Incredible challenge to the democratic struggles of the Greek people today in the Parliament by the Deputy Minister of Education Angelos Syrigos who called «myth» and «mythology» the revolt of the Polytechnic! The Deputy Minister made this unprecedented reference (which the New Democracy tried in vain to collect afterwards) in order to justify the provisions of the bill for the universities that is currently being passed in parliament.
Developing a provocative narrative Angelos Syrigos argued that «the junta regime did not fall because of internal resistance. The Junta collapsed in ’74 under the weight of its anomalies, especially under the weight of the Cyprus tragedy. The fact that there was not one overthrow event in the foundations of the post-war period had an enormous value significance in the quality of our post-war life. There were no massive gatherings of protests and marches under the Junta. There were isolated actions by some brave Greeks who were treated in a brutal way by the dictatorship. What was not done by the Greek people during the Junta had to be made up for afterwards. After ’74 we had our marches, our banners, guerrilla fights in the taverns and then we went home after having fulfilled our resistance duty safely.».
On this basis, the Deputy Minister of Education stated that «a mythology was created that had and still has at its centre the Polytechnic. Why the Technical University? Because the Polytechnic was the only serious event of mass popular resistance against the dictatorship.».
He went on to say that «because of this reason the Polytechnic after ‘74 took on mythical proportions» adding that «the myth of the Polytechnic as it was created in the post-revolutionary years is fully reflected in the Greek university» and then talking about «its political function as a myth in the post-revolutionary years». He noted that the later behaviour of the university community was due to them, speaking of «banning even the fire brigade from entering because it is a state force» and the «for flea fucking demonstrations».
The report by Angelos Syrios provoked a strong reaction from opposition MPs. Nikos Voutsis spoke about «a substantial effort to revise the democratic acquis of the post-independence period» followed by a series of critical statements.
The faux pas of A.Syrigos tried to «pick up» the parliamentary representative of ND Harris Theocharis saying that «the New Democracy has honoured and will honour the struggle of the Greek people in the Polytechnic without asterisks» and that «all the rest is misleading».
