The political establishment is attempting to toss the name of the architect of the epos of 1940-41, Ioannis Metaxas, into oblivion.

Following the news on 7 April about the fighters of fortress “Roupel”, I noticed that neither the announcer nor the President of the Democracy mentioned it with any other name. So, it seems that it was actually “Roupel” that held back the German tanks, and not what we always believed, the “Metaxas Line”.

How disappointing! Democracy claims breadth of mind and not close-minded individuals that are attempting to do with the name of Metaxas what the Ancients did with the name of Herostratus. To disregard and censor the name as if it would be forgotten. Hence, every 28 October we are told that NO was said by … the Greek people who supposedly “rose up in arms” at 3:00 in the night. And all done without a king, without a prime minister, and without a commander in chief! Is it befitting to ridicule oneself so much with such absurdities for the sake of avoiding a name?

Visiting Paris you will see streets named after Riseleu, Louis XIV, Danton, Napoleon, Thierry and De Gaulle. It’s entirely French history. Each one of these men who were mentioned played the role that was necessary and that the time called for. Only in Greece do we encounter the foolishness of not mentioning Metaxas or the King. This is especially true in the county districts where these names have been removed from the town squares and streets and been replaced by the “democratic” names of Gennimata, of Merkouri, and of… Vafeiadis.

Indeed a problem actually arose when the erection of a correspondence column at the Kallimarmaro Panathinaiko stadium was created to host the names of the “Golden Olympians”. The problem was over which name would be written for the “golden victory” of the sailing competition at the 1960 Olympics held in Rome. Finally, it was decided to use the name of … the vessel “and its crew”, so as to be as general and vague as possible. What a terribly wastefull pettiness, unfitting to peope who are true democrats!

If we were to believe the Greek political establishment, we would end up believing that it wasn’t Metaxas who said “No!” to the Italian ambassador, but that the Greeks flowed to the streets at 3.00 AM to say “No!” to the Italian ambassador’s ultimatum. As if Greece had not a king, a prime minister, nor a commander in chief.

 

– By Giorgos Anagnostou