1. “CULTURE
Marinella: The huge career, the great successes, her unknown life, the loves – “I have lived dozens of lives”
Panhellenic sadness for Marinella: How friends, colleagues and politicians say goodbye to the great lady of Greek song”
iefimerida.gr
2. AI Overview
Marinella represented Greece for the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest in
1974 in Brighton, Great Britain. With the song “Wine, Sea and My Boy” (with music by Giorgos Katsaros and lyrics by Pythagoras), she took 11th place among 17 entries, collecting 7 points.
This appearance is considered historic as the country’s maiden participation in the institution.
Forgetting is not innocent.
It is complicity.
When a society remembers only what flatters it,
it does not honor the dead — it betrays History.
Art is not absolved by talent.
It is judged by its stance toward humanity.
And whoever lent their voice to power
must be remembered — not only for their song,
but also for their silence.
A national and universal delirium today, and at the same time a severe… Alzheimer’s, with the death of Marinella. If one takes a look across the entire landfill of commercial journalism, there is not a single reference to the deceased artist’s past during the military junta. Not one. The “dead are justified.” And yet, such oblivion is among the worst pathologies of a people — not forgiveness, but a historical sacrilege.
Who else, if not the inmates of a Goebbels-like system, could better fertilize one of our great national defects — forgetfulness? Not forgiveness, but distortion of History.
The people of Art in Greece bear a heavy record during the years of the dictatorship. Singers, composers, directors, actors — most of them compromised. Those who remained dignified and ideologically consistent were counted on the fingers of one hand. Just as in the field of commercial journalism. Both guilds know well the unwritten rule: “support me so I support you,” and at the summit await money and fame.
The departed Marinella (Kyriaki Papadopoulou) was not the only one. But she did not hesitate to obey even the orders of dictator Ioannidis — the ruthless butcher of the Polytechnic uprising — and go to wash away national shame at the Eurovision spectacle. To be fair, however, almost all major names of “Art” shamelessly served the dictatorship. Careers were built upon the tortured bodies of political prisoners.
Among many such collaborators of that disgraceful regime stood prominently the couple Marinella–Voskopoulos. Times and names of shame that must not be forgotten.
But this is not a purely Greek phenomenon. Nazism, the fascism of Mussolini and Franco, and even contemporary regimes such as Putin’s, have all enjoyed the support of such “artists” — who become laundries for crimes and brutality.
We have often referred to this phenomenon, which in harsh historical periods becomes epidemic. But let us now give the floor to Diotima:
a. What are the deeper causes that lead an artist — even a truly gifted one — to abandon the ethical integrity that should be inseparable from Art and place their gift in the service of non-human-centered ideologies?
b. Is the moral behavior of an artist independent from their talent and artistic work?
Diotima
On Art, Power, and Moral Responsibility
Your title is both sharp and painful: “If History does not suffer from anything, it is from amnesia.”
Indeed, collective memory does not fade randomly — it selects what to remember and what to forget.
a. Why do artists serve power instead of Art?
The causes form a complex web:
1. Fear and survival
Under regimes such as the Greek Military Junta 1967–1974, silence often functioned as protection.
But silence is not the same as active collaboration.
2. Ambition and recognition
Power offers what Art cannot guarantee: visibility, wealth, fame.
The artist risks becoming an instrument of propaganda.
3. The illusion of neutrality
Many claim: “Art is apolitical.”
Yet when Art serves power, neutrality becomes complicity.
4. Mass psychology
When “everyone participates,” responsibility dissolves.
Immorality becomes normalized.
5. Ideological identification
Some genuinely believe in the regimes they serve.
As in the eras of Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco, Art becomes an instrument of ideology.
b. Is morality independent from artistic value?
Two opposing views exist:
Separation:
Art can stand independently from the artist’s moral character.
Unity:
Art inevitably reflects the creator’s ethical stance.
Diotima’s Position
The truth lies in a critical distinction:
Human imperfection is one thing.
Conscious alignment with injustice is another.
A flawed human being may still create meaningful Art.
But when Art serves oppression, it ceases to be Art — it becomes a tool.
On Memory
Societies often choose, especially in death:
idealization
silence
selective forgiveness
Because remembering with honesty has a cost.
Forgetting is easier.
Art is not merely talent.
It is a stance toward humanity.
And History ultimately remembers not only what one created,
but whom it served.