By Nick Stamatakis
Last Sunday afternoon, Maria Karystianou, the leader of the families of the 57 victims of the Tempi Railroad disaster, spoke via Zoom at a gathering of about 50-60 organizers in Astoria and was as effective as ever in galvanizing the New York group of supporters and setting the foundations for their participation in the upcoming Greek Independence Parade of March 30th. Maria repeated her resounding and unifying message and asked the NY organizer to be unifiers, to be persistent and to be focused on the goal – the demand for justice for the 57 victims…
To get a taste of Maria Karystianou’s eloquence and leadership abilities, please spend 15 minutes listening to a very recent speech at Panteion University of Athens – one of the best speeches she has delivered in the last two years… Maria spoke not simply as the leader of the group of victims but as the leader of a social and political reform movement that Greece desperately needs… Let’s hope… It’s about time a woman took a real leadership role in a country led by corrupt mafia families…
The meeting of the NY organizers included Greek-Americans of all generations and especially the youth, who had the upper hand and will be leading the group in the March 30th Parade. The practical problems of participating in the parade were discussed in detail and measures were agreed upon to protect the group from provocateurs and to follow certain rules necessary to pass the message to the wider audience attending the parade or watching it through the media.
Helleniscope will keep you posted on where the group will be staged. The organizers are looking for all of you to participate in their group and show your support for a cause that unites all of us: the scope is well beyond applying justice to the particular case and goes all the way to transforming Greece from a totally corrupt country to a state run on he basis of laws that are applied to all.
