The number of farmers joining protests for a reduction in production costs is rising in northern Greece 45 tractors were parked at the exit to the village of Nea Malgara on the old national road 32 tractors were stationary at a junction in Alexandria Kilikis had 43 tractors parked at Polykastro and 20 more at the entrance to the city of Kilkis 71 tractors were at the Paralimni intersection and 51 in Krya Vrysi 17 tractors were stationed on the Thessaloniki-Edessa highway Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox Photos: MARKOS CHOUZOURIS / EUROKINISSI / PHOTO FROM ARCHIVE In a collaborative effort involving Zografeion Lyceum students a symbolic tree planting event took place in the “Krya Vrysi” area of Avantas symbolizing the years of the historic School of Constantinople The event commenced with a warm welcome from the mayor of Alexandroupolis where attendees were briefed on the devastating wildfires of August by the head of the Forestry Department the students and teachers paid a visit to the church of Saint Charalambos venerating a fragment of the saint’s relic The local priest provided insights into the church’s history and the significance of the relics housed within the students participated in tree planting activities at the courtyard of the 3rd Primary School of Alexandroupolis followed by tours of the historical school and the Ecclesiastical Museum They were also received by Metropolitan Anthimos of Alexandroupolis emphasized the school’s commitment to fostering friendship citing a similar initiative undertaken on one of the Princes’ Islands where students planted 100 trees around Saint Nikolaos He expressed gratitude to Metropolitan Anthimos for supporting the endeavor particularly in the wake of the wildfires that ravaged the region in August 2023 Source: hellasjournal.com / Translated by: Konstantinos Menyktas The annual graduation ceremony of the Patriarchal Toronto Orthodox Theological Academy (PTOTA) was held at the Cultural Centre of.. Archbishop Makarios of Australia will be conferred the title of Honorary Doctor by both the Department of Theology and.. The Vatican announced on Monday that all telephone communication within its territory will be suspended during the upcoming conclave.. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered the keynote address at the International Scientific Conference “Restarting from Nicaea:.. The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved on October 4th the canonization of Eldress Sophia (function() { window.mc4wp = window.mc4wp || { listeners: [] cb) { window.mc4wp.listeners.push( { event : evt callback: cb } ); } } }})(); © 2023 OrthodoxTimes.com - All rights reserved Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website These cookies do not store any personal information Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website Which political leaders talk more about their agenda which ones devote themselves to criticising their opponents which individual issues complement the established topics and whether political discourse escalates just before the ballots division and polarisation in political discourse Populism is not equivalent to politicians’ falsehoods We are now at the heart of the pre-election period Political leaders give speeches all the time and sometimes the main contenders – Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Alexis Tsipras – even deliver two speeches on the same day The main characteristics of each leader’s discourse seem to be well established We will look in detail below at how the political leaders’ discourse evolved during the third week of the pre-election period As regards the emotional climate that stems from the leaders’ speeches we explained from the beginning that our basic presumption is that the positive climate will be mainly found in the government discourse the basic trends observed during the last two weeks are confirmed All the speeches given by the Prime Minister lie within the positive range Alexis Tsipras and Nikos Androulakis’ speeches remained in the neutral range in which Dimitris Koutsoumbas’ speeches are reflected this week Yanis Varoufakis’ speeches are going in the exact opposite direction passing into the negative range for the first time We may associate the emotional climate with the extent to which each political leader focuses on the promotion of his poltical agenda and his government programme or on the criticism of his opponents This observation can explain why Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ discourse is firmly inside the positive range The Prime Minister’s speeches are overwhelmingly devoted to the promotion of the party’s programme And this trend is consistent over the entire pre-election period Alexis Tsipras’ discourse is quite divided with the dimension of criticism taking a slight lead this week The case of Yanis Varoufakis presents a similar picture Nikos Androulakis’ political discourse is placed somewhere between the Prime Minister’s entirely programmatic speech and Tsipras – Varoufakis’ divided speech in the context of which the promotion of the programme takes a slight precedence over criticism The majority of Dimitris Koutsoumbas and Kyriakos Velopoulos’ speeches involves criticism These observations explain why so far during the pre-election period Tsipras – Androulakis – Varoufakis’ speeches are mainly inside the neutral range while Koutsoumbas – Velopoulos’ speeches are inside – or are moving in the direction of – the negative range The subjects touched upon in each leader’s speech are analyzed below we will examine the polarization and populism indexes The levels of political polarization in Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ discourse continue to remain low he explicitly states that he does not intend to deal with the opposition and with what other political parties are saying there are moments when polarization patterns are used in order to raise dilemmas and the stakes behind the elections A significant increase in moments of polarization is identified in Alexis Tsipras’ discourse The polarization characterizing the opposition leader was fairly limited considering that we are talking about an opposition party and has shown signs of gradual increase from May 4th onwards A significant increase is observed this week specifically compared to the first ten days of the pre-election period An increase in the moments of polarization is also observed in Nikos Androulakis and Yanis Varoufakis’ speeches There has been a low-level escalation of the use of polarization patterns in Dimitris Koutsoumbas’ speeches last week which remained at the same levels this week as well identifying himself as an anti-populist politician does not show signs of populist discourse in his speeches Constantly present and slightly more in number are the populist moments in the opposition leader’s speech A typical populist pattern in Alexis Tsipras’ speech is his reference to the fact that the people and not cartels or the powerful ones will be celebrating on the Election Day Whereas no significant moments of populist discourse are observed in Nikos Androulakis Kyriakos Velopoulos and Yanis Varoufakis’ speeches specific reference should be made to Dimitris Koutsoumbas We have once again pointed out that populism does not represent a central element of the Communist Party secretary general’s discourse the reason why we are still making this specific reference is that one can identify numerous references to “the people” in Dimitris Koutsoumbas’ speeches When we were describing how we would approach the phenomenon of populism we had explained that it is not enough just to identify a large number of references to “the people” but the role of this signifier in the political discourse is fundamental Most of the times when we come across these references in Dimitris Koutsoumbas’ speech “the people” is used as another word to describe workers The identity of “the people” is not usually open; the signifier “the people” does not play the role of the nodal point required in a populist discourse whereas several times such reference is accompanied by the dichotomous representation “the people vs we had commented on how each political leader’s main agenda is consolidated The observation that much of political leaders’ speech revolves around the elections themselves and the stake behind them also applies to this week as well Economy and health remain key topics for Kyriakos Mitsotakis they are complemented by other themes depending on the location at which the speech is delivered national security appeared to be the key topic in Mytilini while in Lavrio tourism was the basic point of his speech with a reference to the local marina the economy is one of the major themes of Alexis Tsipras’ speeches the opposition leader’s discourse features several themes at once The issues that complete his main agenda are amongst others the private debt corruption / accountability and the social state It appears once again that politicians adapt their speeches based on the place they visit since national security was among the basic points of his speech in Alexandroupoli while in Trikala rural policy was included in the agenda There is a wide variety of themes in Nikos Androulakis’ speeches with the PASOK’s leader mainly referring to the economy the social state and to questions of democracy / accountability The economy is also a key topic for Dimitris Koutsoumbas as well His speech in Heraklion is of particular interest the Communist Party’s secretary general chose to raise the issues of employment and tourism obviously emphasizing the working conditions of those working in the tourism sector The economy remains a top theme for Yanis Varoufakis throughout the pre-election period while this week his main agenda also included the subject of housing we identify the references to names of persons institutions and organizations made by the political leaders in their speeches An analysis that appears to us to be complementary to what has preceded it is possible to observe that the Prime Minister constantly referred to Turkey and Evros thus noting that the issue of Greece – Turkey relations is important although it does not appear as such in the main themes of his speech The number of references made by Alexis Tsipras to the name of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been at a constant high level The social groups mainly targeted by Tsipras in his speeches were the young people The number of references made by Nikos Androulakis both to the Prime Minister and the opposition leader was consistently high It is noticeable that PASOK leader repeatedly referred to PASOK founder Dimitris Koutsoumbas keeps referring to and targeting the workers Such observation is associated with what was mentioned earlier about the signifier “the people” in Dimitris Koutsoumbas’ speech Kyriakos Velopoulos raised the Macedonian question this week referring to Macedonia and the Macedonians he keeps referring to names of Greek businessmen and various international organizations and entities thus confirming that he is the political leader that firmly deals with the memorandum framework.Translation: Tina Katoufa iMEdD is a non-profit organization in an effort to enhance transparency founded in 2018 with the exclusive donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) a village in northwestern Crete was evacuated on Friday afernoon as flames approached the wider area as strong winds which continued for a second day in the region of Rethymno hampered firefighting operations The residents of Melabes village in the regional unit of Rethimno were told to evacuate towards Nea Krya Vrysi while the blaze near the villages of Orne and Kria Vrisi are uncontrollable due to the extremely strong winds registering there Mayor Giannis Tatarakis told state-run news agency AMNA More than 40 fire engines and three water-dropping helicopters are operating at Orne and Rodakino in the southern part of Agios Vassilios municipality The fire is under the square of Melabes village The blaze has become very difficult again and so is the night ahead We are very worried because it is very windy,: he told Kathimerini were also ordered to evacuate earlier in the day as flames burned through low bush and olive groves A firefighter was earlier injured in the area but has recovered and is now out of danger The first fire in the area broke out in a semi-mountainous area in the municipality of Agios Vasilios Canadair aircraft have been grounded due to the strong winds leaving helicopters to operate from the air A seperate wildfire that broke out on Friday in a forested area in the south of Corfu island is still raging as it is burning in hard-to-reach areas inaccessible by ground firefighting forces Some 15 firefighters with 5 fire engines are assisted by two Pezetel aircraft and one helicopter additional reinforcements were sent to help put out a blaze that started in Feriza in the southeast Attica municipality of Saronikos assisted by volunteers and local authority water tanker trucks were battiling the blaze that started in low-growing vegetation in an area near scattered dwellings A message via the 112 emergency number had instructed people in Agios Panteleimonas in Anavyssos to evacuate the area and head toward the seaside resort town of Lagonissi A similar message for precautionary evacuation had even earlier been sent to people in the Saronikos area An arson investigation team was ordered to head to the scene to investigate the cause of the fire Discover these low-budget destinations in mainland Greece where nature culture and architecture offer a feast for the eyes glittering choices on lists of ideal places to visit during winter weekends The places we have listed here offer visitors the chance to delight in rich nature each defining the travel experience in a different way Florina is a town that has managed to combine age-old tradition rare natural beauty and a wealth of activities for its visitors Here you’ll have the chance to see beautiful neoclassical buildings and come into direct contact with two of the city’s most famous and interesting landmarks: the railway station park and the Archaeological Museum of Florina one of archaeological interest and the other of Byzantine interest there are numerous paths that combine easy hiking routes (such as one to the hill of St Panteleimon and the Cross) with more demanding ones to the Krya Vrysi and Christos Fatsis refuges a visit to the town’s small zoo with a playground is recommended A visit to the Arcturos Environmental Centre is also a must especially the bear sanctuary at Nymfaio and the wolf and lynx sanctuary at Agrapidies Florina is an ideal starting point for a tour of the prefecture’s six large and small lakes receives water from the smaller lakes of Zazari to the north-west of the prefecture are the famous Prespes oak and elm coexist with the reed beds of the lakes Edessa has much more to offer than just its famous waterfalls and Christmas is the perfect starting point to get to know the capital of the Pella region Although any trip to Edessa logically begins at the edge of the cliff known to the locals as the ‘brow’ of the city from which the twelve waterfalls plunge to the earth the city has a number of other equally interesting attractions is “sibling” to the great water attraction but also has a unique geological history worth discovering You can also visit the impressive open-air Water Museum which houses several water-powered units such as flour mills water mills and textile factories from past centuries Also worth a visit is the picturesque Varosi with its incredible views over the fertile plains and the Folklore Museum with its meticulously curated collection of authentic exhibits that inform and help visitors understand the everyday life and lifestyle of the region’s inhabitants from the 19th century to the 1950s One of the most interesting corners of the country the beautiful town of Xanthi manages to combine tradition with modern life As you stroll through the colourful old town with its flower-filled gardens and traditional cafes and take in the belle epoque ambience preserved by the tobacco warehouses If you want to get to know Xanthi’s past, we recommend a visit to the Foundation of Thracian Art and Tradition which is active in the fields of culture and education a simple stroll through the old town is enough to get to know the town’s past through the houses which combine neoclassical and Ottoman elements with their sahnisi (wooden projections on the façades supported by wooden beams like buttresses) and their ornate balconies A representative example of architectural syncretism is the mansion of the Kougioumtzoglou family an imposing Neo-Renaissance building dating from 1896 St George in the Tobacco Traders’ Quarter and St Blaise is situated on one of the slopes of Mount Mainalo between the village of Tropaia and the artificial lake of Ladonas this Arcadian village will reward you with its rich natural environment the flower-filled courtyards of its houses and its beautiful Stop off at the basilica-style church of St Dimitrios before heading to the square with the stone-built fountain at its southern corner and the ancient plane tree beside it where the life of the place unfolds and the old meet the young while from the chapel of Saint Marina you can see the artificial lake of the Ladon river For those who wish to combine a walk in the natural surroundings with activities for young children there is a playground in the courtyard of the old primary school Although Steni of Evia isn’t an unknown destination for locals the height of winter is always a good excuse for a trip to this scenic village the village takes its name from this feature In the “heart” of Steni is a lovely cobbled square with several shops and taverns that set their tables under the mulberry and plane trees Between Steni and Loutsa is the Byzantine chapel of PaleoPanagia you can also plan a hike to the famous Mt Dirfys shelter “Michalis Nikolaou” at an altitude of 1120 metres or descend to the steep cliffs and rocks with the blue of the Aegean on the horizon The Vamma del Sol cigar-makers are the last of a breed of tobacco growers in Northern Greece Located at Krya Vrysi in Macedonia they make 25,000 100% Greek cigars per annum exploit the climate of Greece and the family tradition of tobacco cultivation Each cigar requires a three-year drying of tobacco leaves and maturation process The family business was struck by sudden changes to EU legislation that led to the fall of the Greek tobacco industry “This pracitically meant that producers could continue to get funding without being required to produce tobacco,” say the brothers “This change lead to the violent end of tobacco production and the disappearance of an industry that had been a basic pylon of national revenue for many decades.” the Greek tobacco industry employed 245,000 people out of 4.5 million employment positions in Greece at the time 6.1% of the working population were employed in the production of tobacco products What saved Vamma del Sol from disappearing like its other counterparts was the decision of the brothers to create long filler cigars after studying the European market and finding that these cigars The family was eager to fill the void and after spending time at the Partagas factory in Cuba the family decided to take a risk and create these cigars in Greece The rest is history and the result are Greek cigars with a Mediterranean temperament and mild taste “It may be odd for classical cigar smokers however new smokers who seek tastes and aromas without added strength enjoy these cigars,” say the brothers When the cigars first appeared on the market however they are having the last laugh because not only did they survive they also cover the majority of cigar consumption in Europe Vamma del Sol currently sells Corona (15.6 x 1.6) Petit Corona (15.6 x 1.2) that are sold in packs of five for 30 and 25 euros respectively whereas next month they will introduce Robusto (12.6 x 2.2) to the market that will sell for 20 euros for a pack of three Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr