In an anniversary message leading up to the Polytechnic Uprising celebrations, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, underlined the significance of the event, which is timeless, commenting that there is nothing more powerful than the passion for freedom. The anniversary events will conclude tomorrow at 2 p.m. with the established students’ demonstration towards the U.S. Embassy of Athens. “The Polytechneion uprising is one of those events in Greek history which gain even bigger importance with the passage of time. That’s because we increasingly need examples which show that social liberation is earned with struggles, that there’s nothing more powerful than the passion for freedom, that state violence and autocracy need passivity to be enforced,” Mr. Papoulias highlighted. Furthermore, the President of the Hellenic Republic said that the country has reasons to safeguard the history of the Polytechnic Uprising, written by people who took responsibility for everyone, in its collective memory. In an announcement on the event, Government Vice President and Foreign Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, commented that “Greeks have proven they know how to honor their history but also that they know how to fight until the wheels of time turn and they recover the place our country deserves in Europe and the world.” Governing New Democracy’s political committee secretary, Andreas Papamimikos, underlined that “November 17 emits a message of democracy and unity for all Greeks.” At the same time, the main opposition party, SYRIZA, in its anniversary message paralleled the events of November 1973 with today saying that “41 years later, the message of the Polytechneion uprising is more relevant than ever. At a time when the government of the memorandum is trying to abolish any collective rights, to condemn the youth and employees to poverty and destitution, Polytechneion is here. In the fights for social justice, independence, equality and social freedom. In defending democracy and freedoms against the government’s autocracy and the dead-end of memorandums and austerity.” On its behalf, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said that Greek people “have the right to know the truth about the popular uprising in November of 1973, for the protest sit-ins of Athens Law School which took place first,” adding that they also need to know “the role played by the military dictatorship in promoting the interests of the rich, the United States and NATO.” Concluding its message KKE underlined the need “to isolate the Nazi Golden Dawn party that defames the fight against the dictatorship.” Finally, the Democratic Left (DIMAR), also commenting on the timeless message of November’s Uprising, said that “the generation of the crisis must not turn into a lost generation. On the contrary, it must use all its experience of the post-dictatorship era to stand on its feet, against an environment of general scorn, to claim a better future, which will not be sealed by the desperation of unemployment, social exclusion and marginalization.”
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