Thread by @PRoufos

Mikis Theodorakis, one of the most iconic and talented musicians of Greece died today at 96. Many things can be said but perhaps the most significant is how he took magnificent (and often inaccessible) poetry and put it in everyone's lips. 1/

One of my favorites, "Asma Asmaton", was written by Holocaust survivor Iakovos Kampanellis, and was part of his larger work called "Mauthausen", the camp where he was interned. The lyrics (and the music) are devastating, so I add an english translation.

Another incredible song, "Omorfi Poli" (trans. "Beautiful City"), also covered by Edith Piaf in this beautiful version.

I will add more -list is endless- but as today is sadly also the anniversary of the death of David #Graeber, I’m first going out to have a few drinks. For both.

Until then, here is the whole album of Theodorakis’ music of one of the best films by Costas Gavras “State of Siege”.

Here we have Melina Mercouri and Anthony Perkins performing a great version of “Se potisa rodostamo” (From the 1962 film Phaedra).

Ok, it took a while but I return with an endless thread about Theodorakis and his times, trying to capture his life as a direct reflection of the trajectory of the Greek left and what that means for today. Bare with me.

I thought of this because Theodorakis was (and remains) an iconic figure of the Greek left with all its contradictions and issues and his death has highlighted that. So here we go:

Born in Crete in 1925, he gave his first concert at age 17. In 1943, after taking part in a demonstration celebrating the cancellation of forced mobilisation by the Nazis, Theodorakis was arrested by the Italian authorities and tortured. 1/

In December 1944, as the Nazis had already left Greece, he participated in the demonstrations in central Athens that came to signify the beginning of the civil war between the left wing EAM/ELAS and right wing forces supported by the English and (later) the Americans.2/

After spending 3 years in hiding, he is arrested in 1947 and sent to exile in the island of Ikaria. He is temporarily released and re-arrested, ending up in the political prison of Makronisos where he is again tortured. 3/

With the end of the civil war and the victory of the Western-allied reactionary forces, he continues his music studies, eventually moving to Paris in 1954. Returning to Greece in 1960, he dedicates himself to setting poetry to music and introducing it to popular audiences. 4/

His choices consist as much known left-wing poets (such as Giannis Ritsos) as well as poets closer to the conservatives, such as Nobel-prize winner Odysseas Elytis. The common thread between them? Greek patriotism (more on that later). 5/

In 1963, the (orchestrated by the state) assassination of left wing MP Grigoris Lambrakis (captured in Costa Gavras’ classic and brilliant film “Z”) leads to the creation of the “Lambrakis Youth”, with Theodorakis as its president. 6/

The political and social turmoil that results from a wave of workers’ strikes and riots throughout 1963 and 1967, provokes an aggressive reaction. A military dictatorship backed by the CIA takes over in April 1967, promising to put Greece “in plaster” and restore order. 7/

Theodorakis goes into hiding and announces the creation of PAM (Pan-Greek Anti-Dictatorship Front). Arrested in August 1967, he is again tortured in the infamous torture chambers of Mpoumpoulinas street and sent to various prisons. 8/

An international campaign in support kicks off, leading to his release in 1970. He flees to Paris, raising awareness about the situation in Greece by giving more than 500 concerts worldwide. In 1972, he puts Pablo Neruda’s “Canto General” into music. 9/

In 1974 he returns to Athens. A veritable symbol of resistance to the junta, whose songs were illegally sung by thousands in secret or open acts of defiance, Theodorakis surprises many by lending support to the transfer of power to the right wing Konstantinos Karamanlis. 10/

In the post-dictatorship era, he participates in electoral battles with left wing parties (mostly KKE), while continuing his music career, focusing more on the composition of classical music and symphonies. 11/

In 1990 he participates in the right wing government of Konstantinos Mitsotakis (father of current PM) and gets appointed minister (initially without specific remit and later of state) between 1990-1992. He hopes that those who criticise him will "one day understand" 12/

After 1993 he dedicates himself to music again, oscillating between support for KKE and other left wing forces, until eventually creating his own “movement” called “Σπιθα” (“Spark”) on February 2012, in the troubled memorandum/austerity years. 13/

As he claimed at the time, the aim of the “movement” was to “stay away from the establishment … and to contribute with all its forces to bringing the nation out of the deep crisis”. 14/

Claiming that Greece has been “since the end of the civil war, under the direct control and dependence of the USA”, Σπίθα eventually lends support to both Syriza and the Independent Greeks, hailing their 2015 election victory as a decisive moment of Greek history. 15/

In an announcement after the election, it calls for its supporters to mobilise in defence of the new government and to prevent “the extinction of our nation”. The new path is marked by “abolishing, in practice, the distinction between Left and Right”. 16/

Some time later, the support is withdrawn. Theodorakis claims that Kammenos is a lackey of the US and that Tsipras is in the process of betraying the country. The reason: Macedonia. 🤦‍♀️ 17/

In a speech delivered in 2018, Theodorakis denounces the deal approved by the government, repeating that Macedonia is, was and will always be Greek, adding that “it is up to the Greeks to decide whether the name can be used or not”. 18/

The demo was attended (& openly supported) by Golden Dawn's neonazis, on whom Theodorakis declares that “they also love the nation but in a quarrelsome way”. After furious reactions he retracted, eventually congratulating the judicial system for sending them to jail in 2020. 19/

Though his comments on Golden Dawn can (and have been) attributed to his old age & gradual inability to make clear political judgements, there is no doubt that (as with the Greek left) Theodorakis’ deep sense of patriotism has been a constant theme of his politics and music. 21/

Typical in this respect is, as elsewhere, the constant evocation of the notion of “the people”, a concept that in the left imaginary condenses nation and working class. This has been a central theme in the (traumatic) constitution of the Greek left. 22/

The “trauma” is spelled out in the following terms: competing for the right to run the nation and lead its necessary industrialisation, left and right have perpetually presented themselves (and continue to do so) as the rightful agents of modernisation and progress. 23/

In the case of the left, the dream to take over the state and take charge of the development of its productive forces was cut short (“traumatically”) by the interference of foreign powers and their local allies. 24/

In this narrative, and in a typical and deeply embedded anti-imperialist fashion, the Greek ruling class has been perpetually accused by the left of not being up to the task of fulfilling the very purpose of national formation. 25/

On this basis, the left considers its role as one of delegitimising the ruling class and its representatives for failing to modernise Greece, and for submitting to foreign powers who wish to keep Greece under chains. 26/

These visions took a serious hit with the development of the Greek economy away from the disciplinary right wing rigidity, culminating in the “modernisation program” of the 1990s that brought Greece into the EMU and tore the left apart. 27/

Theodorakis was part and parcel of this world and these visions. Rather than explaining away his recent comments as stemming from his old age, it would be more fruitful to examine them through the prism of this “traumatic” constitution of the Greek left and its patriotism. 28/

All these narratives and nostalgia for an unfulfilled and incomplete mission for Greek independence and development were faithfully portrayed in Theodorakis' music and activities. 29/

Closing this (long) thread: Theodorakis’ music accompanied his (and his times’) struggles. Whether it will be in a position to do the same for the struggles that are coming, in a world of crisis, increasing poverty, authoritarianism and xenophobia, remains an open question. 30/

But as it is impossible to understand modern Greece without an understanding of its left, it has become equally impossible to comprehend its history without Theodorakis' music in the background. 31/

So I leave you with one of his most beautiful and touching songs, hoping that some of what I described above can be made clearer through these notes. 32/