LETTER FROM GREECE:The agonising over the budget deficit is a minor matter compared with the task of reimagining their country that the Greek people now face
AT 5AM last Saturday, municipal authorities cleared away the “tent city” in Syntagma Square in Athens, opposite the Greek parliament, thus removing the visible presence of the “indignants” who had occupied it since May 25th, in protest not only at the current economic crisis but also at the poverty of Greek politics.
The problem has not gone away, however. In fact, it has deepened. Already, by the end of June, the indignants had taken their movement a step further with the foundation of the Unified Popular Front (UPF), supported by at least 100,000 signatories.
The cause of resentment is, principally, the lack of concern on the part of government and the international financial powers for ordinary citizens trying to live “a minimally decent life”, as the UPF’s founding document puts it. “Antisocial measures overturn domestic and personal planning, thrusting people into poverty, unemployment and misery,” it says. Beyond that is the issue of national sovereignty: “Greek working people face the prospect not just of losing their jobs, pensions and rights but also losing their country.”
The UPF calls for repudiation of Greece’s debts and of its undertakings to the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and EU; exit from the euro zone; “reframing” of Greece’s relations with the EU; reinstatement of the drachma; prosecution of those responsible for “misappropriation of public funds”; and a people-focused democracy with a new constitution.
Some of this may be far-fetched rhetoric, but the extent of this popular movement and the fact that it has very persuasive backers underlines the fact that a Greek default and exit from the euro zone are being acknowledged openly in Europe as possible outcomes.
What does this mean for those admirers of Greece who struggle to understand how this country of beauty, charm, history and culture can be caught up in the globalisation of its economy, character and ethos? Irish historian Roy Foster writes to me of “Greece, a country I both love and mourn”, which typifies the ambivalence and bewilderment of many commentators who appreciate Greece’s past (ancient and modern) but are at a loss in relation to its future.
Greek prime minister George Papandreou is endeavouring to dismantle the social, administrative and political system which his father, Andreas, put in place in the 1970s, following decades of civil unrest and military rule.
That in itself is a phenomenon unheard of in European democracy — imagine a son of Eamon de Valera trying to delete the key articles of his father’s 1937 Constitution: the claim on the six counties, the special position of the Catholic Church, and the role of women in society.
But that is the task Papandreou has set himself, not merely to satisfy his paymasters in the IMF, ECB and EU, but to rid Greece of the clientelism, cronyism and protectionism, to say nothing of the sheer inefficiency of the public service, which are at the core of the Greek problem. This is the real crisis.
Compared with that, the way in which Greece is agonising over its budget deficit is a relatively minor matter. The sale of national assets, such as the state-owned betting shops and casinos, the telecommunications network, the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki, although an essential part of the EU rescue package, is of far less significance than the rethinking and reshaping of Greece and the Greeks’ destiny as a people.
Even the widespread cynicism at the second bailout, which will add years to everyone’s misery when Greece can hardly afford to repay the first, is a minor grievance, as citizens see their leaders have lost their way; that, in fact, Greece itself has lost its way. In this light, the UPF’s demand for a new constitution cannot easily be dismissed.
The overall malaise seems unanswerable. International commentators share the UPF’s concern. Steve Forbes, editor- in-chief of Forbes magazine, says the opportunities for Greece are enormous if the entrepreneurial spirit evident in Greeks worldwide can be unleashed at home. He is deeply critical of the role played by France and Germany in the euro zone crisis, saying: “It is not politics that is going to cure the country. It is going to be fundamental restructure. Politicians are in their own little world.”
Roger Cohen, a columnist with the International Herald Tribune, has gone further, saying Greece should not have been allowed to join the euro. He regards an “orderly default” as “the best imaginable outcome”.
Mark Mazower, an American historian of modern Greece, says that as a result of the crisis “we are all small powers now”. By which he means a challenge by Greece to “the mandarins of the EU” would put the future of Europe in question – something he believes is essential, as the core countries do not understand the periphery.
As Foster once wrote, “we are all revisionists now”.