I cannot really claim I’m supporting the initiative. Persons I am with, such as Bhakdi and some MDs of the club MWGFD (Doctors and Scientists for Health, Freedom and Democracy), support it, so I am ready to do something, if needed. But I still have not understood more than that they want to stress the double meaning they see in ‘reformation’ (as reforming the church and reforming capitalism).
What the reformation yielded in the past 500 years was far less than what people needed. Luther himself was by no means revolutionary, not even progressive – as far as my poor history knowledge goes; I think, he was just defiant. Later, protestant pastors were the first ones to join Hitler and nowadays the ‘vaccination’.
It may be my fault, but I do not really know which demands the initiative has, other than any Merz or Mitsotakis would underline (‘justice’, ‘democracy’, ‘peace’ etc. – the way everyone means it).
Of course, I don’t have the better initiative concept. And the collection of demands (attached, possible red lines in red) I presented to two groups (for deciding, whether they would offer Maria (Karystianou) to cooperate at elections on this basis), would not discuss it: For Omades.gr I was suddenly a betrayer, and “Oliki Epanekkinis” (A comprehensive new start) have been postponing any conversation for several months now.
In other words: I do not care too much about what or whom I like or dislike, I rather try to ask concrete questions – with no success. And I do not know the concrete questions / demands of 31/10.
Aris Christidis
From W.H.
When he was here in Athens with Reiner Fuellmich in 2022 Dr. Bhakdi, like Reiner, said how moved he was to be present in “the cradle of democracy”. When my wife and I are in Athens, we live in a flat that is very close to the Acropolis, in the heart of the Acropolis tourist area, so we are very familiar with the spiraling hordes of “pilgrims” from all over the world, and increasingly from what used to be called “the Third World”, who are swarming to this shrine of democracy at a time when democracy is in shocking disrepute, attacked both by its enemies and by its groupies.
What can one say about this assertion? “In a dictatorship corruption at the top is the norm. In democracy it is generalized.”
It is a belief adhered to, mostly dogmatically, by what “we” (?) call “the right”.” My preference is to present it as a question and a “challenge”.
Some years ago, before the degeneration of the U.S. Democratic Party became so extreme that it was impossible to be associated with it any more, there was a discussion of democracy under the auspices of the now defunct Hellenic American Democratic Association (HELADA) in Athens, informal representative in Greece of U.S. Democratic Party voters (with a small input from more active cadres).
I made the point there that until the nineteenth century what in the twentieth was called socialism went under the name of democracy, with broadly accepted pejorative connotations. But when in the twentieth century positive connotations came to be associated with the term “liberal democracy” there was no corresponding transference that could legitimate the term “liberal socialism”.
Here in Aegina there have been by local standards large demonstrations with two epicenters: on the one hand the ruination of the local health center under the pressures of state level policies of privatization of the health system (these demonstrations have carefully avoided “conspiracy theory” analyses that bring up the 2020 and subsequent “COVID” atrocity [and by extension discussion of Reiner Fuellmich and/or [more recently] Arno van Kessel] and on the other the Tempi railway atrocity and subsequently criminal cover-up. They have been led locally by two women, both teachers – one state sector, the other a private entrepreneur, one a dedicated member of the Greek Communist Party, the other a granite-hard opponent of “party politics” who nevertheless, unless I am mistaken, would like to see Maria Karystianou (the very
high-profile bereaved mother leading the campaign against the Tempi atrocity and cover-up) involved in forming and leading a political party.
These two mobilizations should be collaborating in Aegina, but they are not and I am not confident that they will in future.
Would it be possible for the passage in Herodotus that throws a light on Persian discussions of democracy in antiquity to be brought to the attention of Dr. Bhakdi? The Greek historian Herodotus grew up in the Persian Empire, was evidently rather sympathetic towards Darius and – like the oligarchic elite of the time in Aegina, hostile to the imperialistic Athenian democracy – he presumably sided with Persia during the initial conflict between the Persian Empire and Athens [but not later, when Xerxes took over from Darius].
In my opinion Mrs. Karystianou’s blistering (and effective) attacks on Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis would be improved (through liberation from the reactive mode) if the evocations of democracy were left out. The morality-based petitioning reflex is not persuasive in today’s horrible situation.
If the aspiration is for equality between interlocutors, the would-be divide-and-rule response amounts to a rejection of the other side’s wish to be treated as an equal. And the ultimate perfection of divide-and-rule [and rejection of equality] is political marketing (give them what they want [as long as it is what we also want!]) The saga of the Greek-Australian political analyst Kosmas Samaras is a fascinating case in point. He and his collaborators have turned the Australian Labor Party (a very ‘woke’ Labor Party) into something approaching permanent pseudo-one-party domination of the Australian state of Victoria, and to an increasing extent Australia as a whole, clearly with the encouragement of the Chinese Communist Party, which evidently believes that today’s Chinese system provides better safeguards against corruption than Western “liberal democracy”.
When Yanis Varoufakis founded his pan-European citizens’ movement DiEM25 in Berlin in 2016, what he had in mind has clear similarities with the objectives of today’s Reformation 2.0 reformation-2.eu/
Varoufakis received exhortations at that time that he should be starting his campaign in Greece, and specifically in Aegina, which is one of his places of residence. Did his preference for Germany have anything to do with the fact that the German Federal Republic provided a
refuge for him and his parents’ family at the time that the 1967-74 junta was in power in Greece and social democrats (Brandt, Schmidt) were in office in Western Germany? In any case, as it turned out, it was only in Greece that DiEM25 (and the party that inevitably came to supplement it) acquired any parliamentary representation (albeit temporary).
After the beach meeting that DiEM25 held in Aegina in the summer of 2016, Yanis Varoufakis was invited to speak to HELADA in Athens. His unforgettable answer was (smilingly): “Why should I do that when I can speak on CNN?”
Nowadays he has moved his attention to BRICS.
What now?
Tag: democracy
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Germany and Greece, and specifically Aegina
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Europe Starts From Here
Discussion on Democracy and the European Union between Antigone Lyberaki, Wayne Hall and Christos Kotsireas, recorded 17/12/’13
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European Union: Disintegration or a New Beginning?
An exceptionally successful function was held on 23rd June in the forecourt of the Church of the Saviour in the Capodistrian Orphanage in Aegina. Entitled “Capodistrias – Spinelli today – European Union: Disintegration or a New Beginning”, it was organized by the Aegina Association of Active Citizens with the support of the Municipality of Aegina, providing continuity with past initiatives.
In this moving, historic and captivating milieu in Aegina town, a large audience listened attentively, for two-and-a-half hours, to presentations from Messrs. Panagiotis Paspaliaris, Andreas Koukos and Giulietto Chiesa, then contributing observations and comments and asking questions. The mayor of Aegina, S. Sakkiotis, greeted the meeting, emphasizing the special contribution of the Association of Active Citizens to publicizing the Capodistrian heritage of Aegina, modern Greece’s first capital. He announced that there had been a stepping up of the efforts by the Municipality and the Greek government to promote the maintenance and utilization of our island’s Capodistrian buildings, with the relevant works about to get under way shortly, starting with the Kyverneio, for which tenders have already been called.
Opening the function, Mr. Wayne Hall, the key organizer, referred to previous functions of the Aegina Association of Active Citizens under the same title from 2008 onwards, for the purpose of renewing the references to the pioneering and indeed titanic work of Ioannis Capodistrias in Aegina, in Greece but above all in Europe, linking it to that of the architect of the European Union’s first Constitution, Altiero Spinelli.
Subsequently the historian and writer Panagiotis Paspaliaris gave a brilliant presentation of the creative diplomatic achievements of Ioannis Capodistrias as a functionary, and later Foreign Minister, of Russia before, during and after the 1814 Congress of Vienna, marking the end of the Napoleonic Era and the beginning of reorganization of the European continent. He emphasized, among other things, the lean, uncluttered reforming presence of Capodistrias and its contrast with the wasteful, opulent and scandal-ridden presence of the crowned heads of state and their staff whose aim was to restore the old balance of power over the heads of the peoples of Europe. As he said, an examination of the activity of Greece’s first governor leads to the conclusion that he was the most important reforming diplomat promoting democratic principles throughout the European continent. Capodistrias later put the experience and the connections he acquired at that time in the service of the vision for which he was finally to give his life: the emergence of the Modern Greek State.
The journalist and former European parliamentarian Giulietto Chiesa then developed a powerful problematic concerning today’s crisis in Europe, and particularly in the countries of the South, thanking the Association of Active Citizens for giving him the opportunity to become acquainted with Capodistrias and his activity in Europe, foreshadowing Spinelli’s later work in constructing the foundations of the European Union. He stressed how Europe’s democratic deficit is continually widening, highlighting the dominant, and corrosive, role of the world of finance, and particularly the banks, including the European Central Bank, which is a private institution, in undermining European democracy. He made the observation that today’s crisis of the euro is in fact a crisis of the dollar, a consequence of the sub-primes crisis. He proposed a strengthening of democratic institutions in the European Union and specifically the nationalization of the banks of European Union member states and of the European Central Bank (ECB).
He referred to the case of one trillion euros being made available to European banks by the ECB at 1% interest, capital which the banks use for providing loans to southern European countries at 4% interest, reaping significant profit for themselves.
Summarizing the content of the two previous speakers’ addresses, Andreas Koukos, historian, professor at the Military School and President of the Society for the Study of the Work of Ioannis Capodistrias, mentioned his numerous visits to Aegina in recent years to take part in functions, primarily of the Active Citizens and of the Municipality, for study and transmission of the work the Governor, highlighting Capodistrias’ pioneering role in Europe. He referred to the specific allusion to Capodistrias made by Henry Kissinger in his writings, describing him as Europe’s constitutional referee. He also announced the forthcoming publication by the society of which he is president of important new archival sources on Capodistrias in a number of European countries. Emphasizing the importance of historical archival research and of the archives themselves, A. Koukos reminded the audience of the unique value of the small local Capodistrian archive of Aegina, Greece’s first state archive, and the need to maintain its accessibility.
In the protracted and intense discussion that followed there was much airing of citizens’ profound concern and anxiety in the face of the long-term structural crisis through which we are living and there was a call for the drawing-up of an Aegina declaration for democratization of the European Union in the spirit of Ioannis Capodistrias and Altiero Spinelli. A proposal by the Association of Active Citizens is under discussion with the Municipality for European recognition of the work of Capodistrias and indeed the naming of an official building in Brussels as a tribute to the Governor.
Alexis Krauss
More information on the speakers
