Not my Athens-Islam in Europe

This, dear friends, is what happened this morning in Athens.
In the square in front of the City Hall. The seat of the Mayor of Athens. With guest appearance by an Egyptian imam.



No, dear friends, this is not some North African hamlet, this is not some Asian inner city. THIS is the city of
Theseus and Aeschylus, the city of Plato and all other giants of human civilisation. THIS is the center of Athens.This is where Muslems, most of them uninvited illegal immigrants, celebrated the end of the Ramadan. And declared their will to have a mosque built in Athens.

After some 400 years of bitter fighting, after rivers of European blood spilled in the gates of Constantinople and Vienna, our politicians open our countries' gates to the islamic flood.

In France



In Italy and the world



I believe in the right of people to worship the divinities that best fit their nature, their idiosyncarcy, their history, their traditions in their countries and homes.
I do not intend to worship in the open air of Mecca. I am a Greek Orthodox worshiping the God of my fathers, where my ancestors have lived from times unknown.

Why on earth do we have to put up with this?

Who is the victim? Who is the terrorist?

JERUSALEM — Noted Israeli military historian Martin Karfeld stated that
Israel could find itself one day forced to exterminate the European
continent using all kinds of weapons including its nuclear arsenal if it
felt its demise neared, stressing that Israel also considers Europe a
hostile target. .............................................................................................
“We have hundreds of nuclear warheads and missiles that can reach
different targets in the heart of the European continent, including beyond
the borders of Rome, the Italian capital,” Karfeld said, adding that most
of the European capitals would become preferred targets for the Israeli
air force. 

..............................................................................................

Replying to a question whether Israel does not have fears of being
classified as a criminal state if it expelled Palestinians, he said, “Israel is
a state that does not care about what others say about it and you must
remember the saying of former defense minister Moshe Dayan when he
said that ‘Israel must always act as a wild dog because it should be
dangerous in the eyes of others, rather than be harmed.’” 

Read more here.

"Violations of human rights and international law can no longer be hidden behind claims of anti-Semitism and calls for solidarity against a false Iranian threat. It is time for Western leaders to put basic principles ahead of the demands by lobbyists and neo-conservative propagandists. More important, past persecutions of the Jews cannot be a license to subjugate another people, the Palestinians. Nor can the American promise to stick by Israel be a blank check for the Jewish state to undermine American aims. The U.S. objective is a two-state peace.  But every day, inch by inch, the physical space of Palestine is disappearing. Gaza is like a sardine can, and the West Bank a labyrinth laid out by crazed settlers convinced that the Palestinians are sub humans out to get them. And as far as negotiations are concerned, how can one negotiate when the map is changing day by day to Israel’s favor?"
....................................................................................................................................................................
"Following the criminal invasion of Gaza last year, eighty percent of the Gazans live below the poverty line, and only receive the basic rations of rice and milk from UNRWA. Worse, the tragedy of Gaza is turning into a tolerated humanitarian crisis, a Netanyahu plan from the beginning as far as I’m concerned. This is what drives me into an Orlando Furioso. The people doing this come to New York like conquering heroes, and swan around the West Mugabe-like, except that son-of-a-bitch is no longer welcome in European drawing rooms, whereas Netanyahu, Lieberman, and co. are. The EU simply has to increase the pressure on these thugs. It is ironic how many Jewish people are as appalled as I am at this on-going human tragedy, but have been shouted down and called self-loathing Jews by neo-cons such as the Kristols, Podhoretzes, and Perles of this world. "
....................................................................................................................................................................

 It is time we woke up. In the manner of those hundreds and thousands of Israeli Jews who gather weekly in Arab East Jerusalem to protest against the eviction of Palestinian families from homes they have lived in all their lives.

The lunatics have taken over the asylum may sound like a dull cliché, but in the case of the Israeli settlers, I can think of no better description. These fanatics have to be stopped, just as the Muslim holy warriors need to, and I see absolutely no difference between them..."

By Sir Taki Theodoracopulos.

Awakenings-Islam in Europe

In recent years successive Greek governments have been under increasing pressure to allow the building of a large mosque in Athens. As the number of Islamic immigrants has increased dramatically in the past decade, Muslims have been executing ntheir religious rights in open air gatherings in parks and squares or in private residencies and makeshift mosques. For years the late Archbishop Christodoulos had resisted the pressure and he was outspoken on the sbject of Turkey's entry in the European Union.
Several "non-governmental" organizations such as Amnesy International have been urging and often  succeeding in seeking the condemnation of Greece for not allowing the building of mosques.
Apart from their role in spreading multiculturalism these people and organisations seem to suffer from selective amnesia.

Greece has been for thousands of years the rock against which splashed the waves of Eastern invasions, from the Persians to the Turks. Hundrends of Leaders from King Leonidas of Sparta in 480 B.C. to Constantine Paleologos, the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire, in 1453, have offered their lives as a sacrifice of the European people against the hords of barbarians flooding our lands.

(Oil painting by Iannis Nikou)

It is more than hypocritical to talk to us about human rights, when we fell under the Ottoman sword suffering nearly 400 years of oppression until the Greek Revolution of 1821 that gave to a relatively small part of what used to be Greece, its freedom. We still have several mosques and minarets standing following international treaties.

In the strugle to keep our homeland free, other European nations followed suit, defending Christianity in the Holy Land, and on European soil as in Vienna , Austria, in 1683 when Prince Eugene of Savoy saved Western Europe from the clasp of the Ottoman Turks.

Unfortunately, while Greeks are under the spell of media and intelligencia orchistrated propaganda, some nations refuse to surrender their identity to the mass marketed world soup. As reports the BBC:

(Picture credit The Telegraph)

"Swiss voters have supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets, official results show.

More than 57% of voters and 22 out of 26 cantons - or provinces - voted in favour of the ban.
The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People's Party, (SVP), the largest party in parliament, which says minarets are a sign of Islamisation.
The government opposed the ban, saying it would harm Switzerland's image, particularly in the Muslim world.
But Martin Baltisser, the SVP's general secretary, told the BBC: "This was a vote against minarets as symbols of Islamic power."
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Bern, says the surprise result is very bad news for the Swiss government which fears unrest among the Muslim community.
Our correspondent says voters worried about rising immigration - and with it the rise of Islam - have ignored the government's advice.
In a statement, the government said it accepted the decision.
It said: "The Federal Council (government) respects this decision. Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted." (...)
Switzerland is home to some 400,000 Muslims and has just four minarets.
After Christianity, Islam is the most widespread religion in Switzerland, but it remains relatively hidden.
There are unofficial Muslim prayer rooms, and planning applications for new minarets are almost always refused.
Supporters of a ban claimed that allowing minarets would represent the growth of an ideology and a legal system - Sharia law - which are incompatible with Swiss democracy.
Amnesty International said the vote violated freedom of religion and would probably be overturned by the Swiss supreme court or the European Court of Human Rights.
Elham Manea, co-founder of the Forum for a Progressive Islam, added: "My fear is that the younger generation will feel unwelcome.
"It's a message that you are not welcome here as true citizens of this society."


In recent years countries across Europe have been debating how best to integrate Muslim populations.
France focused on the headscarf, while in Germany there was controversy over plans to build one of Europe's largest mosques".

What is also interesting to see, is the reaction of some Muslim readers in the BBC forums. Apart from the obvious cliches, one reads messages such as these:

We should not misjudge the Swiss people as they are simply trying to protect their own culture and religion and there is nothing wrong in that.Saudis and Pakistanis are doing that all the time. l. We should not over-react. KAYSVAN, SHAH ALAM

Religions should be practised in privacy - whether Europe or elsewhere, this being personal faith of individual.Swiss people have certainly showed their good understanding for future generations.
Ram Mehrotra, Delhi, India

May I close this long post with two posts coming from England.
One says:

So, let me see if I understand this....

The Goevernment let the people vote on this issue.
The people decided that they do not want Minarets.
The Government do not agree with the decision but, as Switzerland is a fair and civilised country, they are prepared to uphold and stand by the decision their people have made....
What a strange system they have - Perhaps we could try it some time Gordon!


msea biscuit, East Chinnock, United Kingdom

And here is a comment by a very sweet as it turns out, great-grandfather:

Minarets and religion are just symptoms of a problem. Let's face the facts. It is a natural instinct of humans to defend and preserve their racial background, culture and history. Anything perceived as a threat to those qualities is regarded by most as invasive and obnoxious, and so it has been throughout history. Man-made laws to eradicate so-called "racism" cannot change human inborn instinct.

So the Swiss vote should not surprise anybody. It's the way we are made.

[Anglobert], Surrey, United Kingdom

On another similar subject:

We have, since the 1950s, been politically brainwashed into accepting mass immigration to the UK. Anti-racist laws have been passed to stifle free speech on the subject.

Of course, my grandchildren accept our present society but, sadly, they cannot enjoy the proud, united, patriotic, lawabiding nation that I did before, during and after WW2.
Immigration is the one subject on which we should have had a referendum in the 1950s. You are now just wasting your time, Mr Brown. Decades too late.

(Let us hope and pray it is not)

On an entirely different subject that of "What makes a happy marriage" he had this to say:

Happy marriage? I marvel at my good fortune. In our 60th year of marriage, four great and happily married children, 11 lovely grandchildren and a g/grandchild, we have never had a serious dispute. I'll die with a thankful smile.

Lucky! Had served in WW2 and was at a loose end. A local girl asked me to go with her on a Church ramble. Me, on a ramble? My dear Mum told me it would do me good and persuaded me to go. Met this little Irish girl who still bowls me over. Lucky old me. Thanks, Mum!!

Wish us the same luck, Sir!

Voting in my husband's village

Hello, dear friends,

I hope you all had a nice weekend. Ours was a little special. Early in the morning we drove to C's village and voted for the European Parliament elections.

I must tell you that there is this habit among Greek people: they may live in a big town or even the capital, but they exercise their political rights in their parents' village. That of course makes things quite complicated for everyone, but Greeks have a way with finding a way to make it look absolutely normal.

In my husband's village, for example, there appear to be living some three hundrend something people. In reality there live less than ten. That of course makes any kind of planning from the part of the authorities virtually impossible. But that's where the grandeur of my fellow Greeks comes in. If they were to leave the central government to care for their village, nobody would have bothered about the ancient pump sending water to the village, or fixing the dirt road, or providing electricity for ten people, most of them in their 70s.

Now, some hundrend poeple, that's a considerable ammount of votes. Anyone who wants to run for mayor or local deputy must surely take them into account. And so, although we do not live in that eagle's nest village up on the rocky mountains of Greece, we vote there. Once in a while, every five years, when the Euro elections take place, or whenever the national elections take place (theoretically every four years, but governments almost never live longer that three), or local elections take place, that is one year after the national elections, we go and vote to our villages.

And that is another ingenious Greek thing. Otherwise almost no one would want to go to their village, particularly among the younger generations. Contrary to what many people thing, we are not an island nation, like say the Barbados or Hawaii. Mainland Greece is rather mountainous and as a consequence many of our villages are rough to reach. Thus the unwillingness of young people to travel bumping up and down on the ancient roads when they can be by the beach on a hot June Sunday.

Here are the sheets of paper one is handed.m In the national and the local elections one may have to add as little cross before the candidates name of his choice. I say "may" because with regard to the national election, governements change the law whenever they feel they want the leadership's favorites to be elected and not a popular but unwanted candidate.
In the European elections there is a list, i.e. MEPs are elected according to their place in the party's list.

This is the booth one enters inorder to make his choice in private.


Voting takes place at the local school. The marble plaque reads, "the school was built in 1950 thanks to fundraising by King Paul".


This is the wall of the village's elders. Second row, first from left, is C's grandfather, a very much loved teacher and priest.
We made a stop at the church of St. George (I shall post some more pictures at a later post).

And then we drove back home through the rough but unspoiled nature. Wishing you a lovely new week.

Skywatch Friday-Spring in Bavaria

Photo taken at Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich, Easter 2009. Capturing the everyday miracle of the sky above, here. Thank you for stopping by and commenting!

Skywatch Friday-Florence

Thank you for stopping by my skywatching! Lose yourself for a while, by skywatching here.