There exists two distinct versions of Greece: the one imagined and lived by those in the diaspora, and the one imagined and lived by Greeks who remain, to this day, in the fatherland.

The Greece that is imagined by the current population is one desperately trying to impersonate America and its neighbors. It is consumed by consumerism, it hastens to glorify American art, music, and its heroes, and it is becoming secular and modern in every way imaginable by the West.

Greece has undergone massive social, economic, and demographic changes that have doomed it to become a prostitute for Western tourists and a boarding house for the poor of the East. Villages have been emptied in favor of the cities, the birth rate has plummeted, abortion has become commonplace, and thus the traditional, sacred life of the Greeks has died in the years following the junta.

Following its entrance into the EU, Greece underwent the process of economic enslavement at the hands of the EU bureaucrats who wanted to fashion themselves a new island paradise. The people and traditional way of life held dear to native Greeks then became beholden to foreign economic systems and interests, rather than national or religious interests. Greece was stripped of its national identity, culture, language, faith, and traditions in favor of those that have transformed Greece from the nation of Alexander and Sophocles to the nation of island bars and beaches.

This is all to say that the Greece that exists today is simply a shell of its former self; indeed, it is less than a shell: reduced to mere ashes where the flame of civilization once burned brighter than the sun.

And yet, despite this, there is another Greece that exists. This is the one that exists in the hearts and minds of the people who left Greece and remain loyal to her enduring promise. The Greeks responsible for this interpretation tend to be second and third-generation immigrants, whose parents came in the period of heavy Greek migration during the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Our grandparents left a rural, hyper-traditional, and religious Greece, passing on their vision of that Greece to newer generations who were very much removed from the rapid changes the nation went on to experience. These descendants of Greeks maintained their cultural vigor, their Orthodox faith, and their traditions, often to a greater degree than those in Greece being raised at the same time.

Many Greek-Americans can Greek dance, play traditional Greek instruments, and choose to attend a Greek Orthodox Church at a much higher rate than their native Greek counterparts. If you observe the average Greek-American, they seem to be more patriotic, more religious, and more in tune with the traditions of their ancestors than Greeks residing in Greece. This isn’t meant to slander the millions of faithful and patriotic Greeks who love their people and their culture; it is simply meant to point out that the number of Hellenes worldwide is much higher than the 10 million currently living in Greece. There are five million in the diaspora, to be exact.

Greece has the most well-connected, well-educated, and well-capitated diaspora in the world. Millions of Hellenes are ready to take up the call of the fatherland at a moment’s notice; millions of people who by fate or choice were forced to leave their homeland, but desperately yearn for it.

Diaspora Greeks want so badly to return to their homeland to continue the traditions and practice their faith. The only reason they choose not to is because the current Greek state doesn’t want them, or at least they unintentionally put up purposeful roadblocks to make it difficult for these Greeks to come home and bring their capital and education with them. The only reason it remains so difficult for so many in the diaspora is because there is no political will to change the status quo. As long as Hellas refuses to claim its millions of lost children, they will continue to wander throughout the world, without their land but holding onto their precious traditions.

Greece needs a jump start: economically, spiritually, and politically.

There is a much-needed new life that can be brought willingly into Greece by those who wish to do nothing more than serve their homeland and their countrymen. This is not a matter of will, because the desire already exists in many to enact such plans. However, to achieve this hopeful future, there must be a willingness on the side of the Greek government to meet us halfway.

This is the purpose of KTE: to lift up the spirits of Hellenes globally, and to compel the Greek state to accept our plea. Let us return to Greece, and we will give you a new superpower where you once had a backwater colony of Western influence and failed economic policies.

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