AKEL on the anniversary of the 1973 Polytechnic uprising

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 16th November 2015, Nicosia

 

AKEL honors the heroic uprising of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic. Forty-two years later, the young men and women who proceeded to the occupation of the Polytechnic, but also the thousands of people who participated in the three days of continuous mobilizations that filled the area with dignity, show the way of struggle for democracy, independence and dignity. The Polytechnic uprising condensed in three days the whole previous resistance to the fascism of the Junta and the need of the Greek people for “Bread-Education-Freedom” and “National Independence”. The page which was written with the uprising of the people of Athens in those November days has its own place among the thousands of glorious pages of world history’s struggles for freedom and democracy.

AKEL honors the heroic dead of the Polytechnic who watered with their blood the tree of freedom, democracy and progress. The Polytechnic, despite the bloody suppression of the uprising, was the beginning of the end of the seven-year junta regime. Unfortunately, the price of this development was heavy. The final collapse of the junta came after it had time to plan and subsequently execute, together with EOKA B, the heinous crime committed against Cyprus and its people.

Forty-two years onwards, the messages conveyed by the Polytechnic continue to be topical more than ever before. The Polytechnic lives not only as a historical memory, but also as a current necessity; it lives on in the struggles for freedom, peace, democracy and social justice.

Certain forces and circles today are seeking to distort and revise history. They want to erase from the people’s memory the November of 1973 and the causes that gave birth to the Polytechnic itself. They want to hide the truth about the role of NATO and the plutocracy in the dictatorship. They want the crime and treason committed against Cyprus to be forgotten; a crime which was executed by the junta in Athens together with their representatives here in Cyprus that is to say, EOKA B and Grivas.

As AKEL, we will resist with all our strength the attempts to distort and revise the historical truth about the junta, the heroic uprising of the Polytechnic, the anti-dictatorial struggle and the betrayal of Cyprus, so that forgetfulness and amnesia will not permit the descendants of the junta and fascism to return with a vengeance .

We address a militant greeting to the Greek people, who are continuing to experience the tragic results of the global capitalist crisis, of neoliberal policies and who are suffering from the impoverishment policies imposed by the Troika. We express our support and solidarity with the struggling Greek people. Let the heroic uprising of the Polytechnic and its ideals, be an inspiration for the Cyprus people too.