Differing Values in Elefsina

administrator — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 18:45:00 +0000

I have found myself repeatedly returning to the boat harbor in Elefsina these days. In the cool of the evening, it provides a reassuring jogging path for my weary feet to tread. I jog past the sailing yachts moored across from the superstore JUMBO, and through the empty waterfront parks that are amazing not only for their artistry, but the fact that they are almost always empty. I run past the fishing pier where local fishermen have moored their boats and display their daily catch on icy displays. I dodge through the one or two locals negotiating their evening meal and on past the bus stop before cutting back to my place. This same area has become part of my daily routine as well. Now that the famous Greek morning sun is becoming my reliable friend I have decided to make the empty waterfront park at the yacht harbor my second home! It’s quietly beautiful here! But not all places in Elefsina give me respite from my daily desire for peace.

Street signs show us where the site lies.

Recently my classmate Faidon and I returned to the corner of Iera Odos and Atzhlespnoy street. For those who have walked past this corner without any awareness, this walled off corner of Elefsina is another archeological site. Here, behind 6-foot tall walls of concrete and corrugated tin, sits the unearthed road known as the Sacred Way. Unless you were led here by local archeologists, you would not know of this place, since it is a walled off overgrown empty lot that has very little value to the city of Elefsina. But values, as we all have learned, are relative.
So what is the value of this walled off corner of heritage to contemporary society? Despite the decisions by some to hide this piece of heritage behind walls some have found a way to give it value. On this day as I returned to the site with Faidon, we first stopped at the local grocery store where Faidon purchased plastic gloves and large trash bags. As we crawled through the small opening off the side street into the site I realized our chore before us. This site was strewn with trash of all kinds and it was up to the two of us to put our values in place!

I put down my backpack of books about heritage and began removing the remnants of value left behind by someone whose values are different than mine! It dawned on me as I spent the next hour picking up this trash that this was not a random trash dump! Someone or group had been visiting this site and since the local dumpsters are right across the street it was convenient to take the trash from the dumpsters and carry it into the walled off site. Here they could dig through the trash privately, taking what they could find to eat, to wear, to survive.
We completed our value reassessment and loaded our ten huge trash bags of contemporary values into the dumpsters across the street and headed back to class. As I walked back to class that day I was reminded once again what values are and how to attribute value to any place. While we sit in our classrooms and talk theory about values, there are those all around us with different ideas!
If the archeological value is treated as it is then contemporary society will give it value based on need. Who am I to judge what value this ignored corner of Elefsina provided to the people that ate here and found shelter here. Yes, they’re not my values, but I am not homeless, starving, or walking around in filthy clothes.
I returned to the site again today and I was not surprised to see all my hard work gone. It was littered again with the same trash that Faidon and I had removed just a few days ago! Once again I was reminded about how to value heritage!

Rae Rippy is Student Academic Officer for the HERMA class of 2015-16. With a background in business, journalism, and geology, he is interested in the preservation of heritage around the world, and the role of education as it pertains to that goal.

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A Palestinian Inside the Greek House of Democracy

administrator — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 15:00:00 +0000

It sounds funny when I connect my country, which has never been a democratic state, or even a real state, with the notion of “democracy”. Democracy traces back to Ancient Athens in the 6^th century BC, but in my country, we are still fighting each other for a chair that we don’t have the power to control!
Lately, I have been considering being a leader for democracy; in late 2014 I was selected from the US Consulate in Jerusalem as a leader for democracy among thousands. This was honoring my activism for youth rights, but also increased my responsibilities to contribute to democracy in my country and the region.
As a Masters student in Heritage Management, I have a thirst to explore the heritage of Greece as much as possible, and I walked across Syntagma Square many times, but never thought the parliament is close to it. I learnt that “syntagma” is the word for “constitution” in the Greek language. The Hellenic Parliament Building itself has never grabbed my attention, as it seemed to me like many other buildings in Athens built in Neoclassical architectural style, until I discovered it is the house of democracy. Therefore, it became one of the must-visit sites on my list.
The building was the old royal palace which was designed for the king at that time (1934) and was completed nine years later. Since then, it has housed the Hellenic Parliament. A few weeks ago, I learnt about a tour inside the building for the foreign students studying in Athens organized by “Arcadia Study Abroad – Greece” which organize internships and exchange programs for US citizen in Greece. On Wednesday, I had the chance to observe the modern history of Greece since there was independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, as well as the journey of the constitution. The guide was enthusiastic to tell us everything that happened, but the most important things I remembered is that the first national parliament of the independent Greek state was established in 1843. The parliament is a unicameral legislature of 300 members, elected for a four-year term.

Here, Members of Parliament vote on important issues.

We moved between many comics describing the transition of the kingdom, the history of Cyprus, newspapers, portraits of political leaders, the restoration of the building when an accidental fire occurred at the beginning of the twenty century, and they even made the paintings in black and white to differentiate the walls which were affected by fire from others.
What attracted me as a Palestinian was a picture of the first Palestinian president “Arafat” and a document related to my country dated in April of 1992 with the heading of the Palestinian representative (even before Oslo 1993). It was the first time since I arrived to Athens to see something related to my country, even though I was very welcomed from all of the Greeks I met when they asked about my nationality. I am now so curious to know more about the relationship of my political leaders and the Greek ones in that critical period of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

Pointing out the picture of the 1992 event

Before we left, the organizers asked us to shortly introduce ourselves. I started and nobody followed; the attendees – more than 30 people – were very curious to know about my Masters, why I choose to study in Greece, and what I am going to do with the degree when I return. I couldn’t escape them before promising to give a presentation in their organization about my Masters and its importance to Palestine!

Ms. Jawida Mansour is a student in the Kent/AUEB MA in Heritage Management programme. She holds degrees in architectural engineering and business administration and has eight years of experience in economic development, concentrating on entrepreneurship among Palestinian youth. She is an outspoken social critic, having published numerous articles in local journals on issues related to women and youth in society. She is driven by her passion to empower women and youth both politically and economically using cultural heritage and national traditions.

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HERMA 2015 Archives - The Heritage Management Organization

Differing Values in Elefsina

A Palestinian Inside the Greek House of Democracy