In Greece, the 25th of March is the official anniversary of the National Liberating Revolution of the Greeks against the Ottoman Empire and as such the beginning of the modern existence of the Hellenic State. The saga, as the daring and determination of the Greek/ Hellenic Nation to be independently established in its fatherland which had been under occupation for centuries is often named, is very often the target of criticism and disdain by many so called ‘thinking’ Greeks in nationality who attack the Hellenic Nation whenever historic points of great shining are commemorated.
In particular, Greeks as a Nation are often under criticism, assault and jeering/ disdain because they are found ‘guilty’ of the following:
1. they consider themselves superior to other People/ Nations
2. they are proud and proclaim the virtues of their Nation
3. they consider themselves descendents of their predecessors,
4. they consider their culture better than others
5. they consider their history as being on the average glorious and not dishonourable
6. they like being Greeks and are not ashamed of it.
Before we analyze each point and how it is projected to an almost catatonic level during the week of the anniversary by the assorted mass media, we will look for a moment at the concept of the Nation and the manner of its existence, for any Nation concerned.
Every Nation upon the earth can be defined as follows:
Nation is a multitudinous social group sharing common culture, common socialization and common way of life which is commonly accepted by the members of the Nation as the best for their own special group, fact which by default rejects wholly or partially all the other National socialization trajectories.
What does this mean and why is it valid?
This means that just like in all issues, so in the case of Nations, we are talking about groups and whether one is a member to one of them. Those groups did not just appear suddenly but they evolved through specific social and geopolitical forces which pushed each social group to develop basic behaviors which facilitated or made possible the survival of that group. That is why it is clear and obvious that the culture of each Nation is directly linked to the variables and aspects of daily living pertinent to the area where this Nation evolved (not of the area which this Nation may have at some point conquered).
So, for example, we have special festivities which have to do with the living conditions of the Nation, such as vine harvest celebrations which exist where grapes can be cultivated massively (so that it can become a capital of the Nation) while in other areas there are special festivities heralding the beginning of hunting season, where the hunt is a basic food source for the Nation. Together with these come processes facilitating other aspects of survival of the Nation such as hygiene and the maintenance/ full exploitation of goods. All these processes are wrapped in myths, doctrines, are linked to religion and with any other means that keeps proving why the Nation has opted to follow this process.
In the same logic each Nation, depending on the living conditions with other Nations as well as the needs that present themselves, promotes specific characteristics as the most desirable for the members of this Nation, such as for example being battle ready or rewarding military virtue in general or rewarding abundant production of primary materials or the ensuring of survival to the next generation by having a lot of children.
Many of the above characteristics are common to all Nations since they are staples of ensuring survival of a social group against the adversities of natural and social life.
But how does a Nation ensure that it will be maintained as a social group instead of dispersing over the passage of time?
Primarily by convincing its members that it is a privilege to be a member of the specific Nation to the point that there is no need for these members to seek inclusion to another social group or another Nation.
In order for someone to be member of a group, membership to it must offer him/her the following:
1. pride
2. satisfaction
3. security
4. pleasure
Now, then, it is becoming clear how the concept of the National group works in every person who smilingly announces his/her capacity as English, French, American, Vietnamese, Somalian, Australian, and so on and so forth. Each person is proud to be who they are and feels pleasure when someone displays interest or positivism for his/her Nationality while he/she is offended and angered when someone displays criticism or jeering towards his/her Nationality.
To every Human belonging to a Nationality of the world there is pride for this Nationality, points of great importance that are celebrated as quintessential samples of the characteristics of each Nationality and there are other points upon which each Nationality claims superiority over the rest regarding them. Not one Nationality declares its members as being petty, corrupt and generally Humanity’s embarrassment which should be extinct.
That does not mean that historically, in greater or lesser terms, each Nationality has not fallen in a broad spectrum of errors which includes assorted bad or invalid applications and strategies which sometimes are so grave they touch upon or are at the levels of crimes against Humanity.
Even the way we just stated the above is not accurate because the term Nation includes the whole of the Human dynamic included in the particular group while the manner inn which errors are made and crimes are committed is always through governments and other subgroups included in a Nation but not characterizing it. So, for example, it is wrong to accuse the entire German Nation for the genocides of other Nations and the sum of the crimes against Humanity committed by the particular subgroup which was not accepted by all of the German Nation but was able through political situations to rise to positions of political and military power. We are of course referring to the Nazi, who did not hesitate to kill fellow Nationals so that they would be able to establish themselves, fact which proves the reason why it is not correct to blame Nazi activity to the German Nation. Likewise, we should act and think about the American Nation in the same terms (e.g. regarding the assorted imperialistic wars their government is launching), about the English, the French, the Spanish, the Russian, etc.
Therefore, that which begins to be visible is that Nationality and National teaching gives the ideal image the members of this Nationality should strive to have and should try to manifest either daily or on specific occasions. History does not belong to a Nation per se but rather to each People, which is a subgroup of the Nation or rather the embodiment of each Nation in reality, exactly as a Human should maintain his body in full health but, however, has a medical history of assorted attacks on this health which he has dealt with as best he could given strength and circumstance. The medical history of each Human does not alter or characterize the definition of the healthy body exactly as the history of each People of each Nation does not alter or characterize the ideals of that Nation.
Returning now, armed with this knowledge, to the issue of National pride of the Greeks for which they are so criticized, we clearly see that what the Greeks are doing in relation to the idea they have about their Nation and which is decried in the form of the accusations we listed in the beginning, is exactly what all other Nationals of other Nationalities do for their Nations, and should do.
Why then is the celebration of the 25th of March so irritant that each year ‘serious’ shows are broadcasted where a barrage of decry is unleashed because the Greeks are happy for the Revolution they launched?
It is irritating because part of this anniversary includes celebrating the determination, the force, the cohesion and the valor/ bravery of the Greeks/ Hellenes who dared do something they enforced with stubbornness despite all the other States of the time. It is generally known that around 1821, the great forces of Europe openly and actively undermined and withdrew support of any revolutionary movement, which was the main reason why Ioannis Kapodistrias turned down the offer to lead the Filiki Eteria which was the organizational agent of the Revolution.
Therefore, in order for this attempt not to be one of the several other tries of the Greeks which drowned in blood, there was needed special determination and independence of movements which justifies the pride of the Greeks in that they managed to unite enough to be a common front for quite a few years before the Battle of Navarino which is repetitively mentioned by critics as being the proof why the Greeks do not deserve to be proud of 1821, since the allies won over the Turks for them. This of course is inaccurate, not because the sea battle didn’t happen the way it is reported and with the participants reported but because the undermining and the imposition of foreign powers during the organization of an army which had correctly chosen guerrilla warfare caused weaknesses. That is, the application of the tactics of regular army warfare were grossly unsuited given not only the grounds but also the skills/ knowledge and funds the revolted Hellenic People had, which were much more suited for guerilla warfare and not the English or French strategy imposed and which had developed to cater to other variables.
Therefore, here we have the usual phenomenon of endorsing an event we cannot put down and therefore displaying we support it, thus embezzling the achievements and manipulating those who made them. That is, the revolution we celebrate on the 25th of March was definitive and forceful enough to capsize the pro-imperial/ pro-imperialistic atmosphere in Europe and force the great forces (which had interests in colonialism) to see to the phenomenon so that it wouldn’t take the proportions of an epidemic, which had been what the Filiki Eteria attempted. This is obvious through the lack of support of the Revolution the first two years through official state agencies, i.e. during the time period where it was possible to have the Ottoman Authorities put down the Revolution. Official advances to the revolted Greeks as well as loans (i.e. financial forms of subjugation and forming of dependency relations) take place after the Revolution has displayed that it is viable, effective and aims at creating a State and a Democratic one at that (in deference to the totalitarian regimes of regency/ monarchy of the time).
Therefore, the Greeks are rightfully proud because just as in earlier phases of their long history, they again managed to set their own mark on the chart with their own personality despite all the rest who never wanted the Greeks and were just forced to put up with them. (still this tolerance has been fraught with underminings and efforts to alter the Hellenic National identity through assorted actions like enforcing royal regimes on the Greeks, enforcing rules that were never developed by the Greeks such as obeisance to foreign National models, enforcing an undertoning and abhorrence of the Hellenic National Identity by the Hellenes themselves as well as the identifying of bad behaviors and choices of minority vote governments as general Hellenic consensus and the hiding of Greek achievements daily).
But what is sought by forcing the Greeks (and any other National group receiving the same treatment) to hate and catatonically be ashamed of their Nation?
The first answer based on all we analyzed today is that whoever is ashamed of being part of a social group abandons it. If the Greeks stop being proud of their Nation they will reject it and therefore this Nation will stop existing. Its place will be taken by another formation which will allow any influence, good or bad, to derail the in essence orphaned ex-National Group which will be thirsting for the acquisition of a new National Identity, which, however not having been developed through evolution, at best will be full of drawbacks and at worst will bring about great social unrest.
The reason all this is sought is specific and clear and is not done only where the concept of Nations is concerned, but also with the concept of Religion on several levels.
How this is a part of the general policy of Globalization and the financial and cultural colonialism assaulting not only the Greeks but also other People, why it is accentuated and how it in essence fails both in the case of the Greeks and in the other Peoples where it is active, will be analyzed in depth on Sunday March 29.