After five years of an historic economic crisis coupled with an ill-conceived austerity program there is actually some good news from the Greece, news good enough for even the paper of record to notice.
For me, some of the best news was featured in Thursday's The New York Times, under the headline "In Greece, Elites Are Starting to Feel the Pain." The article contains multiple rays of sunlight for the motherland.
The economic elites who borrowed and bribed their way to the top of Greece's food chain are actually being charged, arrested and prosecuted. Greece has always been burdened by cronyism and corruption but the perpetrators have usually been protected by the country's political elites. That's where the bribes usually came in. The article documents that that may finally be changing.
But that's not all! These guys - literally - are being prosecuted by law enforcement officials whose investigations are not being halted by those same political elites. That kind of political intervention has crippled Greece's institutions, and fostered and furthered the public's cynicism about the state and the notion of justice, fairness and democracy itself. Holding these corrupt economic elites accountable is both fostering a sense of justice among the average Greek citizen AND strengthening the kinds of institutions that a modern democratic state needs to function (institutions like a justice system, public schools, media, civil society to name a few that Americans often take for granted).
But wait - there's more! The chief prosecutors for the state are women - Eleni Raikou and Popi "The Terminator" Papandreou. The more women involved with the Greek state, the better. Men dominate the (corrupt) Greek political class as well as Greece's (crony-capitalism) economy, and the glass ceiling for women is very low. One way to solve both problems - to throw the bums out and clean house, and empower half the nation's population - is to elect more women to political office and hire and promote more women in the private sector, the media and all walks of Greek like.
Another piece of good news appeared in last Sunday's The New York Times Travel Section which named Athens as one of 52 places to visit in 2014. A new contemporary art museum is opening in Greece's - and civilization's - capital and the upbeat taverna and cafe culture has apparently rebounded.
And speaking of rebounds, the third piece of good news came from the NBA. Also on Thursday the Milwaukee Bucks, featuring Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo, sponsored "Greek Night" as they played the Memphis Grizzlies, featuring Greek-Americans Kostas Koufos and Nick Calathes.* In an ironic twist, Antetokounmpo was born in Greece but has
yet to play on the national team but American-born Koufos and Calathes have (Calathes and Antetokounmpo both played professionally in Greece; Koufos replaced Greg Oden at Ohio State; Calathes also played at Florida). The 19-year old Antetokounmpo even starts, but that's mainly due to the woeful nature of Milwaukee's team.
Unfortunately, not every Greek is proud of his accomplishment - or his Hellenism; even though he has the requisite crazy-long Hellenic last name Giannis is a Nigerian-Greek and the son of immigrants.
That fact has prompted the kooks at Golden Dawn (Χριση Αυγή) to denounce a Greek-born, Greek-speaking, Greek flag-waving son of Ellas. They claim that genetics matter more than identity. Of course, the American experience is the best refutation of that dubious claim.
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| Greece's Antetokounmpo on draft night |
As it is with being an American, being Greek or Hellenism itself is NOT about genetics. There is no American gene but we are united by our values, our institutions, and an identity we choose.
Hellenism evolved the same way. Three thousand years ago perhaps there was a purely Greek gene, but from the times of Homer to Alexander the Great to the Byzantine empire to today millions of people CHOSE to become Greek, to speak and read and write and learn in Greek, to identify as Greek. Everyone from St. Paul to Giannis Antetokounmpo have done it. From 2,500 BC to 1453, to today, millions 'became' Greek for the same reason my parents and millions of others moved to the United States - because it's awesome (or the peak of civilization, same thing really).
And now, by being a Greek in America, Antetokounmpo has hit the jackpot!
Zito o Antetokounmpo! Zito H Ellas! Zito H Americi!
* Of course, as one of America's foremost historians on Greeks on the NBA, I have to point out that we have already HAD a Greek night in the association, one that coincidentally also included Memphis (makes sense since "it's the home of Elvis and the ancient Greeks"). In the 2001-20002 season, Greek hoopster Antonis Fotsis started one game in his one year in the league, and it was against the Phoenix Suns. Their starting center was his fellow Hellene Jake Tsakalidis (who played in the NBA for seven years and averaged 5 points a game).
And as a public service, or if you do not believe me, here's the box score. If you click on the link you will see that Fotsis and Tsakalidis each finished with 2 points on 1 for 3 shooting. Tsakalidis played 22 minutes to Antonis' 9, and finished with 4 boards.
It is also interesting to see who else played in that game. Pau Gasol was the starting center for Memphis with Shane Battier at forward. Tsakalidis's fellow Phoenix starters were a veritable Hoops Who's Who; the starting forwards were NC State's Tom Gugliotta and Shawn 'The Matrix" Marion with a back court made up of Penny Hardaway and Stephon Marbury, with Brooklyn's Joe Johnson coming off the bench with Thunder Dan Majerle.
Of course, just to keep things interesting, I will also point out that unlike Antetokounmpo, Tsakalidis was born in the old Soviet Georgia to ethnic Greek parents.
One last Antetokounmpo note. Giannis has been starting at small forward, often alongside Turkey's Ersan Ilyasova. Ilyasova was born in Turkey, but his last name sounds that he could easily come from a family of one-time Greeks, Albanians or Slavs who eventually converted to Islam thus becoming Turkish. Either way, in America a Greek and Turk can hoop it up together in harmony!
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