In one of the many conversations currently taking place in the capital a question was posed, whether the political crisis, as a result of the financial crisis, is unavoidable and capable of deconstructing the economic stabilization that has been achieved.
As usual, there are many opinions and even many disagreements about the things that plague us and which could happen.
There was no shortage of people who predicted that nothing dramatic would happen, that things would more or less be that same, that the same people would more or less continue to prevail in the country for some time and that despite the many doubts, the current political system has proven that it has the stamina and will ultimately find the strength to overcome any crisis.
Others countered that such as a smooth path of political developments assumes that there is help from abroad and that without that help, the path for the traditional political forces will become increasingly more difficult.
Some noted that even in this case, namely where Europe and the USA offered unconditional support, the Greek political system would go through an indefinite period of tribulations and changes.
All of these opinions were expressed in the typical Greek fashion of many reservations, qualms and uncertainties, topped off with the expected suspicion towards each other.
Until an unnoticed, until that point, observer, of no distinct political origin, began talking.
He started as such: “A country drowning in a long political crisis, with an unemployment rate near 30% cannot tackle any serious political crisis. The political crisis will come with mathematical precision if the plans for exiting the financial crisis are not implemented promptly. That is what the universal political history teaches. Countries from all over the world that experienced financial crises of such a degree were led to political collapses due to the destitution of the political forces, which were held responsible for the financial catastrophe. The same, more or less, will happen in Greece. The political crisis is ahead of us and will most likely lead to great changes, which will primarily affect the dominant political forces”.
“So what can we expect” interrupted one of those in the group. “The lakes, rivers, teledemocracy and various opportunistic factions will replace the traditional parties, which even under these conditions can guarantee essential goods, while the newly-formed factions look like those foreign-influenced ‘urban’ and ‘new country’ parties typical of once socialist countries, which can neither guarantee national unite, nor anything beyond preserving territorial integrity”.
“If that is our political future”, he emphasized, “then Samaras, Venizelos and Tsipras are preferable, or anyone for that matter who will have to answer in an organized manner and be rudimentary checked upon, instead of everyone who’s ‘inflated’ by the current, exceptional circumstances, which have fooled some into thinking that they can manage serious problems and lead everyone to salvation”.
“My dear friends” responded the observer, “do not lose your temper, the political crisis is destined to happen, there are many examples in history, the old parties will be swept away, they are not defensible, they will be replaces by new ones, which will probably be have common characteristics with the new parties of Eastern European countries which replaced the parties and political cultures of six or seven decades, with all the consequences of such a great change; you cannot avoid it” he concluded emphatically. “It is destined to happen because that is what happens in great crises”.
The eldest in the group reacted to these last references and note that “This may appear to be destined to happen in other countries, but for us here in Greece, things cannot happen effortlessly or peacefully, they will lead to social explosions and national losses, we cannot remain apathetic at the country’s unraveling. The political world, however scorned it might be, will react and rest assured that it will find the strength and opportunities to motivate the people in the face of danger, achieve national unity and pursue the methodical and organized productive recovery of the land”.
That is how political discussions go about lately in our troubled land, where many good, bad, national and super-national forces are flexing their muscles. God be with us.
Antonis Karakousis
– Originally published in the Sunday print edition
