The demonic virus loved us very much, and it does not say to leave us, it remains in our lives and surely the road to the pandemic is still long; as the Italian writer and actor said Eduardo de Filippo "The night is not over yet, we have time for dawn."
The economy is slowly collapsing and the next austerity seems inevitable. The Troika will start traveling again and we will look forward to it passing by us too! This painful wait for the financial support of the country will bring us again fatally in mind the following verses from Cavafy's poem "Waiting for the barbarians".
The scene used by the poet is probably fantastic, but the setting submits Rome of decline, observe scholars. However, the tone is not Roman, it is Byzantine, it is Phanariotic, it is the fall of an empire seen from Fanari, observes George Seferis.
And we find out how well the following verses of the poet fit with modern Greece, where a "tristitia temporis" prevails, a dysthymia, which refers to the "awful times" of the Middle Ages.
"What do we expect in the market together?
It is the barbarians to arrive today.
Why such inaction in the Senate?
Why do the senators sit and do not legislate?
Because the barbarians will arrive today.
What laws will the Senate make now?
"The barbarians will legislate when they come."
The people must observe with prudence and prudence the measures imposed by the state, first for austerity, then for the "prohibition", because of the pandemic, and… tubalin.
If he does not observe them, the next verses of Cavafy will follow.
"Why should this concern start all at once?
and confusion. (Faces how serious they became).
Why do the streets and squares empty quickly,
and everyone returns home very pensive?
Because it was night and the barbarians did not come.
And some came from across the border,
and they said that barbarians no longer exist.
And now what will we be born without barbarians.
"These people were a solution."
What is Greece today? It is a country of the European Union, a Union which is trapped in a rigid economic mentality not at all human-centered and completely indifferent to the prerequisite political and cultural dimension of a Union of Peoples. But, if our country has anything to hope for, this is its culture, the only capital that remains in these difficult times.
This is exactly what our unique, unforgettable composer Mikis Theodorakis had emphasized in his article, writing: "Today the problems faced by the ship HELLAS have to do with the Engine Room and Hurricane Turkey. The port, however, to which it should be directed, is Education and Culture τικό there is no cultural vision…
"One day the Engine Room will be repaired, then and only then, the political leadership will discover that the port we have reached will be a dead end lagoon with a unique cultural sound like the roar of frogs."
Besides, the great French politician François Mitterrand had characteristically said: "if I were the Prime Minister of Greece, I would not do anything that does not go through its culture".
The lyrics of Ioannis Polemis in his poem entitled "What is our homeland" teach a lot.
"What is our homeland?" Aren't they the plains?
Aren't the asparagus high mountains?
Is not her sun shining?
Aren't her stars bright?
Do not be each of her shallow beach
and each of its countries with villages?
every island that fades,
every sea, every land?
Do not rush the ruins
ancient monuments of gold uniform,
that art wore and everyone
an immortal glory echoes?
The poet is prophetic in the first three verses. Indeed, plains and mountains, sun and stars certainly remain the property of our homeland. As for the islands and the beaches, which "faintly project" according to the poet, unfortunately, faintly projects today and their future!
Finally, for our ancient monuments, many remain in ruins, despite "immortal glory echoing"! For Greek culture as a whole, contempt is provocative.
It is worth noting that, despite years of fruitless efforts to return the sculptures of the Parthenon, the bag of Aeolus is now being opened, as the Association of Greek Archaeologists points out, with the arrangement for the possibility of long-term export of Museum collections.
After all, the collapse of cultural workers throughout the pandemic is unprecedented, and artists are one step closer to extinction.
In the last stanza, the poet writes in a crescendo of his verses: “All our homeland! And these and those,
and something we have in our hearts
and shines unseen like a ray of sunshine
and cries inside us? Come on guys! "
The slogan for the struggle "forward children" refers to the heroism of the Greeks, the one "we have in our hearts", as the poet writes.
This year, we honored this very heroism of the Greeks, which does not stop with any politics, no pandemic and no austerity, with a world-wide celebration of the 200th anniversary of Greek polygenesis, which moved us and caused us to remember the past and face it accordingly. present and future.
And perhaps his heroism and remembrance is the sweet answer for the souls of all of us in the unprecedented harsh days we experience.
Stella Priovolou
Associate Professor, University of Athens, President of the House of Peers of EKPA, Dean of the Municipal People's University of Agios Paraskevi
