According to information, strong pressure was exerted on Koumoundourou regarding Papanota’s statements and shortly before the Executive Office meeting began, Mr. Kasselakis decided to resolve the issue himself.
Explaining his intervention, Mr. Kaselakis emphasized that he did so in order not to place the blame on others. With this move, the president of SYRIZA showed that he does not enter into negotiations in matters of rights and equality.
“I fully respect the decisions of the members and friends of SYRIZA who – for the first time, with my own commitment – chose our MEP candidates themselves. But there are cases when the President must intervene in order not to “load” responsibilities elsewhere by washing his hands. Especially since women, unfortunately, still suffer from multiple discriminations, inequalities and gender-based violence.
It is with regret that I am forced to exclude Dimitris Papanotas from the Euroballot. I know that he issued a corrective statement, but the issue he referred to is highly sensitive and cannot be discussed. Especially for the party that has human rights and equality at its forefront”, he said in X.
I fully respect the decisions of the members and friends of SYRIZA who – for the first time, with my commitment – chose our MEP candidates themselves. But there are cases when the President must intervene in order not to “load” responsibilities elsewhere by washing his hands.
— Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis) April 18, 2024
A short time earlier, Sofia Bekatorou had made a statement. “I hope the party will stand as it should. To make the right move”, said the Olympic gold medalist and SYRIZA MEP candidate speaking on Parapolitik radio.
The MEP candidate, Noni Dounia, referred to the expulsion of Dimitris Papanotas from the SYRIZA ballots, saying that “I commented on the show “You saw nothing” by Mega on a critical comment of Mr. Papanotas regarding the age of Bettys Maggira”. “A personal attack followed, wanting to discredit me and belittle me regarding the suitability of my candidacy,” he stressed. “I take for granted what happened today. Racist and sexist comments do not fit in the Greece of 2024,” he said characteristically.
It is recalled that in recorded statements that were broadcast on TV shows in the previous days, Mr. Papanotas is heard saying that the women of Greece and the European Union do not have any problems, unless “if they want to have (s.s. problem). If she gets a satrap who abuses her too, she doesn’t speak, she sits and tolerates it, so it’s her problem.”
In his statement to Alpha, the journalist spoke of a victory for the reactionaries and opponents of SYRIZA, who dealt with the issue in a “shallow way”. “When you enter an arena where the conditions are not appropriate, it is good to leave early” he noted and informed that since yesterday he was in contact with high-ranking officials of the party and told them that he will resign if they cannot face the attacks once morest him. Although, as he said, they assured him that “they are on my side”, “I don’t see anything like that”.
“They don’t want my help, that’s okay. It’s an insult to me and to those who voted,” he pointed out at another point. He wished, visibly bitter, “good luck” to the president of SYRIZA, Stefanos Kasselakis, pointing out that “I was the first to support him, but that doesn’t matter”. Regarding the information that wants the decision to be taken following the intervention of Sofia Bekatorou, he commented that “it is not ethical behavior between fellow candidates”. He also denounced the Olympian for “political adventurism”.
Dimitris Papanotas: “They called me a half-sex because of the cutting edge of a statement”
“This is cutting edge, it’s not a statement from start to finish. In the early 1990s in similar incidents of gender-based violence once morest women, I was the only one to react on TV and defend them, resulting in attacks and court cases that lasted for regarding 12 years. Then all these sensitive people I don’t know where they were and they appeared now”, said Dimitris Papanotas before his deletion.
“So I thought that because we are not Iran and we are Europe, these issues have been resolved. Lately the complaints from women regarding gender violence are hundreds. Especially following Sunday’s murder. Clearly there is a serious problem, clearly the Left stands with all abused women and clearly we still have a long way to go to get to a level where we can say we are fine.
I have a very strong stomach, besides we all know who the attackers are. We know who they are, we didn’t expect them to applaud us”, concludes Dimitris Papanotas in his comment.
The journalist was also today (18.04.2024) a guest of Eleni Tsolakis on the show “Proino Sousou” and gave even more detailed answers to what is heard regarding him.
“Television games are another thing, to have a theme and sell. When a person has someone’s political speech it should be criticized there and not in anything else, and we should retrieve statements from the past and cut and sew. These are not just political indecencies, I don’t even want to characterize them”.
It bothered me that the statement was regarding the abuse of women because I have proven to be the first to stand up for abused women and did so when others were flying kites. In ’93 and ’94 I went out and defended certain ladies, who had been violently attacked, and I spent 12 years in the courts in a well-known story which the well-wishers did not remember now.’
“I’ve been called a misogynist for cutting a statement, which was a call for women to speak up. They should not make this social problem their individual problem”, added Dimitris Papanotas.
#background #dismissal