Planck steps closer to the cosmic blueprint

13 February 2012
ESA’s Planck mission has revealed that our Galaxy contains previously undiscovered islands of cold gas and a mysterious haze of microwaves. These results give scientists new treasure to mine and take them closer to revealing the blueprint of cosmic structure.
The new results are being presented this week at an international conference in Bologna, Italy, where astronomers from around the world are discussing the mission’s intermediate results. These results include the first map of carbon monoxide to cover the entire sky. Carbon monoxide is a constituent of the cold clouds that populate the Milky Way and other galaxies. Predominantly made of hydrogen molecules, these clouds provide the reservoirs from which stars are born.  

	Molecular clouds in the Cepheus region

However, hydrogen molecules are difficult to detect because they do not readily emit radiation. Carbon monoxide forms under similar conditions and, even though it is much rarer, it emits light more readily and therefore is more easily detectable. So, astronomers use it to trace the clouds of hydrogen. “Planck turns out to be an excellent detector of carbon monoxide across the entire sky,” says Planck collaborator Jonathan Aumont from the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Universite Paris XI, Orsay, France.
Surveys of carbon monoxide undertaken with radio telescopes on the ground are extremely time consuming, hence they are limited to portions of the sky where molecular clouds are already known or expected to exist.
 

All-sky image of molecular gas and three molecular cloud complexes seen by Planck

“The great advantage of Planck is that it scans the whole sky, allowing us to detect concentrations of molecular gas where we didn’t expect to find them,” says Dr Aumont. Planck has also detected a mysterious haze of microwaves that presently defies explanation.
It comes from the region surrounding the galactic centre and looks like a form of energy called synchrotron emission. This is produced when electrons pass through magnetic fields after having been accelerated by supernova explosions.
The curiosity is that the synchrotron emission associated with the galactic haze exhibits different characteristics from the synchrotron emission seen elsewhere in the Milky Way.
The galactic haze shows what astronomers call a ‘harder’ spectrum: its emission does not decline as rapidly with increasing energies.
 

	The mysterious Galactic Haze seen by Planck

Several explanations have been proposed for this unusual behaviour, including higher supernova rates, galactic winds and even the annihilation of dark-matter particles. So far, none of them has been confirmed and it remains puzzling.
“The results achieved thus far by Planck on the galactic haze and on the carbon monoxide distribution provide us with a fresh view on some interesting processes taking place in our Galaxy,” says Jan Tauber, ESA’s Project Scientist for Planck.
Planck’s primary goal is to observe the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the relic radiation from the Big Bang, and to measure its encoded information about the constituents of the Universe and the origin of cosmic structure.
 

Galactic Haze seen by Planck and Galactic 'bubbles' seen by Fermi

But it can only be reached once all sources of foreground emission, such as the galactic haze and the carbon monoxide signals, have been identified and removed. “The lengthy and delicate task of foreground removal provides us with prime datasets that are shedding new light on hot topics in galactic and extragalactic astronomy alike,” says Dr Tauber.
“We look forward to characterising all foregrounds and then being able to reveal the CMB in unprecedented detail.”
Planck’s first cosmological dataset is expected to be released in 2013.
Contact for further information
 

All-sky image of molecular gas seen by Planck and previous surveys

 

All-sky image of molecular gas seen by Planck

 

Molecular clouds in the Taurus region

 

Molecular clouds in the Pegasus region

 

ESA's new Vega launcher scores success on maiden flight

13 February 2012
Vega, ESA's new launch vehicle, is ready to operate alongside the Ariane 5 and Soyuz launchers after a successful qualification flight this morning from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

With Vega extending the family of launchers available at the spaceport, Europe now covers the full range of launch needs, from small science and Earth observation satellites to the largest missions like ESA's supply freighters to the International Space Station.
The first Vega lifted off at 10:00 GMT (11:00 CET, 07:00 local time) from the new launch pad, and conducted a flawless qualification flight.
Vega's light launch capacity accommodates a wide range of satellites - from 300 kg to 2500 kg - into a wide variety of orbits, from equatorial to Sun-synchronous. Its reference mission is 1500 kg into a 700 km-high circular Sun-synchronous orbit.
Vega will thus add to Europe's set of launch services next to the Ariane 5 heavy-lifter and the Soyuz medium-class launcher already in service.
The combination of these three systems operating from French Guiana will also improve the efficiency of Europe's launch infrastructure by sharing its operating costs over a larger number of launches.
"In a little more than three months, Europe has increased the number of launchers it operates from one to three, widening significantly the range of launch services offered by the European operator Arianespace. There is not anymore one single European satellite which cannot be launched by a European launcher service," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA.
"It is a great day for ESA, its Member States, in particularly Italy where Vega was born, for European industry and for Arianespace."
Vega launcher development started in 2003. Seven Member States contributed to the programme: Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
"Today is a moment of pride for Europe as well as those around 1000 individuals who have been involved in developing the world's most modern and competitive launcher system for small satellites," said Antonio Fabrizi, ESA's Director of Launchers.
"ESA, with the technical support of the Italian and French space agencies, and about 40 industrial companies coordinated by the prime contractor ELV SpA, have made this enormous challenge a reality in under a decade of development."
More on the flight
All of Vega's three solid-propellant stages performed as planned. The upper stage manoeuvred to reach a circular orbit at an altitude of 1450 km inclined at 69.5º to the equator. There, it released the primary payload, the LARES laser relativity satellite, a 37.6 cm-diameter sphere of tungsten alloy fitted with 92 laser retroreflectors. The mirrors will allow high-precision distance measurements to study a 'frame-dragging' effect predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity.
The upper stage then manoeuvred again to reduce the orbit's lowest point to 350 km, to the correct orbit for release of the ALMASat-1 technology microsatellite and the seven tiny university-sponsored picosatellites.
The upper stage then jettisoned its remaining propellants and shut down.
In order to limit the risk of creating new space debris, Vega's upper stage is in an orbit that ensures reentry in a few years. It will be incinerated during descent, leaving only small pieces to reach the ground.
During the VV01 mission, a large amount of data was collected on Vega's performance, as well as the environment experienced by the payloads.
In the coming weeks, this information will be analysed in depth to confirm the full qualification of the Vega launch system, which will then be handed over to Arianespace for marketing and operations.
New technologies for large solid-propellant motors were demonstrated under flight conditions by the P80FW first stage. As the largest monolithic solid-propellant motor ever flown, it features a composite casing, an advanced nozzle and electromechanical actuators for steering - a world first for a motor of that size.
These technologies will be used on future Vega flights, of course, but they are also available for future launchers being studied by ESA as part of the Next Generation Launcher initiative.
Moving to the next phase
The Vega programme now enters a new phase, called VERTA: the Vega Research, Technology and Accompaniment programme.
Under VERTA, Vega will launch various science and technology missions.
The next flight is scheduled for early 2013 carrying ESA's Proba-V remote sensing satellite and multiple auxiliary payloads.
Other upcoming ESA missions under the VERTA programme are ADM-Aeolus to monitor wind profiles, Lisa Pathfinder to demonstrate technologies for detecting gravity waves, and the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), a demonstrator for advanced reentry technologies.
The first commercial contract for VEGA has already been signed by Arianespace, VEGA's commercial operator and more are under negotiation.
After an open competition, Arianespace was awarded the contract in December 2011 to launch the Sentinel-2B and Sentinel-3B satellites on the Vega launcher, part of ESA's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.

ESA astronaut André Kuipers on his way to the International Space Station

21 December 2011
After their launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 13:16 GMT (14:16 CET) today, ESA astronaut André Kuipers and crewmates Oleg Kononenko and Don Pettit are circling Earth every 90 minutes aboard the Soyuz TMA-3M spacecraft as they make their way to the International Space Station.

During the next two days, the spacecraft will circle the globe 35 times, performing three major engine burns as its orbit is adjusted for docking with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, 23 December at 13:43 GMT (14:43 CET).
With their arrival, the Space Station will resume full operations – the occupancy has been reduced to three for about three months as a result of the Progress cargo vessel launch mishap in August.
During his PromISSe mission – Programme for Research in Orbit Maximising the Inspiration from the Space Station for Europe – André will be part of Expeditions 30 and 31.
As a flight engineer, he will be the prime crewmember responsible for the rendezvous and docking operations of ESA’s third Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV-3. ATV is the largest servicing vehicle for the Station in operation today.
ATV Edoardo Amaldi will deliver essential cargo, perform regular orbit reboosts and enable the Station to avoid space debris.
André will also be closely involved in berthing the new Dragon (SpaceX) and Cygnus (Orbital Sciences) visiting vehicles, part of NASA’s commercial resupply programme.
More than 25 European experiments will be carried out during André’s mission, covering a range of disciplines: human research, fluid physics, materials science, radiation research, biology and technology.
In addition, André will conduct about 20 experiments for NASA and JAXA, the US and Japanese space agencies.
During his mission, André will have his eyes on our planet, sharing some of the unique views of Earth from the Station’s Cupola window module. He will invite children to become involved in a wide range of educational activities about life, biodiversity and the effects of climate change on Earth.
Science demonstrations will be beamed from orbit to classrooms across Europe, with experiments on convection and creating foams in weightlessness.
André will also be an advocate for health and human wellbeing by encouraging children to stay fit by following the second international education initiative of ‘Mission-X: Train Like an Astronaut’.
The ESA astronaut will remain in space for about five months as part of the Station’s permanent, international six-astronaut crew. He will land back on Earth after 148 days next May.

PIPES: Kastelorizo: Mediterranean flash point

Turkey could provoke hostilities at nearby Greek island

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

By Daniel Pipes - The Washington Times

That Athens controls this wisp of land implies it could (but does not yet) claim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Mediterranean Sea extending 200 nautical miles to Kastelorizo. This would reduce the Turkish EEZ to a fraction of what it would be were the island under Ankara's control.
Were Athens to claim its full EEZ, Kastelorizo's presence would make its EEZ contiguous with the EEZ of Cyprus, a factor with great import now, at a moment of massive offshore gas and oil discoveries. Including Kastelorizo in an EEZ would benefit the emerging Greece-Cyprus-Israel alliance by making it possible to transport Cypriot and Israeli natural gas (via pipeline) or electricity (via cable) to Western Europe without Turkish permission. This has taken on special urgency since Nov. 4, when Turkey's minister for energy,Taner Yildiz, announced that his government would not permit Israeli natural gas to transit Turkish territory; Ankara likely also will ban Cypriot exports.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) colleagues accept Greek control of Kastelorizo and its six nautical miles of territorial waters, but not more, and certainly not its full EEZ rights. Indeed, in their eyes, Greek assertion of an EEZ constitutes a casus belli. By neutering Kastelorizo, Ankara can lay claim to a large economic area in the Mediterranean and block cooperation among its adversaries. This is why the island could become a flash point.
Several developments point to AKP intimidation of Greece over Kastelorizo. First, in September, it authorized a Norwegian ship, the BergenSurveyor, accompanied by other sea craft, to begin prospecting for gas and oil south of Kastelorizo, including some of the island's continental shelf. Second, Turkish warships have trained with live ammunition between Rhodes and Kastelorizo. Finally, Turkish military aircraft overflew Kastelorizo four times in 2011 without permission, sometimes very low with reconnaissance aircraft.
This bellicosity fits a larger pattern. The AKP government, especially since it took full control of the armed forces in late July, has shown increasing hostility toward Cyprus, Israel, Syria and Iraq. In addition, Ankara has long denied Cyprus its EEZ, so doing the same vis-a-vis Kastelorizo builds on an established policy. Indeed, the Turks' brutal, napalm-assisted 1974 conquest of the northern 36 percent of Cyprus set a precedent for seizing nearby island territory. Grabbing Kastelorizo would require about as much time as reading this column.
So far, responses to heightened Turkish aggression in the Mediterranean have focused on deterring Turkish feints toward gas and oil reserves in the Cypriot EEZ, with navies and statements from the United States and Russia backing the Republic of Cyprus' right to exploit its economic resources. Cypriot President Demetris Christofias warned that if Ankara persists with its gunboat diplomacy, "there will be consequences which, for sure, will not be good." Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the Greeks, "If anyone tries to challenge these drillings, we will meet those challenges," and his government enhanced security not only for its own maritime fields but also for drilling areas in Cypriot waters. On at least one occasion, Israeli warplanes have confronted Turkish ships.
Such clear signals of resolve are welcome. As the European Union pushes Greece to drill for hydrocarbons to find new sources of income, it should also support Athens in declaring its EEZ, reject AKP troublemaking over Kastelorizo and clearly indicate the dire results for Turkey from any aggression toward an island now happily renowned for its diving and snorkeling.
Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org) is president of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.
© Copyright 2012 The Washington Times, LLC.

The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks

Studies on the State–Sponsored Campaign of Extermination of the Christians of Asia Minor (1912-1922) and Its Aftermath: History, Law, Memory

Edited by Tessa Hofmann, Matthias Bjørnlund and Vasileios Meichanetsidis 



The recent vote against the denial of the Armenian Genocide held by the French Parliament, and the discussion to recognize the same event by the Israeli Knesset, brings to the fore the issue of the Turkish government’s adverse reaction, reflecting perhaps a deep-seated sense of culpability and apparent unwillingness to accept responsibility for the first genocide of the Twentieth Century, that of the Christians of the Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish Republic.

On February 28, 2012 Aristide D. Caratzas is publishing The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks, a collective work by nineteen distinguished international scholars, which addresses one of the lesser known aspects of the extermination of the Ottoman Christians, namely that of the Greeks, and provides a number of approaches for the study of this event.

The period of transition from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire to the foundation of the Turkish Republic was characterized by a number of processes largely guided by a narrow elite that aimed to construct a modern, national state. One of these processes was the deliberate and planned elimination, indeed extermination, of the Christian (and certain other) minorities. The numbers are stark: most scholars agree that in 1912 there were about 4-5 million Christians in Asia Minor and Thrace (Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians and others); by 1923 the Christians in the space that became the Turkish Republic were reduced to less than 300,000.

Raphael Lemkin, the legal scholar who introduced the term “genocide” into international law, formulated his early ideas on the definition of this war crime by studying the destruction of the Christians of Asia Minor, while the distinguished (recently deceased) Turcologist Neoklis Sarris has noted that the annihilation of the Christian minorities represented an integral element of the formation of the Turkish Republic.

As the editors of this volume note, the recent resolution by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) recognizing the Greek and Assyrian genocides (December 2007) reinforces the justification for the study in greater depth of the genocide of the Greek Christian population of Asia Minor and Thrace.

The last two decades have seen a massive amount of research of the genocide of the Armenian population in the Ottoman/Turkish space; our publishing house has produced a number of works, most notable of which was the eyewitness testimony of Leslie A. Davis, US Consul in Harput (The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917).

Much less scholarly work has been done on the genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor and Thrace; there are many reasons for this, including the fact that Turkish governments have been successful in intimidating diplomats in the context of Turkish-Greek relations of the last generation, and of subverting academic integrity by inducing some scholars (including Greeks) to make a career as denialists supported by international NGOs, in the name of countering "nationalism."

The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks therefore represents an effort to provide an outline and approaches for more extensive study of the deliberate destruction and elimination of a Greek presence that spanned over three millennia in the space that became the Turkish Republic. It includes fifteen article contributions by scholars from Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States, and three appendices (“A Chronology of Major Events,” “A Glossary of Terms,” and “A Select Bibliography,” the last over forty pages).  

The thematic approaches developed in The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks include:  A group of eight studies under the section titled “Historical Overview, Documentation, Interpretation;” and two more in a section titled “Representations and Law,” one of which outlines Lemkin’s studies of the Christian genocide based on his personal archive. In addition there are sections titled “Genocide Education,” “Memorialization,” and “Conceptualization,” which include studies exploring, a) an outline syllabus for the teaching of the Greek genocide on the secondary level in the US (in Chicago), b) the erection of monuments in Greece commemorating the loss of life and homelands, c) the role of genocide in the creation of nationality, and d) a critical approach in the use of photographic evidence for the study of the genocide of the Christian peoples in what is now the space occupied by the Turkish Republic.

Publication Information:

Publisher: Aristide D. Caratzas / http://www.caratzas.com

Publication Date: February 28, 2012

Hardcover xii+508 pages, 37 photographs, maps (including a foldout) 

ISBN 978-0-89241-615-8 

Price: US$75.00



Contents:

“Introduction” — Tessa Hofmann, Matthias Bjørnlund and Vasileios Meichanetsidis

“The Integrity and Courage to Recognize All the Victims of a Genocide” — Israel W. Charny

Historical Overview, Documentation, Interpretation

“Γενοκτονία εν Ροή, Cumulative Genocide: The Massacres and Deportations of the Greek Population of the Ottoman Empire (1912-1923)” — Tessa Hofmann

“The 1914 Persecutions of Greeks in the Ottoman Empire and the First Attempt at an Exchange of Minorities between Greece and Turkey” — John Mourelos

“Danish Sources on the Destruction of the Ottoman Greeks, 1914-1916” — Matthias Bjørnlund

“The Role of Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa (Special Organization) in the Genocide of 1915” — Racho Donef

“The Smyrna Holocaust: The Final Phase of the Greek Genocide” — Nikolaos Hlamides

“The Immediate Context of the Smyrna Catastrophe: The Peace Treaties and the Aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922” — Matthew Stewart

“The American Near East Relief and the Megale Katastrophe in 1922”— Harry J. Psomiades

“International Red Cross: A Mission to Nowhere” — Stavros T. Stavridis

Representations and Law

“Genocide of Others: Raphael Lemkin, the Genocide of the Greeks, the Holocaust, and the Present Moment” — Steven Leonard Jacobs

“The Ottoman Genocide of the Greeks and the Other Christian Minorities in Light of the Genocide Convention” — Alfred de Zayas

Genocide Education, Memorialization, Conceptualization

“Teaching the Greek Genocide” — Ronald Levitsky

“Remembering the Genocide and the ‘Unforgettable Homelands:’ The Erection of

Commemorative Monuments in Greece by the Refugees of Asia Minor — Michel Bruneau

and Kiriakos Papoulidis

“The Eastern Question: Genocide in Support of Nationality” — Akis Kalaitzidis and Donald Wallace

Achieving Ever-Greater Precision in Attestation and Attribution of Genocide Photographs —

Abraham Der Krikorian and Eugene Taylor

Appendices: Chronology of Major Events; Glossary of Terms; Select Bibliography

Caratzas/Melissa Books

www.caratzas.com

caratzasmelissabooks@gmail.com

Church and state in Conservative Ottawa

Church and state in Conservative Ottawa
By EVAGELOS SOTIROPOULOS | Jan. 09, 2012

TORONTO—Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—seven simple words from the U.S.
Declaration of Independence that forever changed a nation. These "unalienable rights" it should be remembered are endowed by a "Creator" according to that famous 1776 document.

Similarly, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms brought in by Pierre Elliott Trudeau states that Canada is "founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law."

It was these two examples that Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney used as a springboard to address the more than 80 Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox clergymen who gathered to hear him at a private luncheon in Toronto last month.

As Kenney delivered his off-the-cuff introductory remarks, one could not help but see the enthusiasm he has for the religious vocation and for the need to protect all communities and individuals (not just Christians) persecuted because of their faith.

Religion—and its role in the political square—is a sensitive subject in this day and age, especially for the current federal government which has time and again been accused of being beholden to the religious right.

This claim persists despite the fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has shown, in both word and deed, his unwillingness to open the debate on issues that matter to them (namely, abortion and same-sex marriage).

Yet listening to Kenney was to hear a politician speak authentically and whether one agreed with him or not, you knew where he stood on the issues discussed.


Alas, this attribute—authenticity—is often absent from our elected officials.

Kenney's story concerning Shahbaz Bhatti, for example (the Christian Pakistani Cabinet member who was assassinated in March because he dared to criticized that country's blasphemy laws), showed emotion seldom seen in the scripted world of Canadian politics.

During the meeting, the Minister reiterated Canada's commitment to Iraqi refugees who face persecution and support of other communities, like Ahmadiyya Muslims, who are also under threat.

Other subjects given consideration included Egypt's Coptic Christians, the situation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the question of confiscated Armenian Churches in Turkey and the problems facing Christians in Kosovo.

Kenney's address to church representatives at the Greek Orthodox Metropolis comes in the context of the soon-to-be established Office of Religious Freedom—one of the few policy issues from last year's federal campaign still being debated.

The office is a potential sweet spot for Conservatives where good policy meets good politics.

They can promote values that play to their strength like democracy, human rights and the rule of law while at the same time cementing their relationship with ethnic communities that Kenney has worked hard to cultivate. (So hard, in fact, that Maclean's named him the hardest working Parliamentarian in 2011.)

On the other hand, however, by reorienting its foreign policy to protect religious minorities, the federal government leaves itself open to criticism that it is playing international favourites for domestic gain.

There have already been a number of stories that those being consulted on the Office of Religious Freedom are drawn from Judeo-Christian communities with both eastern religions and Islam largely excluded.

Time will tell how the Conservatives stickhandle these sensitivities. One thing, though, is evident: a dialogue between church and state can yield benefits to society and is not indicative of one being beholden to the other.

Evagelos Sotiropoulos is a freelance political columnist.

news@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

Solidarity with the Greek people !

I, too, am Greek ! 
We demand double nationality !

Enfuriated by the cowardice and lack of imagination of the Western governments—including our own 
(1)—towards the dictatorship of the financial markets;
And disgusted by the current humiliations being imposed on the Greek people, shamefully accused of excess and dishonesty, pronounced guilty without being allowed a defence 
(2), condemned to endless austerity and penitant contrition, in a language that evokes 1940 and Pétain with its "moral order," "effort" and "spirit of joy;"
And certainly not forgotting those who now sacrifice Greece to the financial speculators, pretend that "economic fascism" will content itself with the little countries, sparing themselves...
... those same people who abandoned Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1938, hoping that he would be satisfied with this new prey, following the cowardice shown to the Spanish republicans 
(3); We will no longer support these nouveaux riches (the triumphant 1% of the globalised world), who ignore the moral debt that humanity owes to the Greek nation 
(4), which sowed the first seeds of direct democracy
(5), based precisely on the abolition of debts and the emancipation of citizens reduced to slavery by their indebtedness 2500 years ago 
(6). For all these reasons, we are all Greeks. We want to send a clear signal right now that we will no longer collaborate a minute longer in passivity towards the financial regime imposed on Greece 
(7). We wish to express our solidarity with Greece, and to share, at least symbolically, the fate of its people.
We therefore ask for dual Greek nationality, by making a formal request to the Greek ambassador in our country. We will launch this campaign with a list of primary signatories on the 24 November 2011, a date that is also the anniversary of a significant action by the Greek resistance at the Gorgopotamos Viaduct on the night of the 24/25 November 1942 
(8)."Declaration of Nantes for Greece," 11/11/11.
"Your excellency, in solidarity with your country, I, the undersigned.............. request personally to be counted at heart a Greek, to enjoy the rights and duties of dual nationality, and to express this international citizenship with a view to the establishment of universal democracy in liberty and equality, twenty-five centuries after the time of Solon, Clisthene, and Pericles. Thanks in advance for your response, and in fraternity with your people. "
My name, town and country of residence follow, along with my profession and other relevant personal information (blogger, musician, father, student, Hellenist, age, etc.): FAMILY NAME, First name............ Town........... Country of residence....... Profession and other personal information................. Where to send it ? In France, send a letter to l'Ambassade de Grèce, République hellénique, 17 rue Auguste-Vacquerie, 75116 Paris (Telephone : 01 47 23 72 28, Fax : 01 47 23 73 85 ).
Copy and paste this text, or write a personalised letter to the embassy. When you have done so, send a copy to the following list of email addresses (copy/paste the entire line):
mfapar@wanadoo.fr, grinfoamb.paris@wanadoo.fr, info@amb-grece.fr, grpresse@magic.fr, jesuisgrec@numericable.fr, (The first address is that of the Greek embassy in Paris, the next two
are those of its press office and communications office which must be informed of your application, the fourth is the Greek office at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and the latter is the liaison address
for this initiative for information and coordination).
You can also post a personal comment on the dedicated blog: http//:www.jesuisgrec.blogspot.fr
This personal and collective response of a request for Greek nationality belongs only to those who undertake it, and is not directed by any party or institution. It has been proposed by the N.e.u.f. cultural association ("Nantes Est Une Fête! ", note 9)

Notes on the call for solidarity:
Note 1: We will never forget the paternalistic disdain displayed towards Greece by the leaders of Germany and France, an arrogant and vexatious attitude, made all the more scandalous by the fact that it is these two countries whose major arms deals with Greece have ruined the country.
We are shamed by the Merkel-Sarkozy couple, who lecture at Greece when it is down, forcing upon them a treatment that is as highhanded and inept as that of the bloodletting physicians of old, medicine which
they next plan to administer to their own people.
We cannot accept that, for the first time in the history of mankind, a country will lose its political sovereignty at the diktat of financial markets, merely to defend the investments of the privileged 1% of the world, who have bought themselves government bonds.
We will not allow these slanders towards the Greek people to pass, while the responsibilities of the profitmongers and international traffickers and their accomplices remain ignored.
Note 2: Nor even to express themselves in a referendum.
Note 3: Churchill's well known comment after Munich: "You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war." Gandhi's comment from India is less well known: "Europe has sold her soul for the sake of seven-days’ earthly existence. The peace Europe gained at Munich is a triumph of violence; it is also its defeat."
We do not forget General Faucher, the French mission chief in Prague, who, sickened by the Munich agreement, submitted an honourable resignation to the French government, and then requested Czech citizenship. General Louis-Eugène Faucher (1874-1964) had lived for twenty years among the Czech people. On his return to France, he joined the resistance against the Nazi occupation, was arrested and deported to Germany, and survived to return home in 1945.
Note 4: Because Greece has given the world the inspiring myth of Antigone, the unconquerable defiance of conscience in the face of arbitrary tyranny; 
Note 5: Because Greece gave Europe the first seeds of direct democracy (not delegated to a class of professionals, but exercised directly by an assembly and by drawing lots),
Note 6: And because the first act of the newborn Athenian democracy, though but a fragile and imperfect shoot, under the rule of Solon in 594 BCE, was precisely the abolition of debts and the general emancipation of citizens reduced to slavery by personal indebtedness. But who remembers that?
We do not forget the eminent and heroic Greek resistance, which strongly participated in the liberation of Europe from Nazism.
Note 7: The controls imposed on Greece are a blatant coup d'etat against European democracy, a deliberate suffocation of its civil society, a material and moral humiliation of its people, which will inevitably spread in a domino effect to neighbouring countries, including our own, with a risk of pre-fascist crisis.
Note 8: On the night of the 24/25 November 1942, the destruction of the strategic Gorgopotamos railway viaduct between Thessaloniki and Athens was an important joint action between two major elements of the Greek resistance: the communist EAM-ELAS and the non-communist EDES-EOEA, with the support of British special forces.
Note 9: The N.e.u.f association organises the Fête des langues (Festival of languages) and walking tours commemorating the resistance against fascism in Nantes (Pays de la Loire/Brittany, France). This association was instrumental in achieving the transparent publication of public finances on the internet in 1995, and in 1997 launched the "Réveillon de 1er mai" (Eve of the 1st of May) outside the Paris Bourse (Stock exchange), the first demonstration in the western world for the Tobin tax on financial speculation and against tax havens.
N.e.u.f. also participated in the "Call to the youth for resistance" of the 8 March 2004 with ATTAC, and the Décapol Declaration for Ten new rights for the coming century.

http://lucky.blog.lemonde.fr/2006/11/13/video-et-texte-de-lappel-des-resistants-traductions/

http://cf.groups.yahoo.com/group/LeMonde-etLaResistance/message/2

http://lucky.blog.lemonde.fr/2005/09/18/2005_09_decapol_dekapol/

Technical notes:

There is a general Greek consulate in Marseille, as well as twenty or so honorary consulates in other French towns. Consult the list here: http://www.levoyageur.net/ambassade.php?pays=GRECE

A Greek flag measuring 1 x 1.5m with a pole, costs around 30 euros from a specialised shop. A small table flag costs about 3 euros.
The photo overleaf shows the Greek flag flying over the Acropolis in Athens, an important site for remembrance of the anti-nazi resistance.


SVP :
Nous cherchons des volontaires pour traduire l'intégralité de ce message en grec, anglais, et autres langues. Merci d'avance.

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