Propaganda and the Cyprus Revolt: Rebellion, Counter-Insurgency and the Media, 1955-59 by Maria Hadjiathanasiou

Author:Maria Hadjiathanasiou [Hadjiathanasiou, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Imperialism, Propaganda, Political Ideologies, Political Science, Nationalism & Patriotism, Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
ISBN: 9781788317313
Google: YO3cDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2020-06-11T12:55:11+00:00

Figure 4 ‘Announcement’, PEKA leaflet, reminding the Greek Cypriots that their sole representative was Archbishop and Ethnarch Makarios III and expressing gratitude for what he had done so far for them.

Figure 5 ‘Announcement’, forged leaflet, colonial government. In a deeply sarcastic tone this leaflet was ‘thanking’ the Archbishop for his disastrous handling of the Cyprus issue and warning the Greek Cypriots against partition.

Cartoons: ‘Getting a simple idea across with simple people’?

In his attempt to reach the Greek Cypriot public, Governor Harding became interested in using cartoons produced by the Psychological Warfare Division.224 Lawrence Durrell, while in Cyprus and in his role as Director of Information Services (before Leslie Glass’s arrival), was the middleman between the colonial government and cartoonists. During this research a few cartoon samples were discovered in a file titled ‘Cyprus: Psychological Warfare; Leaflets’.225 This fascinating, newly accessible material includes visual evidence of the colonial government’s efforts in psychological warfare. In a personal and confidential letter sent to Durrell by D. Stephens, Director of Intelligence, dated August 1955 (a few months before Governor Harding’s arrival), Durrell is requested to contact some of the ‘local cartoonists’ to draw ‘anti-terrorist cartoons’ purporting to have been issued by a new party aiming at an Independent Cyprus, as Stephens had planned.

Along with the letter there is also a list of ten ‘suggested subjects’. For example, two of them are the following: ‘A butcher’s van on the way to the slaughter house. A number of unprepossessing sheep, goats and pigs with their heads hanging over the tailboard. One bearing a striking facial resemblance to the Mayor of Nicosia, Dr. Themistoklis Dervis O. B. E. An inscription on the side of the van reading “Dhigenis & Co., Butchers.” Caption – “We are all EOKA here.”’; and ‘The entrance to a Greek Orthodox club for young men. Over the doorway the word AGAPE (love). Issuing from the door a group of young thugs armed to the teeth with sten guns, pistols and hand grenades. No caption.’ Several of these ideas were made into cartoons and distributed (Figures 6 and 7).

Information on the cartoonists remains scant. Some evidence has been discovered on a cartoonist named ‘Vicky’. Victor Weisz ‘Vicky’ was born in Berlin and began drawing caricatures freelance in 1928 after his father committed suicide. ‘Vicky’ was working as a cartoonist for the journal 12 Uhr Blatt, which took a strongly anti-Hitler stance, when the Nazis took over the magazine in 1933. ‘Vicky’ arrived in Britain as a refugee in 1935. He drew for a whole variety of publications, including the Evening Standard, News Chronicle, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and the New Statesman. Vicky’s famous portrayal of Harold Macmillan as ‘Supermac’ first appeared in the Evening Standard in November 1958. Randolph Churchill described ‘Vicky’ as a genius and Michael Foot thought him ‘the best cartoonist in the world’.226 ‘Vicky’ was brought to Cyprus in November 1958 to join the Cyprus Mail team, which was believed to have an attentive audience among Greek Cypriots.227 Before Vicky’s arrival,

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