January is the month of celebrations in Aegina in honor of Ioannis Capodistrias.
Since the early years of the 21st century, the Aegina Association of Active Citizens has been campaigning for greater recognition of Capodistrias as a pioneer of European integration.
In 2013, we secured the support of former Italian MEP Giulietto Chiesa for our effort to gain wide recognition of this historical reality.
On January 26, 2019, the anniversary of the founding of the modern Greek state in Aegina in 1828, a function was held very close to the Acropolis in Athens in honor of the courageous and long-suffering Australian journalist Julian Assange, in the hope that he would not suffer the same fate as Capodistrias.
This was done even though Capodistrias had no connection with Athens but rather with Aegina, Athens’ historical rival, as well as with Corfu (where he was born) and Nafplio (where he was assassinated).
Giulietto Chiesa had been removed from the European Parliament in response to his film on the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. Since Chiesa’s visit to Aegina in 2013 and his death in 2020, the European Union’s prestige has declined significantly. Among other things, Chiesa’s warnings about the dangers of European policy towards Israel, and even more so Ukraine, have been ignored. Now the European Union seems to be on the path to war with Russia, a war that America no longer wishes to lead, having found more promising ideas for its own future (and only its own) than continuing the Cold War in Europe.
In response to Europe’s decline, some states have begun a planned shift towards the “global south.” Greece does not belong there spontaneously. It is not easy for Greece to disconnect from Europe, even from a Europe that seems to be heading, like Napoleon’s France or Hitler’s Germany, towards self-destruction. Can our country’s traditional friendly ties with Australia and New Zealand contribute to a geopolitical reorientation of Greece? Can such a reorientation be kept in reserve for implementation in case of failure to achieve the “Europe we want”?
On January 26, 2028, Greeks will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the modern Greek state in Aegina. On the same day, Australians will celebrate the 240th anniversary of the dawn of Western civilization in Australia, in an unfortunate form, admittedly, but what beginning is not difficult? The British brought civilization to Australia. Some would dispute this, but we do not. It is a biased assessment that overlooks many things. However, in the broader sense, it is true. If the British brought Western civilization to Australia, Greece brought it to the world, with similar periods of bloodshed.
In the 21st century, Western civilization is important as a fundamental element of civilization in general.
Do you support the idea of a joint Greek-Australian celebration of 26th January in 2028?
Την Παρασκευή το Δ.Σ. απέρριψε μια δική μου πρόταση για προβολή ενός σύντομου βίντεο με την υποστήριξη του Συλλόγου Γυναικών αλλά στο όνομα του Συλλόγου Ενεργών Πολιτών και πριν από τους γιορτασμούς στις 26η Φεβρουαρίου, μάλλον στις 10η ή 11η Ιανουαρίου. https://youtu.be/V6GD_RrP02o
Στην πρόταση που υποβλήθηκε στο Σύλλογο Γυναικών (και έγινε αποδεκτή) θα ακολουθούσε ένα επίσης σύντομο βίντεο για τις αρνητικές επιπτώσεις των lockdown των ετών 2020-1-2 σε οικογένειες και παιδιά. Αυτό θα έφερνε το βίντεο πιο κοντά στη συνηθισμένη θεματολογία του Συλλόγου Γυναικών.
Μετά από την απόρριψη από το Δ.Σ. όμως κρίνω ότι θα ήταν πιο κατάλληλο να προτείνω μόνο το παραπάνω βίντεο, το οποίο εκτός από το καποδιστριακό περιεχόμενο δείχνει μια αρνητική επίπτωση (ως υπόθεση και χωρίς αποδείξεις) της δράσης του σιωνιστικού λόμπυ στην Αυστραλία.
Αν υπάρχει αμφιβολία για το πόσο επίκαιρη είναι αυτή η απασχόληση με την Αυστραλία, ένα σημερινό περιστατικό ενισχύει το υποκείμενο σκεπτικό:
Mήνυμα προς την Πρωτοβουλία Πολιτών Αίγινας για την Παλαιστήνη
Αγαπητή Λάγια,
Εκτός από την απάντηση που σου έδωσα ως μέλος του Δ.Σ. των Ενεργών Πολιτών, την οποία προσυπογράφω, θα ήθελα να προσθέσω λίγες προσωπικές παρατηρήσεις ως αντικαθεστωτικός ακτιβιστής. Θα ήταν σημαντικό, την πολύ γνωστή ελληνίδα δημοσιογράφο της Αυστραλίας την Μαίρη Κοστακίδη να την βοηθάνε οι ακτιβιστές της Ελλάδας, ειδικά όταν αυτοί είναι ήδη στρατευμένοι υπέρ των Παλαιστίνιων.
Αυτή η καμπάνια που διεξάγεται από ακροδεξιά αυστραλέζα θα έπρεπε να είναι καμπάνια που αναλάβεται από προοδευτικούς ανθρώπους και να είναι γνωστή σε όλους τους προοδευτικούς του κόσμου.
Αυτό δεν συμβαίνει.
Έρχομαι αύριο στην εκδήλωσή σας και συμφωνώ ότι θα έπρεπε να έχει γίνει στο πρώτο δημοτικό σχολείο.
W.H.
On 2025-12-12 07:38, Stratos Pantavos wrote:
Αγαπητή Λάγια,
Συμφωνούμε με τον προβληματισμό σας. Θεωρούμε ότι οι πολίτες της Αίγινας πρέπει να έχουν την δυνατότητα να εκφράσουν με δημοκρατικό τρόπο δημόσια τις πεποιθήσεις τους.
Προτείνουμε τον προβληματισμό σας, να τον μεταφέρετε στο σύνολο των Συλλόγων τις Αίγινας, και ιδιαίτερα στην πρωτοβουλία φορέων που ασχολήθηκε με το Κέντρο Υγείας έτσι ώστε να προκύψει μια ενωτική κίνηση διαμαρτυρίας με μεγαλύτερο εύρος και βάθος
Συνεχίζει ο Γ.Χ.
Συνάδελφοι συμμετείχα στην εκδήλωση της Λάγιας και των συνεργατών της για την Παλαιστήνη. Μοίρασα και τις πληροφορίες για την Μαίρη Κοστακίδη στην Αυστραλία. Επίσης μίλησα λίγο για την Κοστακίδη αλλά το ακροατήριο ήταν ανυπόμονο να συνεχίσει με το δικό τους πρόγραμμα και δεν είπα όλα όσα είχα να πω. Στο τέλος όμως η Λάγια μίλησε για την έκκληση που είχε κάνει στο Σύλλογο Ενεργών Πολιτών και διάβασε στο ακροατήριο το κείμενο που είχε στείλει σε μας. ‘Ημουν υποχρεωμένος να ζητήσω από τη Λάγια να διαβάσει στη συγκέντρωση και τη δική μας συλλογική απάντηση. Η Λάγια δεν είχε το κείμενο. Δεν το είχα μαζί μου ούτε εγώ. Η Λάγια όμως είπε από τη μνήμη της την ουσία του μηνύματος που είχε πάρει από μας. Αυτό που είπε δεν ήταν σημαντικά διαφορετικό από αυτό που είχε γράψει ο Στράτος.
Αυτά.
Wayne
Y.Γ. Η ντροπαλή νεαρή γυναίκα σε μουσουλμανική ενδυμασία που βλέπετε κάτω στο φόντο της φωτογραφίας στην ελληνική εφημερίδα Καθημερινή είναι αυστραλέζα πολιτικός στη γερουσία της Αυστραλίας. Στο αγγλόφωνο τηλεοπτικό ρεπορτάζ που έχω δει μιλάει αρκετά επιθετικά με βαριά αυστραλιανή προφορά εντελώς αταίριαστο με το ντύσιμό της. Νομίζω ότι δεν θα θέλαμε να δούμε τέτοιες σκηνές στο ελληνικό κοινοβούλιο και δεν θα θέλαμε ένα ολόκληρο νομοθετικό σώμα να αντιδράει με τον τρομοκρατημένο, φοβισμένο και ανάξιο τρόπο που προκάλεσε η γερουσιαστής Χάνσον με το δικό της πολιτικό θέατρο.
Further information in English:
We are writing with an urgent update on our campaign supporting journalist Mary Kostakidis. The Federal Court case brought against her is projected by her legal team to cost up to millions of dollars, and we need your help to reach 10,000 signatures on our open letter calling on the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) and its CEO to discontinue the proceedings. Can you share the open letter with three friends?
Mary is facing Federal Court proceedings over two posts she shared on X/Twitter about Gaza, which the ZFA alleges contravene section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). Mary’s supporters are deeply concerned that she has been targeted for her criticism of the conduct of the State of Israel, in a way they say that risks sending a chilling message to anyone expressing political views online.
“Anybody on Twitter or Facebook could be standing shocked before a Federal Court, going through all of the Facebook posts you’ve ever made to see whether they give context to a claim,” Mary’s lawyer Mark Davis has cautioned.
Due to the volume of material in dispute, commentators have noted that the Court may be asked to adjudicate on highly contentious issues, including: whether Hamas or Israel seeks the destruction of the other, to what degree Hezbollah is to be regarded as a terrorist organisation or a resistance movement, which accounts of the 7 October attacks are accurate, and whether alleged attacks on synagogues in Australia were motivated by antisemitism.
Mary’s legal team filed her defence in the Federal Court last week, and a case management hearing is expected to take place on 18 December, at which the Court is likely to set the timetable for the trial.
This case has the potential to set a far reaching precedent for how section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act applies to political commentary and journalism, with serious implications for freedom of expression in Australia.
That’s why we are asking for your help to reach 10,000 signatures on our open letter before the next hearing in December.
(Το ζήτημα της διαφθοράς στην Παλαιστινιακή Αρχή αναφέρθηκε από έναν ομιλητή στη συνάντηση της Λάγιας.)
Καθώς πλησιάζει η περίοδος των καποδιστριακών εκδηλώσεων στην Αίγινα, το ζητούμενο είναι ότι στις 26η Ιανουαρίου 2028 οι ‘Έλληνες και οι Αυστραλοί να γιορτάσουν μαζί τη 200η επέτειος της ίδρυσης του νεοελληνικού κράτους και τη 240η επέτειος της αυγής στην Αυστραλία του Δυτικού πολιτισμού (που ξεκίνησε από την Ελλάδα).
On Friday December 12 (2025) the Steering Committee (of which I am a member) of the Aegina Active Citizens’ Association rejected my proposal for projection with the support of the Aegina Women’s Association but in the name of the Aegina Active Citizens’ Association, and prior to the annual celebrations in Aegina of the founding on 26th January 1828 of the modern Greek state, of a brief video https://youtu.be/V6GD_RrP02o
exposing the coincidental fact that 26th January is also the date when Western civilization came to Australia in the form of a British penal colony in what is now Sydney. As Australia’s national day the appropriateness of 26th January is now disputed, but in a manner which the majority of Australians clearly find degrading and insulting. In Greece, 26th January, the date when modern Greece’s assassinated first governor was sworn in and the modern Greek state established in 1828, is not officially recognized as a national day except, after years of lobbying by Capodistrias adherents and Aeginetans, it was recognized by presidential decree, as a national day “of local significance”.
The steering committee questioned the relevance in Aegina of references to Australia and was not convinced by the argument that the current relentless campaign of the Zionist Federation of Australia to silence and financially destroy the well-known Greek Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis (for twenty years the heart and soul of Greek-language broadcasting in Sydney) should be opposed actively from Aegina. Given that on the day of the steering committee meeting the Association was also being petitioned by local pro-Palestinian activists to protest the Aegina municipal council’s refusal to allow a local school to host a meeting in solidarity with opponents of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, it seemed appropriate that the Mary Kostakidis issue should be brought to the attention of these activists.
Here is correspondence with the organizer of the pro-Palestinian meeting in Aegina:
Dear Laia,
Apart from the answer I gave you as a member of the steering committee of the Active Citizens, which I endorse, I would like to add a few personal comments as an anti-status-quo activist. It would be significant for the well-known Greek-Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis (who was the heart of Greek-language broadcasting in Sydney for twenty years), to be receiving some assistance from activists in Greece, particularly activists who are in solidarity with Palestinians.
This campaign, which is being waged by a far-right-wing Australian, should be handled by progressive people and be known to progressive people everywhere.
This is not happening.
We are not doing well.
I plan to come to your function tomorrow, and I agree that it should be taking place at the first primary school.
W.H.
On 2025-12-12 07:38, Stratos Pantavos (deputy president of the Association) wrote:
Dear Laia,
We agree with your problematic.
We believe that the citizens of Aegina should be able to express their views in a democratic manner. We suggest that you should be presenting your views to all the associations of Aegina, and particularly those that have taken up the issue of the Health Centre so that a united protest movement can emerge with greater range and depth.
W.H. continues
Colleagues I participated in the function organized by Laia and her group on the subject of Palestine. I distributed information about Mary Kostakidis in Australia. I also spoke briefly about her but the audience was impatient to continue with their program and I wasn’t able to say everything I wanted to say. However, at the end Laia spoke of the request she had made to the Active Citizens’ Association and read the text she had sent us. I was obliged to ask Laia to read our collective reply to the meeting. She did not have the text with her, and neither did I. But she recounted from memory the substance of the message she had received from us. What she said was not significantly different from what Stratos had written.
So there it is.
W.
P.S. The shy young woman in Muslim attire that can be seen in the photograph reproduced in the Greek newspaper Kathimerini is an Australian politician in the country’s Senate. In the original video coverage she speaks quite loudly and vehemently in a broad Australian accent which seems ill-suited with her clothing (she is not, like Senator Hanson, engaged in theatre. How many women dressed in that way speak like that in public to an uncomfortable audience?). I think we would not like to see such scenes in the Greek parliament and would not like to see an entire legislative body reacting in such an intimidated, awkward and unworthy manner to the incident provoked by Senator Hanson’s play acting.
We are writing with an urgent update on our campaign supporting journalist Mary Kostakidis. The Federal Court case brought against her is projected by her legal team to cost up to millions of dollars, and we need your help to reach 10,000 signatures on our open letter calling on the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) and its CEO to discontinue the proceedings. Can you share the open letter with three friends?
Mary is facing Federal Court proceedings over two posts she shared on X/Twitter about Gaza, which the ZFA alleges contravene section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). Mary’s supporters are deeply concerned that she has been targeted for her criticism of the conduct of the State of Israel, in a way they say that risks sending a chilling message to anyone expressing political views online.
“Anybody on Twitter or Facebook could be standing shocked before a Federal Court, going through all of the Facebook posts you’ve ever made to see whether they give context to a claim,” Mary’s lawyer Mark Davis has cautioned.
Due to the volume of material in dispute, commentators have noted that the Court may be asked to adjudicate on highly contentious issues, including: whether Hamas or Israel seeks the destruction of the other, to what degree Hezbollah is to be regarded as a terrorist organisation or a resistance movement, which accounts of the 7 October attacks are accurate, and whether alleged attacks on synagogues in Australia were motivated by antisemitism.
Mary’s legal team filed her defence in the Federal Court last week, and a case management hearing is expected to take place on 18 December, at which the Court is likely to set the timetable for the trial.
This case has the potential to set a far‑reaching precedent for how section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act applies to political commentary and journalism, with serious implications for freedom of expression in Australia.
That’s why we are asking for your help to reach 10,000 signatures on our open letter before the next hearing in December.
Can you share the open letter on social media?
Comment from WH :
Some Artificial Intelligence insights on Palestinian Christians and the Palestinian Authority. halva.proboards.com/thread/1084/palestine (The corruption issue on the Palestinian Authority was mentioned by a speaker at Laia’s meeting.)
With the approach of the season of the functions in Aegina, Greece, in honour of modern Greece’s assassinated first leader Ioannis Capodistrias,
the time comes for proposing that on 26th January 2028 Greeks and Australians should together celebrate the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the modern Greek state and the 240th anniversary of the dawn, in Australia, of Western civilization, which emerged in Greece.
In the 21st century Western civilization is important as a basic element in civilization more generally.
