1 00:00:00,150 --> 00:00:04,950 Very, very brief introduction of Spiros Makris because I'm sure you know all about him. 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:13,380 Very famous for having coordinated the first cultural capital of Europe in Athens in 1985, 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,740 and I can't think of anywhere more appropriate to hold that. 4 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:24,240 He is now the honorary president of the Network of Cultural Capitals and cultural months of Europe. 5 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:34,170 He is also and at this point, I have to reveal a very deep secret, which is that he is not the only famous member of his family. 6 00:00:35,550 --> 00:00:41,010 He is also a member of the board of directors of the Melina mercouri Foundation. 7 00:00:41,580 --> 00:00:44,580 And and this is a project very close to my heart. 8 00:00:44,580 --> 00:00:49,920 And I know to David Blackmon's as well. He played a major role in the rebirth of the Greek treasury. 9 00:00:51,090 --> 00:00:58,890 Spiros is speaking on the general theme The Power of culture and the continuing influence of Melina mercouri. 10 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,850 I think [INAUDIBLE] probably elaborate the title slightly and beginning to speak. 11 00:01:04,020 --> 00:01:07,830 The idea for this evening is that we start off with Spirit speaking. 12 00:01:08,070 --> 00:01:15,360 We will then have a short film. I think the I hope that we can then at that stage of proceedings at about 615, 13 00:01:15,540 --> 00:01:25,140 which will allow at least half an hour for questions and answers, and then I believe that we can prepare for a libation upstairs at 645. 14 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:28,440 So without further ado, Spiros, over to you. 15 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:41,070 Thank you, Sir David, for your kind words. And today's event has been mainly organised and funded by the Greek society. 16 00:01:41,980 --> 00:01:51,280 I wish the sector were also known as the site is the director of Southeast European Studies and the Administration, Mr. Julia Adams. 17 00:01:51,820 --> 00:02:01,060 I also wish to thank Sir David, my former British ambassador to Greece, who has kindly agreed to chair the door. 18 00:02:02,350 --> 00:02:08,980 Melina had a many sided personality. She was an actress, resistance fighter and politician. 19 00:02:09,910 --> 00:02:13,570 Melina loved Greece during her entire life. 20 00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:17,020 She wished Greece to be honoured and respected. 21 00:02:18,010 --> 00:02:22,720 As a little girl, she acted in front of the mirror of various heroes. 22 00:02:23,230 --> 00:02:29,230 Her family was against her becoming an actress, especially her grandfather, Spiros, 23 00:02:29,230 --> 00:02:36,450 but of course, was the mayor of Athens for 24 years and who Melina adored. 24 00:02:37,540 --> 00:02:43,420 She secretly sat for the entrance exams to the Drama School of the National Theatre. 25 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,950 She succeeded and passed with flying colours. 26 00:02:49,670 --> 00:02:57,080 She acted in 47 plays, including comedies, musical dramas and tragedies. 27 00:02:57,890 --> 00:03:01,850 Melina performed the role of the Dare in the play by Euripides. 28 00:03:02,390 --> 00:03:11,210 She showed Medea not like some vindictive and jealous woman, but like a proud woman scorned. 29 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:19,550 You Lepidus expressed prophetically the position of women in this tragedy. 30 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,860 Go back to the sources flow, the secretary avers. 31 00:03:25,460 --> 00:03:28,520 The world and morality are turned upside down. 32 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,600 The hearts of men are treacherous. 33 00:03:33,170 --> 00:03:38,810 The voice of time will change it. Derogatorily will written down the ages. 34 00:03:39,650 --> 00:03:44,330 All mankind will be unmoored. No longer will in a sound. 35 00:03:44,330 --> 00:03:55,190 Europe should be attached to ours. The film, directed by Yannis Oscar to take the leading role in his film Stella. 36 00:03:55,940 --> 00:04:03,020 This film was a turning point in his life and the milestone of the Greek cinema. 37 00:04:04,250 --> 00:04:09,230 Melina acted in 19 films with international success. 38 00:04:09,830 --> 00:04:14,149 Most memorable as Stella. He almost died. 39 00:04:14,150 --> 00:04:21,500 Farah took AP and never on Sunday at the Grant Film Festival in 1960s. 40 00:04:21,890 --> 00:04:29,510 Melina was awarded the first prize for the film Never on Sunday in 1967. 41 00:04:30,260 --> 00:04:36,260 Melina was performing on Broadway, the musical Elliot Daly. 42 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:49,100 She learned that the military coup had just taken place in Greece and that the colonels had established a dictatorship in the evening whilst acting. 43 00:04:49,220 --> 00:04:53,990 She stopped the performance and addressed the audience thus. 44 00:04:54,950 --> 00:05:02,570 Today, something terrible has happened in my country, Greece, where democracy was born. 45 00:05:03,410 --> 00:05:11,450 A dictatorship has been established. Your government has some responsibility for this. 46 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:19,010 You are a democratic people and I am sure that you will help the return of democracy to Greece. 47 00:05:19,730 --> 00:05:23,510 She said out and continue acting her role. 48 00:05:24,290 --> 00:05:28,160 All the audience stood up and uploaded. 49 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:36,650 After a few days, a British journalist from the Evening Standard telephoned her at the crack of dawn and said. 50 00:05:37,900 --> 00:05:46,120 Mr. Spartacus, the junta's minister of the Interior, has taken away your Greek nationality. 51 00:05:47,020 --> 00:05:59,330 Molina replied. I was born Greek and I will die Greek, but of course was born a fascist, and he would die first. 52 00:06:00,010 --> 00:06:08,350 The next day, all the international press, this incident as front page news at once. 53 00:06:08,770 --> 00:06:13,210 Melina began her political campaign against the junta. 54 00:06:14,660 --> 00:06:21,830 The decision was that as soon as she had finished her theatrical obligation, she would return to Europe. 55 00:06:22,580 --> 00:06:30,590 Milena visited 14 countries during a campaign against the conference in Vienna. 56 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:38,330 She was greeted by the vice president of the Council of Europe, Bruno Bitterman, in West Berlin, 57 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:47,990 by Mayer Schultz in Sweden, by Prime Minister Landa, by the Minister of Education, all of Parliament. 58 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:55,760 In London, she addressed a huge crowd at Trafalgar Square in Paris. 59 00:06:56,090 --> 00:07:01,280 She spoke at the municipality of this city in all the countries. 60 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:10,790 She was welcomed by politicians, famous artists, journalists, Greeks living abroad and by people everywhere. 61 00:07:12,020 --> 00:07:18,470 In Genoa, a bomb was planted in the hole where she was due to speak. 62 00:07:19,620 --> 00:07:22,940 Luckily, it was spotted just in time. 63 00:07:23,870 --> 00:07:27,140 She was taken to the courtyard before it exploded. 64 00:07:27,860 --> 00:07:31,610 People began to leave. Maybe not. 65 00:07:31,610 --> 00:07:35,750 Went to the microphone and called. Where are you going? 66 00:07:36,170 --> 00:07:42,320 I haven't told you what I want to say. And calmly, she began to speak. 67 00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:49,940 Everyone cheered when he joined a fair rebellion, immediately returned to Greece. 68 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,370 The welcome she got from the people was tremendous. 69 00:07:55,970 --> 00:08:06,350 She was a candidate for parliament, for Barrios. She was elected triumphantly and became Minister of Culture in 1981. 70 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:14,330 Her first act as minister was the village, the British Museum, which houses the Parthenon Marbles. 71 00:08:14,930 --> 00:08:24,080 There she took the decision to begin an international campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. 72 00:08:25,460 --> 00:08:33,680 The Parthenon Marbles are a potent symbol of democracy and part of the Greek heritage and pride. 73 00:08:34,700 --> 00:08:40,040 Melina made the Greek parliament internationally known. 74 00:08:41,180 --> 00:08:48,890 UNESCO's voted and with a sweeping majority, adopted the resolution to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. 75 00:08:49,790 --> 00:08:55,790 All opinion polls in Europe and especially Britain support the return. 76 00:08:57,020 --> 00:08:58,940 After Melina's death, 77 00:08:59,570 --> 00:09:09,080 the Melina mercouri Foundation and I continued her works and visions with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture of Greece. 78 00:09:09,500 --> 00:09:15,440 We organised an exhibition we titled The Unification of the Parthenon Marbles. 79 00:09:15,890 --> 00:09:25,000 It cultural must. The exhibition has been shown at the Athens Concert Hall at your desk in Paris, 80 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:32,500 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and at the Storeyed Municipality of Frankfurt. 81 00:09:33,990 --> 00:09:44,100 The exhibition shows with precision and exact detail the damage caused by Lord Elgin and his assistants. 82 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:55,530 Different colours are used to show which reliefs at the British Museum and which are and which are in Athens. 83 00:09:56,100 --> 00:10:03,150 In this way one can see in what condition the sculptures of the Parthenon are in today. 84 00:10:05,270 --> 00:10:19,130 It must be emphasised that we never intended to empty the museums of the world of Greek treasures and antiquities such as the Aphrodite of Milos, 85 00:10:19,340 --> 00:10:22,220 the debut of some with Rose and others. 86 00:10:23,140 --> 00:10:33,980 Melina recognised the need to build a new Acropolis museum with the latest technologies to display the Parthenon sculptures. 87 00:10:34,900 --> 00:10:45,100 Now the museum is ready. The creation of the Museum of the Acropolis is a dream that has become a reality. 88 00:10:45,580 --> 00:10:55,090 A dream which began with Melina and has been materialised by the State and Museum all those years. 89 00:10:55,090 --> 00:11:05,890 It continues, and which is a fitting home to display this unique collection of unsurpassed beauty and value. 90 00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:15,390 Melina's thoughts for the creating of the Museum of Acropolis included the transformation of the area, 91 00:11:15,750 --> 00:11:24,600 and thus she began an important plan for the unification of the archaeological sites of Athens. 92 00:11:25,470 --> 00:11:32,610 A full kilometre walk will join the Academy of Plato with Panathenaic Stadium. 93 00:11:35,670 --> 00:11:41,220 With the creation of the unification of the archaeological sites, 94 00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:49,740 an important archaeological but of the Athenian landscape is now in the process of change. 95 00:11:50,700 --> 00:11:57,990 Millions believed in cultural decentralisation and social organise in 16 towns of Greece. 96 00:11:58,410 --> 00:12:08,130 Local municipal theatres, which have become the centre of the towns, are the focal point of art and culture. 97 00:12:10,530 --> 00:12:18,630 Milena ask herself why, when she was a child, she was such a bad pupil. 98 00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:26,430 In the end she realised that the lessons in class simply were not interesting to her. 99 00:12:27,270 --> 00:12:36,360 The reason being that the teacher did not have a way to communicate with the pupil and make the class and lessons interesting. 100 00:12:37,260 --> 00:12:53,250 She decided to create a programme which she called Melina Education Culture, which was integrated experimentally in 182 schools. 101 00:12:54,150 --> 00:13:04,350 The aim was to change the way of teaching so that there would be a better contact and communication between teacher and pupil. 102 00:13:05,970 --> 00:13:17,340 The greatest achievement of Milena as a minister of culture was to put on the lips of the foreigners the word Greece. 103 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:22,080 And on the lips of the Greeks. The word culture. 104 00:13:23,050 --> 00:13:26,200 But what is culture and civilisation? 105 00:13:26,740 --> 00:13:31,030 There are many definitions of culture, but let's say the most simple one. 106 00:13:31,930 --> 00:13:32,610 Speech. 107 00:13:32,620 --> 00:13:45,430 But in literature, theatre, music, dance, fine arts, architecture, science and care of the environment are expressions of culture that create culture. 108 00:13:46,630 --> 00:13:52,120 However, the meaning of culture is much wider and deeper. 109 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:58,480 Civilisation are formed by what man has said or done since thousands of years ago, 110 00:13:58,690 --> 00:14:08,560 in which up to now have been accepted and absorbed by societies and peoples and have been added to in the traditions, 111 00:14:08,830 --> 00:14:14,290 habits, thoughts, creations, actions and memories. 112 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:22,190 Culture absorbed from the past, moulds the present and shapes the future. 113 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,860 Culture exists in all our doings, in all our activities. 114 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:37,070 It is knowledge, education, behaviour, freedom of expression, constructive dialogue and responsibility, 115 00:14:37,340 --> 00:14:43,400 understanding and respect for the diversity and the opinion of others. 116 00:14:43,940 --> 00:14:48,620 It is creation, quality and their way of life. 117 00:14:50,910 --> 00:14:58,350 Geography and climate have always played a crucial role in the development of culture and civilisations. 118 00:14:59,010 --> 00:15:04,500 The characteristics of the Greek natural environment for the Greek character. 119 00:15:05,380 --> 00:15:10,120 Rick Light. Inspiration. Imagination. 120 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,410 Sharp mind. Inventiveness. Creation. 121 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,910 Joy of life. Storm. Hard work. 122 00:15:20,630 --> 00:15:24,290 Tough life. Tragedy. Endurance. 123 00:15:24,620 --> 00:15:28,430 Survival. See the journey. 124 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:33,350 Adventure. Communication. Trade. Exchange of ideas. 125 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,890 Experience. World wide knowledge. 126 00:15:38,470 --> 00:15:46,170 Know thyself. Golden mean cultivation of mind and body well-being. 127 00:15:46,180 --> 00:15:57,880 Freedom of expression. The power, wealth, clarity and flexibility of this Greek language created the Greek anthropocentric culture. 128 00:15:58,990 --> 00:16:09,580 When my leader became Minister of Culture in 1981, the first thing she asked was When would you meet with other parts of the European community? 129 00:16:11,250 --> 00:16:21,480 The European community, a commercial and economic community up to that point had not given special attention to its cultural dimension. 130 00:16:21,810 --> 00:16:25,500 And cultural ministers met informally. 131 00:16:27,460 --> 00:16:38,560 Melina mercouri Got it. All the community culture ministers together in order to submit to them the following question How 132 00:16:38,890 --> 00:16:48,640 is it possible for a community which is deprived of its cultural dimension to grow and continued? 133 00:16:49,300 --> 00:16:55,870 Our role as ministers of culture is clear our responsibility and must. 134 00:16:56,500 --> 00:17:06,970 Culture is the soul of society. Therefore, our foremost duty is to look at the foundations and nature of this community. 135 00:17:07,990 --> 00:17:12,340 This does not mean that we should impose our ideas. 136 00:17:12,850 --> 00:17:21,130 On the contrary, we must recognise the diversity of the differences amongst the people of Europe. 137 00:17:22,090 --> 00:17:29,860 The determining factor of a European identity lies precisely in respecting this 138 00:17:29,860 --> 00:17:36,040 diversity with the aim of creating a dialogue between the cultures of Europe. 139 00:17:37,090 --> 00:17:44,650 It is time for our voice to be heard as loud as that of the technocrats. 140 00:17:45,970 --> 00:17:55,240 Culture, art and creativity are not less important than technology, commerce and the economy. 141 00:17:57,130 --> 00:18:03,250 Marina proposed to the Ministry of Culture to designate this year a European city as European cultural capital. 142 00:18:03,940 --> 00:18:11,950 The proposal was unanimously accepted. The institution of European cultural capitals was created, 143 00:18:12,220 --> 00:18:22,690 with Athens being chosen as the first European cultural capital for the 1985 Million US initiative in 1983, 144 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:38,319 to said each year a European city as cultural capital of Europe had no significance because she made culture and then sensual. 145 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:43,210 [INAUDIBLE] it every day community life. 146 00:18:44,850 --> 00:18:54,030 Melina and her sisters were especially anxious that the event of European cultural capitals should not be a festival, 147 00:18:54,450 --> 00:19:02,399 but a meeting place for discussion, exchange of ideas and communication where artists, intellectuals, 148 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:09,480 insiders would bring their work and efforts together towards the promotion of European thought. 149 00:19:10,390 --> 00:19:19,720 To be a tool which would allow the citizens of Europe to be more than mere spectators to participate, to understand, 150 00:19:20,050 --> 00:19:29,980 to see, to define and shape new ideas and relationships in the process for a politically unified Europe. 151 00:19:31,410 --> 00:19:40,920 As a result, the network of European cultural capitals was formed to link former current and future European capitals of culture. 152 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:54,060 Its aim was to serve the institution of European capitals, of culture, and thereby deepen the understanding of Europe's cultural diversity. 153 00:19:55,020 --> 00:20:02,460 The network organised European projects and kept the records of all cultural capitals. 154 00:20:04,070 --> 00:20:08,270 But what are the conditions we live in today? 155 00:20:09,260 --> 00:20:11,540 During the last decades, 156 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:23,930 politics have been trumped and forced into a speculative logistic economy and so have lost the distinctive way and orientation. 157 00:20:25,310 --> 00:20:34,970 The economic crisis has pushed Europe into a negative downward economic spiral, not felt since World War Two. 158 00:20:35,980 --> 00:20:42,490 Today, the institutions of Europe in the European Union are under challenge. 159 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,080 There is a crisis in the very idea of Europe. 160 00:20:47,710 --> 00:20:51,220 Not just economic, but also political. 161 00:20:52,090 --> 00:21:02,260 The crisis can be explained, by the way, in which the idea of Europe has been betrayed and as the word Europe has for many people, 162 00:21:02,260 --> 00:21:07,150 stopped, meaning no shared home and cultural space. 163 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:19,240 Europe, with economic measures it has imposed, has come to be seen by many Europeans as a threat to themselves. 164 00:21:20,530 --> 00:21:32,440 The reason is that this economic ideology takes no account of what should be the focus of every economic ideology, 165 00:21:32,830 --> 00:21:42,940 which is human beings and the full range of social, cultural and psychological needs. 166 00:21:44,110 --> 00:21:50,770 Europe is first and foremost officially a civilisation that exists in a single 167 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:57,490 cultural geographic space and which has existed that space for thousands of years. 168 00:21:58,150 --> 00:22:01,180 Greeks are the first of all of Europe. 169 00:22:01,660 --> 00:22:06,160 Art, philosophy, education and democracy. 170 00:22:07,390 --> 00:22:18,760 Throughout history, Europeans have been aware that they share similar values which reflect the reality that they all belong to one civilisation. 171 00:22:20,150 --> 00:22:30,110 This, of course, is not to deny that Europe is a civilisation of many different nations and people, each with their language and history, 172 00:22:30,350 --> 00:22:39,620 their own specific characteristic and their own achievement of which each has their right to be proud. 173 00:22:40,370 --> 00:22:52,520 Any European construction has to take the account of this rich diversity, which is just shows of strength and not of weakness. 174 00:22:54,240 --> 00:23:07,380 To deny however that done Shakespeare good and Voltaire were Europeans at the same time as there were Italian, English, German and French. 175 00:23:07,890 --> 00:23:22,170 Is to deny the truth. To admit this truth is also to recognise that Europe's true foundation and truth centre is the cultural achievement. 176 00:23:24,010 --> 00:23:30,250 That produced the likes of Dante, Shakespeare and Voltaire. 177 00:23:30,610 --> 00:23:47,230 In not economic systems Germany, the arts Europe pianist who since 1946 had a replanning of France, envisioned a United States of Europe, Monnet said. 178 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,770 Europe will not be built all at once as a complete structure, 179 00:23:54,220 --> 00:24:05,260 but will emerge slowly from great achievement, creating a solidarity between member states. 180 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:13,390 And he declared that he would begin with culture as the foundation of European integration. 181 00:24:15,430 --> 00:24:21,460 Today, developed countries of the world form a global village. 182 00:24:22,150 --> 00:24:28,360 Never in the history of mankind has that ever existed such easy contact. 183 00:24:28,870 --> 00:24:33,760 Each country in its continent is in constant communication. 184 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:47,340 But it is doubtful if such communication promotes a straightforward and constructive dialogue between peoples and civilisations. 185 00:24:48,710 --> 00:24:56,780 Hostility and excessive competitiveness breed conflict and aggravation. 186 00:24:57,770 --> 00:25:02,540 Religious fanaticism, nationalism and Russia's are spreading. 187 00:25:03,380 --> 00:25:08,810 The problems of the minorities are growing and employment is on the rise. 188 00:25:09,170 --> 00:25:16,610 Wars and local rebellions are on the increase and without an end in sight. 189 00:25:18,780 --> 00:25:31,110 We live in a time that is dominated by cynicism, mistrust, insecurity, corruption, fear, terror, and in the pursuit of money. 190 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,670 Grown ups engages the characters of people. 191 00:25:36,750 --> 00:25:45,030 Milton Friedman, the renowned economist and a member of a group of like minded economists who called 192 00:25:45,030 --> 00:25:51,690 themselves the Chicago School was a believer in extreme economic new liberalism, 193 00:25:52,020 --> 00:25:58,830 which was introduced in the socio economic life in the United States, in Europe. 194 00:25:59,850 --> 00:26:13,320 This school played a beauty role in Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile and Suharto in Indonesia as well as in other countries, 195 00:26:13,830 --> 00:26:20,700 and was influential in the corruption imposed on Russia during the time of. 196 00:26:22,730 --> 00:26:33,139 This Chicago school economist believe that the international central banks should be the ultimate dominant power 197 00:26:33,140 --> 00:26:41,900 without interference from the elected members of Parliament who represent the political parties and the people. 198 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:56,790 Milton Friedman often used to say jokingly that if it was in his hands, the central banks would rely totally on economic science, 199 00:26:57,150 --> 00:27:05,550 meaning that giant computers would be in total control without the humans supervision. 200 00:27:07,140 --> 00:27:10,530 This is no longer a joke. 201 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:17,010 The hard truth be that this is what is gradually happening. 202 00:27:18,150 --> 00:27:19,290 These theories. 203 00:27:19,590 --> 00:27:29,520 They were run by Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and especially George Bush, junior Vice President Dick Cheney, and the third secretary, 204 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:40,800 Donald Rumsfeld, resulted in the disastrous war and tragedy of Iraq and have led into the ensuing turmoil of the Middle East. 205 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:51,120 In Europe, Merkel, Schauble and Sarkozy have continued with this policy with unfortunate results. 206 00:27:52,410 --> 00:28:05,070 It is a misconception and perhaps even a deliberate mistreatment to infer that the present economic crisis originated in Greece. 207 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:12,899 The crisis has come about from an obsessive Western European policy to support and 208 00:28:12,900 --> 00:28:19,860 promote the monetarist economic system which protects the security of the money market. 209 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:26,280 Unfortunately, with today's political, economic and social relations, 210 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:34,800 the transnational capital, which is in the September, controls it checks the world economy. 211 00:28:35,490 --> 00:28:43,050 It has formed an invisible pyramid of money that arranges the economic bodies. 212 00:28:44,460 --> 00:28:55,020 The rating agencies Fitch, Moody's and Standard Poor's have become the arbiters of the economy of the Western world. 213 00:28:55,890 --> 00:29:08,610 Nominal nominal money has become a productive, integral object of speculation, and so creates an enormous social and economic gap between people. 214 00:29:08,980 --> 00:29:12,600 The policies of these centres, of economic powers. 215 00:29:13,260 --> 00:29:16,950 This is serious and dangerous. 216 00:29:17,430 --> 00:29:28,410 The gap must be narrowed. The geographic soullessness and the statistical account method of the economy are unacceptable. 217 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:34,470 They maintain a uniform culture which flattens everything. 218 00:29:35,370 --> 00:29:42,630 Every spiritual quest in the joy of life have been pushed aside. 219 00:29:43,620 --> 00:29:47,610 Can you? We stole it. You. No. 220 00:29:47,910 --> 00:29:56,280 You can't wear suits like this. Cadillac is Louise's, Haku, Savopoulos and so many others. 221 00:29:56,820 --> 00:30:05,310 This is true not only in Greece, but also in France, Italy, Britain, Germany, America, throughout the Western world. 222 00:30:05,790 --> 00:30:13,530 We are here, but a part on the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Sinatra. 223 00:30:14,100 --> 00:30:21,180 Instead, we have the mediocrity of the Eurovision Song Contest. 224 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:29,280 In biology, literature or theatre. What is the latest stuff there is because it is smart. 225 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,820 Simone de Beauvoir. Albert Camus. Arthur Miller. 226 00:30:33,450 --> 00:30:36,569 Albie Peter Hall. Peter Brook Brecht. 227 00:30:36,570 --> 00:30:46,860 Günter Grass. All these and many others made us think, live, have concern, feel and love. 228 00:30:48,390 --> 00:30:53,970 I am not saying that there are no events and performances in numbers. 229 00:30:54,210 --> 00:31:00,870 Many but few exist. Quality, depth and inspiration. 230 00:31:02,890 --> 00:31:08,590 Greece has been used as a guinea pig. Harsh measures have followed one after the other. 231 00:31:09,010 --> 00:31:16,270 There has been no constructive plan. A potential development for growth does not exist. 232 00:31:16,690 --> 00:31:22,030 All of this has exhausted the social stamina of the people. 233 00:31:23,110 --> 00:31:26,800 Now it is has been given an opportunity. 234 00:31:27,490 --> 00:31:33,520 The people of Europe are rebelling and protesting against the system, which is too harsh. 235 00:31:34,060 --> 00:31:37,900 It took half the French presidential victory over. 236 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:43,900 Hollande has given a sense of hope and optimism for a change in direction. 237 00:31:45,070 --> 00:31:52,990 In the last elections in Germany, states such as North Rhine-Westphalia are reversing Merkel's Polish. 238 00:31:54,460 --> 00:32:00,870 At long last, there is a glimmer of change for a more favourable climate. 239 00:32:01,780 --> 00:32:09,670 If those in Greece who signed the memorandum and those who resisted it were able 240 00:32:10,150 --> 00:32:17,500 to join together in the common aim of finding a way to re-examine the memorandum, 241 00:32:18,250 --> 00:32:22,810 it could be a victory for Greece and for Europe. 242 00:32:23,650 --> 00:32:27,610 Unfortunately, a government has not yet been formed. 243 00:32:28,060 --> 00:32:33,910 We are going to do elections, but I am sure that will be seven June elections. 244 00:32:34,180 --> 00:32:47,970 Greece will have a government. Would Visnic, as many believe and support is a new Marshall Plan to reconstruct the administrative infrastructure, 245 00:32:48,420 --> 00:32:54,390 to regain credibility and to immediately launch a program for the development. 246 00:32:55,030 --> 00:33:01,260 Greece needs a bold new approach for funding and a new way of thinking. 247 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,370 It does not forget that Germany, with the Marshall Plan, 248 00:33:05,370 --> 00:33:13,380 was awarded a huge benevolent economic assistance for the construction industry and education and development. 249 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:19,870 The truth is that today's Europe, with its stifling economic policy, 250 00:33:20,170 --> 00:33:28,810 is not sensitive and it has not a feeling of conscious solidarity for member states but people. 251 00:33:30,490 --> 00:33:33,340 It was wonderful, encouraging to see people in Europe, 252 00:33:33,340 --> 00:33:44,370 America and Australia waving banners with the motto We are all Greeks and thus declaring the solidarity and support for us. 253 00:33:45,450 --> 00:33:54,700 This slogan emphasises the certainty that without Greece there can be no true Europe. 254 00:33:55,170 --> 00:34:00,030 For Greece is the cradle of European civilisation. 255 00:34:01,330 --> 00:34:16,150 Also, it was a way of showing the fear that this European policy then forced us all into the same boat in which Greece finds herself in at present. 256 00:34:17,170 --> 00:34:26,110 We must finally understand what when there is an increase in material goods, 257 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:35,380 which is not followed with a parallel development of ideas and values, then the lifestyle created flattens. 258 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:40,570 Every cultural creation and is doomed to is in decline. 259 00:34:41,530 --> 00:34:49,810 If people are squeezed dry, no development can be achieved and hope for a better life will fade. 260 00:34:50,530 --> 00:34:57,970 Financial Programmes. A decision must always consider the human factor. 261 00:34:58,570 --> 00:35:05,010 This is a protest and a demand for more humanity and more culture. 262 00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:12,030 A system such as the current one, which ignores its position. 263 00:35:12,270 --> 00:35:21,660 And these feelings cannot, in the long run, survive and will lead to a rupture between its people. 264 00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:30,240 The people will become resentful and more crises will be repeated, eventually growing and spreading. 265 00:35:31,110 --> 00:35:44,160 It is absolutely necessary to move with the new era where education and culture will have a central role in politics, society and the economy. 266 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:52,200 To overthrow the system and to succeed cannot come only from the demands of the trade Union City Guilds. 267 00:35:52,680 --> 00:36:02,610 It must aim at the more general political will for a progressive redistribution of wealth with social justice. 268 00:36:03,390 --> 00:36:07,530 People must be aware of the need for this change. 269 00:36:07,980 --> 00:36:14,730 But to do this, there must be understanding and enlightenment and courage. 270 00:36:16,260 --> 00:36:19,800 To develop, we must adapt ourselves to reality. 271 00:36:20,490 --> 00:36:23,820 To use the means that contemporary conditions offer to us. 272 00:36:24,180 --> 00:36:33,090 And to function in a way that we can convince others in the importance and power of culture for the development of societies, 273 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:40,560 and to convince them that culture is not an abstract idea that occupies only the intellectuals. 274 00:36:41,570 --> 00:36:46,310 You must appeal to people from all walks of life. 275 00:36:46,940 --> 00:36:50,059 You have to ask the think, the writer, 276 00:36:50,060 --> 00:37:00,350 the artist and all citizens to give answers and the new meaning and purpose to the conditions and demands of our time. 277 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:05,380 The wealth of Greece is its culture. 278 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:14,890 In Greece, at every beat you walk, every step you take, wherever you bend and dig. 279 00:37:15,670 --> 00:37:21,610 Culture was about a culture of thousands of years. 280 00:37:22,090 --> 00:37:25,120 A culture that has created. 281 00:37:25,570 --> 00:37:30,580 That has not been surpassed and which continues to create. 282 00:37:32,030 --> 00:37:45,260 You can count on the fingers of one hand the people who still survive and have a memory of more than 5000 years. 283 00:37:46,370 --> 00:37:50,510 The power of agriculture is its duration. 284 00:37:51,350 --> 00:38:00,500 Agriculture is universal. It is anthropocentric because, man, whatever happens, goes ahead. 285 00:38:01,310 --> 00:38:05,490 It is his destiny. Cultural is the reason. 286 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:12,140 The cultural is at the centre of our social, economic and political life. 287 00:38:12,770 --> 00:38:17,120 You must believe in the productivity of culture. And we invested it. 288 00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:26,390 For example, in September 2011, I spoke in Beijing at a forum with the title Friendship Between Peoples. 289 00:38:26,930 --> 00:38:34,850 I propose that the big firms should be organised for a constructive dialogue between cultures and that this should 290 00:38:34,850 --> 00:38:44,360 be undertaken by Great China with its huge civilisation and by dying in Greece with its corrosive civilisation. 291 00:38:45,050 --> 00:38:53,150 This proposal was accepted by the Chinese and we have commenced to regulate the organising of the forum. 292 00:38:53,750 --> 00:39:01,190 The topics to be discussed. The renowned international personalities to be invited to take part. 293 00:39:01,730 --> 00:39:09,800 I feel sure that this will be a big international political and cultural event. 294 00:39:12,190 --> 00:39:26,110 When the level of culture, education and election life rise, governments and citizens will understand the problems more easily. 295 00:39:26,530 --> 00:39:33,249 They will evaluate the problems better and will face life with greater understanding and 296 00:39:33,250 --> 00:39:41,320 show greater tolerance for the thinking and acting of other people throughout the ages. 297 00:39:41,830 --> 00:39:49,240 Mankind to school system showed progress and renewal in the long history of human civilisation. 298 00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:53,950 There has been a so a whole series of responses. 299 00:39:54,370 --> 00:40:05,230 Each one making its contribution to moral and electoral regeneration and to the betterment of the quality of life. 300 00:40:06,350 --> 00:40:18,440 If a man wants to develop and progress, he must not forget the eternal values that he himself has created. 301 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:26,180 If he wants to dream and sing again, he must create new ideas and values. 302 00:40:26,900 --> 00:40:33,170 Men is the driving force. And when men exist, knowledge exists. 303 00:40:33,530 --> 00:40:36,590 And where there is knowledge, there is culture. 304 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:44,660 And as Sophocles said in his many, many wonders, they are. 305 00:40:44,990 --> 00:40:49,220 And yet none is more wonderful than men. 306 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:50,120 Thank.