Monthly Archives: March 2015

“The silence will hurt your ears,” master distiller Anestis Babatzimopoulos warns me from the driver’s seat as we head from the plains of Langada up the winding roads of Mount Vertsikos in Central Macedonia, northern Greece. As soon as I step out of the car when we reach our destination, I get what he was talking about. I look out at well-tended vineyards, while behind me is woodland with stately oak, beech and chestnut trees. Only the fluttering of a bird or the passage of some small animal through the leaves upsets the absolute silence in this 55-hectare paradise.

“I have plenty of friends here: geese, wood pigeons, hares, storks, herons, deer and foxes,” my host says, laughing. “And above all, I have my vines. Look at them! Isn’t it wonderful how this plant has the power to grow more beautiful by the day? I see this and it gives me so much vigor. I know nothing of weariness and age, even though I’m 74.”

It is a delight to listen to Babatzimopoulos tell his stories, be they of his family – which hailed from Constantinople and created a famous brand of raki – or of his own personal journey.

“A few days ago a group of elementary school children had come for a visit. We have a lot of school visits all year round,” he tells me. “I gave the children a bit of grape must to try in a plastic cup. Then we climbed up the hill and they filled their cups with dirt – after writing their names on them – and planted an acorn in them. When they come back in the spring, we will take the shoots and plant them in the woods. That’s the only way they will understand the cycle of nature, and of life.”

Babatzimopoulos came across the location of his future estate while working as a delivery man for a family-owned distillery that made ouzo and tsipouro.

“Most of the fields were abandoned because many of the area’s young people had emigrated to Germany. It broke my heart,” he says. He bought his first parcels of land in 1970 and started planting his vines in 1974.

“From an easygoing life in Thessaloniki, dancing and hanging out with my friends, I found myself digging holes on Mount Vertsikos.”

Babatzimopoulos was fortunate to draw the attention of Stavroula Kourakou, a great lady of Greek wine.

“Her advice was invaluable,” he says. “With time I learned to respect the vines. I did a lot of reading and started discovering the wealth of foreign varieties. I began planting Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.”

Today, beside these international varieties, he also grows lesser-known grapes such as Ugni Blanc and Greco di Tufo, as well as Greek staples like Xinomavro, Roditis, Malagouzia, Moschofilero and Malvasia.

The vineyard is at an altitude of 620 meters and enjoys an ideal climate: cold winters, fresh springs and moderate summers. The grapes are grown organically and yield around 150,000 bottles a year. The on-site oenologists are Christos Vavatsis (Babatzimopoulos’s nephew) and Malama Giatreli, both well-educated young scientists who love their work and the estate in particular.

Babatzimopoulos finished building his winery in 2000 and then embarked on the business of wine tourism, adding a restaurant-cafe to the premises. The two buildings are made of local stone sourced from the property itself. “It gave the vines some air and I didn’t have to pay anything,” says the entrepreneur.

The next leg of our tour takes us to the cellar. The armchairs and brazier come from the office of Babatzimopoulos’s grandfather in Constantinople, and a 260-year-old still is displayed in all its glory. He tells more stories: about his collaboration with the Pierre Cardin house for a spirit, his long-distance relationship with Seguin Moreau, the owner of the emblematic cooperage, who advised him on wine aging, and, of course, about Stelios Disilis, his mentor.

“He taught me two of the most important things I know: how to taste wine and how to give my best to those around me, starting with a smile and a ‘good morning,’” says Babatzimopoulos.

Later, at the restaurant, we see the other side of Babatzimopoulos, who other than winemaker is also something of a chef. He enjoys cooking and puts his natural panache into it.

“My two favorite dishes are pork with leeks in a white egg sauce and coq au vin – and they say I do them well,” he comments. What does he serve them with? “Barrel-aged Chardonnay for the pork and Xinomavro with the fowl. What else?”

We enjoy a snack he has prepared and try the white Kioski, a blend of four varieties dominated by the wonderful bouquet of the Muscat. Our conversation turns to the next generation and his son Christos, who has studied in Germany.

“We are so different,” says Babatzimopoulos. “He is clever and does a good job at anything he turns his hand to. I just hope he gives me a grandchild or two, so I can enjoy it before I get too old.”

source:ekathimerini.com

PAOK has parted company with coach Angelos Anastasiadis, the Greek Super League club announced on Monday.

The 62-year-old’s third spell at the helm has come to an end following a goalless draw at home to Asteras Tripolis on Saturday which left the team in third, 10 points adrift of leader Olympiakos Piraeus and seven from second-placed Panathinaikos.

“PAOK FC announces its decision to end its cooperation with coach Angelos Anastasiadis,» the club said in a statement.

Anastasiadis’s deputy Giorgos Georgiadis has been appointed the interim coach until the end of the season.

source:ekathimerini.com

THESSALONIKI – Residents of Greeces second-largest city on Sunday placed flowers on train tracks and inside old cattle wagons in solemn remembrance of nearly 50,000 local Jews who were transported to Nazi death camps during World War II.

About 2,000 people joined together at Thessalonikis Freedom Square for the 72nd anniversary of the roundup and deportation of the Jews. Some held banners that said: “Racism Kills, Let’s Learn from History,” and “Never Again.”

The crowd then marched to the northern city’s old railway station, where the first of 19 trains departed for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex on March 15, 1943.

A locomotive believed to have been used to transport Jews, and four carriages that normally would carry cattle and in which people spent nine days locked up on their way to the extermination camps, were at the station. The crowd laid flowers on the wagons and the tracks.

“It was a horrible, mournful, rainy day. Even the skies were weeping,” recalled Heinz Cunho, 87, one of fewer than 100 surviving Greek Jews who made it back from the camps. “Normally, the carriages held 50 people. There were 80 of us to a wagon, and they had us locked up throughout the nine-day trip.”

Greece’s government has decided to include among its demands for German World War II reparations a sum, today equivalent to 50 million euros ($53 million), paid as a ransom to Nazi occupiers in 1942 to free about 10,000 Jewish men used as slave laborers in Greece. They were freed, but still sent subsequently to death camps.

Jews, mostly Sephardic refugees from Spain and its Inquisition, formed the majority of Thessalonikis inhabitants from the 16th to early 20th centuries. Their numbers dwindled in the early 20th century.

Of the 46,091 Thessaloniki Jews sent to the camps, 1,950 survived. Others avoided the camps by either joining the partisan resistance or escaping to Turkey by boat, with the help of residents, and making it to the Middle East. Today, the Jewish community in the city of nearly 800,000 numbers fewer than 2,000.

“We are marching upon the footsteps that Greek Jews marched back then. We must remain united and opposed to Nazism, racism and anti-Semitism,” said David Saltiel, head of Thessalonikis Jewish community.

source:ekathimerini.com

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on March 23 for talks expected to focus on Greece’s looming cash crunch even as bilateral tensions remain high.

Tsipras is expected to use the meeting, proposed by Merkel on Monday, to seek a “political solution” to the current deadlock that would allow the release of much-needed funding. However, sources close to Merkel indicated that Athens should not foster high hopes for the meeting. “Our aim is the implementation of the February 20 agreement and to keep Greece in the eurozone,” a source said.

In the meantime, technical experts from the Greek side and the creditors will continue talks in Brussels on Wednesday as diplomats prepare for an EU leaders’ summit on Thursday and Friday.

Tsipras had been planning to raise the matter of Greece’s funding needs and reform proposals with the German chancellor on the sidelines of the summit. Sources conceded that the meeting is likely to be “difficult,” adding that Tsipras may also seek a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.

Sources close to Tsipras welcomed Merkel’s overture to the Greek premier, noting that she had so far rejected the prospect of a bilateral meeting. During a phone call with Tsipras on Monday, Merkel underlined the critical nature of the current situation and suggested that a face-to-face meeting would be a good idea, sources said.

The meeting could be the last chance for the two leaders to avert an impasse which some prominent Greek government officials blame on “circles in the EU” that want the current administration to fall and are pushing it to implement measures the previous conservative-led coalition had agreed to.

In an interview with Ethnos newspaper published on Monday, Tsipras insisted that further tough measures were out of the question. “Whatever obstacles we may encounter in our negotiating effort, we will not return to the policies of austerity,” Tsipras told Ethnos.

One reason that creditors appear to be holding a hard line is the Greek government’s delay in enforcing economic reforms. Another is a series of initiatives that have been interpreted as aggressive vis-a-vis Greece’s creditors, notably Tsipras’s decision to resurrect the country’s demands for war reparations from Germany.

In comments on Monday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the new Greek government had destroyed all the trust that had been rebuilt in the past.

European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici and Juncker struck a different tone, with the former warning of “catastrophe” if Greece has to leave the euro while the latter called on other eurozone governments to show solidarity with Athens.

source:ekathimerini.com

Δύο άνθρωποι 200 χιλ. μακριά ο ένας απ’ τον άλλον δαγκώθηκαν από φίδι την ίδια ώρα.

Ούτε συνεννοημένα να ήταν δύο φίδια στην Αυστραλία που επιτέθηκαν που δάγκωσαν δύο διαφορετικούς ανθρώπους στις 2.00 το μεσημέρι της Πέμπτης. Το ένα βρίσκονταν κάπου στην κεντρική Αυστραλία, σε ένα αγρόκτημα κοντά στον ποταμό Adelaide και το άλλο κάτω από ένα κτίριο στα νησιά Tiwis που βρίσκονται στο βόρειο άκρο της χώρας.

Το «κακό» το φίδι του αγροκτήματος δάγκωσε το θύμα του στο πόδι ενώ ο άνδρας περπατούσε σε χωράφι με πολύ βλάστηση -καλά που πήγαινε και αυτός ο άνθρωπος μέσα στα χορτάρια- και το άλλο, επίσης «κακό» φίδι, του κτιρίου, δάγκωσε έναν άλλο άνδρα στο χέρι, -θα έπρεπε να προσέχει λίγο περισσότερο και αυτός ο κύριος- που το έχωσε κάτω από το κτίριο.

Και τα δύο θύματα της… αυστραλιανής πανίδας, μεταφέρθηκαν αεροπορικώς και κατέληξαν στο ίδιο νοσοκομείο αυτό του Royal Darwin. Σε κανέναν δεν δόθηκε αντίδοτο, γεγονός που τελικά μπορεί να σημαίνει ότι και τα δύο φιδάκια δεν ήσαν τελικά και τόσο… «κακά».

Πάντως, για παν ενδεχόμενο οι γιατροί του Royal Darwin αποφάσισαν να μην δώσουν εξιτήριο σε κανέναν από τους δύο άνδρες καθώς εκτίμησαν ότι πρέπει να τους παρακολουθήσουν για μερικές μέρες ακόμα.

Οι αιτίες των προβλημάτων στην Ελλάδα δεν βρίσκονται στις Βρυξέλλες, στην Ευρώπη ή τη Γερμανία δηλώνει ο Γερμανός υπ. Οικονομικών.

Οι αιτίες των προβλημάτων στην Ελλάδα δεν βρίσκονται στις Βρυξέλλες, στην Ευρώπη ή τη Γερμανία, βρίσκονται στο ότι η Ελλάδα ζούσε για πολύ καιρό υπεράνω των δυνατοτήτων της, ίσως η Ευρωζώνη ήταν επίσης ένας πειρασμός, διατείνεται ο Γερμανός υπουργός Οικονομικών, Βόλφγκανγκ Σόιμπλε, σε συνέντευξή του στην αυστριακή εφημερίδα «Ντερ Στάνταρντ», στην οποία διαμηνύει πως το θέμα των γερμανικών επανορθώσεων έχει ρυθμιστεί από πολλού.

Προσθέτει δε, πως όλα αυτά πρέπει να ειπωθούν από τους υπεύθυνους, διότι είναι σημαντικό να πείσουν την κοινή γνώμη για την αναγκαιότητα των μεταρρυθμίσεων, για να υπάρξει έξοδος από την κρίση και αυτό είναι δύσκολο και τα συνθήματα δεν βοηθούν.

Η υπεύθυνη ηγεσία θα πρέπει να προσπαθήσει να φέρει τις προσδοκίες του πληθυσμού σε εναρμόνιση με την πραγματικότητα, αναφέρει ο Βόλφγκανγκ Σόιμπλε, σημειώνοντας ότι όταν διάβασε πως ειπώθηκε ότι το όχι ασήμαντο πρόβλημα του χρέους, μπορεί να λυθεί με την καταβολή γερμανικών επανορθώσεων, αναρωτήθηκε εάν αυτό θα βοηθήσει να γίνουν αποδεκτές από την κοινή γνώμη οι υποκείμενες σε έγκριση αποφάσεις. Ο ίδιος θεωρεί ότι η πολιτική επηρεάζεται από την κοινή γνώμη και αυτό ονομάζεται «διαχείριση προσδοκιών».

Απαντώντας στο ερώτημα εάν υπάρχει πρόθεση από το Βερολίνο για καταβολή πολεμικών επανορθώσεων στην Ελλάδα, ο Γερμανός υπουργός Οικονομικών ισχυρίζεται πως το θέμα έχει ρυθμιστεί εδώ και δεκαετίες και σημειώνει ότι η Γερμανία στις 8 Μαΐου 1945 έχασε για πολύ καιρό την κυριαρχία της, την οποία επανέκτησε στις 3 Οκτωβρίου 1990 με τις προϋποθέσεις της Συνθήκης «2 συν 4», και από τότε έχει προχωρήσει 25 χρόνια.

Στη συνέχεια, υποστηρίζει ότι «φυσικά» δεν έχει προσβάλει Έλληνες συναδέλφους του και δεν φταίει ο ίδιος αν ελληνικά Μέσα Ενημέρωσης δεν μεταφράζουν σωστά μια δήλωση στον Τύπο του Γερμανού υπουργού Οικονομικών.

Απαντά αρνητικά στο ερώτημα αν τίθεται και πάλι σε συζήτηση από την πλευρά της Αθήνας μια διαγραφή χρέους και ένα τρίτο πρόγραμμα βοήθειας, σημειώνοντας ότι ο Αλέξης Τσίπρας έχει πει πως η Ελλάδα δεν θέλει πρόγραμμα, ο σεβασμός επιβάλλει να παραμείνει κανείς σε αυτό που ειπώθηκε από τον πρωθυπουργό, και κανείς δεν επέβαλε ποτέ κάτι που ο άλλος δεν θέλει καν.

Ως προς τη διαγραφή χρέους αναφέρει ότι -γνωρίζοντας ο ίδιος καλά το πρόβλημα της Ελλάδας, διότι, όπως λέει, έχει ασχοληθεί ολόκληρες νύχτες με αυτό- όποιος συζητά αυτή τη στιγμή για διαγραφή χρέους, προφανώς δεν γνωρίζει πως τα επόμενα χρόνια το θέμα χρέος θα είναι το λιγότερο πρόβλημα, καθώς η Ελλάδα πληρώνει χαμηλότερο επιτόκιο από ό,τι η Γερμανία.

Ο ίδιος, όπως διευκρινίζει, αγωνίσθηκε με τον τότε Έλληνα υπουργό Οικονομικών για μια διαγραφή χρέους και αυτό ενάντια στις μαζικές επιφυλάξεις της Ευρωπαϊκής Κεντρικής Τράπεζας, πετυχαίνοντας στο τέλος μια διαγραφή κατά 53 %.

Όπως τονίζει ο Γερμανός υπουργός Οικονομικών στη συνέντευξή του στην αυστριακή εφημερίδα, «η πραγματική πρόκληση είναι η Ελλάδα να βάλει μπρος την οικονομία της».

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

Το ποσοστό ανεργίας σε παναυστραλιανό επίπεδο κυμάνθηκε στο 6,3% για το μήνα Φεβρουάριο.

Oι οικονομολόγοι το ανέμεναν! Το ποσοστό ανεργίας σε παναυστραλιανό επίπεδο κυμάνθηκε στο 6,3% για το μήνα Φεβρουάριο, καθώς δημιουργήθηκαν 15.600 νέες θέσεις εργασίας (10.300 θέσεων εργασίας πλήρους απασχόλησης και 5.300 θέσεις μερικής απασχόλησης).

Ωστόσο, αυτό από μόνο του δεν ήταν αρκετό για να ρίξει το ποσοστό ανεργίας: Την ίδια περίοδο, μειώθηκε ελαφρά το εργατικό δυναμικό της χώρας (δηλαδή, ο αριθμός των ατόμων που εργάζονται και αναζητούν εργασία), στο 64,7% (έναντι 64,8% τον Ιανουάριο). Επίσης, αυξήθηκαν και οι μηνιαίες ώρες εργασίας κατά 0,8%.

Σε επίπεδο Πολιτειών και Επικρατειών, η Νότια Αυστραλία εξακολουθεί να έχει το υψηλότερο ποσοστό ανεργίας στη χώρα, παρά τη μικρή αύξηση της απασχόλησης το Φεβρουάριο. Η μείωση της δραστηριότητας στα ορυχεία της Δυτικής Αυστραλίας και της Κουινσλάνδης συνέβαλε στην αύξηση των ποσοστών της ανεργίας, αλλά και στις δύο Πολιτείες σημειώθηκε αύξηση της συμμετοχής στην αγορά εργασίας.

ΒΙΚΤΩΡΙΑ: ΑΣΧΗΜΑ ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΝΕΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΒΟΡΕΙΑ ΠΡΟΑΣΤΙΑ

Η Βικτώρια αποτέλεσε εξαίρεση αφού η ανεργία υποχώρησε στο 6% από το 6,6% και 9.000 περίπου θέσεις εργασίας προστέθηκαν μέσα σε ένα μήνα. Όμως δύο ξεχωριστές αναλύσεις στοιχείων για τα ποσοστά ανεργίας στη Βικτώρια το 2014 δίνουν μία πιο ζοφερή εικόνα.

Η πρώτη ανάλυση των στοιχείων, που έγινε από μία πολιτειακή κυβερνητική οργάνωση δείχνει ότι η ανεργία των νέων αυξάνεται. Σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία που προέρχονται από το Συμβούλιο Κοινωνικών Υπηρεσιών της Βικτώριας (Victorian Council of Social Services), την περασμένη χρονιά σημειώθηκε τον υψηλότερο ετήσιο μέσο ποσοστό ανεργίας των νέων από τη δεκαετία του 1990 φτάνοντας στο 14,6%!

– Η υπουργός Απασχόλησης της Βικτώριας, Jacinta Allan, εξέφρασε τη βαθιά της ανησυχία για την απασχόληση των νέων, ένα πρόβλημα, που, όπως υποστηρίζει, δημιουργήθηκε από την πρώην κυβέρνηση των Φιλελευθέρων, με περικοπές στις τεχνικές σχολές TAFE και μία σειρά «κακών επενδύσεων» στην εκπαίδευση.

Παράλληλα, μία δεύτερη ανάλυση των στοιχείων της ανεργίας, αυτή τη φορά από την ομοσπονδιακή κυβέρνηση, που περιέχεται στην έκθεση «Small Area Labour Markets», δείχνει ότι σε μερικά από τα παραδοσιακά προάστια της μεσαίας τάξης της Μελβούρνης, η ανεργία αυξήθηκε στο τελευταίο τρίμηνο του 2014.

Πιο συγκεκριμένα, το υψηλότερο ποσοστό ανεργίας στη Βικτώρια και μεταξύ των ενήλικων ατόμων ήταν στο Broadmeadows, με 26,7%. Ακολουθεί το Dandenong με ανεργία 21,5%. Στο Ascot Vale και στο Burwood το καταγεγραμμένο ποσοστό ανεργίας έφτανε το 10,2%, στο Doncaster το 10,4%.

ΤΟ ΔΟΛΑΡΙΟ, ΤΟ ΕΥΡΩ ΚΑΙ Η… ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Το αυστραλιανό δολάριο ανέκαμψε κάπως μετά την ανακοίνωση των στοιχείων για την ανεργία την Πέμπτη. Την περασμένη Τετάρτη η ισοτιμία του με το αμερικανικό είχε «πέσει» στο χαμηλότερο σημείο των τελευταίων 6 ετών. Σε αυτό συνέβαλαν δύο παράγοντες: τα καλά στοιχεία για την αμερικανική αγορά εργασίας που ανακοινώθηκαν νωρίτερα αυτήν την εβδομάδα. Και το χαμηλό κλίμα εμπιστοσύνης των Αυστραλών καταναλωτών προς την οικονομία, που έπειτα από μία απότομη άνοδο κατά 8% το Φεβρουάριο, τον τρέχοντα μήνα «πέφτει» με ρυθμό 1,2%. Το αυστραλιανό δολάριο είχε πέσει στα μόλις 75,6 αμερικανικά σεντς και την Πέμπτη το μεσημέρι ήταν στα 76,2 σεντς.

Η ισοτιμία του εθνικού μας νομίσματος με το ευρώ ήταν καλύτερη, αφού η συνεχιζόμενη αντιπαράθεση Ελλάδας-Γερμανίας κάνει το ευρώ πιο αδύναμο. Έτσι, η ισοτιμία αυστραλιανού δολαρίου και ευρώ, από 0,68 ευρωσέντς που ήταν στις 4 Φεβρουαρίου την Πέμπτη το μεσημέρι άγγιζε τα σχεδόν 0,73! Οι οικονομολόγοι εκτιμούν ότι η Ελλάδα έχει αρχίσει να «συμμορφώνεται» με τις υποδείξεις της Γερμανίας, αν και το κλίμα θα παραμείνει ασαφές για αρκετούς μήνες ακόμα!

Πηγή: Νέος Κόσμος

All the speakers at the Food for Thought Network event on International Women’s Day.

Is it possible in this day and age to articulate or identify a particularly Greek Australian attitude to girls and education? This was the question I asked myself as I listened to a distinguished group of panellists and guests comprising; State Minister for Families and Children and Minister for Youth Affairs Jenny Mikakos, principal of Alphington Grammar Dr Vivianne Nikou, wife of the Greek ambassador Ms Eyvah T. Dafaranos, Professor of History at the University of Melbourne, Joy Damousi, Professor Georgina Tsolidis, of Ballarat University, Dr Anne Mitsis of Swinburne University and arts/law student Maree Skalistis, expound their unique perspectives on this question, at the recent Food For Thought Women’s Network event, in celebration of International Women’s Day.

The inspiration for the discussion, Food for Thought chairperson Varvara Ioannou, herself an educator and community activist, has long been at the forefront of a concerted effort to empower, motivate and establish networks among Greek Australian women and in this, the month of speaking Greek, an examination of one of our founding myths and the way it has played out among Greek Australian women presents a myriad of foci and possibilities.
Eyvah Dafaranos certainly believes that we can articulate a Greek attitude towards education. In a concise, perceptive and thoroughly moving exposition, she outlined a manifesto of education that had its roots in ancient Greece and defied gender boundaries or stereotypes. According to her, the main aim of the ancient Greek education was to rear children to be καλοί και αγαθοί, that is, beautiful and good. The emphasis therefore was not only upon knowledge but on ethics and spirituality, a sense of responsibility and service to a higher purpose than one’s self, as well as a dedication to excellence. Such an education also required constant lifelong cultivation. I would argue that this perspective was somewhat tweaked by the time we get to the birth of the modern Greek State. For activists and educators such as Saint Kosmas the Aetolian and Adamantios Korais, education was a form of spiritual rebirth that was inextricably linked to the rebirth of the Greek nation. This is important to note, as education thus forms one of the founding myths of our modern identity, one that has been absorbed by our ancestors and passed down the generations ever since.

Eyvah Dafaranos’ incisive contribution to the discussion was invaluable because it can be juxtaposed with the complex attitudes Greek Australians have had towards education since arriving in this country. All of the panellists agreed that both their parents placed great emphasis upon their children’s education, regardless of their own socio-economic position or level of education and provided a supportive environment in which to pursue their own academic interests. From thereon, the panellists examined aspects of gender relations in the academic and broader context, yet in my mind they kept returning again and again to the same point: for their, in most respects, uneducated parents, education was an important ideal. This is consistent with our community foundation mythology: our particular reality was brought into being by our creators because they wanted their children to be better off than they were; that is, educated and affluent. The fact that within a decade of our arrival here, Greek Australian women began to emerge as educated professionals attests to the power of this myth.

It is a pity that time constraints did not permit an analysis as to why this was so. Had the opportunity been provided to do so, arguably, enough anecdotal evidence would have emerged to suggest that the motivations of that section of the community that prized their daughters’ education were actually quite diverse and produced by a complex set of historical and social phenomena. Rather than being just a matter of producing women who were ‘beautiful and good’, one could speculate education was seen as a means of social advancement, of material and economic gain and also, as a form of attaining respectability and a sense of emancipation. This is logical considering the rigid, almost untranscendable social structures existing in post-war Greece and the manner in which an Australian education could facilitate social mobility.

Education was also seen as form of escape. This is the reason why so many Greek Australian first generation women today take great delight in involving themselves in literary circles, to the chagrin and merciless mirth of the local media. To these women, upon whom a multitude of expectations were foisted upon their arrival in this country, including becoming economically productive units, all the while adhering to a set of often oppressive stereotypes about their place and duties to the family and broader community, education, the ability to learn and discover, as well as to be transported away from a world of drudgery if only for a brief moment, was a luxury and form of solace available only to the lucky few. Further than this, it was felt, by a good many first generation Greek Australian migrants, that their daughters’ or grand-daughters’ education would empower them in their relationships, granting them an equality that they themselves did not enjoy. These viewpoints and psychologies have seldom been articulated openly, yet they form the foundation of the way our community views the education of its female members today and thus deserve deeper analysis.

It is easy to feel pride both in the panellists and our community when considering the manner in which their education was prized and fostered by their families. Their stories, similar in many respects save a few nuances, are valuable, leading us to believe that possibly, the Greek Australian attitude towards education has been a truly enlightened one from the outset. However, this is not so. For again, largely unexamined is the experience of a large number of young Greek Australian women of the sixties and seventies whose parents did not value education as highly as the stereotype would have us believe. In some cases, Greek Australian women had to fight hard against their parents and prevailing social stereotypes in order to secure their education and faced extreme prejudice and difficulties from their family unit when embarking upon their careers. Others, removed from school as young as fifteen, were expected to work in order to earn their keep and/or to get married. The presentation of such limited life prospects caused inestimable damage within that generation, its after-effects being felt within the family, the marriage and in relationships with children. It also influenced the manner in which that generation passed on an education value to their daughters: in some cases, it served to emphasise the importance of an education but in many others, mothers, who were taught not to attach particular importance to education, merely passed on the same attitude to their daughters, expecting them to follow in their footsteps, to produce and reproduce. The Food for Thought Network thus makes an invaluable contribution to the consideration of all facets of this issue, in giving rise to the need to examine such experiences.

As we can identify both conservative and progressive currents of thinking within our community’s historical attitude towards education, perhaps it would be instructive to see just how, if at all, such conflicts are a reality for modern Greek Australian women. If the work of influential local poet Koraly Dimitriadis, who has written extensively about the manner in which what she perceives as archaic social expectations are given greater priority than education or the prospect of a career in many a contemporary Greek family, it is quite possible that this unspoken conflict still is yet to be resolved for a considerable number of modern Greek Australian women. Again the unique historical, social and psychological phenomena that comprise this continued conflict cry out for further investigation.

Finally, even if we could argue that a unique Greek Australian attitude towards women’s education has ever existed, a question that the event rightly left unresolved, to what extent has this attitude, after half a century of our sojourn in this country, merged with the mainstream of public opinion? The Food for Thought Network is to be commended for instigating a debate that gives rise to such pertinent questions, inviting a certain introspection and self-knowledge that can only come from a deep respect and sensitivity to the unique and largely unarticulated experience of Greek Australian women within our community.

* Dean Kalimniou is a Melbourne solicitor and freelance journalist.

source: Neos Kosmos

Σε μία ακόμα βάναυση εκτέλεση προχώρησε η ακραία σουνιτική οργάνωση Ισλαμικό Χαλιφάτο. Θύματα του εξτρεμισμού των τζιχαντιστών αποτέλεσαν αυτή τη φορά εννέα άνδρες, οι οποίοι κατηγορήθηκαν για κατασκοπεία και ότι «προδίδουν τη θρησκεία του Αλλάχ».

Όπως αναφέρει η βρετανική Daily Mail, στο βιντεοσκοπημένο μήνυμα του Χαλιφάτου που δείχνει την εκτέλεση, οι εννέα όμηροι εξαναγκάζονται να δώσουν συνέντευξη πριν από τη δολοφονία τους, στην οποία παραδέχονται ότι κατασκοπεύουν τις κινήσεις της οργάνωσης, τις θέσεις της και τον εξοπλισμό.

Με δεμένα τα μάτια και τα χέρια, οι εννέα άνδρες οδηγούνται από τους μασκοφόρους εκτελεστές τους σε μια γέφυρα σε άγνωστη τοποθεσία της Μέσης Ανατολής και τους δίνεται η εντολή να γονατίσουν.

Στη συνέχεια οι τζιχαντιστές σηκώνουν τα περίστροφα που κρατούν στα χέρια, τραβούν τη σκανδάλη και τους εκτελούν.

Πηγή:madata.gr