The Hellenic-American

From a distance, the current Greek government looks like a comic farce. The ruling colonels are a parody of the modern military regime: right-wing officers bow out to reactionaries; one purge succeeds another until there remains only a core of deeply paranoic rulers with a dramatic flair for secret police and censorship. Combining the absurd and the petty, the Greek colonels prohibit political talk in private homes, and deprive Melina Mercouri of her citizenship. Puritanical instincts have prompted them to ban mini-skirts, long hair, classical Greek plays, and to declare compulsory church attendance.

However farcial these restrictions may sound, they hardly begin to indicate the destructive oppression imposed upon the Greek people. It has been over a half year since the dictatorship came to power under the pretext of a communist threat, and there are no signs of the junta relinquishing any of its control. Thousands of political prisoners remain in jail, and, worse, the entire population is paralyzed with fear. There are no tanks or troops on the streets of Athens; they are not needed.

Pressure on the junta; it seems, must come from outside Greece. Ironically, the only two public denouncements from within Greece have come in recent weeks from two leaders of the right wing. One was formerpremier Kanellopoulos, who is making a calculated effort to appear a defiant leader of the suppressed Greeks. He is too well-known to persecute, too significant to ignore. The other outspoken critic was Mrs. Eleni Vlachou, a conservative newspaper owner who has refused to publish under censorship. When she called the junta "ignorant people," she did not know she would be quoted. Nevertheless, she refuses to deny her statement.

European nations, though unanimously outraged with the colonels, have responded with surprisingly moderate pressure. The Common Market's legislative branch warned the Greek government that the European Community will cease its association with Greece unless democratic structures and political trade-union freedoms are restored. The Market has rejected a Greek request for a $50 million development loan, but that is the least of the junta's worries. Its own irresponsibility in financial matters, coupled with the inevitable decline in the tourist business and foreign markets, is returning the nation to the economic depression and semi-feudal society which it sought to escape.

The United States exerts considerable influence over Greek domestic politics, and its policies have been ambivalent. Massive U.S. military aid (about $70 million annually) and tacit support of the King against the majority's wishes helped make last April's coup possible; now the Administration has apparently delivered an ultimatum to the junta to restore constitutional freedoms within a specified time.

The King, who is engaged in a power struggle with junta leader Papadopoulos, recently asked the U.S. for a complete resumption of military aid. By complying with the King's personal request, the U.S. would undoubtedly help him to regain much control over the junta dominated Greek army. The action might even lead to the junta's downfall, since the army is dependent on U.S. (and NATO) funds, weapons, and spare parts.

The Administration appears to favor such a course, but unfortunately, a new government controlled by the King would be neither democratic nor ultimately stable. For this reason, Greek Americans in major cities, usually near academic communities, have formed Committees for Democracy and Freedom in Greece to pressure Congress and the Administration against the junta or any royalist constitution that would not restore all political liberties and free elections. These committees, well aware of the King's anti-democratic practices in the prejunta period, are lobbying against further U.S. alliances with the King. A guiding voice in this anti-junta movement has been The Hellenic-American, a new bi-weekly Greek-American newspaper operating out of New York and circulating among committees and out-of-town newsstands in the East.

Its editorial pages state clearly the role of the King:

It may be useful to recall that the constitutional anomaly which culminated in the military coup of April 21 stemmed from the King's obstinacy and his fierce opposition to the parliamentary majority which under the leadership of G. Papandreou demanded nothing more than the return of the Army to strict professionalism, adherence of the King to his constitutional obligations and implementation of a program of socio-economic development in the framework of a free enterprise system. The vast majority of Greeks still support these principles. Under a "guided democracy," it may take some time until they organize themselves into an effective majority. But they will come back, Should, then, another Junta be called upon to "save" Greece and restore stability?"

The Hellenic-American is written by a handful of graduates from Harvard and other Eastern Universities. None are journalists, and all have other full-time occupations. With limited financial backing of the Freedom committees, the group acquired the two-year-old paper, added a four page section in Greek, and a new title and goal for the paper: Free Nation.

The Hellenic-American is significant because with the exception of one small publication at Berkeley, no other Greek-American paper has aggressively opposed the junta. An amazing and saddening phenomenon has been the mellowing, almost warm, attitude of Greek-American newspapers towards the junta, not to mention their respect for the King. With this gaping hole in communication, The Hellenic-American has to perform several functions: pressure the Administration, report otherwise unattainable news from Greece, provide in-depth analyses of diplomatic pressures, and link activities of Greeks in the U.S.

The paper is the most interesting in political areas where you would expect it to be a repetition of international weekly perioicals. Its analyses of politicians and their motives, its editorial comments, and its careful chronologies, are strikingly absent in American newspapers. The New York Time's lack of perspective on crucial matters, such as the King's interests, is never so apparent as after reading The Hellenic-American. The paper includes literary reviews and mood articles on Greek scenes, but this writing is generally feeble. The superb editorial page and foreign coverage, provided by correspondents and travelers in Greece, far outweigh the spotty writing in the paper and make it a valuable source of information.