A political controversy broke out because of the pink Greek flag presented in an exhibition at the Consulate General of Greece in New York, in collaboration with the Hellenic American Chamber, as after the intervention of Gerapetritis for the withdrawal of the work of art there was a reaction both from SYRIZA through Stefanos Kasselakis and and from the New Left.

The case started when the head of the “Niki” party, Dimitris Natsios, displayed in Parliament, during the debate on the budget, a photo of the disputed pink Greek flag. “Is it possible to present our flag in pink, to mock our national symbol? The flag changes color only when it is dyed red by the blood of our people’s struggles,” he said characteristically.

As Mr. Natsios pointed out, speaking of “rags”, our flag, instead of blue and white, is made of bedclothes and in pink.

The flag was hosted inside the Greek Consulate General in New York, as part of an exhibition by Georgia Lale, on the topic of domestic violence and crimes involving women. As it is explained, “the work of art is created from sheets, donated by women living in Greece. These women seemingly have little in common, but they are all lying on these sheets desperate and scared.”

“The majority of femicide victims are murdered in their homes and in their beds. Their lives end in the bed they make each morning. Their sheets absorb their blood,” the organizers of the exhibition have said. It is a symbolically painted pink flag, which aims to highlight the thorny issue of domestic violence and the dimensions it has taken today.

Despite its symbolic character, however, by order of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Gerapetritis, the pink Greek flag is immediately withdrawn from the exhibition of the Consulate General of Greece in New York.

Speaking to ANT1 and Real FM about the withdrawal of the pink Greek flag, Georgia Lale commented: “I am sorry that my work was misinterpreted. The victims of femicide and domestic violence are heroes in the fight for the right to life and freedom in Greece and worldwide.”

The post Kasselakis

“Art is allowed to ‘play’ even with the colors of national symbols, when it wants to convey a message – from its opposition to racism to domestic violence,” notes Stefanos Kasselakis in a post on social media.

The president of SYRIZA emphasizes that “on the contrary, the foreign policy of our country is not allowed to play with national issues ‘bowing down’ – literally and figuratively – because this is what actually insults our national colors”.

Mr. Kasselakis accompanies his post with a photo of a “famous work of art, created 33 years ago” (it is a work by David Hammons, entitled African-American Flag, where the colors of the US flag replaced with red, green and black). “I don’t expect Mr. Gerapetritis to bow down to art, but at least let him leave it alone,” comments the president of SYRIZA.

The announcement of the New Left

New Left supported the work of art: “The far-right school imposes black politics on the country. A female artist exhibits in New York, at the Greek consulate, her works about femicide and the abuse of women. Among the works is the Greek flag made from bed sheets of women from Greece. The flag is pink. The young Greek visual artist condenses the voice of Greek women through the pink sheet flag. Fascists do not lift a fly on their sword and Mr. Gerapetritis did not spoil them for their sake. He ordered the project to be taken down. The government constantly succumbs to the pressures of the extreme right. We must not allow it. We are with Georgia Lale. We are with art. We are with the women. Mr. Gerapetritis must withdraw a decision that smacks of far-right drift,” the New Left statement says.