The 8th Educational Seminar for Teachers of the Speak Truth to Power Programme was successfully held at the NJV Athens Plaza Hotel on Monday 29 October 2019. The event was organised by the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation, with the participation of 100 teachers and students from public and private schools across Greece.

The UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and President of the Foundation, Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, welcomed the teachers and students from the public and private schools across Greece who participated in the Seminar to present the actions they have implemented. 

A glorious and moving ceremony was held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Monday, 21 October 2019, in celebration of the ten-year Anniversary of the Center for Hellenic Studies, which was inaugurated in 2008 and has been operating in the Library at the initiative of the Vardinoyannis family.

The event was organised by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in order to honour this important work.

In recognition of her great contribution and hard work over many years at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Director of the Library,

An event marking the opening of a series of Events for the Celebration the 2500-year Anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Salamis was held in Athens, at the Zappeion Mansion, on Wednesday, 16 October 2019.

The event was attended by His Excellency, the President of the Hellenic Republic Mr Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Prime Minister Mr Kyriakos MitsotakIs, Minister of Culture and Sports Mrs Lina Mendoni, Minister of Interior Mr Panagiotis Theodorikakos and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mrs Marianna Vardinoyannis. The Ministry of Culture and Sports,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is truly a special honor for me to be with you today. I would like to thank the “Democracy and Culture Foundation”, the New York Times and the President of the Athens Democracy Forum Mr. Achilles Tsaltas for their kind invitation. 

Especially this year, the topics of the Athens Democracy Forum make us all rethink the ways that humanity moves forward, focusing on current and future challenges, and placing democracy and culture in the core of a sustainable world. The world that we all envision for the new generations,

Students from the SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER Programme of the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation and Axion Hellas gave an interactive presentation in the presence of Mrs Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy and President of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, and UNESCO Good Will Ambassador Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis on Wednesday, 9 October 2019, at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art.

During the event, which was held on the occasion of the Athens Democracy Forum,

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, human rights activist and President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, Mrs Kerry Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, a prominent lawyer specialising in health issues and a proponent of the rights of people with disabilities, with his wife Kiki Kennedy, met with the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Prokopios Pavlopoulos, on Monday, 7 October 2019.

The subject of the return of the Parthenon Marbles was the focus of the discussion.

Mr Pavlopoulos thanked Mrs Kerry Kennedy for her work in the area of protection of human rights and her contribution to the effort to have the Parthenon Marbles returned.