Speaking out in support of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday, film director Costas Gavras said that Sunday’s referendum is necessary and expressed hope that things will go the way that the Prime Minister hopes. “Alexis Tsipras is right to hold a referendum, it is necessary. I think, in any case, that the work Tsipras has done until today is absolutely necessary and I hope that things go in accordance with his hopes,” Gavras told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. He also stressed that Greece must remain in Europe and noted that this was also supported by Tsipras. “From what I understood, this was also Tsipras’ position: Greece must remain in Europe whether ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ predominate in the referendum.” “I am a democrat and therefore I will not tell the Greek people what to vote,” he added, noting that this had been done enough by many people campaigning for both ‘No’ and ‘Yes’. “Let the politicians and the media explain [to the people] what a ‘Yes’ means and what a ‘No’ means, and let the people answer with a clear conscience and freedom,” he said. According to Gavras, the main problem that Tsipras will face if he remains Greece’s Prime Minister will be to make the country a proper state. “We Greeks are a nation but there is no state. If we do not become a state, I don’t know where we are going. We will be a colony of the banks.” He was open in his admiration for the Greek Prime Minister: “Alexis Tsipras is an important leader. I always think of this young person, aged 40 years old, who arrives in Brussels, in this terrible place with all those people who have immense experience, political and economic. I am amazed that he was able to defend himself and get where he got. We don’t get such leaders often in Greece and I think I have not seen someone like him in the last 70 years.” Gavras concluded by stating that dignity and pride are necessary for a people but also that the institutions allowed margins for such dignity and pride. “The margins must be taken and for this reason, strong leaders are needed to impose these margins,” he said. (source: ana-mpa)
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