Greek Archbishop burial ceremony

Well the soap opera is drawing to teary end. Priests are crying in public, people are chanting "Zeis zeis, esu mas odygeis" (You live, You live, You show us the path to take) and news reporters speaking in halting tearful tones - Oh the HUMANITY - When will this cease. soon hopefully.

On another note, the Greek Orthodox Relief Charity is under investigation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who are seeking he return of over 7 million Euros. This PUBLIC money was given to the Charity by the government to help them do 'good deeds'. Deeds which involves the sending of sexy underwear (thongs etc) and fur coats as part of the relief sent in the aftermath of the Tsunami which hit South East Asia. Or the overbilling which occured when the charity blew the budget when they purchased rotten chickens to send to a disaster hit region.

Of course this time is providing a welcome relief to the Government as they try to divert attention from the Corruption scandal which is threatening to blow up over Zahopoulos and the forthcoming Seimens scandal which has been brewing for over a year now...

The only good thing that has come out of the Burial is the day off which public servants are taking, and since i was not due to have life saving surgery - coming to work today was great. With the public servants staying home the roads were almost empty - I zoomed up Mesogeion this morning. Since public servants dont do any work, the only thing they are good for is causing Traffic Jams!

No Holiday for YOU!

So as i mentioned yesterday, the country is having 3 days mourning for the passing of the Archbishop of Athens. People are visiting his dead corpse and wailing and gnashing their teeth. Tomorrow, public services will be closed in his honour. What this means for you and tourists is that ALL Archaeological sites will be closed. Thats right - You just flew in from Canada to see the Temple of Athena - STUFF YOU! It will be closed because a Greek Orthodox priest died.
That has got to be the Ultimate pay-back. I mean Christianity has won and is the dominate religion here in Greece, yet all these ancient temples will be closed to honour the passing of this divisive priest.

Perhaps the best thing i have heard yet is that Many Public hospitals have canceled scheduled surgeries and are taking the day off. Yes, that is the best way to remember the passing of Hristodoulos. A man who flew to Miami at Taxpayers expense to undergo a surgery which doctors KNEW he could not undergo, who stayed at this exclusive Miami hospital at TAXPAYERS expense till he could gather his strength to fly back - We remember him and his fight against cancer by reminding everyone else that he was better than us in every way and enjoyed rights and privileges we would never dream of abusing - By telling others who are fighting cancer - STUFF YOU - its a holiday, get back in line and wait.
Yes, memorable times....

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.

Winter Hibernation

YAWN!!!!!!!!!

Good Morning one and all! Awww wow, its been a long time.
Thanks Hans for waking me up... Its a bit hard to get back on the bike after such a long slumber.
And boy has a lot happened here. Just give me some time to gather my thoughts and i can get to talking about SEX and Corruption!

Life in Athens is getting interesting again, i wonder if Grisham could write a novel about whats going on here!

Remembering the Fires and Environment

So while Greece remembers the events that occurred over 50 years ago, short term memory loss means that we are forgetting what has happened only a few months ago. Of course short term memory loss can be fought if people try to remind each other of these events. AmericaninAthens has provided an excellent environmental wrap up of last month.

Also doing the rounds is an email alerting people to a recent EU vote in parliament. Parliament voted that the forested areas in the Mediterranean which suffered from the fires should be protected and allowed to regrow. All countries in the Med voted in favour, all except one party from Greece. New Democracy members voted according to their party line, not their conscience and stated that they voted against the regrowth bill because, according to the email, Rousopoulos said 'it is a violation of Greek constitution, particularly article 24. i have mentioned before article 24 which is a toothless article meant to protect the environment, though never enforced. So if the EU bill says protect the environment, and article 24 the same, how can they be in conflict?

The answer is simple. They are not. The government is playing the Nationalism card. It is trying to hide its disgusting actions behind the Greek flag. "What are you in favour of, an EU bill or the Greek constitution?"

Also mentioned is the fact that over 2000 stremmata (Greek unit of measurement) of the Zaharo village, where people died from the fires have been signed over to tourism development. Apparently the plans were already signed off during New Democracy's initial term according to some people. Of course these people may only be saying that to cast doubt and suspicion on the PM Karamanlis who supposedly signed it when he was also acting as minister of culture. If its a lie then that would be atrocious, if true however...

There is an online petition to support the reforestation at www.petitiononline.com/forestgr/
and there is also a website which shows where the parties vote in the EU with regard to the environment at http://www.foeeurope.org/euvotewatch/. Which is also interesting as it shows that New Democracy has consistently voted against the environment. The Communists largely abstain or are in favour, while SYRIZA and PASOK vote in favour of the environment. Interesting tool as it also includes emails of the parliamentarians so you can have your say. Which is one way to act if you want to see change.

Remembering 28th October

Last Sunday was 28th of October, and it is a national holiday here in Greece. For those who don't know, on that day Greece commemorates the famous declaration by Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas who said Ochi (No) to Italian demands to let Italian forces pass through and occupy certain sites in Greece.

This event marked Greece's entry into WW2. From being a neutral observer, Greece joined the side of the Allies and provided them with the first victory against the Axis powers. This is remembered through military style parades. In fact it appears, through a rough search, that Greece is one of the few 'western' countries to have student military parades.
It appears that student parades were very popular in totalitarian countries before the war. Nowadays military-style parades are still held here in Greece, China, North Korea, Iran and Turkmenistan. Of course, upon noticing the company, debate has begun here in Greece over whether we should still have these parades. What gets me is that we are missing the point, and the debate should not be focusing on the parade as such. What should be debated is 'How well are we remembering the sacrifices made during WW2'.

TV made a point of questioning the children on the significance of the day. Some knew, some didn't. Of course you will always find children who don't know but there is a greater lack of understanding on the Italian role in WW2. Everyone knows about the atrocities of the Germans. Its undeniable. In fact the first who recognise it are the Germans themselves.
Japanese atrocities are known to a lesser extent. Some people may have heard about the massacre at Nanking. Or about Unit 731, a covert biological research unit which experimented on 10,000 people in the most brutal and grotesque ways imaginable. Japanese people are mostly unaware of these facts.

The Italians on the other hand seem to have gotten off scott free from their shady history. Before their invasion of Greece, they were guilty of equally disturbing atrocities in Abyssinia. In fact they were also guilty of deliberately targeting the Red Cross with mustard gas, such was their flagrant disregard for humanity.

Instead our image of Italian involvement in WW2 involved peaceful, mandolin strumming soldiers who want to make love not war. We do not hear about the internment camps in Yugoslavia where tens of thousands of Yugoslavs were starved to death. The torture and rape of Greek civilians. We are not informed about civilians who were killed with boiling oil, or that Italy refused to pay reparations after the war if charges were laid against the people responsible for such heinous acts.

So what, i hear you say. Well memorial days are there to remind us what our forefathers fought for. They fought for liberty, and for the freedoms we now take for granted. They fought against a fascist regime that wanted to put an end to such freedoms. And if we forget this, then it becomes all the more easier for modern parties to start taking away these freedoms.
Italy has never had to come to terms with its fascist past. Which is why we had Silvio Berloscuni insult a German MEP saying "Mr Schulz, I know a movie-producer in Italy who is making a movie about Nazi concentration camps. I will suggest you to play the role of a Kapo. You are perfect!" Despite the fact that he was leading a party which included the successor of the Italian Fascist party. Now in Italy, the Socialist government wants to pull the reins on the Internet and blogging. The law, as i am told will seriously restrict what and which people can talk about on the Internet.

These things of course are easier to do when a culture forgets its history. And that is what memorial days should really be about, remembering these warning from history.

Constructive criticism of Greece: Members Only!

So there you are, sitting around with your friends at a cafe and the conversation turns to the state of a) Greek roads, b) Hospitals, c) Politics, d) Insert Other, and everyone in the group starts to add their horror story... "20 minutes in traffic... thats nothing, i ran over five potholes in a row and was stuck in traffic for 50 minutes" And if you're a foreigner or a Greek from abroad, poor naive you, not wanting to be left out of the conversation you add your story to everybody else's. Big Mistake!

All of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of a maelstrom of accusations. "But things are worse in (insert your country of origin here) I know. (insert problem area here) are worse there" Or some third country gets dragged in and accused of being worse. Which is why I want to travel to Uganda one day, and find out if things are really bad as they claim. But i suppose that would be unfair seeing as one is a third world country and Greece is first world with all the benefits of EU funding.

In the meantime, while you are listening to all this, somewhere in the back of your head you're saying to yourself "but all i did was agree with them, they started it". But of course who started it has nothing to do with it. Nor do the facts, because while everyone in Greece recognises, for example, the roads are in desperate need of maintenance or that things need to change in (insert problem area), its not for you, the outsider to say.

The average Greek raised here seems to operate on the assumption that Greece is just an extension of their family, and therefore, we don't mention the family's faults and shortcomings to outsiders. And they also assume that if they don't mention it, well, no one will find out how bad the roads are. So its fine to talk about our problems amongst ourselves, but no problems exist when talking to outsiders.

Of course i have to note that some 'outsiders', as well as some Greeks, base their criticism simply from a position of elitism. You know the kind of people, the ones who compare Greek taxi's to limo services. With those guys, yeah i too want them to be quiet, because they don't offer constructive criticism, all they want to do is show off.

But of course i am not talking about those few. I am talking about the average person, who decided that they wanted to live in Greece, and they too want to see Greece enjoy the same luxuries that other countries have, such as good roads. And when it comes to these people i would like to see them being able to share in these conversations like equals, and not being brow beaten because they spent their youth in another country. Till that happens however, if you are an 'outsider' all i can say is, be prepared. No it doesn't always make sense, but as they say here, Min to psahneis (dont look for it).

On Clean beaches and the future of Greece

Ok, my penultimate post has of course caused some confusion. And i find myself coming under fire for a) Trying to ruin the tourism market of Greece, or b) Exaggerating the situation in Greece when it comes to the clean beaches. So i will try to clear things up.

The fact is that the the natural coastal environment from Spain, France to Italy has to a large extent been destroyed by rapid urbanisation and especially a policy of attracting tourists through the building of houses and resorts on the beach. In the face of this limited competition, Greece does have some of the best beaches in the Med and the world.

However. And this is the point i wanted to make, if we do what the other countries did, and follow this governments policy of building on beaches, we will destroy them just like the other countries have with their beaches. Its not rocket science. Sure, now, the beaches are nice, but if we continue along our current path... And the problem is i dont see any measures in place to protect the environment. And the government is furiously promoting property tourism, while i don't see any other economic development policies such as an IT policy for example.

Anyway here are some links for you
Mediterranean Basin on brink of ruin
Mediterranean faces ruin

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Joni Mitchell is back!

For those of you who don't know, Joni Mitchell is a Canadian singer/songwriter. Perhaps her best known song is Big Yellow Taxi, you know it, it goes "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot". If you don't know it, well go out and find it, its worth listening to. Well Joni Mitchell is back with a new album, can't wait to hear it, and I hope its good.

A while ago Bubbles left a comment on how one comes to Greece and expects to see sunshine all the time, but work conditions are such that you hardly step out of the buildings. Another paradox is that you come to Greece expecting clean beaches but according to the latest surveys, these are fast becoming extinct. A recent report by Reuters reveals that Greece's coastline is increasingly being clogged with pollution, mainly as a result from the tourism industry. (another paradox, tourists come for the clean beaches, causing its destruction - but thats ok, they can go back and leave the pollution for us who live here to enjoy). Just 5 km from the city center, the once prestigious beaches of Faliron where all the 'in' crowd would go, is now off limits as a result of the pollution.

Lacking any real economic development plan, the current government is desperately encouraging the holiday home market. Giving jobs to the construction companies and underpaid construction workers (some claim that most are migrants whose situation is exploited and they get paid peanuts). This puts further pressure on the last surviving coastal areas of Greece. In other words, they are paving paradise and putting up holiday homes/apartments.

Last year the Spanish government for the first time demolished an area on its coastline to re-introduce 'Green' areas. If you don't know, from the straights of Gibraltar up to and including Italy, all concrete, completely lacking any natural environment. While Spain has learnt from its mistake and is desperately trying to reverse the situation, Greece now is intent on repeating this mistake. Why, for the cheap and lazy dollar, no plan or thought required, just destroy what nature we have.

So if you want to see the Beaches of Greece, better hurry before they disappear and "they pave paradise and put up a tourist complex..."