THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN The oldest circulating Greek newspaper outside VEMA Greece MARCH 2015 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 E-mail: [email protected] DIGITAL MOSAIC Where the AncientDISCIPLINE Faith + IN 21st THE century HOME media merge SPEAKPAGE 16/34 Doxology Service for the commencement GREEK of the new academic year of St Andrew’s Theological College PAGE 3/21 IN MARCH The campaign kicked off to an impressive start Official Opening of the S.A. Greek Welfare The “Speak Greek in March” campaign kicked off to an impressive start on Sunday, Centre’s new premises March 1 in Aus tralia. The campaign aims to raise awareness among Greek Diaspora Amidst an air of excitement, His Grace Bish- members on the issue of Greek language which is slowly losing ground in the country. op Nikandros of Dorylaeon of ficially blessed and opened the South Aus tralian Greek Wel- FULL STORY ON PAGE 2/20 fare Centre’s new premises on Henley Beach Road, Torrensville, on 17 February 2015. PAGE 10/28 FIVE REASONS TO GO TO GREECE THIS SUMMER! 1 A guided tour has been worked out for you 5 Join travellers who are already booking from between June 4-20, 2015, so y ou don’t have to Melbourne, Perth, Cairns and from anywhere in think of or ganising your flight with Emir ates, Australia, with the choice of s taying overseas restaurants or hotels for 2 whole weeks. for up to 6 months on the same ticket. 2 Combine travel with spirituality and e duca- For a c opy of the brochure via emai l, or f or tion as you follow the Journe y of St P aul and further information, contact: visit Classical Greek sites with pr ofessional guides to explain everything in English. TRAVEL [email protected] Diapontia Islands 3 Commence the itinerary with a blessing for or phone Katrina Maggs the group from His All Holiness Ecumenical Pa- This group northwest of Corfu, wher e Ca- on 03 8488 9696 lypso is said t o have imprisoned Odysseus, triarch Bartholomew. provides the perf ect place t o recharge your batteries. 4 This is 4-star quality. But you must be quick! PAGE 20/38 MARCH 2015 2/20 TO BHMA The Greek Australian VEMA Speak Greek in March kicks off to a great start The “Speak Greek in March” campaign braced by Greek-Australians across the kicked off to an impressive start on Sun- globe. day, March 1 in Australia. The campaign “I would like to congratulate you for aims to raise awareness among Greek Di- your collective, multifaceted action to aspora members on the issue of Greek further strengthen and support the language which is slowly losing ground in Greek language in Australia, especially the country. According to the organising on the occasion of the national celebra- committee their goal is not for Greek- tions of March, a month during which we Australians to speak the language only in celebrate our national independence. March, but always. ”I am sure that the initiative ‘Speak The first steps were really encouraging. Greek in March,’ launched by you who Facebook was flooded with “We speak actively and dynamically represent Hel- Greek” posts, while second and third lenism in the multicultural country of generation Greek-Australians made a Australia, will have great success,” the great effort to speak the language during Greek Minister said in his message. several Diaspora events, in church, as Furthermore, he added that it will also well as in the stadium. work as an example for Greeks in other The campaign aims to encourage and continents who wish to increase Greek provide opportunities for families of language use, especially in younger gen- Greek origin to start using the Greek lan- erations. This will help spread the lan- guage as much as possible under every- themselves during the weekend, while their lives thus creating the right condi- guage in local communities and cele- day life circumstances: at home, at children are encouraged to play Greek tions for the use of Greek in real commu- brate the significance of Greek culture school, in the market or social gather- games such as “mila” (apples) which re- nication situations. and Greek education over time. ings. For example the organising commit- sembles dodge ball. Meanwhile Greek Foreign Minister “You make us very proud with this ini- tee proposed that Greek-Australians All families and individuals are also en- Nikos Kotzias congratulated the Greek tiative. I wholeheartedly wish you every should greet each other in Greek, listen couraged to use their imagination and in- Diaspora of Australia for its initiative success in your endeavor,” he said, to Greek songs, or watch Greek films. spiration to think of other ways they can “Speak Greek in March.” The Minister is adding that Greece will support the ini- Families could speak in Greek amongst incorporate the Greek language into confident that the campaign will be em- tiative in any way possible. Art collector Ion Vorres passes away Acclaimed art collector Ion Vorres died earlier this month at the age of 91, leaving behind the chief oeuvre of his life, the Vorres Museum in Paiania, eastern Attica. A native of Messinia in the southern Peloponnese, Vorres fought in World War II with the OSS American intelligence agency. He later gained Canadian citizenship af- ter studying at the University of Toronto. In Canada, he worked as a journalist and columnist, mainly promoting Greek culture and heritage. He organized his first exhi- bition in Toronto in 1955 and opened the Vorres Museum in 1983 with a 6,000-item collection covering 4,000 years of Greek history. Vorres was awarded the Order of Canada in 2009 and bestowed the Greek title of Grand Commander of the Order of Honor in 2014. A Greek among the richest of Australia Only one Greek businessman managed to be included in the list of the richest people in Australia for 2015, issued by Forbes. Overall, the 50 richest people in Australia have total assets amounting to 89.3 billion dollars. The richest is Gina Rinehart, which is engaged in mining and her property reaches 11.7 billion dollars. On the 46th place of the list is Con Makris (pictured). He is the richest Greek of Australia for yet another year. His fortune is estimated at 640 million dollars. Con Makris emigrated from Greece in the early 1960s. He settled in Adelaide where his sister lived and worked at a series of jobs in retail. He built up a chain of chicken shops across South Australia and Victoria which he sold in the 1980s to fund the purchase of his first shopping centre. He now controls a portfolio worth more than $800 million, much of it in South Australia although his focus is shifting to the Gold Coast. MARCH 2015 The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/21 The Americans, ISIS, Iran and Tsipras By Antonis Karakousis - Kathimerini, Athens Their army is systematically preparing to take back ports will be lifted, which will further strengthen Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein, and Mosul. Tehran’s position in the international oil market, There are many who have wondered about the ma- In other words, Tehran’s generals and fighting forces which is currently dominated by the sheikhs of jor American interest and many comments in favor of are going to fight the hordes of al-Baghdadi and the Riyadh. the new left-wing government in Greece. Really, what blood-thirsty Jihadi John on the ground. As it would seem, the diplomatic puzzle in the re- was the purpose of the trips of American financial of- The Americans essentially came to the conclusion gion is becoming increasingly complicated and the ficers to Athens and the constant Presidential inter- that only the Iranians can assume the operation to Americans are in jeopardy of losing powerful allies in ventions in Europe for the Greek case? destroy the Islamic State and agreed, obviously with the area in their effort to tackle the revival of the Some attribute the American interest to the con- something in exchange, to give them the ability to at- harshest and most primitive version of Islam. cerns for the Eurozone and the effect a potential tempt the aforementioned counter-attack against the They are, however, aware that they do not have crack or fragmentation may have on the global and by jihadists. The question is whether the choice of the many options. They do not have the capabilities they extension the American economy. Others believe that Americans provoked other important allies of theirs once had. Washington admits that the CIA does not the constant conflict with Germany in recent years in the greater Middle E ast. The Israelis directly op- have operators in the area and the US Army is not over the observed economic policy in Europe is moti- pose the new role of Tehran in the region. They treat willing to undertake ground operations against the Is- vating the Americans. them as enemies, fearing that in exchange for fighting lamic State due to the financial, human and political The Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras himself attributed ISIS, Iran will be allowed to continue with its nuclear cost. As such, it is looking everywhere for alliances. the US interest in the geopolitical position of Greece program. In a way the Greek problem is related in this com- and the dangers of a potential financial and political This in turn will strengthen Hezbollah, which is plicated geopolitical environment. The Americans destabilization of our country for the entire region.