A 3 letter dirty word...

Greece is gearing up for Euro-parliament, and local government elections, elections which of course everyone sees as a trial run for potential national elections, which may or may not radically change the political scene in Greece.

The governments main opponent is Syriza, the left wing coalition. But some could say that its real main opponent is itself.

The current government is formed by a coalition of the two parties that have been in power during the last 41 years. New democracy and Pasok. The "socialist" Pasok party is now virtually non-existent. But it holds marginally enough seats in Parliament, to keep the coalition government in power for now.

As everyone knows Greece has been "officially" in the throes of  crisis since 2008 (I say officially because in my opinion it has always been in crisis...) But the last few years it has also been controlled or supposed to be controlled by the infamous Troika, a team of European politicians and advisors, intent on passing reforms to make the country's finances viable...

Proedre, the Troika are warning we are a breath away from going bankrupt... -  And what do they propose we do? "Put a tax on breathing..."

Every time we come up to any form of elections the government (whichever it was) tries to do things to make itself look good. It used to be done mostly in the way of "rousfeti" a word which really does say a lot for the potential origins of Greece's woes... You see it comes from the Turkish word "rusvet" which means bribe.
For years pre-election promises consisted mainly of bribes in the form of posts to government jobs, seen as better than winning the lottery in Greece. Government jobs were secure (it was against the law to be fired, no matter how useless you were) and well paid. Very well paid...

As the crisis and the Troika moved in Greece's body of politicians, who I can tell you with absolute certainty are all corrupt, had to find other ways to bribe their voters and backers, but also other ways to line their pockets...

And here is where that 3-letter dirty word from the title comes in... NGO or MKO as it is in Greek.

MKO greek acronym Business Well Organized...

Here is the definition of an NGO in wikipedia.

MKOs as they are known in Greece, have been in the Greek news of late, on a daily basis. Because all of a sudden scandals are been uncovered regarding their funding and operation.

Of course a lot of people are pleased that this is happening, after all it has been our hard earned and thorough the nose taxation that has been paying their expenses just like with our politicians..

The negative side to it is that it is only happening because as we come up to elections they have to somehow make themselves look good.

But we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, should we?

The first scandal to erupt recently was with the "International Centre for the removal of landmines" an organisation formed in 2000 to supposedly remove landmines from various part of the world. To do this work, they were given 9.000.000 euros over the course of 4 years, (2000-2004). I won't go into all the details but part of the scandal is that according to the law, they were supposed to self-fund at least a small percentage of their expenses, yet they had found ways around this too!!

As I write this I am doing a bit of research at the same time. I am no researcher or journalist, as most of you may know... I just like to write and express some thoughts, but this blog, my "English-speaking" one has the extra "target" of allowing English-speaking friends and blog followers the opportunity to gain a insight into happenings in Greece through the eyes and words of a local greek citizen... me!

And the feeling I am getting from this "research" is very much the same as I got when researching the situation regarding the incredible "selection" of public servant "extra benefits" thought up in order to make sure that "their boys" were paid the absolute maximum possible...

Here is that article... 

Here are a few of the NGOs which were created and funded in Greece, with the full backing of our politicians, from the lowliest MP to the Primeministers...

Organisation for the reforestation of the Amazon!
Organisation for the education of statisticians in ex eastern bloc countries
Organisation for the training of constitutional lawyers for Cuba!

Supposedly the above were funded with about 2 million euros...

Another NGO scandal that erupted a couple of years ago was with the "Circle of Patmos" an NGO based on the island of Patmos with supposed interest of promoting religious matters and helping people round the world. They organised telemarathons and symposiums on cruise-ships around the world. All the symposiums (in the Nile and  Amazon, among other places) were funded by the Greek Government. In some cases due to political strife in the countries involved (Azerbaijan,  Egypt) the symposiums were cancelled but the funding was not returned!!

But what does all this mean and where is it all going?

Most Greeks today are not only seriously disillusioned and wondering when the "levee" will "break", but they are also finding it increasingly difficult to play along with the "game"

A few days ago someone I know, an Englishman, mentioned the ongoing scandals and referred to to the "expenses" scandal that tore through the British parliament in 2009. His idea was that just like many lists of corrupt politicians are made public, so there should also be lists of the non-corrupt... and he proposed that something similar be done here too...

What he and I fear many well meaning and good people don't understand is that a list of non-corrupt politicians is the quintessential rocking horse shit... non-existent.

There is no such thing as a non-corrupt politician in Greece. And I dare say there are very few all over the world.

Douglas Adams once wrote this:

“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. 
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. 
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” 

and that pretty much covers that, for me...

School (or national) holidays 101...

When we first moved to Corfu, I was about 5 years old. My parents enrolled me in the Ionian School kindergarten, (one of Corfu's two private schools) where I proceeded to excel in making dinosaurs out of Plastecene, and becoming known as "The English Kid".

The school was on Alexandras avenue, and our house not far at all. I used to set off to school on foot daily. One day I came back early, with the following story. Three teachers had been killed and we had been told there would be no school that day. I presumed it to involve some kind of traffic accident...

Further investigation showed the names of these three teachers to be:

John Chrisostomos
Basil the Great
Gregory Nazianzinos or "the theologist"

This is them:

And  just in case you haven't cottoned on yet... it was a school holiday in honor of the 3 "Hierarchs" sort of like the patron saints of learning and school in Greece... held on the 30th of January every year.

For people like my mother at the time, and so many others since, living and bringing up kids in Greece, while essentially a foreigner, means that you have no knowledge in reality, of the goings on in Greek schools or the holidays and general program...

Well, to give you a quick rundown... you have the 28th of October known as Ochi day, the day the Greek dictator Metaxas refused passage to the Italian troops...thus starting WW 2 for Greece... (this is interesting, one dictator refusing another dictator..)

Then there is the 25th of March day of the great revolution against the Turks, Xmas and New Years (for real Greeks much more important...), Clean Monday, Easter, our very own 21st of May, commemorating Corfu and the Ionian islands rejoining with Greece...

But there is another one, a "newer" one.

As most know, starting 21st April 1967 Greece had been under a military junta, known as "The Colonels"... they had ruled with an iron fist, essentially being a totalitarian regime backed by the Americans,  that had no hesitation to use brute force or torture and killings to keep themselves in "office" so to speak. Very close to what was known as a "banana republic" but without the bananas...

In November 1973 the increasingly vocal student population, inspired by France's May of 1968 and a general feeling of increasing discontent, took over the Athens Polytechnic, set up a Radio station inside and proceeded to broadcast revolutionary songs and messages. Soon supporters of other related causes, were flocking to the Polytechneio to see if they could help or support the cause in some way...

On the night of the 17th of November, the government lost its "patience" with the wayward students and issued an order for the army to move in. A tank ran over the gate, killing a number of students hanging on it. All the while there were chants at the army soldiers asking them to think about turning their weapons on their brothers and sisters... At the same time secret police and police snipers started picking off people on the street around the Polytechneion.

The Tank that ran the gate down

Students protest

Many protesters inside and outside of the Polytecnhneio

The radio station "Edo Polytechneio!"

Crowd in the street

The following days officials would put the number of dead at 11 and the wounded at 138, put other reports and investigations since have elevated that number to more like 80 people dead and thousands wounded, among the dead, a 5 year old boy caught in the crossfire...

A few months later the Junta whose "clout" and political "acceptance" was fast running out, fell, to be replaced by a legal government, headed by Mr Constantine Karamanlis, a widely accepted politician of note who had been in "exile" throughout the Junta years.

What many people do not know, is that essentially the Junta never went away. Yes it 'changed" some people were punished for the torture etc. and the main "heroes" of the so called "revolution of the 21st April" were locked up.

But politicians like Mitsotakis, Averof, Tsatsos and a number of others had been junta collaborators. These people now took power, simply changing the Junta profile from a military to a political one. People continued to be fakelomenoi (sort of like having tabs kept on anyone of a left wing background) the police continued to use brutal tactics against anyone with long hair....and occasional torture even...)

One very well known method was the phalanx, repeated heavy beating of the victims soles of the feet, while hanging upside down, and often with shoes on...this meant the foot would swell inside making the pressure unbearable and of course any thought of walking or running afterwards impossible...

But I have "digressed"..or have I?

This 17th of November it is 40 years since the student revolution. Greece is yet again under a Junta. That is how many of us feel. It is a Junta run by banks and major financial interests. They have no use for torture, for through the use of a completely sold out media they have managed to instill fear in the majority of the population. Consumerism has run rife in Greece the last few years before the crisis and even now...Personal debt, the fear of losing your house or your land, and heavy taxation make sure that most people feel they can't move let alone change something... But also for many years education has suffered and an uneducated people is a powerless people...

 Will something change? Maybe. The pressure for change is increasing. The political system remains the same, dirty, corrupt, nepotist regime it has always been...



I suggest to anyone interested to find out more , to get a copy of Oriana Fallacci's book "A Man". It is essentially a biography of Alekow Panagoulis a hero of the fight against the Junta. He is also a hero of mine. A fiery, hot blooded lover of justice and freedom, he was roatically involved with Fallacci and her book gives a lot of very "close" information... not easy to get hold of either...

Anyway, that is my little bit of recent Greek history for you, feel free to comment or ask any questions and I will do my best to answer...  

Greece today. In need of a spot of Drain-o...

The following is an article by Konstantinos Zoulas a reporter with the Kathimerini newspaper.

"Don't let any of the worms out!!!

"You buuuums!!!! Don't you dare step outside of these doors. Bums, you bums!!!

 Those of us who found ourselves at the Greek Parliament on Wednesday, covering the voting procedure, witnessed some incredible and hard to describe, scenes. The blonde lady who was screaming, while backed by dozens of her colleagues, also beside themselves, scaring us with their hooligan-style rage, inside the so called "temple of Democracy": "Geooorge, you go and barricade the other door!! Mitsos, you come with me!" shouted another. "None of those worms should be allowed out" agreed another lady, and the crowd kept getting bigger, surrounding the hall.

The "worms" as expected, looked scared, as the rebellious staff, reminded one of rats suddenly appearing n large numbers from everywhere, out of the closed "nests"of their offices, suddenly afraid that their "cheese" was in danger..

And when the first MPs showed their faces outside the Parliament hall, we reporters, were at a loss for words. It wasn't just that the staff was threatening to beat them up. The most shocking was the way they addressed them. Mr Chrisochoidis was suddenly "piss off", Michalakis", Mr Kammenos "Panoulis, you go and try those tricks elsewhere", Mr Kouvelis "Now lets see what your little party can do..." while our colleague Dim. Takis was slapped around for daring to lift his mobile phone in an attempt to save the  unprecedented mess for posterity's sake.

A little later a middle aged man, possibly their spokesman, beckoned to them and announced in a low voice: "Don't cheer, but we went to Vangelis, (meaning Mr Meimarakis, chairman of the Parliament) and what Stournaras will announce soon will allow us all to return to our desks."

You probably already know, how these hundreds of Parliament staff were appointed and what scandalous benefits they continue to get. All you have to do is take a look at the ultramodern daycare center set up inside the Parliament. Those of us there on Wednesday, felt that we were experiencing with frightening symbolism the reason behind the terrible plight our country is experiencing. It was as if suddenly our MPs had met "their match" in the faces of the exact people they had seen fit to appoint to cushy jobs within their "house"... That means their relatives, their "koumparous" (best men) and their fellow villagers. And for this we wondered if, at the end of the day, it really is impossible for those who got this country into its current state to be the ones who will save it from its fate...

11/11/2012

A small note to explain some of the background for those not "in the know"...

Permanent staff at Parliament number 1340 people.
Add to that 1200 staff appointed and detached to various MPs offices.
Total cost of wages: 106 million euros. They receive two extra monthly payments making them the only staff in Greece to get paid 16 months a year!
A newly appointed staff member with basic education (ie cleaning staff) has a starting wage of 1900 euros.(net)
They have been repeatedly been exempt from various insurance changes and wage cuts.
They are pensioned off after 28,5 years of work and get a "golden handshake" equal to two monthly wages per year worked (100.000-150.000 euros)
Their insurance fund gets the benefit of all services housed in the Parliament (cafe/bar, restaurant, banking services) and also has the rights to the recycling.
The parliament also employs 74 special guards, but no one knows where they are posted.
Police officers stationed there get an extra bonus.
In the last five years the staff doubled! All the parties agreed silently to this.
Most of the staff are relatives of MPs, politicians, judges and policemen, while in certain cases even old politicians have been employed.
And many more benefits...

It is a commonly known "secret" that not all of the staff come to work. The reason is simple. If they did there would not be enough room for them.

For example there are not enough chairs. When someone gets up to go for a smoke, his place, behind a screen permanently stuck on Facebook, is immediately taken.

(The above details I got from another excellent article by Nikolas Vafeiadis, published on 26th of September 2010 and titled "In the depths of Parliament". It cost him his job.)

The scene described in the beggining, happened when the staff found out that the new memorandum, included cuts to their wages too (for the first time) Mr Stournaras is the Greek Minister of Finance.


My comment

I hate to say it, but there is no hope for Greece while these people remain in power. All the parties in our parliament play "the game". Whether Left, Right or Center they are just actors in a play set up to make the Greek people that someone is looking after their interest. Well they are not. The only interests they look after are their own, of their friends, of their relatives and of course, above all, of their "benefactors".
Even Syriza, the coalition of the left that looks set to win the next elections, is essentially what Greeks call "alli mia apo ta idia" (the same again) having had its numbers and votes sweled by the influx of renegade Pasok and various other party members who are looking to essentialy save their skins for another round of elections. Thay are all useless.
Greece's political system is like a blocked drain. Full of muck and ready to blow, showering shit all over everything. I just hope to God, that when eventually things settle down, there are enough people with enough brains and morals left to make good of a terrible situation. And that maybe we can live to see a new Greece, worthy of its history and people.

Peter Papageorgiou

Greece vs Europe

(I should warn my readers this a sort of meandering post that started a while ago...and goes from one subject to another...I'm feeling a little pessimistic and it is not helping my writing...)

Having been born in England and grown up in Greece, I have often thought about the things Greeks have in common with Europeans and those that divide them. I was just going into my teens when we joined the European Union (known then as EOK). It was considered a great success on behalf of our politicians...

I still remember little snippets of conversations on the matter:

- "Greeks can never become Europeans"
- "Greeks don't want to be a part of Europe"
- "Being part of Europe will save us..."
- "Europe will support Greece..."


Well here we are 30 years later and it all feels like the lease has run out and we are potentially being evicted...

In 2006 I had the opportunity to travel to Luxembourg, visiting friends. On a day's outing in the car we would frequently cross a border or more, flitting from country to country, during the course of a day. Breakfast in Luxembourg, lunch in France, a late beer in Belgium, a quick run across one of the Moselle river's many bridges in order to say we'd been to Germany too...

For me this was where the idea of a United Europe really came to life.

Luxembourg was an eye opener. Very few obviously poor, one or two beggars in the streets, amazing schools, pretty clean cities, organised recycling, rubbish collection, the works.

One day we passed some roadworks and I saw the familiar steel rods in holes in the road with bits of tape tied to them and thought  "Myyy god, so dangerous, there must be a Greek overseeing the job..."

still better than here...

Yet further down the road along empty plots of land, I could see the pipes, cables and phone lines in waiting for development a few years or months later... seriously organised. I was stunned.

I remember chatting with friends trying to understand why we could not be Europeans. "Because Greeks cannot stand so much organisation", "Greeks are free spirits". "Greeks can never be just a part of the machine" (yes of course, I forgot they all want to be PMs...)

Yet, are things so different between us (well yes they are, but this is supposed to be an academic question so let it stand for a while...)

For example let's take one of those labels that the foreign press has liberally used against the poor, suffering  Greek people, of late...

Greeks are tax evaders. Well, yes they are. But so are millions of Europeans when they get a chance. How many rich Europeans keep offshore companies, yachts hidden abroad, or posing as charter yachts to hide their black money?
The rich tax-evade out of habit or greed. The poor do so out of need. And those Europeans, who do not tax evade, at least feel like they are getting something back . Good roads, good health systems, good schools, a government that may be as nepotist or corrupt as any Greek one, but importantly, keeps up appearances, at least to a certain extent. So the average European feels he is getting something for his taxes. And every now and then when someone slips up, he resigns and they get to feel a (potentially false) sense of justice, too. Things work and people keep quiet. Consumerism works and people keep even more quiet.

In Greece however all pretences have been dropped a long time ago.

The government wants taxes, the troika want taxes. But they are willing to give nothing. (not so much the troika as the government and all the governments before them.

I'll take a step back and give a few personal examples. In 2001, I paid 20000 euros income tax, when my income was supposedly 40000. (in reality half of this had gone back into the business in stock, but the system "caught me out")
As we were coming up to the Olympics then, I felt like a major sponsor and rightly so!

Throughout my business life I have paid more than 400000 in taxes and VAT. Yet I feel I have nothing to show for it. The roads are full of potholes, the hospital hasn't enough staff (at least it is next to my house now), the school my daughter goes to has not got enough classrooms so they rent 3 ex-bars from across the road, with no heating and not enough natural light. The school itself was built in 1952 and some of the windows are in such a state, the only solution was to screw them permanently shut! The Municipality doesn't have enough money to pay the streetcleaners, but it ca afford to spend 5000 euros on coffee a month! The list is endless... Corruption is rife...

At the same time, our politicians build villas, buy ever bigger cars and hold expensive weddings in France. Of course many tax-evaders do the same, at least the rich ones. The politicians and their cronies in the government share the loot, paid for by the average tax-payer (the guy who hasn't got enough money to hire the fancy accountant). While the average poor Greek is left trying to deal with Troika's demands for payment.

(Only last month I read about a businessman, mr Karouzos, with close ties to the government, (Mr Meimarakis is his koumbaros), who held a christening for his twins, in Crete, involving a chartered plane for the guests, chmamgne and caviar and may other extravaganzas! amomg the guests a public prosecutor. At the same time Mr Karouzos owed over 90.000.000 euros in fines for various tax frauds and omissions...)

Greece has been cursed. A beatiful country, full of good honest people, run by the worst and most corrupt politicians and system the world has ever known.

There is only one way to change this. Education. If people learn, it could be different.

All the above was written a few months ago. Today the 13th of October of 2012, Greece is still on the verge of bankruptcy, the Troika wants even more job cuts and pay cuts,  and to top it all off the ugly beast of Nationalism is rearing its head up, worse than ever...

I don't want to go into the current events... Golden frigging Dawn and the priesthood in hysterics over a Terence Mc Nally play, innumerous inconsequential matters, served by the totally corrupt media in order to keep the populace occupied with stupid matters, while the scene is being set for Greeks to lose everything they have...

I have bevome a little more cynic and pessimistic. There don't seem to be enough forward thinking people to make a difference. What could the consequences be?

I, and many others, fear that Greece, especially the urban centers will suffer greatly in the next few months. Already the price of heating oil is being hiked 30% up from last year. I for one will not be able to afford it. I'm switching to a woodburner and warmer clothes inside the house.
Since last September we set up a moneyless exchange of goods and services system, initially betwen friends but constantly expanding.

Last week I was in Athens taking part in the 1st Festival for Alternative and Solidarity-based economies. All over Greece alternative economies are sprouting, essentially barter, either direct or with the use of a virtual alternative currency.
The use of an alternative currency may sound complicated, certainly there has to be very good "book-keeping" but there is no interest involved and it is all based on good intentions... Imagine if currency were just a tool to facilitate exchange, and had no power. Remove interest and the possibility of accumulation and you have a tool by the people, for the people. And not a tool by the banks in order for them to make money and enslave people with...

Tomorrow it is the 28th of October. A National Holiday in Greece. As tradition has it there will be parades and flag-waving. Taditionally there always was a presence of government officials, high-ranking police and priesthood at the parades, all standing together under a pavillion, with the school-children parading in front of them, expected to turn sharply towards them as they pass and raise their hands in salute, showing their respect.

Since 2011, increasingly, kids have often opened their fingers in that familiar greek gesture of (dis) respect. Others have staged incredibly well executed exits from the parade or turned the other way.



 Have a look at 03:10 or so, to cut straight to the "chase"...hahah!!

In fact the phys-ed teacher in charge of the kids practice for the parade at a school that shall remain unnamed, essentially said to the kids, "I won't teach you what you are supposed to do to show respect, in the hope that the "officials pavillion" will be demolished by the crowd like last year".

Which brings me to last year...
I was there. After putting up this:

Ελευθερία η ΔΝΤ-Freedom or IMF , a play on the famous Ελευθερία η Θάνατος which was said during the revolution and has as many syllables as the lines in the Greek Flag...

 I joined my friends in the square, where as Dr Feelgood once sang "there's a riot going on.." The "minor state official" appointed to watch our parade, after being booed repeatedly, decided to take it upon himself and come and talk to the people booing him. This of course made them even angrier...a minor altercation ensued, the riot police moved in and the rioters were pushed back. Minutes later they regrouped and stormed the officials on their "pavillion" and managed to send them on their way in order for the parade to go on without their presence...
However our honorable Perifereiarchis, Mr Spyrou, managed to cancel the parade on his way out...

This year, today, the 28th of October, I watched the parade with the rest of the crowd... there were a few diehards shouting various anti-troika and anti-government slogans, and a very strong police presence.

At some point the antifascist protest march came up through the town to Pentofanaro, only to be met by a complement of riot police in full combat gear.

At the same time, most people were ther watching the parade, with their sunday clothes on, just like it was any other day...

In Athens the parade of schools (they hold a separate military one) was held in such a way that it was impossible for the parents to see their children marching. Such were the security measures... And in Thessalonika the military parade was watched only by officials...

More and more I feel that things are getting out of hand. Our completely corrupt government is passing law after law, taxing the poor to death. Only "the poor" are not those people you used to see sleeping on cardboard outside the train station anymore...

Greece's "poor" today, are your next door neighbour, your friend, their mother, their father... and tomorrow?

Most likely it will be us too...

Dreaming of Pirates...

My first childhood contact with the concept of Pirates, was through the story of Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Due to my name being Peter, I fantasized more about becoming the Pan himself than a Pirate...

Yet a few days ago there I was filling in my application to become a Pirate member and a few days later than that I am the Pirate Party's candidate for Corfu...

Why did I do this?

As some of you may know, I spent a large part of  last year, taking part in endless and varied conversations, in the "plateia", on facebook, and with many friends, all to do with the situation in Greece and possible solutions and proposals to get out of the "fix"... Certain themes kept cropping up again and again in these conversations, themes like Real Democracy, Transparency, Justice and Equality...

Since I was a teenager I had no great trust in elections. I don't consider we have ever been given any realistic choice. To make matters worse, the exisitng system has managed throughout the years, aided greatly by our indifference, to stack the odds in its favor, by voting in various ridiculous election by-laws. (An example of this is the fact that in the last elections, and in the 2nd electoral district of Athens, Syriza had a higher percentage than New Democracy, yet they got significantly less seats than them!)

I believe deeply that what we need is a change, not simply of government, but of the way the whole system works, even of the way we think.

The Pirate Party represents exactly this for me. The possibility of setting up something different, something "cleaner" and more fair to everyone.



Initially when I begun to read about it, when the Party was not yet set up in Greece, I found it a little strange.
There was no mention of their "positions"  as regards the "important national matters". And I got the feeling that the Pirates were more into "secondary"matters like digital rights, transparency, access to digital technology and copyrights.



I soon realised though that the "important national matters" are potentially not the ones that the usual media channels and newspapers make them out to be. In fact it is those "secondary" matters that are most important...



Being an active citizen, achieving full transparency in government, distinct separation of authorities (especially judicial), are the matters whose change will really change our lives.

Matters like "memorandum or not", "Euro or drachma" and "right or left", I am afraid are matters which are thrown at us in order to make us lose our time talking about them, while others make the decisions.

I don't in any way support that the memorandum and its apllication are not catastrophic for Greece, but neither can I say with any certainty whether we would be better of with the drachma than the euro.



What I would like is for us all to be able to decide together about these matters and not have others decide for us.

And that is exactly the reason why I have decided to support the Pirates in their campaign, to become a Pirate myself. Because this is a central part of the Pirate idea.


So I am a candidate to become an MP with the Pirate Party in Corfu.

I realise that most English speaking friends of mine probably don't vote in Greece, but I hope that those who know me and what I stand for, might put in a good word, only of course if you agree with the ideas...


Peter Papageorgiou

For those willing to find out more about the Pirate Party here a couple of links.

Pirate Party UK
Pirate Party Greece (in Greek)

Dear Europe...

Dear Europe,
I have finally decided to write you a letter. Your behavior the last few days, let alone the last few years (!) has been atrocious. You have shown very bad manners and terrible misjudgement.

You insisit that we accept these memorandums and loan agreements so that you may continue to lend us money that we apparently need to pay of our debts. You are upset because the elections last Sunday show that 2 out of 3 Greeks don't want to accept your memorandums and don't want your loans. You insist that they are misguided and you continue to hope that he politicians who ruined this country with your help, somehow have the legitimacy required to continue to rule it.

Well, Europe, I'm really sorry, but this is just not on...

You see , Europe, all this time you gave the country a lot of money to supposedly set up infrastructure and shore up the economy. The problem is Europe you gave the money to the WRONG PEOPLE. And now you want it back from me?

Dear Europe, I live on a small island in the Ionian. My house is only 5 minutes drive, away from my job. Yet in the short distance I cover to get to work, I see many examples of the stupid choices you made when handing out money and aid packages.

And by the way, Europe, who are these "markets"? I went to the market today and all I saw was a lot of fish and fresh produce. There was no money there to be marketed. Who could come up with such a silly idea, Europe? Selling money?

Money, dear Europe has no value. All it is a piece of paper. How can you sell it? And all this credit Europe. Where do you get it so you can extend it? Grow up Europe. You are playing games, but there are peoples lives at stake...

Europe, this has really got to stop. This experiment at the expense of the greek people has got to stop. Do you really want to see how far you can go? Do you really think the Greeks will take it sitting down? They have already shown a lot of patience...

And do you really think , Europe, that your own people, are not waking up? Europe, an excellent musician I very much like, once said:  "You can fool some people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time" You should listen to that song, Europe. It's pretty cool...

In fact you should listen to a few of his songs... have a drink while your at it. Relax. Close your eyes and make believe you're lying on a beach, somewhere in the Mediterranean. Because you can only make believe.

Make believe money, make believe system, make believe banks, make believe jobs.

Fuck off Europe. Fuck off and leave me on my beach. It's mine, Europe. I'll fish off it and eat, I'll collect chorta and boil it and eat it. I'll share with your people, Europe, because they like me and I like them. But I'll not share with you, Europe. You don't play fair. I do not wish to be a part of your experiment.

Take your banks and your loans, your make believe money and make believe life and fuck off.

A Greek.

Double default dilemma

Greeks are currently under extreme pressure. For the past months we have been bombarded with (mostly biased) information from the TV networks, both in Greece and abroad, but also by our "politicians", in an attempt to make us accept the fact that Greece is destined to become what looks, at first, to be a German run protectorate, but is more likely to be a country of servants to the European and World oligarchs...

Some Greeks said that this would happen, years ago...

On a political level we don't appear to have much choice. Our politicians are not interested in listening or heeding to what the people want. Last weekend hundreds of thousands hit the streets once more in protest to the austerity measures being voted in. TV networks consistently hide the number of people on the street by showing only footage of looted or burning buildings. The only real news is on the internet and to be found amongst friends. The rest is frankly bullshit.

So what are we supposed to do if they don't listen? The "conservative" voices (and I don't mean right wing, but conservative in a general way) say, wait for the elections. And here is one part of the dilemma. Because finally after years of it being only the extreme left wing who said it was so, the general public is realising that elections offer no solution.

The total of our existing parliament, even the left wing, communists, etc, is part of the game that has been played out in this country over the last 25 years or so. There is not a single politician who is not to some extent corrupt. Some of us who have read the second memorandum in its entirety, do accept that many of the measures included in it are correct, But how can we accept it to be implemented by the same bunch of corrupt politicians that brought us here in the first place. It would be like trusting an arsonist to put out the fire he started...

Greeks don't trust their politicians and they don'trust their political system anymore. Unfortunately they also don't have the "political" conscience that our ancient forefathers tried so hard to instill into everyone. Most Greeks are victims of messianism, waiting for some "leader"to save them...

They don't realise that it is the lack of control by the people on "authority" that leads to it's being abused at our expense.

And unfortunately, as the greek saying goes, "the fish stinks from the head down".

Just like our politicians are all corrupt so are a lot of the heads of the various public services etc.

Somehow we Greeks have to find a way to change the way that we are governed. A total reset is required...

The other dilemma we have been confronted with is the one thrown at us by our politicians and the so called "markets". Default and go back to the drachma or whatever or labour under a series of heavy austerity measures until 2020 (or more) in the hope that the economy may return to the level of 2009!!. In that year it was found out that the deficit was 120% which started us on this road to destruction. Even our PM couldn't find the balls to blatantly lie to us last Sunday, and say we would return to this number! Instead he said 120% or thereabouts (This morning the IMF announced it looks more like 129%!)

We are told that if we default it will be essentially the end of the world as we know it. But it already is!! There are a few voices who say this is not so, and I would chance it to say that a lot of Greeks agree. In any case, the feeling is better to go through hard times out of our own choice, and get through them by helping each other out as much as we can, than to accept to become a country of slaves to the German dream...

The problem is that nearly everyone feels currently as if they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Amongst the people on the street there is a widespread idea that in order to change, we have to change ourselves first. There are plenty of little inspirational slogans like "be the change you want to happen" etc. But our political system does not allow change. Elections are a dead end...

Will there be a revolution? I really wonder. I fear that there is still a large part of the population that are either too afraid to "free their minds" or have given up to such an extent that they can't be bothered to even think about it... For now they are not hungry, so it's ok... But I am afraid that as things get worse, there will be a stronger reaction. and unfortunately fear and hunger are not good advisors...

Greeks are a proud people. They (we) will never take this lying down. And in doing so I hope they will inspire people around the world to do so too.

The markets have ruled for too long...