Tsipras uses film pick to attack government over Tsavdaridis affair and exam points

A weekly pick with a political edge

Alexis Tsipras, who leads the Greek Left Alliance (ΕΛ.Α.Σ.) and is a former prime minister, used his weekly film recommendation to comment on a current political scandal. This week he picked the 1981 film Teach My Child Letters, directed by Theodoros Marangos and starring Vasilis Diamantopoulos, Nikos Kalogeropoulos and Kostas Tsakonas. He published the pick as a video and a written post on Saturday, 14 November, and several Greek outlets carried the post the same day. In the post he wrote that the film asks a great deal of study, and that, as things stand, study alone is not enough.

The Tsavdaridis affair

The pick was linked to the case of Lazaros Tsavdaridis, who resigned as deputy minister of development after the uproar that followed the allegations. Tsipras described the case as one more in a series of scandals that, one after another, insult citizens' dignity and intelligence, and he accused the government of amorality. Greek outlets report complaints about Tsavdaridis's daughter, who took part in a handball team, and about the points credited to her for that participation. Tsipras tied those complaints to doubts about the fairness of the Panhellenic exams. He argued that the government had now undermined even its last defence of the exams, their integrity.

Sports examples and the message to young people

To illustrate the point, Tsipras set two examples side by side: rigged basketball matches and fake points in handball. He argued that the government's excellence was rooted in fraud and corruption. The post then turned to young people, whom he said are being told that effort alone does not bring success.

“The message to young people is that effort is not enough to succeed, what matters is connections, links and financial power.”

He contrasted a place that he said always exists for the children of the powerful with the gap he said remains for everyone else. The point, in his telling, is that access to knowledge and opportunity is unevenly shared.

Closing lines and the 'archbishop' remark

In the video he closed with the line about the children of the powerful and the children of ordinary families. He also referred to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, saying that people wonder why he called him an archbishop. He ended the video by wishing viewers a good viewing, a closing that framed the film as a lesson for the country's young.

“For your children, there is always one place missing.”

The written post and the video carried the same core argument, which is that the Tsavdaridis case is a symptom of a wider pattern of scandal. Tsipras used a 1981 film to frame a contemporary dispute, leaving the film's plot aside and focusing on what he called the unfair distribution of opportunity.