Why the parade is a critical problem

On Saturday the 21st of March the Greek School organised another parade at Cardiff Castle. I am listing here the problems with having parades and the School’s narrative around these events.

The parade as a symbol

The school parades are problematic by their nature. They were introduced after the Asia Minor disaster in an attempt to bring back the sentiment of national pride in Greece, which was low after the nationalistic Great Idea was smashed. It was the Metaxas dictatorship that introduced them in the school calendar as part of the Greek independence celebrations. Their format mirrors a military parade and they reflect a very narrow history of Greece in the 20th century. The have no deep roots in the customs and the traditions of Greece, they do not reflect ways of life or local culture of any area in Greece.

In short:

Parades have nothing to do with education. The children learn nothing from a parade. It is simply a demonstration of military discipline imposed on the youth.
Parades are discriminative by their nature. Tall students walk in the front and short students walk in the back. Students with high academic or athletic skills hold the flag at the front of the parade. Students who are not particularly good athletes or have learning difficulties never hold the flag. These attitudes are unacceptable nowadays. We have moved on from these stereotypes in the last 100 years.
Parades are designed for display and not substance, i.e. demonstrating an image of military discipline and power, when kids have nothing to do with either of these things. I would argue that it is perverse to expect school kids to enact the roles of soldiers.

So, parades are deeply problematic.

Expressing Hellenism through parades

The Greek culture is very rich. Greece has been in the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. The history of that land spans millenia and it has been shaped by the interaction of people from many different cultures. There is so much to be proud of in our Greek culture. History, architecture, art, poetry, literature, music, food… and many more. From the Odyssey to the Parthenon and from the mosaics of Hosios Loukas to the prints of Tassos and the music of Theodorakis. From this vast and rich range of culture, why does the Greek school choose a military-like parade to showcase the Greek culture in Cardiff? Is this what we want our fellow citizens in Cardiff to know about Greek culture? I think it is a huge injustice to our culture and sends completely the wrong message.

The British flag and “God save the king”

I was particularly disappointed to see the British flag during the parade next to the Greek and Cypriot flags. I did not attend the event to hear whether “God save the king” was sung again this year. It was sung last year which was outrageous, but the flag was enough to upset me. I am not a historian, and this is worthy of a really long analysis, but in 1922 when the Greeks attacked the then disintegrating Ottoman Empire, it was after Britain promised support and more land to Greece following an expected successful attack. Britain had very obvious interests in Greece attacking the Ottoman Empire, but as it was eventually shown, Britain had no intention to support Greece militarily. I am not saying that Britain was the main reason for the Asia Minor Catastrophe but it is obvious that the war served British interests.

With the parade we also celebrate the independence of Cyprus from British rule. How is it possible to celebrate independence from an oppressor by waving the flag of the oppressor? The British killed many Cypriots. Again a lengthy analysis is needed, but these Cypriots died to see Cyprus independent from Britain. Many decades later Britain is still present in Akrotiri again putting Cypriot lives in danger by using the military base for the war against Iran. The government in Cyprus and many Cypriot parties have complained about the position of Britain in the current war. Many call (again) for the Akrotiri base to close. And here we are, in Cardiff, waving the British flag and singing “God save the king”, to celebrate Cypriot independence. It is an unbelievable contradiction that makes any fragment of the “patriotic parade” ridiculous. The Greek School in Cardiff has celebrated the independence days for many years - we never had to wave a British flag in the School!

The argument by the School committee is that because officials from the Greek Embassy are present and to adhere to foreign policy etiquette, we have to wave the British flag and sing the British national anthem. I am not sure what this etiquette means. Are the British worried that Greeks will take over the country if we do not hold the British flag in our celebrations? In any case, if the presence of Greek Embassy officials requires the British flag to be waved, then why do we invite them and offend our pride and history at that level?

Why we wave the British flag

Which brings me to my next point: The reason why we invite the Embassy officials on the independence day celebrations is simple. They are invited so that they can indeed see that the foreign policy etiquette is actually promoted by the Greek School in Cardiff. This is as part of an attempt by the Greek School to establishe a transactional relationship with the Embassy in the hope that expressions of nationalist spirit (and adhering to foreign policy etiquette) will result in some benefits for the Greek School.

The Greek Embassy has done nothing for the Greek School in Cardiff for decades, so I do not expect a sudden out-pour of resources because we organised a parade. Even if we accept that this will lead to some benefits for the Greek School in Cardiff, we must understand the fragile foundations that such a transactional relationship has. Schools that do not organise parades, do not deserve to be resources properly?

The concept of “Hellenism in Wales”

For my final point in this blog-post, I wanted to flag the claim of the Greek School that the parade is a celebration of “Hellenism in Wales”. Such grandiose statements show either a lack of understanding of the situation of Greeks in Wales or a lack of understanding of terminology:

“Hellenism” is not a School parade. It is a term that encompasses (as I explained above) a huge set of geopolitical phenomena and a rich culture that cannot be reduced to an event of that type.
Cardiff is not Wales. There are lots of Greeks living in other parts of Wales that have nothing to do with the Greek School in Cardiff. Using “Wales” for an event in Cardiff ignores the existence of the rest of the Greeks in the country.
Many Greeks in Cardiff, including myself and several other parents of the Greek School, do not consider the parade as an acceptable event, so “Hellenism” is multi-dimensional and multi-faceted. The problematic ideas of the Greek School about what “Hellenism” is are not the de-facto positions of the Greek community, only a media-like projection of only one facet, and unfortunately a rather bad one.

The Greek Leek