Previously I had known of Melina Mercouri from "Never on Sunday" but that was about the extent of my knowledge. Yesterday I did some reading and was immensely impressed with what I discovered. (WIKI: Melina Mercouri)
While Melina Mercouri's career as an actress is fairly well-known, her activism, outside of Greece, is not and yet she was a very powerful woman. Activism today is rarely much more than blathering on Facebook which is no more effective than pissin' in a teacup. Melina Mercouri lived her activism and fought the fascists every way she possibly could.
There was a military junta that took over Greece between 1967 and 1974 and Melina Mercouri protested this mightily. The military leadership responded by taking away her Greek citizenship. Her response to that was:
"I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek. Mr. Pattakos (one of the colonels in the military junta and the dictatorship) was born a fascist and he will die a fascist."
She was a very strong woman as her background was highly-mixed. Her uncle founded the NAZI party in Greece so she clearly stood for her own beliefs rather than those any people may have tried to impress upon her.
After the military junta fell in 1974, Mercouri returned to Greece where she accomplished a great many things within the government and her protests for Greece continued, not the least of which was her demand to the British Museum to return Greek treasures it had stolen from the country and which, to this day, it remains incredibly arrogant about keeping.
Mercouri was also a co-founder of Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), a center-left political party, and she ran successfully for the Hellenic Parliament. She then became the Greek Minister for Culture and worked very strongly in that role as well including, as above, the return of treasures from the British Museum.
The modern age needs women like Melina Mercouri as fascism is more of a threat than it ever was because it has become much too slick to wear military uniforms and instead has dressed itself in expensive suits and glowing rhetoric but the effects and behavior are no different. It makes me immensely proud to know and love one woman with the strength to stand as did Melina Mercouri and it's a shame there aren't more. Perhaps there are more but you will have to find your own as I am keeping this one!
When Melina Mercouri died she was given a funeral with Prime Minister's honors, something highly-befitting a woman who had worked so hard for Greek democracy.
While Melina Mercouri's career as an actress is fairly well-known, her activism, outside of Greece, is not and yet she was a very powerful woman. Activism today is rarely much more than blathering on Facebook which is no more effective than pissin' in a teacup. Melina Mercouri lived her activism and fought the fascists every way she possibly could.
There was a military junta that took over Greece between 1967 and 1974 and Melina Mercouri protested this mightily. The military leadership responded by taking away her Greek citizenship. Her response to that was:
"I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek. Mr. Pattakos (one of the colonels in the military junta and the dictatorship) was born a fascist and he will die a fascist."
She was a very strong woman as her background was highly-mixed. Her uncle founded the NAZI party in Greece so she clearly stood for her own beliefs rather than those any people may have tried to impress upon her.
After the military junta fell in 1974, Mercouri returned to Greece where she accomplished a great many things within the government and her protests for Greece continued, not the least of which was her demand to the British Museum to return Greek treasures it had stolen from the country and which, to this day, it remains incredibly arrogant about keeping.
Mercouri was also a co-founder of Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), a center-left political party, and she ran successfully for the Hellenic Parliament. She then became the Greek Minister for Culture and worked very strongly in that role as well including, as above, the return of treasures from the British Museum.
The modern age needs women like Melina Mercouri as fascism is more of a threat than it ever was because it has become much too slick to wear military uniforms and instead has dressed itself in expensive suits and glowing rhetoric but the effects and behavior are no different. It makes me immensely proud to know and love one woman with the strength to stand as did Melina Mercouri and it's a shame there aren't more. Perhaps there are more but you will have to find your own as I am keeping this one!
When Melina Mercouri died she was given a funeral with Prime Minister's honors, something highly-befitting a woman who had worked so hard for Greek democracy.
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