Spokesman Books

To Friendly Political Parties and Movements Athens, 29 June 2015 Dear Comrades and friends, As you know, following the historic victory of SYRIZA in our national elections on January 25 of this year, a government of social salvation was formed in Greece, headed by our Party President, now Prime Minister Mr Alexis Tsipras. The new government’s clear mandate from the Greek people was to end the policies of extreme austerity, to relieve the socially weaker strata and to resolve the intolerable public debt crisis through negotiations, thereby creating the conditions for economic recovery and growth. Negotiations have been going on since February between the new government and our EU partners, together with the other institutions involved in the Greek program. From the beginning, the government’s position has been that the Greek people’s mandate should be respected and that Greece should be treated as an equal partner in the EU and the Eurozone. The neg...

The Russell Foundation sent this message to a ceremony in Athens at the graveside of Dr Grigoris Lambrakis. The assassination of Grigoris Lambrakis robbed the world of a man with profound insight into the glorious art of peace. His life and activism continue to inspire new work, such as the timely book by Panos Trigazis, which we are proud to publish in Britain in an English edition on this day, 51 years after he was murdered. Dr Lambrakis had visited Britain three times in the months before his death. He marched to London from the nuclear research establishment at Aldermaston, in the company of Manolis Glezos and other comrades, paying his respects to Lord Byron at the poet’s statue near Hyde Park. In England, Dr Lambrakis had sought international participation in what became the first Marathon Peace March. Strong support was forthcoming, but the march proved a lonely journey for Dr Lambrakis as the event was banned by the Greek authorities and exceptional measures w...

The Bertrand Russell Peace Russell Foundation supports an important initiative from Greece (see below). A nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East would enhance security in the region and the wider world. For decades, Israel's large nuclear arsenal has created instability, with Saudi Arabia now identified as the latest regional power seeking its own nuclear weapon. A nuclear arms race in the Middle East is of direct concern to the European Union, which abuts the region in the Eastern Mediterranean. So, as Greece prepares to assume the rotating Presidency of the EU in January 2014, it is vital that the Greek Government keeps in mind the interests and concerns of the wider Union and ensures these are represented at the proposed conference in Finland, initiated by the UN under the auspices of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, whenever it takes place. Greece has a vital role to play in securing Europe's peace and security. This cannot be done in absentia, and...

In April 1963, Grigoris Lambrakis laid a wreath at the feet of Lord Byron, whose statue is to be found near Hyde Park Corner in London. He had walked about 80 kilometres, all the way from the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, carrying his banner marked “ELLAS” (Greece), as part of CND’s annual Easter March. A few weeks later, on 27 May, Lambrakis was murdered in public, in Thessaloniki, in the north of Greece. These dramatic events were captured in Costa-Gavras’s acclaimed film “Z”, which takes its title from the first letter of the Greek word Zi , meaning “he lives”. “Z” appeared in graffiti all over Athens. Dr Lambrakis’s public stand for peace and against oppression continues to resonate in Greece and beyond. He inaugurated the first Marathon March for Peace, carrying the same ELLAS banner he had raised in England. In Greece, he marched alone initially, it seems, defying an official ban on the event. Later, thousands joined him, defying the ban. Bertrand...