SILVER JUBILEE

The 25th Anniversary Issue of Kythera Summer Edition features a beautifully drawn map by artist Daphne Petrochilos. Aphrodite is dressed in a spalleto (local Kytherian traditional dress) holding the scales. Aphrodite the planet, rules the sign of Libra, whose scales symbolise justice, balance, and equality. One side of the scale is for the past and the other side for the future, meaning our attitude must be in balance.

Our 1993 maiden Editorial wrote “...the challenge of discovering the balance between earning our living and respecting that which is around us. [..] we may be inspired to appreciate and uphold the traditional ways of life. [..] Kythera is internationally documented as having some of the most extensive arrays of flora and fauna. [..] Migratory birds that seek shelter on the island are rare and strikingly beautiful. Sadly unappreciated, the birds often fall prey to hunters who know no better.” 

25 years later we as a paper are still working with the principles of justice, balance, and equality as our foundation.

In our 2OI8 issue, we herald the call to never again allow the ecological crime of mass destruction of the land by preventable fires, and demand galvanization of bureaucratic competence and civilian responsibility. Spotlighted too are the problems of medical negligence, access to medical evacuation, and fraught transport planning.

Justice resonates in our articles on reclaiming the histories of scattered migrants, the protection of our Greek language in print, and honouring the fallen who fought against the ultimate injustice of war. 

The beauty of balance is modelled, in nature, and the balance of past and future, in reinventing traditional practices into modern businesses. We witness in our articles too the balance of purpose. Stone walls and water infrastructures were multi-purposed, as were the methods of working the land alongside nature, and the science of architecture, building aesthetically while embracing the environment. 

We learn of the need to balance responsibility for the land, between ourselves, government and non-government bodies. We read of the balance of birds, and indeed people, living between two countries, and restfully, the balance of the silence and rhythms of Kythera. 

The value of equality was a way of life for the much loved late soccer coach of Kythera, instilling in his students the value of fair play. 

For 25 years our paper has been a source of information, which goes towards combating ignorance, one of the greatest threats to justice and equality. 

It has been said that the opposite of poverty is not wealth, but justice.

For Kythera, and our paper, the opposite of injustice is, the call for the protection of livelihoods, land - and lives.