The 48th annual ‘Odigits’ festival organized by the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) concluded with a resolve to strengthen the class struggle. The three-day festival held at Tritsis Park in Athens from September 22-24 ended with a massive rally which saw the participation of tens of thousands of people. The rally was addressed by the general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumpas.
Numerous events including political discussions, debates, sports, exhibitions, movie screenings, concerts, and performances by around 350 artists were organized as part of the fest. Delegates from various communist parties and youth groups across the world also participated and set up their stalls at the international pavilion. Cadres from the KKE, the KNE, and the Students Struggle Front (MAS) actively volunteered during the festival for its successful conduct.
The Odigits festival, named after the communist publication of the KNE, was first held in September 1975 at the Zografou Stadium in eastern Athens. The Odigits magazine, which was launched in 1968, borrows its name from a poem by Greek poet Kostas Varnalis. In this year’s fest, events were organized to pay tributes to Greek poet Nikos Gatsos and composer Apostolos Kaldaras. A Cuban solidarity event was also held which was addressed by Cuban ambassador to Greece Aramis Fuente Erdantes. The presence of the delegations of Ukrainian and Russian communists, side by side, in the international pavilion was a highlight of the fest. The attache of the Vietnamese embassy Nguyen Ngoc and Charge d’Affaires of the Palestinian Embassy Yusef Dorhom also attended the fest.
While addressing the rally on September 24, Koutsoumpas said, “In an aging world, which breeds monsters and has only nightmarish images to show, the new generation with the KKE can fight and create the ‘big, the beautiful and the shocking’. Socialism!”
