Forward:
This opinion piece was written by me as an opinion piece for a newspaper a few months back. It however serves as a fantastic introduction for people looking to understand the nitty-gritty behind the Greek economic crisis and lends some background to the whole ordeal. It should help new readers begin to understand the complexities of Greece's political situation. It is easy to attribute this situation to 'lazy Greeks' and other stereotypes but it runs much deeper than that.
In his Republic, Plato famously lamented the
state of Athenian democracy by comparing it to a ship run by the sailors
(politicians) who had ignorantly disposed of their Navigator due to the
mistaken belief that they knew how to reach their final destination much better
than he. The resulting chaos and upheaval between the various sailors
effectively led to the ship (the City-State) being dead in the water.
How little things have
changed in the proceeding 2000 years.
After national
elections this past month that resulted in a fragmented political base, Greece
finds itself with little recourse for progress in the chaotic sea in which it
has found itself adrift. Consensus is impossible to find, unity is a pipe-dream
and name-calling and political manoeuvring reign supreme among all parties left,
right and center.
Lost in the shuffle has
been the secret to Greece’s woes as well as the remedy for its troubles;
national unity or lack-thereof.
Much of Greece’s modern
history has been marked by severe fragmentation between left and right. While
foreign observers tended to sweep this under the rug and cheerfully branded
Greece as a prime example of ‘western’ democracy, the truth is modern Greece
has been and continues to be a hotbed of communist, socialist, democratic and
even neo-nazi/fascist activity. It is common in Greece to see scuffles and
sometimes physical arguments break out between these disparate groups in many
casual settings throughout Greece.
This great schism in
Greek society is one of the key reasons why Greece finds itself cast adrift.
This unfortunately has been building for the past 50 years and has resulted in
the almost complete paralysis of the Greek ruling class and by extension Modern
Greek society. This crisis was not thrust upon the Greeks overnight; rather, it
has been building since the collapse of the Military Junta in the seventies.
In the ensuing scramble
to placate the various threads of Greek political society following the
collapse of the Junta, a variety of political parties formed, which attempted
to pander to certain aspects of the Greek ideological mosaic in order to
consolidate power. This led to the clientelism, nepotism and corruption that
permeate modern stereotypes of the Greek political establishment.
The truth that has been
exposed now for all to see was that there was never political consensus in
Greece; power and prestige was bought and paid for, outlandish promises made
and broken and the ignorant sailors took turns helming the ship as it slowly
sailed towards disaster and impotence.
This has culminated in
the current situation in which Greece finds itself. The politicians have
succeeded in dividing the populace as evidenced by the recent electoral
results; consensus is nowhere to be found and each of the parties find
themselves scrambling over one another to make a plethora of promises that they
cannot keep. All the while the ship drifts hopelessly nowhere.
In lieu of Plato’s
philosopher-king helming the ship, Greece desperately needs a firm sense of
leadership and direction in the coming months. Be it as a part of the European
Union or not, it needs to set a firm course towards a particular destination,
stick to its navigational charts and press boldly onward. Its people and
politicians must rally behind a unifying force and cease the pointless
bickering and vitriolic rhetoric that has paralyzed the country in the past. If
the current crop of politicians cannot do this, perhaps it is time for the
people to throw them overboard and promote a new political elite, free from the
poisoned past. The current electoral evidence shows that this very well may be
the case. The people of Greece have realized, - perhaps too late, - that the
political establishment has grown bloated and decrepit and the electoral and
poll results show a growing dissatisfaction among the populace.
Regardless of the
situation, meandering at this point will only lead to chaos in the very near
future. Someone or something needs to
unify the populace and set it on the right course. The current situation is
untenable and unless something is done to unify the people and ideologies of
the country, Greece will inevitably sail towards ruin.
The ship has been adrift for too long and has almost run out of supplies. The passengers are getting hungry and the sailors have grown weary of infighting. Now where’s our navigator?
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