Posted on 11/15/2003 6:03:03 AM PST by veronica
Musician, poet, pro-democracy warrior, custodian of Greek culture. And now hatemonger. Is this a fitting fate for Mikis Theodorakis?
We hope not. An occasional visitor to this city - and recipient of an honourary degree from the Université de Montréal - Theodorakis is held in great esteem by many Canadians, especially those of Greek descent. He is loved as the composer of the music to the film Zorba the Greek and admired for the stance he took in the 1970s against the fascists who had seized power in his homeland.
Alas, Theodorakis has a problem with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. "Today we can say that this small nation is the root of evil, not of good, which means that too much self-importance and too much stubbornness is evil," he told an audience of journalists and officials assembled to congratulate him on a new book. Apparently, Jews follow "shadows" like Abraham while Greeks venerate "great" figures like Pericles.
National figures are entitled to a little chauvinism, but not at the expense of others. Replace "small nation" with "little people" - as some translators have - and Theodorakis's political commentary looks like Nazi rhetoric.
We hope and suspect that Theodorakis did not say that Jews are the root of all evil, as wire stories allege. What he did say, however, was stupid enough.
Yes, and what have they accomplished since the time of Pericles and Aristotle and Aristophanes and all the other great figures of antiquity? Not much. Say the word 'Greek' now, and people think of drunken fraternity boys or anal sex.
'Little people', indeed! Describes the Greeks perfectly.
-ccm
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