Burocrats gone mad!!!!!!

[hoplite14gr]

On 25th of March its a national holyday in my country in commemoration of the Greek Revolution and the liberation from the Ottoman Empire.
Our club Spartiatikes Mores (re-enacting classical era hoplites) paraded in Piraeus last year as you can se in this photos:
http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh84 ... 5Mart2008/

This year our secretary went to the Prefecture of Piraeus to submit our papers so that we parade again. I total shock we were informed by same nameless civil servant that our application was turned down on the grounds that Ancient Spartans are not related to the Greek Revolution of 1821!

To make it plane: imagine that in the U.S a group re-enacting the 1812 War is turned down because the are not related to the 1776 revolution or in the UK a group re-enacting the Elizabetan Army of 1588 is banned from parading in the armstice day because the are not related to the britdh armed forces of the time.

Are we to think that sacrifices of our ancestors over the time -whatever our heritage-are not related so that all of us can be here?

I consider it a blow to living history worldwide.

Thank you all for enduring my rant

Kind regards

Stefanos

[Matthew Amt]

Good grief, that IS dumb! Heck, *I'm* going to be in a Greek Independence Day commemoration in Baltimore this coming Sunday as a hoplite! At the invitation of John Trikeriotis and a couple of his guys from 300 Spartan Warriors, along with George Marcinek and a couple of *his* guys from their New York group. Usually they have a parade, and I was in it 2 years ago, but this year there's no parade. So we'll do less marching and more standing in front of many people (not a bad deal!).

There's a much bigger parade and event up in New York at some point, too.

Come on over to the US, Stefanos! We still do Greek history even if the Greek government doesn't...

Khaire,

Matthew

PS: Hey, maybe ask them if they'd prefer Turks? Or Persians? Sorry, no, bad idea...

[A_Volpe]

I agree with Matt, Stephanos

Come to the US. We have Pizza and Beer.

:twisted:

[hoplite14gr]

Dear Matt,

You are a true descendant of the U.S. Phillelines who so much aid us in our struggle 188 years before.
Thank you I will print and rub this post down to their faces!

Kind regards

[PMBardunias]

You are a true descendant of the U.S. Phillelines who so much aid us in our struggle 188 years before.

You should just dress one of your guys up like Lord Byron and remind the officials that if hoplites had not conquored the imagination of the western european powers things may have gone very different- especially with the Egyptian invasion.

On second thought, you may not want to reenact what hoplites were doing in Lord Byron's imagination.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Well, as another Byron, I think this stinks!

I am really saddened to hear the the Greek government can be moved by such a
narrow minded attitude. Where is the forward thinking that brought us the Original Democracy?

As to what the hoplites were doing in L. Byrons imagination....who knows....
I thought it was what greek youths were doing in his imagination that was the worrying thing!! hock: :lol:

[Demetrios]

If the local Greeks, the Greek government and church raise so many obstacles on the way of reenactment in Greece, shouldn't we immediately renounce to the Marathon event and bet on another horse ?
I suggest we should contact local authorities in Sicily / Magna Grecia or in Turkish Western coast / Ionia to meet there and reenact something in Syracuse or Miletos.
Never mind if the Greeks are ashamed one more time...

Marseilles will be in 2013 the capital of European Culture. Former Greek western colonies might be more interested than Metropolis itself.
And as an international european event we might be finally much more entitled to obtain public fund help than in Greece.

[jkaler48]

Perhaps the Spartans in full gear could just stand silently in front of this official's office building for a couple of days untill the news media comes with cameras to ask why? Or perhaps this requires a permit from the same offical?

[Idomeneas]

Ok i may sound strange but.. i cant see how an hoplite contigent would fit in a parade for 1821 revolution. Im not in favour of mixing things up like they do in american-greek or australian-greek parades. I understand that abroad they try to present a general view of Greek culture, they dont have many chances to do that. But here i cant see the relation. Its a parade for the specific event of 1821 not general presentation.

On the other hand im extremely in favour of setting certain dates, so that we can honour our ancestors struggles in various events such as reenactement of battles. I would really like school educational visits from reenactment groups and collaborations with museums.

I understand that many people here will be suprised from the reaction of the greek state in various events about antiquity. The explaination is that there are many political complexes torturing Greece. The most of them reside in the political adventures of Greece. Many oppressive regimes used ancient Greek history as a medium to pass down their political doctrines. Offcourse we have many ''allies'' that we can thank for turning Greece into protectorate but its another discussion for another forum. The fact is that there is a part of people that combine love for history with nationalistic and even extreme right wing views. That particular part plays a major role in politics today. As you understand we go from one extreme to another.