In Rome the Alexis Tsipras As part of an event organized on the occasion of the second anniversary of the loss of Myrsini Zorba (2023) in which he is an honorary guest and speaker.
The event, entitled “Myrsini Zorba. Democracy and Culture: 50 Years of Route »was organized by the Laboratory of Modern Greek Studies Myrsini Zorba of the Department of European, American and Intercultural Studies, in collaboration with the Roma Sapienza Foundation, the Law School and the School of Philosophy.
In addition to completing two years after the loss of the event for the event, it is the completion of fifty years from the period when he received the Masters Degree in the Philosophy of Law from the Law School of the University of Rome Sapienza (1975).
“The first thought I want to share with you is how present Myrsini Zorba is, in the absence of here, but also in our daily lives, in our daily thoughts and concerns and in our struggles. Myrsini was committed to those who were blocked. He was committed to the many who lack, not only access to a decent living, but also access to knowledge, the wealth of culture, the freedom of ideas, to a life that is not simply survival and responding to the potential of humanity today, for a better future, “his former prime minister emphasized.
Referring, always in the course and work of Myrsini Zorba, he added: “So the little girl who was frozen in the muddy puddles of Petralona, living in poverty, while seeing her left father and feeling her tired tenderness, She refused to forget, like others, where she started and at every turn of her life, she said a loud yes to participation in progressive politics, often at cost and serious dangers. “
Concerning the support of culture on the part of politics and his social work, Alexis Tsipras stressed: “Although we knew and recognized the role of culture and took a significant step forward, we did not, as a Greek left, but also as a government, the steps we needed. Because even under suffocating conditions due to the memorandums, with the pressure of the lenders breathed us in the neck we could have done more. And – unfortunately – when Myrsini assumed the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, she was not given the time to completely unfold her will, her plan, her vision. But despite all the difficulties he faced, he made significant steps. Myrsini’s perspective on democracy, culture as a means of liberation of creative forces, promoting the progressive change of society, and revitalizing democracy as a whole, is more timely today, as ever.
Because we witness the desertification of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic. Of withering and commercializing culture. As we monitor the distinction, inequality, insecurity, wars and the abolition of even the latest pretexts of international law to get worse.
As we watch the states turn into private companies of presidents and prime ministers who control them. Myrsini had no second thoughts: the cultural and political resistance was its own way. The support of the creative forces of Europe and Greece. This is also our way. I don’t think there is another.
In the language of war and the tens of thousands of dead civilians we see in Palestine and other conflicts.
In the language of war, democratic decline, fear and all kinds of discrimination, multiplied by oligarchs who control the media and social networks, we must respond in the language of solidarity, humanity, democracy and justice.
To organize by all means that we have at our disposal resistance to the dystopia created, to address many in every way possible, to defend values that kept humanity upright in the last century. When the culture of darkness, it has attempted to draw the world into this abyss is, in my opinion, the best tribute to Myrsini Zorba’s work and life today. And in the dilemma the culture of many over the barbarism of the few, which is dramatically returning to our day, our answer can be no other than the answer of our own Myrsini. In this very difficult time, where we see the far right becoming more and more powerful than ever on both sides of the Atlantic, the future of our Republics is a struggle for culture. “