2013-05-18T02:46:20-04:00 Gerard Papasimakopoulos http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=gerard-papasimakopoulos Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Gerard Papasimakopoulos Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1554166 2012-05-30T19:00:00-04:00 2012-07-30T05:12:13-04:00

Gerard Papasimakopoulos http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerard-papasimakopoulos/
Those who say that Greece needs financial aid to cover its internal expenses are liars and cheats, the country is loaded with a loan it does not need, just so it can pay back its German overlords. Utter fantasy, without financial aid from the EU, Greece would collapse within days, the country slipping back down the toilet bowl, flushed back to the stone age.

Many things can be said about the Greek predicament faced by the entire continent, heck the entire world. Many things indeed. Just don't call it dull and predictable. Because by the looks of things there are more mysteries hidden behind this particular Greek flag, than there are surrounding Bigfoot and Nessie combined.

Every single day, depending on poll predictions and party statements, Greece gets carpet bombed with all manner of scenarios. Disastrous and doom-mongering for the most part, they nevertheless are finding ample opposition by those stories that tell of a happy ending after all. A tough and hard fought ending, but isn't that just like a proper underdog story?

Truth is, there is as much reality behind all of them as there is behind Rocky. Truth is, there is no immediate solution. The EU was utterly blindsided, that much is clear, no safety exits were designed on the good ship Europe. No one knows how one jettisons dead weight, because no such system was put in place to begin with.

So where does that leave Greece?

In the dark. With whispers coming in from all sides, rising to growls then falling back into a mumbling drone. Pitch black, with no light to be found. The elections of 17 June, are no light switch, no lantern to lift against the gloom.

They're just another party piece, another chance at an electional booze up, between parties that have pretty much settled on the fact that it isn't in Greece's hands. Win or lose, right or left, it isn't really in Greece's hands. It never was by the looks of things.

Pasok, still reeling from the ballot slap on 6 May, is trying to convince itself, let alone its potential voters of its relevance, Evangelos Venizelos talking and talking and talking some more, lest he stop and remember that he essentially now runs a rubber dinghy sharing the same name with a once luxurious cruise liner. They are hubcaps, thinking they're spark plugs.

New Democracy are sweating, head cheese Antonis Samaras especially. He brought the 6 May elections down upon himself, lost in the wonder of PM shaped dreams and now sees 17 June as an electional Championship Manager game, snapping up free agents in the hope of shaping a league winning team. Problem is, if the new signings were as good as he's saying, then why were they shown the New Democracy door not so long ago? Dora Bakoyannis and the Laos runts, the third division wannabes posing as Premier League hotshots.

And then there's Syriza and dear, sweet Alexis Tsipras. The sexy and charismatic one as the foreign press call him, which is understandable, what with Venizelos looking like the Michelin Man in a bad suit and Samaras wearing the face of someone who has had a stroke and hasn't really got wind of it yet. Competition is rather poor. Still, he is a very young lad indeed, a boy ruler, with all the smug arrogance such a role goes with, a smug arrogance that both Pasok and New Democracy know all too well, even though they pretend they no longer do.

Tsipras is the man of the hour, a man so quintessentially Greek it as if he was made in a laboratory, a social experiment of fine form, promising everyone money, jobs, fewer taxes, a big "screw you" to anyone that says we might be held responsible for our numerous and weighty discrepancies, a man of the people, carrying with him a Greece that every one of its citizens want. That freeze framed wonderland that existed between the mid 80s and mid 90s, a Mediterranean Disneyland, where we had cash even of we didn't and no matter how bad things were, there was coin to be made somehow. Because we had the drop on those Europeans and we were laughing all the way to the bank with it.

None of the trio have a clue. Neither do the back up brigade. The communist party, the neo Nazis and everyone in between. Whether this way or that, they're all essentially waiting for another solution to tumble from the EU production line. One that will hopefully snap into place with their electional fables.

Too bad for them then, that this time the production line is weezing and coughing to a halt, its numerous mechanics having lifted their hands in a gesture of don't-look-at-me-I-just-work-here uselessness.

Wrong time to break down daddy-o.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1477320 2012-05-06T19:00:00-04:00 2012-07-06T05:12:07-04:00

Gerard Papasimakopoulos http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerard-papasimakopoulos/
For even the most optimistic soul living in this country, it's a time rife with uncertainty, heavy with fear and overloaded with less than sunny scenarios concerning what the immediate future holds.

It's been a while since I have written anything here. Frankly, I didn't know what to say. What to feel even. I look around me and I see people pretending that the voting process can potentially change the course of a nation that has relied on its European partners to clean up its loaded diaper for far too long.

I see people wandering the streets, actively believing that the answer to the complete political inability shown by major political dimwits Pasok and New Democracy, is either to head towards leftish good for nothings, who peddle anything from let's-leave-the-euro heroism to let's-stay-in-the-euro-and-tell-them-what's-what hilariousness, or right wing extremism.

The latter of course has been making the headlines all over Europe. Oh look at Greece they say, the cradle of democracy now openly batting its eyelids at neo-Nazi thuggery and heavy right demagoguery. Because nothing says "democracy" like blaming those filthy immigrants for every single zit the country needs to pop on its pretty little face.

No, I don't have a solution, I don't have a proposal. No political representative in Greece has shown the ability to understand the true severity of the situation, no political representative seems to understand that the people flooding the street corners, looking for a slice of pavement to sleep on, is just a social monster waiting to form its legs, hands and torso, its true face not yet evident, its true ability to bite deep into the soul of the Greek psyche not yet shown. Oh sure, the crime rate has exploded. But the frightening thing, is that most feel that this is the only side of the beast.

And how could they possibly? How could they get it? How the hell could any Greek political representative have any idea of what's going on in their country? How could the Greek political system run its motor smoothly, when at ground level, the average Greek still thinks that a political change means "a return to money"? It's a rotten motor, no one denies this, but someone bought the damn thing.

"We need a political change, to breathe again, to get our wages back", the local kiosk owner tells me.

I want to grab him by the throat and throttle him. No, you don't need a political change to get your pockets heavy with coin again. You need a political change to show that Greeks have finally understood what's up. You need political change to show yourself that you actually "get" your responsibilities, your role in the grander scheme of things, your understanding that nothing happens without you, nothing happens because you weren't asked.

Ultimately it's all for nothing. The fact that we're still here, in this country, hoping for a simple colour change, a flag swap, rather than real, active social change is what turns the knife in the open wound.

Like a ship, heavily listing after a torpedo has hit it full on, we're still under the impression that a change of captain will see us safely home. And as officer after officer fails to do anything more than lazily inch the vessel forward, engines coughing wildly, no closer to a safe port than before, there is not a single soul on board that stands up and says:

"Hey, do you think that maybe, we should consider the fact that we're taking on water? A lot of it?"

In truth, it isn't even considered. To hell with it, even if we do sink, the Euro rescue boats will come to our aid right?

Maybe they will. One just hopes they're not late, because most of the crew can't even doggy paddle.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1344368 2012-03-14T09:30:47-04:00 2012-05-14T05:12:01-04:00

Gerard Papasimakopoulos http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerard-papasimakopoulos/
He has something decidedly sinister about him. I suppose a large number of politicians do, it's admittedly the name of the game, but Venizelos takes it to another level, his words always seemingly a front for the real, much darker meaning hiding behind them.

Hearing him talk as he was announced as the only candidate for the internal elections of the Pasok party the other day, you'd think that Greeks should be taking to the streets and celebrating. He mouthed about a new day, a new dawn, a time of hope. All the while his eyes told you that he clearly meant it for himself. Not for the public at large. It was an almost tone for tone repeat of his speech concerning the completion of the PSI process, the bond swap which saw Greece's debt sliced to ribbons, ushering in a new era for the much beleaguered Greek economy. At least, that's what we were told.

Because, if you live in Greece, all these triumphant little sets of victory jigs seem slightly out of place. With figures of unemployment now set at double those of any other European state and with a real, everyday, pavement level economy showing as many signs of making an appearance as Jimmy Hoffa, it makes you wonder what Venizelos is actually talking about.

It also makes you think about how funny it is that Greece is historically recognized as the birthplace of democracy, seeing as none of it remains here any more.

A country governed by an unelected prime minister and the would be leader of a socialist party celebrating the fact that he is running in a one candidate election race.

It is an alarmingly dark legacy. A legacy left over by a political system actively supported by the Greek people for a number of decades, which not only made a mockery of the essence of democracy and the power to the people moniker it wears on its sleeve, but now looks to go one step further.

We are no longer a country in control of ourselves and our destiny. Admittedly, maybe that's a good idea, because when we did, we made a right mess of it. But before jumping on the "Greeks are useless, so they should be told what to do" bandwagon, consider this.

Have we really considered the true effects of handing over the reigns of democracy in exchange for "a better day"? What is truly the point of a new state of balance, when we are no longer a part of that exercise?

What in blue hell is going on, when a nation heads towards an election that no longer has any bearing on anything at all? What's even the point of electing a government when their agenda is already laid out, their decisions formed and decided, way before they ever start playing at being "in charge"?

Ultimately, what is even the point of participating in an electional process, when your vote is no longer truly needed? When your voice no longer has any bearing on the state of a nation?

Maybe Greeks should just be happy that their current leaders are convinced that a new day is dawning for the country. A new day, free from such outdated concepts like democracy.

Who needs that in 2012, when "totalitarian" fits so much better?]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1307744 2012-02-29T19:00:00-05:00 2012-04-30T05:12:01-04:00

Gerard Papasimakopoulos http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerard-papasimakopoulos/
To take a leaf out of the quote bible of the esteemed Hunter S. Thompson: "fear of poverty, fear of getting downsized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts, fear of terrorism."

That last little gem, fear of terrorism, is the latest addition to the list. So far, the street riots, the lootings, the destruction of public property and the random acts of police brutality stayed ever so slightly away from a large part of the population.

Sure, they were happening, but if you kept yourself at a safe distance, if you stayed behind a closed door and watched it all on television, then you were safe. And safety goes a long way in making sure you can sleep at night. Even if your pockets are increasingly empty.

That all came crashing down around our ears this past weekend when police and the ever so professional-sounding Anti Terrorism Task Force recovered a bomb from a metro train on Saturday afternoon. According to reports, the bomb would have gone off at the Aigaleo metro station but thankfully did not, due to faulty wiring.

What this effectively means is that its open season on all of us. You are no longer safe. Your life is in danger. At any moment, at any time, a bomb could go off while you are ordering a coffee, going to work, picking up your kids, meeting friends. At least that is what it's being promoted as. And let's face it, that is exactly what the message is. No two ways of looking at it, no alternate way of analysing it. A bomb on a public train, means that the internal strife in Greece, just moved up a notch on the brutality scale and is now out for the blood of the people.

Frankly, it all fits into place perfectly. Too perfectly one might say. On Monday, a new entry on the terrorist roster, announced that it had in fact placed the bomb on the train. "Antartiko Poleon", which roughly translates into "Urban Guerillas", had never before made its presence felt in the Athenian landscape. The shock value of its inaugural hit was the fact that unlike other terrorist units in the past, these urban guerillas were striking blind, caring little if their attempts at an explosive anti-state protest ended in massive civilian casualties.

If I was a conspiracy theorist, or a cynic, I would be smiling. I would also be thinking about the fact that a terrorist faction no one has ever heard of before, is jumping up and down and flailing its arms gingerly, hoping for attention, at a time when the internal political forces of Greece are striving to evade the blinding spotlight.

At a time when the internal political forces of Greece were hoping that their hilariously feeble cuts on their own state funded expenditure - duly agreed by all, political friends and foes alike - would not be weighed against the cuts they are asking the public at large to make, forcing many into poverty and despair.

At a time when the internal political forces of Greece are actively looking for something, anything, that would save their crumbling façade, as more and more Greeks (nearly half the electorate) are actively stating that they do not trust any of the existing parties in parliament. A new enemy, a new common foe could be a masterstroke, a perfect smokescreen to further disorient a panicking people as we head ever closer to the general elections. And it's oh so much easier to handle someone in a slight fluster isn't it? He'll pretty much believe anything as long as it gets him back to calm waters.

That is, I would think all of the above if was a conspiracy theorist. But I'm not.

I'm just saying. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1276283 2012-02-14T19:00:00-05:00 2012-04-15T05:12:01-04:00

Gerard Papasimakopoulos http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerard-papasimakopoulos/
Strangely, some of them, quite a few of them actually, were holding candles, little slithers of flame flickering in the unusually cold February air. Strange being the operative word here, seeing as no one was dead. At least, not yet. It was a wake no less though. Held for one of the oldest movie houses in Athens, the Attikon, one of the 50 or so buildings that felt the full force of Sunday night's eruption of directionless rage, following the Greek parliament's yes-sir-ing of the latest bumper pack of austerity measures handed over by the "evil European overlords".

As is usually the case, the next morning, Greece was firmly split down the middle. One side gesticulating madly and tugging its hair out about another night of destruction, another night of disaster, in and around an already crippled city. The other side, not wanting to fall behind in the gesticulation stakes, doing its best to make anyone not on their patch of grass feel bad about the fact that they may have spent even a second feeling sorry for what they perceived as just a bunch of broken windows and corporate nonsense. The real tragedy, they roared, took place inside the parliament, where our buffooning political suits had just given Greece away to the slave traders from the evil side of the continent.

Ultimately, none of them were right. Neither am I. Or the guy next me, or the woman next to him. Because it seems no one in Greece is right. To be so, would mean being properly informed. To be so, would mean not living in a permanent state of informational confusion, to be so, would mean not being bombarded with another doomsday scenario every five minutes. To be so, would mean managing to successfully navigate through an overflowing skip of dark-forces-have-taken-over-the-country scenarios and climb out of said skip, still holding on to your sanity and your ability to think rationally.

There are easy targets, as there usually are. A completely inept police force, led by the Minister for Civilian Protection (hold your giggles, that is actually his full title) Hristos Papoutsis, who came just short of saying that Athens was destroyed by a small group of shrouded unknowns. We call them ninjas round my way. A mayor of deer-caught-in-headlights fame, who knew next to nothing concerning the chaos in his city, until well into the next morning, upon which time he was informed by journalists interviewing him. And a host of careless and criminally shortsighted parliamentary representatives, quite a few of which were caught watching a football match in the Parliament cafeteria, while Athens discovered new ways to make a name for itself as the barbecuing capital of Europe.

But this isn't a one-off. It wasn't the first incident of pointless destruction and I'm sure it won't be the last. So at some point, the blame and part of the responsibility for what happens within their own country has to fall on the Greek public. Ninjas did not destroy the Attikon. Ninjas did not set fire to nearly 50 buildings around Athens. Ninjas were not the ones asking for money so as not to burn down the Asty cinema house, just a short walk away from the Attikon. These were citizens of Greece. Whether provoked, coerced, brainwashed or otherwise, these were citizens of Greece.

The fact that they were unable to separate their need for reaction and the need to protect elements of their city that represent their culture and ultimately their pool of collective historical presence is at the heart of this entire sad state of affairs. A nation willing to set fire to its entire world, as its only available reaction toward a social or political system that it no longer feels represents it, is a nation in dire need of an educational wake up call. A nation unaware that it needs to keep hold of the historical elements that have served it throughout time, be they architectural or otherwise, is a nation in more danger than a "dark European overlord" could ever provide.

"Yeah, but its just a bunch of concrete. We can rebuild it", was the prevalent opinion making the rounds on the social networking circuit.

No you can't. You can't burn a symbol and expect a knock off to work in its place. Once you burn it, its gone. And you, as a nation, have just lost another rallying point. An image, a banner under which to gather.

And you had precious few of those left to begin with.]]>