'But what was really terrible about the Junta was ...

2007-03-17T17:57:00.000Z

'But what was really terrible about the Junta was the lasting damage it did,' continued Stelios, turning away from his personal story. 'It destroyed the cultural spring that was flowering during the 1960s. Greece had been opening up and becoming more cosmopolitan; it was the time of glamorous holidays on Mykonos, painters and writers gathering on Hydra, films like Zorba the Greek ... And we had great musicians like Hadzidakis and Theodorakis.

Then the military stepped in with their slogans like "Greece of the Christian Greeks" and their obsession with ancient Hellenism and the Orthodox Church. They even banned certain songs; it became an act of bravery to sit in a taverna and sing a song by Theodorakis. You have to remember that the authorities had spent much of the previous years chasing Communists. With the Junta, a Greek version of McCarthyism began all over again, supported by the Americans and especially the CIA.'

When President Clinton had visited Greece, he made an emotional apology. It might have been the sentimental theatre he was so good at, but his admission that the United States had failed in its 'obligation to support democracy' was the first time any formal acknowledgement had been made of America's secret dealings with the dictators. It was balm to old wounds.

From Euriydice Street by Sofka Zinovieff (Granta ISBN 1862077509)

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'But what was really terrible about the Junta was ...