Skip to main content

Κωπηλάτες (περιοδικό συζήτησης και προβληματισμού)


Visiting the centre of Athens in the run-up to Christmas can be a harrowing experience and my visit to my favourite bookshops confirmed this. At this time of the year browsing through their bookshelves is a very crowded affair but sometimes can reward you with the unexpected discovery of fascinating finds. This is exactly what happened to me when I came across the review Κωπηλάτες (περιοδικό συζήτησης και προβληματισμού). The 3d issue of the review boasts seven articles examining the relationship between the Greek society and its neighbours. As the introductory note by its editor, Petros Markaris, indicates, this issue is intended to challenge the ignorance and oblivion that provides nationalist entrepreneurs of all hues with the opportunity to cultivate chauvinism and a state of fear and xenophobia. Articles on Greece and its relationship with its neighbours by Alexis Iraklidis, two decades of disastrous Greek policy on the Macedonian issue by Sifis Fitsanakis and on the Balkans and the eyes of others by Lena Divani are just the cherry on the top of an exquisite excursus on the notion of the other in contemporary Greece. This is definitely one of the most daring and well planned intervention that makes Κωπηλάτες a most valuable forum of critical thought.

Μια επίσκεψη στο κέντρο της Αθήνας τις παραμονές των χριστουγέννων μπορεί να αποτελέσει δοκιμή και η επίσκεψή μου στα αγαπημένα μου βιβλιοπωλεία μάλλον επιβεβαίωσε κάτι τέτοιο. Η αναζήτηση βιβλίων στά ράφια τους τέτοιες μέρες μέσα στο πλήθος μπορεί να σε ανταμείψει με την απρόσμενη ανακάλυψη κάποιου σπάνιου ευρήματος. Αυτό ακριβώς μου συνέβη όταν βρέθηκα μπροστά στο τρίτο τεύχος της πολιτικής επιθεώρησης με τίτλο Κωπηλάτες (περιοδικό συζήτησης και προβληματισμού). Το συγκεκριμένο τεύχος περιέχει επτά άρθρα που εξετάζουν την σχέση της Ελληνικής κοινωνίας με τους γείτονές της. Όπως κάνει σαφές και το εισαγωγικό σημείωμα του διευθυντή του περιοδικού Πέτρου Μάρκαρη το τεύχος αυτό αποσκοπεί στην κριτική αντιμετώπιση της άγνοιας η οποία επιτρέπει στους κάθε είδους εθνοκάπηλους να καλλιεργούν τον σωβινισμό και την ξενοφοβία.

Άρθρα όπως αυτό του Αλέξη Ηρακλείδη για τον εθνοκεντρισμό στις Ελληνοτουρκικές σχέσεις, ή του Σήφη Φιτσανάκη για την καταστροφική διαχείρηση του Μακεδονικού επί δύο δεκαετίες ή της Λένας Διβάνη με τίτλο «Τα Βαλκάνια και τα μάτια των άλλων αποτελούν ένα μικρό δειγμα του τι επιφυλάσσεται στον αναγνώστη. Οι Κωπηλάτες είναι αναμφίβολα ένα ανεκτίμητο forum κριτικής σκέψης και προβληματισμού»).

Το τρίτο αλλά και τα προηγούμενα τευχη του περιοδικού μπορείτε να προμηθευτείτε στο βιβλιοπωλείο των εκδόσεων Γαβριηλίδη (Μαυρομιχάλη 18, Αθήνα, τηλ. 210-3636514).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cyprus Spring?

Back in February, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto ğ lu met Greek Cypriot academics  and representatives of civil society in Ankara to discuss developments and prospects of the Cyprus issue. And only a few days ago, journalists from Alithia, Politis and the Cyprus Mail, former Cyprus-EU chief negotiator Takis Hadjidemetriou and United Democrats leader Praxoulla Antoniadou Kyriacou, as well as a number of Turkish Cypriot journalists, met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo ğ an and EU Minister Egemen  Bağış in Istanbul. This is the closest to what one could call track II encounter and exchange process between the two countries and, as such, it should not be underestimated. Apart from the novelty of this unprecedented activity involving, amongst others, the Turkish Prime Minister addressing Greek Cypriots, one could not but notice the messages that he and his colleagues conveyed. Erdo ğ an reportedly stressed his view that time is right for a solution as the two...
2 comments
Read more

A grim anniversary

Yesterday, air raid sirens could be heard all over Serbia to commemorate the NATO bombing of the country that led to the de facto end of Serbian rule in Kosovo ten years ago. The anniversary was a tense occasion that confirms the volatility of Serbian politics but also the fragility of the country's current European orientation. Politicians of almost all hues invariably denounced the raids, and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic branded them "an illegal act" and added that "Serbia cannot forget those tragic days." Public rituals that reproduce a sense of collective trauma such as a special cabinet session, visits and "pilgrimages" to bombing sites, remembrance activities at schools were held countrywide for yet one more year but only a heavily policed rally in central Belgrade was organized by hard-line nationalists and the hardliners were largely contained. And although Serbian President Boris Tadic called the bombing a "tragic" event that acc...
2 comments
Read more

Тиха вода брег рони

"As a future NATO member and as a country that is very close to EU membership, Croatia will give full support to its neighbours" Ivo Sanader, Croatian Prime Minister Last week, in a rather brief statement, Croatia's Prime Minister effectively pledged to support Serbia's bid to join the European Union and other European institutions. Given the bitter and turbulent relationship between Croatia and Serbia over the past couple of decades this extension of a friendly hand towards the latter was, for many, surprising. There is a lot that has been dividing the two countries: the bitter memory of the war of Croatia's independence, the mass exodu s of the Serbs of the Krajina, the still outst anding suit -originally filed by Croatia in 1999 - against Serbia for genocide before the International Court of Justice and the public disapproval within Serbia of Croatia's recognition of the independence of Kosovo in 2008. And although Croatia's own EU bid has been delayed ...
2 comments
Read more