An analysis based on the personal experiences of the generations who lived in post-war Greece, the division of the world between the Soviet Union and the West, the civil war, the April 21 colonel coup, the Athens polytechnic student uprising, Cyprus invasion by Turkey and the transfer to democracy
The 2023 elections are approaching.
Once again, the Greeks will have to endure the stress and anxiety of the electoral process, under the threat of a possible Turkish invasion in the middle of the process, although the recent disaster of a double lethal earthquake, in South East Turkey, will probably postpone Erdogan’s plans for both Turkish elections, as well as, some hostile activities in Aegean and Mediterranean Seas
Otherwise, Greek elections are very similar to earlier times, when the Right wing party faced the political front of the united left wing parties
This, by itself, proves that the purpose of the Greek elections is mainly focused to access to governing power and not to promote ideology of the political sectors.
This political image concerns me once again.
In terms of family political positioning, I have the fortune, or misfortune, of coming from a family that had a deeply divided political personality, so that, from a young age, I experienced the national division that characterizes the Greek nation.
The way my close relatives viewed political ideology was absolutely poisonous.
My Father was what one could describe as, popular right wing.
My Mother, as a real Greek refugee from Asia Minor, she was a supporter of Venizelos and later supporter of Papandreou, leader of the Central Union party, with a serious dose of middle class ambience of the Greek Smyrna.
My Mother’s sister, a ‘culturalist’, left-wing of deeply communist, ideology, she eventually developed into an extreme Communist after her marriage with her lawyer husband who was a captain of, the Greek leftish resistance movement EAM, against the German occupation army, fighting next to ArisVelouchiotis, a leading figure of the movement.
A second uncle was an officer of the National Greek army who, during the civil war was, at some point, arrested, and brutally tortured by EAM.
Some of the family members fled to the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern group, during the civil war.
So, you will probably appreciate what contradictory influences I had as a child.
My Father was very friendly with people from all walks of life because he was very good socially, he got along with both the left and the right, he was very hardworking and simple man. Yet, he didn’t really like civil servants, who were mostly left-wing, and he used to say: ‘You can tell civil servants by the shirts their wives hang out on the balconies to dry, these are always of silk, and very clean, civil servants don’t economize and feel safe with their salaries provided by the state, and most of them feel contented, a fact that makes them less ambitious to chase personal progress
He accustomed to work very hard from his childhood, for almost every night until 12 o’clock.
My Uncle, on the other hand, used to tell me stories about black marketears, traitors, traitorous spies, ect, and when I asked him why he couldn’t get a passport to travel abroad, he told me with humor: You see my boy, I made my uniform dirty…. many Greeks will I understand what he ment.
At the same time, my Father used to say, especially during election times: Make a note my boy, you will remember me in the future, you will make money when there is a right wing party in government, while you will lose it when the left wing comes on.
Also, my uncle used to say: In the Soviet Union you will have free healthcare, free education, a house to live and a job, you live without worrying about your survival.
I wondered why my Father, who came as a refugee, and didn’t have enough education, gave up the share he had in the refugee house given by the goverment, in favor of his brother and the eldest of his sisters, while also he donated a diary, to his younger sister, an act customary, in Greece at that time.
I was very confused; the leftish persons in the family were more educated, my father was the youngest and least educated, what is going on here?
Does the concept of equality and equal opportunity play no role in the production of wealth?
Does effort and persistence yield more than entitlements that ultimately serve truants or impractical ideologues?
Does the right to work normal working hours raise the quality of life, and then, how should we handle an individual who worked like my father did, who seized the opportunity of a life of ingenuity and industriousness combined with savings and a more homely life?
How will I treat the less skilled?
Conversely, how will I punish the greedy or the parasitic?
How will I reward quality, productivity, maintaining equality, and indeed without an evaluation method, and finally, what value will I place on the security and permanence that civil servants enjoy?
On the other hand, how will I limit the apparent arbitrariness that capital often takes in a completely free economy?
Again, I remember the exhortations of my uncle who convinced me about the arbitrariness of the Greek Royal family, the crimes of the right wing against heroes of EAM, the struggle, the exiles in the islands, and the most recent crimes committed during the dictatorship of the colonels of April 21st. Many of such crines I found out myself, because I happened to be doing my military service at the time.
But also as a student abroad, during the seven years I studied and worked in England, I realized, even more, the differences of political power and how differently it was practiced in Western Europe.
At the same time, I experienced the treachery of the hypocritical behavior of a colonialist England, in the case of Cyprus, when they bullied the Greek Cypriots, by calling them terrorists. They went as far as to convict them. I cannot forget and hanging of Greek Cypriot heroes, Karaolis and Dimitriou, while at the same time, children were collecting signatures, for their release.
‘Give us back Camden Town and we’ll give you Cyprus’ said Harold MacMillan, sarcastically.
In England, I got to know and experienced the struggle of the Greeks abroad against the Colonels, , the action of Lambrakis MP, the exiled politicians of all resisting political forces, the power of the student unions, EFEE, the errors of the Greek Royal family and especially that of Queen Frederica.
I finally got to know the drama of Cypriot Hellenism in its entirety, during the Turkish invasion in 1974.
So, I can say that I gained a comprehensive knowledge of the periods of Greece’s post-war development.
I experienced the development from the time of the Marshall Plan aid to Greece, the transfer of Greece from British control and influence, to the American sphere of influence, the industrial development under the first phase of the right-wing politics of ERE party, the struggle and the July demonstrations with the Center Union, the so-called ‘abstention’, the coup of the colonels, the assassination of Lambrakis, the student upraise of Athens polytechnic, the dramatic invasion of Cyprus, the fall of the dictatorship, the reestablishment of Parliamentary Democracy and the fall of King Constantine by a public referendum, the entry into the European Union, the introduction of Euro. What a road map!
I believe that this period helped me understand, much better, the nature of Greek politics
The new Parliamentary Democratic period that followed, soon disillusioned me.
I was disappointed by the narrow-mindedness of the Greek Communist party KKE, which remained with an obsession of outdated political standards and economic theories, at a time when the world was changing after the fall of the Soviet Union.
I was disappointed with the Socialist party’s (PASOK) commitment and obsession with blind trade union movements, but I was more disappointed with the insult to parliamentary democracy with criminal actions committed by of Mr. Tzohatzopoulos, a leading member of the socialist party.
I was disappointed by the multiple parties and voices in the right wing, and the fact that it included fascist elements that I did not expect to exist today. How is it possible that so many people of this category and ideology to be present and exist in the political scene today?
Finally, I was disappointed by the way the left party (SIRIZA) governed the country during the four years, when it was given the opportunity to govern.
I detected bad choice of specific partners, bad tactics with Europe, contradictory policy with USA, bad politics in trade unions, bad tactics with hidden support of illegal demonstrations, wrong attempts to expose nonexistent government scandals, wrong attempts against the independence of authorities, obvious weakness to implementing a consistent program, adoption of serious populism.
What the political image of Greece gained, during the anti-fascist struggle, was lost in a few years with wrong choices, of people and tactics.
I don’t know if in the next election battle of 2023, the image created due to lack of well supported arguments in public debates will be able to change such picture that resembles to a student union debate in a high school committee.
I am not swayed by populism and the attempt to simplify complex problems in a very complex global environment where the Western world is presented as a global elitist minority.
It is, in my opinion, natural that evolution of humanity may start from minorities, of course, this cannot be done at the expense of the majority, a delicate balance, that is difficult to achieve, is the answerer we are all looking for. This is why all three basic universal political systems are undergoing some form of evolution. We have not reached there yet.
To return to Greece, I still cannot predict the formation and evolutionary course that political systems will take, under the strong peculiarities of the Greek reality and historical path.
I hope that solutions we will choose will be far from fascism, far from anarchy, far from excessive state controlled economy, far from populism, far from uncontrolled liberalism, this, I believe will be of benefit to Greece.
In general, we need politicians acting outside the box…..
A REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL SCENE OF THE GREEK PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC
An analysis based on the personal experiences of the generations who lived in post-war Greece, the division of the world between the Soviet Union and the West, the civil war, the April 21 colonel coup, the Athens polytechnic student uprising, Cyprus invasion by Turkey and the transfer to democracy
The 2023 elections are approaching.
Once again, the Greeks will have to endure the stress and anxiety of the electoral process, under the threat of a possible Turkish invasion in the middle of the process, although the recent disaster of a double lethal earthquake, in South East Turkey, will probably postpone Erdogan’s plans for both Turkish elections, as well as, some hostile activities in Aegean and Mediterranean Seas
Otherwise, Greek elections are very similar to earlier times, when the Right wing party faced the political front of the united left wing parties
This, by itself, proves that the purpose of the Greek elections is mainly focused to access to governing power and not to promote ideology of the political sectors.
This political image concerns me once again.
In terms of family political positioning, I have the fortune, or misfortune, of coming from a family that had a deeply divided political personality, so that, from a young age, I experienced the national division that characterizes the Greek nation.
The way my close relatives viewed political ideology was absolutely poisonous.
My Father was what one could describe as, popular right wing.
My Mother, as a real Greek refugee from Asia Minor, she was a supporter of Venizelos and later supporter of Papandreou, leader of the Central Union party, with a serious dose of middle class ambience of the Greek Smyrna.
My Mother’s sister, a ‘culturalist’, left-wing of deeply communist, ideology, she eventually developed into an extreme Communist after her marriage with her lawyer husband who was a captain of, the Greek leftish resistance movement EAM, against the German occupation army, fighting next to ArisVelouchiotis, a leading figure of the movement.
A second uncle was an officer of the National Greek army who, during the civil war was, at some point, arrested, and brutally tortured by EAM.
Some of the family members fled to the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern group, during the civil war.
So, you will probably appreciate what contradictory influences I had as a child.
My Father was very friendly with people from all walks of life because he was very good socially, he got along with both the left and the right, he was very hardworking and simple man. Yet, he didn’t really like civil servants, who were mostly left-wing, and he used to say: ‘You can tell civil servants by the shirts their wives hang out on the balconies to dry, these are always of silk, and very clean, civil servants don’t economize and feel safe with their salaries provided by the state, and most of them feel contented, a fact that makes them less ambitious to chase personal progress
He accustomed to work very hard from his childhood, for almost every night until 12 o’clock.
My Uncle, on the other hand, used to tell me stories about black marketears, traitors, traitorous spies, ect, and when I asked him why he couldn’t get a passport to travel abroad, he told me with humor: You see my boy, I made my uniform dirty…. many Greeks will I understand what he ment.
At the same time, my Father used to say, especially during election times: Make a note my boy, you will remember me in the future, you will make money when there is a right wing party in government, while you will lose it when the left wing comes on.
Also, my uncle used to say: In the Soviet Union you will have free healthcare, free education, a house to live and a job, you live without worrying about your survival.
I wondered why my Father, who came as a refugee, and didn’t have enough education, gave up the share he had in the refugee house given by the goverment, in favor of his brother and the eldest of his sisters, while also he donated a diary, to his younger sister, an act customary, in Greece at that time.
I was very confused; the leftish persons in the family were more educated, my father was the youngest and least educated, what is going on here?
Does the concept of equality and equal opportunity play no role in the production of wealth?
Does effort and persistence yield more than entitlements that ultimately serve truants or impractical ideologues?
Does the right to work normal working hours raise the quality of life, and then, how should we handle an individual who worked like my father did, who seized the opportunity of a life of ingenuity and industriousness combined with savings and a more homely life?
How will I treat the less skilled?
Conversely, how will I punish the greedy or the parasitic?
How will I reward quality, productivity, maintaining equality, and indeed without an evaluation method, and finally, what value will I place on the security and permanence that civil servants enjoy?
On the other hand, how will I limit the apparent arbitrariness that capital often takes in a completely free economy?
Again, I remember the exhortations of my uncle who convinced me about the arbitrariness of the Greek Royal family, the crimes of the right wing against heroes of EAM, the struggle, the exiles in the islands, and the most recent crimes committed during the dictatorship of the colonels of April 21st. Many of such crines I found out myself, because I happened to be doing my military service at the time.
But also as a student abroad, during the seven years I studied and worked in England, I realized, even more, the differences of political power and how differently it was practiced in Western Europe.
At the same time, I experienced the treachery of the hypocritical behavior of a colonialist England, in the case of Cyprus, when they bullied the Greek Cypriots, by calling them terrorists. They went as far as to convict them. I cannot forget and hanging of Greek Cypriot heroes, Karaolis and Dimitriou, while at the same time, children were collecting signatures, for their release.
‘Give us back Camden Town and we’ll give you Cyprus’ said Harold MacMillan, sarcastically.
In England, I got to know and experienced the struggle of the Greeks abroad against the Colonels, , the action of Lambrakis MP, the exiled politicians of all resisting political forces, the power of the student unions, EFEE, the errors of the Greek Royal family and especially that of Queen Frederica.
I finally got to know the drama of Cypriot Hellenism in its entirety, during the Turkish invasion in 1974.
So, I can say that I gained a comprehensive knowledge of the periods of Greece’s post-war development.
I experienced the development from the time of the Marshall Plan aid to Greece, the transfer of Greece from British control and influence, to the American sphere of influence, the industrial development under the first phase of the right-wing politics of ERE party, the struggle and the July demonstrations with the Center Union, the so-called ‘abstention’, the coup of the colonels, the assassination of Lambrakis, the student upraise of Athens polytechnic, the dramatic invasion of Cyprus, the fall of the dictatorship, the reestablishment of Parliamentary Democracy and the fall of King Constantine by a public referendum, the entry into the European Union, the introduction of Euro. What a road map!
I believe that this period helped me understand, much better, the nature of Greek politics
The new Parliamentary Democratic period that followed, soon disillusioned me.
I was disappointed by the narrow-mindedness of the Greek Communist party KKE, which remained with an obsession of outdated political standards and economic theories, at a time when the world was changing after the fall of the Soviet Union.
I was disappointed with the Socialist party’s (PASOK) commitment and obsession with blind trade union movements, but I was more disappointed with the insult to parliamentary democracy with criminal actions committed by of Mr. Tzohatzopoulos, a leading member of the socialist party.
I was disappointed by the multiple parties and voices in the right wing, and the fact that it included fascist elements that I did not expect to exist today. How is it possible that so many people of this category and ideology to be present and exist in the political scene today?
Finally, I was disappointed by the way the left party (SIRIZA) governed the country during the four years, when it was given the opportunity to govern.
I detected bad choice of specific partners, bad tactics with Europe, contradictory policy with USA, bad politics in trade unions, bad tactics with hidden support of illegal demonstrations, wrong attempts to expose nonexistent government scandals, wrong attempts against the independence of authorities, obvious weakness to implementing a consistent program, adoption of serious populism.
What the political image of Greece gained, during the anti-fascist struggle, was lost in a few years with wrong choices, of people and tactics.
I don’t know if in the next election battle of 2023, the image created due to lack of well supported arguments in public debates will be able to change such picture that resembles to a student union debate in a high school committee.
I am not swayed by populism and the attempt to simplify complex problems in a very complex global environment where the Western world is presented as a global elitist minority.
It is, in my opinion, natural that evolution of humanity may start from minorities, of course, this cannot be done at the expense of the majority, a delicate balance, that is difficult to achieve, is the answerer we are all looking for. This is why all three basic universal political systems are undergoing some form of evolution. We have not reached there yet.
To return to Greece, I still cannot predict the formation and evolutionary course that political systems will take, under the strong peculiarities of the Greek reality and historical path.
I hope that solutions we will choose will be far from fascism, far from anarchy, far from excessive state controlled economy, far from populism, far from uncontrolled liberalism, this, I believe will be of benefit to Greece.
In general, we need politicians acting outside the box…..
Times for Change 