Good articles about recent Greek history
Dec 9 2008 01:50
Does anyone know of any decent articles which give the historical background to the events in Greece.
Stuff like the November 17 1973 uprising, and previous waves of riots, like in 1985 or 1991? Or the November 17 group say? Or about the anarchist movement in Greece?
Or if anyone would fancy writing any such article, we would love to have it.
Comments, suggestions please
Dec 14 2008 23:26
#2
OK, just googled some stuff. The general was Stephen Saunders, British defence attache, assassinated in June 2000. Got that from the 'Council on Foreign Relations' website - an arm of the American state - with an extensive commentary on the N17 group, such as:
'Most anti-terrorism experts think the organization has no more than twenty-five members—many of them related to one another, which may explain why the group was able to operate secretly and securely for almost three decades. But in July 2002, amid mounting pressure to track down terrorists before the 2004 Olympics, Greek authorities made a major breakthrough and began arresting November 17 members. In December 2003, Greek courts dealt November 17 a crippling blow as fifteen members of the group were convicted of various crimes including homicide; the leader of the group and several key operatives were given multiple life sentences'.
See www.cfr.org/publication/9275/ for their take on it.
Dec 15 2008 08:24
#3
Wellclose Square wrote:
That 'orrible little book, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, was set at that time - I believe the communists were presented as the villains of the piece, perhaps not surprising as author Louis de Bernieres is an ex-British Army officer. A few years back (1995-2000?),
I quite enjoyed it actually. I enjoyed his later book (but chronologically earlier, and with one of the same characters) more. It is called "Birds without Wings", and is about a small Mediterranean Turkish village in times of war and genocide.
Devrim
Dec 15 2008 15:09
#4
ICC article on November 17 group at
http://en.internationalism.org/wr/271_terror_greece.htm
and on the Greek resistance at
http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2006/october/greek-resistance
Dec 15 2008 18:58
#5
Quote:
Wellclose Square wrote:That 'orrible little book, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, was set at that time - I believe the communists were presented as the villains of the piece, perhaps not surprising as author Louis de Bernieres is an ex-British Army officer. A few years back (1995-2000?),
I quite enjoyed it actually. I enjoyed his later book (but chronologically earlier, and with one of the same characters) more. It is called "Birds without Wings", and is about a small Mediterranean Turkish village in times of war and genocide.
Devrim
Actually...I haven't read it, so I can be accused of taking the Mary Whitehouse stance on The Romans in Britain - 'Haven't seen it! Don't like it!' A few years ago Captain Corelli was so in your face - serialised in the Daily Mail, big film - that it was hard not to take against it because of the hype. Perhaps I'll read it some day.
I know it's a bit 'previous' but Solidarity did a pamphlet on the Greek Civil War of 1946 - I haven't read it. This was the occasion of one of the earliest British military interventions post-WWII, this time against communists (I'm not parenthesising it as 'communists' because I've got no idea about what rank'n'file people felt 'on the ground' - as opposed to the Stalinists of the KKE in today's parliament, only too keen to strangle today's social movement). Maybe if I add a few garbled impressions/memories it can all be straightened out later...
That 'orrible little book, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, was set at that time - I believe the communists were presented as the villains of the piece, perhaps not surprising as author Louis de Bernieres is an ex-British Army officer. A few years back (1995-2000?), a British general, attached to the embassy, was assassinated in traffic in Athens by assailants on a motorbike. N17 claimed credit for that. As a result of that, and other high profile hits (against CIA personnel, I think), the US and UK leaned very heavily on the PASOK government to deal with the N17 problem. Looking back, that exercise looks like a prelude to 'the war on terror' we all know and love.