17th of November 2025: another year of silence

17th of November 2025: another year of silence

In this post I outline why it is important for the Greek diaspora and especially the Greek School in Cardiff to commemorate and celebrate the uprising of the Greek people against the military Junta in Greece in 1973. For those who do not know what this is about, please have a look here and many other online resources.

17th of November at the Greek School in Cardiff

I recently had the following response from an early teenage student of the Greek School in Cardiff, when I asked them what happened on the 17th of November: “the Turks attacked Athens with tanks”. That response made me smile, of course, and I did not dare ask younger (and especially older) kids for fear of getting more hilarious answers. However, the confusion is evident and has been evident for years because there has never been any significant investment in teaching the recent history of Greece, and in particular the monumental event of the uprising of the 17th of November, at the Greek School in Cardiff.

I am probably the parent that has had kids in the Greek School in Cardiff for the longest period of time. Many teachers and head teachers have come and gone and I welcomed them each time and have been really grateful for their contribution under difficult conditions. I am sure that there have been occassions that the uprising of the 17th of November has indeed been discussed in the classroom, but clearly this has been the exception.

For example, the recent School newsletter on the 14th of November made no reference to the uprising although it was so close to the anniversary. There was no related event at the School over that weekend. This is no exception. There has never been an event at the School to commemorate the uprising, so I am absolutely not singling out the current teachers - I have been complaining about this for over a decade.

17th of November commemorations in Greece

In Greece, the 17th of November commemoration is an obligatory celebration for every school. In many schools this is the highlight of the year’s celebrations. This is because it is a more relevant and historically recent event but also because the celebrations of the 25th of March and the 28th of October involve parading in the centre of town and in high-school no teenager ever wants to go and parade in the centre of the town, so the uprising is the only commemoration event that students actually want to contribute.

Preparations for it start as early as the beginning of the academic year. Short stage shows are put up, narratives and poetry is recited. The event of the uprising is described hour-by-hour. For those who live close to Athens, there is an emotionally charged visit to the building of the Polytechnic in Patision St., where it all happened, holding red carnations and depositing them at the monument.

Participating in these activities is an opportunity to discuss and understand what led to the uprising, what led to the military Junta, how it all ended and why and what happened to Greece after that event. This is all normal and regular. As teenagers are maturing, so are their ideas and understanding of the uprising. Time is passing, experiences change and the lived experience of the uprising may only rest with older generations, but the spirit and the history of the uprising is still a core event in the school calendars as it should.

As we are aiming to provide to our kids in Cardiff, as much as possible, the same experience as the kids in Greece have, we should make the uprising a core commemoration event in our school calendar as well.

Why is the uprising imporant for school kids

The uprising of the 17th of November took place in 1973. There is a complex political and social context that led to the uprising which I have neither the expertise nor the time to analyse here. The fact is that in 1973 university students, farmers and workers around Athens fought against the police and the army for social change. They were ready to fight, even with a sub-optimal coordination strategy, against the army-controlled state with the ultimate target to overthrow the Junta. The Junta fell a few months later and the uprising was a catalyst to that conclusion. Also, the uprising is the last event of such kind in Greek history so far. As such it is particularly important.

The main lesson school kids can learn from this event is:

That the people acting in unity are the strongest power in a country and in society. That a popular uprising can change the way the state operates. That such things are possible and have happened relatively recently in Greek history. That it is important to understand what fellow members of a society are fighting for and support them.

I would argue, of course, that there are secondary lessons to learn:

That the police and the army do not always act in the interest of the people and that the police and the army are tools of the state which are sometimes used against the people. And that the official position of the Greek Church to legitimise the Junta indicates that the Church may also be a tool of the state.

But I would not necessarily expect these secondary lessons to be the emphasis of possible commemorations at the School in Cardiff.

Why is it important for Cardiff and our Cypriot brothers and sisters

In Cardiff, like in many other cities in the UK, the Greek community to a large extent consists of Cypriots. They form the backbone of the community and, arguably, the backbone of the School given that the Greek-Cypriot Brotherhood owns (and lets) the building to the School. The invasion of Cyprus by Turkey in 1974, is directly linked to the military Junta in Greece as the Greek Junta was the main sponsor of an attempt for establishing another Junta in Cyprus on the same year and after the uprising of the 17th of November. This has shaped in the worst possible way the recent history of Cyprus and has affected many of our Cypriot brothers and sisters. It is the duty of the School to teach this history to our children - it is critical - it is essential - it cannot be hidden from them.

What you can do

As parents we can decisively push the School to make the 17th of November a regular celebration. Talk to your teacher. Explain that you care about this as part of the upbringing and education of your child. Talk to other parents, ask them to begin discussions. This is a core part of Greece’s modern history and it must be taught and celebrated.

The Greek Leek