Letter from Greece

...Letter from Greece By Robert Gorham Davis Athens On the tiny Greek island of Mykonos, the Cezanne clusters of houses, churches and windmills dazzle white against the incredible blue of the sea Last June 29 when the infant Crown Prince was christened, the blue and white flag of Greece fluttered on every house and store Since Mykonos has always been conservative and Royalist, even tourists watching for signs of the military dictatorship could see nothing sinister in this gaily patriotic display But in Athens the next day, the flags were just as common Every building, m fact nearly every single apartment had put one out Why all the flags7 If the military coup had not blocked the May elections, the Central Union party of the Papandreous—father George and son Andreas—would certamly have won a majority in Athens Was everyone now so ready to go along with the Junta's all out exploitation of the handsome young Royal family9 Not at all The flags were there because they were required to be For days the radio and newspapers had carried exact instructions on how to properly display the flag It had to be on a pole, clean, and larger than the specified minimum size If stores should sell out of flags, the householder was to obtam a certificate showing he had tried Robert Gorham Davis is a Professor of English at Columbia to buy one Those without a certificate or flag were subject to a severe though unspecified penalty Severe but unspecified penalties, which may or may not be imposed This is the military junta's way of establishing complete control over Greece's social and cultural life, in the fanatical spirit of what Hugh Trevor-Roper has called "barrack-room Buchmamsm " All the junta's talk is of cleansing, purging, eradicating The prescription of what has been and is to be purged could have come indifferently from the Communist or Nazi press of 30 years ago Delegations of newly appointed heads of educational, cultural and trade union organizations troop faithfully to the ministries to offer quotes in servile praise of the destruction of "freedoms associated with a vicious past " In a recent speech, Defense Minister Grigonos Spandivakis ominously observed "What has and what has not been done in the past is of no more interest with regard to the persons involved Those who are responsible have ceased to exist, finally and forever " Presumably, Spandivakis did not mean "the persons involved" were dead, but that they would never again play any part m Greek life These jailed opponents of the regime, though they are of many political persuasions, are all described simply as "Communists " Threats against non-conformists are carried out frequently enough and arbitrarily enough to keep the population uneasily on guard Thiee young men preparing to wnte anti-government slogans on a wall were sentenced by court-martial to five years in prison Writing on walls, bridges and mountain sides is the sole privilege of the Army Driving through the Peloponnese one sees every mile or so, often under the insignia of the crown, pro-junta slogans painted identically by professionals "Long Live the King," "Long Live the Army," "Long Live April 21" (the day of the coup), and "Where democracy was born, Communism cannot live At Delphi one such Royalist slogan was painted near the gorge wheie Apollo defeated the Python Appiopn-ately, it was at the base of the shining cliff from which criminals used to be thrown to their death The regime avoids open displays of force, however No tanks patrol the streets, no unusual numbers of police or soldiers When the new government proceeded against foreign homosexuals and beatniks, for instance, it did not go in tor mass roundups and arrests Soldiers or police would corner someone alone at night, beat him severely in an alley, then let him go Word quickly got around, hippies left the country, or gave up their non-conformist mode of dress Similar tactics aie used against Greek citizens It is forbidden to have guests overnight without registering them m advance, or for more than five people to congregate without permission, even for a social occasion Many Greeks ignore the rules, but always uneasily, never knowing when lightning will strike Parents who thought a birthday party an innocent enough occasion were sadly mistaken Young and old were carted off by the police and held several hours On the day the flags were to be displayed, friends of ours left early tot the country before a policeman could come around to check But they wondered if neighbors would be asked at what hour they had gone, and if this would be the first item in a developing dossier that could, m a few years—if the regime lasted—keep their son out of the university Next year only those pupils whose family and personal political reliability have been certified by their headmaster will be permitted to take examinations for the university This summer the present student body and faculty of the universities are quietly being purged As is well-known by now, con-tiol over public cultural activities is total Every book, magazine and theatrical production must have the censor's approval Nothing is allowed that might lead to "the decay of healthy Greek uses and customs and to the perversion of the Greek people, especially of youth " Newspapers must publish each day at least one commentary favorable to the government and its policies, they may not publish any material, current or historical, "referring to changes of regime, mutinies or revolutions, or which could "rewaken passions and perpetuate unrest " The despotic military triumvirs supposedly have differing attitudes toward the King and the institution of monarchy, but all three are fanatical anti-Communists and all weie young cadets under the Metax-as regime, when Pericles' funeial oration was banned and strong Nazi sympathies were rife in the officers' coips Though said to be morbidly sensitive to world opinion, the three are unable in their fanaticism to foicsee normal reactions to such moves as banning certain classic plays or depriving Mehna Mercouri of her Greek citizenship As a result, at the height of the tourist season the long rows of souvenir shops in the streets of Delphi and Olympia were as deserted at night as the adjoining ruins In the circumstances, guides were obviously embarrassed to make their usual speeches about the birthplace of democracy and individual freedom But a fervently patriotic guide at the palace of Knossos boldly proclaimed Katanzakis a Cretan and quoted with emotion one of his pointed passages on liberty Over and over, without being asked, the band on the ship played music from Zorba the Greek, by the Communist composer whose score was used as the excuse for withdrawing the most libertarian ot the classic tragedies from the summer festival It is a characteristic irony that the coup was carried out by setting into motion the "Prometheus" contingency plan, developed under nato in 1950 for use in case of a Communist uprising The lists of persons to be arrested had been kept meticulously up to date The leaders of the coup pushed the button, and since there was no actual or threatened Communist uprising and no real resistance (except on the pait of individuals and scattered groups of students), the putsch was earned out with what seemed marvelous speed and efficiency Except for those "unwholesome" elements that "have ceased to exist finally and forever," the putsch lead-eis pretend to speak for the whole Greek nation Yet at the same time they justify the coup on the grounds that a majority of the Greek people would have voted the Papandreous into power, and that this in some unspecified way would have been a surrender to the Communists The writers and teachers I talked to—definitely anti-Commumst and not particularly enthusiastic about Andreas Papandreou—are baffled about the future The military men clearly intend to impose thought-control and youth indoctrination as complete as that in the Communist countries they profess to despise The most creative people here think there will be no future for them in Greece if the Army should succeed They will have to get out What they count on is an early split within the triumvirate, or between the triumvirate and the King and other Army leaders Then, they hope, counterreactionary influences, especially from abroad and especially from the United States, would help them secure the minimum civil liberties which have been abolished Greeks feel, unhappily, that the United States government is sympathetic to the coup I found m private talks with U S officials that they actually were apologists for regime Before the coup American officials had taken pains to make public their dislike of Andreas Papandreou Though he had taught in the United States and advocated a New Deal-type program, though former Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith and ex-Governor Pat Brown of California interceded for him after his imprisonment, U S officials were afraid the young man would take too independent a course But the Greeks say the U S wanted a military government in Athens to secure its flank in case of trouble in the Middle East They also refer fiequently to the fact that a huge contract to develop tourism and other mdustnes throughout the country was signed with Litton Industries, an Amencan company with high connections in Washington, only a few days after the new government seized control What is said by Amencan officials in defense of the piesent Greek government is flagiantly inconsistent with the Jeffersoman and Lincoln-esque sentiments so conspicuously displayed in the windows of the usis reading looms To our friends in Greece it makes us seem hypocrites, 01 worse...