A Balkan Man in the Americas

On January 23, 2012 the Greek Ministry of Culture announced the winners of the Greek State Literature Prizes for 2011. The Major Prize of Greek Letters was awarded to the poet Dinos Christianopoulos, who issued a statement refusing to accept the award. He could have rejected the Greek State Literature Prize by slightly paraphrasing lines from is poetry: "what shall I do with your prizes/ they are too sugar-coated/ they are better suited for spoiled brats/ they are not suited for me ". It is important to know who gives you the prize and why. In any case you have to be brave to reject prizes and even more brave to reject significant prizes. All over the world, there are only few “prize rejecters” in comparison to the millions of prizes which are given. Personally, Dino Christianopoulos’ gesture moved me. It is a lifelong outlook, subversive, deeply human - with the Christian meaning of the term. I expected this gesture to spark meaningful public debates about the “hazy” worl

My silence in this blog is due to my trip to Boston, US.  The Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe invited me for a lecture at Harvard University. The title of the lecture: “Being Greek and Albanian – the “No Man’s Land” of a double identity in the Balkans”. Below you’ll find the text of my essay and you can also watch the video from the event. Comments, as always, are more than welcome. Thank you in advance for your attention and patience.  Being Greek and Albanian: The “No Man’s Land” of a Double Identity in the Balkans Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe Southeastern Europe Study Group, Center for European Studies November 9, 2011 Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel extremely honored being with you today. I want to thank the Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East – Central Europe and especially its director Elaine Papoulias for the honor she made

This morning I went to the post office. I took a number and sat in one of the chairs in the waiting area. A notable silence prevailed. Hanging on the wall to my left were two stamps (from a collector’s edition series), signed by the Greek artist Dimitris Mitaras – the title:   Europa , subtitle:   circus . Available for purchase at 15 euro each. Under the stamps there were shelves with religious icons which were also for sale. I admit my ignorance, but I don’t know of any other E.U. country where icons of the saints are on sale at the post office. I got my package and left… I walked past a café. I observed that they had changed the TV channel. Usually at this café, they only watch Fashion TV. Now, customers and waiters alike watched the political developments together. I ended up at the greengrocer’s. The atmosphere was lively there. They   had   already   begun   their   political   debates.   Half of them kept saying “and now what will happen?” in a frightened and uneasy manner. T