NOVANEWS
Manolis Glezos
Posted by: Richard Reilly
From the Guardian (UK): Manolis Glezos, the new European parliament’s oldest deputy, is a 92-year-old second world war hero, leftwing icon, inveterate writer and indefatigable activist.
On Monday, he added another feather to his cap, winning more votes (105,184) than any other Euro parliamentarian on Greece’s 21-MEP ticket. He doesn’t tweet, doesn’t type and insists on taking an afternoon nap every day – a legacy of being exiled and imprisoned for 16 years for his views. “That way I get two days out of one,” he once told the Guardian. “I start at 7am stop at 3pm, start again at 5pm and go all the way through to midnight. I get a tremendous amount done.”
On Monday, he added another feather to his cap, winning more votes (105,184) than any other Euro parliamentarian on Greece’s 21-MEP ticket. He doesn’t tweet, doesn’t type and insists on taking an afternoon nap every day – a legacy of being exiled and imprisoned for 16 years for his views. “That way I get two days out of one,” he once told the Guardian. “I start at 7am stop at 3pm, start again at 5pm and go all the way through to midnight. I get a tremendous amount done.”
Famous for ripping down the swastika from the Acropolis within days of Nazi forces overrunning Greece, Glezos is also considered the greatest living authority on the resistance movement against Hitler’s occupying forces, penning two voluminous tomes (both running to more than 800 pages) on the period.
As the anti-austerity, radical-left Syriza party’s top representative in Brussels, he does not intend to put down his pen. The anti-capitalist has a lot to say in the 766-seat parliament – not least about Germany’s “colonization” of Europe. “Greece is the guinea pig of policies exacted by governments whose only God is money,” he said. “It started here but will move to other states … people are clearly reacting and we have to give voice to them.” Doing that will not be as easy as it sounds.
The intrepid Glezos has one fear: flying. On doctors’ orders he will not be able to join other MEPs on the Athens-Brussels plane route. But he has already come up with a contingency plan – and has boat timetables and bus timetables at the ready.
As the anti-austerity, radical-left Syriza party’s top representative in Brussels, he does not intend to put down his pen. The anti-capitalist has a lot to say in the 766-seat parliament – not least about Germany’s “colonization” of Europe. “Greece is the guinea pig of policies exacted by governments whose only God is money,” he said. “It started here but will move to other states … people are clearly reacting and we have to give voice to them.” Doing that will not be as easy as it sounds.
The intrepid Glezos has one fear: flying. On doctors’ orders he will not be able to join other MEPs on the Athens-Brussels plane route. But he has already come up with a contingency plan – and has boat timetables and bus timetables at the ready.
