Χωρίς λόγια…
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Alex Tarran <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Mar 29, 2024 at 5:51 PM
Subject: Closure of the Marie Blanche Library
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Dear Mayor, and dear Deputy Mayor of Culture,
cc the Hellenic Ministry of Culture,
As a lifelong Philhellene of British ancestry and resident of the Demos of Athens, I have, like so many, been shocked and devastated by the decisions of your mayoral office in relation to the Ainos Cultural Centre – Marie Blanche Library and its many associated, auspicious and well-attended cultural activities with prestigious Greek and international cultural bodies.
I consider myself highly privileged to have met two of the Founding Members of the Ainos Culture Centre – Marie Blanche Library during my time as a student at Oxford. Of both my respected friends and academics, Dr Niki Tsironis at the time was also a founding member of Oxford University’s Patristic and Byzantine Society, an important space for so many in the University and a singular voice for Panhellenic, Patristic and Byzantine culture. Since then, Dr Tsironis has gone on to roles in the National Hellenic Research Foundation, the Alexander S Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for Hellenic Studies, and of course as a respected associate in Byzantine Studies at Harvard. It was a profound honour for the demos of Rafina (by which I mean its people whom you represent) to have someone of her prestige reaching out and opening up a cultural space.
Since establishing the Ainos Cultural Society in the wake of the horrific events at Mati in 2018, this centre became, as it was intended by Dr Tsironis whose own life was also severely affected by the fire, a space for healing of trauma associated with the events and tragic loss of life, and as a cultural meeting point for the public of the area with books in as many as five languages, rare manuscripts and distinguished speakers – maintained by volunteers in a far better state than the public library to which it was annexed. To close and empty this centre at short notice, despite the ratification of the Hellenic Republic to the cooperation agreement, is an act of cultural vandalism at best. The demos of Rafina has ‘cut off its nose to spite its face’, as the English expression goes.
I realise of course that it is too late to reverse this decision, and it is the firm decision of the mayoral office, but I hope you will seriously consider reaching out to Dr Tsironi and to the Ainos Cultural Society to find a new home for the society and the library, within municipal space if you can, so that this space does not lose its roots in Rafina, and so that the memory of those for whom this initiative was begun, the many volunteers who have built something of beauty in Rafina, and the hard work of all who have contributed and spoken to an international cultural enterprise, centred in Greece as it should be, and in Rafina especially, can be dutifully honoured.
Greece is a country I love very dearly. It is for the people of Greece and their elected officials to decide its future, not I. But I hope an international voice about the value of the fullness and breadth of Hellenic culture that can be offered to our world goes some way to helping you understand how much this space in Rafina meant to so many and the opportunities supporting this important initiative provides.
All good wishes
Με φιλικούς χαιρετισμούς
Alex
Alexander Tarran
E: [email protected]
M: +30 698 585 6319
