Greg Palast... + Adam Curtis: The Ghost Of The Colonels

Fri Nov 11 22:40:07 GMT 2011

Greg Palast - Vultures' Picnic
http://www.gregpalast.com/vulturespicnic/
http://www.gregpalast.com/vulturespicnic/?page=ORDER

The Ghost Of The Colonels
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/11/the_ghost_of_the_colonels.html
http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=159243#159243

Post categories: Back Stories - lots of video links on the blog

Adam Curtis | 18:00 UK time, Thursday, 3 November 2011

In the present crisis over Greece there is a furious argument about 
whether the Greek people should be allowed to vote on the proposed 
solution. Many of the voices against this come from the world of 
finance and economics. They say that the crisis is too dangerous to 
leave to the will of the people.

I just wanted to show why some Greek politicians - and especially 
George Papandreou, even though he may have retreated from a 
referendum - might think it important to allow the people a voice.

I have discovered a film in the archives that dramatically tells you 
why. It was made in 1974 and is an engrossing history of the 
Colonels' coup in Greece in 1967 - and what life was then like for 
the Greek people under the military dictatorship that held power for 
seven years.

As you watch it you realise, given what the Greeks have been through, 
it is no wonder that politicians, especially Papandreou, think the 
mandate of the people is important.

The present language of the finance technocrats, and their supporters 
in the media, portray the Greek people as just another group of lazy 
southern Europeans who have fed too long at the trough of state 
money. A bit like us - but more crap.

What is forgotten is that from 1967 to 1974 the Greek people lived 
under a harsh and violent dictatorship that tortured and murdered 
thousands of ordinary people. The Colonels also corrupted the society 
by handing out vast loans to individuals in towns and villages across 
the country - to buy their loyalty. At the same time the repression 
and torture bred a powerful resistance that finally burst out in 
incredible bravery in 1973.

This is the strange and twisted society that the present Prime 
Minister's father, Andreas Papandreou, inherited when he became the 
newly elected leader in 1981. He was faced by the task of rebuilding 
the peoples' trust in democracy and the state. Partly he did it 
through state spending - and in that policy lie many of the roots of 
today's crisis.

The discussion of Greece today in the press and the political offices 
of Europe is almost completely ahistorical - everything is couched in 
utilitarian terms of economic management. I just think it is 
important to put the present crisis in a wider historical context. 
Above all the extraordinary history of the military dictatorship and 
the savage effects it had on the whole of Greek society.

First - here is a short compilation of some of the best bits of the 
news coverage from the time.

Back in 1965 Mr Papandreou's grandfather, who was also called George, 
was the Prime Minister - leading the progressive Centre Union Party. 
Young right-wing officers in the military became increasingly 
concerned about the influence of George's son, Andreas who they saw 
as a dangerous leftist.

The officers were convinced that Andreas wanted to remove Greece from 
its frontline role in the Cold War - they believed this would open 
the door to communists. For eighteen months there was political 
chaos. Then new elections were scheduled for May 1967 - which George 
Snr. was certain to win.

So, on the 21st of April, the officers mounted a coup. They used a 
NATO plan for neutralizing a communist uprising in the event of a 
Soviet invasion.

The news coverage starts with a wonderful piece of reporting by the 
Panorama reporter John Morgan at the first press conference held by 
the officers after the coup. Then there are sections from other 
reports that both give a brilliant sense of the absurdity of the 
military men who now took control of the country, but also of the 
total fear they induced. I have included some vox pops taken by a 
crew inside the country in 1972.

Here is the film about life under the Colonels. It is called Greece - 
The Seven Black Years. It was made in 1974 - and broadcast in early 1975.

Its commentary is very much of its time - but the film has a power 
both in the details and in the way it is made. It shows that along 
with the terrible torture, the Colonels exercised control through 
financial means - or what one villager calls "the big money".

The film starts with these details and some great interviewees, and 
then builds to a very moving climax with the students who took over 
the Athens Technical University in November 1973 and stood against 
the military might of the Junta. There is extraordinary film of what 
then happened - and it also tells you a lot about the radicalisation 
of many of the Greek people today, and how important democracy is to 
them in the face of unelected elites who try and control them and 
their society. A belief in democracy born out of struggle - something 
that we may have forgotten.

But history also shows that coups don't always happen because of a 
power-hungry military. The Times pointed out today that the cuts 
being demanded of Greece are on a scale similar to the reparations 
imposed on Germany by the victors at Versailles in 1919. And look 
what that did to the belief in democracy.
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Cast out Hypocrisie and Lust, which follows whores:
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