Breaking news from Greece...

I said it in my previous post... political time has become incredibly dense...

Here is another thing I've realised much to my amusement... no matter how careful one is, it is still possible to get misinformed...

But more on that in another post.

Ministries are still in the process of being handed over, but changes, symbolic or "real" are already underway...

Here are a few from today:

The guardrails that stood in front of the Parliament for the last two years, permanently, have been taken away!!

I classify that one in the symbolic gestures, albeit an important one.

On the 28th-29th of June 2011 I went to Syntagma Square with some friends, to participate in the protest against the first memorandum. I remember the Parliament building as being this "monolithic presence", with windows tightly closed and surrounded by fences and rows of riot police.
The fences at the time were "temporary" but as the austerity measures progressed and the government increasingly showed it's unwillingness to back off, the fences became permanent.

A permanent reminder that it was us against them..

Today the fences were removed. Because the new government believes they don't need to cultivate a climate of fear... that they have nothing to fear from the people.

An announcement was made this morning on the matter by Minister of Protection of the citizen, Mr Yiannis Panousis, who added that the Police needs to work for the citizen and not against them. Police will keep a lower profile at protests, as in his own words "we need better policing and not a police state"

By 12 o clock, the fences were gone!

before

after

Meanwhile changes have been announced in the educational system, some people are getting their jobs back, mre specifically the cleaning ladies of the Ministry of finance and the school janitors/guards who were laid off. The Minister of Finance, Yiannis Varoufakis, a world renowned Professor of Economy, said the money to pay them will come from cuts in other parts of the ministry budget itself, namely large sums going to various advisors, while the Ministry will make better use of its own resources from now on...

cool dude Yiannis Varoufakis, minister of Finance, explaining how the markets will be taught a greek dance called Pentozali...

The Athens stockmarket, essentially collapsed today, which is a good thing... (personal opinion) enough with the bloody stock markets..let's see economies for real people and not markets...

The expat housewives guide to Greek politics, or else an attempt to promote healthier (and livelier!!) tableside conversation

Let me start by saying a big thank you to Min for inadvertedly giving me the idea...
and let me continue, by apologising for not posting more prior to the elections...

Time, and especially political time, is "denser" than ever, more so obviously in Greece, where there has been a change of government, and things are "happening" left, right and center...
I started writing this 'bout 5 days ago, but the news I have to "catch up" with is of a stupendous volume... I think it would be best if I make it in a couple of parts... so here goes part one...:

On Sunday the 25th of January, after one of the shortest pre-election periods ever, Syriza and Alekos Tsipras, won a resounding victory and ousted the right wing coalition government set up after the 2012 elections.

They did this against tremendous odds.

Greece's media, controlled by a rich and corrupt few, did everything it could to create a fear against the Left winning.

As the date came near, we expected to hear that if Syriza won, Godzilla would rise out of the Aegean and trample all over the Akropolis...

In other news today, Akropolis attacked by Godzilla. Elgin Marbles safe in London..

Unless one has a thorough knowledge of 20th century Greek History and politics, it is difficult to realise what a monumentous occasion this is.

For many people, this is or at least we hope it is, a case of the new winning against the old...

Syriza is a left wing party that evolved from a number of smaller Left wing parties gettting together in 2001. Communism and the left have a long, and troubled story, in Greece.

Greece at the beggining of the century was an incredibly "backward" country, compared to the rest of Europe. Under Turkish occupation, there had been no Enlightenment worth talking about, no real Industrial Revolution... The main urban centers were Athens, Thessaloniki, Smyrna and Istanbul. the latter two were Turkish, but had large greek populations.
(My great-grandmother was a big land owner near Smyrna, with about 85 people working for her then. after 1922 though she became one of the 1,500,000 immigrants that flocked to Greece, in order to get away from the genocidal Kurds...because it was they who did the dirty work for the Turks, in the agreement they would get the benefit of the land the greeks left behind...)

Greece was beset with many problems, external and internal. The long occupation by the Turks, had left many marks and they weren't only mousakas, kazan dipi and "greek" coffee... (actually turkish coffee..)

The major part of the population was illiterate, there was not much in the way of infrastructure, and nepotism and corruption, ruled. Large parts of Greece toiled under a kind of feudal system...

In 1918, the first greek Communist party was created. In a land with little if any industry, it struggled to apply the Marxist theory to the greek reality...

Communism never really gained much of a foothold here, until the Second world War. Then the Communists became the Greek resistance.

I should add here a ltiile known fact. There were a couple of Greek fascist parties, and one of them even made an attempt at a coup before the war. In fact even Ioannis Metaxas, who famously said "OXI" to Mussolini's advances and effectively plunged greece into the war, was a dictator himself...

Throughout the german occupation, there were many Greeks who joined with the mainly communist "Liberation Army" and fought the Germans in any way they could. Many would pay for it dearly, with their lives... amongst them 200 executed at the Kaisiariani shooting range, and in many cases whole villages that were burned to the ground in retaliation for resistance attacks.

There were sadly, also many greeks who collaborated extensively with the Germans, many right wing politicians as well.

After the war a terrible thing happened. The Nazi collaborators were initially locked up in order to await trial as many of them had taken part in atrocities and torture. Some of them even fled the country together with the 3rd Reich forces pulling back...

As Athens was liberated, the greek Communist Resistance already had organised a loose form of government to aid reorganisation. Stalin and the allies however had already divided up the world between them.. and Greece was meant to be "Western"... Churchill, fearing the communists would take over and spoil the plan, let the Nazi collaboratoring Greeks free, gave them weapons and set them fighting against the "Liberation army" There ensued a bloody civil war, out of which the winners were the "bad guys"... (with aid by the US and Britain...)

Nazi collaborators were never brought to justice, with few exceptions, and instead they ended up running the country. Almost every government since then has had some ties to them. They were (and are) everywhere...

Thus you might say, there was never any closure in Greece re the war... add to that, there were no damages paid by the germans and also the money/gold they "borrowed" during the war was never returned...

Talk about adding insult to injury...

So when Alekos Tsipras yesterday was sworn in as PM (with a political oath and not a religious one, another break from "tradition") his first visit was to the Kaisariani monument to pay his respects to the 200 comrades who lost their lives there... and he was making a strong point...

Laying a few flowers at the monument

Walking past the names, maybe a little message to Merkel, we have not forgotten our fallen comrades?

And when Mr Samaras in a terrible breach of etiquette refused to show up at the Megaro Maximou and hand over the keys and building to the new left wing Prime minister...he was also showing, just how very very much this hurt... to be the first PM to lose to the Left... (priceless if you ask me... what an absolute jerk, a bad, bad loser)

But what really is Syriza?
Even though I have never been a member I've voted for them in the past and in this election. Many of us are afraid there are too many ex-PASOK members to do any good, for one thing...  Syriza has a Communist background, but the KKE (the greek Stalinist/Communist party wants nothing to do them) I believe Syriza is a more european version of the Left... a more people orientated party.
At the very least Syriza is a break with the old...that is what we hope. Younger Greeks would like to see a distinct separation of church and State, an end to corruption, a state centered around the good of the people and not the chosen few...

Are we certain this will happen? Not by far. But many of us are more than willing to chip in FOR it to happen, and many woke up on Monday feeling distinctly more optimistic. Many of the people who make up Syriza' ranks are people we know, people we trust, people we like. Many of the people who make up Syriza's ranks are exactly that.

People.

These girls lost their jobs to be replaced by contractors. But they can still smile worth a million bucks...

what's in an expression... (a little rant)

One of the reasons I started this blog was to give "foreigners" a few insights to what goes on "behind the scenes" so to speak, but also behind the facade of the Greek Psyche, or Soul...

And what better way to do this, other than through the examination of everyday expressions, sayings, even songs...

Just like any of the "big" languages of the world, Greek remains very much alive.. and kicking I might add. Kicking against the bastardisation of itself, be it through modern day use and abuse or even by government decree...

(I was intending to go into the subject of Greeklish here, but got waylaid..so here is a little rant for now)

Och Aderfe

This is an expression that means in straight translation "Oh brother". Now "brother" is sometimes used in Greek in the sense of "bro" a way of calling someone you may not know but want to be friendly. And oh? or rather Och, as it is pronounced in Greek? well that is a way of showing pain..or anguish in this case..at things that cannot be controlled , things we can't do anything about.

Och Aderfe has defined the Greeks for at least 30 years if not more.

It means "why bother?" There is nothing you can do, nothing you can change. There is no point in complaining aderfe about the things that do not work in the government, no point in complaining that your hard earned money will be taxed until there is nothing left, no point in complaining that even though you have been without a job for seven years we will tax the fact that you own a house, or a car, because we can...

Och aderfe no point in doing anytihng at all... just shut up and pay your taxes, or if you can avoid it, do so, because Och aderfe that is what the clever ones do...

There is even an  -ism of it.. Ochaderfismos... the very greek reaction of shrugging the shoulders to say "there is nothing we can do"  there is nothing we can change Och aderfe...we will always be Greek, even if being Greek has become a bit of an insult or something to be ashamed of... Let's just go and drink a frappe in the liston and let the others worry...

Och aderfe if oyu can't handle it go away..go away and become European, see if we care... Och aderfe we will always be in power here..for aderfe we have trained them well to be an Ochaderfist like us...

Here is another expression that  goes with "Och aderfe" another greek favorite... "Oti fame, oti pioume ki oti arpaxei o kolos mas..."

"Whatever we eat, whatever we drink and whatever we get up the ass... " now there's a defining sentence if there ever was one...

There I've had my little rant..

more soon on definitive Greek expressions.. and feel free to ask for explanations on some if you want. Just send a comment...

Words

I really need to get back into my writing...

Often ideas will come up and I ll be too far from some way of note taking, or driving, and ideas get forgotten.. One of my favorites (and quite possibly one which will guarantee a dearth of material and inspiration) is Greek words with very specific or peculiar meanings..

Words being the basis of communication, they often convey so much more than a simple meaning..

Words convey feelings and beliefs, they have histories, they often define the speaker, even in their abuse...

Take the greek word "Stratokavlos". Little known I am sure to my englsh speaking friends it means "he-who-gets-a-"hard on"-out-of-anything-army-related".

Reserved usually for the skinhead, nationalist type, it also defines many of those working for the Armed forces, Police etc. not all...

the Greek Stratokavlos reads magazines like "Defence news"  often sports a tatoo of the Greek flag or an ancient warrior, is pretty good at some form of hand combat, or likes to think he is, often goes hunting, and believes violence to be a solution to most problems...

Bit like Israel really...

I get to meet many Israelis. A lot of them have boats and sail our waters (obviously they are safer)
I don't like  what is happening in Gaza, and why not say it I don't like what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza and Palestine, but I cannot and will not fall into the trap of defining a "people" by the actions of its "nation" or government. Yes I do wonder if maybe the Israelis opposing their governments decisions and actions could do a bit more against it...but I get the sense that Israeli Ultra-nationalists have done a great job over the years of creating a strong following of Stratokavlous citizens... both men and women go thorugh National Service and no joke like here... they are seriously trained killing machines... and they believe what they are doing is right.

A lot of the Israelis I have met over the years have this air of "superiority" they truly believe they are "better" or seem to exude this...but then again so do many of the rich americans and ultra-capitalist and neo-liberal  twats I have met...

I am loathe to put a "tag" on a people.. There are some really nice Israelis just like there are nice Arabs and Jews, and Greeks, and Americans...and every other race under the sun...

Why do we say "race"? it implies thjat someone has to come first and that is not true...

There a lot of nice people out there... everywhere.. just like there are a lot of Stratokavloi and wankers..everywhere... even inside us...inside almost everyone there is an idiot-in-waiting... the enemy is within..

That's where the fight is...

We need to make ourselves our better. for our children's sake. for the sake of life....

to be cont'd

A night in your city...

I was walking. Holding my head up high and looking left and right. Tall, elderly buildings stood next to me and in front of me, immovable observers of an unusually hard, to my eyes, reality. I crossed an almost empty square, filled only with birds that moved aside for me to pass. In the distance a young father photographed his daughter, a crazy little fairy dancing with pigeons. A lunatic shooed imaginary flies away, completing the image. I crossed the street, just in case things looked better from the other side of the road. No such luck. I continued down your city's street and stood on a corner waiting for redemption. It came in the form of an angel with eyes red from crying. In his hands he held a soul removed. Bloody.

I was driving. I could feel the wind on my face trying to clean me. I helped him by opening up the throttle a little more. The roar of the engine momentarily filled the emptiness inside me. I found the way easily. Would I rather have got lost though? Deep inside your city. Parts of it scare me, but I prefer them to how scared I feel when I gaze into your empty eyes. Or the feeling I get when I watch your city's children begging in the kafeneia and pedestrian streets... You know I like your city. You can tell from the way I look when I wander round it. You don't know that I look like that, because of the feeling of your arms around me, the smell of your hair, the pressure of your body on mine at every sudden braking...

I was sitting. On the screen folders were flying from one side to the other, transporting pieces of life, of souls, of personal stories with good intentions. The blues embraced the beat of my heart and calmed it. Outside the night already covered your city with that feeling of eternal dawn I have only experienced here. I rolled another cigarette and remembered the way your eyes lit up the first time you saw me use the little roll-up machine that rolls them so straight and neat.. You wanted to try it too, and I took you through it, step by step, until your eyes lit up even more... Now, yet another thing, touched by your presence will acquire new meaning. I feel uncomfortable. Sort of like a penitent vampire. I see the colour emptying out of your life, drop by drop. Just as drop by drop it colours my life, my things, my hands, my mind, my heart...

I was sleeping. And in my dream I woke up. And I was in your nightmare. I was angry at myself because I wanted to wake you but I could not move. I could see your form under the sheet, reminding me of things I would rather forget. That's why I wanted you to wake up, to get up, to stop reminding me of these things. I thought of singing to you, but I'd forgotten the words. I thought to write you a note, but could not find a pen. I thought to e-mail you, but the computer would not start. I thought to turn the motorcycle on and rev high so you would wake up from the noise, but I could not find the keys. When I finally did, the lock was frozen and they would not go in. I remembered how loud your phone rang but all the telephones I found had lost their buttons. I opened my mouth to scream, but all that came out was an endless stream of featureless black birds.. I could not breathe...

I was awake. The house was quiet. I could feel that a few hundred meters away you were still asleep. I hoped your morning's sleep was better than my night's. I stepped out onto the balcony and allowed the sun to warm me, because I felt quite cold. I took two gulps of hot black coffee to wake me up. I stood at the railings looking down. I took a deep breath of your city so that I would remember it... in vain...In a few days I would be gone and that breath would have been displaced by thousands of others. I went for a wash, and discovered a wrinkle. I dedicated it silently to you and got ready for my departure. Your city may rob me of your scent, but to make up it wraps its tentacles around me and pulls me like a rubber band. I think she kinda likes the idea of adding yet another victim to the others, especially with such a great excuse.

Your city wants me here. Wandering through her streets, lost in endless concentric circles, lost in a labyrinth with a thousand foreign Minotaurs chasing my shadow. Looking for your house, aided by a book of maps with one page missing. Your page. Lighting the way are neon signs that go off just as I try to make out the name of the road I didn't take. Following buses in the hope they stop outside your house. Asking drivers for information while they stare at me silently. Passing in front of shop windows and seeing my reflection, wondering if I know me. A witness to its everyday bittersweet madness. Trying to leave.

Goodnight.

Nekkid...

During the 4 (and now almost 6) years I have been blogging, I have written about a variety of subjects, some of them serious and others of the "lighter" variety... (I shall let my readers be the judges of which is which...)

Recently a "new" reader of mine (and a rather good looking one as well...) commented on how she likes the way I sometimes "bare" my thoughts, reveal my sensitivities, don't hide behind some silent or cynical mask, some funny or hard shell...

What you see is what you get.

The last few months a piece of song is often playing in my head... "O Gatos" (The cat) by Vasiilis Papakonstantinou.

"oh no my good people, I am no tomcat,
I am only a human full of feelings..."

That's the way it is...I am a human full of feelings.

(to be honest, the song is one that, like so often happens, I had misheard the lyrics-or remembered them wrongly-so instead of feelings I thought it said "errors". It would suit me to go with "feelings" as I would not need to admit to "errors"...haha.. but that is how I thought it went... so let's strike a balance and say I am full of feelings and errors...

(a translator's comment...the above does not "translate" very well, but I hope you "get" it...)

I like to be open about such things. I believe that our feelings and our errors make us what we are. And that, in our journey through life, when we choose to develop relationships, whatever kind they may be, it is always better to be ourselves. Naked, without "makeup", without masks...I have been known to overdo it sometimes...

This is the self we require the others to love. And not some other self, some fake created in order to satisfy vanities and desires, be they our own or the other's...

I am now 45 (now almost 47). A couple of years ago I met an old friend and she rather openly (and in a very German way) told me she always thought of me, saw me as a child. And she still does now...

I didn't know if I should be happy or sad about this. Deep down I was happy, but maybe also a little worried..about when I will finally grow up.

This past summer (2012) I went for a midnight skinny dip on a moonlit night. For the first time after a loooong time... As I plunged into the water again and again, the moon lighting up my bare bottom ostentatiously, I felt really free. Swimming in the dark sea, without fear, diving, at home... ( I would so much like to say "my tight little bottom" but that era is long gone...)

Although I I try to be open and honest, naked, I know that I carry "baggage" from my life up to now. We all do.

Hangups, neuroses, fears, prejudices... buttoned up and hidden behind suits of armour and masks we try to move through life. We try to set up relationships, we need them, be they social, love, or friendship.

How though, when we make it so hard for others to know us?

 "I am looking for friends" said the Little Prince. What does that mean--'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."

"'To establish ties'?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. 

me, when my age was less than the years that have passed since then...

And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . ."
"Please--tame me!" he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me . . ."  ♥

(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

I love. I care. I sometimes choke on feelings of injustice. I sometimes feel helpless to change much. I often get tired of how obsessively people tend to disregard where others are "coming from"...
Every person we meet has walked a path in life which has led him or her to where they are now. We cannot understand them unless we know that path. If we cannot find the way or the time to find out, let us not judge at least... Let's just love them for whatever good they brought to our lives...even if not obvious...

I want to write that we have more to "gain" from standing "naked" opposite others, but I am making a conscious effort to avoid this vocabulary which has invaded all facets of our lives, and reduced everything in life to profit, loss, debt and credit...I am tired of it...we have allowed it too much room...

Standing then "nekkid" opposite others, we allow them to see us for what we are...

Tomorrow's friend, mate or lover, fellow human, fellow "naked" person...

Back in the times I used to pose for gay magazines...(and yes, I 'm joking)

Originally posted in Greek on the 12th of September 2012

The woman in me

I know this may sound unbelievably gay (on my straight "arhidia" as I would say in Greece) but as a youngster in high school, I often used to watch the other boys feeling up the girls as they made their way into class and wondered... a) what were the bums thinking about, and b) why did the girls put up with it...

I always believed women to be worthy of respect and correct polite behavior, something no doubt to do with how I was brought up... yet the fact that this made it extremely difficult for me to acquire a girlfriend, never rang enough bells or turned me into the cynical misogynist that some of my mates turned into ...

I spent a fair part of my teens battling with the label of "gay", a label that many "well-meaning" macho men and future speed-freaks and petty criminals took upon themselves to lumber me with. Their assumption was probably based on the fact I had friends I held conversations with, rather than spend my time doing wheelies and talking about women and sex in a demeaning way while leering after every female that passed... Then again it may also have had something to do with my  hairstyles (I had highlights and braids at some point during the eighties...) or a tendency to wear scarves with tresses and various bracelets (I went through a hippy phase too) It was the Eighties for god's sake!! (although I wanted it to be the sixties...) Anyway it never bothered me too much as I knew which way my preferences went...

The next ordeal I had to go through was the army. You don't get a choice of who you are stationed with There I had to go through listening to men talk about women again in a derogatory way. A classic joke about this kind of man, is that every woman is a whore except for his mother and sister...I got through this without changing my attitude, although there were times when I had to grunt an implied approval in order to conform with the norm and not make myself a target... thus feeling like my namesake saint, who denied all contact and knowledge before the rooster crowed... (Matthew 26:34)

I'll risk another wrong impression and state, that I often felt in touch with the woman in me.
I do believe that in every person there is a little of both elements, the male and the female, if anything it helps explain some of the things we see around us!

What does this mean practically though?

It means I like to cook, and also to take care of people, my friends, my children.

It means I don't see sex as a god given right of mine, but as a higher expression of love and affection.
It means I am an incurable romantic.
It also means I have no hope of becoming a speed freak (the Greek word is Kangouras, meaning the guys in souped up vehicles roaring about all over the place, in utter disregard for rules and regulations of even basic polite behavior). I will also very rarely watch a game of football (unless it is with the right company..they know who they are...)
I won't hunt, I don't like guns, I often cry through sad scenes in films, and I have never lit a fart.. (and never will)
It meant that I would hold a baby in my arms at 12 and think "One day I will become a father and hold a baby of my own"
It meant that when I finally did at 25, I would often bottle-feed her and change her nappies happily, bonding as early as possible...

It means I feel totally comfortable to ask a woman if she breastfeeds, without fearing misunderstanding, and even being able to offer advice which I learned from my wife.

I like to believe that the contact with my "female" side makes me a better Man, but I won't go too far with talking about myself, maybe the women in my life should comment.

I love women. there is nothing like the arms of a woman to take all your troubles away, nothing like the love of a woman to cure every wound (and nothing like her whinging, but I'll leave that for another post...)
Nothing like the way a woman blooms and becomes beautiful when about to become a mother...

Muddy Waters said it all when he said:

"A big black mama is gonna carry me to my grave..."




John Lennon once said: "Woman is the nigger of the world"...he wasn't far from wrong.




 Tom Robbins says that once upon a time, thousands of years ago, women ruled the world. Then men took the power and things went to hell..

I know what you are going to say.... Margaret Thatcher, Imelda Marcos and others.. Well, allow me to say they were overly in touch with the man in them...

This post went up (in greek) on the 24th of April 2012, almost 2 years ago. Someone, a reader of mine commented that he felt exactly the same way, and also offered another little tom Robbins gem. He said "I would like aliens to come to earth and take away all the balls. Footballs, basket ball, rugby balls...to see if men would maybe evolve into a higher species". My friends comment was the beginning of a strong friendship. His is an amazingly analytic mind, with a wonderful way of thinking, which I admire greatly!


As I translated my post in order to put it in my English speaking blog, I confess to not feeling as "comfortable" with it as I did initially. To my now "two-years-older" eyes it seems a little naive. Yet it was very heartfelt and honest when originally written. I haven't changed my mind, no, but certainly my view has changed.

I have been reading a lot, I am experiencing new things, a new relationship, a new view on past relationships... also Therapy.

Increasingly I understand that we as people, as personalities, are defined by our relationships. It is almost as if without them we could not exist. How could we be defined if not within the loose boundaries set up by the interaction and view of others? And look at how people who avoid proximity with others are often troubled..

What is colour? Only the wavelengths of light reflected by certain materials as viewed by our eyes. And so it is with us. We are the "colour" that  is reflected to others through our relationships.

Just a few thoughts...

Right now I'm feeling kind of flowery and bright on the inside... I must be in love... (smile)

Have a good morning all!