Greek riot police ready and waiting at Syntagma Square, Athens, in February 2011. Photo credit: Mehran Khalili http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkhalili/5487027910/
In mid-March of this year I went to Athens to see a friend’s art exhibition and used the visit as an excuse to stay a few days and see friends. Being half-Greek and living outside Greece, I’m always keen to return often to water my roots and see friends. Here in London, the question on everyone’s lips when I mentioned having visited was “Is it as bad over there as everyone’s saying?” The answer is yes, but with qualifications and my own call to action.
I landed at Athens International Airport on time at 6 p.m. on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Everything from passport control, to the taxi rank, to the traffic into the center ran smoothly. Arriving at the Grande Bretagne hotel (popularly know as the GB) in the center of Syntagma Square nothing seemed amiss. Syntagma is the square that houses Parliament and therefore plays involuntary host to most protests, so it is not unusual to arrive at the GB (or as close as the taxi can get) only to be hastily rushed in through a side door if the protests that day are violent. Today, no news was good news. As soon as I got to my room – and to the horror of a marginally sniffy concierge – I ordered delivery from my favorite souvlaki joint, the exceptional Kalamaki Kolonaki. It was comforting to know that at least one small business was surviving the crisis so far.
I ordered delivery from my favorite souvlaki joint, the exceptional Kalamaki Kolonaki. It was comforting to know that at least one small business was surviving the crisis so far.
Over the next few days I walked familiar streets, visited the Cycladic Museum, The National Museum, the Acropolis Museum, and ate at the classic central Athens staples. The atmosphere was grim and reports from friends confirmed the dire situation: a general sense of despair; a sense of injustice at an austerity imposed on Greece that was waived for a certain other country at the end of World War II; a belief that austerity measures have been totally ineffective; a bleak outlook for a debt-unburdening recovery, let alone for a return to economic self-sufficiency or prosperity. The only qualifications to this despondency were accounts of increased unity, goodwill towards fellow citizens, and cooperation within communities.
It’s easy to understand how the prevailing negativity came about. Greece has been in a grueling recession for at least four years now. Austerity measures and unemployment rates have led to reductions in health services, street and building maintenance, and safety from crime, as well as, crucially, a significant rise in homeless, unfed, hopeless people. Athens has always been a scruffy city – in a loveable sort of way – plagued by graffiti, disrupted by marginally more protests than other European capitals, and with noticeably more homeless people in the streets. But graffiti, protest, and homelessness is common to all European cities, especially during these difficult times. The difference in Athens is that the visible signs of suffering are greater both in comparison to pre-2008 Athens and in comparison to its neighbours.
It’s equally easy to blame Greece for her current circumstances; Aesop’s Grasshopper and Ant fable comes most readily to mind. In the fable, the grasshopper spends the summer months singing while the ant diligently works to store food for winter. When winter comes, the grasshopper finds himself starving and when he goes to the ant for help he is instead rebuked for his idleness. The difference in today’s very real European crisis is that the ant is a drug dealer who pushed his wares on a grasshopper whose consumption helped make the ant wealthy and safe.
The difference in today’s very real European crisis is that the ant is a drug dealer who pushed his wares on a grasshopper whose consumption helped make the ant wealthy and safe.
After all, major Western European countries and companies know full well that they were profitably lending to and profitably selling their products to historically spendthrift consumers without taking much by way of security nor asking too many questions. This is not in any way to suggest that Greece was without fault – reckless borrowing, profligate spending, corrupt (or absent) tax collection, and bloated civil service employment amply justify placing blame on Greece’s shoulders. My point is that we should all share responsibility for the current crisis, resist finger-pointing, and get on with working together to make things right.
So here’s what I’d like to share with anyone who loves Greece or has even the slightest inkling of Greek heritage or affiliation: Whatever the path ahead and whether Greece thrives or falter, it’s time for a long-overdue overhaul. It’s time to encourage tourists (and be polite, friendly, honest and welcoming to them when they do come); it’s time to drive new businesses to the country by offering free-trade zones, tax breaks, or free land use for companies that create employment; it’s time to allow German, EU, and any others offering to come over and help advise on tackling corruption and making tax collection more efficient (even if it means swallowing pride and eating humble pie); if you’re a successful Greek with a moveable business or a wealthy Greek retiree, it’s time to move back and bring your business, or wealth, back with you. And if all you can offer is your presence in Greece, that’s great too, especially if you’re willing to help create and grow community-based clean-up efforts, bread line assistance, and any other support you can contribute.
There is potential in Greece as a country and in Greeks as a people; let’s harness all that is good, about Greece, let’s live up to, not off of our history, and let’s prove to the world that we can become an inspirational turnaround story.