The day DiEM25 came to Athens – 19th May 2017
On 19th May 2017 , DiEM25 held its first-ever event in Athens, ground-zero of the Euro Crisis and of course our co-founder Yanis Varoufakis’ home turf. Here’s a timeline of the event:
- The week started off with a bang: Greece’s opposition party shamelessly attacked us, so we responded in kind.
- The DiEM25 Greece team put out a series of short videos explaining why a new path for Greece is needed. Like this one (with English subtitles).
- On May 17, we gave our answer to the oft-asked question of whether we’ll compete in forthcoming Greek elections. (English subtitles via Youtube)
- On May 18, molotovs and teargas filled Athens’ Syntagma square, as the Syriza-led government voted in yet another round of austerity:
- On the morning of May 19, we held a press conference where Yanis commented on the vote, calling it ‘yet another debasement of democratic politics’.
That evening, our event kicked off! At the historic Sporting basketball arena in Athens, Jonas Staal’s brilliant set – based on the broken stars of the EU – dominated the court.
- First up was a politically-charged play by acclaimed writer George Maniotis.
- Then Yanis took the stage and for the next ninety minutes, introduced our speakers. Each person had around two minutes to speak, with a mix of live and video speeches.
- Speakers included local grassroots DiEM25 organisers like Apostolos Gogakos, Chrissa Ariadne Kousela and Fotini Riga, alongside progressive leaders like Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, world-renowned artists like Ken Loach and Jean-Michel Jarre, and politicians like Clive Lewis MP and Nessa Childers MEP.
- Yanis then gave a speech, in which he outlined our New Deal for Greece: six practical steps to help get Greece out of crisis:
- He finished on the following note: if our members vote for it, DiEM25 will compete in the next Greek elections. The crowd erupted into applause.
