Dusan Sidjanski
Chairman of the Swiss Committee for the Return of the Marbles of the Parthenon .
Today I would like to talk to you about a unique and exceptional personality, about the remarkable and charismatic Man, but also a friend of the Serbian professor Dusan Sidjanski.
Honorary President of the European Cultural Center, he has served as Special Adviser to the former President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso , is Rector, founder of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Geneva and author of many books on the European Union
He had previously served as President of the Latsis Foundation.
However, the position that distinguishes him is the President of the Swiss Commission for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles, he is also the Vice President of the International Commission, while a few years ago he was granted Greek citizenship.
"If he was not an outstanding academic, he could have made a career in cinema, as he is handsome, straightforward, calm and very charming despite being 90 years old. Greeks. " wrote a journalist.
He speaks Greek very well and gives many interviews and lectures in our country in Greek.
I wanted to know how his love for Greece began?
He explained to me that he came to our country for the first time in 1955 for a year, with his first wife who was a Cretan “It was a different world then.
There was poverty. I learned Greek with friends, such as the internationalist Spyros Kalogeropoulos Stratis, the philologist Aikaterini Douka and Giannis Pesmazoglou, and we became founding members of the Greek European movement.
The Serbs feel like brothers to the Greeks. We often fought the same enemies as the Turks and the Nazis. We are orthodox, we are bound by the Balkan destiny that has forged common characteristics that are: the stubbornness of survival, pride, attachment to religion, the consciousness of death, and therefore the love of life. That is why sometimes we party as if there is no tomorrow.
The memory of the war, of the blood that was shed, of the hierarchy that was overthrown has written in us. "As long as we divide the Greek between the European and the Oriental himself, we forget his Balkan stone, which is decisive."
I asked him what describes the current situation in Greece?
« The post-war Greeks lived in unbelievable deprivation. Within a short time, the standard of living rose, the structures changed without institutions.
Then came plastic money, Europe's financial aid, which not only was not used but went into the pockets of some. At the same time the background of growth was problematic, fragile. "There has been corruption that has now become apparent."
Will we be able to balance in this situation?
« The Greeks are very stubborn and know how to survive!
It only worries me that the Greek spirit is heading towards depression, which is very dangerous. But you are dynamic, lively and you have to put stubbornness and optimism ahead to continue to be strong!
"Tourism is the heart of your economy and you have to protect it!"
Dusan-Sidjanski.
Will the European venture survive the crisis?
« The protection of a united Europe is not only its common economic interest, but its intellectual heritage. No matter how much we try to converge politically and economically, if schools do not teach children to think in European terms, while protecting their national culture and history, then it is difficult to achieve anything. France and Germany co-authored the history of World War I and World War II in schools. That's how work is done. "
Can culture help politics or can politics help culture? ;
As for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles?
« Culture for me is not just an artistic creation, it is the cultural heritage of all countries. Culture is philosophy, it is religion, it is the politics of organization, it is behavior, it is science, it's all together.
It is not just music, painting, literature.
I like to talk about democratic culture.
I believe that the Marbles of the Parthenon must return and I defend the return as a European ambition and not as a Greek one.
I agreed with Melina Mercouri on many things, but not on what she said they should return for the Greeks. They must return for the sake of European culture. The return of the Marbles is a European affair.
We can win, but not only through legal means.
We need to create pressure groups, lobby, have more communication, make movies, documentaries, work more with UNESCO. And to make it clear throughout Europe that cultural heritage also concerns the environment. For years we were told that we do not have a museum to place them.
Now there is the magnificent Acropolis Museum.
Campaign for the Parthenon Sculptures
One day before the official opening of the New Acropolis Museum, on June 19, 2009, the highly combative International Commission for the Renewal of the Parthenon Sculptures met on Greek soil and stated that it would not rest if the British did not return to us what rightfully belonged to us. …
With her unshakable argument, which is the new Acropolis Museum, which left those who visited it speechless. Because it is a modern Museum of the 21st century, panoramic, impressive. Made to allow the visitor's mind and emotions to concentrate on the artwork.
The International Commission for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles coordinates the voices of 16 countries so that the wish of years can finally come true.
Representatives from Australia, USA, Belgium, Brazil, France, Sweden, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Serbia, Switzerland, but also Britain, which is directly concerned, signed a contract declaring that they would do everything in their power to achieve historic reunification.
Professor Dusan Sinzanski told me that "This return should not be a matter only for Greece, but for the whole world. After all, the foundations of European culture are Greece, Rome and Christianity.
Personally, my relationship with Greece is a life relationship!
I fell in love with my Greek wife and through her I fell in love with your country.
As President of the Swiss Commission, I am making great efforts for this important project. I will try to mix great personalities of letters and arts. Success can happen in 50 years, when I will not live, as Melina will not live, but we will have succeeded.
"Because if we want a European Union that is truly united, we must also have the symbols united."
But I would like to talk to you about '' Swiss Commission for the Return of Marble of the Parthenon '' in which the NS is the President and in which I am an active Member of the Council.
At each of our Council meetings, Dusan Sijanski guides us with enthusiasm, dynamism and organizational spirit.
NS is a very charismatic speaker who fascinates us with his knowledge, his passion, his energy and optimism, his intense blue gaze as well as his humor. In Geneva you are considered a recognized important figure and the Swiss appreciate him immensely.
We Greeks in Geneva admire him and we are proud to have with us such an important Greek philhellene who honors us and passionately fights for our homeland and its culture!
In 2014, in recognition of his many years of philhellenic action and contribution, he was honored in Geneva with his medal. Brigadier General of the Order of the Phoenix , which was awarded to him by the Ambassador of Greece to Switzerland Mr. Char. Manesis.
I was present at this moving celebration which was attended by representatives of the Authorities, Embassies as well as notable members of the Greek community in Switzerland.
In April 2012 at the Beau Rivage Hotel in Geneva, I made the first major presentation of my book "The Theater of Life". The presentation was organized under the auspices of the Consulate General of Greece in Geneva and the then Consul Nikolaos Bazas. I had the honor to be one of the presenters of the book to be Dusan Sijanski, who impressed and charmed us with his perfect Greek and his literary knowledge.
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Dear readers, I do not hide from you that for me it is a life lesson when I meet people who have many interests, are creative, philosophical and do not give in to difficulties.
These People look like brave Immortals… ..
There are people who even in their 90s have the passion for life, they fight every day for a purpose!
We should all have a purpose and fight for it with passion, with humor and especially with self-sarcasm and optimism, because in this way we will be able to survive better in the difficult moments of life, which have become many now….
Let us cultivate the "Feeling of Happiness" which day by day will help us feel more cheerful.
Let's not forget that the most beautiful trip is what we do with ourselves!
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Dusan Sidjanski
"The return of the marbles
It is a European affair "
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"Because if we want a European Union united,
We must also have the symbols united "
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Book by DUSHAN SIJANSKI
THE FEDERATION OF EUROPE
Papazisis Publications
For 40 years now, NS has been studying European integration, the functioning of European institutions and the action of pressure groups at European level. could be described as a historical document and a necessary tool for those who seriously study European integration.
Description
THE FEDERATION OF EUROPE. To be a European by conviction means to be a Greek by heritage. Europe was born in Ancient Greece, its culture has its roots in ancient thought and state. Socrates and Plato, then Aristotle and Thucydides and many others shaped the archetype of European culture and science. Confederations are the first federal experiences, but their very loose ties, insufficient solidarity, could not resist the power of Rome. This is a warning to the European Union that is reluctant to stand on the threshold of a federal Europe.
