The 52nd Festival of KNE-Odigitis was concluded successfully

The events of the 52nd festival of KNE – “Odigitis”, which had previously taken place in many cities across the country, culminated in Athens with a huge political rally. Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of the KKE was the main speaker and Thodoris Kotsandis, Secretary of the CC of KNE, delivered a greeting speech.

For four days, tens of thousands of people visited the cultural and political events at the festival, where more than 400 artists performed and discussions were held on important issues and developments.

Visitors to the festival could communicate directly with the more than 30 Communist Youth and Anti-imperialist Organizations present at the International City. There were also exhibitions dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Army of Greece and to the execution of 200 communists in May 1944, bookshops, and areas dedicated to children's activities.

Thousands of KNE and KKE members worked to set up the festival, safeguard it and ensure it ran smoothly.

The keynote speech by the GS of the CC of the KKE was attended by the ambassadors of Cuba and Palestine, Aramis Fuente Hernández and Yussef Dorkhom respectively, as well as by trade unionists -  dockworkers from Italy, Turkey and France, who, together with their Greek colleagues and dockworkers from many other countries, are preparing for the major international dockworkers’ strike on 30 October in 45 Mediterranean ports. Also in attendance were the mayors of Kaisariani, Petroupolis, Patras, Ikaria and Haidari, elected with the lists of the “People’s Rally”; Magda Fissa, mother of Pavlos Fissas, the musician who was murdered by the Nazi Golden Dawn party; and numerous artists, scientists and intellectuals.

D. Koutsoumbas described the Festival of KNE–“Odigitis” as “an oasis of culture and creativity, a breath of fresh air in contrast to the decay of the system, of the so-called ‘show business’… That glossy meat grinding machine which buys and sells talent, dreams and aspirations for profit, a machine that grinds down and alienates people in every possible way.”

The GS of the CC of the KKE underlined that: “The anger at every injustice that takes place around us, every ‘why’ that becomes a lump in the throat of thousands of people, can be answered only in the struggle to overthrow this rotten world of theirs.

This year, more than ever, the internationalist character of the Festival is both timely and necessary. We welcome the delegations of dozens of Communist Youth Organisations from all over the world who are here with us, joining their voices with ours.

We express our solidarity with the people of Cuba, who are facing imperialist brutality and the US’s attempts to suffocate them, with one and only one goal: to undo the achievements of decades of socialist construction, so that they cease to serve as a shining example for the peoples of the world.

The  militant slogan ‘socialism or death’ of the great revolutionary Fidel Castro - whose 100^thbirth anniversary we are honouring this year- uttered under similarly difficult circumstances, remains today the sole guide for those who wish to continue fighting against capitalist barbarity and prevent a setback.

We stand in solidarity with the heroic Palestinian people, who, despite the so-called peace agreements, continue to bleed by the weapons of the occupying army and under the ‘boots’ of Israeli settlers in Gaza and the West Bank, while fighting for their own free homeland. That is why we shout at the top of our voices: Free Palestine!

We salute the brothers and sisters of the people of Cyprus. Now that negotiations are beginning once again at the NATO tables, perpetuating the occupation and consolidatingthe partition of Cyprus, we reaffirm our commitment to the goal of an independent and united Cyprus, on the basis of one -and not two- states, with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality; a common homeland for Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, without occupying forces or foreign troops and bases of any kind, without guarantors or protectors, with its people masters in their own land.

Today, as the flames of war raging in almost every corner of the world…Today, as the camps of the imperialists are being formed and their generals are planning the decisive showdow, the peoples will prove that they indeed possess the virtue that their exploiters regard as a defect: they can think, they can fight and they can win!”

Over the next few days, we will provide further details on the political messages conveyed in D. Koutsoumbas’s speech.

Finally, it is worth noting that immediately after the speech, while two enormous red flags were flying in front of the main stage – one of the KKE and one of the Democratic Army of Greece - as the KKE honours the 80th anniversary of its founding – the Greek National Opera singers Ioanna Forti and Stamatis Beris sang “The Internationale”.