NSW’s university students and Greek Orthodox Community to host commemorative events for 50th anniversary of Polytechnic Uprising

On 17 November 1973 the Athens Polytechnic uprising began against the Greek military junta, after an army tank rolled over the gates of the University to evict protesting students who occupied it 3 days previously. In crushing the rebellion the army killed many people. But the dictatorship fell the following year. Photo: Working Class History/Facebook

16 November 2023 2:23pm

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Sydney is set to host events in commemoration of the Athens Polytechnic Uprising organised by the Greek Orthodox Community (GOC) of NSW and university students alike, spreading knowledge on this major date 50 years later.

The important event is one intrinsically linked with university students of generations past, making it all the more relevant that the students of today continue to recognise it.

It is in this vein that the Combined Universities Greek Association (CUGA), made up of the four Greek student organisations at Sydney’s major universities, have come together to hold a commemorative event.

It has been organised for this Friday on the date of the Uprising, November 17, at 6.30 p.m., and will be held at the New Law Annexe Lecture Theatre 101 at the University of Sydney (USYD).

Associate Professor Anthony Dracopoulos, the current acting Chair of USYD’s Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies Department, will deliver a keynote speech as part of this initiative.

This acts as the third such event of its kind by CUGA in recent years, having previously organised such commemorations in 2019 and 2022 in what has been an attempt by the students to recognise and connect with this highly significant date on the Greek calendar.

In addition to this, the GOC of NSW is holding a commemorative event on Sunday, November 19, which will be held at the Greek Community Club in Lakemba (206-210 Lakemba St) at 4 p.m.

The program includes speeches, a wreath laying ceremony as well as poems to be read by school and university students, demonstrating the same intergenerational collaboration that took place at the Polytechnic Uprising 50 years ago.