Apparently National Independence Day in Greece is also National Honk-Your-Horn Day. Oh wait — that is every day in Athens.
Greek Parliament Building at Night
In 1821, amidst the oppression of the Ottoman Empire, the Greeks incited a revolt against the Turks which would lead to their full independence by 1832. The day the revolt began — the 25th of March — was surely an empowering and glorious day.
Almost two centuries later, the country “celebrates” this triumphant day with a few under-attended parades, many demonstrations, cancelled parades and minor police-protestor clashes. From what many Greeks told me, this is the first time they have ever seen an Independence Day of this nature.
Syntagma Square, downtown Athens
I started my day out with a quick jog around Athens to get a feel for the happenings of the day. Not much drew my attention apart from a few distant fireworks and beating of drums. After showering, I headed to the city center, expecting some sort of excitement to be taking place. My walk there proved fruitless apart from the masses of police and other civil servants in small congregations blocking off streets and grabbing a smoke. The amount of participants in the “parade” far outnumbered the spectators. In fact, there seemed to be very few spectators at all.
When I reached Syntagma, there was a little more activity with around 35 police officers standing in a firm line to protect the main square from a very small group of testy protestors.
Syntagma Square Blocked from Protestors
Riot police in full gear – shin-guard and bullet proof shields – guarded the adjacent sides.
The Outskirts of Syntagma Square
The police presence was sufficient enough to avoid any conflict or violence, unlike what we saw a few weeks ago when the square and local businesses were ransacked and severely damaged. One Greek I spoke with related it to a “North Korean” crackdown. The situation in Athens was very much under control.
Note the Yawner, Syntagma Square
Also the texter, Syntagma Square
When the line of police retreated, a few of the protestors rushed the square, but shifted to a casual stroll when they realized no one behind was following suit.
I watched most of this from a great yet overpriced café atop a large electronics store which almost makes me believe I’m in the U.S. upon its entrance. It is full of all the latest toys and gadgets displayed in a fashion you might find at Best Buy in the States. This is quite uncharacteristic of the small self-run businesses like kiosks, pharmacies, tavernas, and coffee shops that are typical in the Greek culture/financial markets and can be (or could be) found on every corner. Now many of these shops have turned to abandoned, run-down pieces of property.
Notice that I put the terms culture and financial market together. This is because my time in Greece has taught me that these two ideas – how people think, feel, behave and the exchange of goods and capital – are inseparable. It doesn’t matter how smart you are with economics or clever you are with numbers; if you don’t consider the demos, you cannot adequately assess an economy.
Managing an economy without considering the culture of a people is like making a Greek salad without feta cheese.
Greek Salad Proper
(Click here for recipe.)
Properly assessing Greek culture and its influence on the economy seems to be lost on many foreign writers and politicians. For example, when the crisis in Greece first began to culminate in 2010, Michael Lewis of the Daily Star wrote an article on corruption in Greece — a fascinating and important topic — that presented an atrocious and completely misguided representation of Greek culture. Articles written since then have continued to portray Greeks as lazy, irresponsible, and/or clueless. The mistakes and miscalculations made by this country are indeed staggering; but slanderous representation of Greek people is neither conducive to the situation nor accurate.
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After the square quieted, I chanced upon someone who is respectably an exception to this tendency. I was drinking my lovely green tea and beginning this post, when a man asked me in English if my internet was working. Not feeling particularly friendly, I said yes and continued to work. Thankfully, he spoke to me again and asked if I was also a journalist. Although I wished I could coolly say yes (because how cool of a job would that be?), I responded with an equal amount of pride that I am a student. I soon found out that Richard Werly is from the Swiss newspaper Le Temps (The Times in French – as I was later forcibly required to translate). He is reporting this week on the Greek crisis and how/if Greece can survive it.
I was impressed with his method since he had appointments with politicians, academics, and media journalists, but also took the time to meet with local entrepreneurs and chat with people on the street. Besides reporting from Athens, Richard mentioned visiting an island to learn of what the crisis means for village/island life in Greece.
Theoretically, this is the approach that should be taken by all journalists or researchers – a broad and all-encompassing approach – but this is not always the reality.
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Richard and I were kicked out of the café at 2:00 P.M. since it is a Sunday (most businesses close completely on Sundays), upon which we noted the complications between Greek culture and the economy.
A cab driver I spoke with last week rightly said that the crisis was a result of Greece’s attempt to apply an American economic mindset with a Greek style of living. He said Greeks wanted to experience the fruits of a highly commercial, capitalistic economy, while still enjoying the beauties of being able to say “ειμαι κυριος του εαυτου μου” (“I am my own boss”) and taking siesta hours between 3 and 6 o’clock.
As my anthropology professor Dr. Aimee Placas mentioned to me, there is a special appreciation for small businesses and lack of competition in Greece. Why would you set the prices at your kiosk lower than the other ones in town? That would put your buddy Giorgos on the next corner out of business. Further, why would sell your fantastic olive oil to anyone in your village who also produce and share it freely?
The horrifying state of the Greek economy does not lie in a greedy, lazy or brainless “Greek” people. Rather, it is a result of gross mismanagement by the state of the dramatic increase of credit availability following Greece’s entrance into the euro zone. This is not a defense for the ill-planned business ventures or cushy, idle public jobs taken on by many Greeks. Despite my ties in Greece and the amount of love I have for its people, I will be the first to admit that the concept of “work ethic” in Greece and in America is entirely different. The “American Dream” is achieved by working, working, then working some more, while Greeks certainly know how to appreciate their downtime.
Mary and cousin Manolis taking in the fresh air of Southern Crete
However, a society that recognizes the value in leisure can be (and seems to have been for many years) a sustainable lifestyle – that is, when people’s spending matches their lifestyle habits. In the case of Greece, the age-old economic principle that “people respond to incentives” holds true. The Greek state artificially inflated the economy by allowing excessive loans to fall in the hands of unqualified buyers and pumping the public sector with additional jobs, increased pensions, and frequent raises. This encouraged stagnancy and overspending rather than innovation and saving, two essential elements for the growth of an economy.
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Richard and I walked across the square to another café, which was thankfully open, but also representative of the maladjustment of the economy. Richard noted the high price of €1,90 for a cup of coffee (which turned out to be the discounted price available only before 10 A.M) in comparison with prices in Turkey. Turkey is Greece’s largest competitor in the region in both agriculture and tourism – probably two of Greece’s only hopes for a rebound in growth.
Why are prices so high? Why aren’t they adjusting to the circumstances of the economic crisis? This question was addressed in the interview Richard conducted and so kindly allowed me to join. Antonius Fourlis, a TV journalist for Mega TV, commented that many businesses and homeowners are operating under mortgage agreements settled pre-crisis with the measly incomes that have followed the crisis. So, a two million dollar mortgage for a premier property in Syntagma square that is now bringing in €300 on a good day doesn’t really have a choice (if the bank won’t renegotiate their loan).
We discussed many relevant topics from the likelihood of Greece staying in the euro zone to Germany’s unpaid war-crime debts. It was quite a cool experience to see a professional print journalist in action (I actually didn’t know these existed anymore).
Basically, the moral of this story is that in Greece, some days you expect to do one thing (like write a paper while watching a parade) and end up doing something entirely and pleasantly different. Life is beautiful that way.
I see no crisis here.
— On The Island of Aegina
Special thanks to Richard Werly, Antonis Fourlis, and Roula Papadioganni for their contributions to my thoughts on this post.
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