The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, in his speech today in Kolonos, called for a large and decisive reinforcement of the KKE in the European elections, stressing that “this will be the best investment for tomorrow. For what we have to face and for the battles we will fight together”.

“The people now know very well that there are no saviors. That none of those who ask for his vote to supposedly go to the EU to negotiate, are not going to negotiate for their own interests. That no governmental stability, as well as no governmental rotation, is going to change his life, as long as he does not change, as long as the policy that sacrifices his rights for the profits of the few does not really take a hit. This is the system and this EU of exploitation, wars, injustice”

“However, there are thousands who have already chosen the path of struggle, disobedience, and association with the KKE. And we are sure that tomorrow there will be even more” he added.

D. Koutsoubas said that “the real disagreement between the ND and the parties of the sinful social democracy, SYRIZA, PASOK and the New Left lies in who is the most consistent servant of the same policy of bloody surpluses, the prerequisites of the Recovery Fund, of the “green “of transition, of participation in imperialist wars”.

He noted that in the municipality of Athens “the double face of politics, of capitalist development, is evident: On the one hand, big projects, huge tourism development, investments and inconceivable profits for the few. And on the other hand, entire zones where over 1/3 of the population lives at or below the poverty line.”

He underlined that the KKE, in contrast to the ND and all the other opposition parties, says that “in order for the people to gain even one relief today, capital must lose their profits, EU policy must suffer a blow” .

He said that the people of the region see the effects of capitalist development in the complete lack of health infrastructure, in the tragic state of school buildings, in the lack of anti-flood protection, in the lack of free spaces, in the continuous accidents at the unguarded railway crossings.

“And yet, at the same time that they are making life and non-life for the popular majority, the various “investors” and big businessmen, with the backs of governments and municipal authorities, are sharpening the knives for big business in the region” he said and added:

“The plan for the double regeneration, next to here, in Eleonas, is of key importance. Which will cost us more than 250 million euros, with funds from the state budget as well as the Recovery Fund. Big business, many millions! Which is supported by all the parties of the system, that is why they have voted for it with their hands and feet and in the Municipal Council of Athens and the ND and PASOK and SYRIZA and the Yalanzi New Leftists”.

“In the same logic, that is, of Athens as a tourist product, there are also a series of other reconstructions and projects that are planned and carried out: For the point where we are today, the plan is to build the Archaeological Museum of the city of Athens. We are talking about a concrete behemoth, over 14,000 square meters, inside the park, which will deprive common space and green space.

We say it from this step as well: We will be at the forefront of the fight so that not one more square meter of green space is lost in the center of Athens, in Kolonos and Sepolia. There are many areas adjacent to the park that could be used to build the Archaeological Museum, which of course must exist and be able to be visited by all the people and the youth for free,” he emphasized.

On the occasion of a series of tragic events in these neighborhoods, he denounced the complete lack of care and provision for the support of children and the absence of real care and operation, with funding from the state budget, of free social services and infrastructure of the state and the municipality for prevention and support of victims and those threatened.

“We will fight for a protective wall to be erected for every woman, for every child, for Greek children, for immigrant children living in Athens, for the children of the whole world,” he said.

He referred to the people and children of Palestine who “have been experiencing a real genocide for months by the murderous state of Israel” and said that “the EU, the US, NATO, the Greek government openly support the perpetrator of this genocide, while the other parties give alibi, they go to the European Parliament and vote for Israel’s alleged “right” to self-defense”.

“As much as they try to impose pre-election silence around these issues, we insist that on June 9 we vote for them as well.

We vote KKE and demand that our country recognize here and now the state of Palestine, on the borders of 1967, according to the unanimous decision of the Greek Parliament, that the country’s involvement in the imperialist wars cease. Let the frigate Hydra and all the troops outside the borders now return. That the Greek territory, the ports, the airports cease to become NATO hotbeds of war and targets of reprisals” said D. Koutsoumbas.

“On June 9, workers can do what everyone fears. To get to the ballot box with the KKE ballot and give a red card to EU politics and its parties.

The choices, in the final analysis, are two: Either we approve and tolerate the brutality we live in to continue and escalate, or we declare “Enough, this is it”!

Approval is a vote either for the ND government, or for the consensual opposition of the EU and NATO parties. Abstention is approval or even tolerance,” he emphasized.

“And if someone thinks that nothing changes by voting in the European elections, we say yes. Nothing changes just by voting in the European elections. That is why the KKE, the vote you will give it, will deposit it every day and every hour where everything changes: In the struggles and battles for our lives” he added.

“And those of you who feel left-wing, progressive, anti-fascist, democrat, and can’t see these far-right saltimps raising their heads, you know what you have to do: The vote for the KKE is the one that will leave all of them behind, on the sidelines,” he added.

D. Koutsoubas concluded with the call “to fill the ballot boxes with the KKE ballot, so that the government, the EU and their system get a message of resistance. So that the Greek people and all the peoples of Europe get a message of optimism and hope. For all that we will conquer tomorrow with our struggle and with the KKE in front, on the front line.

For the radical changes we need. For Greece and the Europe of the peoples. Greece and the Europe of socialism”.

Kostas Papadakis, MEP and re-candidate with the KKE, addressed the gathering.

The members of the PG of the Central Committee of the KKE, Louisa Razou, Nikos Sofianos and Thodoris Chionis, attended.

At the end of the gathering, there was a touching report – farewell to Maria Kefallinou, who, until the last day of her life, did not stop participating in organized life, acting as a communist.