There is fury and frustration in Athens at the situation in which Greece finds itself, writes CARL O'BRIEN
THE ANGER on the streets is hard to avoid.
You see it in the smashed windows of jewellers’ shops; on the steel shutters of banks, daubed with graffiti like “traitors! thieves!” or “you have robbed this country!”; among the noisy crowds on teargas-drenched streets outside the parliament, where the air is thick with the sense of injustice; and on the massive hammer-and-sickle banners draped over entrances of some of the colleges and universities, urging students to resist and fight.
But at the weekend a calm of sorts returned to the streets of Athens. The deaths of three bank employees in Wednesday’s riot – which the president said had brought Greece “to the edge of the abyss” – seem to have subdued rather than inflamed the public mood. But the sense of grievous injustice remains.
Further tax rises are looming, along with pay cuts of up to 25 per cent for public sector workers, and tough new measures to tackle tax-evasion and to reform public administration.
There have been calls for unity, but there’s precious little sign of it. Parliament is hopelessly factionalised, while many ordinary people have lost faith in what they feel is a corrupt political system. Tax evasion, which has played a major role in Greece’s debt crisis, is rampant.
"Can a society self-destruct?" asked the Greek daily newspaper Kathemerinithis weekend.
“Of course it can, and it is certain that this will happen if we continue this way – when the state and society allow some nihilist hooligans to burn the city and murder three working citizens.”
Will the crowds limit themselves to angry slogans? Or will demonstrators manage to storm the bastions of political power and privilege? Most observers feel it’s too early to say. What is clear is that the country is looking through a glass darkly at a bleak and uncertain future.
Some of the deepest resentment is among young people. Until recently, they were known as the “€700 generation”. That was the most a university graduate lucky enough to find a job could expect to earn in a month.
Now, the figure talked about is the “€400 generation”, due to planned reductions to the minimum wage and higher taxes.
At the Athens University of Economic and Business, the mood is clear.
A large banner draped over the entrance calls on students to revolt and fight the cuts. Inside the front door, the youth wing of the communist party is signing up members.
Isidoros Gkiokas (22), a business student, has had enough. “People can’t take any more. They have been having pay cuts or tax increases for a long time,” he says.
“They are being asked to do too much. My father is a pensioner. He is one of the people whose income will be cut again.”
His friend Jerry Koliokostas (22), from Rhodes, says emigration is the only prospect facing a new generation which was told that studying hard would bring its own rewards.
“I’m due to graduate from business, but that doesn’t matter,” he says.
“There won’t be any jobs for me. We are supposed to be the future! But there’s no future in the country for us. Our dreams are gone.”
The notion of students and workers protesting on the streets with hammer and sickle flags might sound ludicrous and anachronistic to far-away observers. But not here.
Just down the road is the Athens Polytechnic, the site of an uprising against the military dictatorship in 1973. At least a dozen people were killed and many others injured outside the campus. It proved a catalyst in the downfall of the military junta. Much of the imagery of those days is being invoked once again.
This burning anger isn’t shared by everyone. In a middle-class neighbourhood just north of the city centre, the local taverna is doing a busy trade. Much of the discussion is about looming tax rises or cancelled holidays abroad. Mostly, there is an air of resigned frustration over the corner Greece now finds itself in.
“The financial speculators are Taliban in grey suits,” says Stelious, a middle-aged haematologist who works at a local hospital.
“But we have no choice. We have to accept the hardship. There is no alternative.”
In another suburb is Michael Dunis, a 53-year-old taxi driver. He says the current crisis presents an opportunity. Radical change is needed to tackle the corrosive culture of tax evasion and poor political leadership.
“The IMF is going to take things out of the hands of the government,” he says.
“This must be better for us. Corruption, tax evasion: these are the things which need to be tackled. Otherwise, we go back to where we started.”
By any measure, the country faces daunting challenges. Its bid to avoid defaulting on its loans by agreeing to severe austerity, reforming public administration and trying to revive its economy mark the biggest challenge the country has faced since it emerged from a seven-year military dictatorship in 1974.
One of the biggest obstacles is tax evasion. Experts point out that dodging tax is part of a broader culture of bribery and corruption that is deeply entrenched in this society. Various studies estimate that the government is losing as much as €20 billion a year to tax evasion.
One anecdote recounted is that in the latest tax returns for one of the wealthiest suburbs in the city, just over 300 residents admitted they owned a swimming pool.
When tax investigators decided to study satellite photos of the area, dotted with large villas, they came back with a somewhat different number: 16,900 swimming pools.
Kostas Bakouris, president of the Greek arm of the anti-corruption group Transparency International, says Greeks constantly face the lure of small-scale corruption.
“Many resort to giving fakelakia [little envelopes] to public and private officials related to everything from doctor’s fees, tax evasion and building permits,” he says.
“It’s one price with a receipt, and another without it.”
Some attribute it to a post-colonial disregard for authorities following the Turkish occupation of the country. Others suggest that ordinary people are simply taking their lead from the political establishment. Whatever the cause, change won’t be easy.
Yesterday, tourists milled around the parliament – the site of much of the last week’s violence – and posed for photographs beside statuesque soldiers on sentry duty. Cafes in the city were thronged with locals and tourists seeking shade from the languid summer heat.
It feels like business as usual – but it won’t be. The first instalment of EU bailout money is due to arrive tomorrow, and the loans come with strict strings attached. Tough decisions, so often avoided in the past, will need to be finalised.
A further series of tax hikes, pay reductions and cuts to the public sector are around the corner. Can it work? Most are sceptical. Many moderates feel the austerity plan is too severe, too ambitious and doomed to fail. More radical elements say the public – already suffering from a host of pay cuts and tax increases – will not be able to suffer more pain.
What is clear that the nation will need to pull together if it to move away from the precipice of division and civil conflict. The president has called for more political and social unity to prepare for the challenges ahead. He has spoken of hope, resilience and determination.
They are lofty ideals, but they hardly reflect the reality on the ground.
Greece, during the past few days, has resembled a country at war with itself.
Comparing notes: Greece V Ireland
MANY OF the sacrifices being asked of Greek workers are similar to those experienced by Irish workers since the economic downturn.
There has been a pay freeze for all public sector workers, while many will see their salaries cut by between 15 and 20 per cent.
This follows several years of pay increases, with salaries in some parts of the public sector rising by an average of 30 per cent since 2006.
Annual bonus payments – often paid as 13th and 14th month salaries – will be scrapped for higher earners and will be capped for lower earners.
In the area of pensions, the current average retirement age is 61, although many in the public sector are able to retire in their 50s.
Under the new changes, all this will change. Retirement age will be linked to average life expectancy. In addition, pensions will be reduced so they reflect a worker’s average salary, rather than their final salary.
On the tax side, VAT is increasing by 2 per cent to 23 per cent, the latest in a series of hikes. In addition, alcohol, fuel and cigarettes are being increased by 10 per cent.
While to an Irish audience the pay cuts and tax hikes seem similar in scale, experts points out that Greek workers are on lower salaries, and have not benefited from a comparable economic boom. The cost of living in Greece is also high, particularly since the arrival of the euro.
“People here didn’t have the Celtic Tiger years. They haven’t felt better off in recent years,” says president of the Hellenic Irish Business Association, Ian Gourley, who has been based in Greece for the past 18 years.
“Average wages are around €1,000 to €1,500 a month. They feel they’ve been told to tighten their belts for the past 20 years – but many feel they’ve no belt holes left.”
The scale of protest and depth of anger on the streets of Athens last week may also surprise Irish audiences. But here, says Gourley, protesting is almost a way of life.
“They feel they have a right to protest, maybe because of their history, with a recent civil war and a military dictatorship,” he said. “There is also a sense that many are in a time-warp, especially the far left . . . There are regularly protests here, even before the economic crisis.”