Manoly Lascaris on Greece

Vrasidas Karalis records a conversation with Manolis Lascaris in Sydney, about "the old country", Greek politicians, truth and responsibility.

Lascaris:

"We are despicable...despicable because unjust!...No one has ever taken responsibility for the disasters we have inflicted upon ourselves. No one! We lost our capital: we lost Smyrna, we lost everything- and no one has ever taken responsibility. We are an anti-political nation...You are from old Greece and have never felt what it means to leave behind the port of Smyrna, silently saying a long and irrevocable good-bye. My family did exactly that. I live with these memories to this day. And who was responsible for this? Greek politicians! And what happened to them? They thrived and prospered and still rule the country. We are a nation unable to face the truth; isn't this enough to condemn us for ever? We have not been pierced by the sharp nails of conscience. Our forehead is wrinkled only by the sun. Thinking is not a part of our existence."

Powerful- if contentious and ungenerous words-  from "Recollections of Mr Manoly Lascaris" by Vrasidas Karalis, Brandl and Schlesinger, 2008, pp 137-138. Manoly Lascaris died on 13 November 2003.

For details about the book, visit the publisher's website.