Late 1960s FREE GREECE MILITARY JUNTA Mythology -- Prometheus Protest Pin

Description

THIS LISTING BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 AND
WILL END WITHIN  30 DAYS
,
ON OR BEFORE  OCTOBER 22, 2021,
IF THE ITEM IS NOT SOLD
OFFERED FOR SALE IS THIS
1 1/2 INCH CELLULOID PINBACK BUTTON
IN WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE NICE SHAPE.
HOWEVER, THAT IS JUST MY OPINION.  SEE PHOTOS FOR CONDITION, AND YOU BE THE JUDGE.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE BIDDING OR BUYING.
RETURNS ARE NOT ACCEPTED UNLESS THE ITEM IS NOT AS DESCRIBED OR SHOWN IN THE PHOTOS OR HAS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OR DEFECTS  NOT VISIBLE IN THE PHOTOS OR OTHERWISE DESCRIBED.
GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC AND ORIGINAL AS DESCRIBED
.
This Pin was issued and sold in the late 1960s to raise funds and support for efforts to rid Greece of the Greek military Junta that seized power in a military coup in 1967.
The pin has great graphics of a
Prometheus
(the
Titan god of fire
from Greek mythology) bound to a rock, with his liver being picked out by an eagle (t
he emblem of Zeus), which was the
eternal torment Zeus imposed upon him for his transgression in giving fire to humans, which Prometheus had created from clay.
In ancient Greece, the
liver
was often thought to be the
seat of human emotions
. His
liver would then grow back overnight, only to be eaten again the next day in an ongoing cycle. Prometheus was eventually freed by
the hero Heracles
.
The image of Prometheus on the pin is a metaphor for the torment the Military Junta was inflicting upon the population of Greece.  T
he pin reads:
FREE GREECE
.
The
Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels
was a series of far-right military juntas that ruled Greece from
1967 to 1974
. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels overthrew the caretaker government a month before scheduled elections which Georgios Papandreou's Center Union was favored to win.
The dictatorship was characterized by
right-wing cultural policies, restrictions on civil liberties, and the imprisonment, torture, and exile of political opponents
.
The
democratic elements
of Greek society were
opposed to the junta
, from the start. This included
the entire left wing
of the Greek political spectrum, including the
Communist Party of Greece
, which was outlawed long before the junta.
Many new militant groups formed in 1968, both in exile and in Greece, to promote democratic rule. These included
Panhellenic Liberation Movement
,
Democratic Defense
, and the
Socialist Democratic Union
. The first armed action against the junta was Alexandros Panagoulis's failed attempt to assassinate George Papadopoulos, on 13 August 1968.
The funeral of George Papandreou, Sr., on 3 November 1968, spontaneously turned into a massive demonstration against the junta. Thousands of Athenians disobeyed the military's orders, and followed the casket to the cemetery. The junta arrested 41 people.
In
1969
, Costa-Gavras released
the film
Z
, based on a book by celebrated left-wing writer Vassilis Vassilikos. The film was
banned in Greece
,
The film captured the sense of outrage about the junta
.
The junta exiled thousands, on the grounds that they were communists and/or "enemies of the country". Most of them were subjected to internal exile on Greek deserted islands
. The most famous were in external exile, most of whom were substantially involved in the resistance, organizing protests in European capital cities or helping and hiding refugees from Greece.
The junta's rule ended on
24 July 1974
under the pressure of the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
, leading to the Metapolitefsi ("regime change") to democracy and the establishment of the
Third Hellenic Republic
.
This underground pinback button pin or badge relates to the Hippie (or Hippy ) Counterculture Movement of the psychedelic Sixties (1960s and Seventies (1970s).  That movement included such themes and topics as peace, protest, civil rights, radical, socialist, communist, anarchist, union labor strikes, drugs, marijuana, pot, weed, lsd, acid, sds, iww, anti draft, anti war, anti rotc, welfare rights, poverty, equal rights, integration, gay, women's rights, black panthers, black power, left wing, liberal, etc.  progressive political movement and is guaranteed to be genuine as described.
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST
The strategy and methods that the Deacons employed attracted the attention and concern of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which authorized an investigation into the group’s activities. The investigation stalled, however, when more influential black power organizations such as US and the
Black Panther Party
emerged after the
1965 Watts Riot
.  With public attention, and the attention of the FBI focused elsewhere, the Deacons lost most of their notoriety and slowly declined in influence.  By 1968 they were all but extinct.  In 2003 the activities of the Deacons was the subject of a 2003, “Deacons for Defense.” - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf
On July 10, 1964, a group of African American men in Jonesboro,
Louisiana
led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice to protect members of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
against Ku Klux Klan violence.  Most of the “Deacons” were veterans of
World War II
and the
Korean War
. The Jonesboro chapter organized its first affiliate chapter in nearby Bogalusa, Louisiana led by Charles Sims, A.Z. Young and Robert Hicks. Eventually they organized a third chapter in Louisiana. The Deacons tense confrontation with the Klan in Bogalusa was crucial in forcing the federal government to intervene on behalf of the local African American community.  The national attention they garnered also persuaded state and national officials to initiate efforts to neutralize the Klan in that area of the Deep South.
The Deacons emerged as one of the first visible self-defense forces in the South and as such represented a new face of the
civil rights
movement.  Traditional civil rights organizations remained silent on them or repudiated their activities.  They were effective however in providing protection for local African Americans who sought to register to vote and for white and black civil rights workers in the area.  The Deacons, for example, provided security for the 1966 March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson,
Mississippi
.  Moreover their presence in Southeastern Louisiana meant that the Klan would no longer be able to intimidate and terrorize local African Americans without challenge.
The strategy and methods that the Deacons employed attracted the attention and concern of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which authorized an investigation into the group’s activities. The investigation stalled, however, when more influential black power organizations such as US and the
Black Panther Party
emerged after the
1965 Watts Riot
.  With public attention, and the attention of the FBI focused elsewhere, the Deacons lost most of their notoriety and slowly declined in influence.  By 1968 they were all but extinct.  In 2003 the activities of the Deacons was the subject of a 2003, “Deacons for Defense.” - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf
On July 10, 1964, a group of African American men in Jonesboro,
Louisiana
led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice to protect members of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
against Ku Klux Klan violence.  Most of the “Deacons” were veterans of
World War II
and the
Korean War
. The Jonesboro chapter organized its first affiliate chapter in nearby Bogalusa, Louisiana led by Charles Sims, A.Z. Young and Robert Hicks. Eventually they organized a third chapter in Louisiana. The Deacons tense confrontation with the Klan in Bogalusa was crucial in forcing the federal government to intervene on behalf of the local African American community.  The national attention they garnered also persuaded state and national officials to initiate efforts to neutralize the Klan in that area of the Deep South.
The Deacons emerged as one of the first visible self-defense forces in the South and as such represented a new face of the
civil rights
movement.  Traditional civil rights organizations remained silent on them or repudiated their activities.  They were effective however in providing protection for local African Americans who sought to register to vote and for white and black civil rights workers in the area.  The Deacons, for example, provided security for the 1966 March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson,
Mississippi
.  Moreover their presence in Southeastern Louisiana meant that the Klan would no longer be able to intimidate and terrorize local African Americans without challenge.
The strategy and methods that the Deacons employed attracted the attention and concern of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which authorized an investigation into the group’s activities. The investigation stalled, however, when more influential black power organizations such as US and the
Black Panther Party
emerged after the
1965 Watts Riot
.  With public attention, and the attention of the FBI focused elsewhere, the Deacons lost most of their notoriety and slowly declined in influence.  By 1968 they were all but extinct.  In 2003 the activities of the Deacons was the subject of a 2003, “Deacons for Defense.” - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf
On July 10, 1964, a group of African American men in Jonesboro,
Louisiana
led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice to protect members of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
against Ku Klux Klan violence.  Most of the “Deacons” were veterans of
World War II
and the
Korean War
. The Jonesboro chapter organized its first affiliate chapter in nearby Bogalusa, Louisiana led by Charles Sims, A.Z. Young and Robert Hicks. Eventually they organized a third chapter in Louisiana. The Deacons tense confrontation with the Klan in Bogalusa was crucial in forcing the federal government to intervene on behalf of the local African American community.  The national attention they garnered also persuaded state and national officials to initiate efforts to neutralize the Klan in that area of the Deep South. - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf