An activist-politician who influenced Greece’s past ponders his own future

Nikos Constantopoulos has been a scholar, a rebel, a politician, an activist and a firebrand. A founder and leader of Synaspismos Left Coalition, he recently announced that he would leave his post as the party’s president and not run for re-election, ending a significant chapter in the leftist politics here. So what’s next for Constantopoulos? The resilient politician recently talked to Kathimerini about his life, his contributions to Greece and his plans for the future. You surprised people by stepping down as president of Synaspismos and announcing that you would not run in the next election. I wanted to. I have other things to do. You must not let yourself get stale in politics. Besides, it was good for me to be able to review my ideas, my life, my relationship with the world and my interests. There has been talk of your becoming president of Greece. I asked why not have a president from the Left and some took it as a sign to open fire. They have never forgiven me for defending people who were persecuted for their beliefs, for taking an active part in the Social Forum, for taking a stand on the great ordeals of the Balkans and the Middle East. What attracted you to politics? My own experience. The family environment was intensely politicized and my father, as a lawyer, fought for the abolition of vast estates in the area. My mother was a philologist who had relatives in prison. Your first political actions? Putting up posters for the Democratic Socialist Party of which my father was a member. Later, when I was 14, I took part in the big rally for Cyprus in 1956. Powerful images from childhood? From the civil war, I remember the train full of troops going to fight with the partisans in the battle of Zacharo and coming back the next day full of the wounded. First songs, then the tragic silence of the bloodied. Adolescence? In the provinces and later in Peristeri, Athens. What do the provinces mean to you? The source of life, of my existence. My memory is still haunted by images. I have never lost the sense of looking at the world from the beach at Kaiafa and the mountain of Lapitha, of seeking life along the roads of Olympia. Athens? Adolescence. Full of tension from the effort to acclimatize, to fill in gaps both at school and in life. The excitement of confronting new things. Student and political action? The great movements were starting then at the universities, for the democratization of pubic life, academic freedom and university asylum. The struggle for education reform. The creation of the National Union of Students. Hopes. Taking risks without counting the cost. We were the first post-civil war generation to enter the political game and we wanted to make up for delays. Militancy and selflessness prevailed. Your first political disappointment? The apostasy. I saw that the parliamentary system could be undermined. I felt shame and anger. Another disappointment? The dictatorship. Manifold bitterness, repeated defeat. Gloom. You were arrested during the junta. How does it feel to have someone rule your body, your existence? Overwhelming. There is raw violence, the meat mincer and the hell of torture. Barbarism. What were your feelings when you were arrested? That from there on you don’t decide anything. Above all the sense of what price that the family and other people who depended on me would have to pay. What about solitary confinement? I felt trapped. I made up for what I wanted from life solely by thinking. I didn’t think I would find the meaning of life again. Were you afraid of going mad? Intensely. A fear of losing your mind, of collapsing. And it’s by chance, by coincidence that you exceed your limits of endurance more than your torturers expect. Did you reach those limits? Yes. I said, «That’s it,» and I surprised my torturers when I said, «My corpse will be a bigger problem for you than I am now.» They panicked. It was a momentary reaction, which saved me. The psychological and practical solidarity of two military policemen also saved me. They gave me water when it was forbidden and let me rest when they were supposed to make me walk night and day. What were your feelings when you saw your torturers on trial for torture? Vindication, disgust and scorn. I had seen the way they behaved when they had power. I felt the superiority of ideas, of the power of freedom, the value of human life. What is your view of the trial of Andreas Papandreou in 1989? Catharsis was a slogan for all the parties. PASOK was in favor of the Special Court. PASOK votes help put PASOK officials on trial. There was an issue of political responsibility for the (Giorgos) Koskottas scandal. In the Left Coalition I had been in favor of putting Papandreou on trial. In court there was no evidence of wrongdoing on his part and I called for his acquittal. Now I think this trial had a negative effect on the overall political and party system. How do you see the future? We talk about the past, the future, but we don’t restructure reality and invest in it with optimism and dynamism. Problems persist, society is distrustful, and dialogue is divisive. Pessimism or realism? Realism. Society is changing rapidly, the international environment is changing dramatically. There are opportunities for development but there are also many things outstanding. The immobility of the Greek political system, outright government majorities, government partisanship, hereditary succession and state-fed entangled interests. Entangled interests still… They’re the real power, the gangrene of our political system. What is the answer? To strive anew for human and social rights, to revive and deepen the values of democracy and peaceful coexistence. Are we still behind? Very much so. Events move much faster, reversals are crystallized more easily. That’s why we still see polarization, sloganeering and the collapse of institutions. Can free markets save society from that? The market creates and imposes needs, making consumerism a substitute for humanism. Life should be in harmony with the environment, with the real capacity of the planet. The destruction of the environment reveals a suicidal tendency among those in power. Leaders ignorant of history are caught up in serving vested interests. In pursuing development we exhaust the planet’s resources. We need different methods of production and consumption, another kind of development. Are those in power playing with life? In the belief that the power game is the main thing, they ignore dramatic changes to the climate, the atmosphere, resources. Politics is not merely running the government. It means organizing and giving expression to societies. It means articulating visions related to the real needs of people and the progress of civilization. Where do you contribute most? Much more as a defender than in putting across images and impressions in public life, which is ruled by management and market models. But politics rules. I’ll never disengage from politics, because it’s everywhere. What is your political fear? The erosion of democratic achievements in the name of competition and vulgar new wealth, and preventive suppression in the name of combating terrorism. Many say that in the future you will rally those who are not satisfied with the two-party system. I won’t be staying on the sidelines or trying to take it easy. I’ll do my best to fight for structural change. Making new parties is not the solution. All parties in Parliament, all social organizations and movements must see widespread social and political dissatisfaction. How do you interpret the attacks on you by some of the media? It is intense, continuous and ruthless. I could say a lot about those who think public space is their property where they do as they please and serve their own interests. Might you represent a threat as one who can rally the dissatisfied? As long as I live and breathe, I’ll fight for what I believe in. That is no threat. Those who see it differently will always have me against them. There is hope in the vigilance and resistance of active citizens. (1) Both articles on this page first appeared in Kathimerini’s color supplement K on March 4. Way stations in the life of an activist Nikos Constantopoulos was born in 1942 in Krestena, near Olympia. In 1956 he moved to Athens where he went to the Varvakeio School, then to Athens Law School in 1960. He was active in student politics, being elected president of the law students’ union and later of the federation of student unions at Athens University (DESPA). He served as secretary of Greek Democratic Youth (EDHN), and was a member of the resistance organization Democratic Defense. In 1969 he was arrested and imprisoned, and in 1970 sentenced to eight years. He spent the years 1969-73 in prisons in different parts of Greece. In 1974 he became a founder member of PASOK, and in 1975 a founding member of Socialist Course. He began practicing law in 1975 and was a leading witness in the trials of torturers in the junta’s security services. He helped found the Alliance of Left and Progressive Forces in 1977, and in 1988 the Coalition of the Left and Progress. In 1989 he was extra-parliamentary minister of interior, and served as a deputy in 1990-1993 and 1996-2007. From 1993-2004 Constantopoulos was president of Synaspismos Left Coalition.