Things I've Learned

Anti-austerity protesters shout slogans, during a student parade in Athens, October 28, 2011 / Getty Images

The Revolution of ‘No’

This has been the first national holiday in many years where I haven’t complained about the student parades all over Greece. My country swamped with what seems to be an ever increasing number of problems, it feel awkward to go against a tradition most Greeks support. 

Today though, many parades on the occasion of Oxi (No) Day were marked by protests against politicians that in many instances disrupted the events. In Thessaloniki, the President of Greece, Karolos Papoulias had to leave the parade early after citizens shouted “Traitors!” at the official podium. In Athens, students parading in front of Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou were holding black ribbons while groups of protestors where shouting “Thieves” and “Traitors”. In many other parts of Greece politicians were “welcomed” with similar protests and hurled eggs. 

Many progressive voices welcomed the protests hoping that this would be the beginning of the end for student parades, a militaristic tradition dating back to the years of dictatorship and surviving until today. Others, saw a turn of the public opinion towards the Left, with quiet, until recently, citizens now protesting and expressing their anger and disapproval towards austerity measures and the political system. 

Personally, I believe that this interpretation is very wrong. It’s easy to see that the majority of Greeks have nothing against student parades occuring twice a year (March 25th, October 28th). Their anger, which is now greater than ever before, is exclusively aimed against politicians and the “system” they represent.

A protest banner on display today in Athens (see photo) reads: “Germany 1933: Work sets you free. Greece 2011: Is slavery setting you free?”, written in both German and Greek. The banner is ilustrated by the flag of Greece behind a swastika and the word OXI (No). A few meters away from that scene, something more scary was taking place: Members of a neo-nazi group were attacking immigrants selling Greek flags on Syntagma square.  

I very much fear that what we are entering in, is a circle of anger and pessimism. Greeks have enough reasons to feel that way. People are laid off every day while new taxes and austerity measures are imposed. Together with unemployment, crime and poverty rates are rising as well.

The media are compounding the situation by having a negative influence on the public. According to George Tzogopoulos, a media expert:

one of the problems is that the Greek media portrays the crisis as the fault of foreigners intent on dominating the country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a favourite target. Conspiracy theories abound, explaining why Greece has been singled out for punishment. “If you look at the Greek media you would not think we were not responsible in any way for what happened,” he says. “It never portrays the crisis as an opportunity for Greece to change.” 

(source)

October 28th, 1940 was the day when “Ohi” (no) was echoing in the streets of Greece, as a reply to Mussolini’s ultimatum that would allow Italy to occupy strategic locations of the country. Fast-forward to 71 years later, October 28th, 2011, the Greeks, more angry perhaps and certainly a lot more pessimistic are protesting against the “system” including the politicians they voted for and the European Union that just yesterday erased 50% of the Greek debt. 

Saying ‘no’ is expected when your life is turned upside down and the only thing left is uncertainty. However, I’m afraid that the situation won’t get any better before people move on the next step, if not this, then what?

- greekdude

The truth is I don’t know a lot about Economics. I know that my country’s economy is in bad state, however, you don’t have to be an expert to see that. All it takes is to go to the market tomorrow and see the new food prices as government recently raised VAT of food products at 5%. Then, maybe go to the gas station and start wondering if buying kerosene for your private jet plane would cost you less. Or you can start searching for a job, or just an internship, as in my case, which will test how easy it is to reach despair. Unemployment rate in Greece is calculated at around 10% but the National Statistics Service (NSS) cannot really be trusted. 

In the meantime, while trying to educate myself, I’ve been reading an article about pensions and retirement on the New York Times. Something that I already knew is that in Greece, there is a whole category of jobs which are considered dangerous and unhealthy enough to merit retiring early. I never imagined though that this happens with 580 different jobs. Here’s the funniest paragraph I’ve read this week:

The law includes dangerous jobs like coal mining and bomb disposal. But it also covers radio and television presenters, who are thought to be at risk from the bacteria on their microphones, and musicians playing wind instruments, who must contend with gastric reflux as they puff and blow.

More: NYT

So how do you tell a tv presenter that his job shouldn’t be considered dangerous enough to offer an early retirement, at least not earlier than a bank clerk? (Though I’m not sure, do you know how many bacteria live on banknotes?).

For years the formula for the Greek Economy was to try to please those who were near the government and if you could do that with foreign money (European Union, banks all over the world), that was even better. The challenge for the current government is to try to get away from this path which leads straight down the cliff. In other words, try to fix the economy from the inside, unfortunately with deep and painful reforms. This is why I’m very sceptical towards EU plans to bail-out Greece. What we need most of everything is to stop being like a spoiled child. If you screw up, find the way to fix everything yourself. Don’t wait for dad-EU to provide for everything.

to be continued…

More:

• Patchwork Pension Plan Adds to Greek Debt Woes (The New York Times)
• Greece debt: EU agrees bailout deal (The Guardian)
• Greece’s unemployment rate hits 10% (BBC)
• Greek Austerity Measures Spark Rising Protests (TIME)

Caption contest anyone?

Not really. Greek Prime Minister [AND Foreign Minister] George Papandreou met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday in at the State Department in Washington, during Papandreou’s official visit to the U.S. Later today he will meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. The reason for this visit as he describes it in an op-ed on the New York Times today is to…

[bring] a message from Europe: The challenge we face is not just Greek or European; it is American as well, and together we must find a solution.

In other words, what he is trying to do is to get support from world leaders in order to be able for Greece to borrow more money in order to pay some of the gigantic 300 billion euros debt.

Photo from Reuters Pictures