Wayne Hall (to Nikos Vakolidis, member of the Zosimaia School former students’ association):
Niko will anyone have been frightened off by Phillip’s evidence of COVID as a laboratory gain of function production? How far can we go in making the Greek Revolution into a facilitator of this kind of controversial information?
Phillip (Adams), are you a signatory of the Cape Byron Lighthouse initiative?
Phillip Adams
I am now
(Note on Phillip Adams. Phillip Adams is not the veteran well-known (in Australia) Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist of the same name but is a Greek-Australian resident in the state of Queensland and a proud descendant of the Greek revolutionary Anagnostaras
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagnostaras
He played a key role for years in the defence of the imprisoned Australian journalist Julian Assange. This is what he said by video link in Athens in 2019 on 26th January 2019, 26th January being not only the date of the coming of ‘European civilization’ to the Australian continent with the installation of a British prison in Sydney in 1788 but also the date of inauguration of the modern Greek state in Aegina with the swearing-in of Capodistrias in 1828.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vtxjw675yc
Phillip is now a signatory of the Cape Byron Lighthouse Declaration. Here is more information on that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-YEv3917c
Two centuries of waiting for a monument to the Zosimades
”The Zosimaia Brotherhood, the six Zosimas brothers, gave their all both for the country where they were born and for Russia, where they lived and made their fortune.
Their achievement is enormous, and unique:·
They supported education, founding the Zosimaia school and funding the publication of books for the instruction of Greeks, including notably’ the “Hellenic Library”of Adamantios Korais.
They were initiated into the Philiki Etaireia and provided financial support to the Greek Revolution and Greece’s first leader Ioannis Kapodistrias.·
They funded the construction of accommodation for the underprivileged and for orphans, in Ioannina, for an orphanage in Patmos, and donated their personal collection of ancient coins and metals to Athens Nomismatic Museum.
Announcement of the death of the last of the Zosimades, Nikolaos, in 1842, was seen as loss to the nation. Three days of national mourning were proclaimed in state schools and a memorial service was held at the Athens cathedral, attended by all of the nation’s authorities and a host of the citizenry.
The decision was taken then for a monument to the Zosimades to be erected in Athens, in tribute to their contribution and to their dedication to philanthropic improvement.
Unfortunately, 184 years later, the monument has still not been constructed, either in Athens, or in Ioannina. Recently were informed that a fund-raising committee has been convened, with mayor Begas as president and the regional prefect Mr, Kachrimanis as vice-president, for the purpose of administering the construction of a Monument to Benefactors and Teachers of the Nation, in Ioannina.
Honoring the nation’s benefactors ought by rights to be seen as a self-evident obligation of the state, in the narrowest sense, as minimum recognition of the contribution made by people who dedicated their fortune to the common good. Nevertheless, any initiative that contributes to the preservation of their memory and acknowledgement of their contribution provides an important opportunity for extending, even today, the honour that is due.
As Zosimaia School Former Students’ Association, which in 2028, together with other relevant collectivities, is organizing functions in recognition of the bicentenary of its establishment, we urge that there should be progress as rapidly as possible towards accomplishment of this minimum tribute and grateful acknowledgement of the Zosimades and all the nation’s benefactors, but also a reminder to today’s society of the ideals and values they impressed upon us through their life and their works.
President of the Board
Dimitris Panou
General Secretary
Lazaros Sakellariou