It is with special joy and honor that I participate in the show for the five-year anniversary of Greek News and Radio FL, and I thank and congratulate its tireless and inspired creator, Ioanna Lazarou.
Publisher, journalist and writer Ioanna has managed to attract a significant number of personalities from all sectors and from all over the world, and together with her worthy collaborators, they offer an important work to the Greek Diaspora. The Sunday Magazine is an invaluable contribution to education and culture, and the online and printed newspaper as well as the radio keep Hellenism alive in the United States. Warm congratulations to everyone!
The contribution of the Greek Diaspora to Hellenism throughout the world moves me, especially since 2000-2004, when as Special Secretary for Diaspora Education and Intercultural Education I came into collaboration with the Greek Diaspora and admired their work and their love for their homeland, which often surpasses that of native Greeks. Their contribution, moreover, extends to various cultural activities. I will refer to two cases: the offer of financial support by the Greek Diaspora in America to the director Yannis Smaragdis for his film “Kapodistrias”, for which the Greek state was provocatively indifferent and refused to provide financial support. The second case is the inspiration of a Greek-American professor in Italy, Yiannis Korinthios, for the establishment of a World Greek Language Day, an effort that took years, which succeeded thanks to the contribution of professors from the Greek-American community, Philip Trevezas from the USA, Anastasios Tamis from Australia and many others.
I believe that our Ioanna would have been very pleased with the love, dedication and recognition from all of us of the selfless and important work she is doing for Hellenism and Hellenic studies, and I am particularly happy about this. Personally, I was impressed by her sensitivity for her collaborators, who are no longer with us, and she mentioned them all by name with great emotion. Her sensitivity, moreover, for her compatriots is expressed in the effort to promote their initiatives and activities through the media she has. And it is this sensitivity that led her to the love and recognition of those who collaborate with her, but also to the success of her goal.
I wish our beloved Ioanna to continue her valuable work for many years and that we too collaborate with "Bouboulina", as our distinguished friend Panagiotis Karafotias aptly described her.
Associate Professor Stella Priovolou, Honorary President of the Body of Emeritus Professors of the National University of Athens, Superintendent of Schools of the Parnassos Philological Association.
