Up and running again...

Yes this blog is getting back on its feet.

Its been a hectic period - full of ups and downs... and more downs, both for the nation and personally.
So in order to sate your thirst for information, here is an insight from one of Greece's preeminant thinkers, Mr Papagiannidis.

Greek politicians, may they live long, are an especially short-sighted race. As remarkable as they are short-sighted. (Correction: maybe not 'Greeks' in general, but perhaps better defined as Greek residents.)And as a result of their shortsightedness - deeply self-destructive!

Look at how they cried out in response to the capital flight in personal deposits. Let's look at examples of the impact of wild enthusiasm on the one hand, and of pragmatism on the other.

The wild enthusiasm: In comes Theodoros Pangalos sounding alarm bells that the medium term financial plan would not pass into legislature, he describes a situation wherein Greece returns to the drachma, sending people running to the banks to withdraw their money, and the only thing that can stand in their way are the tanks and the armed forces.
Leaving aside the fact that Theo has most probably not seen a soldier, or any kind of military figure up close (hence his notion that they would be protecting beleaguered banks), lets also ignore the fact that the interview was given to Spanish newspaper (hence limited risk that it would be read by the natives), but given his statements, what is one to think, and what did he think would be the outcome of his statements.

The exuberant and quick tempered Theo invited the people to withdraw their deposits and send them abroad, hide them under the bed, buy gold sovereigns, throw them down a well, put them in a bag and head of to Albania or Turkey, do anything to save them.

The rest of the article can be read here.

Death of a man

So yesterday morning, the Archbishop of Greece passed away in his sleep. After something like 8 months of fighting liver and stomach cancer, his immune system collapsing and despite the loan of the Prime Ministers lucky charm, the Archbishop died.

And so the country mourns, civil servants - as a result of a decision from the Holy Synod will get one day of this week to mourn and visit his corpse. Those of us working in the private sector, tough luck - NO HOLIDAY for YOU! Everyone is coming out and crying, oh the poor archbishop has died. Two Comments - 1 He was never poor but instead was a power hungry capitalist, looking back over his years in power one can see that it was a constant battle for land with churches he had no jurisdiction and secondly he was down in the mud fighting dirty politics for the right wing of politics which he has always espoused.

He will be buried with full honours of state. Another waste of money. He is not Greece's head of state, nor was he ever the head of Greek Orthodoxy as many in media and politics claim.
Theologically he was just the Archbishop of Athens and had no control over other bishoprics. This aint Catholicism, the Greek Orthodox Church is ruled by a synod and does not include Crete, many islands nor certain regions in the north. This power hungry man did his utmost to usurp power from the Patriarch of Constantinople in order to obtain title deeds to land not in his jurisdiction.

But everyone in the media is busy hagio-phying this man. Ooooh lets not talk ill of the dead, but as was pointed out to me, if George Bush died, would people do the same for him? Would they say of Bush -He was a kind man, he was a good man. Or would the communists and all the lefties (and righties) go out in the street partying? I think more the later. As such i refuse to engage in the hypocrisy i see now going on around me. The man did his most to divide Greece and dirty his religion by politicising it.

SYRIZA - Because we got tired spelling it out

Election Day is fast approaching so i am trying to wrap up the party brief. And SYRIZA, next up is one of the hardest i have had to describe, basically because i am still trying to figure out what they stand for. Lets just give them the benefit of the doubt and just say i am lazy. But lets go with what we know.

SYRIZA stands for the 'Synaspismos tis Rizospastikis Aristeras' or the Coalition of the Radical Left, which was born in 2004. It is actually the rebirth of the Synaspismos tes Aristerás ion Kineáton kai tes Oikologías or Synaspismos for short. In short throughout its various phases it is a coalition of the various left wing parties of Greece, and at one stage included the KKE, before it split off taking a huge chunk of the voters with it. At previous elections it just managed to muster over the 3% cut off point needed to get into parliament, this elections thanks to the fires it may do better.

As part of its rebirth (with a snazzy name SYRIZA - bit like Kentucky Fried Chicken becoming KFC) it has proceeded with the largest reshuffle of its candidates. It now features 80% new candidates - people who not only have never run for re-election but who are young. In the last mayoral election its young candidate Tsipras recieved a suprise percentage of the vote. What was suprising is that he only recieved little media coverage. From what i understand they are concerned with the environment (one of the parties in the coalition is the Ecological Intervention party) as well as of course, Student issues. During the student protests they automatically sent lawyers out to defend their rights. Now, while abuses occured on the side of the police, abuses were also made by students, who i believe violated the spirit of University immunity. (by throwing petrol bombs at police and then running into University where police cannot enter)

Now people are telling me that a vote for them is a vote for PASOK, and thats why they wont be voting for them. Which is strange since i do believe that in its previous reincarnation it formed a coalition with New Democracy, so why isn't it a vote for New Democracy?

Unfortunately the media is not helping me understand what these people are about, by not giving them equal air time with the other parties. So i am confused, should i be happy that young fresh faces are running or concerned that i am not 100% sure what their policies are. For many, it doesn't matter as long as its not one of the big two.

Greece: Here be Communists

That's right, those bogeymen of the cold war still exist here in Greece. Founded in 1918, the KKE (Communist part of Greece) is perhaps the oldest surviving political party in Greece. During WW2 they offered fierce resistance to the invading Germans, following which they were hounded by the successive right wing governments and the military junta. In fact it was only with the election of the PASOK government that communists were able to receive pensions. The party was part of a joint government with New Democracy in 1989 which governed for a few years. Their current slogan is "You might not agree with everything we say, but vote for us anyway to show your displeasure with the top two parties" As a result they dont have a comprehensive political platform.

I am not going to go into what communism is etc, that would just take too long, instead i am going to focus on what it is now. From my unscientific observations of who turns up to their rallies, the party is currently made up of students and those over 60. Those over 60 follow the party so that the sacrifices of their comrades are never forgotten. I also notice that they hand out pamphlets to 15 year olds, and not to me. So they obviously single out students, which is why they seem to primarily focus on education.

They are against any reform to the education system, no private education should exist as education should be free for all. At the same time they complain that the system is a mess. So they don't want the system as it is, nor do they want any changes.

Their Leader Ms Papariga was asked during the debate 'Since you are against private education why did you send your daughter to private schooling (she did not mention that the daughter was sent to private American schooling - Not that there is anything wrong with it, its just that the KKE is so against anything American - whats that word - Hypocrite) to which she replied that the hours didn't suit her, what was she to do, freeze her daughter until the education system got better. All well and good until i remembered my relatives who are entering University. They chose to go to Universities which did not strike. That way they finish school on time and are able to work and help their families all the sooner. Otherwise if they went to an 'elite' school in Athens or Thessaloniki where the Communist student unions are strong, they would have been subjected to strikes which may have delayed their graduation by at least one year, if not three.
Ms Papariga gets to incite the students to strike against changes, to the detriment of their education while at the same time, her daughter studies problem free. (Some pigs are more equal that others).

I should also mention that the party harbours former (what the party calls fascists) trouble makers of the other parties. In Larissa they have on their ticket a major rabble rouser who would start riots in support of the Metropoliti (bishop) who was installed by the Military dictatorship and refused to leave even at the behest of the Holy Synod.

It also offers refuge to Ms Kaneli - another one of those trouble makers who have done the rounds with every political party. Before the last election her magazine almost went bankrupt, but was saved by a mysterious donor. In that magazine she published how George Papandreou was a mummy's boy ruled by the evil dowager (his AMERICAN mum - we all know how evil americans are). She also went on a rampage against his policy to hire Greek-Australians/Norwegians etc to the foreign office "They dont speak Greek in the foreign service" which i thought would be a good thing that the foreign service know a second language, but according to KKE's Kaneli - Thats Evil! She would also go on rampages against the EU (The KKE is against the EU, against admiting Cyprus, Turkey into the EU, had they the power they would have been against Greece entering) and commented that the only reason why Greece is in the Euro is so that the Germans can steal our money. She also commented that Eurovision song winner Paparizou is a bastard mongrel of mixed descent (seeing as she born in Sweden of Greek parents).

If the KKE can have such an evil person in its ranks, it obviously agree's with their policies. Before the fires i would have said that this party harms Greece more than any other party. It surely however insults our intelligence as human beings.

Greek Political Debate without the debate

Thursday, a little past 9pm the Great Political Debate was shown on almost every channel in Greece. It featured the leaders of 6 parties answering the questions of 6 journalists. Missing from the event was the leader of the Filleleutheri party (Liberal party) which does not have an elected official in either the Greek parliament or EU parliament.
No debate was had between the leaders, instead what we saw was a series of parallel questions and answers taking place between the politicians and journalists. All in all it was a major dissapointment. Nothing new was said, no one was pressured on a particular issue, especially since no hard questions were asked.

I am torn between deciding who was the biggest waste of space on the side of the journalists, was it Evangellatos or Liatsou who asked the softest of questions "What would you say to the little girl who asks, what makes a good PM"
What kinda question is that?!!!!! Who said he was a good PM anyway! Why doesn't he ask the little girl! I am sure an average schoolchild could govern more effectually and with more Concern and Justice for the average person than most of the clowns in parliament!

One thing that struck me was that the journalists were represented by 2 women (3 if you include the moderator) and 4 men. On the political side, only one woman! The best questions were asked by Papahelas and Tremi i thought.

I was very impressed with the confidence of the PM Karamanlis when he answered the questions directed at him. Especially when he admitted his own incompetence when he said it took him three years to figure out that checks and balances were needed when dealing with complicated bond investments to make sure that public money slated for pensions wouldn't continue to be lost. Eh... Three years!!! Three YEARS??? But he said it with such a confidence that i felt as though, yeah... he actually accomplished something, then i remember THREE YEARS!!!!

Papandreou was a bit of a dissapointment. Ok, in the previous post I mentioned how he was calm and that the average Greek doesn't want calm. Well you can put me in that camp too. He reminds me of the Australian Labour Leader Kevin Rudd who is also a former diplomat. They have been so indoctrinated to curb their language that they can be a bit too calm. So we saw a calm Papandreou state how New democracy implemented a policy of Blue Windows (hiring and appointing as civil servants only those who voted New Democracy), how ND sacked fire-fighting officials and replaced them with ND voters, leading to the incompetent fire response we saw, how ND is hiding evidence of their corrupt handling of the retirement bonds. All of this delivered in a calm manner. Stick a Pin in this man!! Doesn't he get angry? Shake him someone. Why is he trying to present himself as a serious candidate? He has the CV after all. Come on fight, show us you really want to be PM. (maybe i am too bloodthirsty, is it meant to be a bloodsport?)

The Communist party was represented by Ms Papariga, who was the only lady in the politician camp. Which was a bit unfortunate because she was perhaps the weakest link on the night. She couldn't answer the questions and instead resorted to stock standard replies. When asked if she was living in a sort of Utopia where health care, education etc could be free for all, she replied with "just because it doesnt exist elsewhere doesn't mean we can't do it here" well she does have a point. And how will she do it? Oooh sorry only two questions allowed, gotta move on to the next person.

Alavanos of SYRIZA was a very good speaker, he took the PM to task when he called protesting students as rabble rousing thugs. Unfortunatley the structure of the debate was such that the PM couldn't respond or explain himself as to why he slandered the students in such a way. But i am trying to remember a particular policy they raised... I don't remember, but i do know he spoke passionately. 9 points to him.

Karatzaferis of LAOS, the christian orthodox right party was also a good speaker and it was interesting to note how he hooked his seemingly racist policy of anti-immigration onto statements of ND, particularly those where they alluded to foreigners setting fires in Greece. And he delivered the best line of the night when he answered the question directed at the PM - "What would you say to the little girl who asks, what makes a good PM" He responded with "Be born a Karamanlis or a Papandreou" And with that one line i can see a whole lot votes going his way, irrelevant of what his policies are.

Last on the list was Papathemilis of the Christian Rennaisance party. A former PASOK member and affiliate of ND. The only real reason of his existence in this election is to stop the bleeding of votes from ND to LAOS. He ignored the time limit continously and just droned on and on and on. His biggest achievement was proclaiming that he has been in parliament since 1974 and is therefore the most successfull politician. Someone should tell the person that politics isn't a marathon race, its about doing something for the people... but maybe he does know that and thats why he refers to it as a marathon.

All in all, despite the many and obvious flaws of the so called 'debate' it did give the viewer some insight into the candidates, their policies or their lack of. It would be interesting to find out how many people watched, seeing as it was on every channel. When i stepped onto the balcony there weren't any cars on the road and i could hear the 'debate' coming out of neighbours windows. Which shows that people are interested in politics and debate, which is always a healthy thing.

PASOK: Third way for third leader

Earlier on i started a brief explanation of the political parties, but what with the fires i got sidetracked. So back to the flow.
PASOK is the leading opposition party. Founded in 1974 by the economist Andreas Papandreou who led it to victory in 1981, making it the first socialist government ever to do so since 1924. He led a series of reforms including de-nazifying the military, building schools and hospitals. The only branches he admitted that he couldn't reform was education, police and the judiciary.

The party is now lead by his son George Papandreou. He is trying to continue the reforms implemented by his predecessor and former PM, Mr Simitis. In this way PASOK is similar to the Labour Party of UK and Australia, both of which advocate a Third way in politics, one that realises that global economic integration is a fact but combines it with social responsibility. PASOK differs from ND in that it has a comprehensive policy platform that includes increasing recycling by 100% in 5 years, building drug rehabilitation centres (How DARE he insinuate that some Greeks have drug problems), care for the environment and regional economic regeneration programs. I have not seen such a comprehensive platform in the other parties.

However this shift in thinking has alienated him from traditional voters, those who still expect the role of PASOK is to hire 'their boys' to government postings. Many of those who are vocal against George Papandreou are those in the Greek foreign service. When he was minister he hired many Greek - Somethings (Greek - Canadians / Australians etc) on fixed year contracts based on their knowledge as opposed to making/hiring Permanent staff from within the ranks of PASOK.

And its this shift away from political patronage that has politically harmed George Papandreou and the party. I say harmed him personally because while PASOK was in power, not everyone followed his example and many charges of corruption were levelled at fellow politicians, and was one of the reasons they lost power. But those who were criticised as being corrupt are the ones who remain popular to this day, and should he win their is no guarantee that they will change. It should be mentioned that during the Prime Ministership of Simitis, corruption as measured by Transperency International fell, something that New Democracy has reversed.

The other problem with George Papandreou is the time he spent in exile growing up and being educated in Scandanavia. His policies, the way he talks calmly without hyperbole might be good for Scandanavia and the rest of Europe, but apparently that's not what the people in Greece want to hear, or at least what the media says isn't what people want to hear.
As a result PASOK remains behind in the polls.
However, and many may disagree i do think he has a Vision for Greece that is more in line with some of our more progressed neighbours.

Government bribes its way out of responsibility

Fires are still burning in parts of Greece, but thankfully the government has a plan to stop the fires, its called the Ionian sea. The fires have made their way across the Peloponnese and now only the coast is in its way.

A while ago i mentioned that the New Democracy party is not about fiscal responsibility. Well last week we saw it again in action. The ruling party implemented a financial bail out of those affected by the fires. 3000 euros for those who lost their house, x amount for livestock etc. All well and good but so they can wash their hands of the guilt of not dealing with the fires, no proof was requested when handing out the money. After one day, 24 million euros were handed out, by day two 72 million euros was handed out. By then many local residents were heard complaining because they were seeing non locals receiving money. Since no proof was requested people had come down from all over Greece to receive the money. False Identity cards were being sold for 500 euros and for those who were illiterate, they could purchase the services of someone to write out their application for 250 euros.
New democracy politicians had also set up their own booths and were handing out the money, cementing in the mind of the locals that ND hands out money for nothing.

Of course they could have followed the lead of Germany and allowed the local councils to distrubute the aid, as was done when Germany suffered from the flooding. But they didnt because of two reasons.

1. They wanted to be associated as the guys who hand out money (like a doting grandmother who hands out cash to her grandchildren).
2. And they are against the local councils because it was implemented by the PASOK government, and everything they did cant be allowed to succeed.
   

And that in a nutshell is what the government and party is about. We are the ones who can give you money. Sure its corrupt and many people are benefiting illegally. But its by implicating as many people in this corrupt system that they hope to win, if everyones hands are dirty and is able to benefit somehow, its in their interests to keep these guys in power.
Unfortunately the EU is giving financial aid to Greece, i say unfortunately because without fiscal responsibility this money will be wasted. Maybe tough love would be better, let Greece struggle through this so it can learn from its mistakes. Maybe that way these mistakes won't be repeated.

Protecting the environment - A government Responsibility

This man is the Prime Minister of Greece, Kostas Karamanlis, nephew of former PM and President Costas Karamanlis. In one of his speeches soon after coming to power three years ago he proclaimed
"We have inherited a government in ashes"
I wonder what he is feeling now, now that he has turned Greece into ashes.

During his three year term this man has been actively trying to change article 24 of the Greek constitution which states that the government has a responsibility to protect the environment and bans the re-zoning of the environment except under certain conditions (click here for article in Greek) He and his government wants to make it easier for construction companies to build in environmentaly protected areas. Just last month in the middle of those fires the government legalised illegal houses built on burnt land. A property developers dream. The BBC interviewed the president of the Hellenic Property Federation, Stratos Paradias who is trying to counter public wisdom that property developers are behind the fires "That's absolutely nonsense, this allegation, because if there is a company which wants to get its hands on some piece of land, to burn this land is the worst way to do it. Once a forest is burnt, according to our constitution, within three months the Forestry Service is obliged to pass a decree according to which this land is reforested."

Yeah right. This government, as proven by the fires, have been absent in the enforcement of these laws, which is not only lax, but non-existent in Greece! The trouble with Karamanlis and Paradias is that they think that they are so smart, everyone else is stupid and no one will know. They are the stupid ones, a WHOLE WORLD is watching this and is expecting Greece to clean up its act.

Nikos Charalambides, director of Greenpeace in Greece placed the blame at the feet of those responsible "the biggest arsonist is the state, which has not clarified the use of land, leaving suburban forests vulnerable to rogue developers. The lack of a national land registry and national zoning laws leave room for doubt about the characterization of land, whether it is forest or not" more elequently than i could ever have, basically because i am angry at these people.

These reports are also repeated on SKY News UK and CNN. For some reason this isn't getting airplay on Greek Media. Do they want to build on this land too? Are their interests at stake? I dont care anymore, the truth however needs to be said.

Why fight fires when you can shift the blame

Today's edition of Eleutheri Ora has as its headlines "Olympic champions of incompetence and irresponsibility" in reference to the Government ineptitude we have been watching these past few days.

Don't worry if your village is on fire, if you're loved one has been burnt to death, after three days of inaction the government has finally leapt into action with a fervor. After hours of brainstorming they have compiled an impressive list of who is to blame for the fires. Instead of organising a comprehensive response to the fires, they are busy trying to cover their own backsides to wash their bloody hands of the guilt they have.

The government has not named any groups but are heavily hinting at the opposition parties. Here is a list of the groups they are trying to blame through proxies and innuendo:

Anarchists - Urban firebugs who historically only burn government buildings, surrounding areas, Exarhia and politicians homes
Left Wingers - Since no one believed the Anarchists did it, lets broaden the net
PASOK - These bastards might gain from the governments loss, lets throw mud at them and hope it sticks
Americans - If all else fails, Americans are a popular standby to cast blame on, apparently so the conspiracy theory goes, they started it with a new Laser they are testing, in revenge for Greece signing the oil treaty with Russia. Oops... hang on, they are also tourists here, bugger, quickly on to someone else
Freemasons - Seriously, you want us to believe that an old mens club did this! Electric wheelchairs don't go up goat paths!
Jews - can't forget these guys, since we named everybody else, lets see if this will catch, Whats that? They left after WW2? Bugger... who's next we can think of...
Turkey - Yeah these guys, What's that... you want evidence? umm... and lastly
The Shepards are to blame!

Yes thats right, police are investigating the role of shepards in all these fires. They seriously want us to believe that the Shepards of Greece coordinated themselves into lighting these fires? Shepards of Greece Unite, Long live the sheep!

I am in fact heartened by this list, i am heartened because it shows that no one is believing this rubbish, this pack of lies. They are making up names hoping that one will stick. But none of them are sticking because the average person can see through these lies.

And lets say it is true, that the villanous shepards DID do it, WHY did the government DO NOTHING! Why did the assist with the destruction of Greece by DOING NOTHING!
Notice the pattern here... the government DID NOTHING! and that more than anything has gotten the people angry and made them wary of their lies.

Minister flees as he tries to fool the people

THIS MAN IS A VLAKA (an IDIOT)

The minister of Culture, Mr Voulgarakis proudly called a press conference to announce that the buildings at Ancient Olympia have been saved. Things would have been fine if he ended it there, instead he added "eh and a few little trees were burnt" referring to the ancient trees surrounding the buildings.

He fled the scene chased by a group of enraged citizens.

What is even more tragic is that the local mayor warned the government that the site was in the fire path from Friday 24 August.

Greece: Fire Sale, everything must burn!

Greece is in a state of mourning and shock. For the past two days now fires have raged all across Greece, murdering over 50 people and destroying numerous homes and villages. All of the Peloponnese is on fire, threatening ancient Olympia, mystical Arcadia and brave Laconia. Gone are the beautiful beaches of Euboea. Amidst all this death and destruction, the media is trying to put their own rules on place and the government, a positive spin.

That self righteous journalist Terence Kuik on Alter demanded that no politician speak, and shame on any member of the opposition party who uses this tragedy to blame the government, how dare anybody profit from this tragedy, then without skipping a beat, he added We will tell you now which villages are threatened by the fires, but first a commercial, stay tuned. Obviously benefiting on the pain and suffering of others is a monopoly only for journalists like himself.

Another Idiot journalist stated 'A tragedy of this magnitude could not have been foreseen so lets not blame the government' Why did he LIE so blatantly? The media and government are desperately trying not to blame the government.
I am SICK AND TIRED of incompetent journalists refusing to tell the truth for fear of being critical of the government. They are so incompetent, they believe that being balanced means blaming the previous government as well. So you hear on TV the inevitable response to the charge that the response to the fires were uncoordinated 'And the previous government was just as bad'. That is NO answer! That is NO justification for what happened. We need to be mature, not kindergarten children, and Deal with the here and NOW.
FACT: We had a CHANGE of government because the people wanted a CHANGE, if they wanted the same, they would have kept the same.
FACT: A response to just such a tragedy had been planned for in the run up to the 2004 Olympics. Therefore the government and response teams knew EXACTLY what they should be doing!
FACT: The government removed professional emergency response leaders who were familiar with this plan,
Their replacements are OBVIOUSLY INCOMPETENT. (Are they also just political appointees?)
FACT: Professional emergency response leaders who were waiting to be called were ignored by the government, exacerbating the tragedy.
FACT: THIS is EXACTLY what the people were protesting against months ago. They knew that if the government did not charge anybody with arson and banned all building on burnt ground that this would continue.
FACT: The Government ENCOURAGED the continued arson attacks by bringing illegal building into the city planning.
FACT: The Government is removing the protection on forests, further encouraging the arsonists
FACT: PEOPLE HAVE DIED because of somebody's incompetence.
FACT: The minister of the Interior was more concerned with hiring 'Agrofilakes' a do nothing job (see previous postings) than hire fire-fighters.

It should be noted that it took the personal appearance of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Works to the devastated areas, and personally kick start an organised response, before them everyone was running around like headless chickens. But it was a response too late.

While journalists are warning opposition parties away from commenting on the death and destruction around us, they are allowing the government to say how well they are dealing with the crisis, apparently the Foreign Minister appeared on BBC to say how everything is under control.
yeah right... great Tourism slogan, oh hang on, what was this years big tourism push, come and purchase land in Greece, what a coincidence...

Out with the old, in with New Democracy

Who/What is New Democracy? Ι start with these guys because they are the governing party and it seems fair that they go first.

New Democracy is the leading conservative party of Greece formed in 1974 by Constantine Karamanlis. He ran on a platform of 'Its either me or Dictatorship', needless to say, he won. It would be a more modern and progressive party than the previous right-wing parties that had gone before. This task was made difficult in that many right-wing politicians from other parties, joined him. As a result the current New Democracy party is formed of an amalgam of right wing ideas and people. You can find former Nazi-Military Dictatorship types as members, people who support the power of the Church in policy making, Pro-King and Anti-King, Free-marketeers, and those who believe that large enterprises should only be run by the government.

The party is now led by the founders Nephew, Constantine Karamanlis. (Greek politics are a family affair, more on that later) As far as policies are concerned, ND is not similar to the Tories of the UK, the Republicans of the USA or the Liberals of Australia, but more akin to the Christian Democrats of Italy prior to Berlusconi. It believes in a Paternalistic government which has a role to play in the economy. This is why it has not liberalised the market or made business any easier for entrepreneurs. It does have a platform of small government but since being elected it has gone on a recruitment binge increasing the size of the civil service, most of whom are 'administrative'. In other words only a few of those do 'actual' work like nurses, doctors, police or ditch diggers.

Despite their slogan 'Power in change' (if i translate correct) more than anything they represent the status quo. 'We will provide jobs to everybody' and 'continue farming the way you always have and we will subsidise you' is what they are saying. They represent a comfortable Greece. No fundamental restructuring of Greece's economy has been implemented by this party even though, one would imagine that being its domain.
That said it has made some courageous decisions. It has appointed a reformer to the head of OTE, one who is actually implementing reforms much to the chagrin of ALL employees, unfortunately change is not happening fast enough to please reformers, nor is it happening across the board in ALL public sectors (eg Olympic airways, other public utilities etc.) It has also tried reforming (more like tweaking) the education system and curriculum.

So which is true you ask how can it be a reformer and for the staus quo? Well its reforms are limited and on the edges, they are not bold and drastic. And bold and drastic changes ARE needed especially if the pension funds are to be saved. These changes have not been forthcoming. I also get the impression that the government is itself embarrassed by these reforms they have made and are distancing themselves from them instead of hoisting them up as an example.

As of this post ND has a lead on the leading opopsition party PASOK of at least 3 percentage points making this party the likely winner. If it does win, there is not much hope that they will make the reforms needed in agriculture, environment, public spending, health, education etc etc, and why should they if the public do not realise the need for change and we can get by the way we always have?

Election distraction

I think this is blog is just turning into a blog on Greece rather than specifically 'How to survive in Athens' which is how i started. After all i haven't written any helpful advice on what to do to survive the summer heat have i?

But recently i noticed a lot of misconceptions surrounding the parties, not only among foreigners living here but also among Greeks, so those from abroad shouldn't feel confused as they witness the election process. And it is easy to get confused, i mean why is the Socialist party always talking about fiscal responsibility? Why are the conservatives talking about increasing the size of the civil service? Surely these talking points are anethema to the respective parties. Well you would be right because they usually are, but to paraphrase the movie 300, this is Greece, and the opposite of what you would expect often occurs.

And this is why Communists hardly mention the average workers, why the Church dabble's in politics in contrast to what happens in other western countries, and so on and so forth. This is why i will attempt to shed some light in the following days on the parties and the elections here in Greece. The benefit to this is that i also have something more to write about, oh joy :)
Of course what i will write will be based purely on viewing their actions and their policies and should not be taken as a definitive guide.

Elections in Greece, the burning question

Schadenfreude - watching illegal villas going up flames.

This sums up my feelings when i saw the villas going up in flames last week in Pendeli. 13 years ago the suburb was the victim of arson, burning huge swaths of forest. Replanting did occur, as did illegal housing. Some of the land was also divvied up to the journalist pension fund, which explains why it was a huge news item when it went up in flames, and why illegal housing is a non news item. Distraught faces wept on TV as they saw their property burn. They also had the audacity to ask for government funds to rebuild. Thats what insurance is for... whats that? Can't get insurance on illegal villa's? You never tried getting insurance... well excuse me for mentioning the obvious, why should elite lawbreakers get my sympathy?

While Pendeli burned the government finally announced the election date, September 16. So from now until then the TV chanels are going to be full of yelling politicians - Woohoo!
Journalists are also waiting expectantly for the official announcement of the campaign slogans.
Who cares about party platform, policy statements or vision statements on the future of Greece, all we care about are the party slogans so we can chant them on the streets like soccer hooligans, which is what Greek elections are like actually.

But they are also fun and many things, such as the true character of Greece and its citizens are revealed in these days, which is why i will be watching expectantly this whole election process.
Already the dirty politics have begun with the governing New Democracy party blaming the PASOK government for setting the fires to divert attention from the election announcement. Oh yes this is going to be a good clean fight!

Election Fever spawns feverish humour

You might have heard the saying "Fact is stranger than fiction", well it appears that this is one of those situations. The Minister of Transport and Communication has released an official press release regarding the timing of the imminent elections - precise date unknown.

Roughly translated it reads;

"You're asking me? Can't you see? Can't you hear? Aren't you listening?
Why are you asking me?"

Fantastic! Thats what i say.
The man is obviously a clown, the question is, "Why is he still there?"

This follows on from a recent law which 'legalises' over 3000 stremmata of land and brings them into the city plan. By legalising these illegal houses and property the government has effectively green lighted continued illegal housing and as a consequence, the burning of forests (and the death and destruction it causes) upon which more illegal houses can be built and eventually legalised. If there are no ramifications for these actions, why shouldn't they continue to burn and build? It's cheaper than being legal.

One point you may have noticed is that they bring these newly legalised property into the city plan. But surely you ask yourself, first comes the plan, then the building. Unfortunately this is not how things generaly work. Buildings go up first and then public services and utilities are taken to the buildings. That's why Athens sometimes appears to be jumbled up. Roads that suddenly narrow from 2 lanes to one half, plots of land that are 40 square meters next to another which is 100. Some roads with footpaths, others with telephone poles. That's all because city planning has not had a chance to be implemented, with the exception of a few suburbs (such as the Olympic village and land set aside for civil servents [judges, military/police officers] etc). All this haphazard building of course raises the cost of public utilities as these haven't been budgeted for, nor planned in the most efficient manner which takes this issues into account.

We may not have the most organised of cities, but at least we have a funny government we can laugh at - thats something to wipe away our tears.

How colour clouds perception in Greece

If you want to be able to survive in Athens and Greece in general, you have to understand the role colour plays in everyday society. When i say colour i don't mean how Greeks treat Chinese or Africans. While Greeks attitude to foreigners can certainly be improved, i must admit that foreigners are not treated with the same amount of viciousness that one would see in Australia.

I am talking about the colour of political parties. You might have heard it being said if you live here, 'I don't have a colour' or 'Are you Green?' 'What should i expect from you, you're Blue!'.
Each colour corresponds to a political party, and be extension to a set of political views.
Blue represents the New Democracy Party (don't ask me what happened to the Old democracy)
Green represents the PanHellenic Socialist Movement (No they are not Green because they are environmentalists) .
Red represents the myriad Communist parties that exist such as main KKE (Hellenic Communist Party) as well as the M-L KK (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, not to be confused with the L-M KK the Leninist Marxist Communist Party).

So for example, the rally to save the forests was 'colourless'. The farmers who came out protesting low subsidies was a Blue-Red protest.

These colours permeate throughout Greek society and espousing one colour or another is seen as a ticket to success. For example, despite efforts to introduce some sort of merit to the hiring process, when New Democracy came to power a few years ago there were media reports that the party faithful had taken to wearing blue ties when attending government job interviews thus declaring their allegiance and securing a job despite their lack of qualifications.
This has led to a pityable culture where party faithfullness is more important than merit. And with one third of the workforce employed by the government, many see the only way of getting a job is by entering this culture, despite their initial reticence and disgust at such a system.

And such a disgust does exist and i see and hear it when i talk to people, especially the young and idealistic people. Some get bitter at being turned back and rejected that they enter it and a few others embrace it from the beginning.

You can survive without any colour in Greece, but it is a difficult road. So if you are living here and are trying to survive without a colour, i commend your efforts for not taking the easy road. But if you have succumbed after a struggle, there is no shame because, employment does have its rewards.

Public activism does not equal whining - A protesters response

Driving up to Volos on the weekend i passed a few of the burnt areas, coincidently to be found near the national highway, coincidently on the other side of other cafe's, just the perfect place if you want to start a Highway cafe.

Today i want to respond to a comment made/repeated by Greece's most well know blogger vrypan (Panagiotis Vryonis). His post written in Greek (click here) says "I would like to see at least half of the protesters who gathered days ago outside by the Parliament, to help the northern Greeks in their work efforts. And prove that we are not only for complaining and demonstrations!"

As one of the people who turned up to the demonstration i take offence at his depiction of the people who gathered as a bunch of whining demonstrators. Many politicians and their news lackeys in Greece have chosen to ignore the rally and denegrate it and the people who turned out. I dont know precisely what vrypan has against these people but i do know that it confused the Party Hacks, people who care more for their parties than than the country, because, as i commented before, I believe it was the largest non-politically organised rally since the fall of the dictatorship.

At least 90% of rallies in Greece are organised by the parties who bus people in, door knock and make sure that the bodies turn up. If you ask anyone at these rallies why they are there, most will spout slogans and others who are truthfull will say 'The party needs my support'.
PASOK, to its credit hasn't organised many rallies and instead has let New-Democracy poke their eyes out. When they were in opposition they organised rallies at the drop of a hat and now they have lost control of their faithfull who are still protesting in order to get the government jobs and subsidies which were promised them 'I protested for you, now its time to pay us back'

What exactly does vrypan want?
I guess i could become a fire-fighter- if the government was hiring that is. Instead the Government chose to re-instate Horo Filakes (something like country policy which operated like the Gestapo during the dictatorship, and disbanded by the centre left govt.) with that money.
If i was one of the handful of people hired (currently undermanned by at least 4000 people) i would have been inadequetly trained for 3 months (according to the fire services who have been begging and pleading for better training regimes)
I could have read the training books written in Katherevousa back in 1970 (which the fire services have been pleading to be updated)
I could have been sent with inadequate and outdated equipment to fight the fires and maybe have been killed.
Would that have proved that i am not a whiner?

Again: the rally was a reminder to the Government and every politician to uphold the laws, primeraly Reforestation! Because If one square meter of the burnt areas gets built on, gets sold from the church to private builders, gets turned into a casino, and most horribly gets pardoned by the government and brought into the city planning structure, if any of that happens, no matter what gets done now, they justify the actions of the arsonists and in effect legalise the murder and destruction that the fires have done. Because the ends will have justified the means, especially if there are no consequences for their actions.
Thats what the rally was about.

Don't forget what the protesters knew, the government belongs to the people and the politicians are our servants and have a duty to listen to us, uphold the laws and do what is right!

Turkish news live from Athens

If you happened to switch on the tv on the weekend to watch the news, you may be excused if you thought you had woken up in Turkey somehow. That's because the news was focusing on the Turkish elections, by my watch 26 minutes out of a 30 minute programme.

Relations between Greece and Turkey are in an ever constant state of flux. There has been a feeling of distrust dating from the 400 years occupation from the Ottoman empire, there have been periods of rapprochement, occupation again - this time of Cyprus, to one of assistance such as the time when Greece lent aid following the disastrous earthquake Turkey suffered.
This has meant that many Greeks distrust Turks while at the same time they will give a kidney and go there for shopping or a holiday.

As a result of these tumultous events, Greece takes a keen interest in developments in Turkey. There is obviously concern as to whether the far right extremists would get into power, basically Greece is hoping for nice and calm neighbours. It seems as though a far right group which was throwing around hangman noose's at public rallies has entered parliament as a relatively strong force. One Greek academic mentioned that no matter who gets elected into parliament - the accountability that comes with the seats may temper the more outrageous comments.

For an interesting update on the elections check out http://www.internations.blogspot.com/ written by a Netherlander in Turkey.

Oh and if you did turn on the news and you actually are in Turkey but live in Greece and have no recollection of how you got there, I know the island parties can get wild but maybe you should consider laying off the booze...

And in the end what was achieved...

The big question now is What have we achieved by our protest?
I must admit, following the protest many people said Wow Great! Its good that people went, but when i ask if they went the common reply was "Nooo, why should i, nothing will change, all the politicians are corrupt/incompetent and nothing will ever change".

Well in part i agree with them and i truly understand where they are coming from. I am not naive (well maybe a little) and i know how things work here in Greece. But the 5000 at least who turned up - we knew the truth but we did not let that get us down. In my opinion if you do nothing then can you complain if you get ignored? Why should the politicians change their ways?
By at least making our voices heard, by protesting, by engaging in this Sysiphian task at least we are trying to change things. Lets not make things easy for them.

I also believe that the people who turned up were REAL Greeks, people who were really concerned about this land and country than a political party.