Dimitris Seremetis in “A” / Democracy needs constant care to live and flourish

From the occupation of Nomiki in 1973 to the current 50 years of Post-colonization, for many of those who developed anti-dictatorial action the road was not easy. Much more for those who found themselves in the dungeons of ESA. One of them, Dimitris Seremetis, if. Professor of Economics at the University of the Aegean, from where he retired in previous years, he experienced imprisonment and torture and now, half a century later, he gives his own testimony in his new book “Torture in the ESA. A scenario (without a plate in Kokkinia)” (published by Polis). An active member of the student anti-dictatorship movement, one of whose representatives the regime suddenly sent to the army to suspend their action, managed to buy the loudspeaker used by his colleagues in the occupation of Nomiki before presenting himself at the Tripoli camp. However, he could not escape arrest after his discharge from the army. As his book brings people and events back to the present, the author recalls that period and helps us understand a past that is not so distant. Silences, attempts to revise historical facts, Democracy, expectations and refutations, issues of the Rule of Law, but also the small cracks of hope from the citizens’ reactions dominate the discussion. “Democracy, in order to live and flourish, needs the constant readiness of the citizens, their vigilance and constant care from all of us” insists Dimitris Seremetis. As the conversation expands to what he experienced in ESA, to the trauma of the torture, he is unable to describe the portrait of the torturer. However, he does not hide his disappointment at the impunity of those who caused so much pain. “The impunity of the torturers is an open wound for the Hellenic Republic,” he underlines. At the same time, however, it focuses on the future. “We can be optimistic because the future of the country, the future of the Republic, can be taken into their hands by the young people,” he says, to close this discussion with a note of optimism.

“Torture in the ESA”. Why this book now?

Earlier it would have been more painful for me, as well as for all the competitors to whom I refer, to talk about these events. On the other hand, the discussion on the issues of torture could be misunderstood, because from time to time the suspicion was cultivated that we wished to “cash in” our participation in the anti-dictatorship struggle. Now there can be no such kind of criticism, because both in the professional and in the political arena we are essentially natives.

How did you find yourself at ESA?

In the spring of 1973, it turned out that the measure of suspension of conscription by which about a hundred of the protagonists of the student movement were brought into the army was not enough to control it. So Ioannidis, in April – May of the same year, claimed and got approval for the military police, the ESA, to take over the violent repression of the student movement with mass arrests and torture. I was among those arrested. I was in the ESA until the amnesty of August 1973.

Did the restoration of the Republic seem distant then?

For us, the issue was not that way, because we were optimistic that thanks to our mobilizations, the regime would not take long to collapse.

In ESA, what exactly did you experience?

It cannot be explained in a few words. If I had to limit myself to one sentence, I would only say that human dignity is sacred.

What is the meaning of “no plateicha in Kokkinia” in the subtitle of the book?

It was the threat of Nikolopoulos, one of the interrogators – torturers. He had threatened me that he would execute me and at the most I would become a square in Kokkinia if the Republic ever came. Unfortunately, he was not convicted either. He was solemnly acquitted.

What does the fact that the torturers were not convicted mean to you?

The impunity of the torturers is an open wound for the Hellenic Republic.

What kind of person is the torturer? How would you craft his portrait?

And this is very difficult to describe. It can be anything, it can be a monster, it can be a victim.

For your tormentors what do you think, what feelings do you have?

Emotions, at that time and many years later, were dominated by fear, anger, hatred. But none of these feelings can last indefinitely if they are not constantly shaken. Today for some I could even feel pity. But I will never feel understanding.

Did writing the book bring back the trauma of the torture?

The main elements of the book were written immediately after my release, i.e. in September 1973. When I got out of prison I recorded all the events in a concise way in a diary, because I had the need to talk about what I experienced in the ESA without it being made public the conversation. In the early 80’s I began to think that my experience should be made public. Essentially the book dates from then, 1980-1981. Now that I reworked it, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the great occupation of Nomiki in February ’73, in order to publish it, I found that many wounds remain open.

What are these wounds?

You relive the stress of torture, the loss of dignity, the anxiety of what will happen in the next moment. I can say, however, that by reading and re-reading the text, I also started to lighten up a bit. I think the publicity is a relief, because through it all I was overwhelmed by the guilt of not testifying at the trials of the torturers.

Were you afraid to testify then?

No, but almost all of us hit it then, because there was an exclusive deadline for filing lawsuits, and then we were surprised to learn that we weren’t eligible to testify as a prosecution witness if we hadn’t already filed a lawsuit. In retrospect, I estimate that the attendance of witnesses would have been much greater if the organized forces of the Left, especially the KKE, had shown more interest.

Does the trauma of torture ever heal?

I think it leaves traces. In some it may be deeper, in others less so. Physical and psychological violence, regardless of its cause, needs special care to overcome. We did not pursue it, either out of naivety or ignorance or out of the justified enthusiasm brought by the Post-colonization, which meant for us that everything can change. We thought the Postcolonial would be our cure.

You were denied;

Yes unfortunately. Undoubtedly, Democracy since the Post-colonial period is fuller and much more stable than the one we had experienced up until then. But it turned out to be too poor for our own expectations. The degeneration of public discourse, discounts on all kinds of rights, be they human or labor or anything else, over the years became a regime. Everywhere one looks around today one sees a faltering Rule of Law, labor relations in disarray – and, in the midst of it all, torture is slowly becoming a useful method again against the weak in society. I say this bearing in mind the dark information that has come to light about what is happening, for example, in the Omonia police station, in the immigrant and refugee centers, but also in specific police actions. The cases of Nikos Sakellionas, Nikos Romanos, Dimitris Indare are some that come to mind briefly, but the most characteristic of all is the lost finding of the Alivizatos commission on uncontrolled police brutality filed in May 2020, made public in November of the same year and since then his fate has been unknown, when Professor Alivizatos himself announced that the committee has essentially been dissolved, because “no one shows interest in its work”. And to stay only on this point, the uncontrolled police violence, let us clarify that this is of course something much broader than the issue of torture by the Junta. But the fact is that this violence still causes victims who do not find their justice. We are a democracy, no one disputes that, but with controversial performance in many matters concerning justice and rights.

So does the Republic always want our care?

Democracy in order to live and flourish needs the constant readiness of the citizens, their vigilance and constant care from all of us. And in all of this we retreat. Fortunately, however, there are also some reactions of the citizens that are bright exceptions, such as the mobilization of the relatives of the victims and the injured from the tragic accident in Tempe, the solemn reception that was given to the first court decision condemning Golden Dawn, as well as some strike mobilizations, as, for example, in the past at Cosco or deliverymen. A real leap in the defense of Democracy would be to support the Rule of Law in today’s conditions.

Half a century later, do you think everything has been said about the Dictatorship period?

No. Too much has been said, but not digested. The fact that the current government goes so far as to request the expulsion of students for their participation in the protests against private universities is reminiscent of an identical decision by the Dictatorship. That society does not rise to this kind of challenge shows that the lessons from that period have not been internalized. But beyond these there is the huge problem created by the systematic authoritarianism towards the youth, as well as the attempts to revise the historical events.

What phenomena are you referring to?

The attempts to revise the historical truth concern the revolt of the Polytechnic University, the entire development of the anti-dictatorship student movement, but also in general the resistance of the Greeks to the Dictatorship. Various cycles recur e.g. in the narrative that maintains that there were no dead people at the Polytechnic, despite all historical evidence. Similar is the attempt to present the anti-dictatorship movement as the creation of some who wanted to make a political career or to annihilate and ridicule the acts of resistance during the Dictatorship.

Ultimately, what was your pursuit through this book?

On the topic of torture there are the emblematic reports of Pericles Korovesis, Kitis Arsenis and others. However, I think that some information about the last period of the Dictatorship was missing. This is what I try to contribute with my book. Revisiting these events from a distance I think that the tortures we went through, from Law School onwards, did not reach the extremes they might otherwise have reached, after the infirmity inflicted by the torturers on the late Moustacles. One would say that it seems that thanks to the movement of the Navy and the choice of the Dictatorship to proceed with some “normalization” we avoided the worst.

Reflecting on all these events today what do you think?

Fortunately there are youth. We can be optimistic, because the future of the country, the future of the Republic, can be taken into the hands of young people.