Greek Independence Day
This Sunday is March 25th. Greece "celebrates" its 191st anniversary since the rise against the Ottoman Empire, and the establishment of the First Hellenic Republic.
I put "celebrates" in quotations for a number of reasons. In the land where democracy was born (a cliche by now) there is unfortunately no more democracy.
People here are angry. They are angry because the government that won the electoral vote back in October 2009, was elected under false pretenses and promises. They decided to seek the assistance of the IMF without informing them of such intentions. One good morning we woke up and saw Mr. Papandreou, prime minister at the time, telling us that he asked for the IMF to provide "technical assistance" to reorganize the public sector.
The media and the propaganda machine kept telling us how bad we have been as a country and that we are corrupt to the bone. A never ceasing blame game was played on our backs, making us the scape goat for all the wrong policies played by Europe. As we speak, Greece is about 2% of the European GDP, and it's combined national debt and private sector debt is nothing compared to that of France, Germany and others.
We acknowledged, that we were not saints, and we took responsibility for our actions. Sacrifices were made and as it logically followed, the living standards started dropping. Two years later, and after implementing everything we were told to by the troika , the IMF and whoever else, we are still being told that we are not doing enough to atone for our sins, all the while things just keep getting worse.
"The austerity measures were not being implemented properly.", they said. "You must pay your taxes", others cried out. I don't want to repeat how making 500€ a month for an average salary (that is the average salary, since unemployment rate skyrocketed from 7% to 21%, and anyone would do anything for that money), is not nearly enough to make ends meet when taxes alone claim over 60% of that. Keep in mind that there are taxes embedded in everything you buy. 23%. We have no left over money to pay any of our taxes, because everything we buy to survive is already taxed heavily.
The geniuses that are in charge of our country (not excluding the loansharks that have been loaning us, just enough to be able to pay them the interest), say we must become more like the rest of the Balkan countries. The key difference however is that gas here approaches 2.00€ a litre, whereas in the countries, in whose image they want to turn us in, gas is 0.50 - 0.70€ a litre. The same goes for every other service that constitutes a necessity in life.
One of the most ironic things that was said that day, that Mr. Papandreou announced that we were seeking the IMFs help, was that salaries would drop up to 25% without their help. Salaries now have dropped over 40% in the public sector, and they recently started messing around with the private sector, effectively reducing their salary by 20%.
Anyway, I digress quite a bit from my original subject, which is basically a question about how a democratic country turns out to be ruled by a regime.
Since our plea for "help" to our European Union counterparts, Greece has seen interesting developments on the political front. The two largest parties, who have lost the confidence they once enjoyed by the people, formed a National Alliance government. They brought in, as a prime minister, someone who was never voted in parliament, since 2000. Coincidentally, this guy is one of the people who are believed to have cooked up the false data that got us into the Eurozone, and who was of course part of Goldman Sachs... a company that gladly provided us with assistance to cook up that data.
This regime, of course with the help of insiders and the popular media, have instilled fear in the people.
Democracy is lost. Every protest is drowned in chemicals, and police hit anything that moves. Even if it crawls on the street. The cries for an election are getting louder. We are currently awaiting for the announcement of an election date. In the meantime, the propaganda machine is doing it's work. Just look at all the announcements made by the German finance minister, the IMF officials, and the rest. They are underhandedly threatening us, that should we not choose a government of their liking, we will be left to wither and die.
Democracy is lost. There has also been talk, that should the second most popular party (traditionally) get elected they will strike a deal with the party that was elected back in 2009, and give their vote of confidence to the people currently in power. Only this time, the Prime Minister will be able to appoint whomever he wants in key positions to keep with the same policies that have been strangling our economy.
Democracy is lost. This Saturday the youth of the country will be forced to parade in front of the officials that "saved the country". They will parade in front of the same people that brought the country to this state. To attend the parade, you will need to be searched and display your id. The officials are going to be behind a plexiglass, cowering in fear.
People here are angry. My only hope is that this weekend does not make the incidents that occurred a few days ago with Athens burning, look like a picnic. If that doesn't happen now, wait until June/July, when they have already announced that they will further cut wages/pensions. Then my feeling is that, it will look like a picnic.
There is no future for the people living here. They need something to look forward to. Sadly there is nothing. They are suffocating. They are desperate.
If you think that Greece is a one off thing, look at what is happening now in Portugal, and Italy. I believe that soon enough they will follow suit.
P.S. excuse the long rant. It is one of those days.
P.S. 2 Article from the Associated Press.
P.S. 3 Wikipedia information regarding Greek independence day.
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