PHOTO: Philip Christopher with Nomiki Kastanas and Yiannis Stroumbakis at a meeting of the Parade Committee. (Credit: anamniseis.net)
By Nick Stamatakis
As the two sides prepare for elections (the Kalamaras side tomorrow and the Georgopoulos side on June 2nd) Philip Christopher and the Parade Committee, admittedly the organizers of the most successful parade in recent memory, offered all their goodwill, their non-partisan independence and their professionalism to resolve all remaining issues, check independently the credentials of the associations who are members of the Federation FROM BOTH SIDES and lead the Federation in unifying elections in about 5 weeks in early June. You can read the full statement by Philip Christopher by linking here STATEMENT BY PHILIP CHRISTOPHER FOR A JOINT ELECTION PROCESS AT THE NY FEDERATION.
Philip Christopher, in close cooperation, as we have learned, with Yiannis Stroumbakis and Peter Gerazounis: a) Condemns the confrontational actions on both sides and calls both past presidents Dimitris Kalamaras and George Georgopoulos “to cease and desist”. b) Notes that neither side has the majority. This is very true as many of our associations have consciously decided not to participate in the Federation unable to withstand the constant friction and dysfunctionality. c) Calls both sides to present applications of all members to an independent committee with no interest in participating in the elections to review them and proceed to elections in early June.
This is certainly welcome news for the Federation and the community. Helleniscope has suggested recently (links here and here), that the Parade Committee should be used as the vehicle for re-unification and renewal at the Federation. Why? Because it consists of many younger leaders who were not involved in the blemished past. Many are American-born and this is certainly a welcome fact: Finally, our sons and daughters are stepping forward to continue what many generations of immigrants from Greece and Cyprus started decades ago!
We haven’t heard from the two opposing sides yet, but they were surely informed. Hopefully, they will overcome their narrow-mindedness and agree to work together like they cooperated to organize this year’s wonderful parade.
A necessary condition for successful elections and renewal of the Federation would be eliminating the charter’s clause that disallows the election in office of those who have not served at least one term in the past. As I have noted, we should all consider this phase of the Federation as a “constitutional” phase, where we start from scratch. Maybe a quick review of the Charter’s provisions just for the elections process will be necessary – the full charter can be revised next year.
