A Courageous Hero For Peace

"I have been boiling mad for years over the "war crimes trials," which I think were despicable and contemptible and smack more of ancient Rome's barbarism than of a so-called civilized country. Our country's hands are not free of blood and crime, in spite of our vaunted "democracy" and "noble aspirations," etc., etc., ad nauseum.

... It is outrageous that a man serving his country in all honesty and patriotism should be considered a "criminal" by a country which has its own share of criminals, and not honest and patriotic ones, either...."

Taylor Caldwell

The wreckage of Hess's Messerschmitt Bf 110

"My coming to England in this way is, as I realize, so unusual that nobody will easily understand it. I was confronted by a very hard decision. I do not think I could have arrived at my final choice unless I had continually kept before my eyes the vision of an endless line of children's coffins with weeping mothers behind them, both English and German, and another line of coffins of mothers with mourning children."

Rudolf Hess (June 10, 1941)

Heidegger on Nietzsche & Art

"We shall now attempt a first characterization of Nietzsche's total conception of the essence of art. We will do this by exhibiting a sequence of five statements on art which provide weighty evidence.

Why is art of decisive importance for the task of grounding the principle of the new valuation? The immediate answer is found in number 797 of The Will to Power, which really ought to stand in the position of number 794: The phenomenon 'artist' is still the most perspicuous -." At first we will read no further, but consider only this statement. "The most perspicuoius," that is, what for us is most accessible in its essence, is the phenomenon "artist" - the being of an artist. With this being, the artist, Being lights up for us most immediantly and brightly. Why? Nietzsche does not explicitly say why; yet we can easily discover the reason. To be an artist is to be able to bring something forth. But to bring forth means to establish in Being something that does not yet exist. It is as though in bringing-forth we dwelled upon the coming to be of beings and could see there with utter clarity their essence. Because it is a matter of illuminating will to power as the basic character of beings, the task must begin where what is in question shows itself most brightly. For all clarifying must proceed from what is clear to what is obscure, not the other way around.

Being an artist is a way of life. What does Nietzsche say about life in general? He calls life "the form of Being most familiar to us" (WM, 689). For him "Being" itself serves only "as a generalization of the concept 'life' (breathing), 'being besouled,' willing, effecting,' 'becoming,'" (WM, 581). "Being - we have no other way to express it than as 'living.' How then can something dead 'be'?" (WM, 582). "If the innermost essence of Being is will to power. . . " (WM, 693).

With these somewhat formula-like references we have already taken measure of the framework within which the "artist phenomenon" is to be conceived, the framework that is to be maintained throughout the coming considerations. We repeat: the being of an artist is the most perspicuous mode of life. Life is for us the most familiar form of Being. The innermost essence of Being is will to power. In the being of the artist we encounter the most perspicuous and most familiar mode of will to power. Since it is a matter of illuminating the Being of beings, meditation on art has in this regard decisive priority.

However, here Nietzsche speaks only of the "artist phenomenon," not about art. Although it is difficult to say what art "as such" is, and how it is, still it is clear that works of art too belong to the reality of art, and furthermore so do those who, as we say, "experience" such works. The artist is but one of those things that together make up the actuality of art as a whole. Certainly, but this is precisely what is decisive in Nietzsche's conception of art, that he sees it in its essential entirety in terms of the artist, this he does consciously and in explicit opposition to that conception of art which represents it in terms of those who "enjoy" and "experience" it.

This is a guiding principle of Nietzsche's teaching on art: art must be grasped in terms of creators and producers, not recipients. Nietzsche expresses it unequivocally in the following words (WM, 811): "Our aesthetics heretofore has been a woman's aesthetics, inasmuch as only the recipients of art have formulated their experiences of 'what is beautiful.' In all philosophy to date the artist is missing. . ." Philosophy of art means "aesthetics" for Nietzsche too - but masculine aesthetics, not feminine aesthetics. The question of art is the question of the artist as the productive, creative one; his experiences of what is beautiful must provide the standard.

We now go back to number 797: "The phenomenon 'artist' is still the most perspicuous - ." If we take the assertion in the guiding context of the question of will to power, with a view to the essence of art, then we derive at once two essential statements about art:

1. Art is the most perspicuous and familiar configuration of will to power;

2. Art must be grasped in terms of the artist.

And now let us read further (WM, 797): ". . .from that position to scan the basic instincts of power, of nature, etc.! Also of religion and morals!" Here Nietzsche says explicitly that with a view toward the essence of the artist and other configurations of will to power also - nature, religion, morals, and we might add, society and individual, knowledge, science, and philosophy - are to be observed. These kinds of beings hence correspond in a certain way to the being of the artist, to artistic creativity, and to being created. The remaining beings, which the artist does not expressly bring forth, have the mode of Being that corresponds to what the artist creates, the work of art. Evidence for such a thought we find in the aphorism immediantly preceding (WM, 796): "The work of art, where it appears without artist, e.g., as body, as organization (the Prussian officer corps, the Jesuit order). To what extendt the artist is only a preliminary stage. The world as a work of art that gives birth to itself - ." Here the concept of art and of the work of art is obviously extended to every ability to bring forth and to everything that is essentially brought forth. To a certain extent that also corresponds to a usage that was common until the outset of the nineteenth century. Up to that time art meant every kind of ability to bring forth. Craftsmen, statesmen, and educators, as men who brought something forth, were artists. Nature too was an artist, a female artist. At that time art did not mean the current, narrow concept, as applied to "fine art," which brings forth something beautiful in its work.

However, Nietzsche now interprets that earlier, extended usage of art, in which fine art is only one type among others, in such a way that all bringing-forth is conceived as corresponding to fine art and to the artist devoted to it. "The artist is only a preliminary stage" means the artist in the narrower sense, one who brings forth works of fine art. On that basis we can exhibit a third statement about art:

3. According to the expanded concept of artist, art is the basic occurance of all beings; to the extent that they are, beings are self-creating, created.

But we know that will to power is essentially a creating and destroying. That the basic occurrence of beings is "art" suggests nothing else than that it is will to power.

Long before Nietzsche grasps the essence of art explicitly as a configuration of will to power, in his very first writing, The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, he sees art as the basic character of beings. Thus we can understand why during the time of this work on The Will to Power Nietzsche returns to the position he maintained on art in The Birth of Tragedy. An observation that is pertinent here is taken up into The Will to Power (WM, 853, Section IV). The final paragraph of the section reads: [b]"Already in the Forward (i.e., to the book The Birth of Tragedy, where Richard Wagner is invited, as it were, to a dialogue, this confession of faith, this artists' gospel, appears: 'art as the proper task of life, art as its metaphysical activity. . .'" "Life" is not only meant in the narrow sense of human life but is identified with "world" in the Schopenhauerian sense. The statement is reminiscent of Schopenhauer, but it is already speaking against him.

Art, thought in the broadest sense as the creative, constitutes the basic character of beings. Accordingly, art in the narrower sense is that activity in which creation emerges for itself and becomes more perspicuous; it is not merely one configuration of will to power among others but the supreme configuration. Will to power becomes genuinely visible in terms of art and as art. But will to power is the ground upon which all valuation in the future is to stand. It is the principle of the new valuation, as opposed the prior one which was dominated by religion, morality, and philosophy. If will to power therefore finds its supreme configuration in art, the positing of the new relation of will to power must proceed from art. Since the new valuation is a revaluation of the prior one, however, opposition and upheaval arise from art. That is averred in The Will to Power, no. 794:

Our religion, morality, and philosophy are decadence-forms of humanity

-- The countermovement: art

According to Nietzsche's interpretation the very first principle of morality, of Christian religion, and of the philosophy determined by Plato reads as follows: This world is worth nothing; there must be a "better" world than this one, enmeshed as it is in sensuality; there must be a "true world" beyond, a supersensuous world; the world of the senses is but a world of appearances.

In such a manner this world and this life are at bottom negated. If a "yes" apparently is uttered to the world, it is ultimately only in order to deny the world all the more decisively. But Nietzsche says that the "true world" of morality is a world of lies, that the true, the supersensuous, is an error. The sensuous world - which in Platoism means the world of semblance and errancy, the realm of error - is the true world. But the sensuous, the most semblant, is the very element of art. So it is art that affirms what the supposition of the ostensibly true world denies. Nietzsche therefore says (WM, 853, section II): "Art as the single superior counterforce against all will to negation of life, art as the anti-Christian, anti-Buddhist, anti-Nihilist par excellence." With that we attain a fourth statement about the essence of art:

4. Art is the distinctive countermovement to nihilism.

The artistic creates and gives form. If the artistic constitutes metaphysical activity pure and simple, then every deed, especially the highest deed and thus the think of philosophy too, must be determined by it. The concept of philosophy may no longer be defined according to the pattern of the teacher of morality who posits another world in opposition to this presumably worthless one. Against the nihilistic philosopher of morality (Schopenhauer hovers before Nietzsche as the most recent example of this type) must be deployed the philosopher who goes counter, who emerges from a countermovement, the "artist philsopher." Such a philosopher i an artist in that he gives form to beings as a whole, beginning there where they reveal themselves, i.e., in man. It is with this thought in mind that we are to read number 795 of The Will to Power:

The artist-philosopher. Higher concept of art. Whether a man can remove himself far enough from other men, in order to give them form? (-Preliminary exercises: 1. the one who gives himself form, the hermit; 2. the artist hitherto, as the insignificant perfecter of a piece of raw material.)

Art, particularly in the narrow sense, is yes-saying to the sensuous, to semblance, to what is not "the true world," as Nietzsche says succinctly, to what is not "the truth."

In art a decision is made about what truth is, and for Nietzsche that always means true beings, i.e., beings proper. This corresponds to the necessary connection between the guiding question and the grounding question of philosophy, on the one hand, and to the question of what truth is, on the other. Art is the will to semblance as the sensuous. But concerning such will Nietzsche says (XIV, 369): "The will to semblance, to illusion, to deception, to Becoming and change is deeper, more 'metaphysical," that the will to truth, to reality, to Being." The true is meant here in Plato's sense, as being in itself, the Ideas, the supersensuous. The will to the sensuous world and to its richness is for Nietzsche, on the contrary, the will to what "metaphysics" seeks. Hence the will to the sensuous is metaphysical. That metaphysical will is actual in art.

Nietzsche says (XIV, 368):

Very early in my life I took the question of the relation of art to truth seriously: even now I stand in holy dread in the face of this discordance. My first book was devoted to it. The Birth of Tragedy believes in art on the background of another belief - that it is not possible to live with truth, that the "will to truth" is already a symptom of degeneration.

This statement sounds perverse. But it loses its foreignness, though not its importance, as soon as we read it in the right way. "Will to truth" in the sense of Plato and Christianity, the will to supersensuousness, to our present world, precisely the one in which art is at home. Because this world is the genuinely real and only true world, Nietzsche can declare with respect to the relation of art and truth that "art is worth more than truth" (WM, 853, section IV) That is to say, the sensuous stands in a higher place and is more genuinely that the supersensuous.

In that regard Nietzsche says, "We have art in order not to perish from the truth" (WM, 822). Again "truth" means the "true world" of the supersensuous, which conceals in itself the danger that life may perish, "life" in Nietzsche's sense always meaning "life which is on the ascent." The supersensuous lures life away from invigorating sensuality, drains life's forces, weakens it. When we aim at the supersensuous, submission, capitualition, pity, mortification, and abasement become positive "virtues." "The simpletons of this world," the abject, the wretched, become "children of God." They are the true beings. It is the lowly ones who belong "up above" and who are to say what is "lofty," that is, what reaches their own height. For them all creative heightening and all pride in self-subsistent life amount to rebellion, delusion, and sin. But we have art so that we do not perish from such supersensuous "truth," so that the supersensuous does not vitiate life to the point of general debility and ultimate collapse. With regard to the essential relation of art and truth yet another statement about art, the final one in our series, results:

5. Art is worth more than "the truth."

Let us review the preceding statements:

1. Art is the most perspicuous and familiar configuration of will to power;

2. Art must be grasped in terms of the artist.

3. According to the expanded concept of artist, art is the basic occurance of all beings; to the extent that they are, beings are self-creating, created.

4. Art is the distinctive countermovement to nihilism.

At the instigation of the five statements on art, we should now recall an utterance of Nietzsche's on the same subject cited earlier ". . .we find it to be the greatest stimulans of life -" (WM, 808). Earlier the statement served only as an example of Nietzsche's procedure of reversal (in this case the reversal of Schopenhauer's sedative). Now we must grasp the statement in terms of its most proper context. One the basis of all the intervening material we can easily see that this definition of art as the stimulant of life means nothing else than that art is a configuration of will to power. For a 'stimulant' is what propels and advances, what lifts a thing beyond itself; it is increase of power and thus power pure and simple, which is to say, will to power. Hence we cannot merely appened to life the five previous statements the one about art as the greatest stimulant of life. On the contrary, it is Nietzsche's major statement on art. Those five statements enlarge upon it.

On the cursory view, we are already at the end of our task. We were to indicate art as a configuration of will to power. Such is Nietzsche's intention. But with a view to Nietzsche we are searching for something else. We are asking, first, what does this conception of art achieve for the essential definition of will to power and thereby for that of beings as a whole? We can come to know only if beforehand we ask, second, what is the significance of this interpretation for our knowledge of art and for our position with respect to it?"

Martin Heidegger, Nietzsche, Volume 1: The Will to Power as Art (Pfullingen, 1961), pp. 69-76

Those Who Spoke with Death

August 1996 marks the death of two proud Greek Cypriots, Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomou, who were murdered by the illegal Turkish para-state and Turkish terrorist group known as the Grey Wolves.

The Cypriot Motorcycle Organisation, in the company of hundreds of fellow Europeans bikers, organised a peaceful protest against the illegal Turkish occupation of Cyprus. Starting in Berlin, the protesters were to make their way to Kyrenia in Occupied Cyprus, and march in solidarity with Greek Cypriots.

The Turks, after several reports of human rights violations against protesters, threatened to open fire if Europeans proceeded with their planned march. In addition to the threats against protesters, the Turkish government transported approximately 2,500 members of the Turkish Grey Wolves to confront the Greeks and their European biker allies. These actions concerned the authorities of the Cypriot Republic, who pressured the protesters to cancel the event. Having travelled so far, many of the bikers and protesters made a decision to courageously continue their march and protest against the illegal occupation.

Crossing into the UN buffer zone, the occupational forces, using their Grey Wolf thugs, launched an attack against the peaceful demonstrators. Isolated from the other protesters, and trapped by barbed wire, a large mob of Grey Wolves set upon Tassos Isaac and attacked him with bats, crowbars and stones. The UN Peace keepers, along with the Turkish occupational police force simply stood by and watched Tassos Isaac while he was hopelessly outnumbered and murdered by Turkish savages.

Following the funeral of Tassos Isaac, many of the protesters decided to honor their fallen brother by placing wreaths and flowers at the site of his murder. The scene once again turned into a battlefield, and in addition to the Turkish Grey Wolves, the unarmed protesters were being targeted by the Turkish occupational forces. In an attempt to lower the Turkish flag in the UN buffer zone, Solomos Solomou, an un-armed protester, was fatally shot by Turkish snipers. Several other protesters were also injured by bullets shortly before the body of Solomos was recovered. Despite the attackers been identified by the authorities, and international warrants being secured before the European Court of Human Rights against Turkey, none of the perpetrators have ever been arrested.

ΝΙΚΩΝ Ο "ΜΕΤΑΝΟΕΙΤΕ"Ο ΕΞΟΛΟΘΡΕΥΤΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΠΡΟΓΟΝΩΝ ΜΑΣ

Ο «όσιος» Νίκων μεταφέρει τον λόγο του Ναζωραίου στους Έλληνες Εθνικούς της Λακωνίας (σχέδιο του Αποστόλου Βούλγαρη, 2001).

600 περίπου. Η «Λακεδαιμονία», η οποία επί δύο περίπου αιώνες εστέγαζε την δράκα των τοποτηρητών της πρωτοβυζαντινής αυταρχίας, με άρχοντα διοικητή διορισμένο πότε απευθείας υπό των θεομανών αυτοκρατόρων της Nova Roma (Νέας Ρώμης) του Βοσπόρου και πότε υπό του Στρατηγού του «Θέματος Πελοποννήσου» που ήδρευε στην Κόρινθο, εγκατελήφθη σταδιακώς από τα μη Εθνικά στοιχεία. Η χριστιανική της Επισκοπή έκλεισε και αρκετοί εκ των Σπαρτιατών του Ταϋγέτου και του Πάρνωνος επέστρεψαν σ’ αυτήν, μαζί με τα λείψανα των πολιτικοθρησκευτικών Εθνικών θεσμών τους. Οι ελάχιστες εκκλησίες ερημώθησαν και, όπως αποδεικνύεται εκ της πλήρους απουσίας βυζαντινών νομισμάτων της εποχής, μετά τον Γιουτπράδα (Ιουστινιανό) οι ελεύθεροι Έλληνες της λακωνικής γής κατέφυγαν στην ανταλλακτική οικονομία προς εξασφάλιση της αυταρκείας και αυτονομίας τους. 

700 περίπου. Πτωχικοί μικροπληθυσμοί μη χριστιανών «Σλάβων», ή «Χορβατών», ή «Παγανών», όπως τους απεκάλουν οι Βυζαντινοί, άρχισαν να κατέρχονται ειρηνικώς έως την Πελοπόννησο και, αναζητώντας έναν ασφαλή τόπο να εγκατασταθούν μακριά από την βία των χριστιανών, άρχισαν να ιδρύουν οικισμούς στην Κορινθία, την Αχαϊα, την Ηλεία, την Αρκαδία, καθώς και στην Λακωνία, ανεμπόδιστοι από τους εκεί Έλληνες Εθνικούς. Τρείς μη χριστιανικές εθνικές κοινότητες, οι Έλληνες Εθνικοί, οι «Παγανοί», και κάποιοι ελάχιστοι Ιουδαίοι, θα ζήσουν έκτοτε μέσα στην πόλη της «Λακεδαιμονίας» επί πολλές δεκαετίες, δίχως προστριβές, παρόλο  που η κάθε  κοινότης ετηρούσε τα δικά της ειωθότα, σε μία θαυμαστή ανεκτικότητα που άντεξε όσο έμεινε μακριά από την Λακωνική η μισαλλοδοξία των Βυζαντινών, των οποίων η ισχνή παρουσία, κυρίως με εποίκους, περιορίζετο γύρω μόνον από την Μονεμβάσια. Πρέπει εδώ να τονισθεί ιδιαιτέρως το γεγονός ότι δεν επρόκειτο για επιδρομή όπως παρουσίαζαν την όλη κίνηση των σλαβικών ομάδων οι παντελώς αναξιόπιστοι Βυζαντινοί, με αποτέλεσμα να δημιουργηθεί ο ανιστόρητος μύθος ότι όλη η χώρα των Ελλήνων «εσλαβώθη», αλλά γι’ απλή και ειρηνική εγκατάσταση διωκομένων μη χριστιανικών πληθυσμών. Επί του ζητήματος, υπάρχει από το 1922 μία εξαιρετική εργασία του Περικλέους Ζερλέντου, που αποδεικνύει ότι είναι χυδαίες παραποιήσεις της ιστορικής αληθείας τα όσα έχουν αφελώς συναχθεί υπό ευρωπαίων ιστορικών κυρίως, των τελευταίων 2 - 3 αιώνων με αφορμή τις φαντασιοπληξίες τού συναξαριστή του «Αποστόλου» Ανδρέου, ή του αυτοκράτορος Κωνσταντίνου του Πορφυρογέννητου. Ο τελευταίος αυτός μάλιστα,  αγνοούσε  παντελώς  την  ελλαδική πραγματικότητα (σελ. 6) και μάλιστα ο ως άνω συγγραφέας τον αποκαλεί δικαιολογημένα και, κυρίως, τεκμηριωμένα «μικρόλογο, μικρόνου και θρήσκο» (σελ. 6): «Ο εστεμμένος συγγραφεύς ουδεμίαν είχε συναίσθησιν εθνικήν, καλών την Κρήτην θεόλεστον. Ούτος διέπλασεν επί το μυθικώτερον το συνεξάριον του Πρωτοκλήτου ως προς την πολιορκίαν και απαλλαγήν της πόλεως των Πατρών από των πολιορκούντων αυτήν Σλάβων και Σαρακηνών... Τοιούτος ελαφρός τον νούν και την συναίσθησιν, ανέλαβε να ιστορήση τα των Σλάβων εν Πελοποννήσω και προσέτι παρέδωκεν ημίν εξ ελαφρότητος και κουφότητος ότι τάχα  ε σ λ α β ώ θ η  πάσα η Πελοπόννησος και γέγονε βάρβαρος... » (σελ. 7).  

727 Ελλαδικοί και νησιώτες Έλληνες, εστασίασαν στο πλευρό του «τουρμάχου» Αγαλλιανού κατά του εικονομάχου αρμενικής καταγωγής αυτοκράτορος Λέοντος και εξεστράτευσαν κατά της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως με μεγάλο στόλο, ο οποίος όμως κατεστράφη σε ναυμαχία υπό του «Υγρού Πυρός» των Βυζαντινών. Αποτέλεσμα αυτής της ήττας ήταν να τεθεί όλη η Ελλάδα, με διάταγμα του Λέοντος, υπό την άμεση εξουσία του Πατριάρχου.  

746 - 747 Διετής μεγάλος  λοιμός, προερχόμενος εκ της Καλαβρίας και της Σικελίας, εσάρωσε  τους  πληθυσμούς  της   Χερσονήσου του Αίμου και των νήσων, συμπεριλαμβανομένης και της Λακωνικής, με περισσότερα θύματα ωστόσο στους επήλυδες Βυζαντινούς γύρω από την Μονεμβάσια.  

755  Για  να  πυκνώσει  τον  αποδεκατισθέντα υπό του μεγάλου λοιμού, πληθυσμό της Νέας Ρώμης (Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), ο αυτοκράτωρ Κωνσταντίνος, επανέφερε μεγάλα πλήθη Βυζαντινών εποίκων και έτσι αδυνάτισε επί πολλές δεκαετίες η Βυζαντινή παρουσία στους τόπους των Ελλήνων, ιδιαιτέρως δε στην Πελοπόννησο και την Λακωνική. Οι Εζερίτες Σλάβοι κατέκλυσαν την εκκενωθείσα περιοχή του Έλους, η οποία εκ του φυλετικού τους ονόματος απεκλήθη έκτοτε Εζερού.  

783 Μετά από στρατιωτική προσπάθεια των Βυζαντινών να επέμβουν στην ελευθέρα Λακωνία και εκτός του συστηματικού εποικισμού, με την βία των όπλων, ο Βυζαντινός «Πατρίκιος και Λογοθέτης του Οξέως Δρόμου» Σταυράκιος, συμφώνως προς την διήγηση του Βυζαντινού χρονογράφου Θεοφάνους, κατέστειλε μεγάλη ανταρσία των μη χριστιανών της περιοχής και μετέφερε πλήθος εξανδραποδισθέντων εντοπίων και λαφύρων στην Νέα Ρώμη του Βοσπόρου. Οι διασωθέντες Εζερίτες και Μελιγγοί Σλάβοι, κατέφυγαν στις πλαγιές του Ταϋγέτου και του Πάρνωνος, στις ελεύθερες περιοχές των Εθνικών Ελλήνων.  

Ο «όσιος» Νίκων - το άσχημο πρόσωπο του Ιουδαιοχριστιανισμού

790 - 800 περίπου. Αποτυχημένη απόπειρα του Πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Ταρασίου (784 - 806) ο οποίος απεστρέφετο πάρα πολύ την Εθνική Παράδοση, να εκχριστιανίσει με την βία των όπλων, τους απομονωμένους μη χριστιανούς πληθυσμούς της Λακωνικής. Ο Ταράσιος, ήταν ένας εκ των ελαχίστων Βυζαντινών που εκείνη την εποχή κατείχαν μία μικρή γνώση Ρητορικής και Φιλοσοφίας, ως αποτέλεσμα μελετών του σ’ εκκλησιαστικές βιβλιοθήκες που περιείχαν βιβλία Εθνικών. 

807 Το έτος αυτό εξέσπασε μεγάλη εξέγερση των Σλάβων της Αχαϊας κατά των Βυζαντινών, με την από θαλάσσης βοήθεια, των υπό τον Αρούν Αλ Ρασίδ Σαρακηνών, κατά την οποία επολιορκήθη η πόλη των Πατρών. Ο Βυζαντινός στρατηγός Λέων Σκληρός έπνιξε στο αίμα την εξέγερση, η οποία επαρουσιάσθη υπό της βυζαντινής προπαγάνδας της εποχής ως τάχα πολιορκία υπό ξένου στρατού, την οποία οδήγησε σε αποτυχία ένα... θαύμα του «Αποστόλου» Ανδρέου. Η κατ’ ουσίαν  ανθελληνική αυτή προπαγάνδα θαυματοπληξίας των χριστιανών, αφού αυτή και μόνον ήταν που έδωσε πολλούς αιώνες αργότερα λαβή σε ευρωπαίους ιστορικούς να ομιλούν για σλαβική τάχα προέλευση των Νεοελλήνων, διογκώθη αργότερα ακόμη περισσότερο: «...τα της επιδρομής των Σλάβων εις Πελοπόννησον και τα της πολιορκίας των Πατρών επί το μυθικότερον, επηύξησε το γράμμα του Πατριάρχου Νικολάου Γραμματικού (1084 - 1111). Ούτος, υπερέβη πάσαν υπερβολήν ότι επί διακόσια δέκα και οκτώ έτη οι Σλάβοι, απέταμον την Πελοπόννησον της ρωμαϊκής αρχής, ότι ουδέ πους Ρωμαίου ηδύνατο να βαδίση εν αυτή, αλλ’ εν μία ώρα δια του θαύματος του πρωτοκλήτου Ανδρέου, επανήλθεν η χερσόνησος υπό τα σκήπτρα τής εν Κωνσταντινουπόλει βασιλείας. Ούτω δε η Εκκλησία δια τοιούτων υπερβολών ενόμισεν ότι προήγε την δόξαν του «Αποστόλου» Ανδρέου διαστρέφουσα τα ιστορικά γεγονότα και περιβάλλουσα αυτά δια του μύθου» (Π. Ζερλέντου, ως άνω, σελ. 16).  

849 Ο Βυζαντινός στρατηγός Θεόκτιστος Βριαίνιος, κατά διαταγή του αυτοκράτορος Μιχαήλ Γ (842 - 867), κατέπνιξε μεγάλη υπερδεκαετή ανταρσία των πεδινών Μελιγγών και Εζεριτών της Λακωνικής. 

880 - 900 περίπου. Η τελευταία μαζική λατρεία των Ολυμπίων Θεών, εκείνη των απομονωμένων κατοίκων της Λακωνικής, εξησθένισε ακόμη περισσότερο μετά από μανιώδεις επιχειρήσεις εκχριστιανισμού. Ο Κωνσταντίνος Ζ ο Πορφυρογένητος, έγραψε στο «Περί Διοικήσεως Της Αυτοκρατορίας» τα εξής: «Ίστεον ότι οι του κάστρου Μαϊνης οικήτορες, ουκ εισίν από της γενεάς των προρρηθέντων Σλαύων, αλλ' εκ των παλαιοτέρων Ρωμαίων, οι και μέχρι του νύν παρά των εντοπίων Έλληνες προσαγορεύονται, δια το εν τοίς προπαλαιοίς χρόνοις ειδωλολάτρας είναι και προσκυνητάς των ειδώλων κατά τους παλαιούς Έλληνας, οίτινες επί της βασιλείας του αοιδίμου Βασιλείου (σημ. 867 - 886) βαπτισθέντες, Χριστιανοί γεγόνασιν..». Τ’ απομεινάρια των Ελλήνων Εθνικών περιορίσθησαν να ζούν έκτοτε στους απροσίτους οικισμούς τους επί του Ταϋγέτου, όπου ήδη εφιλοξενούντο από της εποχής των σφαγών του Σταυρακίου και οι ανυπότακτοι Μελιγγοί, που ήδη είχαν πλήρως εξελληνισθεί .  

940 περίπου. Νέα στάση των μη χριστιανών της Λακωνικής εναντίον της βυζαντινής εξουσίας, κατά την διάρκεια της βασιλείας του αυτοκράτορος Ρωμανού, κατεστάλη υπό του στρατηγού Κρινίτου Αροτρά. Ακολούθησε ωστόσο μία περίοδος αναρχίας στην όλη περιοχή, καθώς διάφοροι Βυζαντινοί πρωτοσπαθάριοι και άρχοντες (Βάρδας Πλατυπόδης κ.ά.) προέβαιναν σ’ αλλεπάλληλες στάσεις κατά της εξουσίας του Ρωμανού, συνεπικουρούμενοι υπό του εντοπίου εθνικού στοιχείου.  

945 - 988 Ο αφιχθείς στην Λακωνική σκληρός Αρμένιος προσηλυτιστής Νίκων, ο αποκαλούμενος «Μετανοείτε», εκτός από την κατασφαγή των εν «Λακεδαιμονία» Ιουδαίων και των ανεπιδέκτων εκχριστιανισμού παγανιστών Σλάβων των πεδινών οικισμών της περιοχής (των «Τελχίνων» όπως τους έλεγαν σε μία προσπάθεια δαιμονοποιήσεως οι Βυζαντινοί), εφρόντισε και για την εξολόθρευση των τελευταίων ιχνών της «αρχαίας ειδωλολατρίας» που, προστατευομένη υπό του δυσπροσίτου Ταϋγέτου, ελειτουργούσε ελευθέρως και απροσκόπτως υπό την ηγεσία του Έλληνος «Εφόρου των Εθνικών γαιών» και «Δουκός των Εθνικών», Αντιόχου («...ός την δουκικήν μεν αρχήν διείπε της των εθνικών χώρας...», περιγράφεται στον «Βίο Νίκωνος» 156 β), επιδείξασα μάλιστα εξαιρετική αφομοιωτική δύναμη, δεδομένου ότι οι συνοικήσαντες Μελιγγοί είχαν εξελληνισθεί πλήρως, όπως προείπαμε, «ουδέν ίχνος αφήσαντες της επί του Ταϋγέτου εξοικίσεως αυτών»  (Περικλέους Ζερλέντου, ως άνω, σελ. 9). Ο Αρμένιος προσηλυτιστής εξόντωσε με τα ίδια του τα χέρια τον  «φιλοδαίμονα» και «αλαζόνα» Αντίοχο, (την δολοφονία αυτή, ο βιογράφος του Νίκωνος την παρουσιάζει βεβαίως σαν... μεταθανάτιο θαύμα του «Οσίου» !), εθανάτωσε τους ιερείς και όλους τους «τολμητίες και θρασυκαρδίους» αμεταπείστους, αφού προηγουμένως, όπως φαίνεται εκ της λεγομένης «Διαθήκης» του, με αφορμή μία εκ των πολλών επιδημιών («θανατικών») της εποχής, παρεκίνησε εξ Αμυκλών τους επήλυδες χριστιανούς της περιοχής (ο ίδιος ο βιογράφος του ομολογεί στον «Βίο» του ότι επρόκειτο περί «των της Λακεδαίμονος εποίκων», 130 α 25), να κυνηγήσουν τους Ιουδαίους της περιοχής και να καταστρέψουν τους τελευταίους Εθνικούς και τα  επί των  υψωμάτων πτωχικά Ιερά τους: «Εις τους οποίους εγώ αποκρίθηκα ότι επειδή και η οργή είναι θεϊκή, εσείς δεν έχετε πού να φύγετε, διατί ο Θεός όπου κατοικά εις τους ουρανούς κυριεύει και την Ανατολήν και την Δύσιν, και εις οποίον τόπον εσείς θέλετε υπάγηι, ευρίσκει σας. Όμως εσείς κάμετέ μου μίαν ομολογίαν ιδιόχειρον, ότι να μου υπακούσετε εις εκείνα οπού μέλλω να κάμω. Το οποίον είναι τούτο:  να ευγάλω  τους Εβραίους από μέσα από την χώραν, να υπάγουν έξω. Και τα μακελιά οπού είναι προς τον άγιον Επιφάνειον να τα χαλάσουν...» («Διαθήκη Νίκωνος», όπως εδημοσιεύθη στον «Νέο Ελληνομνήμονα», τεύχος 3.1906, με πολύ ενδιαφέρον το εντελώς άσχετο τρίτο πληθυντικό πρόσωπο που χρησιμοποιείται στο «να τα χαλάσουν»). Στην ίδια την πάλαι ποτέ  «κατείδωλον» Σπάρτη, έκτισε αμέσως μετά από όλα αυτά εκκλησία του «Σωτήρος Χριστού» επάνω στον ιερό λόφο του ιστορικού Ναού της Χαλκιοίκου Αθηνάς. Προηγουμένως μάλιστα, εξοντώθη («συνέβη και απέθανε») μυστηριωδώς ένας ακόμη Εθνικός που τον εμπόδιζε να κτίσει την εκκλησία του  στον ιερό τόπο,  καθώς  και αναρίθμητες άλλες εκκλησίες επάνω σε άλλα Ιερά (ή χρησιμοποιώντας τα συντρίμμια τους ως δομικά υλικά, όπως λ.χ. στις εκκλησίες των Γερονθών). Ταυτοχρόνως, οι Βυζαντινοί ολοένα μετέφεραν και εγκαθιστούσαν στην πεδινή Λακωνική κατά ομάδες, επήλυδες χριστιανούς, για ν’ αλλοιώσουν την εθνική σύνθεση των εντοπίων.  

Με αφορμή τις κακουργίες του Αρμενίου προσηλυτιστού,  κάποιες  εκ  των οποίων ο  ίδιος ο βιογράφος του έκαμε το λάθος να διασώσει, όπως έκαμαν, ευτυχώς για την ιστορική αλήθεια και άλλοι όμοιοί του, όπως λ.χ. ο ανεκδιήγητος εκείνος Μάρκος Διάκονος, πρέπει να μην αφήσουμε ασχολίαστο ένα λυπηρό αλλά κατά κόρον παρουσιαζόμενο φαινόμενο. Το ότι στρέφουν αποτόμως οι διαφόροι Ρωμιοί συγγραφείς «Ιστοριών»  της  Σπάρτης, ή  της Ελλάδος ευρύτερα, έναν  αόρατο  διακόπτη  του μυαλού τους  και  όλως  ξαφνικά  καθυβρίζουν  για την μ.α.χ.χ. χρονική περίοδο τους ίδιους τους προγόνους τους, πλέκοντας εγκώμια από την άλλη  στους αδικαιολογήτους σφαγείς τους. Χαρακτηριστικό τέτοιο δείγμα αποτελεί η υπό του Π. Δούκα απαράδεκτη καθύβριση ως… «διεφθαρμένων» (…) των τελευταίων Λακεδαιμονίων Εθνικών, εκείνα τα ζοφερά χρόνια που εδέχοντο την τελική επίθεση των Βυζαντινών τα Ελληνικά Πάτρια και Τρόποι: «…προ πάντων δε τότε παρεκώλυον την διάδοσιν και επικράτησιν  των  χριστιανικών  ιδεών…», λες  και είναι κάτι το θετικό, πόσο μάλλον υποχρεωτικό, «…αφενός μεν οι εν τη Δυτική Μάνη Μηλιγγοί Σλάβοι, αφετέρου δε οι εν Σπάρτη  χάριν εμπορίου Ιουδαίοι, και τινες διεφθαρμένοι ευπατρίδαι συμπράττοντες  μετ’ αυτών».  

 (Από το βιβλίο του Βλάση Γ. Ρασσιά "Επίτομος Ιστορία των Σπαρτιατών")  

Only the Pagan folks remained young

 

Evita! Spiritual Chief of the Nation

 

If we want to talk of the Third Position, there is no way we can avoid talking about Eva Duarte Peron (1919-1952). In fact, she was probably the first person, together with her husband, Juan Domingo Peron, to speak about the Third Position. This was at the time of the rise to power of Juan Peron in Argentina, and there are many people who see in Peronism (that is the true Peronism - not the phoney Menem version of the '90's), and especially in Evita Peron, a beacon to show a way through the ideological impasse that had been present in Europe for the previous 20-30 years.

Obviously, in 1945, fascism was militarily defeated and with that there were many national fascist or national revolutionary movements that went down with them. The Vichy Government in France, the Iron Guard in Romania and, indeed all the movements that had created problems for international finance went into eclipse with only two exceptions. Those were Salazar's in Portugal and Franco's in Spain. How those two nations survived needs another conference to itself. They went through the war and managed to preserve a national 'conservative', or better, a national revolutionary system in their countries. On the other hand, it is remarkable that at a time of total defeat, or near total defeat, in Europe there was something resurging in the other hemisphere of the earth. What had happened was that a group of army officers had not gone along with the choice of the then government of Argentina to enter World War II in favour of Great Britain and the United States. And at that time, remember, the economic interests of Britain and the USA were extremely strong in Argentina (and indeed still are today). However, there was this group of officers in the Argentinean army (among whom Juan Peron was prominent) who did not like the situation and so created a group, let us say, a conspiratorial group, on a national fascist platform.

Juan Peron had been in Italy when Mussolini was still in power (1933) and had been attracted mainly by two factors: The first was the way Mussolini had managed to create an amicable relationship with his people. We could call it a charismatic relationship between mass and leader which so impressed Peron that then and in later years he always saw Mussolini as his example to follow. The second factor was the "labour legislation". In Europe there had been a massive change favouring the worker brought about by fascist legislation in Italy. For example: in the conflict between worker and capitalist there was a tribunal decided in favour of the worker and not the capitalist. The amount of working hours were decreased and the amount of assistance to workers increased. This kind of legislation was then completely unknown in "anglo-saxon" counties and in most of the democratic countries. Fascism had made the change; Peron saw that, and decided it was something that should be brought to Argentina.

Parallel to his is the life of another person: Evita Peron, nee Evita Duarte. She came from an extremely humble background; it was very, very poor, so she knew from personal experience in her own childhood a kind of social injustice that was unknown in Europe but was seemingly endemic in South America where the rich are extremely rich and the poor so very, very poor with a poverty unknown in Europe. When Eva was not long in her teens, she left her village to go to Buenos Aires to further her ambition to be an actress. In Buenos Aires she again finds herself living in the most humble and unstable conditions. There was no support at all for people who came from the countryside in the hope of improving their state in life. This was a situation that Evita never forgot and to the alleviation of which she paid particular attention when she had the power to do so.

TRADE UNIONS

The world of cinema and theatre was (and still is) quite ruthless and very often the people who succeeded were the people who would "sell" themselves in the worst sense of the word. At one stage Evita got a job with a radio station where she was given the responsibility of talking about the careers of important women in history. This probably was the programme that brought into Evita's mind the idea that women can be extremely important for the county in which they live, and even though their role is much tied to the family, or its first base is the family, it is also true that women of special and particular strength can actually change a society. This was also the time when Juan Peron and Evita Duarte met. It was a time in which Peron, from his own experiences in Italy and also in Argentina began to implement very radical changes, so who better than Evita Duarte to be on the side of Peron than she who actually came from one of the humblest areas of Argentina, from one of the humblest families? From this time onwards the duo of Evita and Peron began and continued to make an impact in society, particularly in trade unions.

In the '30's, the trade unions had two choices: (l). To go Marxist and basically advocate armed struggle and fight on an internationalist base. (2). To do what Jose Antonio called national syndicalism which meant the interests of the workers could be settled within the state, with the national interest in the minds of the trade unions, not trade unions against nation but trade unions within and for the nation.

Crowd Rallies for Juan Peron, 2/17/1946-Buenos Aires

It was also the time in which the military government shaken by this new forceful presence decided to put Juan Peron out of the government which, in practice, meant immediate imprisonment. When Juan Peron heard that the government intended to put him under arrest, he and Evita organised a massive meeting; a meeting that was attended by more than a quarter of a million people.

Peron told them that his first act as Minister of Employment would be "to give you a Day of the Worker", which would be in total opposition to the 1st of May, which had been taken by the marxists, "...and having told you this, I must announce that I will now have to leave the Government". He was then put under house arrest; but here the Government made a mistake. It did not arrest Evita. What Evita did in the following days became vitally important in Argentinean history. She went to every trade union; to anyone who had supported Peron; to any person who had been favoured by the policies of Peron; and she told them all: "Look, this is not just our chance, it is your chance to create a new social order, or we can all go back to the old social order." The people hesitated over this and were reluctant to go into action. However, the WILL of Evita was so strong that in the next few days there was a continuous flow of people into the Plaza de Mayo, the main square of Buenos Aires, until one million people packed the centre of the city. The Government then realised that it was powerless in the situation because it was then that a great many of the military began to see that in Peron and Evita they had their two, true leaders. Peron was then released from his imprisonment. This was victory for Peron but perhaps even more so for Evita.

A few months later elections were organised and the results opened a period when Peron was restored to his position of Minister and recognised as the leader of the country. By the acclamation of the people he was already proclaimed the leader of the country, if not yet the president and the presidential elections were due to take place in the following four or five months.

It was a situation in which the United States would almost inevitably interfere in Argentinean politics, especially by branding Peronism as an anti-semitic movement. In fact, one of the statements that Braden, the US ambassador to Argentina said was "If you have Peron as president you will have anti-semitism." We have to remember that in Argentina Jews make up 10% of the population, so the Jewish lobby there has always been extremely powerful. So what happened? Peron, in fact, was very capable and able to turn these attacks against his enemies, so that it became no longer a campaign between Peron and Tamborini, his presidential opponent, but a contest between Peron and Braden. So Peron is the candidate of the Argentineans and Braden, an American, his opposing candidate! Braden, remember was the US ambassador, and so, of course, was not actually in the contest. Peron, however, made it crystal clear who his real opponent was. Peron won an extraordinary victory, in that he gained only 55% of the vote's cast, but in terms of the numbers of members in Parliament the Peronist victory was massive.

CHILD OF THE PEOPLE

Now, it is time to focus on the personality of Evita. First and foremost, Evita always recognised and acknowledged her husband, Juan Peron as the leader, but this lecturer having as he said studied the history of the whole period considered that Evita's level of understanding was higher than that of her husband's. The real leader was Evita. By the end she was called "Capo spirituale della nazione" - Spiritual chief of the nation - which puts her on a higher level than Peron who was the political leader.

In the last few months of her life, Evita wrote a book about herself, ("La Razon de mi Vida'), her life and thoughts. It reminds the reader of Mao's Little Red Book: it is so very simple and clear. It was intended to be understood by the humble people, and it was so understood. Her book had a print run of some 50 million copies and was given to any Argentinean who wanted one. It was given free in all the schools for children to read; she was a child of the people and the children were heirs to the good and simple guidance of her thoughts.

It was also given, above all to the most important group of people: the descamisados. Descamisados means "shirtless ones" or more accurately, "people with a shirt not really right". This comes from the fact that in Argentina before Peronism, there was an extremely strong "bourgeois" feeling (we should call it snobbish) that made it imperative to be dressed correctly even to walk in certain areas; without the right tie, jacket and hat etc. one would be seen as a stranger, an outsider, "not one of us" someone who really should not be there. Remember again that the population of Argentina then was divided very clearly between the "haves" and the "have nots". The "haves" were immensely rich and the "have nots" extremely poor; there was almost nothing in the way of a "middle class" as we understand it. So it follows that the people fighting for Peron were the descamisados. The name began as it implies, as a term of abuse but Evita picked it up as the name for the avante-guarde of the street commandos; "Descamisados?" "YES!" "We are proud to be descamisados". They will be the best, the Peronist elite, the people who are always ready to come to the streets for Peron and for social justice.

"When I chose to be Evita, I chose the path of my people; now, four years after that choice, it is easy for me to prove that this is certainly so. Only the people call me Evita, only the descamisados learned to call me so. Men of government, political leaders, ambassadors, men of business, professional men, intellectuals, call me 'signora', or some address me publicly as 'most excellent signora', or 'most worthy signora', and even, at times, as 'signora presidenta'. They see in me only Eva Peron. The descamisados on the other hand, know me only as Evita, the wife of their President. If that Evita could help to alleviate some grief or dry a tear...".

"Do not think that Evita's work comes easily to me, rather it always turns out to be difficult, and I have never felt quite satisfied in that role, on the other hand, the part of Eva Peron seems easy and is not changed, for is it not after all, easier to act a stage part than that of a living person? and in my case it is certainly as Eva Peron that I interpret an ancient role which other women in all ages have already lived. But as Evita, I live a reality which perhaps no other woman has lived in the history of humanity. I have said that I am guided by no personal ambition, and perhaps this is not quite true. Yes, I confess that I have an ambition, one single, great, personal ambition. I would like the name Evita to figure somewhat in the history of my country. I would like it to be said of her, even if only in a small footnote to the marvellous chapter which history will certainly devote to Peron, something more or less like this: 'She was at Peron's side, a woman who dedicated herself to conveying to the President the hope of the people which later Peron converted into reality'. And I would feel duly compensated and more if the note ended like this: "All we know about this woman is that the people called her 'Evita'.

It is very enlightening to see that Argentina was still a very Catholic country and Evita was profoundly religious. Today, if people have seen the musical Evita, which is a very clear attack on Eva Peron, and if they have followed the pattern of criticism that has come from the English and American press, there are two points on which she is always attacked: First, that she was a woman of "easy virtue" when she was young, and second, that she used to receive a great many jewels and presents which "proved" that she was not really interested in the lives of the poor. The Case for the Defence is that: On the first point there is no evidence at all of Evita having, as she has been accused of, "gone" with a lot of men in Buenos Aires at the beginning of her life in the metropolis. The malevolence is shown by the very vagueness of the accusation, but even if it were true, it is totally unimportant in the context because it is evident that she was a person who was changing because of the events occurring around her, and also if it was a case of youthful sins that were continued unrepented, the story of her public life would never even have begun, a tale of an otherwise commonplace adulterer does not make headlines, attract millions of devoted readers or become a theme to attract full houses in the world's theatres. To be vilified by the liberal press is to be elevated to the ranks of the McCarthys, the Father Coughlins and all who campaign for social justice. The Argentinian people, much wiser than the media, never believed a word of it.

Many years ago I (the lecturer) met people from the extreme "left" of the Peronist movement and from the extreme "right" of the Peronists, because at one stage these two elements came into conflict. They hated each other, the "Ieft" and the "right", but once you mentioned Evita they would both respond in the same way, they saw her as a real point of reference and as the person who changed Argentina.

As to her religious outlook, she speaks for herself in her 1950 Christmas message: "Today is Christmas, Christmas 1950. Last night in 5 million Argentine homes, toasts were drunk, in the cider, and the spiced loaf from Peron and Evita was eaten" (because these were typical of the food sent to the people by the Peron government) " This, our adversaries have severely criticised; they have told us that we throw crumbs on to the tables of the Argentinean people, so as to buy the good will of the people. We will go on doing the same thing in the same way every year. Do they think? (our enemies) it is a sign that we are on the move! They are not crumbs, I know that instead of one bottle of cider, a dozen bottles of champagne would be better, and instead of one spiced loaf, a hamper full of gifts, but the average person does not realise that our cider and our spiced loaves are nothing more not less than a symbol of our union with the people. It is our hearts, mine and Peron's that wish to be united on Christmas with all the heart's of the country's descamisados in an immense fraternal affectionate embrace. In some way or another we want to be with them at the table in their homes. We have chosen this way because it seems to us the most friendly and most appropriate. A present, no matter how costly, sometimes offends, but the more simple a token of remembrance, the more love it carries with it. This is what we wish to send to each Argentinian home with our cider and spiced loaves. Last night, as I do every year on Christmas Eve I addressed the descamisados in a radio broadcast. Christmas Eve belongs to the poor, the humble, to the "shirtless ones". Since Christ despised by the rich, who shut all doors against him, was born in a stable, and did not the Angels appear to the shepherds, the poorest, most humble men of that land, and to them only tell the good things of him who had come to bring happiness to the world? Only to the shepherds, to the humble, to the poor was the message of 'peace on earth to men of good will'. What was unusual in the Perons' fighting only for the happiness of the descamisados? The others, the oligarchs, already possess the happiness they have been able to build up for themselves. I am to speak mainly about God and the poor. Often when I think of my destiny and the mission I have to carry out and the struggle which that mission demands of me, I feel weak. The struggle is so great and my strength so little. In those moments I feel I need the help of God. I do not invoke the help of God at each moment. I remember that one day someone begged me to be more Christian and to call more frequently on God in my speeches and my public activities. I want to state here in these notes, the reply that I gave, because I promised to be sincere in everything. What you say is right, I do not call on God very often. The thing is I do not want to mix God up with the muddles of my life. Also I hardly ever worry God by asking Him to remember me and never ask anything for myself. But my love of Christ is much greater than you would think. I love Him and the descamisados. For did He not say that He would be in the poor, the sick, in those who hungered and those who thirsted. I do not think God requires us always to have His name on our lips. Peron has taught me that it is better to have Him in the heart. I am a Christian and a Catholic and I practise my religion as best I can. I firmly believe that the first commandment is that of love. Christ Himself said, 'Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends'. If I ever trouble God with any petition of mine it is for that. For Him to help me give my life for my descamisados'"

4/10/1946-Buenos Aires, Argentina-Enthusiastic Argentines pack every available inch of space inside and outside a trolley in Buenos Aires, in celebration of Peron's victory in the presidential election.

Soon, it became obvious that the new message of hope for Argentina was becoming dangerous for the would-be masters of the world. After three years of Peronist government Argentina had become the fourth industrial power in the world. She was exporting massive amounts of grain and beef to Europe, and was seen as an example of what other countries in South America or indeed, countries anywhere in the world, might copy. So, a trip to Europe was planned for Evita since she had been invited by the Heads of State of Spain, Italy and France to visit their countries. There was even talk of an invitation to Great Britain from the Royal Family but "constitutional" pressure brought that to nought. In June, 1957, Evita took in her stride the cheering farewells of 500,000 Argentineans at home and the welcome of 300,000 Spaniards in Madrid. Franco, obviously saw Evita and Peronism as his best friends in the world. Evita was awarded the "Cross of Isabella the Catholic" (La Croce di Diamant di Isabella la Catholica) and at the same time she promised a ship load of wheat to Spain. She spoke at a huge open air meeting in Madrid. This was at a time when, yes, the Falangists had won the civil war, but there was pressure from others to make the Franco Government less radical; so the Falangists went in their thousands to this big meeting to urge the continuation of the Falangist ideal. At one stage of the rally they greeted Evita with the Falangist (Roman) salute and Evita responded to them with the same salute. So it was a time when not just the descamisados of Argentina but also the nationalists in Europe began to see Evita as the point of reference. The next stop was ltaly: there the communist trade unions organised big demonstrations against her visit which were inevitably speedily turned into organised riots, with the communists attacking the police. However the visit to ltaly was also at the first time since the end of the war that the new, reborn fascist groups were able to stage a demonstration in favour of Evita. On the 27th June, Pope Pius XII received the First lady of Argentina in audience. On her departure from Italy, Evita pleaded for all the communists who had been arrested in riots against her to be released. This gesture could be seen as a mistake or naive, but it was that she could not understand how 'workers' could possibly really be against her. After all she had done for her workers in Argentina. How could workers in Italy who did not know her be against her? She did not realise the intensity of the marxist brainwashing in ltaly at that time. From Italy the next stop was in Salazar's Portugal, where her reception was cordial in the extreme, from there; on to France. In Paris, Evita was welcomed by the Minister of Foreign Relations, Georges Bedault. She had luncheon with the President of France, Vincent Auriol, and signed a treaty that granted France an Argentinean loan for the purchase of wheat and meat.

After a short visit to Switzerland, Evita went back to Lisbon to embark on the journey home. It was to be made by sea, on her doctor's orders in an attempt to force his patient to rest! It is seen from the report of this tour that Argentina was forging vitally important economic and political links in Europe (it goes without saying that this did not go down at all well in some circles!).

Evita!

Taken from Candour, October & November 1995 issues and based upon a talk given at Forest House.

NEW HOPE

Peronism, then, had revealed itself as a.sort of nationalist, very social and obviously Third Positionist international political ideology. There was, for the first time in a South American country, the participation of the workers in the movement inside the factories where they worked. There was also an unprecedented amount of construction work done in this period. Constructions which were charitable works accomplished under the banner of The Eva Peron Foundation (Fondazione di Aruto Sociale, Marie Eva Peron). Basically, Evita considered the whole concept of charity as "The rich giving to the poor as a gesture to make the former feel at peace with their consciences", was substantially wrong.

What was needed was a Foundation that gave to the people what they deserved to have. For the humblest, the poorest, there were immediately established institutions that guaranteed that shelter and food was given to every Argentinian who needed them. Hospitals, factories, and schools were built everywhere. At one stage, Evita sent to every woman in Argentina a sewing machine. That may appear a demagogic action but it was a very clever, practical and simple way to help a woman in her household. The amount of Evita's work increased every day. It has been said of Evita: "But for all that she was never an eminence grise, a woman lurking behind the throne; if she felt called by destiny to be a leader of the people, she made no attempt to conceal the fact". In standing squarely as the President's mentor, she defied the strictures of the rigidly male orientated society: for that, the masses in her own land idolised her, and the world outside could not help admiring her. She gave the impoverished descamisados new hope and strength of purpose. Evita enfranchised the women of Argentina. She did more to stimulate a sense of "People Power" than most socialist or marxist regimes have ever been able (or willing-Ed) to do. She worked twenty hour days to plant the seeds of a welfare state that worked, and she put Argentina on the political map.

Prior to her death, the work load of Evita had increased to a crazy extent: her appearances to the public, connected with her work in the Foundation, basically, for anyone who went to her to plead for something, was seen personally for she was trying to solve the smallest problem in every household, all took their toll. When Evita's health problems began is unclear but some say that they were due to the load of work she undertook, others say it was an accident of nature; whatever it was, she contracted a very strong type of anaemia. Obviously, for such an illness one should rest and take an appropriate form of treatment. Evita, however, refused to take the time for this, and whenever she suffered a fainting fit which began happening every two weeks or so, she returned to work as soon as it was over, until, at last, she had to be put in hospital, although she recovered quite quickly. By this time, we have to remember, Evita was seen as a sort of a saint - almost an immortal figure. She was only 33 years old and no one, of course, expected her to fade away suddenly, so when the rumours of her illness started to spread, the people almost began to panic. Not only the descamisdos but government officials too.

The party structure trembled. The members did not really know what was happening and did not want to know that something disastrous might be happening. At one stage Evita was told that she had leukaemia, but no official announcement was made. However, as the atmosphere of uncertainty began to pervade the streets and spread in the homes and schools, it becarne so that everyone began to fear that Evita was actually going.

EVITA DIES

It was in this atmosphere of foreboding that the parliament took an oath of total allegiance to the Spiritual Head of Argentina (Capo Spirituale della Nazione), Evita Peron. Even a star in the southern hemisphere is named after Evita, and a number of places in Argentina are named in her honour. Evita is not yet dead but already she is the stuff of legend.

Until one day, so the story goes, suddenly Evita sees her whole life - remembered like a pageant: From her childhood, her arrival in Buenos Aires, her meeting Peron, the beginning of her work; everything comes to her mind. (This is a feature of the musical, Evita.

The doctors cannot stop the ultimate degeneration and Evita is gone.

Holding up lighted candle torches, Argentinians gather around a portrait of Eva Peron in Buenos Aires to mourn the late first lady.

The news of her death was announced on State radio at 8:25 in the evening of July 26th 1952. All public life in Argentina comes to a standstill. The whole population was in a state of shock.

Only three years of the Peronist regime were to remain, during that time, great efforts were made to try to fill the vacuum left by the passing of Evita. Schoolchildren read daily from 'La Razon de mi Vida"; the annual celebration of occasions such as her birth, her renouncement of the Vice-Presidency, and her death also kept Evita in the public mind, Peronists dedicated the first October 17th after her death, like the last during her life, to "Evita, Spiritual Chief of the Nation".

Months after her death, when her final testament was read to her waiting followers, the words continued to affirm that: "I will feel myself forever close to the people, and I will continue to be the Bridge of Love stretched between the descamisados and Peron".

None of this prevented "The Military" from again removing Peron from office. From that time - 1954, until 1972, there was a continuing political problem in Argentina, which could not be solved until Peronism is back in power. Evita is still proclaimed continuously as the example to follow and the person to refer to. Even her corpse has become a source of legend. With the procession that accompanied the body to its funeral chapel in the Ministry of Labour and Welfare, Evita's posthumous odyssey began. It is, indeed, a story in itself.

Briefly, the body was first on public display, then hidden; transported abroad and taken secretly to Italy and Spain; buried; and then finally, exhumed and eventually reburied in Argentina in 1975. It is a tale of plot, counter-plot, intrigue and murder, involving the Church, the military and the Peronists.

The crypt of the Duarte Family at Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires - the final resting place of Evita (pictures taken by me, November 2017)

ISABELITA

Finally, in 1972 Peronism was returned to power with 67% of the vote. While in exile Juan Peron had re-married. His second wife was Isabel Marinez, known as Isabelita. Obviously, she was not Evita, but she bravely attempted to follow in her predecessor's footsteps. Only a year after his triumphant return to Argentina, Juan Peron died, and Isabelita became the first woman President in the western world. She attempted to keep a very difficult and unstable political situation under control until the military once again seized power, and a huge massacre of Peronists followed. The period of "The Disappeared" had begun, and ended only when Menem, on a false Peronist platform was elected President.

Juan and Isabel Perón in Spain in 1972

PERONISM

The strange thing is that no matter what government has power in Argentina, whether Peronist or non-Peronist, the myth of Peronism continues, and mainly the dream of Evita. The Argentinean people, the descamisados, disenchanted with what politicians can give them, or do, still refer to Evita as the ideological source of political purity.

Circa 1950: Founder and leader of the Peronist party and president of Argentina Juan Domingo Peron (1895 - 1974) speaks from the balcony of Government House on the 9th anniversary of the movement for Peron at May Square. Behind him is the Foreign Minister Geronimo Remorino. 

Nikos Sampson - The Invulnerable Executioner of EOKA

Omorfita, 1963. Nikolaos Sampson crushes the Turkish gangs and loots their flag

A video consisting of interviews and footage of Nikos Sampson, before and after he took power of Cyprus on this day in 1974. The first interview footage is before he took power and is acting a spokesperson for EOKA B, a pro ENOSIS (Union with Greece) paramilitary organisation based in Cyprus. The second interview footage is an interview with Sampson after he was forced to resign from office once the Turks invaded. The final piece of footage is Sampson on his way to the first press conference shortly after the successful coup.

During the Cyprus Emergency, in which the EOKA guerrilla group waged a campaign of resistance against British colonial rule in Cyprus from 1955 to 1959, Sampson joined EOKA and adopted the nom de guerre Atrotos, or "Invulnerable". Sampson joined EOKA and formed part of an execution team under the direct orders of General Georgios Grivas ("Digenis"), leader of EOKA. Sampson participated in a number of assassinations carried out along Ledra Street in Nicosia, which was nicknamed "Murder Mile", and shot dead numerous British servicemen, police officers and enemy collaborators. He was involved with at least 15 killings. At the time, Sampson was working as a journalist, and he would often photograph the bodies of his victims after killing them, then send the photographs to The Cyprus Times newspaper to be published. The police became suspicious about how Sampson was always the first reporter to arrive at the murder scene and he was arrested. Only a month after his acquittal, he was given away by informants and arrested in the village of Dhali. He was convicted of weapons possession which, under the emergency regulations of the moment, carried a death sentence. The death sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment and Sampson was flown to the United Kingdom to serve it. A year and a half later, under a general amnesty as part of the 1959 Zürich and London Agreement, he was released but he remained in exile in Greece until Cyprus gained formal independence in August 1960. He returned to Nicosia shortly after Independence Day.

Following an explosion to the statue of EOKA hero Markos Drakos in Nicosia, Sampson actively participated in clashes between the Greek and Turkish communities in December 1963. On the morning of 24 December, the clashes in Nicosia spread and fighting continued into the subsequent year. Sampson led armed groups in fierce battles between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot irregulars. Following the fight in Omorphita, Nikos Sampson was nicknamed by the Turkish Cypriots as the "Butcher of Omorphita".To the Greek-Cypriots he was hailed as the "conqueror of Omorphita".

In 1971, EOKA head George Grivas returned to Cyprus and gave the campaign for enosis further momentum, forming EOKA B whose goal was enosis. Following the death of Grivas in January 1974, the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 gave active support to EOKA-B. Nikos Sampson maintained a strongly nationalist, pro-Greek position throughout these years. On 15 July 1974, Makarios was deposed by a military coup which was led by Greek officers of the Cyprus National Guard. The Greek military junta installed Sampson as President, as a result of a decision of Colonel Constantinos Kombokis, Deputy leader of the coup, when the President of the Supreme Court could not be found and an ex Makarios minister Zenon Severis refused to take over as President. Sampson's appointment was an on-the-spot decision to avoid a power vacuum. In response to the coup, Turkey invaded Cyprus under the obsurd excuse to "Protect Cyprus' Turkish minority", despite the new government having not attacked or persecuted any Turkish citizens, even though they had illegaly formed several hostile enclaves on the island. Following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Sampson was forced to resign due to the pressure he faced.

Nikos Sampson: 16 December 1935 – 9 May 2001

Hitler wanted an alliance with Poland

 

Adolf Hitler meets with the Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck.

"... Unlike the Western leaders, Hitler had realistically evaluated the dangers posed by the Bolshevik Soviet Union. He realized that Germany would be unable resist the Soviet Union without an alliance with Poland. For this reason he signed a non-aggression treaty with Poland in 1934 .. .. Since the British guarantee of March 31, 1939, gave Poland carte blanche in its dealings with Germany, Poland intensified its persecutions of the German minority. Abductions became common, speaking German in public was proscribed, German associations and newspapers were suppressed, the German consul in Krakow was murdered, etc."

Jürgen Rieger