To mock a man who is dying or who has died is a worrying reality. The effect of his racism and his support for extreme right-wing groups was keenly felt. Greece continues to suffer from extreme nationalism and racism, sometimes kindly called xenophobia by the Greek media. Excuses are made about the sudden influx of foreigners, but the reality is there in graffiti and in the attitude of average Greeks. Contempt is the order for anyone and we in the UK have suffered in a small way through the planespotters, the lorry driver Wilson, the Johnsons beaten up for disliking souvlaki, and girls prosecuted for taking their tops off in Corfu and Rhodes as their Greek hosts encouraged. It is, however, brutality to the Albanians that dominates my thoughts- and recent postings of the police beating Albanians on youtube.
Necati believes we should not change the film despite the imminent death of the Archbishop. What he said and his support for extremists has had a deep effect on his country and on those like Necati who suffered there.
Necati recorded a video this summer detailing his response to the racism of Christodoulos and the way it fuels racism in the country and specifically seems to endorese the sort of brutality he suffered at the hands of the Greek Coastguard. At the end, he says, "I understand the archbishop is ill. I hope he gets well soon."
this is from wikipedia:
Criticism and controversy
Christodoulos has supported views on Greek politics and culture, that have been criticized as highly conservative and nationalist. He led protests in 2002 against Greece's version of the television programme Big Brother, urging followers to "pray for the young kids" on the shows and to "turn off our [television] sets". [11]
In 2006, he decried the establishment of the monotonic orthography, as a "globalization plot" to impose "cultural uniformity" and "support the sale of multi-national Olivetti's typewriters". He has also sarcastically referred to the lawmakers' "kindness of relieving our race from the darkness of Aristophanes" [12], with regards to the same matter.
The archbishop has also been intensely critical of globalization, to which he has referred, on repeated occasions, in disparaging terms as a global, or alternatively, "foreigner" plot to deprive people of their national identities. In 2004 he criticized globalization as a "bulldozer that is out to demolish everything, on account of those who want to rule the world without resistance or obstacles"[13], adding that Greeks live in a paradise compared to other Europeans, because "they have a strong faith, they build churches, follow traditions, and resist globalisation". In 2006 he castigated gloabalisation as a "crime against humanity" and "a vehicle to Americanize the life of all humankind"[14]. He has also claimed that "globalization wants to turn us into gruel, soup, sheep, or better yet, turkeys, so that we may be led with a cane"[15]. In 2002, he asked students in a Greek school whether they wanted to be "mince meat or meat", explaining that "foreigners want to turn us into the meat-grinder, while meat is a solid thing".[16]
Christodoulos has frequently criticized the principles and values of what he characterizes "the atheist Enlightenment", and which he contrasts to Christian values [17].
The archbishop has also been criticised for frequently judging the internal and foreign policies of the elected Greek governments, usually during sermon in liturgy. In 1999 he complained during sermon that the Education Ministries were "experimenting on students" with their continuous innovations on the educational system, causing the dissatisfaction of then Minister Gerasimos Arsenis, who was pushing substantial changes in secondary education at the time.
Christodoulos created a major controversy in 2003 when he denounced proposals to let Turkey enter the European Union, calling the Turks "barbarians". [18] Despite the fact a number of Greeks are also opposed to Turkey's entrance (as, indeed, are many other Europeans), Christodoulos' statements were seen as an unwarranted intervention in foreign affairs, based on a discriminatory and racialist logic. It has to be noted, however, that statements to the same effect had been made -and retracted- in the past by former Foreign Affairs Minister Theodoros Pangalos.
The archbishop has been accused of fusing ethnic stereotypes and homophobic ideas when, on another occasion, he proclaimed that "Because we are not German, neither French, far more not English, but manful Greeks, we are Orthodox Christians". [19] The statement reflects a tendency in Greek low comedy to depict the British, French and German men with a tendency towards effeminacy, more frequently seen in bourlesque comedy rather than serious works.
Christodoulos has also been criticized for supporting what many Greeks feel to be an arbitrary, nationalist, and ultimately ahistorical division between the Greek and European culture at large. In 1998 he declared that "when our ancestors gave the lights of civilization, they [Europeans] were living up in trees"[20]. In 2003 he claimed that "history teaches us Europeans were always out to harm us. Long before the sack of Constantinople, Hellenism had been subjected to the horrible experience of the Franks, who wanted to achieve, by any means possible, its extinction". The latter sentence, most probably in reference to the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, seems to indicate that the Archbishop extrapolates attitudes of the excommunicated Frankish sackers of 1204 AD, to all Western Europeans, of all times.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, parts of the public were shocked to hear the archbishop attribute the attacks to "despondent men" who acted "out of despair caused by the injustices of the Great Powers". Critics attacked the archbishop [2] for what they considered to constitute an underhanded justification of the terrorist act. Christodoulos denied the allegation and responded that he condemned the attacks. In the fifth anniversary of the attacks, in 2006, and while speaking to an audience of High School students, Christodoulos characterized the September 11, 2001 attacks "a hideous crime that cost the lives of thousands of innocent people" and attributed them to "man failing to discern between good and evil, and being unable to posit himself responsibly towards the problems of the world" [21].
The archbishop's attacks on human rights have been equally controversial. During a 2006 speech [22], Christodoulos stated that the Church is bound to "come into many conflicts with the movement for human rights", despite the fact "it not only does not oppose human rights, but supersedes them". His proposed reason for these conflicts is that "the Church cannot accept what the Lord of This World is promoting through the human rights movement : the abolishment of sin". The archbishop has attributed human rights to a ploy by Satan on a second occasion, stating that "the forces of Darkness cannot stand it [that Greece is a predominantly Orthodox country], and for this reason they want to decapitate it and flatten everything, by means of globalization, the novel deity that has appeared alongside another deity called human rights, and on account of which they expect us to curtail our own rights". [23]Some interesting links about the Archbishop:
(Greek) Photo of a younger Christodoulos after the swearing-in of the Regime of the Colonels.
Manolis Vasilakis, "Kala na pathoun", ISBN 960-252-007-8 A research on the reactions of Greek media and the public after the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/21/europe/EU-GEN-Greece-Church-Leader.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7033412.stm
http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=5769390&maindocimg=5611810&service=100(Greek)
The Church of Greece and the ancient Greek pantheon, article from Ios Press. (Greek) TV video capture in which the Archbishop analyses his beliefs about the Ancient Greeks and the ancient Greek religion.
Greek archbishop brands Turks 'barbarians'
 |  | By Richard Galpin BBC Athens correspondent |
The head of the Orthodox Christian Church in Greece, Archbishop Christodoulos, has provoked a diplomatic storm with neighbouring Turkey by describing Turks as barbarians who should not be allowed to join the EU.
The Greek Government has distanced itself from the remarks, saying it wanted the European Union to be extended to include Turkey.
Archbishop Christodoulos made the remarks during a sermon delivered in a packed church in the capital, which was filled by local television stations. 
Referring to the Turks, he said barbarians could not come into what he called the family of Christians.
"We cannot live together," he said.
The archbishop is no stranger to controversy and is well-known for his conservative views.
But this latest outburst has clearly angered the Greek Government, drawing an immediate response from the foreign minister, who has been working hard to improve relations with Turkey.
Power struggle
He said the vast majority of the Greek population supported a vision of peace and stability across the region - a vision which he said was becoming reality with the completion of the European Union.
The Greek Government is a strong supporter of Turkey's bid for EU membership.
Athens believes it is in its own national interest after the long years of Turkish occupation during the Ottoman Empire and the continuing hostility, which has almost led to war on several occasions.
But the archbishop's comments may not have been motivated purely by his objection to Turkey joining the European Union.
It may also stem from his power struggle with the overall head of the Orthodox Church, who is based in Istanbul.
They are currently at loggerheads over who has the final say in the appointment of bishops in northern Greece.Austin Cline's Agnosticism / Atheism Blog
Archbishop Calls Turks "Barbarians"
Religious bigotry rears its ugly head once again in Europe as Archbishop Christodoulos, a ultra-conservative religious leader in the Greek Orthodox Church, declared that Turkey should never be allowed to join the European Union because Turks are all just a bunch of nasty barbarians who can't be trusted.News.com reports:
Referring to Athanassios Diakos, a national hero killed at the hands of Turkish Ottomans during Greece's independence struggle in 1821-1828, the leader of Greece's Orthodox Church said: "... they impaled him, those who want today to get into the European Union (...) The barbarians cannot become part of the Christian family because we can't live together."
Christodoulos, on the other hand, is obviously a wise and compassionate man - verily, a paragon of Christian and Greek virtue who should serve as a role model for the rest of us.
Yeah, right.
For obvious reasons, Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou rejected such a denouncement of Turks and continue to speak about living in peace with Turkey. Now that's a wise move - but I wonder how much they really mean it. Dark, Muslim Turkey is having a lot of trouble getting into the European Union. There are fair political reasons for keep them out at the moment (human rights issues, for example), but Turkey does seem to be trying hard to live up to the standards set by the EU, so such reasons may not last forever.
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