Antifascist memory practices, rituals and commemoration in the Republic of Cyprus and Greece

The article examines antifascist memory practices and commemorative activities in the Republic of Cyprus and Greece since 1990, emphasizing developments from the 2010s onwards. It focuses on two communist youth organizations: EDON in Cyprus and KNE in Greece. The article approaches these organizations as mnemonic actors operating within contested national and European memory regimes, using antifascist remembrance as a resource for identity formation, boundary-making, and youth political socialization. Drawing primarily on the frameworks of political memory and ritual, the study conceptualizes memory work as a form of left-wing politics in its own right -functioning as a mechanism of ideological reproduction, cadre formation, and strategic positioning within fragmented left landscapes. Empirically, it examines the commemorative practices and ritualized forms through which these organizations preserve and transmit historical memory, and assesses their role as a form of antifascist political pedagogy shaping the political consciousness of younger generations. The article also explores how such practices operate as sites of resistance to the rise of neofascism and the far right. It argues that, despite the challenges of the post–Cold War period, these youth organizations have played a significant role in sustaining and revitalizing antifascist memory, contributing to ideological continuity and political mobilization.