The Greek community in Sydney, young and old, united on Sunday to honour the Athens Polytechnic Uprising, they stressed the events of 51 years ago should be remembered for decades to come.
The Greek Orthodox Community of NSW (GOC NSW) held their annual commemoration at the Greek Community Club in Lakemba on Sunday afternoon and this year’s event coinciding with the date of the Uprising.
Harry Danalis, GOC NSW President, stressed the necessity to continue to recognise this watershed date in modern Greek history, particularly as a means of passing on knowledge of the event onto the youth in Australia.
“It is an important milestone because it is the first organised resistance against the military dictatorship, so the lessons are many,” Danalis told Neos Kosmos.
“It is important for students here to appreciate what role students have played in the past, above all else, it is crucial that we honour those that have sacrificed themselves for these ideals: democracy, freedom and anti-dictatorship.”
Speaking on behalf of the Combined Universities Greek Association (CUGA), Basil Georgas, President of UTS Hellenic, expressed the significance of university students participating in commemorative events and contributing to raising awareness of the Uprising.
“I believe it is vital that us as university students continue the legacy of these students as we can really imagine ourselves in their position,” Georgas told Neos Kosmos.
“I would like to think that I, along with my fellow university students, would have done what these students did and displayed the courage they did.”
CUGA has developed a tradition in recent years of hosting commemorative events of their own on campus in addition to participating in the GOC’s annual, and the UTS Hellenic President highlighted the hope that these efforts continue to enlighten students of the uprising.
“I think it is critical that all university students come to these events and hopefully in the future we see more and more attend,” he said.
Danalis praised CUGA for hosting their own event, considering it very fitting and a crucial means of passing on knowledge of the Uprising to the youth.
“It is good to see the younger generation coming in and not only taking part and following our event but actively organising commemorative events themselves,” he said.
The Sunday event, which was organised with the Polytechnic Commemoration Committee and CUGA, opened with a one-minute silence in honour of the fallen which was followed by the national anthems of Australia and Greece.
A short video was played illustrating the scenes that occurred during the Uprising, with officials and representatives of various Greek organisations then laying wreaths at a replica of the statue that is in front of the Polytechnic University in Athens.
The program featured speeches from the GOC NSW president, Harry Danalis, and the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Ioannis Mallikourtis.
There was heavy participation from university students in the form of poem recitals and the reading of the Chronicle by: Angelique Aifantis, Maria Kakali, Theodora Koutzoumis, Basil Georgas and Elle Tamvakolos.
Students from the GOC NSW’s Saturday School at Clemton Park also took part, collectively reciting a poem in a strong display in front of the large crowd in attendance.
In addition the event featured a video of Greek poet Γιάννης Ρίτσος reading his “One Week Diary” of the Polytechnic Uprising.
