Opinion piece by Andreas Panagopoulos.
Mr. Koufontinas, your decision to go on a hunger strike to fight for one of your rights was courageous. In fact, it may even have been the only courageous thing you’ve ever done. Thousands of citizens also defended that right of yours. Not you. And certainly not the acts for which you have been convicted. Only your right. Because all prisoners must have that right. The right for the law to be applied equally to everyone. Nothing more. Nothing less.
No, Mr. Koufontinas, no one has defended either the murders you have committed or the ideas you hold, which have nothing to do with the struggles and demands of the people.
No, Mr. Koufontinas, not everyone who demands or defends rights is a hero. Nor would you become a hero if you died from a hunger strike. You would be the first person to die from a hunger strike in Europe in the last 40 years. And no one could come to terms with that. Except, perhaps, for those who, in their foolishness, would make you a “hero.”.
No, Mr. Koufontinas, it was not the defense of your right to be transferred that sparked the large rallies in Nea Smyrni and throughout the neighborhoods of Athens. It was the police’s orgy of violence against ordinary citizens. It was the beatings and the abuse. It was the authoritarianism of a government that tramples on every human right.
No, Mr. Koufontinas. We wish you a long life, but don’t delude yourself: You have never been, and you will never be, among those who fight in the streets for the right to life, to work, and to education. Never! You were always lurking in the shadows with a revolver in your hand, executing people.
Let's be clear, Mr. Koufontinas, so there are no misunderstandings!
P.S. 1: Seriously, Mr. Koufontinas, just to ask a good question: WHEN have YOU defended the rights of other prisoners during the 20 years you’ve been in prison? Or perhaps you didn’t notice them being violated?;
P.S. 2: Thousands of people defended your rights in every peaceful way possible, even at the risk of being arrested. But none of your former cellmates in prison. A unique phenomenon worldwide. I wonder why?;
