A demonstration is not rendered grand by the size of the crowd alone, but also its passion, determination, pulse, and the power of its voice – all the elements that shape the identity and imprint of a popular demonstration.

Yesterday’s mobilisation in Syntagma Square was in every respect majestic. It was so grand that the next day is of equal importance with the protest itself – not the remains of the day, but its lessons and conclusions.

One lesson is that the masses that went to Syntagma must under no circumstances be handed over to the extreme right, as some tried to do with the previous Thessaloniki rally.

It is obvious that the presence of Mikis Theodorakis, a symbol of the international Left, weakens or exhausts that prospect.

On the other hand, it is well known that the power of propaganda can make even the obvious seem like an illusion.

The conclusion is that the government is confronted with a loud voice, and a resounding message that says that the government’s policy on the FYROM naming issue is contrary to the sensitivities of the Greek people.

It is obliged to handle this message not by maligning or ignoring the sender, but by recognising the value of its very content.

This, after all, is a government which at a prior juncture embraced the mass, exploited its passion, and expropriated the power of its voice, a mass composed of diverse elements of society and not party-bound, a mass like yesterday’s.

Τελευταία Νέα