“Our Voice Becomes A Cry”: Greek artists stage large anti-war concert for Palestine in Athens

“Our voice becomes a cry” was a powerful slogan that rang out in Athens on Wednesday 18 June when an anti-war concert held at the Technopolis cultural centre and the surrounding streets in support of the Palestinian cause attracted a huge crowd estimated to be over 15,000.

In what was an evening full of emotion, song and a deep sense of solidarity with the Palestinian people, thousands gathered to participate in a massive but peaceful demonstration organised by the Panhellenic Music Association and the Panhellenic Association of Greek Singers, and featuring many prominent Greek artists as well as political and cultural figures.

The presidents of the two associations, Vasilis Paraskevopoulos and Natassa Bofiliou, opened the evening with a joint greeting that set the tone for the event:

“We are taking this initiative because we cannot remain silent. We cannot remain silent when for over 620 days the Palestinian people are mercilessly massacred and left without food, shelter, medicine and hospital care, with over 17,000 children murdered ... In the face of this barbarity, we artists must take a stand. We must stand on the side of the persecuted, on the side of those who fight for their rights, on the side of the many who labour to build and not to tear down ... That is why we are on the side of the Palestinians who have been fighting for decades to have their own homeland. That is why we are with the peoples who take to the streets of the whole world to support the right of the Palestinians.

The Palestinian people are not alone! We are with Palestine to freedom!"

The audience erupted in applause and chants, as the music and the speeches transformed into an act of resistance.

“The only hope, the struggle of the people”

Palestinian flags waved, placards and banners flooded the space as more than 40 well-known artists participated in the concert, including Haris Alexiou, Eleonora Zouganelis, Kostis Maravegias, Matoula Zamani, Mariza Rizou, Eleni and Souzana Vougioukli, Rita Antonopoulou, Spyros Grammenos, Dimitris Mitsotakis and the band Logos Timidis.

The audience embraced the concert from the very beginning, singing along with the artists and raising their fists with the constant slogan: “Freedom in Palestine”.

"It is not poetry's job to wipe away tears/ Poetry should dig a trench where they can overflow and drown the universe"

A particularly moving moment was the appearance of the famous Greek singer and actress, Haris Alexiou, who did not sing, but read in a broken voice the poem “Silence” by the Palestinian poet Mohammed Zakaria:

And the silence was drowned out by the slogan: “Freedom in Palestine!”

The well-known singer, Natassa Bofiliou, again returned to the stage to read a poignant poem, “Defiance” by the famous Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, which the Greek singer described as apt for what the Palestinian people are currently enduring through the horrors of war and starvation and what many informed observers and lawyers consider to be a genocide.

The words of “Defiance” still resonate today, more than ever:

Resistance, peace, justice

Representatives from the Greek mission of the "March to Gaza," recently returned from Cairo, delivered a message of unwavering struggle: "No one will be free, if we are not all free!".

The Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, defiantly declared:

"History will judge us and judge us strictly.  No excuse for killing babies."

Other prominent figures included the Secretary General of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoubas, and the President of SYRIZA - Progressive Alliance, Socrates Famellos.

The Palestinian Ambassador to Greece, Yussef Dorkhom, also addressed the crowd:

“Dear friends, you represent the voice of freedom, humanity and justice, we thank you for standing on the right side of history, for raising your voice against the genocide and the hunger of our children to protect the oppressed, the children of Gaza, to protect humanity."

Towards the end of the evening, Natassa Bofiliou, flanked by the artists and musicians, performed a stirring rendition of Mikis Theodorakis’ piece, Θα σημάνουν οι καμπάνες ("The bells will ring"), from his popular Romiosini album set to the lyrics of the famous Greek poet, Yannis Ritsos, who gave voice to the common people of Greece and their struggles against tyranny and oppression.

The bells will ring
Though the sun waves you good-morning with so many leaves and the sky glitters with so many banners,
these lie in chains and those under the earth.

Be silent, the bells will ring out at any moment.
This earth is theirs, this earth is ours.

But the finale was something else, with all the artists on stage singing Tης Δικαιοσύνης Ήλιε Νοητέ (‘The Sun of Justice’) and Ένα το χελιδόνι  ("One swallow") while the audience, with raised fists and tears in their eyes, shouted once again the slogan of the evening: "Freedom in Palestine".

The songs, composed by Mikis Theodorakis from Axion Esti (Worthy It Is), a literary masterpiece by the Greek Noble Laureate poet, Odysseus Elytis, are two of the most emotional and inspiring anthems in modern Greek history, and as the writer Edmund Keeley has noted, a dramatic symbol of Greece seeking to recover and heal its wounds.

The haunting repeated refrain from "The Sun of Justice" had a special resonance:

Μη παρακαλώ σας μη

λησμονάτε τη χώρα μου!

Do not, please, I beg you,

do not forget my home

Ena to helidoni is a song-poem referring to the Greek Civil War, and the use of swallow is a metaphor for Greece trying to gain its freedom, but this freedom - the turning of the sun in the poem - requires a lot of work and blood.

The performance of Natassa Bofiliou was particularly inspirational, as she and her troupe had in the previous week headlined sold-out concerts in Athens in tribute to the late Mikis Theodorakis, bringing a fresh dynamic to his iconic songs without compromising their original integrity and serving to highlight the enduring relevance of Theodorakis' timeless themes of freedom and resistance.

A particularly charged moment of the evening was when Natassa Bofiliou passed a Palestinian keffiyeh over the shoulders of actress Maria Diakopanagiotou, who then recited a moving monologue about a refugee mother who lost her children at sea. With this symbolic gesture, the performers wanted to give their own resounding message about the genocide in Palestine.

Back at Technopolis, it was an evening that remained etched in everyone's memory as art ignited the flame of hope and struggle.

On social media the organisers were ecstatic about the turnout and the vibrant protest that was heard across Athens:

With awe and emotion we write these few lines, trying to convey the atmosphere of a historic concert.

We tried to live up to the height of such an anti-war initiative and to unite our voices in support of the martyred people of Palestine.

All expectations were exceeded with the thousands of voices that united and spread across the city under the common demand of Freedom!

We all gained courage and strength to continue the fight against war, injustice and propaganda.

What we experienced surpassed us all.

It became the voice of the cry.

Freedom in Palestine!

 

George Vardas is the Arts and Culture Editor.  He is also a member of the Joint Justice Initiative, a multicultural group lobbying for the overdue recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides. 

The feature photograph is by George Spanos Photography