Panyiri, olive tree and the ‘dove of peace’

When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. Genesis 8:11

Australia’s oldest Greek festival is on the weekend of 17-18 May 2025, held in West End in Brisbane. This year’s theme is the olive tree as a symbol of peace. One organiser asked me to write a message of hope and tag it on an olive tree. I found this difficult to do, so I came up with “So little peace in the olive grove.”

On the surface, Paniyiri in Brisbane has become Greek Disneyland. One of the organisers boasted that if it weren’t for the Greek community, then Lang Park (now Suncorp Stadium) would have been in Musgrave Park. Maybe there is some truth to that claim but Aboriginal brothers and sisters who attended the 1982 Commonwealth Games protests for Land Rights in Musgrave Park would have something to say about that.

Up on the second floor of the Greek club, I listened to two lectures both on Greek contribution to Mediterranean culture. This was the same room where Prime Minister Albanese conducted the True Beleivers dinner. Outside the room was the balcony from which rabid Zionists threw racist provocation at Palestinians and their supporters. The Albanese sideshow came to town with the idea of remaining silent on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Both Australia and Greece had abstained from voting for a ceasefire in the UN in October 2023.

As I delved more deeply, there was more to Paniyiri than Greek Ekka. Sure, there was food music, drink, and a crazy spining ride high above the soggy mud, sand and slippery grass, but there was also Greek music, dance, and culture. A culture that has thrived in West End in the 50 years I’ve lived and visited Brisbane’s alternative dormitory with its Boundary Road formerly used to exclude Blackfellas after dark. Plus when I was renting in the 70s, the Greeks made good landlords. It would be difficult to find a good landlord in West End today. Plus the Greek club has become an event hire facility neutral to the politics of its guests. Former Senator for Queensland, George Georges, would be turning in his grave.

I asked both the community organizer at the Greek club and Greek Orthodox priest, Fr. Dimitrios Tsakas, if they would platform a Palestinian speaker at cultural events and lectures. The organiser said as soon as you did that you’d be labelled antisemitic and the priest said he didn’t really know. The community organiser claimed they had nothing to do with the Albanese dinner at the Greek Club. The community organiser said ‘we are an event hire place.’

The main sponsor for Panyiri is the National Australia Bank NAB. The NABs’s board member Jillian Sagal is strongly pro Israel, has questioned the ceasefire bids, and has been openly in favor of Israel bombing hospitals in Gaza. Albanese appointed Segal as Australian special envoy to combat anti-semitism. She is currently assisting the government and drawing up laws to prevent Palestinian protest at the genocide.

The NAB has helped Israeli company Airbiotics in raising finance for its military drones that buzz above the heads of Palestinians in Gaza, under constant threat of these murderous drones. NAB is involved in Israel’s OurCrowd a funding vehicle for Israel to arm itself for the genocide.

Why would the Greek Club and the Greek Orthodox church in West End want to have anything to do with blood-soaked equity instruments of killing women and children in Gaza? What is the price of silence? Are they just keeping their heads down in a racist country? Is the price worth the candle? So many questions but no one no one will provide an answer.

Why does Greece support Israel and allow American and Israeli planes to use their country as staging posts to bomb Mediterranean Neighbours?

I asked Father Tsakas: “What the Greek Orthodox church had against the Palestinians?” During his explanation Dimitrios asked me: “Wouldn’t it be better if Hamas had given up the hostages“. Such an apologist Priest (for Israel). I replied: “If Hamas is the answer then it is a stupid question”. I told him of the Reuters report I had seen: “Hamas is ready to release all remaining hostages for an end to Gaza war”

We discussed Greece’s relations with its Roman neighbours. The Greek priest proudly told me that the Romans used to speak Greek. Ironically just at that moment another cassock wearing priest, Fr. Athanasios Athanasiadis, came up to Fr. Demitrios to say one word: Mangiare indicating that he was going to lunch. Dimitrios said something like we are very multicultural in our habits.

I left the church remembering the Nakba.

Ian Curr
18 May 2025