[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 28, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRATULATING ALEXANDROS MALLIAS, AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF GREECE 
                          TO THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 28, 2007

  Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, recently Ambassador Alexandros Mallias, of 
the Republic of Greece to the United States, was honored by The 
Committee for the International Salute to the Life and Legacy of Dr. 
Martin Luther King. I would like to congratulate Ambassador Mallias for 
receiving the Martin Luther King Legacy Award for International 
Service. I would also like to insert into the Record the remarks that 
Ambassador Mallias made upon receiving this award:

       It is with a spirit of humility, in the sense advocated by 
     Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that I receive today the Martin 
     Luther King Legacy Award for International Service and serve 
     as Co-Chairman of the committee for the International Salute 
     to the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., A Man 
     for All Nations.
       His words and his message are timeless. They are an 
     indelible part of the permanent and indispensable voice of 
     our conscience. As long as these inequalities and disparities 
     exist among peoples, nations, and continents, continue to 
     exist, I have the right to say that there is an unfinished 
     peace on Earth; there is an unfinished democracy on Earth. 
     Ultimately, there is an unfinished dream.
       My first recollection of Dr. King's powerful words goes 
     back to my teenage years, living in a democratic and free 
     society, Greece, in 1964, when he received the Nobel Prize 
     for Peace. His words, however powerful, seemed unreal, as I 
     could not conceive the images he painted.
       I was a sophomore at the University of Athens, when, on 
     April 4, 1968, the radio broadcast that Dr. King was 
     assassinated in Memphis. His words came to me full circle, 
     and sadly, I could identify with them. My world had changed, 
     as my country, Greece--the birthplace of democracy--had come 
     under military dictatorship.
       That was part of the greatness of Dr. King. His message 
     transcended geographic and cultural boundaries. The roar and 
     ripple of his words stretched across oceans and seas, 
     mountains and valleys, deserts and savannahs, and spoke to 
     people like myself who had never met him.
  In his Birmingham jail cell he wrote, ``I submit that an individual 
who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly 
accepts the penalty of imprisonment. . . . is in reality expressing the 
highest respect for law.''
  Aeschylus, in Prometheus-bound, describes the cry of Prometheus as 
follows: ``I knew when I transgressed nor will deny it In helping Man, 
I brought my troubles on me.''
  Sophocles, one of Greece's greatest playwrights, put similar words in 
the mouth of his reluctant heroine, Antigone, who said: ``I will not 
obey an unjust law, and if something happens because of it--so be it.'' 
A few months ago, Francoise, my wife, and I, visited Birmingham. We 
paid our respects to the struggle for freedom and equal rights 
enshrined in Birmingham's central square, The Civil Rights Museum, and 
the churches.
  The adoption of the Brunetta C. Hill Elementary School of Birmingham, 
Alabama, by the Embassy of Greece, is indicative of the very special 
affinities Greeks feel for what Birmingham represents. Today, speaking 
from this tribune, I very humbly wish to dedicate my remarks to this 
school, its students, teachers, and administration. Furthermore, very 
few know that AHEPA, the largest and oldest Greek-American association, 
was founded in 1922 in Atlanta, precisely to defend Greek immigrants 
from persecution and segregation.
  King's words are not only relevant today, but an inspiration and 
guide for current challenges. In the ancient Greek tradition, an 
individual must partake in the responsibility and concerns of all 
society. So does Martin Luther King tell us that, ``An individual has 
not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his 
individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.''
  Dr. King said: ``As long as there is poverty in the world, I can 
never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars.'' ``As long as disease 
is rampant, and millions of people around the world cannot expect to 
live more than 30 years, I can never be totally healthy.'' ``I can 
never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is 
the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out 
boasting of being independent. We are interdependent.''
  There is a moral obligation transcending continents and borders to 
stand united and join forces, efforts, and provide the necessary means 
to make it possible for our children's and grandchildren's generations 
to live in a better world. We see people dying of hunger. We see people 
dying of epidemic diseases. We see people killed everyday on religious 
or ethnic grounds. We see millions of innocent children as the victims 
of human trafficking, exploited in the most odious form of modem 
slavery. We see millions of women becoming victims of human 
trafficking.
  I ask myself, where is the wealth of nations? Where is justice? Where 
are the policies and the measures to remedy the disparities?
  Aggregate wealth estimates provided by the World Bank demonstrate 
that the European countries, along with the United States, and Japan, 
dominate the top ten wealthiest countries/nations. The ten poorest 
countries at the global level are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  In the twenty-first century, none of us can argue that this same 
message is no longer applicable. Beginning his last speech, known as 
``I've been to the mountaintop,'' on April 3 in Memphis, Dr. King said, 
``I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympos. And I 
would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes 
assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the 
Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality, 
but I wouldn't stop there.'' Politics and policies will remain 
irrelevant if they continue missing the essence that is Man 
(anthropos). Only through an anthropo-centric global strategy, can we 
improve the plight of those in despair, and in need . . .''
  Madam Speaker, I invite my colleagues here in the U.S. House of 
Representatives to join me in honoring Alexandros Mallias, whose words 
exemplify the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.




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