#polytechneio day

[gemsofgreece]

French solidarity poster for the uprising of the Polytechneío (the Polytechnic College of Athens) against the Military Junta, 1973-1974.

Happy November 17th, the anniversary day of the uprising.

The poster is kept in the Collection of Posters of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece.

[gemsofgreece]

Unexpected positive moment.

I was watching Radio Arvyla today and in this show they always do a poll, which satirizes the political life in the country.

Yesterday, November 17th, was the anniversary of the Polytechneio, the uprising of the students against the military junta of 1967-1974. The students then had a motto: Ψωμί, Παιδεία, Ελευθερία (Bread, Education, Freedom).

It should be noted that the word "Παιδεία" means much more than just simple education. Unlike the word εκπαίδευση, which is the exact equivalent of education, παιδεία means education plus everything that makes somebody a cultured, socially conscious, civilised individual with values and independent thought. It also involves the upbringing and the manners you have been taught by your family. So, it is something far more important than just education. In fact, a totally illiterate person can have more παιδεία than an academic, based on their manners, beliefs, morals, values, wisdom and their respect towards knowledge and learning, even if they did not have the opportunity to obtain it themselves.

So, because it feels like we more and more realise that the country simply makes circles around its old state instead of moving forward, it is (or should be) easy to realise that the movement of the Polytechneio is timely again. With this reasoning, this show asked in the poll which of the three ideals in the motto is missing more from the country currently? Bread, Education / Παιδεία or Freedom?

Personally, I was torn between παιδεία and freedom but I felt sure that bread or freedom would win by far. My reasoning for this was that: a) most Greeks seem to never react to anything, including corruption and injustice, except for the dire financial situation, which stirs them a little more, b) the freefall of freedom is being discussed a lot lately as it becomes clearer with every day that we slip into authoritarianism, and c) Greece has decent education, especially tertiary, and as a result I believed Greeks would feel that everything lacking in our παιδεία would be secondary compared to the rest.

So my relief and surprise were huge when

παιδεία won with 45% as the most missed ideal in the society. It almost tied with freedom, which is still a better choice than "bread" if you ask me. I felt like I belonged to a group, because I too was torn between these choices. This means there are a lot of people who understand that the lack of bread is not the most serious issue and that it is the consequence of the lack of παιδεία and freedom.

If you do not have παιδεία, your society becomes chaos of brainrotten corrupted opportunists and the brainrotten abused hand their freedom to the brainrotten abusers, who then control them with propaganda and hog up all the bread for themselves.

I just love that there are many people out there who did not just say "We want out of the crisis" or "We want more money / higher salaries" or "We want a piece of the cake" but instead they said "We want to become better people, we want to be free and wise and this is the only way things can ever change". :')

[gemsofgreece]

Happy November 17th with music!!!

Greece has three national holidays; March 25th, the Independence Day, October 28th, the ΟΧΙ (No) Day aaaaand November 17th, the Polytechneio Day.

In fact, November 17th is considered a semi-national day, as it doesn't commemorate an ethnic uprising against some foreign oppressor or invader but the political intranational uprising against the Colonel Dictatorship of 1967-1974. It is the anniversary of the revolt that took place in the National "Metsovion" Technical University of Athens (Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο - Ethnikó Metsóvio Polytechnío) by its students in November 1973. (Greek Polytechneia are high education engineering universities, so they are not the equivalent to technical schools.) The uprising was the most impactful anti-junta movement in Greece - students commandeered the University, operated a radio station and started protesting against the junta and spreading effectively the message to the Greek people, who started gathering around the school. Their effective protests harmed the dictators, who sent the army to surround the university and threaten the students. While the students and the junta were still in negotiations, the army broke the academic asylum, a tank demolished the gates and soldiers invaded the school. During the episodes that ensued, there were 40 deaths and more than 2,000 injured reported. The Polytechnic movement did not bring down the junta, however it was a crucial contributor to its weakening and to the spread of awareness against it across the globe. (The dictatorship eventually fell about half a year later, during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, in which Greece failed to provide significant assistance to Cyprus or even protect its own interests.)

The spirit of the university's revolutionaries as well as the general hardship Greece went through in those seven years were the inspiration for a lot of great artists, particularly poets and musicians, and birthed numerous classic Greek songs. Below are four of my favourite ones, from the many that became symbols of this era, and are today sung by school choirs across the country!

Ὀταν σφίγγουν το χέρι - When they clench their fist

Ο Δρόμος - The Road

Θα σημάνουν οι καμπάνες - The bells will toll

Είμαστε δυο - We are two

Lyrics of the last one in English:

We are two, we are two, it's eight o'clock, turn off the light, the guard knocks, they'll come again at night one in the front, one in the front, and the rest will be following him, then silence and what follows is the usual again. They hit twice, they hit thrice, they hit one thousand thirteen times, you are hurting, I am hurting too but who is hurting the most, only time will tell.

We are two, we are three, we are one thousand thirteen, we ride the times, in time, in rain blood thickens in the wound and the pain turns into a nail. (x2)

The avenger, the saviour, we are two, we are three, we are one thousand thirteen.