Galery

1

Isn’t the Greek society mature for changes?

It is not a matter of a maturing society. It was "eating" with the politicians over the past 40 years. The Greek society ate four European frameworks for support, ate eight other such frameworks in the form of borrowings and did absolutely nothing. All those over 18 years old have no right to go and speak out. All were "eating" in one way or another. They were making use of it. They were takings loans to go on holidays, to buy shares on the stock exchange, to go to SPA resorts.

All this money was borrowed money and it must be returned. Nobody gave it to us because we are the beautiful Mediterranean lovers. And I can not listen to arguments as "banks lent." This is what banks are doing – they are selling money. Why are you buying? You are not a child, so, you can not hide behind "I did not know."

Do you think these people do not understand what needs to happen to set things right?

On the contrary, I think many of them understand and are protecting the old things that are dying. They do not care that this country is also gradually dying. An individualistic bliss has been reigning in Greece since 1974 or in other words, everyone is taking care only of him/herself. Now, all this is gone and they must learn to work again to appreciate the efforts and savings, as my parents did. They have managed to create homes with deprivation and savings. Then my generation came, i.e. the 50 years old today who ate what their parents have created, took loans and gambled the future of their children.

Should I understand that you are completely despaired?

No, I am not a pessimist. Greece would enter a period during which the whole society would reform and learn to work and produce goods, because nothing remains if you do not produce goods. It would remain nothing no matter how many pieces you cut. There should be investment in order to have production. But investment with wages 30% higher than the German salaries - compared with the productivity of each country - can not happen, of course. A Greek produces 37 euros in an hour, and a German - 78 euros. This is very indicative. Germany, however, invested in knowledge and innovation, and we invested in establishments. So, we have to pay for this.

And because we are descendants of ancient Greece we know the Greek tragedy very well. Who is Nemesis (the goddess of vengeance - author's note) and who is Catharsis (the purification - author's note). This is happening now.

This is my opinion. That is why I and many others do not go to Syntagma.

Do you think the protest would grow?

I think it would break up steadily. People will go sunbathing soon.

How would they go to the sea when they have no money?

I personally have no money and I am melting in the heat of Athens. However, many people have houses in the villages. They would leave Mykonos and return to their villages. And those who have friends and acquaintances who have houses near the sea would go there.

It's okay! We are on the eve of the glorious 1945 and we have not budged at all ever since.

We will start from scratch. We lost two generations, but it is not a tragedy. Mao Zedong lost one generation too and China is a global force in the production of computers today. I'm not absolutely agreeing with everything that is happening there, I am just mentioning it as an example.

World history is replete with examples of lost generations. In the literature, we have the generation between the two World Wars. Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, to whom the phrase "you are a lost generation" belongs, John Steinbeck, John Fitzgerald and many others who belong to the lost generation of that period and still have achieved so much.

But let's see what happens. The history ended in Auschwitz and the gulag system whenever it was raped. This is what our experience of the 20^th century shows us. Therefore, we must be careful and personally I am against what is happening.

You said that the movement would break up.

Yes, it will happen. We had no twist in 1975, when different things could happen and the people were politicized unlike the "discontented" on Syntagma.