Briefly Noted_____________________
Woke
up early to a spring drizzle. The garden looked verdant and lush. I looked
at the calendar, it said April 21. A date one remembers in Greece for it
was on this day in 1967 that the Greek Armed forces took over the elected
government and installed a military regime that lasted for seven years.
General democratic procedures were suspended, and most of the existing
political infrastructure was disbanded. In the words of George
Papadopoulos, the Colonel in charge of the Junta, Greece was likened to a
patient undergoing necessary therapy. Greece indeed had problems of
leadership; five governments had been unsuccessfully installed in the
previous two years; this political instability was a detriment to Greece's
social and economic development. The Junta and those that supported it
explained that their actions were necessary to fill the political vacuum
and bring Greece back in line with 'capitalist' free-market principles.
It
was a confusing day with tanks roaming the main avenue, arbitrary arrests,
shops shuttered, radio programs suspended, and few people on the streets
as meetings and marches were disallowed and a dusk to dawn curfew imposed.
New regulations included the banning of 'decadent music' including the
Beatles, no beards or long hair on men, no plate breaking in Bouzouki
joints, a suspension of trade unions, any form of Collective, the banning
of all political parties, all left-wing organizations and newspapers, a
new court system that resembled military tribunals, and a general purge of
the intelligentsia.
Most
people had never heard of these 'colonels' before and the atmosphere was
fraught with unanswered questions. Who is really behind these people? Was
it King Constantine, nominally head of the Armed Forces, or was it the
American Government anxious to avoid the installation of the left- leaning
political party of George Papandreou and his up- and - coming ' economist
son Andreas? As press freedoms had been curtailed the news was slanted to
the idea of a spontaneous' movement by the military to 'save Greece from
turmoil and self-destruction'. It was not hard to read between the lines.
Greece was too important in its geopolitical position to be ignored by
Western interests. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that this
government had been planned and installed by other powers in order to
control political decisions and events in Greece. Meddling in Greek
affairs had been a common pastime for those holding the financial reins.
Most governments promptly recognized the Military Junta, despite its
undemocratic nature. It was a political fait-accompli that would outlast
its welcome, put a blemish on a country that had invented democracy and
pave a path for a future socialist government in Greece. The very thing
the 'concerned' governments in Europe and America had wanted to avoid.
Living
in Athens at the time one got used to the restrictions that soon eased up
or in typical Greek fashion were ignored. People made fun of their comic
and gauche leaders who struggled with their unsophisticated mannerisms and
wooden personalities to bring a semblance of order. Their symbol was a
soldier emerging from a flaming Phoenix, underlined with the words
"Greece for Christian Greeks". This ubiquitous logo was
emblazoned on the matchboxes and on sign posts on every road, prompting a
visitor to glibly remark how well the government advertised its matches.
Running
a cultural Centre on the island of Aegina at the time I was obliged to
have my dealings with military officials; I provoked their ire by
publishing a literary journal called 'Omphalos' with poems of Cavafis,
Seferis and Ritsos. This was deemed 'yellow press' and the Review was
ungraciously shut down after three issues; the editors, Peter Mackridge,
Peter Dreyer and John van Leuven were expelled from Greece. I was
'invited' to visit the famous Bouboulinas street security police
headquarters and appropriately admonished. Others were less fortunate
having spent time in 'persuasion centers' manned by the dreaded military
police ( EAT/ESA) the most famous one located in the park behind the
Megaron Mousikis.
In
June 1974 after seven years, a failed King's countercoup, an assassination
attempt, a major student uprising at the Athens Polytechnic and an aborted
adventure in Cyprus, that almost brought Greece at war with Turkey, the
Junta fell and its dictatorial leaders were imprisoned for life. It left
abruptly without a whimper
under its own misguided failings and lack of overseas support.
On
the evening of its demesne, Willie Elliot, deputy director of the American
School of Classical Studies was giving his famous Byron lecture. Amid the
hubbub and excitement on the street he looked up and dryly remarked that '
on this historic night we must remember that the real meaning of freedom,
Elephtheria, did not begin in June 1974 but on a rainy Spring morning
on the 19th April 1824 when Lord Byron died in Mesolongi
fighting for the Greek Cause
of liberation".
Continued...Winter
2002
