With the administrative employees of the National Technical University of Athens being on strike for about two months, this year’s celebrations for the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising are defined by an air of tension and uncertainty. The institution will open its doors for the 40th anniversary and will then shut down to decide upon the continuation of the strike.
The celebrations began with a concert of the «Mikis Theodorakis» Popular Orchestra on the university grounds, which was organized by the celebration committee in conjunction with the striking university administrative employees and ERTopen.gr employees. The ERT employees were not formally allowed to broadcast from the university grounds, while the institution management denied contacting the police about the matter.
The main celebration event begins on at 1:30pm on Friday and is entitled “Bread – Education – Freedom: 40 years later”, based on the popular slogan during the uprising. Amongst those invited to participate are the President of the Prisoner and Exile Association Nikos Triantafillou, the Rector of the University of Athens Theodosis Pelegrinis, the Vice Rector of the National Technical University of Athens Tonia Moropoulou, the Professor of History of Science Kostas Gavroglou and GSEE labor institute research associate Savvas Rompolis.
The uprising celebrations will culminate with the annual protest march to the American Embassy at noon on Sunday, which will be headed by the Rector of the National Technical University of Athens Simos Simopoulos and the institution’s Senate.
