Abstract
The first global General Assembly of the World Council for Hellenes Abroad (SAE) was held in Thessaloniki in December 1995. Even though provisions for its existence are enacted in Article 108 of the Greek Constitution, reality proved quite different for this ambitious diasporic institution. At SAE’s peak in the late 1990s, there were scholarly conferences and youth camps, ambitious worldwide humanitarian projects and political lobbying coupled with considerable active participation of the diaspora on a transnational level. The last General Assembly and elections were held in 2006, after which SAE’s presence has dwindled. The 2009 financial crisis led to the end of funding for SAE, yet the institution has never been officially abolished. This chapter documents SAE’s passage into irrelevance during a period when brain drain and crisis-driven emigration from Greece had notably increased, and thus a strong global institution for the diaspora might have seemed purposeful. An analysis of the paradox of both the state’s reluctance to pursue SAE’s recreation and the Greek diaspora’s unwillingness to contribute wholeheartedly is also offered.
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Notes
- 1.
SAE = ‘Symvoulio Apodimou Ellinismou’ (literally Council of Diaspora Hellenism).
- 2.
The institution’s website can still be accessed online, www.sae.gr. There are no postings after 2014 on the website.
- 3.
See the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Decision 3727, December 14, 2012, where SAE Funding ‘for the amount of 22,750 euros is approved and is to be deposited in President Stefanos Tamvakis’ account to cover expenses of the SAE Thessaloniki Office for the year 2012’. Accessed on www.diavgeia.gov.gr on April 5, 2018 (Internet Uploading Number, ΑΔΑ: Β4Μ7469Η9Χ-ΠΗΨ).
- 4.
SAE Board members obviously have kept their own personal records; similarly, the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad (the Greek government agency funding and organising SAE’s General Assemblies) has a department head assigned SAE’s business. But, as with other Greek government services, the collection and storage of data would generally be considered rudimentary and public record digitisation has not yet been fully completed.
- 5.
The main author of this chapter, Marina Frangos, has a collection of quantitative data from questionnaires completed by SAE members collected during SAE’s General Assemblies of 1995, 1999 and 2006. This chapter is further enhanced by a qualitative within-case empirical analysis of SAE’s history based on participant observation of the institution.
- 6.
Odyssey-The World of Greece magazine’s first issue appeared in 1993 (August/September), but the magazine is no longer published.
- 7.
This was the translation used in the magazine article. The English name used for SAE after it was created was World Council of Hellenes Abroad.
- 8.
Maniatis, G. (March/April 1995). The Puzzle of Global Hellenism. Odyssey, pp. 27–31, 74.
- 9.
Interviewees included Van Coufoudakis, Director of the Greek Studies Program at Indiana University; Peter Pappas, Director of the North American branch of the Foundation for Hellenic Culture; Nicholas Gage, author and president of the Pan-Epirotiki Federation of USA and Canada; and George Savidis, AHEPA Public Relations Officer.
- 10.
The name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had become by then a pertinent and sensitive issue of Greece’s foreign policy, which managed to mobilise Greek diasporic communities around the world against the former being called Republic of Macedonia, on the grounds that it was part of the Hellenic historical past and should not be appropriated by the northern neighbour of Greece.
- 11.
At that time, Iakovos was the Archbishop of North and South America. That Archdiocese has since been separated into different entities for the United States, Canada, Mexico and Argentina.
- 12.
Hellenicare appears on Bloomberg’s company profile listings as a non-profit organisation. However, the phone number listed has been disconnected and no information has appeared anywhere since 2011. See: https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/0421905D:US-hellenicare-inc.
- 13.
Since the fall of the military dictatorship in 1974, a two-party system dominated Greece’s electoral politics, the centre right New Democracy (ND) and the centre-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). The New Democracy party habitually limited its involvement with the Greek diaspora to the well-educated elite of the United States and/or the United Kingdom, while PASOK had created ties with the Europe-based Greek diaspora (mainly in Germany, Belgium, Holland and Sweden), primarily belonging to lower middle classes. Eventually, diasporic party preferences became more evenly split which was reflected in the European Parliamentary elections, the only elections where Greek citizens abroad were allowed to vote from their place of residence (albeit the numbers of voters remained very low).
- 14.
See the Legal Opinion issued by the Legal Council of the Hellenic State in May 2014 in response to an inquiry submitted by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kostas Tsiaras (in office from June 2012 to June 2013) pertaining to the compensation of three employees of the Foundation for Diaspora Hellenism (‘Idrima Apodimou Ellinismou’, the legal entity created for SAE) whose salaries had been halved on July 26, 2012, and who had not received any salaries during the periods April–July 2012 and January 2013–May 2014. It is mind-boggling that the Legal Council deemed the employees’ plea as just (advising that they should receive full salaries and social security payments) but could not hold either the defunct SAE Executive Board, nor the Greek state accountable or responsible to take any action. In closing, the Legal Opinion states that a temporary administration for both SAE and the Foundation be created. No timeframe is mentioned. On www.diavgeia.gov.gr, Internet Uploading Number, ΑΔΑ: 7ΑΧΖΟΡΡΕ-ΚΤΦ, last access April 5, 2018. No subsequent Legal Opinions or rulings on this matter have appeared on ‘diavgeia’.
- 15.
In 2001, amendments to the Greek constitution included the addition of a second paragraph to Article 108, which now reads: ‘Legislation designates the structure, function and responsibilities of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE), whose mission is to express all forces of global Hellenism’.
- 16.
Transcript of an interview (in Greek) with Terence Quick on ΕλλάςΠαντού (=Greece worldwide), broadcast on ERT-3 on March 11, 2018.
- 17.
ERT = Greek National Television (there are three public stations, all part of ERT: NET and ERT3 televised the Mediathon, and many Greek community TV and Radio stations/programmes broadcast it throughout the world).
- 18.
USA; Canada; Central and South American; African-Near-Middle East; Oceania-Far East; Former Soviet Union countries; Europe.
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Appendix: Chronology of Events—World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) Milestones
Appendix: Chronology of Events—World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) Milestones
1982 | The General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad is established at the Ministry of Culture. In 1993, this government agency is placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. |
1989 | Article 17 of Law 1876/1989 calls for the founding of a worldwide organisation representing diaspora Greeks. |
1994 | Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou appoints Grigoris Niotis as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Greek diaspora portfolio). |
1995 | Niotis travels the world and meets with representatives of diaspora organisations who submit proposals for the creation of SAE. |
Dec. 1995 | The first founding General Assembly takes place in Thessaloniki, hailed ‘capital of diaspora Hellenism’. Greek-American tycoon Andrew Athens is elected as SAE’s first president; also elected are a vice-president, four regional presidents (the Americas, Europe, Oceania, Asia/Africa) and three secretaries. In subsequent elections, a treasurer and a president for the Cypriot diaspora are added to the Executive Committee. |
Jan. 1995 | Due to PM Papandreou’s illness, Kostas Simitis becomes prime minister of Greece. He not only ousts Niotis but abolishes the position of Greek diaspora MFA Deputy Minister. |
1996 | Regional SAE conferences are held in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australia. |
1997 | The first employees are hired for SAE headquarters in Thessaloniki (housed in a Macedonia-Thrace Bank building on lease). The 2nd General Assembly convention is held in December and Andrew Athens is re-elected. |
1998 | Boston is the first ‘Hellenic Cultural Capital’ (SAE N. & S. America). Cultural events are held throughout the year. The first diaspora youth conference is held in Thessaloniki. |
May 1998 | $20 million is pledged at a Global Mediathon involving Greek communities worldwide and ERTFootnote 17 for the Primary Health Care Clinics in the former USSR. The first clinic is opened a year later in Tbilisi, Georgia, by Kostis Stephanopoulos, president of the Hellenic Republic. |
Dec. 1998 | Another legal entity (Foundation of (S)AE = ‘Idrima Apodimou Ellinismou’) is created to by-pass bureaucracy and allow SAE to function as a charitable organisation (not linked to the Greek government as SAE was). |
June 1999 | After years of political bargaining, the Makrides building (donated to the city of Thessaloniki to serve the Greek diaspora) is established as SAE’s headquarters. |
July 1999 | The first SAE Summer Youth Camp is held at Skotina, Pieria (Northern Greece). |
Dec. 1999 | 3rd SAE General Assembly: Andrew Athens is re-elected. |
2001 | Amendments to the Greek constitution name SAE as an ‘advisory body’ to the Greek government on diaspora issues (Article 108) and provide for legislation to enable Greeks abroad to vote in national elections (Article 51). |
Dec. 2001 | 4th SAE General Assembly: Andrew Athens is re-elected. Plans to create an SAE Fund (Tameio Omogenon) to ensure the institution’s financial autonomy are announced. |
Dec. 2003 | 5th SAE General Assembly: Andrew Athens is re-elected for three years (legislation now specifies three-year terms for all elected officers). |
June 2006 | Further legislation on SAE’s structure and function is passed. Law 3480/2006 gives SAE an advisory role to the Greek state on matters pertaining to diaspora, increases the number of SAE regions from four to sevenFootnote 18 and the term in office for all its members from two to four years. Networks are to be established through a decision by the corresponding Regional Assembly. The establishment of Youth Networks is mandatory for each region. |
Dec. 2006 | 6th SAE General Assembly: Stefanos Tamvakis (a businessman from Alexandria, Egypt) is voted in as SAE World President. |
2009 | SAE Executive Board’s terms are silently extended for another three years. No General Assembly is held in Thessaloniki and the Greek government attributes the postponement to the lack of funds and the Greek financial crisis. |
2012 | SAE’s Executive Board’s members cease referring to their association with SAE. |
2013 | Three employees at the SAE headquarters in Thessaloniki are left unpaid for months. They file suit against SAE and the Greek government. |
2013 | SAE’s future is opened to public debate through opengov.gr, the government platform. Almost all contributions are sent by people previously associated with SAE. The whole debate is conducted in Greek. |
2018 | Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Terence Quick begins a global tour of Greek communities promising a new SAE (but with a different name) within the next few years. |
2019 | In December 2019, 288 out of 300 MPs vote in favour of a bill which allows Greek citizens abroad (provided they fulfil certain criteria) to exercise their voting rights from their place of residence. |
2021 | Law 4781/2021 (FEK 31/A/28-2-2021) ‘Organisation and operation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the World Council for Greeks abroad, settlement of issues of international development cooperation and humanitarian aid and other provisions’ including special clauses 452–457 for the re-operation of the Council of Hellenes Abroad. |
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Frangos, M., Anastasakis, O. (2022). The World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE): From Great Expectations to Disillusionment and Crisis Irrelevance. In: Anastasakis, O., Pratsinakis, M., Kalantzi, F., Kamaras, A. (eds) Diaspora Engagement in Times of Severe Economic Crisis. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97443-5_8
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