We believe that it is possible, but only under certain conditions. The first condition has to do with the reason for which candidates want to run in the municipal elections. The second condition is related to the establishment of the norms for a healthy competition between different ideas and proposals in these elections. In theory, it sounds as if these conditions can be easily met, however, in our country this is not a simple task. Of course, we do have some examples of local politicians who governed in the past in an honest way, they put the common good above their personal interests, were productive, left a legacy in the areas they governed, and their descendants are today enjoying a good reputation because of them. Unfortunately, in our time, the era of “homo economicus”, this kind of governance does not happen very often, and the results of poor administration are disastrous in many municipalities and regions.  

If the candidates and the elected politicians reflect on how they are going to balance their ambition and their ability for good administration, then good things will happen in the areas they represent. Problems will start if politicians are overly ambitious and overly confident about their management abilities. This leads to fraudulent situations with many negative results, one of which (not necessarily the worst) is the unwillingness to cooperate with the other elected politicians. When this happens, it leaves the door open for pursuing personal interest (not necessarily financial) transactions, which do not correspond to the common good or the needs of the societies that these politicians were elected to represent.

Humans, except for self-preservation instincts, also have innate ideas which connect them to society and nature. If politicians are guided in their administration by their higher selfless  ideas for the common good, then they will work closely together with other politicians, as required by the proportional representation system, and their self-preservation and ambitious ideas will be kept in check. When this happens, the pluralism of ideas and the exchange of opinions is rich, and the synthesis of these ideas is beneficial to everyone. One of the most useful things that elected politicians could do, would be to create an algorithm, based on sound criteria such as area, population, etc. of individual areas,  for the fair distribution of funds by the municipalities to local communities and by the administrative regions to regional units. In this way, the solidarity and the collaboration between the individual units, which constitute an administrative area, would be strengthened.

Unfortunately, political practice in our country, both in state and municipal politics, particularly in recent years, is not characterised by a spirit of compromise neither by social solidarity. It is very possible that this old and corrupted kind of practice will be continued by the new municipal leaders.  Whether regional agencies will be working for the common good depends greatly on the character of the newly-elected politicians. It is up to them to avoid personal interest deals, and to try to synthesise the ideas expressed by their electorate in a way that the highest number of people in their area is benefitted. If our politicians are inspired by a selfless way of thinking, then it is certain, that after a difficult beginning, they will be able to develop solid groundwork for future cooperation, which will benefit the area they represent.  This kind of healthy collaboration will also benefit the electorate, which will be thus encouraged to support the choices and decisions of their elected representatives.

We, as representatives of the association “Maniot Solidarity”, do not limit ourselves to being simple well-wishers for our newly-elected politicians in Mani and the Peloponnese in general. We state that we will be active, and we promise and that in our own small way will support initiatives and decisions like the ones we described above.

Political activism is a fundamental obligation for all citizens, especially for those who possess not only natural abilities and social solidarity skills, but also organisational and management skills, acquired through knowledge and experience during the course of their lives. Political activism based on ambition is not in itself reprehensible, as long as the political skills of a particular candidate exceed his or her ambition. History has shown that those nations, which elect politicians with high social solidarity skills, excellent organisational and managerial skills as well as ambition, have enjoyed peace and a high standard of living for a very long time.

The above thoughts are very relevant at present, now that legislation has enforced proportional representation in both the municipal and parliamentary elections. We have already witnessed an unusually high number of candidates in the municipal elections and a “flight” of current members of parliament from constituencies with few supporters of their political party. We have also seen misguided political events, tailored to the upcoming proportional representation elections. All of these activities show that in many cases, ambition surpasses the abilities, knowledge, organisational and managerial skills of candidates.  It seems that many candidates, in addition to ambition, also have strong personal interest motives, financial and otherwise. These situations are a source of great concern for the election of a competent government for our country in the near future, first in the municipal sector and then in the state sector, since both municipal and state elections are both taking place in the year 2019.

In other countries, the activities described in the previous paragraph could be dismissed as random and occasional. In Greece, however, at a time when we are trying to exit from the ten-year long financial crisis of our country, caused mainly by financial irregularities on both the individual and state level, these activities are a cause for alarm, danger and great insecurity for the future. We see that many candidates for the next elections are currently following the same practices that have brought the public sector to bankruptcy. We need to search for the causes that have led us to the present situation, and to find ways to avoid catastrophic consequences that always follow the kind of activities described above.

A study of the history of different countries and geographical regions in the world proves that political ethics is the basis for individual nations’ success. The citizens of nations, which for a long time have been governed with strong political ethics, have been enjoying high prosperity and social wellbeing. Unfortunately, in our country, political ethics is not one of our strengths. On the contrary, we have seen elaborate schemes of disguising the personal and political motives of some candidates and the parties they belong to. These schemes, combined with the political immaturity of many members of the electorate, often bring to power populist leaders. Once a populist government is elected, the negative consequences of its governance are simply a matter of time.  Post-election allowances given to certain groups which helped elect a particular candidate or political party, do not offer a permanent solution to the economic distress of these groups, nor contribute to balancing out financial irregularities among the citizens.  On the contrary, they create resentment among those who are heavily taxed, and who in effect are paying for the allowances given to elected politicians’ favourite target groups.

In countries which have enjoyed for many years stable conditions of social and economic balance, citizens are politically mature enough to see through political and self-serving schemes, and therefore populist governments are a short-lived and easily reversed phenomenon. In countries like ours, particularly in the present precarious circumstances, choosing political candidates irresponsibly can be suicidal, because it changes Greece from a country with an uncertain future to a country with no future at all. This is why it is imperative that the most important criterion for electing a political candidate should be his or her political ethics. Only in this way the municipities, prefectures and the state will finally have an ethical and responsible government, which can then build a reasonable future for the generations to come.

In the present difficult circumstances, the Greek electorate has a moral obligation to look beyond personal interests, friendships and family relations. We need to vote for those candidates who have displayed social solidarity, effectiveness, but most importantly, political ethics in their personal and professional lives.

The current “Maniot Solidarity” is the 241st issue is our newspaper. This means that for 20 continuous years, our newspaper has been reaching its Maniot and philo-Maniot readers every single month, without interruption or multiple-month issues.

   At the beginning of 1999, when our association decided to publish a Maniot newspaper, we were not aware of the difficulties involved in such an undertaking. However, for those of us who were determined  to devote our precious free time to this effort, our love for Mani was stronger than the difficulties. For the past 20 years, we have kept researching and publishing data referring to the heritage that our ancestors have bequeathed to us, connecting elements of the past to the needs of the present and the prospects for the future. We have been envisaging a bright and prosperous future for Mani and its future generations. With optimism and strong will we are devoted to continuing our publication.

The course of our efforts has not always been smooth. We have encountered many obstacles in our path. Through team work and determination, the members of our association and its leaders managed to overcome these obstacles. Print media has been hit hard in recent years, and the economic crisis in our country has made matters even worse. We had to mobilise all our forces and resources in order to survive. We are grateful to our loyal readership who has supported us during these hard times. It is due to their support and our determination that we have managed to survive.

At the 10^th anniversary of our newspaper, we decided to go further by expanding our publishing efforts. As our knowledge of the history and the evolution of social data in our area improved, we broadened our horizons, and ventured for the first time into the publication of books referring to Mani. Our publications so far have been: “Guide to Tourist Investments”, “Pages from the History of Mani, Volume I”, and “Western Mani: Sightseeing  Important Sites, Starting in Kalamata”. We continued with the publication of the 2-volume book “Travel Routes in Outer, Inner and Lower Mani and Vardounia” with detailed information on various villages.

   As the 20^th anniversary of our newspaper drew near, our publishing efforts turned to electronic media. We have redesigned our website www.maniatiki.gr , which is being visited by a disproportionately high number of readers, given the small population of Mani. We have also completed the second volume of the book “Pages from the History of Mani”, which covers the historical period until the revolution of 1821, which will be published soon. Through both our printed and electronic press publications, we have strived to present to Maniots and philo-Maniots the history, geography, customs and traditions of Mani in a structured and objective way. We feel that in the multicultural Mani of today, it is our moral duty to showcase the long history of small Maniot societies and their achievements as well as their struggles for retaining their freedom and administrative autonomy through the centuries.

In closing this article, we think that is is timely to repeat an excerpt from the lead article of our first issue of April 1999: “By publishing this newspaper, we hope to fill a void. Mani is characterised by sparse settlements and populations. The infertile soil, the need for work and the civil conflicts have forced a high number of Maniots to emigrate to other areas of Greece and abroad. However, Maniots retain their main characteristics: their love for the land of their ancestors, its institutions, the activities of its inhabitants and their concern for a prosperous future. Our newspaper intends to inform on all these issues, as they are developing in the present time, so that Maniots can learn reliably and objectively the news of our area. Mani is an area integrated with its inhabitants, who through heredity and century-long living in the same physical area have developed a common way of life and have distinguished themselves in the Greek struggles for independence. Our newspaper will strive to locate relevant information and data in hard-to-find archives and resources , so that it becomes known to Maniots, and particularly young Maniots, and so that it can inspire all of us in our way forward.”

   On the occasion of our 20^th anniversary, we assure our readers that today, in 2019, our newspaper continues on the same course. The main ideas which were expressed in the previous paragraphs should be considered as an open invitation to our younger readership, to align with the goals of our publishing efforts and prepare themselves for the future.

                                                                                                                                                THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Financial data show that since the end of WW2, the living standard of people around the world has greatly risen. Societal polls, however, show that during the same period, there has been a deterioration in the cohesion and in the solidarity among different social groups as well as in establishing future goals that are broadly accepted. These observations remind us of the golden rule: what is gained in quantity, is lost in quality. This general concern leads some socially sensitive individuals and groups to search for ideas which will interconnect the poll results mentioned above. This search for new ideas is developed in contrast to the increasing trend for introversion of many nations and their elected governments.

As a starting point of our reflection, we require the answers to the following question: what life choices does an individual make, after he/she has satisfied his/her needs for food, shelter and clothing? The answers by the citizens of a country to this question lead to the general trends of communities and governments in democratic societies. The two most common answers to the question at the beginning of this paragraph are the following: a) constant accumulation of goods on a personal or on a family level and b) cooperation among the members of society at large, leading to production and sharing of material and immaterial assets of general usefulness to society. Option (b) is obviously the better one, and the one we are proposing in this editorial.

    The ideals of each state express long-term national hopes which have been formulated by historical or geographical data combined with the dynamics of that particular society. They are also connected with key ideological choices, based on religious, cultural or political considerations. It is during times when these conditions coexist that people mobilise in order to manifest them. Whether these ideals are achieved or not depends on the cooperation among the members of a particular society and it requires that these people put the common good above their personal interests. The bigger the cohesion within a particular society and the greater the cooperation of its members, the shorter will be the road towards actualisation of these ideals.

Introversion within a particular society (see paragraph 1 above), leads to governments with isolational and aggressive policies towards other nations, increasing conflicts and distancing from cooperation and solidarity goals. Isolationism and aggression invariably lead to clashes and violent confrontations, as it has been proven many times in history. However, there is a much better alternative: the search for ideals (see previous paragraph) which are in harmony with the contemporary development of humankind, such as the principles of some transnational organisations, i.e., the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, the UNESCO, the European Community and other related institutions), which were formed as a response to the catastrophy brought upon the world by WW2. These principles can be further developed, so that they correspond more precisely to today’s realities. During the many decades since the foundation of these transnational institutions, we have seen some inefficiencies, but also many effective interventions and resolutions of crises at times of conflict and violence. There is enough data basis, so that these organisations can become even more efficient institutions. For the new effective course of action of the transnational organisations, individual governments need to have a common understanding for cooperation and solidarity within the global village. This common understanding is based on the value system of the citizens who elect their governments in a democratic fashion. In this way, the ideals that were established by individual state governments at the end of WW2, can be redefined, modernised and updated so that they correspond to today’s realities.

    These broadly-accepted ideals and their general principles allow enough leeway for defining individual national ideals, which, however, should be based on peace and international cooperation. They also allow room for defining more specific common goals and targets within the societies of each nation. In Mani, we too can define similar ideals, updated and in harmony with today’s realities, but also based on the principles that our heroic ancestors have left us.