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The 85-year-old legend of the Greek music Mikis Theodorakis founded a party against the Memorandum

08 December 2010 / 14:12:11  GRReporter
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The famous Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis founded a party to fight for the repeal of the Memorandum signed between the Greek Government and the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank. Speaking at the foundation of the civil movement called Spark he urged the Greek people not to accept the government's measures.

"I light a spark today and I expect others to follow to flare the purifying fire of salvation," said the composer of the music to the movie Zorbas and urged the Greek people for "disobedience" to the economic policy of the government because "it hasn’t got the moral jurisdiction to apply such tough measures." According to the legend of music, the government has ceded sovereign national rights to the creditors and has forgotten the struggles of the Greek people by signing the Memorandum of economic support."

The composer explained that the civil movement Spark is not formed in order to establish a new political party or a new social movement. "I want to help the formation of a movement for exchange of ideas the epicenter of which will be the independent citizen. The people need to express their reaction to the crisis that resulted from the global economic recession," he said and accused the Greek politicians for their energetic or passive participation in public life after the fall of the junta in 1974, allowing it to fall thus contributing to the disintegration of the country.

The 85-year-old composer directly accused the Prime Minister George Papandreou, the government's economic team and the Governor of the Greek National Bank George Provopoulos that their statements on the economic situation of Greece caused the greatest increase in the country’s spreads and that their inaction over the months led to the dilemma of bankruptcy or the IMF. "The dilemma was caused by us and the country is under the supervision of the IMF and the EU under this pretext," he said.

According to Mikis Theodorakis, the USA interests are a priority for the Greek government, which sets over the interests of the Greek people. He directly accused the governments of Andreas Papandreou, the father of today's prime minister, which led Greece to today's condition. The composer did not fail to attack the President Karolos Papoulias, accusing him for his "passive position" on what is happening in the country.

Mikis Theodorakis said that Greece is the best customer of the USA, France and Germany regarding the weapons systems and urged the government to stop buying weapons from them and turn to countries like Russia and China not only for weapons, but to conclude new loans agreements under favourable conditions as well as for partnerships for the development of Greece. In his speech he drew attention to the so-called national issues (the relations with Turkey and Albania, the dispute on the Republic of Macedonia’s name and the Cyprus issue), and stressed that "only an independent nation can deal with national issues", proposing at the same time a new national plan for defence outside the NATO scheme to be drawn. He also proposed the establishment of national representation, which is to speak on behalf of Greece with the other countries and to seek solutions for the benefit of the country and the Greek people.

George Kasimatis – honorary professor in constitutional law at the Athens University – made statements at the foundation saying that the signed Mmorandum of economic support is a "shameful agreement that violates fundamental principles of international and European law and the Constitution of Greece." He believes that it enables the creditors to seize even the Acropolis, the Greek islands, the military aviation and whatever else they decide in case Greece fails to comply with the arrangements." "Greece is no longer independent," said Professor Kasimatis and characterized the presence of the notorious Troika in the country as vicissitudinary and stressed that nobody has the right to cede national rights.

On the organization of movement Mikis Theodorakis said he expects independent civilian committees to be formed to inform and exchange ideas and to begin to cooperate in a subsequent stage in order to organize coordinated actions. The movement was established in the crowded hall of the Michalis Kakoyanis Foundation in the presence of the famous actor and director Michalis Kakoyanis, many intellectuals and businessmen.

The movement grounds and the speech of Mikis Theodorakis are included in a book entitled Spark and a DVD that are sold in bookstores. A Facebook group of a little more than 2800 members was formed in support of the movement.

Tags: Mikis TheodorakisSparkMemorandumEconomic crisisPapandreouPolitics
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