The greatest weapon in the arsenal of a dictatorship is not the weapons wielded by their praetorians or by the soldiers of their armies but by the mask of freedom-seeker, the country-protector and its false worry over and will to protect the Citizens and the Nation, the very ones the dictatorship suppresses and exploits. In other words, the best and most effective weapon on which every totalitarian and suppressive regime of modern history draws support from (especially after the various Enlightments and the dissolution of the absolute monarchies that was sealed by the reconstructive forces of WWI) is precisely the successful persuasion of popular opinion, and in particular, of the international public opinion that its actions are completely pro-national, pro-humanitarian, and aiming at bringing us nearer to the so-called ʽbetter daysʼ, regardless of how these are in fact described. From Napoleonʼs monarchy to the Hitlerʼs ascent to power, to Stalinʼs takeover, to the coups of various dictatorships during the pre and post-war Greece, to the establishment of the rule of political party dynasties, all sorts of totalitarian regimes project this rhetoric and their propagandas draw from and expand on this theme.
In fact, the international common opinion (just as in Hitlerʼs particularly successful propaganda) and part of the national public opinion, even if they know for a fact that this propaganda emanates from a tyrant or from a suppressor of international treaties and Human Rights, will overlook, rendering it to common knowledge, the actual truth as the pretext and motto of ʽmotives and targets of good willʼ is successfully projected to cover up actions, even the most heinous ones.
The latest example of blatant perversion and cover-up of the truth, even superficially, just to keep up the necessary pretexts so that Greek public opinion in Greece would not question the false feeling that the Greeks are in fact showing tolerance and support to the defunct and illegal tripartite government, and that they do not react to its exterminating policies, was the mass demonstration of last Wednesday, 26 September 2012: on the one hand, the union leaders and organizers made sure that they would successfully fragment the demonstration so that at no time would the mass of the people stand united in a single spot and therefore the true dimension of it be properly estimated. On the other, the mass media that were covering the event did all they could to make it appear as a de facto failed demonstration, showing only the gaps among the people or concentrating only on the hooligans and not the demonstrators, who of course were not properly organized to project a common massive front. To start with, it was never made known that there were huge demonstrations organized across the major urban centers of Greece, in some of which participation was so large that the urban center itself came to a standstill. It was never let known that the participation not only by ADEDY/GSEE/ PAME but also by all sorts of associations, sectional and non-sectional alike was truly massive. It was never said that there are not only the usual demands – and written lists to be handed over but also the official international support to the strike and the demonstrations offered by the European trade and workers unions, complete with an issued statement.
There was no coverage but a cover-up in other words, aiming at maintaining the superficial pretext of the propaganda unscathed, and instead suppress the truth that the Greek People in unison opposes this government and their measures and the general state of affairs that is going on, by relegating it to the status of ʽcommon knowledgeʼ which however is never officially stated.
But, if this ʽcommon knowledgeʼ happens to come to the fore for any reason (usually, in an after-the-fact manner, and to aid in the ascent of the new dictator who would simply act the same and keep up the pretext of working to expunge the sins of his predecessor, as was the case with the three Ally Powers in post-war Europe) and thus becomes the new motto and the new reality of public opinion (that is that the Greek People resists in deed and in mind, massively showing zero tolerance in any memorandum-type measures and politics, as well as reserving a proper hands-on treatment for those politicians and their cronies that enforce such politics) then with the same ease that public opinion showed acceptance and tolerance for the dictator / oligarch / totalitarian archon, the same public opinion will cast him down, and destroy him. There are numerous examples in history, from Robespierre, to Napoleon, to Mussolini, to Hitler, to Ceausescu, Saddam Hussein, and recently Gaddafi and so many others.
As I already referred to above, this elevation from the status of ʽcommon knowledgeʼ to the officially active motto is brought about by the same political centers that make it possible for those oligarchs to ascend to power in the first place, and the changeover precisely occurs to facilitate the new oligarch who will continue the same oligarchic policy, changing only the labels and ʽzero the counterʼ of Popular discontent that had been associated with the older regime.
This thing can still happen because all information channels and public opinion shaping, not counting the moles in our midst, have been exclusively in the hands of the capitalists / political dynasties / and upper class offspring around the world. There was, in other words, so far no channel, newspaper or radio station that did not belong to a handful of mass media giants with the usual networks and wheeling-dealing, while, as far as the state-run channels, newspapers and radio stations are concerned, there was a monotonous monopoly of the respective opinion shapers and carriers of state propaganda line. In other words, amidst this gauntlet of mass media controlled by the same power centers but projecting themselves as antagonistic powers, the propaganda is fabricated and public opinion manipulated such that peopleʼs opinion is effectively disarmed. In other words, the traditional dual power center exists so that this particular power would never fall in the hands of the People / of Citizens, even in regimes that supposedly were inspired by the French Commune.
But this is no longer the case. The advent of the internet and the capability of immediate communication at ignorable cost around the world wide web, as well as the instant publishing capability, unbalances this absolute rule of the mass media centers regarding the information supply to the citizenry, catalyzing reactions and affording access and effective capability of coordination to simple Citizens unprecedented in human history.
The challenge then of when, how and for whom will the ʽcommon knowledgeʼ of our own time and of todayʼs totalitarian oligarchs who are still wielding the false flags of democracy, development, anti-racism, humanitarianism, legality and of political legitimacy, become no longer the domain of the traditional and established center of power mongering, and lose their capacity to shape and wield such opinion, is posed for the first time in history, for this power to come over to the hands of simple Citizens who have the access and capacity to wield it without political control or coloring.
If therefore we manage to bring to the attention of the international public opinion, officially, thunderously and acting in unison, the real situation and picture we have been living with, and thus elevate this ʽcommon knowledgeʼ to a indisputable truth in spite of the tampered with statistics, the biased and ineffective judiciary, the false justification and blatant disregard for Popular discontent and Will, then we shall succeed in the immediate toppling of todayʼs oligarchy before the next in line oligarchy has the time it needs to succeed this present one by donning new masks and changing labels.
If this happens then there will be a real chance for the real Popular Will to be enforced: true judicial system, true cleansing and the establishment of a true State of Justice and Democracy, which of course will have to be continuously checked by the totality of the Citizens so that on the basis of the law of aggregates, we shall never have sizable or uncorrectable deviations through the healthy progress of the social whole, thus safeguarding Democracy from corruption and degeneration into tyranny and oligarchy.
The very first thing we must do in other words, is to synchronize our actions, to secure an unbiased portrayal of the true economic, social, humanitarian, political and national situation in Greece, so that it will be no longer possible for any cover up to hold over the perpetrators of the systematic extermination and dismantling of the Greek State and People that is being attempted in Greece, but which can be also be seen happening in an increasing number of other countries and People, of the so-called democratic and humanitarian West, lifting thus the benefit of doubt from the usurpers of the political and institutional power in Greece and preclude their remaining in those posts hooked on the motto ʽI am trying as best I can but have no magic solutions up my sleeveʼ and assorted excuses.
All of us should stop accepting the black propaganda issued by the government and their parrots and put an effective stop to its reproduction, cursing and accusing one another, thus playing into the hands of those whom we say we are fighting against. We must stop downgrading our National identity and using descriptives such as ʽneo-Greeksʼ, or ʽGreekersʼ, and so on, and instead we should aim to encourage and empower one another rather than lead one another to despair.
Resistance starts from morale and it is completely in our hands to re-cultivate the morale that the mass media systematically and vociferously are trying to break and plunge us into the depths of despair, and stop permitting ourselves to whimper that we have failed even before the battle is over, and indeed when we are gaining ground that we refuse to acknowledge.
The Wednesday demonstration was boycotted by fragmenting it and the general discontent of the Greeks in front of the cameras, while in reality was most massive, catholic and internationally supported by declarations and statements. It was a demonstration in which all professional and clerical associations were represented, and which were standing united against this para-state which has usurped all institutional posts and privileges and whose crushing and punishment was being asked by all in unison.
It was also however a demonstration which was gagged in collusion, covered up, censored and perverted precisely so that this para-state be allowed once more to keep on ignoring the People and its Mandate, but also so that the morale of the Greeks remain low, wilted and crushed, overlooking the fact that those Greeks, despite all rumors about their resignation, took to the streets to demonstrate and continue their resistance.
How much more drastic, intense and effective will this resistance become if we the Citizens stopped shooting ourselves in the foot, by accepting their propaganda that we are resigned and accepting our fate, a fate that is only printed on annulled paper contracts none of which will ever be recognized by the Greeks?
If we want them to stop ignoring those massive demonstrations of ours, as well as suicides, stoppages of payments, strikes and motions of unconstitutionality, we must first make them drop this façade of ʽ a democrat becoming an oligarch due to extenuating circumstancesʼ so as to show the world over his true treacherous fascist and anti-humanitarian face.
This is easily achievable by means of a simple synchronization that shall be presently effected.
Translation courtesy of Michael T.