First, like many visitors to Greece, I have always found their lifestyle and personal ways irresistibly charming, at least what they reveal to visitors. A Greek wants to be your friend, and he expects to be reciprocated. You will be won over. Millions of visitors to Greece will testify to the same thing. That is also why it is hard to be critical. However, in a serious situation like this one has a duty to give one's view as it is.
What is visible to us outsiders in Greece is public political life. From my profession I have learned there's a limit to what is worth observing there, compared to what is hidden behind the curtains. Still, judging from what little that is visible, and like most other observers, I find the behavior patterns of Greek politicians over time curious. Whether or not Greece ultimately defaults, I am utterly convinced that the Greek parliament and government have all along – for two years now - had the ability to quickly agree, accept the terms, implement them and thus resolve the crisis. That way Greeks could have gotten on with their lives, and left the rest of us to ours. In Greece it would have been a tougher life than before, no doubt, but not forever.
Compare Greece to Latvia, or Iceland, to offer just two examples of how it might have been. The Latvians have taken their medicine, several times, in fact, according to the dictation of the EU and the IMF, and now they are well on the way to recovery. Greek politicians, however, just haven't had the inclination.
Compare Greece to Latvia, or Iceland, to offer just two examples of how it might have been. The Latvians have taken their medicine, several times, in fact, according to the dictation of the EU and the IMF, and now they are well on the way to recovery. Greek politicians, however, just haven't had the inclination.
The evident determination of the unions and large parts of the population to resist a solution dictated to them is perhaps admirable if seen in isolation. Yet the mentality seems to be that “we have done nothing wrong, and then these outsiders come in here and tell us what to do”.
Facts apart, this kind of closure to an us/them mode is interesting. Of course it is nothing extraordinary to a group under pressure, nothing specific to Greece. It still occurs to me, though, that there is an entirely different quality to it in Greece. I shall draw on a couple of points relevant to this tendency.
One is the Balkan thing. I always have to be reminded by my Greek friends when I come to Greece that they are a Balkan country; they are quite aware of this - and many are proud of it. But it does not fit our Western image of the country we regard (in a facile way) as the cradle of our European culture. To a Western mind the Balkan image does not bring up pleasant associations. Hence, we non-Greeks tend to suppress the knowledge that Greece is a Balkan country, and we expect them to behave according to our standards. But whatever they perceive themselves to be is what counts, it shapes their behavior. The rest of us need to adjust our own view to take that into account.
That identification of Greece as a Balkan country, and the established record of Greek negotiating behavior, bring to mind another Balkan negotiator, one who also had Western leaders in agony and rage over his style – Slobodan Milosevich. There was never a way he could be bound to finalize an agreement. He thought his procrastination was a way to win, but - as we all know and he learned too late - he misjudged his opponents. That tendency finally provoked NATO's attack on Serbia. It should not be forgotten that in the Kosovo War of 1999, the Greeks - though members of NATO - opted out of participating in NATO's military operations out of sympathy and solidarity with their Balkan brothers. Greek public opinion was massively against the war.
To say this is not to suggest that Greek politicians would condone the kind of violence previously long accepted by their Serb counterparts. But their style of negotiating is very similar. It reveals a basic attitude of defining an interlocutor – the person one negotiates with - as always an opponent to be beaten, combatting him and resisting him to the bitter end even over matters not vital, and by any means available, including mendacity if it saves Greek honor. Greek politicians demonstrate that to them negotiating is a game to win, not a way to settle differences. Many observers therefore argue that Greek political culture is not really of the West.
Most of us on the outside have tended to see Greece in this crisis as unified, of one ilk, with only its government (possibly) on the side of Western sanity. The Greek people see it the other way around, with only themselves representing sanity, their government caught in the middle, and the whole world outside ranged against them. Keep in mind, it was the Greeks who invented the word “barbarian”. Guess who's at the gates once more.
TO MAKE A COMMENT, please check the option "anonymous" before clicking "publish" - even if you sign by name, otherwise the system will not show your comment.
