May 21: Citing security reasons, the Embassy of Ukraine moved the festival ” See Ukraine: DOCUDAYS UA on Tour,” scheduled for two weekends (May 13-15 and May 26-28) in Athens, Greece. The organizers had to move the event under the roof of the Embassy of Ukraine. Earlier it was planned that the festival would be held on the premises of the art space Exile Room and the BOOart Gallery-Café-Bar.
The reason for the cancellation was a statement by radical leftist groups and parties calling for protests against the event, denouncing it as Nazi propaganda. According to the anti-fascists, in a statement published by toperiodiko.gr, “It is sacrilege to hold an event glorifying Nazism the very next week after May 9, the Victory Day over Nazism.” At the heart of the event, according to the statement in the Greek publication, is a desire to denigrate the inhabitants of Crimea and Donbass and attempt to justify their conquest, as well as to justify the prohibition of communism by equating it to Nazism.
The festival opened on May 13, 2016, but only in the room of the Cultural and Information Center of the Embassy of Ukraine in Greece. Ambassador of Ukraine in Greece V. Shkurov sent congratulations to those present at the event, the organizers and participants of the International Festival.
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| Maxim Chalenko |
“I think the Greek tradition and historical memory once again shows how different the official EU position on events in Ukraine is from that of the residents of the European Union,” summed up Maxim Chalenko.
Recall that the organizers of the festival “See Ukraine: DOCUDAYS UA on Tour” are sponsored by the “International Renaissance Foundation” and Open Society Institute, financed by world-famous speculator George Soros. Festival partners are the “Ukrainian Diaspora in Greece” and “Greek-Ukrainian Thought.”
Translated by Greg Butterfield
Red Star News + Translations 