Greece "remembers and honours" the 1973 uprising of the Athens Polytechnic, drawing inspiration from it but moving forward into the future, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday in a message to mark the anniversary celebrated each year on November 17.
"The messages of those great moments are converted, today, into a daily orientation toward a secure democracy, which deepens its character and broadens the rights of citizens. We don't hanker after aged slogans but implement living demands, building an economy that increases the prosperity of all, respecting the environment. An education that offers work and progress and a dynamic society that leaves no one behind," Mitsotakis said.
He appealed for the observance of the anniversary "away from exploitation and extreme actions, with our thoughts on its true legacy and our actions responding to the primary call of the time, which is public health: vaccinated, observing protection measures, protecting our life and the life of those around us."
Above all, he added, the lesson from November 1973 was unity and solidarity and a mature expression of the personal stance in collective social action. "Forty-eight years later, the words "Bread-Education-Freedom" renew their meaning, inspiring a new and strong Greece that is already changing and thriving.
