To the Editor:

During the last few months, as we all know the Greek government has been negotiating on the international scene about the name of a neighboring countrythat has the potential ofencroaching on Greek sovereignty down the line.

One main leverage the Greek government was given is thetwo great gatherings of its citizens:one in Thessaloniki and one in Athens. The more people at these protests the more the leverage the Greek government has against the other side by saying: “Look, I will have a revolt in my hands if I don’t follow the people’s wishes.”

The Financial Times the day after the Athens protest publishedfront-page photos with captions stating:“hundreds of thousands of people in Syntagma Square…” and the February 10 edition of theEconomist reported “more than a million-people demonstrated in Greece against their neighbors disputed use of the name ‘Macedonia.’”

Nevertheless, the chief of police in Athens rushed to report that only 140,000 people showed up and not hundreds of thousands as claimed by others. Your newspaper ‘sFebruary 10 edition reported “well over 100,000 protesters…”

So, the foreign presssays millions of Greeks are united as a nation fighting for their history and survival and yetthe Greek leadership and media say only a hundred thousand or soshowed up. Why?

What is wrong with us? What happened to our Hellenic culture? Do we even know what it is? I bet that less than one out of 100 Greeks worldwide knows the definition of the word Hellene or Hellas, our official name. Why?That is a complete failure of our schooling, our churches, our elders, our leaders, and everyone else who claims to be in a responsibleand leadership position in our culture.

Dr. Alexander G. Alemis

Chicago, IL