Address of Andros Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL, to the meeting opening the celebrations in honour of the 70th anniversary of AON-EDON
12th April 2014, Pallouriotisa suburb, Nicosia
On behalf of the Central Co
mmittee of AKEL, allow me to extend warm greetings to the event dedicated to the 70th anniversary of EDON.
Those of us who had the honour of struggling within the ranks of EDON, today feel great pride and emotion. The Organization that has nurtured and developed us politically and ideologically is celebrating this year seven decades of life; seven decades of struggle, sacrifice, action and service to the Cypriot youth, the people and Cyprus. There is so much that can be said about every single one of these years, each month and day that has passed throughout all these seventy years; so much to say about so many sacrifices, so many struggles and so many gains with EDON at the forefront of the struggle.
EDON is growing, but it never ages because, as the poet Varnalis wrote, it is destined by fate to do so; a destiny that gives birth to a new day and which dictates that the end of humanity cannot be written by the inhuman and exploitative capitalist system in which we live; a destiny that highlights that people must not yield and accept their situation for eternity; a destiny that does away once and for all with social injustice, wars, exploitation, the blood shed from the bullets of imperialism and the impoverishment of the people; a destiny creating new society of peace and socialism. This is the destiny and vision the youth of EDON are filled with.
We are used to saying at every opportunity that the youth of EDON is the most precious section of Cypriot society. This is not a figure of speech, we mean it. EDON is the youth which is always militantly at the forefront of the struggle of the Cypriot people; which is waging, together with young people, battles against imperialism, fascism, chauvinism and nationalism; fighting daily for the right of every young person to education, work and dignity; working day and night so that a new sun will dawn – the sun of justice over Cyprus and the world.
Our troubled homeland deserves such a youth; a youth asserting a political role and armed with ideas; opposing and combating the ideology of hate and blind fanaticism, the ideology of the fascist bat and terror, as certain supposedly “super-patriots” are trying to impose today on young people today. Our homeland is worthy of such a youth which knows how to wage political battles on all fronts and win them; a youth which puts theory into practice through its actions, which is always marching forward and looking ahead.
However, I would also like to make a special reference to the role of EDON with regards the continuity of the Peoples Movement of the Left and AKEL. EDON is the future of the People’s Movement. It is the lifeblood of AKEL. We assure you that our Party will always work to create the pre-conditions to upgrade the political role of the Organization and its political and organizational capability. AKEL will support it so that EDON will be able to guide young people’s struggles for a better tomorrow for children, school students, university and college students and young workers. Each of these areas of EDON’s actions is important. We have an obligation as the People’s Movement of the Left to focus all our attention on helping them play their role, no matter how many difficulties may exist
All through these seventy years the banners of EDON have been raised high by thousands of hands; hands changing year by year. But the banners always remain the same, faithful to the belief so eloquently described by Lenin in his texts on young people, saying that, “Yes, we are living a life full of unbearable oppression and suffering. The life of our generation is more difficult, even than the lives of our fathers and mothers … We learned and learn quickly to struggle not fragmented, but in the name of our slogans, the slogans of our class. We fight better than our elders. Our children are struggling even better than us and they will be victorious!”
