Protecting freedom of speech
Like in other countries of the Western world that have adopted international treaties safeguarding the right to free speech, Greece must continue to maintain the freedom of expression as an absolute and inalienable right. It needs to do this without equivocation and despite recent attempts by certain groups of individuals to suppress the freedom of expression.
Neither far-right extremists nor fringe religious organizations have the right to stop actors and a theater from staging a play, as happened on Thursday night at the Hytirio Theater in Athens. The venue faced the same problem last night when it decided to go ahead with the show.
The state has an obligation to ensure that everyone is able to express his or her opinion and that artists are allowed to present different views of reality or of history.
The state, in fact, has an obligation to be completely ruthless in the manner in which it deals with people who use threats and insults in order to drag Greece back into the Middle Ages.
