21st century Italy and the remanence of its indigenous heritage

“I am from Sicily, in other words from Magna Graecia and there still exists a lot of Greece in Sicily…I am of the same Hellenic heritage, even if from another place. Yes, don’t be surprised. My family name is Pirangellos. The Pirandello is the phonetic alteration of it, Pirangello-Pirandello…” 

Luigi Pirandello to Kostas Ouranis --“Nea Estia” No. 191, December 1934, Kostas Ouranis Foundation, Athens, Greece www.idrimaurani.gr/

 

The Risorgimento, known to English Speakers as the Italian Unification, was a movement, which some argue was simply a Tuscan colonization of the Apennine Peninsula, resulting in the creation of the modern nation-state of Italy. However, what many fail to realize is that the Risorgimento also represents the final fall of the Frankokratia in the Hellenic World. For those that do not know what the Frankokratia was, it is a term used to refer to a period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204). When, Western European nobles occupied the Greek-Speaking Eastern Roman Empire, and established various Crusader states in its place. This was in part brought about with the signing of the Partitio terrarium imperii Romaniae ^[1] treaty after the sack of Constantinople.

Greece and the Right to Revolution

Editor’s Note: This article and its proposals are a direct response to the recent video produced by former SYRIZA candidate for the A’ Section of Athens Ifikratis Amyras in the May 6 elections. In his video, the former candidate laid out his plan for Revolutionary War. 

10 Ways to get the Greek Economy back on track – An initial Road map to a true patriotic recovery

As the Greek Crisis worsens and political instability threatens to destabilize Greek society, the average Greek must come to the realization that, “if I do not do something, no one will”! Greeks cannot look to the corrupt, political parties that caused the crisis for salvation. It is up to the Greek people to force change and establish a road map to a true patriotic recovery if Greek society is to survive and thrive. To accomplish this Greeks need to shed themselves of old political allegiances and come together as one.

Below are 10 initial actions that must occur in order to save Greece. Although these actions alone cannot entirely fix the nation’s problems, they would put Greece in a much better position in the long term.

Living on the Cusp: 2012, the year of Global Revolution

There has been much speculation and debate over what has come to be known as the 2012 phenomenon. Many theories center on the end of the Mayan Calendar and a looming cataclysmic event. Others prefer to subscribe to the belief that the year will mark the beginning of a physical or perhaps spiritual ‘transformation’ of the earth and its inhabitants ^[1]. For those that tend to think in the latter, there is no imminent doom, but rather a ‘transformation of consciousness’ that is somehow connected to the coming Galactic alignment in 2012 and the end of the astrological Age of Pisces.

For those unfamiliar with Astrological Ages, they are astrological time periods. That match with significant developments and changes in human civilization: particularly related to culture, society, and politics. Their beginnings do not coincide with any specific year, century or millennium. Instead, it is a slow process, referred to by many astrologers as ‘the cusp’. It is at this point that many believe we currently stand, between the ages of Pisces and Aquarius, on the brink of a new epoch in human civilization. For anyone who has been watching world events over the past few years, it seems clear that something certainly is on the horizon.

The Tourkokritikoi: Our Muslim Brothers

For Generations, throughout the Balkans and Middle East, religious identity and ethnic identity have been one in the same. For the Greek ethnos, this has resulted in the alienation of many of our ethnic kin based solely on their religious affiliation. However, there are some in the region that have begun to challenge this age old notion. Not Greeks, but Armenians, cementing themselves, yet again, as true trail blazers.  The Hemshin people are ethnic Armenian converts to Islam, which have begun to gain recognition by the Armenian mainstream as their ethnic kin regardless of their religious affiliation. The question I venture to ask now is, perhaps, it is time for Greeks to do the same.

Οι χαμένοι απόγονοι του Ελληνισμού: Οι Έλληνες της Αντιοχείας

Special Thanks to NOCTOC for translating this article into Greek

Για πολλούς στη Δύση η Μέση Ανατολή είναι απλά γνωστή ως «αραβικός κόσμος». Ότι από τη Μεσόγειο Θάλασσα μέχρι τα σύνορα του Ιράν υπάρχει μόνο μία γλώσσα, μία θρησκεία, μία εθνότητα η οποία διαιρείται σε σύγχρονα κράτη. Ότι αυτά τα κράτη δημιουργήθηκαν από τις Μεγάλες Δυνάμεις στο τέλος του Πρώτου Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου, ωστόσο, είναι αυτή η πραγματικότητα; Ποιοι είναι αυτοί οι άνθρωποι που ξέρουμε ως «Άραβες»; Τί ακριβώς είναι αυτό που κάνει έναν άνθρωπο Άραβα; Η αλήθεια είναι ότι ο αραβικός κόσμος αποτελείται από ανθρώπους διαφόρων προελεύσεων καταγωγής, θρησκευτικού υπόβαθρου και ιστορικής ταυτότητας που συσσωρεύονται μαζί ως απλά Άραβες. Όταν κάποιος το συνειδητοποιήσει αυτό, μετά τίθεται το ερώτημα αν η αραβική ταυτότητα είναι στην πραγματικότητα περισσότερο μια γλωσσική, πολιτιστική ή πολιτική ταυτότητα, παρά εθνική ή φυλετική.

Hellenism must established International Congress

Throughout history, Governments-in-exile have been created as a response to occupation, civil war, or when the legitimacy of a government in power comes under fire. The question before the Greek people today is has Greece come to such a point, where the creation of an International Congress of Hellenism must be established to serve as a Government-in-Exile for the Greek Nation. Does the Papademos Government still serve the interests of the people or has the time come to establish such an entity, so as to ensure our nation’s survival? The answer is yes.

The lost descendants of Hellenism: The Antiochian Greeks

To many in the West the Middle East is simply known as the ‘Arab World’. From the Mediterranean Sea to the border of Iran, one language, one religion, one ethnicity divided into modern Nation-States. These states created by the Great Powers at the close of the First World War, however is this reality. Who are these people we know as ‘Arabs’? Just what makes a person an Arab? The truth is that the Arab world is made up of people from various different ancestral origins, religious backgrounds and historic identities lumped together as just simply Arabs. Once one realizes this the question arises to whether Arab Identity is actually more a linguistic, cultural or political identity, rather than an ethnic or racial one.

Crown your Ancestors or bury them: The Struggle to protect the Temple of Aphrodite in Thessaloniki

In an ancient part, of the modern city of Thessaloniki, now a part of the municipality of Thermaikos lays the Square of Antigonidon. Once part of a sacred district of temples, today if one were to drive by the square you would never realize that under the areas urban sprawl and sandwiched in-between modern buildings lays a treasure of enormous significance, a beautiful 6th century temple to the Goddess Aphrodite.

First excavated in 1936, the temple, which is 200 years older than the Parthenon was all but forgotten during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II. It was not until 2000, that fate of this lost treasure resurfaced due to the demolition of a two story building, which rested above the temple. This allowed archaeologists once again to excavate the location. This time having the opportunity to uncover one-third of this forgotten piece of Thessaloniki’s history and thanks to the efforts of those involved, a small fraction of the treasures from this site is now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

Western Hellenism Forgotten: The Italiote and Siciliote

To the average person, the terms Italiote and Siciliote mean exactly nothing, but to those familiar with history, they would be accepted as terms referring to the Pre-Roman Greek speaking inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula and the island of Sicily. However, these two terms are much more. If one takes the time to learn and understand the history of the region, they will come to realize that they refer to a forgotten ethnos that encompass all the native inhabitants of the region. As such, Italiotes and Siciliotes are the indigenous inhabitants of Magna Graecia, who currently makes up the Italianized people of Southern Italy. The ancient region of Magna Graecia was divided by two geographical locations, the southern portion of the Apennine Peninsula, which was referred to as Italia and the island of Sicily. This ethnos today has been incorporated in to the modern Italian identity, as merely Southern Italians. It is this ethnos’ undying urge to reclaim its freedom that attracts Southern Italians to today’s many movements for Southern Italian autonomy.