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28 September 2022 – 15.00
European Parliament
Altiero Spinelli Building 1G2 (Room Manolis Glezos)
Brussels
Click here to watch the event online LIVE
The Left in the European Parliament organises a conference to honor the late Manolis Glezos, former Member of the European Parliament and resistance symbol respected by all democrats.
Manolis Glezos, who died on 30 March 2020 at the age of 97, was a Greek resistance hero fighter, who at 18 – famously tore down a swastika from Acropolis, in 1941. He was a pillar of the international fight against repression and inequality, a symbol of resistance against fascism, and an active politician. He was also an active journalist and writer.
A documentary dedicated to his life will be screened during the conference, as well as videos of his historic speeches as an MEP.
The President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola will deliver the opening speech. Co-President of The Left, Martin Schirdewan will make the welcoming statement and Vice-President Papadimoulis will chair the event.
Presidents of the European Parliament Political Groups, Left European leaders, resistance organisations representatives, academics, and students from Anafi and Naxos, the island of his origin will also participate.
A documentary about his life will be screened. The event will be closed with a concert.
The event will be web-streamed live and there will be a simultaneous interpretation in English, French, German, Italian, Greek, Spanish and Portuguese.
For any further information and clarification, please contact:
Panayota Maniou – [email protected]
Lambis Kontonis – [email protected]
Vasileios Katsardis – [email protected]
PROGRAMME
15.00-15.05 Inauguration of the Manolis Glezos Conference Room
15.05-15.10 Welcome by MEP Martin Schirdewan, THE LEFT Co-President, Germany
15.10-15.40: Honouring the Memory of Manolis Glezos
Chair: MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Vice-President of the European Parliament, THE LEFT, Greece
Opening Speech by MEP Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
Speakers:
– MEP Iratxe Garcia Perez, President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats, Spain (tbc)
– MEP Ska Keller, Co-President of the Greens/European Free Alliance, Germany
– MEP Vangelis Meimarakis, Vice-Chair of Group of the European People’s Party, Greece (video message)
– MEP Nikos Androulakis, Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats, President PASOK-Movement for Change, Greece
– MEP Kostas Papadakis, Non-Attached, Communist Party of Greece
15.40 – 15.50: Interventions by Left European political leaders
– Alexis Tsipras, former Prime Minister of Greece, President of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance
– Pablo Iglesias, former Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and President of PODEMOS (video message)
– Gregor Gyzi, former President of the Party of the European Left (video message)
– Mary Lou McDonald, President of Sinn Féin (video message)
15.50 -16.00: Interventions
– MEP Martina Michels, THE LEFT, Germany
– MEP Marisa Matias, THE LEFT, Portugal
16.00 – 16.40: Resistance against Nazism and the issue of German Reparations: life goals of Manolis Glezos
– Mr Simon Gronowski, Escapee from the 20th prisoners’ train convoy to Auschwitz
– Mr Nikos Voutsis, former Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
– Mr Triantafyllos Mitafidis, former Member of the Hellenic Parliament and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for German Reparations
– Dr Aristomenis Syngelakis, Co-Secretary General of the National Council of Claims of the German War Reparations to Greece
– Dr. Dr. Karl Heinz Roth, Foundation for Social History of the 20th Century, Bremen (video message)
– Mr Athanasios Papadopoulos, Mayor of Kalavryta-President of the Network of Towns and Villages of the Greek Holocaust 1940-1945 (video message)
16.40 – 17.15: Documentary «One Century of Resistance» by Katsari, Katoufa, Gosse, about the life of Manolis Glezos, Introduction by the Directors
17.15 – 17.30: Concert