With the participation of tens of thousands of people, the three-day events of the 49th KNE-“Odegitite” Festival with the central slogan “With the KKE for socialism, “so that the darkness can shine”” in the park “Ant. Tritsis” in Ilion.

On Saturday night, a large political rally took place on the Main Stage of the Festival with the speaker, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoubas.

Greetings were addressed by Thodoris Kotsantis, Secretary of the Central Committee of the KNE and Yiannis Protoulis, member of the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the KKE and candidate for regional governor of Attica with the “Popular Rally”.

The great political rally ended with the Anthem of the “International” and raised thousands of fists. At the same time, with torches, members of the KNE illuminated the banner with the slogan: “With the KKE for socialism, ‘so that the darkness may shine!'”

On the Main Stage, then followed the KNE’s tribute to the great lyricist Odysseus Ioannou with the title “It is where I dream that I leave for trips”. Rita Antonopoulou, Natassa Bofiliou, Iota Nega, Vassilis Papakonstantinou, Miltos Paschalidis and Costas Triantafyllidis participated.

D. Koutsoubas had a cordial meeting with the artists on the Central Stage. He met with Milto Paschalidis, Rita Antonopoulou, Iota Nega, Odysseas Ioannou, Costas Triantafyllidis, Vassilis Skoulas. He also met with Kostas Dermitzakis, who was a candidate for parliament with the KKE in the prefecture of Lasithi.

Particularly touching was the tribute to Nikos Xylouris entitled “To bring together my friends and my own…” edited by Manolis Androulidakis. Performers were Giorgos-Nikiforos Zervakis, Vassilis Lekkas, Panos Bousalis.

Concerts were also held in the Student and Young Workers Tent, as well as in the Student Residence.

A particularly important moment was the warm and prolonged applause received by the KETHEA band “Strofi” during its appearance on the stage of the Student Club.

As the guys who make up the band said, they didn’t even know music when they started the treatment program and from the stage they thanked KNE for the invitation once again to the Festival, which gives the opportunity to show that “you can, but not alone”.

It is noted that, for another year, the Festival welcomed stands of healing communities.

“On behalf of our people, and especially its youth, I thank you very much for the invitation to be with you at this year’s organization of the KNE Festival, but also for the solidarity and support that both you and a large part of noble Greek people, offer to their Cuban brothers”. With these words, the Cuban ambassador Aramis Fuente Hernandez thanked the KNE for the invitation to speak in the area of ​​International City, at the KNE Festival – “Driver”.

“For the KKE, the exhortation “Greeks and foreign workers united” is not just a slogan. It is a basic principle that we have served since the first moment of our Party’s foundation. It is the compass of our action. It is a task that we face every day”, emphasized Katerina Geraki, head of the Interdepartmental Committee of the Central Committee of the KKE for the rights of immigrants and refugees, speaking at an event at the Immigrant Shelter of the 49th Festival entitled “Their profits or our lives – We fight against the system that breeds poverty, wars, refugees.”

“Workers and peoples can and must fight for life and work with rights”, emphasized K. Geraki, also referring to the action “of class unions in a number of sectors, where Greeks and immigrants are fighting together for Collective Agreements, increases in daily wages , but also for requests that particularly concern refugees and immigrants such as living conditions, legalization documents, the citizenship of their children”.

“Only the people themselves with their struggle, strong unions, a mass movement, united Greeks and foreign workers, with a strong KKE, can secure their needs, save themselves from the sufferings of capitalism and overthrow it. To open the way for radical changes, the way of hope for the socialist perspective. The KKE was, is and will always be at the forefront of this struggle,” he said in conclusion.

With an interesting event, the Sports Club closed this year’s events within the framework of the 49th KNE Festival – “Odegitis”. It concerned the presentation of the hiking climb to the top of Grammos, carried out by the members of the KKE and the KNE this summer, in the context of the anti-imperialist Two Days and the opening of the open-air Museum of the DSE Hospital.

Under the title “Climbing Grammos, from Nosokomioupoli to the top, in the footsteps of the DSE fighters”, the members of the party’s mountaineering team Thanasis Lekatis and Theodosis Benatos presented maps, plans, photos, etc., which extensively explained the planning and the realization of this year’s project.

They also referred to the beginning of these initiatives of the KKE “to highlight the epic of the DSE”, to the work that has been done to date in this direction, as well as “to what the mountain hides about the battles and the daily life of the rebels” .

Finally, on all three days of the Festival, there were thousands of visitors from all “categories” of readers who literally overwhelmed the “Modern Era” bookstore operating in the area.