Our View: There is no justification in a democracy for persecuting artists

It was extremely disappointing to read that the ministry of education and culture is now pursuing disciplinary action against the secondary school head teacher Giorgos Gavriel, after its investigation into his irreverent paintings failed to provide grounds for his punishment. The ministry is now looking into whether he cultivates ‘national sentiment’ in the exercise of his duties and whether he complies with the regulations stipulating respect for institutions.

Gavriel had caused an outcry last September with his paintings that were dismissed as blasphemous by the Church and had Archbishop Chrysostomos demanding his sacking because he had no place in education. At the time, the Archbishop also attacked politicians for failing to take a stand on the painting for fear of losing votes, behaviour he deemed ‘unacceptable’.  He could not level that charge on the mandarins of the education ministry that seem determined to find a way to punish Gavriel.

If we lived in an authoritarian or theocratic state this would have been perfectly understandable but such disciplinary investigations have no place in democratic, member-state of the EU, which respects citizens’ freedom of expression. In democracy, blasphemy is not a criminal offence and neither are irreverence and disrespect for authority. The ministry, being aware of this, is vindictively looking for any pretext to punish Gavriel, even resorting to the ludicrously antiquated requirement of a teacher cultivating ‘national sentiment’.

How many public-school teachers cultivate ‘national sentiment’? Probably more than we like to think, but many do not without ever being liable to disciplinary action for this failure. As for respect of institutions, surely this only applies in the performance of a teacher’s duties and not what he or she does in their free time. They can disrespect any institution they choose, in any way they like, as long as they are not breaking the law, when they are not in school. It is an issue of personal liberty, in which no ministry has the authority to interfere.

A ministry responsible not just for education but also for culture should have been championing artistic expression, regardless of its aesthetic value, instead of suppressing it. Unless it is following the directives of the Archbishop who had openly demanded the punishment of the head teacher. But is the Church running the education ministry of our secular state? This seems to be the case, because nobody apart from priests and theologians actually demanded the punishment of Gavriel. As the Archbishop said, the politicians remained silent, not because of the votes as he claimed, but because they did not want to side against free speech.