September 11 and the war against terrorism: The Greek reaction

Contemporary Review, Nov, 2002 by Konstantinos Kotzias

As the most outrageous example of anti-Americanism, Michas mentioned the behaviour of some football supporters before the start of a match between a Greek and a Scottish team who tried to bum the American flag and booed during a minute of silence for the victims of the attacks. This incidence and more particularly the booing during the minute of silence, was indeed despicable and disrespectful. It is however debatable whether the behaviour of some badly educated and mindless football hooligans should be considered representative of any society. In another Wall Street Journal article, as answer to Michas, an American who lives in Greece offered a quite different perception. Martha Hill-Frangiadaki mentioned the queues that were formed outside the American Embassy in Athens in order to sign the book of condolences and the spontaneous acts of sympathy from ordinary Greeks that she experienced. Although she also accepts that a general anti-American feeling exists in the country, she finds it understandable consi dering the history and mentality of the nation. More importantly she pointed to the fact that the opinions that were expressed in Greece were expressed everywhere, even in the US, as people tried to comprehend these unimaginable events.

Greek History and Anti-Americanism

Before even considering the accuracy of the Greek public's perspective, we need to question the origin and justification of such a view. The origins of anti-Americanism in Greek society derive not only from contemporary Greek history but also from the traditional mistrust towards the West. This point has often been used to link identity and religion (Orthodoxy vs. Catholicism) in order to explain the current trends in Greek public opinion. Although this perspective has some credibility as different forms of identity influence political life, it is rather simplistic as it ignores other forms of identity and developments in political life, which also play a major role. Greece's political history from the very creation of the state was particularly turbulent with foreign powers habitually interfering in its domestic and foreign policy. For the public, national success was more often attributed to domestic factors, while national tragedies were blamed on outside intervention. These kinds of views are heavily bias ed as they ignore the many cases in which foreign intervention helped and encouraged Greek interests, especially in foreign affairs.

Foreign interference in domestic political life during the last century, however, has created bitter feelings and has fuelled differences among the Greeks. The division between the Liberals (Phileleftheroi) and the Royalists (Vasilikoi) during the first half of the twentieth century was essentially a struggle for British against German interests. The traumatic Greek civil war, at the end of the Second World War, was the first armed conflict of the Cold War. The defeat of the Greek communists essentially established the 'right' in power, in one form or another, for the next 40 years, always in close relation with the West. The anti-Communist frenzy in the West and especially the US had devastating results in Greece where thousands of people were persecuted, tortured and killed even only on suspicion of affiliation with communism. These attitudes reached a peak during the period of the brutal CIA-staged coup of the Colonels (1967-1974).