Abalinx 8 March 2018 Peter Adamis.
I am now at a stage in life where I wonder whether to laugh or cry at such childish and anti-social behaviour by elements within our society demonstrating to be taken serious regarding their ethnicity. I grew up in Australia when Australia had a White Australia policy in place and new arrivals were called New Australians. We were expected to learn the English language and to integrate within society given a reasonable amount of time. Furthermore we were expected to embrace the Australian culture, abide by its laws and leave behind the baggage and negative aspects of the old world. A copy of the article can be downloaded by clicking on: ITS ALL DORIC TO ME
At the age of 68 living in Australia for 64 years, I have reflected back upon those early years and yes, I can see that the above conditions to coming to Australia were reasonable. They were not excessive, yes life was very difficult because of the language problem, it took some time to integrate within Australian society, we fought, we laughed, we played sport, we intermarried, went to the Aussie football and barracked for our favourite teams, went to war if called upon, worked hard in the factories, bought our first home, raised the children, went to church and mixed in with our Australian brethren and finally we were ready to become Australian citizens.
I will not hide the fact that were classified as second class citizens in many cases, called, dagos, wogs, spags, greasers and told to go back where we came from. All of these derogatory names were used in order to lower our self-esteem and give rise to our Aussie brethren that they were superior to us. But as we grew and developed we realised that the world was a beautiful place and that if we were to make Australia home we needed to stand up for ourselves and be prepared to put up with the hardship until we became self-sufficient and contributed to the economic security of our new home.
We learnt to speak like the our Aussie mates with a slight accent until eventually that gave way to the Australia slang and twang that is associated with the Australian language. It was not long soon that we became accepted as part of the Australian landscape and we were able to enter any field of employment, no doors were barred and we climbed the social ladder so to speak based upon our ability to create a foundation for ourselves and that of our children. Australians did not envy us, but also learnt that it was possible to learn from each other. Gone was the jingoistic anomalies, the name calling, and the negative profiling; replaced by respect, compassion and acceptance.
We also learnt that if you want to get ahead in this world you had to work hard, be patient, make the right choices, select your friends and companions, share the good times with the negative and lean years and revel in the victories of the Australian Aussie Rules club when it wins a game. Having a weekend BBQ with mates was always on the horizon until Greek and Italians learnt that that having a pizza and a souvlaki BBQ along with the beer and shrimp went well together. One could say that it was a perfect integration of cultures in more ways than one.
Having said all of the above, I have personally never felt more like an Australian than today. I have served this nation by wearing its uniform, contributed to its economic security, abided by its laws, embraced it culture and institutions, call a spade a spade, fight the good fight, support the little Aussie Battler, give a bloke a fair crack of the whip and never kicked a bloke when they were down. Yes they were tough days, but maybe I was one of the fortunate few that despite my own peasant background, I was able to rise and develop in to who I am today. An ordinary bloke.
Raised four Aussie boys alone as a single parent instilling in them the virtues of good manners, commonsense, ethics, laws, and a respect for others. In addition I would like to believe that I prepared them for a future that I knew would be overwhelming for anyone born prior to the fifties. An age where technology would be king of the castle and the children either became knights or the serfs of the castle technology.
But and it’s a big but, as life has often shown me the way that it is not easy raising children as a parent and as such I had only the experiences of my parents and the values they instilled in me to go by. Today parents struggle to raise their children and need all the support society can provide. You can send your children to the best schools, help them develop, instil into them values you found true and surround them with people that can guide them. That is all that a parent can do.
As for my own children, they don’t have to put up with the negative baggage of a bygone era, nor do they carry any negative thoughts about their past. Yes they have been made aware of the family history, where the came from, their origins and of their ancient heritage. However none of this is relevant in today’s society for the children have been raised as Australians proud of their past and hold no grudges towards their fellow man. No hatreds of the past have been embedded into them, no negative histories lingering in the back of their minds and they are certainly not raised as racists.
I have written this because of the recent demonstrations between two communities within our Australian society that are at loggerheads with each other. I may appear biased in my opinions and assumptions; but they are based on hard evidence, historical data, commonsense, logic and a maturity that goes with it. These two communities, one with its origins in Greece and the other with its foundations based on a communist background arising from the ashes of a dismembered nation once called Yugoslavia. Both of these communities arrived on the shores of Australia with the intent of making a news start away from the hostilities of their European background.
The difference between two are many and yet they share some intrinsic values, faith and common living equations that only be described as difficult given their Balkan background. Both claim the rights to an ancient king who lived some thousands of years ago and both have their sights on maintaining their geographical and political goals which unfortunately overlap each other. History in this case is weighed against one nation who have made numerous attempts to hijack and yes kidnap the name for themselves and thus create a false history at their expense of their Southern neighbour.
What has this all to do with being Australian is beyond me and for the life of me I just don’t understand the passion, the violence, the intimidation, the threats, the burning of flags, the racists banners and remarks, the insults and deliberate provocation by a community that their parents made Australia home. I can only assume that the grandparents and parents who arrived in Australia during the early years carried with them the hostilities, the negative baggage, the hatreds and their own brand of ideology, false history and embedded into their children and grandchildren. Yes there were wrongs conducted in the old country, but they were the work of a generation that was struggling to survive, a time when WW2 ad come to an end and a Civil War engulfed a nation, splitting it into two.
I have read the vile propaganda, the hearts string pulling of videos made to appear that one nation struggled against the other, false histories, fake monuments, distribution of literature that was devoid of the truth, of stolen children, of imprisonment, of hunger, famine, no employment, intimidation, threats, changing names, suppression of language and other aspects of society designed to integrate various ethnic groups into one. Those that could not live under those conditions left and migrated to the West, Some to the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and other parts of Europe. Many of these had left wing and communist sympathies or leanings and they brought those ideologies to their new home.
Today those false histories, ideologies and culture that have been passed onto succeeding generations have had a negative effect on those living today. The children of today honestly believe what they have been told because their grandparents passed t onto them and reinforced by their parents that what they have been told is the truth. The intelligent ones who dare to question their grandparents, parent’s histories, paradigms and the literature of a bygone era are consider outcasts and traitors by their community. This is a sad state of affairs as it can happen to anyone who goes against the embedded and inherited false knowledge. It will takes guts and determination to learn the truth and realise that what they have been raised to believe is not true and the foundations of their origins is false.
I will dare to venture outside my comfort zone and state that it’s all Doric to me. I say that because the truth of the matter is that the name “Macedonian” has Doric foundations and that North Greece known as Macedonia is just as Doric as the Peloponnese in South Greece.
For a brief history lesson, Dorian families broke away from North Greece which was then not even called Macedonia and made their way down south settling into Peloponnese and islands. Eventually the Dorians intermingled with the indigenous population and thus became to be identified with the land. The Spartans are one example.
As for those Dorians that remained behind, they were living in the highlands of the backwaters of Northern Greece and were considered Barbarians by the civilised Greek world. Even though they spoke a form of Greek based on the Doric not the attic form of Greek, they were still called barbarians because the lived outside the limits of then then known civilised society. All of this changed with the arrival of King Phillip, the father of Alexander the Great. King Phillip who welded the various Doric tribes together and created a great Army based on the Spartan model their brethren of the South.
Now in Australia we have a society that is based on many different cultures all contributing towards the economic security, maintenance and development of its institutions, creating an infrastructure based on a unique Australian style, a common language with its Aussie accent unknown anywhere else in the world and laws that govern a people under a democratic system. Australia is a place where freedom of choice and freedom of expression is important and the opportunities to grow and build a life free from negative influences and forces whatever they may be. Australia has no place for kindling and fuelling old animosities, no is it a haven for those wishing to carryon past hatreds and reckoning old scores. Australia is a place where a new Australia can if they wish call it home.
My advice to the current generation is to question the paradigms of the past, do your own research, make a name for yourself, and build your own life based on your needs and wants. Be proud of your heritage, ancestors, where you came from but don’t let the past affect you in a negative sense and that you lose sight of reality. If I, as an Australian born in the land of the Spartans in Lakonia Greece can make Australia home, be proud of my past, then why that is others cannot do emulate me. I have never lost sight of who I am or that I have a Greek (Hellenic) heritage. It’s who I am. Australian. Let go of an era that has its roots in hatred, violence and hostilities for that is where they belong, in the past.
As the Doric columns stand as guardians of an ancient past in the many lands that Greek culture was found, I too will do likewise and say: “its all Doric to me”. Remember that we are all the same under the skin and will one day become part of the earth that we once walked upon. Let bygones be bygones and learn to live with one another.
Peter Adamis is a Journalist/Social Media Commentator and writer. He is a retired Australian military serviceman and an Industry organisational & Occupational (OHS) & Training Consultant whose interests are within the parameters of domestic and international political spectrum. He is an avid blogger and contributes to domestic and international community news media outlets as well as to local and Ethnic News. He holds a Bachelor of Adult Learning & Development (Monash), Grad Dip Occupational Health & Safety, (Monash), and Dip. Training & Assessment, Dip Public Administration, and Dip Frontline Management. Website: abalinx.com Contact via Email: [email protected] or via Mobile: 0481 342 791