Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was banished from the Olympic Games on Wednesday after making a light-hearted statement about Africans in Greece on Twitter.
Her comment was this: “With so many Africans in Greece … at least the West Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food!!!,”
The other reason that the Olympic committee removed her from the Greek Olympic teams was because she also reposted a comment from Greek politician Ilias Kasidiaris, who has strongly criticized his government’s “soft” immigration policy.
Whether you agree or not that Greek should review it's immigration policy, or that her little joke was, as the committee said, "racist", please affirm the right to free speech by signing this petition and supporting her bid to compete.
We, the undersigned, demand that Voula Papachristou be repatriated with her olympic team and that she be allowed to compete fully in her event. The country who brought the world democracy (Greece) will be under a dark veil as long as you punish those who might express different viewpoints, in politics, art, or humor. Let this not be a black stain upon Greece as it regains it's prominence in world affairs, particularly in the expression of freedom. Greece should be proud to have citizens such as Voula Papachristou who accept their civic responsibilities by speaking out on the issues that are important to all Greeks and people everywhere. Return her to her olympic team.
