Friends and comrades, 

Welcome to the new installment of our Dialogue.
You will notice that the material is arranged in a way which sometimes skips the chronological sequence, in favor of the "logical" sequence, with more emphasis on maintaining the continuity of meaning. It’s an attempt to keep the threads of the discussion together.

Thanks, once again, for sharing your  very insightful ("inciteful"?) remarks, feelings, perceptions, and political analysis.
We need more and more of it!

Petros, 
November 26, 2000

Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 
From: JOHN HADJIMINAS <vegas@ath.forthnet.gr>

Subject: Re: Our Dialogue

Dear friends,

I would like my email address to be accessible to other recipients so that I can be contacted independently of you.

Professor John Hadjiminas, MD

-------------------- 
 

Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 
From: Panos Marcoullis <grcypriot@yahoo.com> 

Subject: Cypriotz.com
To: petros_evdokas@yahoo.com

Petro,

here is a link i think the list will be interested in. I would like them to see that there are real, honest and open-minded Cypriots out there, and that real efforts are being made for friendship. 

http://www.cypriotz.com

All who are interested in participating, please ask them to email me at:

grcypriot@yahoo.com

Peace,

Panos Marcoullis
--------------------------------------- 

Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 02:28:13 -0800 (PST)
From: Petros Evdokas 
 

Hi Pano,

Thanks for your letter.

Would you like to be on our dialogue mailing list? What did you think from what you have read of the materials being exchanged among us?

May I share your letter with the rest of the group? Would you prefer your name and/or email address to be cloaked?

Petros
-------------------------------- 

Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 
From: Panos Marcoullis <grcypriot@yahoo.com> 
 

Petros,

please do not cloak my email or name. I believe in taking responsibility for my views. Yes please put on the mailing list, and yes please share my letter with the rest of the group.

Peace will only prevail if the positive thinkers come out of the shadows of fear.

Panos

Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 
From: Sue Scandale <sue_scandale@yahoo.com> 

Subject: Proposal to bicommunal discussion group

Hello, 

I’m Sue - I live in Cyprus, and  work with Petros. I’ve been receiving the bicommunal mailings and feel that the topics that have been brought up in our grouping here are vital to any kind of  dialogue about the true rejoining of our communities here in Cyprus, and the dissolving of the borders (physical and mental) in all communities in the world.

I appreciate that there’s a lot of  work involved in putting the mailings together and getting them out to all of us.  I feel that now it’s time for us to set up a place on the internet for this discussion to happen on its own.  I suggest that we form a  group at E-Groups (http://www.egroups.com).  For anyone not familiar with how E-Groups works, it’s a website that hosts discussions of all kinds.  They give us space where messages are kept and indexed, so that at anytime a reader can read past messages. Each person can choose how to read the messages : 

1.  by receiving an email message for each posting to the discussion; 
2.  to receive a daily digest of all the messages posted each day; 
3.  to go to the site for our group and read the messages there. 

We can set it up so that names and email addresses are masked to protect identities, as there are members of our group who feel the need to remain unknown.  This would encourage everyone to contribute to the discussion.  We can set up different themes within the discussions (ie. spiritual politics, sexual politics, social politics, personal politics) that happen at the same time, but each theme can be easily followed on its own. 

I’d like to volunteer to set up the  group at E-Groups, if others agree that it would be a worthwhile effort.

--Sue 

From: "Georgia" <t…@otenet.gr>
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000

Dear Petros,

I received, in quite a roundabout way apparently, your Letter to Barkin in Turkey, and would like to exchange some thoughts with you. 
[I'm not sure what happens to Greek letters in cyberspace, so I will write in English. If you receive the following, then I can write in Greek next time: Μια μικρή δοκιμή για τις ελληνικές  γραμματοσειρές.]

Little is known in Greece about epanaprosegisi (I guess it's called re-approachment), at least to me.The big business media do not cover it. And each of the parties focuses in on their counterparts in Cyprus. Naturally, if you live in Greece and you see the importance of fighting nationalism, you are attracted to the idea of epanaprosegisi like a candle in the dark, especially when and if it involves unions, working people, youth who want to fight for justice. So, I'm very interested in learning more about this process or movement. It would help answer some of the propaganda here that there is no way Greeks and Turks can live together etc. It helps put the whole "Cyprus Question" in a new light. Not something to be haggled over at international conference tables, or fought over by the governments of Greece and Turkey, but a matter in which the two peoples of the island have a voice, or it will never be "resolved". I would like to find out more about who is involved, and your judgment that "the whole thing moves along the direction of imperialist interests". 

I would like to venture two observations, based on experience here in Greece: you can't give in by a single centimeter to Greek nationalism and you can't put an equal sign to every nationalism. Nationalism in a country like Greece, is the ideology of an imperialist bourgeoisie seeking to expand its economic and military role in the Balkans today. [If you look at the international role of Greek banks, shipping, construction, mining and food processing companies, the economy really does fit the classic definition of imperialism that Lenin proposed.] But for the oppressed, fighting for their national rights, nationalism is often a bridge to seeing yourself as part of a world class, a part of struggling humanity against imperialism. 

You can't equate the nationalism of an Israeli to that of a Palestinian, an Albanian to that a Serb, and a Greek with that of a Turk (I am here speaking of the sentiments of the oppressed Turkisk minorities in Greece and Cyprus, not of the ideology of the capitalists in Turkey). In Cyprus it is the Turkish nationality which was oppressed throughout the 20th century, as (British) imperialism undermined efforts to actually develop a Cypriot nationality. The 'Enosis' slogan of a large chunk of the anti-British movement also had the same effect.

In Greece, every political force demands that Turkish troops of occupation withdraw from Cyprus. Few acknowledge the role played by Greek imperialism in laying the basis for the Turkish invasion and demand ALL intervening armies withdraw (Greek, Turkish, British). Reunification can only be based on the right of ALL refugees to return and on respect for minority (Turkish) rights.

In Greece (of France or USA, etc.), if you can't point the finger first and foremost at "your own" imperialism all attacks on imperialism in general are meaningless, and have a chauvinist tinge. 

This all becomes very important today, I believe. With the end of the cold war, Greek capitalism is involved in a high stakes game for the exploitation of the Balkans. The bosses here have pegged their economic recovery and success in the Euro zone in part on economically expanding in the region (taking advantage of cheap labor and resources). [The other part they peg on squeezing more out of us who work in Greece –both Greek and immigrant— as you can see from recent legislation to get rid of the 8 hour day, etc.]

They are both allied to AND they compete with others in the EU and US in carving out "spheres of influence" in this region which they consider historically "their back yard". They know that to achieve their economic goals in the region they need a strong military presence. They are actually retooling the military at enormous expense today. They claim the Aegean as a Greek lake and Cyprus as a satellite.

Till the next dictatorship, success along these lines for Greek capital is only possible if they can convince the working people of Greece to go along, to work harder, receive less in return, to sacrifice, fight and die for the bosses. This is where they use nationalism and this is where they use their strongest ideological weapon, the threat of the Turkish Baboulas (Boogie Man?), designed to bring all Greeks together in national unity. Designed to make us blind to the fact that we have more in common with a working person in Turkey than with a boss who is Greek.

It seems to me that we in Greece must come to grips with this (who is the aggressor, the expansionist today. *not* in 1453), in order to reach out to those in Turkey and Cyprus fighting for the rights of workers, oppressed nationalities, democratic rights, etc.

In the mean time... could you send if possible the article you wrote on efforts to build solidarity across the national divide in Cyprus? Any information on Oikologia group?

Looking forward to an exchange of views,

In solidarity,

Georgia

Athens

Introduction

The text below is a rough "working text", to be used as a springboard for exploring more themes which need to be pursued in order to build the foundations for unity among our peoples on a more solid ground.
It is of necessity more focused on themes and items related to those aspects of our being which are now being specifically excluded from the dialogues promoted by the establishment parties, governments and mainstream politicians. Those dialogue -contacts are currently being conducted only and exclusively in the framework of either "business needs" (the needs of the profit system), or the within the artificial culture of commercialism and merchandise (ways to make profits), or within the context of artificial culture promoted by the instruments of the ruling classes for reasons of power, domination and control of our populations, for example fake bicommunal "folk dances" which no one really enjoys in our real lives, with "folk dresses" which no one really wears in our real lives. These are promoted because they create a school-like atmosphere where the participants are reduce to either being obedient "actors" or devout "audiences", in the exactly same way as the system forces us to experience our real political lives. 
In the framework of the bicommunal re-approachment, in the form it is currently being directed, there is no place for the population to be forming our alliances directly as autonomous, politically mature and free people by-passing the structures of authority, power and profits.
There is a definite need to expand the dialogue to include the following themes, with the approaches roughly sketched below:

Spiritual Politics

Religion, Unity, Freedom, "tolerance" vs. "embrace".

Freedom, Authoritarianism, dis-empowerment, sexual and political maturity, Class- consciousness.

Class, Property, Ownership and Control, Ecology,
Racism, sexism (male -chauvinism), homophobia.

Lifestyle, appearance, symbols, mainstream culture and alternative /radical culture.

(Needless to say, all the elements identified above are inter-connected and overlapping. There is no objective division between these aspects of the human experience, but we "divide" them this way in order to process them and discuss them.)
 

Politics of the Spiritual realms

Spiritual practices, and especially the contents and symbols of religion and faith, have been used as weapons to divide our peoples and lead us to cutting each others’ throats.
Is there a sane way out of this?
The answer is a resounding "yes", and it lies in the core of the spiritual truths of both Islam and Christianity (and also in the "humanist" content of secular culture). 

Persons who value those Spiritual truths, who are able to navigate outside of the "faith monopoly" currently exercised by the  major religious institutions in our cultures and countries, can help us to re-discover the spiritual principles common to All of  the spiritual practices  and religions in our broader region.
This can only be done by understanding the difference between "tolerance" of all faiths, as opposed to the "embrace" of all faiths. It is a vast difference. Tolerance is a disinterested neutrality, at best. But only those who are able to embrace in practice the spiritual truths at the core of All religions will be able to help us cultivate a better sense of Oneness and Unity among our people.

Sexual politics

Will there be sexual freedom and happiness in the "new arrangements" among our peoples which are being pursued by the politicians?
The most dependable criteria to judge this, are the degree to which there is (or will be) freedom for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people, in addition of course, to the crucial need for a free sexuality in the lives of teenagers, young adults, infants and children and  married individuals. 
For example, even though in Cyprus after many years of struggle and efforts we have succeeded in changing the legislation to de-criminalise homosexuality, gay sexuality is still being persecuted in various ways, and therefore driven underground. All the major political parties participate in this persecution, even while they participate in the bicommunal dialogue "in the name of equality and freedom". 
Our dialogue needs to be rooted in the understanding of the role of the suppression of a free sexuality in creating authoritarian structures; its role in anchoring the psychological structures of power and authority embedded in the reality of our cores as physical and emotional beings; its role in destroying the ability for healthy rebellion and channeling the enslaved life-force toward artificial forms of alienated religion and fascist ideologies (of all colors, especially red and black), and its role in destroying within our communities and populations the ability of people to relate to each other in daily life with a sense of equality and respect. 

There is no way to by-pass the glaring realities of property ownership, class politics, forms of government, and the source /exercise of authority-power.
If we are to succeed in creating a community more tangibly built on the foundations of  radical Ecology and  Feminism, we have no option but to seek broad and deep changes in our social structures. There is the vast power in the hands (and wallets) of private capital, state capital, and church capital. At all levels of our society, globally, regionally, locally, these are the forces served by the politicians, the parties, the machinery of state. It is the source of all misery, exploitation, inequality, racial, religious, and sexual prejudice, environmental and social destruction. 
What is our position toward the existence of these forms of capital? How can the power of capital be abolished in our communities, without us have to look at abolishing its very existence? What will it mean to restore those resources and wealth back to the ownership and control of the community? Does radical ecology mean common ownership? 

Only some of these changes can be legislated. The most important of them, can only be actualized by helping our populations mature politically and become capable for self-government. For example, after the victory over the domination of capital, it will be simple to legislate against private ownership of social resources and wealth. But in the here and now, how do we form mobilized communities within which we can practice direct democracy, equality and co-operation while disallowing (or minimizing) the influence of  the profit system among us?

It might seem like a deflating note to concern ourselves with Personal politics, after discussing the "grander" changes we seek in our communities. But the truth is that we cannot actualize the broad social changes externally, unless we also seek to change our inner selves in a process of politically and spiritually meaningful personal growth.
For example, is our sense of Feminism the same as that of the business community?
Or for another example, it’s honorable to say "hey Petros, I feel uncomfortable when you speak of gay sexuality, it’s a whole experience that’s alien to me and a little scary, I don’t see what is has to do with world peace or even just peace among our communities here, regionally. Can we please discuss it?". But it would be  misleading to say "hey, leave out that sexual stuff now, this just confuses people. This is just a question of demilitarization and of better economic planning". 
The crux of it lies in how we deal with personal politics in our communities, and this is reflected in the degree to which our liberation movement in each of our countries, has any roots or connection whatsoever to the existing alternative and radical communities, which are living, breathing, tangible expressions of the future, sometimes covertly hidden away in the in-between spaces of our communities, or occasionally existing openly but struggling under oppression or threat of strangulation by the culture of mainstream lifestyles. 
Alternative and radical lifestyles are ever-changing both externally and internally, but often their external signs become known for symbolizing freedom and therefore make their bearers targeted by the system. Long hair in the 60s, mohawks in the early 80s, are examples of this on a global level. In general, these symbols and activities are part of a personal behavior, dress and appearance (clothing for example) and  lifestyle, and often found connected to (disguised by) recreational culture. "Ethnic", and  "World" music fans in Istanbul, Athens, Nicosia and New York are more likely nowadays to be  attracted to each other in shared community -building, rather than "just plain" un-politicized long-haired men from each place. 

The year 2000 has brought us many changes, and with it, a multiplicity of symbols. We can not be guided by symbols alone, as they get co-opted by commercialism very quickly, but our attitude toward them, says something about who we are, what we do.
So, if our movements include support and embrace for single unwed moms, support and embrace for teenage sexuality, support and embrace for the religious, medicinal and recreational use of cannabis, support and embrace for people living in communal, co-op arrangements, support and embrace for collective projects in our communities, we are more likely to be building for peace among our peoples than the sterile bicommunal "folk dances" enforced by the establishment so as to divide our people while essentially keeping us apart.

It is in this spirit that we can go forward.
It might be easier to re-think parts of the original "Letter for Barkin", from the point of view of the radical Oikologia group:

"We seek to unite with Turkish -Cypriots and people from Turkey who, like us, aim for the re-uniting of all of Humanity’s peoples, aim for the destruction of all borders and the disarming of  the armies guarding them, and for the final  overthrow of the governments arming and training them for that purpose. 
We aim for the overthrow of the system of profits and authoritarian power, and for its replacement by the simple functions of ecological Direct Democracy: a system of self-administration and self-government within all of our communities, which are to be run by voluntary Peoples’ Councils at all levels, in the schools, the workplace, the neighbourhoods, the villages and towns. 
We believe that once the influence of the system of profits  and of authoritarian power is removed from both our external and internal (psychological) world, people everywhere are capable of living as equals who can respect and honour each other, and who are capable and willing to make together the major and minor decisions which affect our everyday lives as neighbours, co-workers, colleagues, friends, lovers, comrades."

And also to rethink this, from the letter to the Youth for Peace group:

"…. there are many radical Green-minded individuals and organizations in all the countries of our region (including Turkey, Greece, Cyprus) and abroad, active in the heartlands of the imperialist countries, who wish to see our communities re-united again, on the basis of a unity founded on the global efforts to *replace* the socio -political system of profits.  We believe that our people can be re-united meaningfully only on the basis of the shared efforts to replace the political system currently exercised by authoritarian power and capital, with a system of equality and justice for all, which is founded on co-operation (as opposed to capitalist competition and exploitation), and founded on self-government within our communities, instead of government by local neo-colonialist "managerial administration teams" appointed by global and regional capital."

Our Dialogue, is burdened with the "unfortunate" historical mission of finding ways to make all this happen.

Petros