BULLEEN- YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN
The
aforementioned meme proved to be not far off the mark. Despite strident
opposition, primarily expressed via some sections of community radio, a
whopping 92% of members present and entitled to vote, voted in favour of the
GOCMV board’s proposal for the sale. As I stood in the immensely Andrianakos
Centre, itself a product of the Board’s strategic engagement with previously
unharnessed sections of the community, watching the crowds mill and discuss the
proposal enthusiastically, I was taken aback by the frisson of excitement that
pervaded the space. Here there was none of the fractious, acrimonious and
combative atmosphere that generally characterizes the gatherings and deliberations
of organized Greek communities in Melbourne. There was no breaking off into
smaller groups, the famous «πηγαδάκια,» there to indulge in skullduggery and
number crunching. No recalling of past favours, or marshalling of apparatchiks
seemed to be conducted. Where there were once scowls, smiles abounded and an
almost palpable buzz of optimism and goodwill was omnipresent.
Everyone
I spoke with had a different interpretation of what they were voting for. Some
thought they were voting for the construction of a tower, others, for the
construction of an old people’s home with adjoining shops and one particular
elderly gentleman labored under the opinion that he was voting for the
construction of a more genteel counterpart to Oakleigh’s Eaton Mall. We are,
after all, talking about Bulleen. When it was explained to them that the
resolution they were called upon to vote for was for the subdivision and sale
of part of the Bulleen property, this did not perturb them in the slightest,
where only a few years ago, questions of: “And what will they do with the
money? Why should we sell now?”would have left the proposal dead in its tracks.
Indeed, so firm in their convictions were the attendees of the meeting, that
they kept coming in droves, long after the meeting had started. Most were not
interested in hearing the arguments for and against. Instead, they were there,
as most of them put it, to vote for progress and change. As one voter put it:
«Να κάνουμε κάτι επιτέλους.» For them, the GOCMV’s vision for Bulleen
represents that change.
The
fact that the Greek community can go from nitpicking profit and loss statements
in order to trip up Boards about the unaccounted five dollars spent on postage
stamps to placing their trust in a Board’s vision for a multi-million dollar
development represents an important cultural and sociological shift in the way
our community conducts is affairs, and I would venture to say, is of historical
importance. Furthermore, the presence of leaders of diverse smaller community
groups in the Andrianakos Centre last Sunday, all of whom felt that they had a
vital stake in the deliberations of the GOCMV and were more than ready and
willing to assist, where only a few years ago, they were excluded and had no
hope of even getting close to the GOCMV, also represents a historic shift in
the dynamics of our community: From a fragmented, dysfunctional mosaic, we can
see disparate forces, while retaining still their own sense of identity,
gradually coalescing around the central pole of the GOCMV. What is more, rather
than being dragged, kicking and screaming, jealously guarding illusory
privileges to the tombstone, they seem to be wishing to offer themselves to the
GOCMV voluntarily and, with rapture.
The
sale of the Orestias brotherhood’s club building and its subsequent donation of
one million dollars of the proceeds to the GOCMV must be viewed in this light.
Such a donation would have been inconceivable a decade ago and yet there they
were, the committee members of the Orestias brotherhood, standing before the
members at the extra-ordinary general meeting, received the acclamation that is
their due. Soon after, the members, some of whom I know to be the most
querulous, minutiae-delighting, community leaders ever to disrupt an election
or undermine a committee, streamed to the ballot boxes also to give of
themselves willingly to the GOCMV, in a docile and friendly fashion. I found
myself scratching my head in incredulity. Looking up at the Board, seated at
the stage above, I found myself asking: “Who are these people and what have you
done with the real Greeks of Melbourne?”
The
answer is simple. The GOCMV Board has presided over one of the most
progressive, dynamic and productive eras in that institution’s history. By
embarking on necessary infrastructure projects and successfully completing
them, they have managed to galvanise a hitherto apathetic and disengaged
community. By boldly and actively engaging with Greeks of all regions,
political persuasions and religious affiliations, the GOCMV has transformed
itself, in the space of a few years, from an insular, exclusive, ideological
ghetto, into that which its founding fathers dreamed it should be: the
all-embracing, inclusive, peak representative body of Greeks in Victoria. Any
chance visit to the Greek Centre on any given day, but especially on Saturday,
when its floors are bursting with children learning the Greek language in
brilliantly appointed classrooms, or on a Thursday night, when all and sundry
can attend lectures on Greek culture and history, speaks volumes about the
historical revitalization of our community under the current Board of the
GOCMV.
The
Bulleen vote was thus more than just about Bulleen and its future. It was a
ringing endorsement of the direction the GOCMV has taken under this Board and
most importantly, given that the plan to redevelop Bulleen is subject to
numerous conditions and circumstances falling into place, that rare thing for a
Melburnian-Greek: a declaration of trust, that this Board, which has taken upon
itself the task of re-imagining our future as Greek Australians and is
proceeding to lay the necessary foundation to secure that future, will deliver
on its promises and most importantly, has the capacity, to make a collective
dream, a functional reality. The magnitude of that trust (92% of the vote),
marks a historical turning point in the affairs of our community.
As
does the way its leadership is perceived. The almost rapturous manner in which
GOCMV president Bill Papastergiadis was received by the majority of members at
the general meeting, the way in which large numbers confided in me on the day
that they were “voting for Bill,” or that they “came here for Bill,” or that
«οΜπίλληςξέρειτικάνει,» suggests that we may be witnessing the emergence of a
charismatic leader in Hellenic Melbourne, a historic aberration for a people
that both laments the absence of ηγέτεςand proceeds to defenestrate anyone
displaying leadership pretensions, refusing to acknowledge their legitimacy. In
the case of president Bill Papastergiadis, there appears to be a tacit, taken
for granted acceptance among members that he is their leader, that his words
carry weight, that his vision is true and that he is the appropriate person to
represent us within the broader Australian social fabric and beyond. That, in
and of itself, is truly remarkable.
From
a sociological, cultural and even psychological point of view, the Bulleen
vote, which by means of future hindsight will most probably be viewed as
Chapter 2 in the process of our community’s redevelopment and reorganization,
is thus of immense historical importance. Just how far that vision can be carried
forward, depends, largely, upon our ability to maintain the unprecedented level
of communal cohesion the GOCMV has been able to achieve, and ultimately, upon
all of us.
DEAN
KALIMNIOU
kalymnios@hotmail.comFirst published in NKEE on Saturday 11 February 2017
posted by PANEPIROTIC FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA at Saturday, February 11, 2017
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