Ever since our very first issue of MANIOT SOLIDARITY, we had stated that the private sector invests heavily in all areas of Mani, while government sector investments are very rare and do not cover the needs of the permanent residents and visitors who are attracted to our area through private investments. During the twenty-three years that have passed since then, we can only mention one positive change: the willingness of the Peloponese Prefecture during the last three years to promote some public works in our area.
We thought in 2018, when the Integrated Spatial Investments (ΟΧΕ) Program of Mani was announced with public funding of 12,100,000 € as an addition to the credits of the Peloponnese Regional Operational Program (ΠΕΠ) (2014 – 2021), that this special financing could be a model of a successful synthesis of the investment needs of the private and public sector of our region. Unfortunately, in the almost four years that have passed since then, an integrated program with a Development Strategy and a solid Action Plan, has not seen the light of day. For the public technical works which have been proposed to be included in the OHE Mani Program, their fragmentary character and their unrelated form were obvious.This fact, combined with the long delay in the preparation of complete tender documents for the public works proposed to be included in this program, makes uncertain their reliable and successful completion within the inflexible deadlines of the program.
In contrast to the public investment part of the funding of the Mani OXE program, the tender notice for the “Support for the Modernisation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Tourism Sector” program attracted more than 120 potential investors from all regions of Mani. Unfortunately, the budget for the proposals that were to be approved through this program, was sufficient to support only one third of them, as it was limited to only 1,500,000 €. The private investors who have qualified, paying almost equal contributions for the implementation of the tourism projects they have planned, double the amount to be invested in the tourism sector in Mani! Given that two thirds of the remaining 80 proposals that were submitted are eligible, but were not funded due to lack of financing, the need to find additional funding for these proposed projects is obvious. Under these conditions, private investment in the tourism sector in Mani, through the co-financing of the Mani OHE Program, could exceed the sum of 8.000.000.000 € by 2024! We are of the opinion that, by restructuring the program’s budget of €12,100,000, the necessary funds can be found to finance the other proposed projects that have been approved in principle, but not funded. Discounts from the public works projects, both under tender or in progress, could be used for this purpose, as well as other types of provisions in the initial budget of this program.
Every summer, the number of visitors to our region rises, with the return of our compatriots of both internal and external migration and the attraction of more and more friends of our region. Τhe private sector makes good use of this generalized trend of attracting visitors,. The Maniot entrepreneurs use their available capital to establish appropriate businesses to welcome and serve our visitors. However, it is not enough that the natural, climatic and cultural environment attracts visitors; it is necessary to collectively address the technical issues that will turn this general trend of attraction into a steady, permanent state by meeting the needs of our visitors. The substantial improvement of the main road axis, the easy accessibility of our cultural monuments, the water supply, the public infrastructure inside our settlements and cleanliness are the most important needs of the visitors and tourists of Mani. The present tourist flow is served by the entrepreneurs of the area in a satisfactory way, but services need to expand with time and enrich the population of our region. Successful coordination to secure the necessary public investment, whether local, regional or state investment, is the responsibility and obligation of our local representatives.
THE EDITORIAL BOARD

It is certain that places like Mani, which bravely faced the Ottoman threat for four centuries and maintained strong elements of autonomous action and a stable course through time, have the ability to withstand any threats of the modern times. The war in Ukraine creates powerful changes in the balances so far, political, social and economic, whose repercussions reach even the smallest regions of the world, such as Mani. The challenge is to absorb the shocks caused to the balances that have been created so far and to find the tools that will be needed, given that in our time the means of dealing with new risks have changed radically. The search for new means, however, can focus on the foundations created by the epics of our ancestors: spirit and unity in action.

Before the 1821 revolution, the family economic balances in Mani were mainly based on the income from the men’s warfare and the women’s industriousness. The men collected war booty through expeditions to the sea and on land, while the women supplemented the family income by intensively cultivating the barren land and raising animals, either penned or free range. If no family financial balance was achieved, the solution was to supply labour, male labour for the heavy jobs and female labour for the lighter ones, in the neighbouring fertile plains of Messinia and Laconia.

With the establishment of the modern Greek state, Maniots exploited their natural aptitude to warfare, and a significant number of our compatriots were hired in the army and police forces. Thus was created the first migration flow to other urban and semi-urban areas, which continued unabated during the next century as a result of overpopulation, family conflicts and civil wars. Seasonal migrations during the growing and harvesting seasons also continued for a century and a half in the neighbouring fertile areas, which, in combination with the agricultural and livestock activities, balanced the family budget.

Since the last two decades of the 20th century, the number of visitors to our area began to rise, which in many cases led to the choice of longer stays for visitors. The main factors contributing to the continuous strengthening of these trends were the globalisation of markets and the improvement of air and road transport, which provided the opportunity to travel long distances at a reasonable cost and to get to know places with the quality characteristics of the geophysical landscape and climate, such as the diverse regions of Mani. In addition to the rise of the economy in our region, retired compatriots are resettling here and renovating their family home or constructing new houses to enjoy the quality characteristics of Mani’s nature and mild local climate.

The war in Ukraine has come to upset the general economic balance, and this turmoil tends to also spread to individual regions such as Mani. Inflation, which keeps rising dangerously, is reducing the stable incomes and purchasing power of employees and pensioners, while at the same time, due to the uncertainty of the war developments, it is creating a halting trend in the tourism sector. In view of these situations, each region is looking for ways to compensate for any losses from its up-to-now stable economic situation.

In our region, balance can be achieved by exploiting its underutilized productive potential, but also by effectively claiming funding and implementing public investments that contribute to adding value to its geophysical characteristics.

Agriculture, especially olive growing, livestock farming, both domestic and free-range, and beekeeping, have failed to exploit the full potential offered by the olive groves and the varied and extensive grassland areas of the Mani region. Increasing the area of family farmland, through purchases and rentals, can provide a strong family economic balance, combined with income from the tourism sector through supply of labour or short-term rentals of accommodation to visitors.

The coordination of actions of local representatives to promote the necessary public investments that benefit everyone, especially in road projects (and in particular in the main road axis Kalamata – Kardamili – Areopolis – Gythio – Sparta) and in cultural monuments, is bound to increase the visitor numbers in our region with the consequent general strengthening of its economy. In fact, with the combination of the on-site availability to the visitors of the agricultural production of the area, the local economy can be boosted even more.

The extraordinary and uncertain situations that we are experiencing today require us to remember the attitudes of our ancestors when they were called upon to face high-risk situations: spirit and unity in action.

                                                                                               ΤΗΕ ΕDITORIAL BOARD

   In the unipolar world in which we currently live, power derives from economic robustness generated by the dominance of competitiveness in the markets.

   It is through competitiveness that China’s power has emerged and is tending to become a new pole of power. It has benefitted from the eradication of state bureaucracy through Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the population reduction through Teng Xiao Ping’s one-child-per-family policy and the low wages across a wide range of the production process. In addition, with the introduction and development of new technological systems, China gains points in the competition with the products it produces and threatens the supremacy of the United States of America, the only superpower so far.

   Russia, with its vast energy resources and large nuclear arsenal, is a crucial factor in shaping new power relations in the world. The collapse of the Soviet Union, due to the poor competitiveness of its products because of the central planning of its economy and the “grotesque” decade of Russian rule by Yeltsin that followed, showed that it was Russia’s fate to “exit” from the group of the Great Powers. However, with the combination of its nuclear arsenal and its vast energy and mineral wealth, Russia is attempting to stay in the club of the world’s powerful by exerting a dominant influence in what it calls the “Near Abroad”. Moreover, it attempts to place itself between the United States and China as a major power player, with the intention of moving the scales sometimes in one direction and sometimes in the other.

   The United States of America, relying on the increased productivity of its early immigrant inhabitants who, based on the principles of protestantism, and even more of the followers of the extreme religious sects who were expelled from European countries, managed to make the best of the unspoiled geophysical environment of the new continent and, in combination with its well-balanced political system of governance, to create long-term economic growth that has led the country to the forefront of power. However, as the large fiscal deficits accumulated over the last decades show, it seems that the American productivity is gradually declining, leading it to external borrowing. It is well worth noting that much of this borrowing is from China.

   The local wars that have so far been fought were on a non-generalised basis and were held in order to improve the conditions of power of the aggressor nation and to strengthen its economic base in various ways. Unfortunately, consideration of the value of human life and human losses is not the dominant element in making the relevant decisions of conducting wars.

   Economic competition, military hardware  and value of human life are characteristics of our time that have ceased to be associated with individual geographical units. They have acquired, due to the globalisation of markets, a global reference level. Their management, and the actions undertaken in the context of promoting them, are objects of geopolitical and geostrategic considerations. In this kind of approach, unfortunately, human life is not the dominant factor…

   On the other hand, the globalisation of markets calls for partnerships, through a competitive environment, with energy and wealth resources, the development of new technologies and, above all, the productivity of human resources as the dominant elements. A number of other factors has to be added to this multifactored landscape. Among them, nationalism poses an acute threat of upsetting the balances that tend to be created by the interaction of the individual elements of globalised markets. Economic and military wars, which always start with a cause and/or a pretext, are violent attempts to upset these balances and end up creating large-scale economic crises which, to a greater or lesser extent, permeate all the individual state economies. But the main effect of the combination of military and economic wars focuses on human losses, which thus create irreversible situations. Compared to the humanitarian disasters caused by wars, any economic successes resulting from conflicts among nations are insignificant.

   In this geopolitical landscape, the protagonists, the USA, China and Russia, work together, in pairs or all three, and at the same time clash in order to gain power and/or ensure security. For the time being, the cooperative component has been stronger, and has not yet allowed the creation of military conflicts between them due to their nuclear arsenals. However, this fact pushes them to create local conflicts in order to ensure comparative advantages in the process of economic competition. This is how the Russian invasion of Ukraine can be explained, an armed conflict, each phase of which is resulting in hundreds of human losses.

The first statistics of the modern Greek state show that Mani was overpopulated, with a population higher than 30.000 inhabitants. Two hundred years later, migration, mainly for economic reasons, combined with low birth rates, have resulted in population much less than half of that! If we look at the age demographics, the conclusion is disheartening, because of the very advanced age of most of Mani’s permanent population. Low birth rates and migration are fully justified social phenomena, since both usually happen when people cannot satisfy basic needs. Unfortunately, in Greece we have not had coordinated state policies aiming at retaining the existing population and increasing the low birth rates of rural areas, and particularly of Mani. We believe that many areas in the countryside, particularly areas like Mani which have low production, but are endowed with desirable geophysical, climatic and cultural characteristics, could contribute to the increase of the population and the wealth of our country, if the state showed more interest and implemented area-specific development programs.

It is certain that in recent decades Mani has attracted many visitors and that the income of its permanent residents has increased. It is also certain that the tourist needs of the summer are such, that the local workforce does not suffice and it has to be strengthened with workers coming from the neighbouring urban areas and even foreigners. However, this staff is seasonal, and in winter even the seaside resort towns are sparsely populated. The increased value of real estate is very beneficial to its owners, however, it is a deterrent for the permanent settlement of the seasonally employed. If real estate were cheaper, the seasonally employed staff could potentially settle in the area, have families and increase the population of Mani.

If we do not want our country to be weakened in terms of population, we need efficient general measures and complete development problems that will have as a goal the strengthening of its population. These measures should be area-specific, with an emphasis on areas which have growth potential in critical areas, such as tourism. The characteristics of these programs should be the strengthening of public education from day care centres and kindergarten to High School, subsidised low-interest loans so that those who cultivate the land could buy it, and financial support of small year-round tourist units, the operations of which will be coordinated through a specialised “chamber” service run by the state. Of course, all of these integrated programs should be supported by state infrastructure, with the emphasis on roads, so that products and services can be moved quickly and efficiently to their final destinations.

The development policies applied so far have led to the creation of a hydrocephalic urban center, the capital Athens, and 5 or 6 other big urban centres of smaller population. Ιn these urban centres is concentrated the secondary sector (handicraft, industry etc.), assisted by the service sector. The potential for employment in these sectors leads to the gradual movement of persons from the countryside to the cities, and weakens the population of rural areas. What should really be happening instead is that area-specific state programs should promote the establishment and operation of industrial units for the processing of local agricultural products in each of the production areas. These programs should also connect the local industrial units with the export trade network, so that the part of the production that is not absorbed inland can be exported to other countries.

Α popular Greek proverb says: if a child does not cry, his mother does not give him food. It seems that in the area of active promotion of “substantiated proposals”, rural areas fall behind. There has been a lack of the necessary “good pipelines” that will present the needs of the residents of the countryside to the central administration, so that priorities can be established and appropriate political decisions can be taken. The weakening of the rural population has resulted in its under-represenation at both central and regional level. Consequently, the few representatives remaining in each place are overwhelmed with multiple obligations. This situation requires a particularly high level of coordination of residents in each sub-region, in order to strengthen the conditions for submission and promotion of the substantiated proposals to those state and regional institutions which are responsible for making critical decisions for the future of the country.

                                                               THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE

From the texts that have been published in MANIOT SOLIDARITY, we can conclude with certainty that there is a continuous change in the productive activities in the region and consequently a corresponding transformation of the perceptions of its inhabitants. All these changes are happening in the same geophysical and climatic background, the characteristics of which are shaping the new transformations. These changes depend on the prevailing trends in the fields of economy and employment on an international scale. Below we will refer to the two transformations which preceded the third one that is currently underway.

The first transformation was in the lives and activities of the inhabitants of Mani, as they evolved in the 18th century until the national uprising of 1821 and the founding of the modern Greek state. Its main characteristics were militancy and the tendency for autonomy, in a social environment devoid of authoritarian powers to restrain them. Βecause it was difficult to secure sufficient family finances due to the limited agricultural productivity, it was necessary to secure the financial resources needed through piracy or armed incursions into neighbouring fertile areas.

The second transformation introduced the model of living and acting that developed during the 200 years that have passed since the founding of the modern Greek state. Since the previous model could not be continued, as it was not allowed by the legal order of the new state, it was necessary to find new ways of economic balance. The new conditions led to migrations to other places where living and working conditions ensured financial family balance. These migrations created dense Maniot communities in Kalamata, sparser in the neighbouring Messinian towns, and even denser in the neighbouring provinces of Lacedaemon and Epidaurus Limira, as well as in the city of Sparta, in Laconia. Migrations were also frequent, initially in the mining area of ​​Lavrion and denser ones in Piraeus. There was also immigration to other countries, to industrial areas of the United States during the first decades of the last century, and to Australia and Germany during the first decades after the middle of the last century. With the gradual expansion of the educational system of the modern Greek state in the areas of Mani, it was possible to transform the traditional warfare into brilliant careers for Maniots in the areas of the National Armed Forces, but also in journalism and politics. This constant migratory flow reduced the domestic population and, combined with the strengthening of the financial resources of seasonally employed families in neighbouring rural areas during the growing or harvesting seasons, ultimately created a family financial balance.  

The opening of the markets and the possibility for fast transfer of products, capital and people gave tourism, both external and internal, the possibility to grow year by year. Mani, with its unique geophysical, climatic and cultural characteristics, has become one of the areas with increased demand for buying land. These characteristics have resulted in larger numbers of tourists in our area, but also in visitors purchasing plots of land or houses and becoming permanent residents. These facts have also been highlighted by international organisations, specialised in measuring the trends of traffic in the various regions, and have led to Mani receiving many international awards. From these starting points, in recent decades, a new, third, transformation has begun to take shape, at the heart of which is the tourism “industry” and construction activity. The conditions are now favourable for the restoration of a stable family economic balance, both for Greek citizens and for the many foreign owners of houses and properties in our area. This transformation is in an evolutionary course, and in order for it to stabilise and to achieve dynamic growth at higher levels, it is necessary to improve the characteristics that make our region so attractive. As geophysical and climatic characteristics change little over time, little remains to be done in order to maintain and develop our tourism traffic, but there are still two things that we could do in this regard: a) preserve and promote our cultural monuments and b) connect our visitors with the local agricultural production in order to form model agrotourism operations highlighting Mani food products. These two goals, in addition to the improvement of public infrastructure (roads, squares, ports, water and sewerage networks, etc.), can be achieved only through joint actions by all Maniots who need to understand the new trends and mobilise accordingly. 

The circumstances are favourable, given that at the regional and state level there is positive interest in our area. It is up to our local representatives to document these needs and to promote them through joint proposals. Let us hope that this will be achieved, albeit belatedly, and that the third transformation of Mani in modern times will also bring the expected permanent economic balance.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Government officials have announced some very good news: increased growth rates for the Greek economy during the year 2021 and the following years, something which is also being confirmed by statistics. There is more good news about the estimates for the optimal utilisation of the financial resources that have been allocated to Greece by two European Union programs: a) by the Community Development and Stability Pact (funding projects and their implementation over the next three years) and b) by the Community Support Framework (funding projects and their implementation over the next seven years). Now that these positive prospects have been announced, the questions are a) how close to the original plans will the actual implementation of these projects be, and b) to what extent will the results of the expected growth of the Greek economy be fairly distributed in society? Transparency will be a very important criterion for the fair evaluation of the expected positive results. Transparent data should be available in all phases of implementation of the projects that will be funded by the above European Community programs; this data should be presented in a simple, popularised language, and in a form accessible and easily understood by the average citizen. Let us not forget that the recent financial packages allocated to our country by the EU are unprecedentedly large.

As a starting point, we must mention here that the financial management of the pandemic, i.e., the replacement by government aid of the income losses caused to the citizens by the imposed COVID restrictions, was positive. This fact has contributed significantly to the increased growth rates of the economy for 2021 and 2022. The observation that these relief packages also benefited to some extent people who were not entitled to them does not invalidate what we just said at the beginning of this paragraph, but encourages us to work towards better digitisation of recording procedures, fairer distribution of benefits, as well as better management of similar situations in the future.

From the data disclosed so far, it appears that the Greek citizens need more detailed information regarding the choice of the projects that so far have been included in the above European Community programs, i.e., information with simplified technical terminology that will be easily understood by the average citizen. It is important that the information given to the public justifies the choice of specific public works for each category as well as the individual projects for each one of them, the strict conditions set by the invitation to tender regarding completion within the specified time frames and most important, why are they necessary and what are the social benefits that will be created with the completion of these projects. If the disclosure of all this data is transparent, it will lead to the citizens responding positively to the government development plans and will not give rise to opposition criticism.

The road from the initial design to the final implementation of any public work (even small development projects) is long. This fact justifies, to some extent, small deviations and additions to the original design. However, what has been observed in many cases in the past can be characterised as a complete reversal of the initial project plans. We have witnessed a complete reversal occurring in several cases, such as when the original budget turns out to be insufficient and needs to be doubled or when a project, completely funded until completion by a Community Support Framework, is left incomplete and requires as much funding from the next Community Support Framework. Phenomena of this kind that have been often recorded in the past, in addition to wasting scarce financial resources, also produce social parasitism, satisfy micropolitical interests and generally express phenomena of social decline.

If the whole path, from design to full completion of the projects, is shielded with efficient procedures, institutional rules and competent people who possess effective administration and good management skills, it is certain that the foundations will have been laid for the reliable integration of our country in the advanced states of the European family. Then, we might be able to rationalise and deal with the huge public debt that our leaders’ micropolitical and selfish political choices have created. If we do all this, then we can hope to be forgiven by our children and grandchildren, who will be subject to increased tax charges for its repayment, for several more decades.

Let us hope that our homeland Mani will also benefit from these large financial packages, although no reliable studies have been prepared for infrastructure projects that our region so desperately needs, now that the dynamic tourism development has stimulated the creation of quality investments in the private sector. It is never too late for all of us to mobilise in this direction, with the help of our compatriots who are active in large urban centers, and especially those in political offices.

                                                                                                          THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Εvery time timeliness required it, we presented in the articles of our newspaper “MANIOT SOLIDARITY”, the divisions that were manifested during the 200 years of life of the modern Greek state. Many of these divisions were explosive and lasted decades. If we examine their duration and intensity, in combination with the external circumstances and their effects on the internal affairs of our country, we cannot, unfortunately, conclude that these divisions are decreasing in intensity and duration as the years go by. They seem to be fed by some form of genetic character, which is not eliminated over time.

Of course, behind the divisions are the interests of individuals and groups, who believe that with the divisions they promote, they will eventually emerge victorious and benefit from the conflict. Despite the fact that national slogans are mixed in with the theoretical background on which these groups attempt to base their divisive arguments, the results, in most cases, bring national losses! Let us remember just two such disasters: the loss of the Great Idea as a result of the division of the 1910s and the loss of any positive development on the Cyprus issue as a result of the division of the 1940s.

Could the 1975 Constitution, whose provisions have been described as groundbreaking for the time it was voted, be a framework of common acceptance for citizens and politicians? This constitution stabilises, in a balanced way, the rights and obligations of citizens and forms a commonly accepted framework for the political debate on the policies to be applied in the governance of the country. Its provisions are broad enough to accommodate all political debates, which can be carried out within the specified framework and can be relaxed before they become deep, thus leading to divisions.

No conscientious citizen wishes to impose his opinion on any issue on a fellow citizen who has a different opinion from him/her. Persuasion and dialogue, either directly or through modern discussion forums, are the best methods to bridge differences. At the end of the exchange of arguments and the formulation of improvements to the initial positions, it is necessary to have a final position, the one that emerges from the views of most citizens on the basis of the common course agreed, through the constitution.

The divisions of the last decade have ultimately resulted in the escalation of the economic crisis and the deterioration of the financial situation of all citizens, and especially of many of the social groups that have played a leading role in divisive actions. The outcome, of course, would be even worse for the country and the citizens, if the majority tendency formed on the basis of theoretical approaches was applied in practice. It seems, however, that a tendency towards divisions is a permanent characteristic of some social groups, those that are formed on the basis of common beliefs which are completely disconnected from the prevailing beliefs of society.

The latest split in pro-vaccination / anti-vaccination groups for protection against the novel coronavirus, is evolving in much the same way. Anti-vaccination groups, each with a different starting point, focus on the individual rights of citizens, which are of course protected by the constitution, but not in an absolute way. Individual rights are related to the general interests of the society to which the constitution refers, thus shaping the interests of society as a whole in relation to the views or interests of minority groups, especially when the context of the conflict is about health and the lives of citizens. In other words, the decision of each citizen, which concerns his/her personal attitude and decision on an issue, cannot be disconnected from the damage that this attitude can cause to the wider society.

What constitutes, in addition to the constitutional requirement, common sense in the context of the voluntary coexistence of social groups, came to be confirmed by the decisions of the courts. These courts were called to rule on the constitutionality of government measures, related to the mandatory vaccination of social groups in close contact with large groups of citizens. Let us respect these decisions, avoiding another pointless division…

In Mani, it seems that the situation has somewhat improved. The old divisions, culminating in the vendettas, have disappeared as the population thinned out and tourism invaded. There are still low-intensity conflicts, mainly of a local nature, which are far from being divisive. Let us hope that these too will be eliminated soon.

                                THE EDITORIAL BOARD

It seems that anniversary celebrations of the national uprising of 1821 in our country have always been unlucky. There was one exception: the 50^th anniversary, which was celebrated during the fourth inaugural term of the Maniot prime minister Alexandros Koumoundouros, and which brought not only strong emotions, but also substantial national achievements inspired by the Greek Revolution. All subsequent anniversaries were met with obstacles in achieving their goals of restoring historical memory and shaping future prospects through planned celebratory events. The 100^th anniversary coincided with the unlucky outcome of the Greek Army campaign in Asia Minor and, as a result, the celebrations were postponed for 10 years, only to coincide again with the impact of the American financial crisis of 1929 on Europe and Greece. The 150^th anniversary, on the other hand, coincided with the first four years of the dictatorship (imposed in 1967), a period when the messages of liberation were inconsistent with the prevailing political situation. More misfortunes apply to the present 200^th anniversary: the pandemic, the immigration crisis and the rampant wildfires. Nevertheless, because historical memory is not promoted only through representation of events in the places where they took place in 1821, but through reflection on situations of that period, the1821 uprising continues to inspire and teach…

            The cohesive factor of all the individual societal groups that participated in the preparation of the uprising of 1821 and in the actual war, both in the fields of battle with the Ottomans but also in the subsequent diplomatic arena, was the assurance of free life in a nation state that would guarantee the security of all its citizens. Papaflessas, the hero who set all Greek hearts on fire,  managed to use this factor with ingenuity and courage to light the wick of the uprising and to push the revolutionary events on an irreversible path. The social groups that eventually took part in the Revolution differed both in their wealth and in their views on the political system that should be implemented in the new nation state. The economically powerful wanted to retain most of their privileges, the expatriates who belonged to the upper echelons of the Ottoman administration of Istanbul wanted to be the backbone of the political governance of the emerging state, the leaders of the military groups wanted to control and direct the government. The ordinary citizens, city professionals, and landowners sought to get rid of the heavy taxes that were forcing them to lose their jobs and property. If we add to all this the linguistic pluralism and the significant differentiation in the prevailing customs and traditions of the individual regions, the homogenisation on a common basis of a single nation state was a difficult task and it took time to complete. Significant progress in this direction was achieved during the four-year rule of Ioannis Kapodistrias, who with patience and diplomacy, managed to soften the aspirations of individual societal groups by undertaking policies that raised the living standards of ordinary citizens. To a significant degree, this policy was continued by King Otto’s Regents during the three-year term of office that had been assigned to them. However, in the following decades, the standardisation process lost momentum and, in combination with international developments, found new obstacles on the path to full integration, which remain until today.

            We, the descendants of the 1821 heroes, upon reflecting, 200 years later, on their sacrifices that led to the stable state we live in, have an obligation to redouble our efforts in order to shape our country as coherently as possible towards a future that is, unfortunately, predicted to be increasingly uncertain. We need to honour those politicians who, either by exploiting international circumstances and forming beneficial alliances, or by inspiring the armed forces in times of war, have succeeded in enlarging small Greece, a state which was first formed in 1832, in both population and territory. At the same time, however, we also have an obligation to remember the causes that led to national tragedies and disasters. The disagreements, which from time to time appeared in a heightened form, were not ideological confrontations, but were based on the gaps in the formation of a standardised perception of the citizens about the path towards the future of our country. These gaps, to some extent, still exist. It seems that the gaps in the path to standardisation do not arise from social controversies, but are mainly due to different perceptions and therefore can be addressed, both on a political and on an individual level, through dialogue and good faith. If we continue towards filling the gaps of standardisation, it is certain that the messages of 1821, on the occasion of the 200-year anniversary celebrations, will have been successfully transferred to the present period, as the protagonists of 1821, and especially the most fervent of them all, Papaflessas, would have liked.