Colleagues, students, relatives and friends said their last goodbye today to the professor, who was buried in the First Cemetery.
The man who from his childhood knew the harshness of post-conflict Greece but overcame it with a smile and a broad spirit. The man who “married” history and mathematics, and “entered” every Greek home on election night for the last four decades, the Ilias Nikolakopoulosdozens of citizens said goodbye at his civil funeral that took place at the First Cemetery.
They were all there. His students, his colleagues from the University of Athens and polls – even though he himself hated being called a “pollster” – people of Art (Yiannis Psychopaidis was only one of them), his collaborators and fellow travelers in life and science, politicians and ordinary citizens.
The funeral of Alexis Tsipras
“Today we say goodbye with pain to a special companion, a great scientist, a sweet person. A man who gave us and gives us with his life and work an excellent example of harmony between knowledge and modesty. Between pioneering thinking and circumspection. Between the deep study of reality and the daily action to change reality.” With these words, the leader of the official opposition, Alexis Tsipras, began his funeral for Ilias Nikolakopoulos.
He then spoke about Il. Nikolakopoulos’ childhood saying: “He was born in the midst of the tragedy of the civil war. He was pampered and lulled in Trikeri by his exiled mother and her also exiled girlfriends. He was marked by his father’s exile and prison. He was deprived of his parents at the time of childhood innocence, who were replaced by a loving grandmother, his mother’s mother, until the mid-50s.”
But, he pointed out Alexis Tsiprasalthough “a child of the civil war and the subsequent difficult years, he never gave room to empathy”.
And, right after he said: “Ilias was a friend, companion, advisor. Elias was a teacher for many. Elias was an open book to all of us. In the immature years of SYRIZA, but also in the mature years of the government and later, until yesterday, it was for us, for me, for the progressive space, a point of reference. The certainty of science tied to the desire for social justice, change, progress. But also the science – I don’t know how else to say it – the science of certainty. He was sure of what he said because he was not moved by the somewhat familiar spontaneity of our right, but by a deeper study of history, numbers, political attitudes, social currents.”
This was also the reason, according to the president of SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance, for which Il. Nikolakopoulos “was the only, perhaps, scientist who was “exposed” to the harsh publicity of television, with his election forecasts and analyses, and won not only the appreciation, but also the love of all. Whatever political “God” they believed in.”
Elias Nikolakopoulos “gave us knowledge, sobriety, a smile that seeks the truth and questions dogmas, modest military service, irreplaceable morals. It opened new avenues in our thinking and also in the science of electoral sociology. He gave new content to the Archives of Social History as its chairman. He connected today with yesterday and history in the most expressive way in his shows on Kokkino. He ensured, finally, the most unquestionable impartiality and validity in the recent electoral process for the election of the president and Central Committee in our party”, emphasized Al. Tsipras leafing through the pages of the life of Il. Nikolakopoulos.
And then, in a more personal tone, moved, Alexis Tsipras shared with those present the last meeting at the offices of SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance: “After you spoke to us for the first time about how you brought public opinion polls to the country for the first time in the early 80s, sometime before the meeting ended, you looked at your watch and got up to leave in a hurry. “Is the boat leaving for Gia?”, we asked you. “No, Konstantinos is speaking, you answered us.” “I’m not greeting you, I’ll see you again soon,” you told us. It was probably your wish not to greet us, but to leave in a hurry, suddenly,” concluded Al in closing. Tsipras.
The funeral of Thodoris Livanios
The Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Theodoris Livanios he had worked together with Ilias Nikolakopoulos. Therefore, in a personal tone, addressing his teacher and partner, he said: “I can’t believe that in the next election we won’t be together. Let’s wait for you to come, after voting, to get the first data from the exit poll, to tell us not to rush because it’s still too early. Let’s live with the anxiety and stress until the first official results come in and make sure everything went well.”
After pointing out that he owes him everything – they worked together from 2004 to 2019 – Th. Livanios characteristically said: “I wanted to be like you. But when I met you I immediately understood that no one, no one can be like you. You were the bridge between mathematics and political science. You combined two seemingly different sciences and paved the way for all of us who chose the positive sciences when we were young, but, thanks to you, we were also fascinated by elections. The way you researched the data and sought the truth was unique. But even more special was the way you interpreted them. And the work you did at the National Center for Social Research was groundbreaking.”
Furthermore, “I also know well that the election was only one side of your character. You pissed off anyone who called you a pollster and an election expert,” observed T. Livanios, who added: “You gave science and society many wonderful books. Anyone who has not read “Cachetic Republic”, cannot understand everything that happened in the country between 1946 and 1967. Anyone who has not read the biography of Ilias Ilios, cannot imagine how it is possible to narrate the life of a very great politician in and from your personal experiences. You said that this place lacks biographies, but we are full of hagiographies.”
Finally, “your historical narratives were like a fairy tale. Either they concern persons of the civil war or the interwar period or they concern stories of the elections. Whether someone heard you talking live in the cafe in Plaka, or at an academic event, or at your favorite ASKI or on your Sunday radio show on “Kokkino”. Through your experiences, this wonderful man was created. Through the civil war, the Julian days, through the dictatorship, from the aftermath of the French May of 1968, from the post-colonialism and the stabilization of democracy. A deeply progressive and democratic man”, concluded Thodoris Livanios.
Who continued by noting, “your life is an example to all of us. And it should be a guide so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. Let’s turn our backs on the divisions and civil strife, on the exiles and playboys, on the black pages of Greece. But so that this does not happen again, so that brother does not fight brother again, you said that we must learn our history. We who live in this small but beautiful corner of the world can disagree. We can disagree on the means but not the end. He’s common.”
In conclusion, “you were always next to all of us. You always listened to us with your sweetness, your kindness, your endless patience. And you always had a unique way of deconstructing, slaughtering with cotton, what didn’t seem right to you. With your smile. I can’t say goodbye to you,” the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance said in closing.
It was preceded by his funeral, and his student, Doctor of Political Science, Panagiotis Kousteni. At first, the news of the loss seemed like something of a statistical error, he said, and he talked about the school he created and leaves behind. At the difficult time of assessing the election result, Ilias Nikolakopoulos recommended that, apart from the numbers, there is also political logic. In the end, “election nights will not be the same anymore…”, he concluded.
On his part, Mr Kostas Karpozilos, director of the Archives of Contemporary Social History – the deceased was the president of ASKI – spoke about the historian Nikolakopoulos. With his radical gaze he renewed, along with others, a world that seemed unable to be renewed. He recorded “cachetic democracy” – the term from the book of the same name by Il. Nikolakopoulos – that is, post-tribal democracy. If we are to keep one element from him, let it be the uncompromising nature of his character, he suggested in closing.
Subsequently, Mr. Professor of Psychiatry Dimitris Plombidis he talked about his childhood friend, about the freedom they inherited from their parents, about the personal, family relationship they developed throughout their lives. While he described the ability of Il. Nikolakopoulos to “read” social and political developments. “He shared with me his vast knowledge and his excellent memory in my research on people, first of all Nikos Plumbidis” (s.s. father of D. Plumbidis).
Finally, the academic and sociologist Konstantinos Tsoukalas he described his friend, Elias, with the calm stability, the indomitable morals, the solidity of the reflections that distinguished him. As is his broad smile, even in the most difficult of times.
Among others, the former President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the Minister of Citizen Protection Takis Theodorikakos, the vice-president of the Parliament Dimitris Vitsas, the former President of the Parliament Nikos Voutsis and others attended.
Wreaths were sent, among others, by the president of PASOK – KINAL, Nikos Androulakis, the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of EKPA, Ipsos – Opinion, the newspaper “Avgi” and the radio station “Sto Kokkino” of which he was a partner, the publications “Foundation”, the Poulantza Institute.
RES-EMP
View the news feed and get the latest news.
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
