THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN The oldest circulating Greek newspaper outside Greece email: VEMA [email protected] AUGUST 2002 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 Today... Dormition FEATURE of the Theotokos The sacred Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos marks her repose, which was followed by the trans- The Kytherian lation of her sacred body three days later into heav- en. This feast, therefore, marks her soul being com- Association mended into her Son’s hands and the short sojourn turns 80! of her body in the tomb. PAGE 6/26 PAGE 10/30 ARCHBISHOP RESPONDS Archbishop’s ABC To media mix-up interview Archbishop of Australia, Stylianos, responds view given by him recently to the Athenian PAGE 11/31 to the ‘storm’ created (through the Greek newspaper “Ethnos”. media) following a “much-maligned” inter- PAGE 5/25 TRAVEL NEW COLUMN A moment in Greek Canberra History Australia’s National Capital PAGE 18/38 PAGE 19/39 The Greek Australian VEMA AUGUST 2002 2/22 TO BHMA DID YOU KNOW? In 1894, the president of the Royal Society, Lord Kelvin, predicted that radio had no Today in history future. Today, there are more than one bil- lion radio sets in the world, tuned to more than 33 000 radio stations around the globe. 15 AUGUST 2 SEPTEMBER 1961 - Berlin Wall was built 1945 - Japan surrenders 16 AUGUST 3 SEPTEMBER 1977 - Elvis Presley dies 1935 - Campbell exceeds 300 mph 17 AUGUST 4 SEPTEMBER 1978 - Baloon crosses Atlantic 1972 - Spitz wins 7th Gold Medal 18 AUGUST 5 SEPTEMBER 1227 - Genghis Khan dies 1914 - Battle of the Marne begins 19 AUGUST 6 SEPTEMBER 1812 - Old Ironsides earns name 1972 - Hostages killed in Munich 20 AUGUST 7 SEPTEMBER 1968 - Soviet invasion in Prague 1977- Panama to control Canal 21 AUGUST 8 SEPTEMBER 1961 - Kenyatta freed 1941 - Siege of Leningrad begins 22 AUGUST 1851 - U.S. wins first America’s Cup 9 SEPTEMBER 23 AUGUST 1971 - Riot at Attica Prison 1926 - Valentino dies Popular music icon Elvis Presley died on the 10 SEPTEMBER 16th of August 1977 in Memphis, Tennessee. 1981 - Guernica returned to Spain 24 AUGUST He was 42. 11 SEPTEMBER 79 A.D. - Vesuvius erupts 2001 - Attack on America 25 AUGUST 12 SEPTEMBER 1944 - Paris liberated 29 AUGUST 1977 - Steven Biko dies 1533 - Last Inca Emperor 13 SEPTEMBER 26 AUGUST 30 AUGUST 1993 - Peace Accord 1920 - 19th Amendment adopted 30 B.C. - Cleopatra suicides 14 SEPTEMBER 27 AUGUST 31 AUGUST 1812 - Napoleon enters Moscow 1979 - Mountbatten killed by IRA 1997 - Princess Diana dies 15 SEPTEMBER 28 AUGUST 1 SEPTEMBER 1940 - Battle of Britain 1963 - “I have a dream” speech 1939 - Germany invades Poland Comments Whole truth is the last 2004 is a gateway act for Nov 17 to change Important revelations about the activities of During the second phase of November 17 that The year 2004, that of the Athens Olympics, is Olympic Games. November 17 cells in northern Greece have lasted up until the middle of the 1980s, as the being promoted as a goal in itself, although The real transformation of Athens into a cos- shed light on previously unknown aspects of group became isolated ideologically, politically many also see it as an end: After 2004, what mopolitan metropolis will have to wait until the notorious organization. and even morally from what were theoretically then? after 2004; even so, the Games will be an indi- Evidence that November 17 surveiled police related sectors of the Greek extreme Left, it The focus on major news issues of recent cation of the city’s good intentions in effecting stations, port police bureaus, navy ships and sought support from international terrorist weeks has distracted the public’s attention from a radical change. foreign diplomatic missions support the view groups and secret services. Events in Eastern the very important issues regarding prepara- It is true that its citizens have not really given that the group was preparing to attack major Europe at the end of the 1980s deprived tions and infrastructure for the Olympics. this effort their full backing, a phenomenon that political targets which would have laid the November 17 of its basic support and forced it There have been long delays and in the race could be explained in any number of ways. country open to unprecedented international to degenerate even further. against time, ambitious plans have been Nevertheless, Athens will change considerably pressure. Evidence and testimony on the activ- This time it sought the help of sinister circles in reduced to the absolutely necessary. - in fact its appearance and the way it functions ities of November 17 covers the group’s histo- a new and so far largely unexplored “para- will have been totally transformed by 2010. ry in three stages. state,” which under the banner of ultra-nation- Six years before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, alism and with its powerful connections sought the Chinese have already chosen the architects The Games will take the city to another level of The first, which lasted from the fall of the dic- to exploit November 17 for its own purposes. who will design the Olympic Park and has understanding vis-a-vis the international com- tatorship until the end of the 1970s, could be The degeneration of November 17 was com- already presented the image it wants to culti- munity. When we talk about the Olympics, we referred to as “pure” or “revolutionary” para- pleted during the same period by the black- vate. It is as if Athens had announced as early usually refer to the technical infrastructure and noia. mailing of businessmen and many robberies. as 1998 that Santiago Calatrava was to design tangible benefits, ignoring or underestimating A small group of people from the revolution- the Athens Olympic Stadium. But let us not get the way this will open the city up to the world, ary, Marxist left fringe saw post-dictatorship All transformations preserve a fundamental bogged down in comparisons which lead an effect that will be evident within the network Greece as a delayed version of the French or nucleus. In the case of November 17, this was nowhere. Nevertheless, to all intents and pur- of personal relationships before, during and Italian “May 1968” and turned to the so-called none other than the use of political paranoia as poses, 2004 will lay the foundations for the after the Games, and which will determine the urban guerrilla movement, trying to make a tool in the hands of much more rational cir- future of the city of Athens. For it is worth rec- quality of human interaction. This, and above political capital out of murdering foreign offi- cles who had been trying to keep Greece lag- ognizing that despite its obvious weaknesses all the conviction that Greece is a truly hos- cials or juntist police officers. As was to be ging behind, as a perpetual source of raw mate- and disadvantages regarding infrastructure and pitable country, is perhaps the greatest intangi- expected, any social tolerance of the group’s rial for all kinds of political blackmail. The last human resources, it is also clear that Athens is ble benefit of 2004, but it will become more criminal and politically pointless tactics evapo- act in the drama is none other than the complete part of a broader area, an international network tangible in the years to come. rated very quickly, as Greece acquired a mod- and in-depth revelation of specific roles, from which it can derive experience and draw So there are many signs that Athens will make ern democratic regime under the prime minis- revealing the whole truth, no matter how benefits. a new beginning after 2004. The Games, how- tership of Constantine Karamanlis and was painful it might be for some. The ideological, and above all psychological, ever, will be the gateway. gradually incorporated into the united turn away from navel-gazing and xenophobia European family. KATHIMERINI has been one major benefit of organizing the NIKOS VATOPOULOS AUGUST 2002 The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/23 DID YOU KNOW? Ravens are kept in the Tower of London because, according to myth, the British throne Editorial will come to a fall if the ravens leave the tower. The wings of the ravens are clipped to prevent them from flying away. CLERGY-LAITY CONGRESS IN JANUARY 2003 The highest decision-making body of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is sent to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. to meet from January 26-29, 2003. January 2003 is not that far away, especially when you consider the importance and Held just once every four years, the Clergy-Laity Congress is so named because it brings infrequency of the Congress itself. Further, as Archbishop Stylianos has stated in antici- together the Clergy and lay representatives of every Parish-Community of our pation of this event, “we have every reason to expect blessed fruits from the providence Archdiocese throughout Australia. It also involves the major institutions of the Church, and love of God”. The Archbishop has also personally called on the Clergy and such as St Basil’s Nursing Homes, the Day Schools, Welfare Centres, Ladies’ Auxiliaries Administrative Committees of each local Parish to suggest in writing the most significant and so on. topics that they would like the Congress to deal with, based on their own viewpoint and experience. To illustrate the kind of decisions it can make, it is worth remembering that the estab- lishment of St Andrew’s Theological College was the outcome of the 4th Clergy-Laity The success of the event depends on the active participation of all delegates.