CYM attends 52nd KNE-Odigitis Festival

Between 23rd to 26th September, the Connolly Youth Movement attended the 52nd KNE–Odigitis Festival, held in Antonis Tritsis Park in Athens. Organised by the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), the festival took its theme from Bertolt Brecht: “General, man has one flaw: he can think.” Tens of thousands of visitors attended the festival in Athens and hundreds of thousands across the festival’s events nationwide. Over than 400 artists performed, and the International City hosted over 30 communist and anti-imperialist youth organisations, including representatives of the Connolly Youth Movement.

The Connolly Youth Movement contributed to the seminar on the topic “In conditions of war preparation, it is imperative for the Communist Youth Organizations to highlight the only way out of the barbaric capitalist system,” to which all participating organisations had an opportunity to contribute and share their experience and perspectives. The contribution was well received by our fraternal organisations present.

We viewed the central exhibition on the three-year struggle of the Democratic Army of Greece, marking the 80th anniversary of its founding, and the exhibition of photographs of the 200 communists executed by the German occupiers at Kaisariani on 1 May 1944, which showed photographs of their brave final moments as they held their heads high and stood steadfast in their beliefs.

One of the key messages of the festival was an appeal to Greek soldiers: imperialist war offers them nothing to win, and the fight is against the capitalists in every country, not against fellow workers abroad.

The CYM Delagation also had the honour of visiting the grave and paying respects to Syrian communist stalwart and Secretary-General of the Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash), Ammar Bakdash who passed away in Athens last year. Bakdash upheld the independent struggle of the working class through the Assad dictatorship and surge in Islamic extremism, which saw him exiled to Greece following the fall of the Assad regime and the outlawing of his party.