‘All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion and desire.’
-Aristotle
The great nation of Greece that gave the World Olympics, Socrates and other great philosophers, burns today due the tragic cocktail of political, financial, social and economic woes. Governed by a perceived corrupt Conservative Government that won a second term in 2007 with the narrowest of margins. A Government that has been plagued with charges of corruption and nepotism. A Government led by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis that has seen most of his closest colleagues resign in a series of scandals. The winter of disenchantment runs deep into the cities across Greece and its Islands.
The death of 15 year old school pupil Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the bullet of the police last month saw sudden outpouring of anger and resentment built up over sometime. Athens was not alone in witnessing the wholesale destruction of businesses and buildings, the scenes were repeated throughout Greece including the city of Salonika and islands of Corfu and Crete. A country that has recently witnessed the bailing out of its banks and other financial institutions has left the ordinary person with a sense of bewilderment. According to OECD figures one in six young people under the age of 24 years are unemployed. Over half of those in employment up to 30 years of age earn just over the minimum wage threshold of £590 per month.
One in six people in Greece live under the poverty line. There is anger in the hearts of ordinary Greeks, on one hand the world financial crises has seen the Government act to shore up its financial defences amid allegations of corruption. On the other, the Government was already some way through tightening its financial policies before the world crises, in order to meet the Brussels inspired EU budget deficits stranglehold across the Eurozone. The effects were already being felt by the general population and once the scandals started to break within the Government, this led to the undermining of the perceived weakness in the ruling party ’New Democrats’. An opportunity, the opposition led by the Pasok party, is only too eager to exploit. The latest outbreak of demonstrations were initially blamed by the government on ‘extremist’, ‘anarchists’ and elements linked to the hard left Syriza party. It comes as no surprise to the world community as the ruling government moves to find scapegoats for the latest violence rather than on the causes and ways in addressing the underlying tensions and greviances.
The national strike that took place in December paralysed most of Greece was not called by these elements but was a sign of the national mood that witnessed ordinary workers, trade unionists, students and generally people from all walks of life execercing their right to protest.
Since the death of the teenager anger has intensified and each night since there have been scenes of violence repeated across cities of Greece. Automatic weapons have been used in pre – drawn attacks in central Athens against the police guarding government buildings. Protests have appeared across Moscow, Madrid, Berlin and Paris. EU leaders who subsequently met in Brussels were distinctly uneasy at the prospect of the scenes witnessed in the cities across Greece spreading to their own cities. The political, economic and social conditions that have become all too real with the huge financial stimulus packages that have been created to help deal with the financial tsunami that has gripped the world markets, at the forefront of the EU leaders minds, there is real and present danger that if these huge financial packages fail to trickle down to the ordinary citizen then all will be lost. What seems to be clear there is clear determination to reach out and address these potential gaps as Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President demonstrated in citing the Greek challenge, in rejecting the proposed budgets to help mainly the wealthy French.
The world watches with abated breath if the actions of the French have any resonance in addressing the issues highlighted by the discontented Greeks triggered by the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Across the pond the 43rd President of the United States of America Barak Hussein Obama prepares for his inauguration as the commander and chief of ‘change’, his silence at the beginning on the Israeli incursion into Gaza has been deafening. In some quarters especially amongst the Arab world this silence may have already cost him his credibility before assuming the highest office of the free world. What seems to be abundantly clear is that President Obama will inherit a world much more complex and socio- economic & political more polarised than that was inherited by the current incumbent of the White House. Greece must be very visible as a high risk nation on their radar too.
If Aristotle’s principles were applied to the actions witnessed in Greece over the last few weeks’ then ‘passion’, ‘desire’ and ‘chance’ for change is risen very rapidly as the three linked priorities for urgent redress.
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Semra Eren-Nijhar 