Egypt Conference: Parthenon Marbles Among Priorities for Repatriation of Looted Cultural Treasures

Stolen Parthenon Treasures

Source: ANA-MPA.gr

Twenty-six countries, among them Greece, have joined forces in a coordinated campaign for the return of their stolen antiquities, during an international conference in Cairo this week on recovering stolen ancient artefacts from abroad attended by antiquities officials, deputy culture ministers and museum directors.

The first step of the initiative is to draft a catalogue containing the priority stolen antiquities that the countries are demanding be repatriated, while the conference delegates also discussed proposals and recommendations that will be submitted to United Nations' cultural body, UNESCO, aiming at amendment of a 1970 convention banning the ownership or export of stolen antiquities acquired after that date in order to facilitate the repatriation of the antiquities to their countries of origin.

Seven delegate countries -- Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Libya, Nigeria, Peru and Syria -- of the 22 countries in attendance at the Cairo conference, have already submitted their lists with the antiquities designated as "top priority" they seek to be returned, while the remaining countries have a month to submit their own lists, according to Egypt's antiquities chief Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

For Greece, the priority continues to be the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, which it has been campaigning for over the past 30 years.

Announcing the expanded campaign at a joint press conference with the officials from the US, Greece and Italy, Hawass noted that "Greece was fighting alone, and Italy was fighting alone", but "now, for the first time, we are united...we will fight together".

Greece's representative Elena Korka, who heads the country's cultural heritage protection directorate, told reporters that the Cairo conference "shows the importance many countries place on this matter and enables us to join forces".

Source: ANA-MPA

Greek PM George Papandreou in Washington: If I Had a Euro For Every Time Outside Observers Have Underestimated Greece’s Determination Our Fiscal Problems Would Be Solved.

Rising to the Challenge of Change: Greece, Europe and the United States



In his address at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Monday March 8, 2010, a day before his meeting at the White House with US President Barack Obama, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou spoke extensively on the ongoing deficit and economic crisis plaguing Greece. Referring to the austerity measures taken by Greece last week to cut back the double-digit budget deficit and restrict a ballooning public debt he said

   

    "To restore confidence in our country and stability to our economy, we pledged to bring the 12.7 percent deficit down to 8 percent this year, and to EU-mandated levels of 3 percent by 2012 ... To meet those targets, the (Greek) Parliament has adopted the toughest austerity measures in Greece's modern history ...



Nobody should underestimate our determination to overcome our current challenges.



The truth is, if I had a Euro for every time outside observers have underestimated Greece’s determination—well, our fiscal problems would be solved.



A decade ago, when I launched the process of Greek-Turkish rapprochement as Foreign Minister, everyone said it was doomed to failure; but our countries are closer than they have been in centuries—and there is no better symbol of that than the fact that my good friend Kemal Dervis is moderating this discussion.



I look forward to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Athens in the coming months. I believe we can make new breakthroughs in our relationship and become a symbol of stability in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.



Prior to the Athens Olympics, so many voices said Greece would fail—but we pulled off one of the most secure and successful Games in history.



Today we will be using this legacy to revamp Athens and our public administration.



And so we will overcome this new challenge.



And we will do it with the cooperation of our partners in Europe and America who have stood with us on so many vital tests.



For this new crisis is a moment of great opportunity—for Greece, the chance to modernize and revitalize its governance and development model.



For Europe, a chance to become more fully integrated. And for the world, this is the moment to move toward greater democratic cooperation at a time when, once again, the global power of poorly regulated markets is proving dangerous for us all. Yet well-regulated markets can truly lift our people to new heights.



At its heart, our very modern global economy faces a very ancient challenge. 



Before the advent of democracy, Greece’s city-states were ruled by rich and ruthless oligarchs who belonged to powerful, interrelated clans—not altogether unlike the mergers between powerful financial institutions that dominate today’s global market.



Plato made a critical remark about a system controlled by the vested interests of a minority elite: And he characterized such a system as one where " 'just' or 'right' means nothing but what is in the interest of the stronger party."



We have a shared responsibility to create rules and institutions that can provide a more satisfying and sustainable answer.



So let me take you to the Parthenon as I finish my speech.



If one stands by the Parthenon and looks down on Athens, you will not only see the new Acropolis Museum waiting for the return of the Parthenon marbles.



To the other side, you will see the ancient market, or 'agora' in Greek. Agora in Greek has two meanings. It means marketplace, but it also means public speaking. A place of politics.

The market is and must be part of the realm of our political decisions.



If you look over to a hill on the other side you will see the Pnyx. 



There each and every citizen could stand on a rock, speak and be heard. Politics in ancient Athens was participative. Everyone had the power to be heard.



So we must use the new means we have in our globalized society to empower our citizens and give them a real voice in politics.



As you look towards the sea, you will see islands of the Aegean. 



In ancient Greece, every island was a country unto itself. A city state. Yet they all were aligned to a common purpose: the protection of democracy and common values.

So let us see our countries as a vast sea of diverse islands linked by a common set of values.

This is what Europe is striving to be.

 

The ancient philosopher Isocrates said: 'being Greek is partaking in Greek education.'



Meaning sharing in our common values.



Greece has long been America’s partner in values and in history.



We are determined to be an ever-stronger partner for the US in world affairs—in commerce, in culture, in security.



Now, I ask you to stand with us and work with us again—as we each confront our own challenges of change, and as we work together to realize our shared interest in a strong Europe and a sound global economic system. "



You can read the full text of PM George Papandreou's Address  Click Here



or watch the video

Global Greek Issues: Macedonia - What Do YOU Think? Is it Time for Greece to take a Different Kind of Initiative? VOTE NOW!

Source: received by email - designer not known

Alexander the Great has been a feature of Greek coins and notes for a very, very long time, long before the establishment of FYROM and indeed it's unfounded claims, historically, that it's inhabitants are the direct descendants of one of our most glorious Global Greeks!

Alexander the Great lifetime tetradrachm from Amphipolis, Macedonia, c. 336-326 BC

Is it time Greece took matters into it's own hands and went on the offensive?

We at Global Greek World, think enough is enough!



Let's set the cat amongst the pigeons!



The European Central Bank tells us the following:  



Once a year, each country in the euro area may issue a €2 commemorative coin.

These coins have the same features and properties and the same common side as normal €2 coins. What makes them different is their commemorative design on the national side. Only the €2 denomination can be used for commemorative coins.





They are legal tender throughout the euro area. That means they can be used – and must be accepted – just like any other euro coin.

Most of these coins commemorate the anniversaries of historical events or draw attention to current events of historic importance.

The very first €2 commemorative coin was issued in 2004 by Greece to commemorate the Olympic Games in Athens...   

We think the time is right, and ripe, for Greece to make a move and issue a  commemorative 2 euro coin in honour of this great Hellene.



After all, we have had Alexander the Great on our coins and notes for hundreds of years, why not now? What is stopping us?

What do you think? 



Cast your vote in the sidebar POLL or leave a comment... we're interested in your opinion!

To read more about Alexander the Great depicted on coins and notes throughout the course of Hellenic history from "Numis: Coins and Collecting"   Click here

To read more about the issue on the internet, in Greek  Click here

Global Greek Issues: "Claiming Macedonia" a Very Interesting Book by George C. Papavizas

"Claiming Macedonia" : The Struggle for the Heritage, Territory and Name of the Historic Hellenic Land,

1862-2004.  

                 
By : George C. Papavizas
Published by: McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

When I was thirteen years old I asked my grandfather Constantine why he had joined the Greek andartes (freedom fighters) in 1904 and fought for four years in Macedonia against the armed Slavic bands (komitadjides, committee men) of the clandestine Bulgarian Komitet "Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization" (IMRO, Vatreshna Makedonska Revolutionna Organizadja). Still under the Ottomans in the early 1900s, western Macedonia and Krimini, the small village with its four hundred Greek-speaking inhabitants where I was born, were in the forefront of the so-called Mace­donian Struggle (Makedonikos Agonas that lasted four years. Looking at me straight in the eyes for a long time in silence, twirling his long moustache, his sixty-year-old weather-beaten face furrowed in deep pain because of the distortion of historical facts on Macedonia emanating from the Slavic north, he said softly with tears in his eyes: 

"To make certain that after the Turks, our Macedonia remains Hellenic and my children and grandchildren enjoy freedom as Hellinomakedones" (Greek Macedonians).

Always with a permanent genteel expression evincing compassion and understanding, Kotas, as he was known among his friends and relatives, was a man of genuine affability and modest demeanor, underlined by a powerful mix of genuine Hellenic Macedonian values and an unusually strong commitment to family and the Greek Orthodox Church. Represent­ing an exclusive group of brave men with a tenacious belief in Macedon­ian Hellenism, Kotas, my hero grandfather, had no bigotry, hate, or chauvinism in his heart. What, then, motivated the prudent and peaceful man to become a guerrilla fighter for Macedonian Hellenism when even the official Greek government kept a cautious and ambivalent approach to the Macedonian problem and a safe distance from the Macedonian Strug­gle in the early years? Only an intense, innate passion for Macedonian Hel­lenism's fate and a distaste for history's distortion could incite him to leave his family for four years for the undeclared vicious guerrilla fight against the Turks and Bulgarians. He died of pneumonia at sixty, leaving behind an deep feeling of patriotism for all and an indelible, life-long Hellenic Macedonian legacy that has had a major impact on me, his first grandson.

Sixty years later I was at my son's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Before I sat down, my eight-year-old grandson, Aidan, ran to me and bran­dished the Scholastic Atlas of the World, published by Miles Kelly Publish­ing Ltd. in Great Bardfield, Essex. He proudly demonstrated his geography skills by naming several countries around the world without reading the names, leaving his best for the end, the map of Greece. He looked at it for a few seconds, placed his finger on the word "Macedonia," looked at me with his intelligent blue eyes, and said: 





"Here, Papou [Grandfather]; I know where Macedonia is, where you were born."  





Suddenly, he looked at me again and said, disappointed, 





"But - you told me you were born in Macedonia, Greece." .... 

 

To read more from George Papavizas' introduction and find out more about the very valuable background to this book, Click Here



To buy the book from Amazon, Click Here 

Global Greek Issues - Greece's Ban on Smoking...153 Years Later

So you thought that a ban on smoking in public places in Greece was something new?Well, we have news for you!!! On the 31st of July 1856, yes, 1856, you read correctly, a Royal decree signed by Queen Amalia in the name of the King of the Hellenes, Otto, was issued, banning smoking in all public places, offices and stores, according to an email we received recently from Liz P, Greece. Thanks for passing it on, Liz!For those of our readers that can read Greek, this is a copy of the decree...Most of us can safely hypothesize as to the fate of that law, otherwise Greece would now have the best record in the world as far as non-smoking laws are concerned, rather than almost the worst.Hopefully, the current no-smoking law brought in from 1st of June, 2009 has a better fate!According to reports so far, things are going well, far better than expected. Most people like the fact that when they go out, to the bouzoukia and clubs , they don't come home smelling as if they have had the contents of the ashtrays emptied into their hair and that their clothes don't have to be aired for days so that the odour of stale smoke can disappear...Go Greece!!! Welcome to a new era :)Share your experiences with us...What do you think? Will this last? Have you seen it enforced where you are?