Fifty years later, can Greece look its youth in the eyes?

Dear reader,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.

It’s been 50 years since the Polytechnic School Uprising. Those students looked fear in the eye and revolted for freedom and democracy. How can a rebellion look so young after half a century?

Another Roma teen was shot dead during a car chase with the police. Initial reporting on the policeman’s gun firing by mistake seems to be overturned by testimonies and videos that indicate that the policeman might have breached the police’s code of conduct and accusations, according to which the perpetrators might have even “washed” the scene of the crime before evidence was collected.

SYRIZA is disintegrating under its new leader, Kasselakis, who appeared quite authoritative in the Central Committee. For the first time in almost a decade, polls showed PASOK coming second after ND instead of SYRIZA.   

It is a historical moment, a continuous inspiration 

17 November 1973: A moment that marked Greece's recent history - and captured people's hearts forever. It was when the country’s dictator sent the tanks to crash through the Polytechnic School gate, behind which there were thousands of students and democratic citizens demonstrating against the regime.

The students decided to occupy the Polytechnic School on 14 November 1973 to protest against the military rule which was imposed in the country on 21 April 1967. The junta's attempt to interfere with student elections triggered the decision.

Their landmark slogan was “BREAD-EDUCATION-FREEDOM.”