Visitors to the AEK history museum come face to face with an exhibit that surprises them. It causes them intense reflection. It raises reasonable questions for them.
What does a tour of the moments of a historic union have to do with exhibits that target people and in fact incite violence?
What place can this incitement to violence have in the museum of a historical group that is actually connected to an important part of Hellenism that felt on its skin the guided hatred for others?
Wasn’t this, guided hatred, the reason why the AEK big family mourned, even recently, the loss of one of their fans, Michalis, outside their stadium? So isn’t it reasonable for people who respect their team’s history, themselves and their children with whom they visit the museum to leave troubled and disagree with this whole scene?
An exhibit unworthy of a long story
But let’s go to the exhibit. Under the title “They WANTED to KILL our DREAMS”, there are photos of the former mayor of Nea Philadelphia-Chalkidona A. Vassilopoulos, the former councilor A. Mallios, and the former ministers P. Lafazani and P. Skourletis.
Below the photos is the following text:
“and they went down in history
Those who took the lead and did everything they could to prevent AEK’s stadium from being built on its ancestral lands, will always have a place in our memory. To remind us that evil cannot prevail over good, injustice cannot be imposed on justice. They are to blame for the fact that the great project of “Agia Sophia” was completed with a delay of many years. As a consequence of this, hundreds and perhaps even thousands of Union citizens did not have time to experience this incomparable joy, they did not see their much-loved AEK return home. They left life with the woe of the unfulfilled.
WE OWE IT TO THEIR MEMORY
to never forget those who tried to kill our dream.”
The text is even listed in an English translation.
Targeting and falsification of the truth
However, it is not only the hate speech that this exhibit emits. It is that the actual facts are different.
No one ever came out to say that AEK’s stadium should not be built. What was said from many quarters was that this stadium had to be held to the same rules as the other stadiums, such as parking rules and planning rules, that public forest land could not be given away for a private project , that the necessary environmental permits had to be issued. And these came first and foremost from local residents.
And of course, contrary to what this “exhibit” says, in reality there was no delay in the construction of the stadium. The projects started three years after the initial announcements, i.e. after a period of time, perfectly reasonable for the completion of the studies and the licensing of such a large project. Simply for the administration of AEK, the stadium had to be built with fast track procedures, without consultation with the residents and compliance with the law. But always with generous public funding. And anyone who had reasonable objections was simply an enemy.
Indeed, the Municipality of Nea Philadelphia – Nea Chalkidona filed an appeal for the concession of public forest land, but from where and to what extent can this be considered a hostile action? It was a rudimentary move to defend legitimacy.
But why is this ex post targeting chosen? What is her real goal? And is it acceptable for violence to be instigated not by organized mindless but by the very leadership of a group?
The answer must be given by sports justice. It is impossible not to deal with the subject!
#exhibit #unworthy #long #story
