{"id":1592,"date":"1992-01-01T07:42:00","date_gmt":"1992-01-01T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/?p=1592"},"modified":"2021-11-07T08:02:33","modified_gmt":"2021-11-07T08:02:33","slug":"the-big-0-1992-and-all-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/1992\/01\/01\/the-big-0-1992-and-all-that\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big “0”: 1992 and All That"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From the EC point of view this is true (though sad) but there are other criteria than just economic health, like mental well-being and vigorous longevity. By a recent poll compiled in Brussels, Greece has the lowest suicide rate in the EC. And as the country nervously awaited the results of the summit, someone gamely said that Greece had joined up with a great number of questionable organizations over three millennia and alone survived them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now 1992 and All That has arrived, and Greece is in the rear-guard, fighting off the wolves. One reason it places last is that it is the least European of EC members. It is ‘different”, as its citizens tirelessly say, as if that explained anything. One difference is that being last in the Greek alphabet is rather good: Omega, the Big \u038c’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reason for Greece being Omega is due to overly enthusiastic socialist experimentation. When PASOK came to power in 1981, Greece was ahead of Ireland and Portugal. Now it isn’t. Greece hears a different drummer, sometimes several at the same time. That’s why it marches off step. The one wielding the biggest drum this past year was George Koskotas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closing speeches of the three prosecuting MPs of the Koskotas trial last month did not greatly differ in pointing in the direction of former Prime Minister Papandreou as the moral instigator instructing governors of the state utility organizations to deposit funds with the Bank of Crete and thus encouraging the embezzlement scandal to flower. Even Mr Konstantopoulos,. who recommended that Mr Papandreou be acquitted of the charge of moral instigation on grounds of “reasonable doubt” and lack of evidence, said that “enormous political responsibility” lay with those who failed to take measures that would have prevented or at least exposed the scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of particular interest, however, were the two very different attitudes taken towards the general moral climate which prevailed when the scandal was hatched. They are based on very contradictory ideas on what constitutes government, its level of importance and the extent of its responsibilities. Both, of course, are bound up in Greek mentality, tradition and history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like their great forbears, modern Greeks are intensely political animals. Being so absorbed in it, one might wonder why they are not better at governing, and sometimes it seems all public figures should attend the Pantios School of Political Sicence for refresher courses. But this is simply stating the matter, not solving it. In Greece, politics is not a science. It is a passion whose course, like all true passions, never runs smooth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This attitude sets the political world at the very center of society. It holds that it is the provider of all good things – like rousfeti (patronage) – and all bad ones – like Pamper boxes stuffed with ‘dirty’ money. People who support this politico-centric view like to quote the popular Greek proverb, “a fish begins to stink from the head.” According to this philosophy the archigos wins all the laurels or becomes the scapegoat, and the people (if poorer, in this case by 230 millions US dollars) go free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, it sees amoral socialism devilishly worming itself down into society, eroding family ties and ridiculing religion in order to take over and tyrannize everyone. This ‘rot from the top’ has transformed the gallant, Godfearing pallikari filled with the spirit of Romiosyne into a mindless, greedy, lazy, green-flag-waving atheist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposite view holds that politicians are not the perpetrators of social action but products of society. Party leaders are public servants who reflect and carry out the public will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This line was skillfully taken up by prosecuting MP Nikos Konstantopoulos and formed the philosophical base for his proposal for the acquittal of all the defendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Koskotas trial” he said, “is a mirror image of the corruption of social life in Greece\u2026a moral, economic and political scandal for the country.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Is there anyone who feels ashamed about the Koskotas scandal?” he queried rhetorically. “Have we all been worthy of our responsibilities” Everybody pretends to be above suspicion, but society is being corrupted\u2026and moral and political desperation are the feelings of Greek citizens.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If these Calvinist words sounded more appropriate to a northern EC pulpit than a law court in the sunny Mediterranean, Mr Konstantopoulos would not accept a ‘blind chance’ attitude towards society, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Koskotas was not like a pirate who plundered the country,” he said. “The scandal did not just fall out of the sky but infiltrated the political system and spread through all the organs of the state mechanism. It was not a meta-physical phenomenon.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This appraisal was certainly very interesting but seeing that the trial was set up by a special government to achieve catharsis, the upshot “we are all guilty” is, to say the least, disappointing. Where we expected buckets of lovely Cycladic whitewash we are asked to have all the pots and kettles call each other black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, it can be truly said that the process of the trial was itself a catharsis. Much of what was aired was painful but it was wholesome to do it. There is another saying: when a window is first opened in a long-closed room, what is already dead decays faster, but what is vital more quickly recovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever else Greece may be missing, it certainly doesn’t lack vitality. And remember, dear God-fearing fellow EC members who it was who said, “I am Alpha and Omega.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was an amusing sketch in the Economist last month just before the Maastricht summit. It showed a sort of conga-line of premiers led by ample Chancellor Kohl and the rear brought up by a grimacing Mr Mitsotakis. The final paragraph of the accompanying text, appropriately devoted to Greece, opened, “Last and certainly least\u2026”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-town"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1596,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions\/1596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-athenian.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}