunday, November 20.

The event was hosted at the Cultural Centre “Saint Demetrios” in Zurich and was granted with success.

The three musicians – Moritz Müllenbach (violoncello), Genevieve Camenis (viola) and Matheus Sapkowski (violin) – received a warm applause by the audience although Xenakis’ work is considered to be rather complicated and abstruse. The three proponents – Maria Stergiou, Labrini Piki and Zoe Tsokanou – delivered a presentation on Xenakis life and work in the fields of architecture and music and tried to analyze and shed light on the way in which the Romanian born avant-garde composer thought and expressed himself.

The event was delivered in German, so as for the Swiss audience to be able to follow the presentations, said Mrs. Stamatia Sterkoudi, PR person of the Greek community. The night was completed with the screening of “Charisma X”, a documentary film directed by Efi Xirou and presented to the Swiss audience for the first time.

Turkish Donation to Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus

Stella Tsolakidou
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Turkish Donation to Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus

Turkey proceeded with a new donation of $100,000 to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), in order to financially support the effort of exhuming and identifying persons reported missing during the Turkish invasion of 1974.

Turkey has made six donations so far exceeding €399,000. Cyprus has donated about €1.7 million in 11 donations, the last of which was in December 2010. The USA have donated about €352,000, Greece has donated around €200,000 while the UK has contributed about €163,000.  The biggest donor so far has been the EU with about €6.6 million in three separate donations.

Until now the remains of more than 800 individuals have been exhumed and 300 missing persons (239 Greek Cypriots and 61 Turkish Cypriots) have been identified, the CMP said.

A total of 502 Turkish Cypriots and 1,493 Greek Cypriots were officially reported as missing to the CMP, which was established in 1981 and began its activities in 2004.

The Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot leaders had agreed in 1997 to cooperate in order to identify as many remains of missing individuals as possible in order to ease the pain and uncertainty of so many families for so many years.

Italian Translators of Elytis on Elytis

Stella Tsolakidou
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Italian Translators of Elytis on Elytis

The centenary from Odysseas Elytis’ birth was grandiosely celebrated in Rome Monday, in an event co-organized by the La Sapienzia University of Rome, the Greek Embassy in Italy and the Hellenic Foundation for Culture.

Among other events, a symposium was hosted at the Italian University, which was attended by many renowned translators and neohellenists, who have dedicated a large part of their work and studies to the Greek Nobel laureate poet.

More particularly, Mario Vitti referred to his meeting with Elytis in Paris, 1951. “I was his firend and his translator; or better, I was his translator because I was his friend” pointed out the prominent literature critic and neohellenist. He also reminded everyone present that the first translator of Elytis poetry in Italian was philhellenist Filippo Maria Pontani.

Professor emeritus Vincenzo Rotolo of the Sicilian Institute of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies “Bruno Lavagnini” referred to Greek poetry and its wealth, underling that markets and demand cannot and must not replace the basic values transmitted over the years through the Greek literature.

“The expressions Elytis employs are reflective of how impressively flexible and creative the Greek language can be” said Mr. Rotolo.

According to the Greek Ambassador of Greece in Italy Mr. Michael Kampanis, Odysseas Elytis and other Greek poets are the most important representatives of the Greek culture abroad.

“Elytis’ work ‘Axion Esti’ is closely linked to the Greek Orthodox tradition, and thus it is an integral part of the social heritage of Greece. Therefore, one can say that the respective translation can transmit only 30% of the original creation” noted Classic Philology Professor Massimo Cazzullo.

Each translator of Elytis approaches a different parameter of the poetical work and it is impossible for every poet to have a single translator, stressed out Maria Minucci, Professor of Modern Greek in the La Sapienzia University. Minucci will attempt translating and editing the comprehensive poetical work of Elytis in Italian in the future.

Singer Michalis Chatzigiannis to Perform in Belgrade

Fani Toli
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Cypriot born star Michalis Chatzigiannis will be gracing the Beogradska Arena (the 2008 Eurovision venue) in Belgrade when he will be holding a special concert for his Serbian fans. Michalis will be flying to Serbia next month, where he has a concert scheduled on the 21st of December. Serbian fans will be treated to the best of Michalis’ songs and will be able to enjoy the essence Greek music and rhythms.

Michalis Chatzigiannis, the 1998 Cypriot Eurovision representative, has released his latest song S’agapo ( I love you) few months back. Michalis is one of the most sought after male artists both at homeland Cyprus and Greece, having released many albums. Both his albums and songs have enjoyed huge success. Michalis has gained recognition both as a singer and composer.

Michalis will be familiar to Eurovision fans as he represented Cyprus at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Genesis. The Cypriot artist has gone a long way since his Eurovision debut. Many of his songs have touched gold. Some of Michalis’ biggest hits have been: Pio poly, Ola i tipota, Den fevgo, Everyone dance, Simera, Xeria Psila, Krifa, O pareidisos, Oneiro zo, Gia sena to name a few.

23-Year-Old Greek Injured on Greek-Flagged Cargo Vessel

Stella Tsolakidou
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23-Year-Old Greek Injured on Greek-Flagged Cargo Vessel

Α 23-year-old Greek man serving as third marine engineer on the Greek flagged merchant vessel “Aegean Angel” was injured Monday inside the ship, which was travelling from Mexico to Spain.

The vessel dropped anchor at the Bahamas Harbor in order for the injured man to be immediately transported to a local hospital. The cargo ship continued its journey afterwards.

The Piraeus Central Port Authority will conduct a preliminary examination to determine the exact cause of the accident.

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