Product Code Database
Manolis Glezos (; 9 September 1922 – 30 March 2020) was a Greek left-wing politician, journalist, author, and member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. After the end of the war, Glezos became a journalist and edited the left-wing newspapers Rizospastis and I Avgi. He also published six books.
During the Axis occupation of Greece, he and Apostolos Santas took down the flag of Nazi Germany from the Acropolis. After the end of the Nazi occupation, his left-wing political beliefs and activism in the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) led to him being sentenced to death three times; his imprisonments and legal troubles were often the topic of international interest, until his permanent release in 1971.
Since the restoration of democracy in 1974, he had been active as a politician, becoming a Member of the Greek Parliament for various left-wing parties. In 2014, at the age of 91, he became a Member of the European Parliament for a second time in his life, for Syriza, making him the oldest-ever member of the European Parliament. He was also the most voted-for candidate in Greece.
According to popular tradition, on 27 April 1941 Konstantinos Koukidis was ordered to lower the Greek flag and raise the Nazi German flag. Koukidis allegedly lowered the flag and jumped from the Acropolis holding it, rather than raise the Nazi flag. On 30 May 1941, Glezos and Apostolos Santas climbed on the Acropolis and tore down the Nazi German flag, which had been there since 27 April 1941, when the Nazi forces had entered Athens. It inspired not only the Greeks but all subjected peoples in Nazi-occupied Europe to resist the Axis powers, and established them both as two international Anti-fascism.
Hours later, the Nazi regime sentenced the perpetrators to death, but they were not identified until much later. Glezos was by the German occupation forces on 24 March 1942, imprisoned, and tortured. As a result of his treatment, he was affected by tuberculosis.
Glezos was arrested again on 21 April 1943 by the Italian occupation forces and spent three months in jail. In 1944, he was imprisoned by Greek collaborators and beaten for trying to escape.
On 5 December 1958, he was arrested again and convicted of espionage, which was the common pretext for the persecution of the supporters of the left during the Cold War. The Soviet Union issued a postage stamp depicting Glezos, to which the Greek government responded with a postage stamp depicting Imre Nagy. His release on 15 December 1962 was a result of the public outcry in Greece and abroad, including winning the Lenin Peace Prize. During his second term of post-war political imprisonment, Glezos was reelected MP with EDA in 1961. During the coup d'état of 21 April 1967, Glezos was arrested at 2 am, together with the rest of the political leaders. During the Regime of the Colonels, the military dictatorship led by George Papadopoulos, he was imprisoned and until his release in 1971.
Glezos' sentences, from the Second World War to the Greek Civil War and the Regime of the Colonels total 11 years and 4 months of imprisonment, and 4 years and 6 months of exile.
In the 2000 Greek legislative election he led the list of Synaspismos (in English Coalition) party of the radical left. In 2002, he formed the political group Active Citizens (which is part of Coalition of the Radical Left, an alliance with Synaspismos and other minor parties of the Greek left) and he ran as a candidate prefect for Attica.
In March 2010, Glezos was participating in a protest demonstration in Athens, when he was hit in the face by a police tear gas canister. He was carried away injured.
In February 2012, Glezos was arrested by riot police while protesting in Athens. He was sprayed with tear gas by one of the police officers in that area.
In the June 2012 parliamentary election, Glezos was elected as MP of the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRIZA) party.
Glezos was a SYRIZA candidate for the European Parliament in the elections of 25 May 2014. He was elected to the European Parliament with over 430,000 votes, more than any other candidate in Greece. At age 91, he was also the oldest person elected to the European Parliament in the 2014 election. "Meet the new faces ready to sweep into the European parliament", The Guardian, 26 May 2014. "Ευρωεκλογές: Πρώτος σε σταυρούς ο Γλέζος", Eleftherotypia, 1 June 2014.
In 2015, Glezos took a firm stance in favour of the "No" vote in the Greek bailout referendum. As an MEP he also participated in a support protest in Brussels, along with thousands of BelgiansRT video: "Thousands of Belgians support Greek OHI (No)" (03/07/2015) in favour of Greeks voting negatively in the referendum, a few days before the latter takes place.Solidarity protest in Brussels (03/07/2015). See video He resigned from his position in the European Parliament in July 2015, being succeeded by Nikolaos Chountis. The same year, he left SYRIZA before the September 2015 Greek election, where he was an MP candidate with the newly formed Popular Unity party.
In 2018, Glezos publicly voiced his opposition to the Prespa Agreement between Athens and Skopje on the resolution of the Macedonia naming dispute -despite the agreement being promoted by the SYRIZA government party which he formerly supported. In an article for the Greek daily paper Kathimerini, he insisted that the people of the North Macedonia should "define themselves in accordance with their history, language, traditions... taking out of their mind the word Macedonia".Greek City Times, Resistance icon Glezos to Skopje: "Take out of your mind the word Macedonia"
|
|
