“Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

I would like to thank you for your decision to honor Myrsini Zorba, in the beautiful and modest way that she deserves.

By organizing this event of memory, but also resistance, against a dominant rhetoric of cynicism and anti-politics to all that Myrsini Zorba stood for.

A rhetoric that seems all-powerful during these difficult times.

And the first thought I would like to share with you is how present Myrsini Zorba is, in her absence here, but also in our daily lives, in our daily thoughts and concerns and in our struggles.

Myrsini was devoted to all those who were excluded.

She was devoted to the many who lack, not only access to decent living standards,

but also access to knowledge,

to the wealth of culture,

to the freedom of ideas,

to a life worthy of its name and of the potential that humanity has today for a better future.

Myrsini devoted her creativity to books.

As a translator, an editor, a writer, a publisher.

And Myrsini, put the protection of children above all else.

Our own Myrsini.

Of Greece,

of Italy,

of the world.

Myrsini who devoted her life to the study of culture

to cultural democracy,

without which democracy remains incomplete, unstable, and based on weak foundations.

I quote from her latest book, “NOTES FROM THE AGE OF EXPECTATIONS”:

“It was not the political, but the cultural weight of the Left during those years, that had a tremendous impact on our lives.

It acted as a counterweight to fear and shame, as a pillar for our confidence and optimism.

Very often, this feeling was embodied in ordinary people.

A left-wing girl,

who had just returned from exile,

targeted but independent,

who treated men as equals,

who didn’t like compliments,

who didn’t tolerate shallow wit,

who wouldn’t get married because she didn’t want to,

became my idol from a distance.”

I am not quoting this small extract to remind you of the cultural weight of the Left during the difficult years after the civil war in Greece.

But because I believe it captures the way of thinking and the energy that runs through the entire life of Myrsini Zorba.

Culture,

based on everyday peoples’ daily life,

as human relationships standing against inherited stereotypes,

as the way in which

society,

social classes,

all of us,

view and recognize ourselves.

But this culture, in all its color and diversity, as well as inclusiveness, is not born, like Athena, from Zeus’ head.

Myrsini writes:

“Culture is first and foremost a matter of public interest, of rights, of freedom, of equality and democracy – and all those things are not self-evident. The defense of public interest is not self-evident.

One needs to have a plan, with certain basic objectives, but also the appropriate method, in order not to fail miserably, as we have seen happen in the past.”

This belief is shaped throughout her life and becomes the guide to every aspect of her public service.

As she tries to put her cultural vision into practice, with dedication, planning, policies, methods and commitment.

For a better, freer and more creative life for the many.

For a cultural democracy that gives oxygen and depth to political and civic democracy.

Because democracy must exist in our everyday culture.

“Within me,” Myrsini writes, “the need for more democracy turned out to be the same with the need for more cultural democracy.”

And this reference to what was “within her”, which defined her and made her special for all of us, was shaped by her characteristic thirst for knowledge.

Through questioning, constant searching, and studying.

But also, through the difficult, consistent act of living a life dedicated to justice, to freedom and to the rights of the many.

So, the little girl who used to freeze in the mud puddles of Petralona,

living in poverty,

as she watched her left-wing father work hard

and felt the tired tenderness of her mother marking her first steps,

managed to live a full life with a soul that was always open and vigilant.

She refused to forget, like others, where she started from,

And at every turn of her life, she said a resounding yes to progressive political participation, often with a cost and serious risks.

She joined the Lambrakis Democratic Youth and the resistance movement against the dictatorship,

After the return of democracy she joined the Eurocommunist Party.

And after the end of the Cold War, she supported consistently the importance of progressive reforms

She became a Member of the European Parliament for PASOK

She opened the Odysseas Publishing House, and the historic National Book Center, which she founded with the support of Thanos Mikroutsikos,

As well as the Network for Children’s Rights.

And she mobilized in her beloved Italy,

always in open line of communication and dialogue with the progressive intellectuals and currents of her time,

distancing herself from doctrines and ideological obsessions

After we signed the Prespa Agreement with North Macedonia, she joined our Progressive Alliance

And then became Minister of Culture in the SYRIZA government.

Where she tried to transpose her cultural and democratic vision into a new politics of culture for Greece

To ensure that all those excluded from cultural activity, would become part of it.

And she achieved a great deal,

despite the resistance of mechanisms that preferred inactivity,

and the reaction of those who considered – and still consider themselves- owners of the country and custodians of Greek – preferably ancient- culture.

Myrsini Zorba always emphasized how important cultural democracy is for democracy and social justice.

Her experience, her open-mindedness, her great interest in Gramsci not only convinced her that the soul of democracy is the democratic

culture of society, but also prompted her to make her life’s purpose what we could call “the culture of the many”.

For her the goal of cultural democracy based on solidarity was interlinked with the goal of economic democracy,

“The program of economic reform is precisely the specific way in which every spiritual and moral reform appears,” Gramsci writes from

prison.

And the iconic Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica, who recently passed away, in one of his last interviews comes to the same conclusions that

Myrsini had come to, before him.

He said:

“My generation made a naïve mistake.

We thought that social change was only about questioning the methods of production and distribution to the society. We did not comprehend the profound role of culture.

Capitalism is a culture, and we must respond to capitalism and resist it with a different culture. Another way to put it is this: we are in a struggle between a culture of solidarity and a culture of selfishness.

I am not thinking of culture for sale, like professional music, or dance. Those are important, of course, but when I speak about culture I am referring to human relations, to the totality of ideas that govern our relationships, without us even realizing it.

It is about the sum of unspoken values that define the way with which millions of ordinary people around the world relate to each other.”

We also made the same mistake.

Even though we knew and recognized the role of culture and we did make important steps forward, we did not – as the Greek Left – but also as a government, make the steps we should have,

Because even under asphyxiating circumstances due to the memoranda, with our lenders’ pressure breathing down our necks, we could have done more.

And unfortunately, when Myrsini assumed the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, she was not given the appropriate time, to unfold to their full extent her will, her plan, her vision.

But given all the difficulties she faced, she made important steps.

Dear friends,

Myrsini’s perspective on cultural democracy as a means for releasing creative capacities, promoting progressive change of society and revitalizing democracy as a whole, is more relevant today than ever before.

Because we are witnessing the desertification of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic. The withering and hyper-commercialization of culture.

As we watch discrimination, inequality, insecurity, wars, and the abolition of even the last pretexts of international law become worse and worse.

As we watch states become the private companies of the Presidents, Prime Ministers or the oligarchs that control them.

As we watch European leaders behave like the jesters of the king.

Myrsini had no second thoughts: Cultural and political resistance was her own path. The support of the creative forces of Europe and Greece.

This is our path too.

I don’t believe there is another.

To the language of war and the tens of thousands of civilian dead that we see in Palestine and other conflicts…

To the language of democratic decline, of fear, and of all kinds of discrimination, which are multiplied by the oligarchs who control media and social networks,

we must respond with the language of solidarity, humanity, democracy and justice.

To organize with all the means at our disposal the resistance to the impending dystopia, to reach out to the many in all ways possible, to defend the values that have kept humanity standing over the past century.

When the culture of darkness attempted to drag the world into the abyss.

This is, in my opinion, the best tribute to the work and life of Myrsini Zorba today.

And to the dilemma of, the Culture of the Many, versus the Barbarism of the Few,

which recurs in a dramatic way in our days,

our response can only be the response of our very own Myrsini.

In this very difficult time, where we see the extreme right become stronger than ever on both sides of the Atlantic, the future of our democracies is a struggle for civilization.

The logic of “might makes right” that we see in international relations, is touching every dimension of public life.

And oligarchs are not just supporting an alliance of right wing and extreme right-wing politicians that move in this direction.

As you know very well in Italy, there is a new cultural elite that is in the front line of this new authoritarian world in liberal democracies.

Who are working hard to combine radical conservatism with neoliberalism.

Who are building a new type of cynicism and anti-politics, opening the way for authoritarian and kleptochratic politics.

The battle over democratic values, ideas and culture that we will have to give in this generation, will be even more important than the one we gave 15 years ago against austerity and 25 years ago against neoliberal globalization.

Despite differences that we may have had, Myrsini Zorba, an intellectual of the reformist left, mobilized together with others on the radical Left and stood up for what she believed in.

She fought for cultural democracy.

It is more important than ever that people involved with culture today across the Atlantic, in Europe and in Greece, follow her important example.

Thank you very much”