by guest contributor Dimitrios Machairidis
Photo credit: Helen Sotiriadis
“I started the group a few days after the November elections while having my morning coffee and exchanging thoughts with a couple of moms from a group of foreign moms that we have on Facebook. They were as outraged, scared, concerned, and as frustrated as I was. We are mothers of young kids and the world that was unfolding before our eyes was not one that we want to raise them in. I had just seen that the mother march, The Women’s March on Washington, had set up a page and my impulse was ‘let’s have one here!’ It started off as a little group on Facebook with 20-30 members and with only a couple feeling passionate about the cause. I never imagined it would really happen. Nor did I imagine that so many people would show up. And I definitely had no idea of what it means to organize one of these things. I’d never done it before. When I stood up on that ledge outside the US embassy three months later holding a megaphone, my knees almost gave in ……. there were hundreds of people holding signs, staring at me. It was an invigorating and humbling moment. I’d never experienced the energy and electricity of so many people coming together for the same cause before, and the fact that there were millions more around the world doing the same thing gave us all an unprecedented sense of community, strength and accomplishment. I was definitely not the only rookie organizer. There were hundreds like me all over the world – women that had never been activists, had never even participated in a march, overwhelmed and at a loss from the power of what was going on in the weeks preceding the actual event.”
Maria Kostaki, the Greek writer, talked to Hollywood on the Potomac about her initiative to organize The Woman’s March in Athens. Since the eruption of the financial crisis in 2009, downtown Athens has become the stage of militant riots and impetuous rallies. This time the Women’s March on Athens was one of the most peaceful manifestations the Greek Police had confronted.
“At one point, when the poems were being recited in front of the US Embassy, the Greek policemen were actually laughing. The Greek protesters have a much more aggressive tone. Their energy is different. They are full of rage and almost ready to start trouble, while the people in our group kept smiling, clapping, cheering and trying to say their slogans. Our group was mostly Americans, Canadians, Greek-Americans, students from the US, some random tourists, people in general who come from another mindset when it comes to protesting. They just show up, getting the message out there in a non-violent way. The energy was so nice, such a warm and fuzzy kind of feeling” remarked Gigi Pap, a Greek-American who participated in the Woman’s March on Athens.
“Humanity has come such a long way in the past 60 years. We were lucky to be born into a world where women could vote, work, own credit cards, have legal abortions, and we were honored to be adults in a point in history where same sex marriages were made legal, where women took part in governments with positions at high levels, where the US elected its first black president. Our parents and grandparents fought long and hard for all this to happen, and there is no way that we will let anyone take it away from us. And then it wasn’t just about Trump. It was about anyone who stood for what he stands for. It could have been anyone, but it was him. The reasons are simple, universal. Women’s rights, LGBT rights, minority rights, refugee rights are human rights. Human rights are global, there are no borders” says Kostaki.
Photo credit: Gigi Pap
Born in Moscow and raised in Greece, Maria Kostaki studied English literature in Athens. Then she moved to New York where in 2002 she graduated with an MA in journalism from New York University, and subsequently worked as an editor and copywriter in USA, Canada and Greece. In 2015, she published her first novel “Pieces.” She has recently finished her second book titled “When Clouds Embrace.”
“My first book is a novel about a girl growing up in three different countries, trying to find her place in the world. The second is a completely different project, it is a young children’s book about a boy who is afraid of thunder. It was a story I told my son to ease his fear, and one day I just wrote it down, asked a dear friend to illustrate it, and decided that all of its proceeds would go to a foundation registered in Athens and New York that helps unaccompanied refugee minors. Originally scheduled to launch during the holidays, “When Clouds Embrace” will be out by the end of March. And honestly, I am glad that we had this delay, because thanks to current events people are so much more aware of the situation, and so much more willing to give.”
Kostaki opposes the label of “feminist activism” for the Women’s March. She rather thinks that in this environment of uncertainty a wider solidarity era is commencing. “I don’t think the wave of activism that’s about to take over the US and the globe is solely about feminism anymore. There is too much at stake to concentrate simply on women’s rights. Even though it’s a huge part of it, the movement is merging with any other issue that needs to be fought for and protected at the moment. If the First Lady of United States, Melania Trump, were visiting Greece, I would take her to a refugee camp on the Greek Island of Lesvos and leave her there for two weeks, maybe longer. It’s a lot more complex than it used to be, especially since we do not know what’s going to happen tomorrow, what new executive order will be signed, how the world will react, what it will mean for us. It’s like we have formed an immense global wall, pun intended, holding hands, waiting to see what we need to march against next. This uncertainty has made it hard to make immediate plans for further action. We will take part here in Greece in the global march on International Women’s Day on March 8. The Athens LGBT parade in June will also see our presence. Until then, we stand by and watch. Our Facebook group is very active, there are daily posts and conversations, and I’m trying to keep everyone in the loop. I’m in daily contact with the organizers of the sister Marches, and all of us here are prepared to do whatever we can.”
