‘Societies in crisis. From the welfare mechanisms of the National Liberation Front (EAM) to the nowadays solidarity structures’
Menelaos Charalampidis
“The Experience of Occupation and Resistance in Athens”
Alexandria Publications
The Radio Station “105.5 Sto Kokkino” organizes event – discussion entitled:
“Societies in crisis. From the welfare mechanisms of the National Liberation Front (EAM) to the nowadays solidarity structures”
that will take place on Wednesday 26 February, at 19:00
at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation
(206 Piraeus str, Tavros).
Main speakers:
Menelaos Charalampidis, Historian
Polymeris Voglis, Historian – University of Thessaly
Tasoula Vervenioti, Historian
Giorgos Vichas, Cardiologist, volunteer at Metropolitan Social Clinic of Elliniko
The discussion will be coordinated by the Journalist and Radio Producer, Evgenia Loupaki
The event aims to designate the deep humanitarian, moral and political crisis which the Athenians faced during the Occupation. Within this framework will be approached:
– The, to date, unknown practices used by the National Liberation Front (EAM) in order to shape welfare mechanisms during the occupational starvation.
– The ways in which, based on the efforts for alimentation, they created a massive assertion movement.
– The process through which this movement became political, up to the point of threatening the political system with subversion at the end of Occupation.
By designating the unknown aspects of the welfare resisting activity of the National Liberation Front (EAM) there will be searched out, through the discussion that follows, possible similarities between the experience of the occupational and the today’s crisis that hits the Greek society, as well as the elements that possibly will lead to the complete understanding of it.
Few words for the book
The book follows the human paths from the years of the Middle war era until the end of the Occupation in Athens. It documents the consequences of the Occupation, like the economy collapsing, the terrorism of the occupiers, the starvation and the consequences on human lives. Through their testimonies, the book deepens into the reasons they participated in the Resistance. On this basis, the research monitors the process of radicalism of entire social groups (students, civil servants, workmen) which contributed to the transformation of the survival struggle to resistance fight. It investigates the reasons of gradation, political controversy between the National Liberation Front (EAM), the German occupational authorities and the appointed by them occupational governments. Through the perspective of the social history, the book addresses human experience and designates the occupied city of Athens as one of the most characteristic examples on the way a society reacts in crisis periods.
