Greece: Say It with Bombs

The predawn stillness of Athens was shattered four times one morning last week. Explosions occurred within 90 minutes in three different suburbs, but they had similar targets — autos owned by members of the American mission.

In all, eight parked cars, including the U.S. Army attache’s, were damaged.

The coordinated blasts may have been the work of members of the right-wing National Resistance Movement. Like many other Greeks, they are angered by the U.S.’s continued tolerance of the military regime in Athens. The group later scattered leaflets signed by a “General Akritas,” addressed to “Americans, diplomats and doublecrossers.” The pamphlets warned that “the reprisals we shall inflict from now on will no longer be explosions but kidnapings and perhaps executions.”

In the past month, opponents of the 271-month-old junta led by Premier George Papadopoulos have set off ten bombs in Athens, including two in government offices. Resistance groups are proliferating in Greece. One of the larger organizations is the Free Greeks, composed of royalist ex-officers. Nearer the center of the political spectrum is the Democratic League, whose leaflets urge Greeks, “If you can’t say it with votes, say it with bombs.” Then there is the Patriotic Front, run by the Communists. There are also the Restless ex-Friends of the Revolution; onetime supporters of the junta’s 1967 coup, they feel the regime has failed to bring social and political reforms.

Unlucky Number. In all, there are at least 30 underground groups in Greece. Some consist only of a dozen men, a resounding title and a typewriter (mimeographs must be registered with the police). But all the groups have a common aim: to weaken the regime’s internal and international standing. By creating an impression of growing unrest and instability, they hope to scare off tourists and persuade the U.S. to urge Papadopoulos to hold free elections.

So far, the Greek resistance movement has been ineffective. Though tourism fell 20% in the first two summers after the coup, it has rebounded sharply to precoup levels. Athens and the Greek isles are once more crowded with foreign visitors. Pressure on the U.S. has also been fruitless. Unwilling to press a valuable NATO ally too far, Washington has limited its efforts with the regime to friendly persuasion, a cut in heavy arms supplies, and the failure to appoint a new ambassador to Athens.

The regime’s security forces have cracked down hard on the underground. Thirty-one suspected royalists, ranging from general to captain, are in prison on charges of trying to subvert the army. More than 100 Patriotic Fronters and other Communists received long jail terms. Sometimes the inexperience of the resistance workers betrays them. Police are waiting to interview a young Athens professor who is recovering from injuries caused last month by the explosion of a bomb that he was assembling. In his cellar, the police found twelve plastiques. The 13th was the unlucky one.

In a sense, the results of the resistance actions have been the reverse of their aim. They have succeeded only in stiffening the resolution of the regime, making less likely a quick return to democracy.