Episode 63: 1969's "Z"

The political film Z deals with the real life circumstances of Grigoris Lambrakis who was murdered in 1963 because of his advocacy for peace and disarmament. Hmm . . . seems like I've heard some similar stories before . . .  It also seems that politicians who truly lobby for peace and disarmament don't have long life expectancies.

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(1969_film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigoris_Lambrakis

https://www.academia.edu/1553130/_Who_Will_Help_Me_to_Get_Rid_of_this_Man_Grigoris_Lambrakis_and_the_Non_Aligned_Peace_Movement_in_Post_Civil_War_Greece_1951_1964

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4VToWIB6p8

https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610

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Sara's book Decoding the Unicorn: A New Look at Dag Hammarskjöld is available now! Click here to buy it on Amazon. 

Transcript

Transcription by Otter.ai.  Please forgive any typos!

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Conspiracy theories, 1969 political film, Z, spoilers, ideological disease, military service, peace meeting, nuclear disarmament, counter demonstration, gaslighting, witness intimidation, military seizure, Grigoris Lambrakis, anti-war activism.

Welcome to con-sara-cy theories. Are you ready to ask questions you shouldn't and find information you're not supposed to know? Well, you're in the right place. Here is your host, Sara Causey.

Hello, hello, and thanks for tuning in. In tonight's episode, I will be talking about the 1969 political film z as of this recording, I was able to find it for rent on Amazon, and I think I paid three or $4 to be able to rent it if you have not seen it, spoilers abound. There's no way for me to really talk about this film and its historical context without spoiling it for you. So if you have not seen it, but you intend to bookmark this episode, download it, come back to it later. If you're with me, I'm going to assume that you're fine with spoilers. Let's saddle up and take this ride. At the start of the film, someone is lecturing about mildew on plants. A screen pops up saying, any resemblance to persons living or dead is not a coincidence. It is intentional. And I laughed a little bit at that, because it's certainly a departure from the norm. The military compares mildew on plants with ideological disease that must be fought preventatively. It is caused by harmful germs and various parasites. So the spraying of humans with appropriate mixtures is indispensable. Schools constitute the first arena where young shoots have not yet reached four or five inches the second spraying occurs just before or after blossoming, and this refers to universities and young workers. Military service is the best time to protect the sacred tree of national Liberty against infection from ideological mildew. This year, leaflets are being dropped by air to inform our peasantry. And yes, they use the word peasantry of the ideological mildew threatening our country. This military man says, when there is an outbreak of isms such as socialism, anarchism, imperialism, communism, etc, sunspots begin to swarm across the face of the diurnal orb. God cast no light on them. Scientists have announced a major increase in sunspots since the advent of beatniks Provost and most of all, pacifist tendencies from Italy, France and Scandinavia. We are told that this country, this unknown nation that they're in, is a democracy. Although just from this snippet, it certainly doesn't sound like it. There is to be some kind of demonstration and then counter demonstration in the city that evening, although at this point in the film, we don't yet know what that is, we learn there's some type of peace meeting that's happening regarding nuclear disarmament. The man who has agreed to rent a hall to this peace group reneges on the deal and throws them out. This group tries to find a venue, but it's a struggle. No one wants them. One of the organizers says we should just cancel. An anonymous informant says a man involved in the demonstration will be killed at the same time, the Bolshoi Ballet is in town, and that's the main news on everyone's mind. The group asks for additional protection from the police, but they get a lukewarm reception. A street gang starts to tear down their promotional posters and tells them they should hold their meetings in Russia. Fights break out. The peace group says they're against nuclear bombs, regardless of whether they're Russian or American. A group of counter protesters and probably agent provocateurs, starts chanting, Viva bomb, which is just absurd. It's almost like is this a satire? What is happening here? Viva bomb, people cheering for their own destruction. The leader of this group is the one who's been threatened, the one who's received the death threats, and he's described by a photographer as being an ex Olympic champion, a doctor, an academic and an honest politician, perfection. One of the organizers believes the counter demonstration is too violent and the event should be canceled. Another organizer says that the teeny, tiny venue they've been squeezed into was probably a setup of some kind, and that they should not have done it. He actually blames the Charlie India alpha, excuse me, which caused me to laugh again. I was like, Yeah, I'm with you. Man, it probably was them. They probably are the ones that did it. The major players in the police department are all at the Bolshoi Ballet performance, and the leader of. This peace group calmly says, Well, we know the risks of what we're doing. This is not the first time we've had death threats, and it's not the first time that we've been put in less than ideal circumstances. As the leader walks to the hall, someone hits him in the head. The rabble becomes more violent. When he makes it into the hall, he asks some very good questions, such as, why does peace inspire such violence? Why is peace intolerable to these people? One of the organizers is taken in an ambulance after he's beaten up. However, this is an ambush. The criminals believe that they have the leader of the group, and when they figure out that they have the wrong man in this ambulance, they abandon him. His bloody body is simply left in the street. The military men haul the photographers away, and the leader of this peace group is again hit in the head, this time more forcefully, more violently. The officials claim that the leader was hit as part of an accident. Others in the group know that it was an intentional act. Meanwhile, the government officials and the police officials hope that this peace group leader will live because they are scared that if he dies, he will become a martyr. So it's not that they care about his life, it's that they don't want him turning into a martyr for this cause. After fighting for his life in the hospital, the leader dies, the government sets about a gas lighting campaign to convince everyone it was an accident, ie, that the leader was tragically hit by a drunk driver. They even come up with affidavits saying the men involved had been drinking at a Chinese bar beforehand an autopsy is performed on the leader, and it conflicts with the official narrative about a drunk driver. Hmm, doesn't all of this sound really familiar, and not just about the circumstances in Z Hmm, so many things here sound familiar to several different cases. The character called the examining magistrate believes he has gathered enough evidence to indict the men who killed the leader, as well as several members of the police force. And one of the things I wanted to interject here is that a pretty good chunk of the movie centers around the intimidation, the gas lighting, the manipulation of witnesses, I would say that that's a pretty fair chunk of the time that's spent in the movie z the Attorney General argues that the evidence is trumped up by pacifists looking to turn their dead leader into a martyr. He says their country has been invaded by long haired men, atheists and junkies of unclear sex. He suggests that the magistrate divide his prosecution into three parts. First try the two criminals, aka the ones who were accused of being drunk drivers, even though we as the viewer know that they were not drunk, they intentionally did what they did in the second part, try the police authorities. Maybe they've been guilty of negligence. It can really just be an administrative matter that could be handled internally within the police force. And then third, bring an action against the organizers of the rally. Their inflammatory speech makes them morally responsible for any violence that took place that day. Anyway, he tells the magistrate that it's an old rule of thumb who stands to gain the most. He also furnishes the magistrate with a list of helpful witnesses. However, the magistrate does not roll over when the leader's widow is informed of the evidence and the indictments, she appears emotional. At the end of the film, we learn that the deputy prosecutor never made it to trial. He dies of a heart attack, according to the coroner, seven other witnesses died before the trial, a car accident, a gas explosion, a suicide, a drowning, a work related accident, a second car accident and a heart attack while driving, and a heart attack while driving. Foul Play has been rolled out, says the new head of security. Hmm, doesn't that circumstance also sound awfully familiar to a variety of Pop Pop stories, huh? Witnesses and people that need to testify are just suddenly dead under weird and super convenient circumstances. Hmm, I feel like I've seen this movie before. After a three month trial Viggo, who was one of the men that committed the murder, but the government tried to convince everybody that he was just a drunk driver. He was sentenced to eight years on a prison farm, but only served four years. Iago, the other killer, was sentenced to 11 years, but served only five and a half years. The military police that were indicted had their charges dropped and were given. An administrative reprimands. The scandal led to the government's resignation. It looked as though opposition would take control of the government. Wait for it. However, before the elections were held, the military seized power and dismissed the magistrate during transport in a police van. Members of the peace group also did not fare well. The deputy died of a stroke, according to police, another was deported. Another fell from the seventh floor of a building during questioning, a journalist who attempted to help them was sentenced to three years in prison for disclosure of official documents. We learn also in this Epilog that the military regime that seized power banned long hair, miniskirts, Sophocles, Tolstoy Russian style, toasts, freedom of the press, sociology, Dostoyevsky, modern music, pop music, homosexuality, mathematics, etc, etc. I will admit that this was not a movie that I was familiar with. I read about it in an article, and I think it may have been one of the articles that James di Eugenio wrote for probe magazine. But I can't swear to that I off the top of my head. I don't remember precisely where I heard about this film, but I thought, ah, sounds like one worth checking out. So I also, by extension, did not know that the film depicts the real events around the murder of Gregory's lamb brackets. I'm like, wait a minute. Whoa, this is a true story. So I want to go now to the Wikipedia page about lamb brackets. Gregorius lambracus was a Greek politician, physician, athlete and lecturer. He participated in track and field sports and was a member of the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Athens a member of the Greek resistance to axis rule during World War Two. He later became a prominent anti war activist. His pop pop by right wing zealots that were covertly supported by the police and military provoked mass protests and led to a political crisis. Hmm, you know, this story sounds super familiar, even though I did, was not aware of the movie Z was not aware of of this politician, lamb brackets, let alone his murder, which also, by the way, happened in 1963 I'm like, Hmm, there are some details here that sound awfully familiar. So I'm going to go now to the tab post war activism. After World War Two, lam brackas completed his medical studies and worked as a lecturer in the Department of gynecology. He continued to help the poor by running a small private clinic for patients who were unable to afford medical care, while not a communist, lam brackas political and ideological orientation leaned towards the left. He was actively involved in the pacifist movement of his time, which voiced strong opposition to the First Indochina War and the second American war in Vietnam. Lam brackas acted politically from within the United Democratic Left, the only legal left wing political party in the country after the Greek civil war of 1946 to 1949 and until the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967 to 1974 he was elected to the Hellenic parliament in the 1961 Greek legislative election as An MP that same year, 1961 under his initiative, the Commission for international detente and peace was established in Greece in his capacity as vice president of the organization lamb brackets participated in international pacifist meetings and demonstrations despite frequent threats against his life. E, D, y, E was an organization set up by EDA, which, while not officially aligned to the World Council of peace, broadly supported its anti capitalist and anti imperialist position. EDA had ceded lamb brackets full freedom to represent the commission, and he soon emerged as its most articulate and determined leader on the 21st of april 1963 the pacifist movement in Greece organized the first pacifist rally from Marathon to Athens. The police intervened, banned the rally and arrested many demonstrators. Lamb brackets, protected by his parliamentary immunity, marched alone and arrived at the end of the rally holding the banner with the peace symbol, the one that he had previously held up during the Aldermaston rally in the UK while he was protesting near the atomic weapons research establishment. Soon afterward, he too was arrested by the police on May 22 1963 shortly after he had delivered the keynote speech at an. High war meeting in Thessaloniki, two far right extremists, and I'm not even going to attempt these names. I'm not good enough to do that, but these two far right extremists, driving a three wheeled vehicle, struck lamb brackets with a club over the head in plain view of a large number of people and allegedly some police officers. He suffered brain injuries and died in the hospital five days later on, may 27 the two men were arrested because of the reaction of a bystander who jumped on their vehicle and fought with them. End Quote, so this is very, very, very similar to the way that the events are depicted in the film z i also want to read just a little bit to you from this academic paper titled, who will help me to get rid of this man, gregoris, glambracas and the non aligned peace movement in post Civil War Greece, 1951 to 1964 I will also drop a link to This paper on academia.edu, so that you can check it out in its entirety for yourself if you want to.

It seems to me that

people who are in the public eye, they're politicians, they have some amount of power, and they're also able to garner some amount of publicity, if someone like that really becomes committed to peace, they don't seem to have a very long life expectancy, we think about what's happened to lamb brackets, and then we also think about what happened to JFK, what happened to RFK, What happened to Martin Luther King, Jr, what happened to Dag hammershold? I think back to the movie z and that bit of dialog. Why does peace inspire such violence from these people? What is going on that they are so opposed to peace? So now I'm going to pivot over here to this academic paper who will help me to get rid of this man and I am on let's see what page is this. It looks like it's Page 313, I think this is an excerpt of some kind, though. I think it's page 15. If you download the PDF, which hopefully you will take a look at this for yourself, it's actually page 15 of the PDF, alright, after the successful marathon March, he flew back to London with a view to interceding on behalf of Antonis am, but tell your wife, Betty, who was in London so that Queen Frederica would grant her an audience at which she might convince her of the propriety of releasing her husband, Antonis. Amatelios was a prominent Greek communist in the 1940s as General Secretary of the Federation of Greek maritime unions. He played a key role in organizing seaman's resistance to fascism at the start of the Civil War and but teleos was arrested and imprisoned, along with other communist trade union leaders, initially condemned to death, His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment after the intervention of the FGM you, the Federation of Greek maritime unions, and his wife, Betty Bartlett, who spearheaded a successful international campaign for his release. He was released 17 years later in 1964 after much suffering, although Lam brackas failed in his immediate objective, he drew a lot of attention to himself by making a famous statement in the British newspapers. I came to London to ask the Queen to listen to Mrs. And batilios for it is, by now well known that it is neither the parliament nor the government that decide in Greece, but Queen Frederica, unfortunately, the Queen has also refused to meet me who, as deputy, represent the Greek people, a people who desire democracy, freedom and release of all political prisoners. I want to warn the queen that, with her attitude, she is leading the throne to assure demise. This was on April 30, 1963 according to one rumor attributed to the then royal secretary, Gerasimos Gigantes, whose pen name was Philip Dean, the Queen was so infuriated that she even asked, Who will help me to get rid of this man? Wow, wow. That is reminiscent of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 as the story goes. Right now, this could just be a legendary story along the lines of Nero fiddling whilst Rome burned the Romans, salting the ashes at Carthage let them eat cake. You have historians that go back and say, well, well, actually, these things didn't help. Hmm, I don't want to get a bunch of hate mail like that. Some mansplainer Getting up my behind, as the story goes, Henry the second, had made a comment to the effect of, I wish somebody would get rid of him. He's a thorn in my flesh. I wish he would go away. I wish that he were just not in the picture anymore. And so some of his knights took it upon themselves to go and murder Thomas Beckett so that he would no longer be a thorn in the flesh of Henry the second now is that exactly the way that it went down. I don't know. I wasn't there in the 1100s don't send me hate mail. But that's what the this comment from this academic essay reminds me of, why? Why won't somebody get rid of him? Why do I even have to deal with this bastard? It's what it reminds me of. So as I said, it seems to me that a politician, a diplomat, a public figure, someone that is really able to capture some attention, if that person has a true commitment to peace, to disarmament, their anti war, which logically seems very reasonable to be pro peace and to not want the military industrial complex to just grow and grow and grow and to spend untold trillions of dollars making weapons of war. And that seems very rational to me, but yet, whenever you have somebody that really gains some traction, that really makes it into a position of power. That's of that flavor. They just don't seem to have a very long life expectancy. There are people who believe that when JFK went to American University, June 10, 1963 to deliver the commencement address, which actually becomes colloquially known as the peace speech, that was the final nail in his coffin. That was like the thing that really made the establishment take that as you will attribute that to whoever you want to the establishment decide he needs to be gotten the hell out of here. He's too dangerous. We're gonna lose a lot of money. We're gonna lose a lot of power. If this guy gets his way, we're fucked, and he needs to be gotten out of here. Ron Paul actually talked about that with Tucker Carlson and Tucker Carlson, who, you know, let's, let's just leave that topic alone. That can be a topic for another time, but he's sitting there, he's like, Well, you made a point I've never heard before, and you felt like he sealed his fate at the Peace speech. And I'm like, you've never heard that before. Where the hell have you been? It's not like Ron Paul is the first person to come up with this idea. I want to just play a small excerpt for you here. It's in the public domain, so I feel safe doing that. But just a small excerpt here from this commencement address. First of all, I want you to think about how different it sounds from anything that we get today. Then I also want you to think about how different the world might be had we actually achieved this sort of thing instead of these forever wars and trillions upon trillions of dollars and trying to be the world's policeman and sticking our nose into every mess and doing regime change. Think about how different things might be. Now, if this had actually been allowed to happen,

I have therefore chosen this time and place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth too rarely perceived, and that is the most important topic on earth, peace. What kind of a peace do I mean? And what kind of a peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war, not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on Earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and build a better life for their children, not merely peace for Americans, but peace for all men and women. Not merely peace in our time, but peace in all time. I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total War makes no sense in an age where great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age where a single nuclear weapon contains almost 10 times the. Explosive force delivered by all the Allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and a generation yet unborn today, the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need them is essential to the keeping of peace. But surely, the acquisition of such idle stockpiles which can only destroy and never create, is not the only, much less the most efficient means of assuring peace. I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational man, I realize the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war, and frequently, the words of the pursuers fall on deaf ears, but we have no more urgent task.

But remember, we're all supposed to hate this guy

wasn't any big loss. What happened? He wasn't anything special. He was just some vapid, unintelligent himbo, a sex fiend, no deep ideology, etc, etc, at all. I recommend the film Z, especially because after you've invested this two hour ride trying to figure out what's going to happen. You get to the Epilog, and it's like, even though this magistrate is so full of righteous indignation, and you think he's going to make a difference, he's really going to try to bring these perpetrators to justice. You learn how the system really works. There are all of these convenient deaths and suicides. People go to prison, but they don't actually serve out their term. People within the military industrial complex and the film are just given slaps on the wrist, administrative reprimands, and then everything just goes on. The military seizes control and then bans whatever they want whatever they think isn't good, gets banned, and so on and so on and so on. I understand that this probably sounds terribly cynical, but gestures broadly, look around, stay a little bit crazy and I will see you in the next episode.

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