[MGSA-L] Σχετ: Fwd: Golden Dawn Abuse of History: Sparta

Wed Jan 7 09:04:45 PST 2015

To James Verinis and others:

Thanks for these notes.  Inter alia it's good to hear about James Verinis'
doctoral research: I'd love to learn more, possibly offlist at
pericles at temple.edu.

This comment:  "the war effectively reduced some villages .. to the
remnants of royalist factions" of course calls to mind Thucydides' grim
remark on the civil strife in Corfu, loosely translated:

ἡ στάσις πολλὴ γενομένη ἐτελεύτησεν ἐς τοῦτο, ὅσα γε κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον
τόνδε· οὐ γὰρ ἔτι ἦν ὑπόλοιπον τῶν ἑτέρων ὅτι καὶ ἀξιόλογον.

After being so great, the stasis came to this, as far as this war was
concerned:  for no oligarchs remained.
In a follow-up note that may not have gone to the full list, Alex Clapp
(whom I do not know) indicates that his voting data initially came from a
Greek demographer, and that he then made an effort to survey support for
Golden Dawn in several villages, finding that support appears to be at the
50% level in some places.  He added that the Golden Dawn enthusiasm is by *no
means universal in Laconia*, apparently lowest in large towns and Kalamata
(hence the overall election results placing XA support in the teens).

Who would be surprised to hear that local issues do not influence these
local decisions?  In any case, what shines through in his and other
contributions is affection for Laconia, a sense of the complex history of
the area (now deepened by the posts below), and regret that XA has
momentarily won some hearts and minds.

Here is a note from a very smart friend originally from Kalamata, who also
has a trained specialist's interest in the topic:

Clapp really deserves a lot of credit for his work and courage.  I have
several friends who have, alas, become more silent or adopted anonymous
bylines as a consequence of XA thuggery and threats.  XA’s ascent is one of
the most tragic, even if predictable, developments in 21st century Europe.
Folks like Clapp and your friends will help others see it for that, and not
some fringe group that exists only at the margins of society.

Very best,

Dan

On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 9:15 AM, james verinis <jverinis at gmail.com> wrote:

> I was glad to have been referred to Clapp's essay. It is admirable work.
> But in generalization about the Peloponnese and Laconia more specifically,
> he was bound to run into conflict. Besides all of the Laconian families I
> know who now consider Albanians and other immigrants as members of their
> own families, I think of my relatives from Arcadia who were in ELAS and EAM
> and I wonder what more eloquent truths Patrick Leigh Fermour would have had
> to say about his adopted homeland in response to the Clapp essay, as Dr.
> Mclerney suggests. I don't think he would so simply conflate it with Golden
> Dawn ideologies, as its representatives would have him do. While America's
> gun problems are certainly rooted in its revolutionary days, to say that
> they are rooted in Texas would certainly be problematic, for example.
>
> James Verinis
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 4:03 PM, Laurie Hart <lhart at haverford.edu> wrote:
>
>> A further comment on Lakonian politics, though not to minimize the
>> significance of any regional GD enthusiasm: Like all of Greece Lakonia is
>> politically complex at the micro level. Before the civil war there were
>> strong village-based syndicalist and communist movements; the war
>> effectively reduced some villages (perhaps especially in the arid eastern
>> mountains) to the remnants of royalist factions. The clip makes no mention
>> of the legacy of the civil war. Mani is depopulated and a considerable
>> portion of its real estate is owned by wealthy foreigners (it would be
>> interesting to know how much). It would not be especially surprising if GD
>> showed a 50% rate (of what total population?) in some locations. The Mani
>> of course is sui generis in most things and is not all of Lakonia. James
>> Verinis's recent doctoral research in the farming periphery of Sparta
>> argues that a certain at least provisional 'native'-immigrant convivencia
>> holds among farming families despite resiliently nativist bureaucratic
>> structures.
>> lh
>>
>>
>> 2014-12-30 6:06 GMT-05:00 Basiliki Ioannidou <
>> basilikimetatroulou at yahoo.gr>:
>>
>>>
>>> Παναγιώτης Κουστένης: Ο εκλογικός κύκλος της ΧΑ,
>>> περιοδικό Αρχειοτάξιο, τχ #16, Νοέμβριος 2014, σελ. 99
>>>
>>> «Πυρηνική κοιτίδα της δύναμης της ΧΑ στη Λακωνία αποτελεί ο Δήμος
>>> Ανατολικής Μάνης με 19,6%, ο δεύτερος ισχυρότερος σε εθνικό επίπεδο (μετά
>>> το Καστελόριζο [Σ.Σ.: Οπου όμως οι συνολικοί εγγεγραμμένοι είναι πολύ
>>> λίγοι]),
>>> με τα ποσοστά της να μεγιστοποιούνται στις 3 δημοτικές ενότητες του
>>> Ακρωτηρίου Ταινάρου (Γύθειο 18,3%, Οίτυλο 24,5% και Ανατολική Μάνη 26,1%,
>>> που συμπίπτουν με τις πρώην επαρχίες Γυθείου και Οιτύλου), το οποίο για μία
>>> ακόμα φορά επιβεβαιώνει ότι λειτουργεί εκλογικά ως ελληνική Βανδέα».
>>>
>>> ΚΙ
>>>
>>>
>>>   Στις 9:31 π.μ. Τρίτη, 30 Δεκεμβρίου 2014, ο/η DANIEL P. Tompkins <
>>> pericles at temple.edu> έγραψε:
>>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>> I think Mr. Gavrilidis' comment,  that  Golden Dawn's "highest score"
>>> was "in Lakonia (15,48%)," requires attention, because it indicates that *84.52%
>>> of Lakonians did not support the party*, and can't be accused of
>>> subscribing to its ideology (which is presented quite vividly on this
>>> video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejm-nmOwW9A> -- to which readers
>>> can supply their own epithets).
>>>
>>> I have looked for, but not found, a village that gave 50% support to
>>> Golden Dawn.  It would be worthwhile to have a source for that particular
>>> claim.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> List-Info: https://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/mgsa-l
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Laurie Kain Hart
>>
>> Edmund and Margiana Stinnes Professor of Global Studies and Professor of
>> Anthropology
>>
>> Haverford College
>>
>> 370 Lancaster Ave., Haverford PA 19041
>>
>> Cell:415 624 7028
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
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