Diaspora and Philhellenes: The catalyst that can effectively lead Greece out of the crisis

Whenever and wherever they can, Greek immigrants attempt to transmit to their children and grandchildren a love for Greece and that previous value of feeling Greek so they too can recognize and accept that some distant ancestors generously provided the eternal radiance of an unsurpassed culture to humanity.

The Greek Diaspora constitutes a crucial component of the Greek nation outside the confines of today’s Greece. This is another Greece that evolves and achieves great things everywhere in the world with its ex-patriot Diaspora Greeks continuing their unending saga that began with the Argonauts in the 4th century BC.

Modern Greek immigrants continue to distinguish themselves by earning honour, prestige, and respect from every country that has welcomed them as their second homeland. Greece, however, remains forever the primary ancestral home for every Greek member of the Diaspora. 

These Diaspora Greeks may have taken root in these lands in order to establish families, and may have developed a respect or even the love of those lands where life’s journey has taken them and made them a second home. However, their first home, Greece, continues to be like the first love of any youth: It is never to be forgotten!

Whenever and wherever they can, Greek immigrants attempt to transmit to their children and grandchildren a love for Greece and that precious value of feeling Greek, so they too can recognize and accept that some distant ancestors generously provided the eternal radiance of an unsurpassed culture to humanity.

However except from Greeks of the Diaspora, there is also a huge wave of Philhellenes that exist throughout the world. Any scholar or theologian on the planet, regardless of ethnicity, religion or colour of his skin, feels an admiration and awe for the unparalleled contributions of Greek culture to the cultures of the world.

The universality of Philhellenism was founded by diachronic intellectual personalities from entire the world that declared their admiration for Greece. Here is a recollection of what many have stated,

Henry Miller: For those who think that Greece today is of no importance, allow me to say that they could not have been more wrong. Modern, just like ancient Greece, has unique importance for everyone who is trying to find himself.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: What the mind and the heart is for a human being, Greece is for humanity.

Helen Adams Keller: If it istrue that the violin is the most perfect of musical instruments, then Greek is the violin of human thought.

Leo Tolstoy: Without Greek studies, there is no education.

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller: Damned Greek, you found everything; philosophy, geometry, physics, astronomy… you left nothing for us.

George Bernard Shaw: If in the library of your house you do not have the works of the ancient Greek writers, then you live in a house with no light.

Victor Hugo: It is great to descent from Greece, the land that gave the light to the world.

Ibn Khaldun: We have to admit that the whole Islam, except the religion, was Greek. Betrayal against the Greeks by the Islamic nations, equals betrayal against their own nature.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: There is no population in the world who have offered so much to humanity as the Greeks and it has been fought so much from so many people who did not offer anything to the humanity.

Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire): Defend Greece, because to them we owe our lights, our sciences and all of our virtues.

When during the first months of 2010 the extent of the economic crisis and the risk of Greece’s economic collapse became widely known throughout the world, Greeks began to be concerned about possible ways to address the crisis that would help the birthplace of Democracy.

The current economic crisis in Greece began several decades earlier. Gradually, the country was in a state of virtual prosperity with additional generous and unlimited lending offered to her by the current lenders, thus Greece took advantage of the natural desire of all nations to prosper economically.

When Greece was first drawn into the mechanisms of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, various “lenders,” began to issue instructions and orders, then coolly and calculatingly planned the looting of the priceless property of the Greeks and the Greek state at bargain prices. Furthermore, the scheme was applied in many countries – those subsequently victimized victims were summarily deprived of whatever were valuable, thus plunging these nations into social misery.

The Greeks, however, have never been easy prey, even when facing the most powerful. They constantly invent and find ways to escape the deadly embrace of unscrupulous “lenders”.

One of the most practical and effective means is the message: «We Buy Greek!» We search for, find, and purchase for our daily needs only products that have the words «Greek product» or «Product of Greece» (all food, beverages, furniture, garments, footwear, personal hygiene products, decorative items, many other products and any kind of services).

Using this simple and practical approach, Greece could increase its production and exports, and simultaneously reduce unemployment, imports, and its trade deficit. Highly regarded economists recommend a simple recipe for the economic problems of Greece: increasing exports and reducing imports.

If only half of the Greeks (in Greece and abroad) and a few philhellenes around the world suddenly decided to buy Greek products for their daily needs, Greece would solve, as if by magic, most of its financial problems!

This simple truth began to be noticed gradually by Diaspora Greeks everywhere along with the present day philhellenes transforming their great desire to help Greece into a reality.

The increasing spread of the message «We Buy Greek!» among the Greeks of the Diaspora and the philhellenes of the world gradually creates a dynamic trend that offers a tremendous support to Greece.

The support of the Greek Diaspora and all philhellenes who already practice the message «We Buy Greek!» is invaluable and serves to resuscitate life into Greece, helping to decisively, quickly and efficiently rid the suffocating noose she has in her neck and threatens not only her economic, but also her national survival.

This is adequate in so far as the masses of Greeks abroad together with the Philhellenes throughout the world in whatever countries they reside in, continue to proclaim and practice the philosophical message that «We Buy Greek!».

*Leonidas Koumakis was born in Constantinople (Istanbul). He studied law at Athens University and for three decades was employed as Export Manager in Greek wine industry, travelled in 4 of the 5 continents of the planet, establishing an extensive distribution network in 32 countries. He is the author of The Miracle-A True Story (1992, fourth edition 2008) and Glance at the Roots of Hellenism (1997).