--
Now is the time when magic can happen. Because it is only in the
darkest, most-hopeless hours and moments when the seeds of miracles
can sprout and blossom. In a ham and eggs breakfast the chicken is
involved but the pig is committed. We are recognizing that we are all
pigs now, and from that place we have a new power. -- MCR
When
the Only Real Choice Is Protest
Greeks
will be going to the polls on Sunday, but their options are fairly
grim. They can choose between the old political hands who drove the
country to the brink or others making attractive but unreasonable
pledges. The strongest force in the country is now disenchantment,
and most votes will be ones of protest.
5
May, 2012
Aris
Stefopoulou has had enough of Greece's political system and all its
protagonists. "When you have such a ruling class, you don't need
any other enemies," the 39-year-old high school teacher says.
Although
there might not be any reliable forecast of the outcome of the Greek
elections on Sunday, one thing can be said for sure: Disenchantment
is a fairly widespread feeling in Greece these days. The main
question to be posed on May 6 is how this displeasure will express
itself.
For
the first time, Stefopoulou will not cast his vote for either of the
two major parties, the socialist PASOK party or the conservative Nea
Dimokratia (New Democracy or ND) party. Instead, he will back a
smaller splinter party. Whether it is left- or right-wing, he doesn't
know. But it doesn't matter. Rather than casting a ballot based on
principles, he is voting out of protest.
Stefopolou
is standing in his garden in Akrata, a small city on the southern
Peloponnese peninsula, gruffly pulling lemons off a tree. "I'm
so sick of the same lies, the same song and dance," he says.
"It's been decades already."
Even
now, in the crisis, politicians still haven't come to their senses,
he continues. "And how can they?" he asks, answering that
it's all they know how to do.
Misgovernment,
Clientelism, Corruption
Greece's
ruling class is overwhelmingly made up of career politicians, and
many of their parents were the same. Indeed, many of them have
literally inherited their mandates.
Whether
in Akrata or Athens, there is massive resentment throughout the
country directed at the dynasties that have been dividing power among
themselves in the country for decades.
Whoever
thought or hoped that the crisis would abruptly alter the political
landscape has learned something else in the shortest election season
in the history of the Hellenic Republic: Old habits die hard.
Even
outside of the two major traditional parties, it is overwhelmingly
the same faces involved in the election. Sometimes they are wearing
the garb of a new party; sometimes they have only issued new and more
pointed slogans adapted to the circumstances.
Almost
all of the would-be beacons of hope who so loudly pledge a different,
better future have close ties to with the "old system" that
helped launch their careers. Many also come with the old system's
baggage: misgovernment, clientelism and corruption. Almost all have
played a role in putting Greece where it is today.
Interim
Prime Minister Loukas Papademos has called this election a choice of
destiny that will determine "the future of Greece for the coming
decades." But, given these circumstances, the tragic thing is
that Greece actually doesn't have any good choice. It's no
coincidence that "dilemma" is a Greek word.
Genuine
Prospects Look Different Than This
On
Sunday, Greeks have a choice between the familiar faces in the
established parties and the familiar faces in the new parties. They
can vote for PASOK or ND, thereby giving their tacit approval to the
detested European Union-International Monetary Fund (IMF) strategy
for dealing with the debt crisis, with all its harsh austerity
measures.
Or
they can vote for one of the numerous "anti-memorandum parties"
both on the right and left of the political spectrum -- bodies that
want to withdraw from the loan agreements that have been made with
the country's creditors. As an alternative, these parties are
offering things such as a debt moratorium, an exit from the EU and
continuing along a well-worn path by taking out further loans.
Genuine prospects look different than this.
The
dilemma is also a Greek one because, even though most Greeks are
opposed to the belt-tightening of the troika -- made up of
representatives of the EU, IMF and European Central Bank charged with
monitoring compliance with the austerity measures and structural
reforms tied to the country's bailout loans -- almost the exact same
number of them are committed to retaining the euro as the national
currency. While the outcome of the election is uncertain, there is no
question that it will have major implications for EU policies going
forward as well as for the austerity course being championed by
Germany.
To
defend their bases of voter support -- or, better yet, what's left of
them -- ND and PASOK have sent their most distinguished members into
the race. The duel between ND's Antonis Samaras and PASOK's Evangelos
Venizelos is also a bit of a charade in that both of the veteran
professional politicians are trying to walk an almost impossible
tight rope by suddenly claiming to stand for change and a break from
the past.
Saviors
or Opportunists?
Samaras
has held three ministerial posts for ND over three decades, while
Venizelos has held eight for PASOK since 1990. Now they have to wait
and see if they can jointly secure at least 40 percent of the vote in
this completely fractured party landscape. Doing so would allow them
to form a coalition capable of governing and to keep the pledges
they've made to international creditors.
Polls
continue to put ND in the lead and, as its head, Samaras has been
actively and perhaps ill-advisedly open about his pretensions to
govern alone. In January, Samaras allowed himself to be celebrated as
the future prime minister when polls put his support at 40 percent,
but now that figure has dropped to 25.5 percent. He could still end
up heading the government, but it's much more likely that he would do
so as the head of a ND-PASOK coalition.
Samaras'
falling number in the polls can probably be mainly attributed to his
flip-flopping. Indeed, how are voters meant to understand how someone
can vociferously lead the charge against the first bailout package
for Greece and then simply approve the second one? Samaras merely
answers the charge by saying, "One can't compare them with each
other." Not surprisingly, he doesn't sound very convincing.
"He
has made the biggest back-stepping in post-junta history, and now
Samaras is Schäuble's pet child and the desired partner of PASOK,"
complains Panos Kammenos, referring to German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schäuble. Kammanos was once an ND minister, but now he
heads the right-wing Independent Greeks party, a nationalist splinter
group that is based on anti-German and anti-EU resentments and is
predicted to win 11 percent of the vote. Many of those votes could be
taken from Samaras, as Kammanos has won over a number of voters with
moves such as calling for an entry ban into Greece against IMF
mission chief Poul Thomsen. "Listening to Samaras' campaign
speeches, one would think there had never been a crisis," writes
the Athens daily Kathimerini.
"I
say no to new taxes, no to pension cuts," Samaras has repeatedly
said, for example. In doing so, he is being true to form as "Mr.
Ochi," or "Mr. No," as the international press once
dubbed him for having long rejected every compromise while George
Papandreou was prime minister and he was the opposition leader.
"I
have always known that the troika's recipe is no good," Samaras
now says from the podium. But he still signed it. Indeed, it is
precisely this sort of flip-flopping on issues that has given him a
reputation for being a power-hungry opportunist.
Empty
Campaign Promises
Even
with its debt haircut, Greece is still on the hook for €320
billion. The economy is now in its fifth year of recession, and
unemployment is higher than it has been since the 1970s. No end to
this downward spiral is in sight.
Even
so, politicians -- whether on the left or the right, from parties
small or large -- are pretending to be alchemists. "Greece is
rich," some can be heard shouting into the bullhorns. "We
have natural resources, sun, wind," they say, arguing that the
country's large wealth is simply not being correctly exploited.
And
that's precisely the crux of the matter. Of course, there is the
constant complaining about how pro-growth measures need to be
introduced and the country needs to become more competitive. But, if
there's one thing this election season has shown, it's that, beyond
these complaints, there are few if any ideas about how all of that
could look in concrete terms.
Sure,
people say that Greece could become a pioneer in alternative energy.
But how's that supposed to happen? To reach the same level as
Germany, for example, the country would first have to pump trillions
of euros into R&D and infrastructure.
Empty
campaign promises are by no means a uniquely Greek phenomenon. But a
reality check could turn out to be even more disillusioning here than
elsewhere.
As
things stand, a quarter of all Greeks are still undecided about whom
they will vote for.
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