Corfu, 14 June, 2013
The Greek Public Television and Radio are being ‘Silenced’!
The Hellenic Society for Acoustic Ecology expresses publicly its strong opposition towards the violent act of the Greek government to deprive Greek citizens of their Public Radio and Television. It also expresses its ethical support to the employees of ERT (Hellenic Public Television) who try to resist its closing and defend their right to continue their important cultural, social and educational work.
The attempted shut-down of ERT is a serious attack against Democracy. We are afraid that along with public TV and Radio, freedom of speech and artistic expression are also seriously at stake. The claims of the current government’s high officials – that they shall re-establish an “improved” Public Radio and Television – sound like a joke, given their declared feelings against anything public and the total destruction their policies have brought upon Greece during the last 3 years.
Especially in this dire situation for all Greek citizens, we believe that we, as a people, need our ‘old’, well-known ERT, with its local stations across the country, the familiar voices, the high quality programs, the active music ensembles and the most important audiovisual archives. The ERT functions as a safeguard of our collective memories and as a potential springboard for essential steps in the arts which we hope will lead us to a truly better future. There is no justification for blacking-out this public Greek information channel, particularly when any pretext presented is based on necessary ameliorations ERT certainly needs, and more significantly, when this organization is now shamelessly and hypocritically accused of corruption by the same people who already previously had imposed chronic corruption on it.
‘Tsopanakos’, the referential jingle signaling the ERT for years and years over the air of the whole country and wherever in the world Greeks roam and reside, has surpassed its role. It is not just a sound signal, which announces the beginning or the end of radio programs. In the heart of every one of us Greek citizens it also has become a special ‘Soundmark’ of our country and our generations. In that way, it belongs to all of us, as does the Public Radio and Television. Join us in the protest by spreading the word!
The HSAE Board: Ioanna Etmektsoglou, Katerina Tzedaki, Iannis Zannos, Kimon Papadimitriou, Kostas Paparrigopoulos, Andreas Mniestris (advisor)
