Why Greece failed (example 1)

If you live abroad and come to Greece for vacations,this country rocks!!! It really does. But for us locals, everyday life in Greece is an exercise in surrealism and the fine, time-honored art of surviving on a daily bases without:

a. Getting a stroke.

b. Strangling a public servant.

c. Being locked in a lunatic asylum

d. All the above together

A recent example of why we failed as a State is the infamous extra-tax -on-your-house thingy. The extra tax comes with the electricity bill-which means if you don't pay the whole sum, the power company cuts the power. So far, it is just unfair...the surreal comes next...nah nahnana nahnanana...you are now entering the Twilight Zone...

After waiting in vain for three months for the tax bill to arrive,I got worried. I asked some of the other tenants in our apartment building and I found out that out of  9 apartment owners ,only 4 had received the tax bill. 

Further investigations revealed that the Municipality of our area has no data base of  all the buildings it should tax. Why? Because the power company-which has the data and issues the bills-doesn't want to share them with the Municipality. But it is the Municipality which has to inform the power company to whom it should send the bills. So if your house or shop is not in the Municipality's data bank=no extra tax bill....wait!!!

It gets even scarier!!!

I also found out that the Municipality should have been collecting another property tax since 1997,which it hasn't collected from about 30% of apartments and shops ,because the said shops and apartments do not "exist" in their data bank!!! AND NOBODY IN CHARGE EVER CHECKED!!!

The Municipality/State has been loosing millions of euros every year since 1997.Multiply this by all municipalities in Greece and send me the biiiiiillll and a box of antidepressants!!

A huge box!

The new Johnnie Walker ad  is quite good for the morale!

Keep walking Greece :)

To the inevitable question: Are they-the people in the management of the State- stupid/lazy/incompetent? the sad answer is "No".

It is by design that this State is functioning by isolating one public service from the other. It is by design that this unbeatable Hydra bureaucracy is strangling anything new (like it has been fighting for years against fully computerising the whole public sector)!

(The "why" is a long story, requiring some knowledge of Greek history and a M.D in psychiatry...sigh*

P.S .Now,as good and loyal citizens, we have to:

1.Pay the "normal" property tax for the last 5 years.

2. Pay the "normal" property tax for 2012

3.Wait for the extra 2011 property tax with the next electricity bill

4.Wait for the extra 2012 property tax with the next electricity bill.

 But what the hell?!

For a lesson in surrealistic survival it was priceless!!!

The potato "revolution"

(or why Greece still has a good chance to come to her senses)

 

I've said it before and I 'll say it again: I love it when something "clicks" for the first time in people's minds!!! (I'm absolutely thrilled whenever something clicks in mine too).

During the last two weeks the so called "potato movement" has been born, is gathering strength and has everyone-including the communist party lol-worrying. It all started when the potato producers in northern Greece got really furious with the "middlemen",who are buying their potatoes for 0,15 euros while the consumer prices are anything between 0,60 to 0,85 euros per kilo...at least 400% up!!!!!

The Nevrokopi district producers went to the nearest big city-Katerini-with their trucks full of potatoes and gave them away for free to anyone passing by. This gave to some the brilliant idea of organizing a direct producer -to- consumer- sale of potatoes. Through the Internet various groups-from nurses' unions to municipalities in Athens-are now ordering truckloads of -very tasty-Nevrokopi potatoes for 0,25 per kilo, young farmers from other parts of Greece are "waking up" and there are thoughts about the direct sale also of olive oil, meat, lentils, flour etc.

Of course the "middlemen" have been furious.For decades they kept the farmers and the consumers isolated and that meant BIG money for them and for the big supermarket chains-which incidentally have started to lower their potato prices, hehe.

In order to force farmers to sell their crops cheap,they even import potatoes from Egypt, "baptize" them Greek and sell them in high prices. And that's why the Nevrokopi farmers still had half their annual production unsold!!!

A member of the government tried to insinuate yesterday that the directly sold potatoes are not of a good quality,(duh?) and the communist party (yes,we still got one,aren't we lucky?) attacked the initiative, cause "it distracts the people from the real enemy and keeps farmers away from their unions", give me a break and start living in the present....sigh*

To be honest, this potato "revolution" is one of the very few positive things happening these last two years in Greece. Something that breaks away from old bad habits and decades of complacency. Whenever a crisis strikes ,there is the huge, Heaven-send, let's-see-how-you-cope-now-baby opportunity for change!! CHANGE!!! I love it! It makes me believe we (or the younger generations) will make it through :))

P.S Potatoes were first planted in Greece during the 1.830's .The first governor of the new Greek Sate, John Capodistrias, brought the until then unknown in mainland Greece veggie from Liverpool and from France. Legend has it that in order to make Greek farmers interested in the new crop,he stacked potatoes in a barn and put an armed guard in front. Hmm,thought the farmers,there must be something precious in there to be guarded so well....so they sneaked in and stole the potatoes! Mission accomplished!!!

A "NO" day like no other !

It thrills me when something happens for the first time ever!!
It feels like witnessing an important turning point!!

And today,for the first time in more than 60 years,the customary army parade in Thessaloniki has been cancelled!!!

More than 20.000 people booed the President of Greece-who felt insulted and left!
One of the most uplifting sights in years:Anonymus citizens on the officials' seats cheering the marching troops :))

In other major cities-where the students and not the troops march-some parades took place but the youth refused to salute the representatives of the government and the state.
They either turned their faces away from them or raised their fists holding a black ribbon.




The only place the students parade took place normaly was in Syros,capital of Cyclades.The parade had been cancelled by the authorities,so... the people staged it themselves and had a wonderful time :)

In Florina city a coffin took part in the students parade!!!

P.S The "No" day is one of the two major national celebration days in Greece. On the 28th of October 1940 Greece answered "No" to an Italian ultimatum to open it's borders to the Axis's troops.
P.S2 A political storm has just hit Athens! This winter will be interesting !

P.S3 A ray of sunshine: One of my favorite songs by Stamatis Kraounakis "With New Wings". It was used in a WWII era tv movie a decade ago.I thank the person who uploaded it.
"The storm will pass,
spring will be here again 
dressed in blue and white
and I will rest in your arms again
under a palm tree 
near the waves"

Indignant on Sunday!!/Πάντα την Κυριακή!

This evening in 100 cities all over Europe there was a festive mood and one main slogan:
We are here
We are not stupid
We know who you are
We know what you are up to!



For the 5th evening thousands of Athenians gathered,this time more massively and more organized.



"Let us live or we will tickle you" warns the slogan here ;] 
Hints at the riming of the word with "we will f... you"



And side by side with a green mountza the famous American finger!!!

My husband's favorite T-shirt. Bonobos are the hippies of the ape world,dissipating tensions in their groups by having sex!!!!!

This time there were some Greek flags and some Spanish and Portugese too. There was also a latin band of drums!!!
Uber cool!! Fresh smiling young faces!!Rythm!!!

After a while a group on stilts joined the dancing...

This evening we saw a lot of mothers and fathers with young ones.
No rioting had happened the previous days, no clashing with the police, so everyone felt relaxed.

You know what they say,

it's never too early to start demonstrating

"We are not for sale"

Petra,the female black Labrador, is a seasoned demostrator.

 She has taken part in many protests with her special picket!!!

The picket was forgotten as soon as she spotted a friend...

"You have reduced our salaries by 50%

you have reduced our pensions by 50%

May your days be reduced by 50%"

Woa! We Greeks do get angry sometimes :]

Αγανακτισμένοι-επιτέλους!! /Indignant in Athens!!

Η πλατεία ήταν γεμάτη από ανθρώπους και άδεια από σημαίες!

Χάρηκε η ψυχή μας νέα παιδιά, όμορφες ενδιαφέρουσες φάτσες, ποδηλάτες και ποδήλατα, συνομιλίκους μας 

που σηκώθηκαν απο τον καναπέ-όπως κι εμείς άλλωστε-και φώναξαν,λίγο μαγκωμένα είναι αλήθεια:

"Τίποτα δεν τέλειωσε το '73

Ψωμί-Παιδεία-Ελευθερία!"

It started yesterday in facebook.It started by a rumor that the Spanish "Indignados" demonstrating for days now in Puerta del Sol-Madrid commented that "the Greeks are still sleeping"
Oh my!!! Facebook was on fire!!
This afternoon at 18.00 thousands gathered in Syntagma square,right in front of the Parliament.
People of all ages and-for the first time-without party or national flags!!!!
Just "Indignant" people who demand more transparency and less corruption!!!

Αυτό που χάρηκα περισσότερο απ' όλα είναι ότι γιά πρώτη φορά ύστερα από χρόνια, πήραμε το τράμ και κατεβήκαμε κι εμείς σε διαδήλωση,όπως τον παλιό καλό καιρό πού παίζαμε κυνηγητό με την αστυνομία.
Και γιατί κατεβήκαμε; 
Γιατί για πρώτη φορά μετα από χρόνια νιώσαμε ότι μπορεί και να υπάρχει μιά αμυδρή ακτίνα ελπίδας!!

Oh,yes! Of course we grabbed the camera,put on "demonstrators shoes" (for running fast if anything bad happens,like tear-gas) and took the tram to Syntagma!!

Και ναι! Οι Κασσάνδρες δεν επαληθεύτηκαν. Ήρθαν όλοι. Αγανακτισμένοι αλλά ήρεμοι. Κι αυτή η ηρεμία είναι που τρομάζει. Οι φασαρίες και τα επεισόδια,βούτυρο στο ψωμί τους.
Κάποιος χρησιμοποίησε μια φράση του Γκάντι:
Στην αρχή μας αγνόησαν,
μετά μας κορόϊδεψαν,
μετά μάς επιτέθηκαν
 μετά νικήσαμε"

At the same time, "Indignants" gathered in almost all major Greek cities, all organized spontaneously through the Net :]
We stayed for a couple of hours, but will be back tomorrow...cause this will be held every afternoon.

"We are awake" reads the placard!! 
Ok. But this little one is fast asleep on daddy's
shoulder :]

Someone used a wonderful quote by Gandhi:
First they ignored us,
then they laughed at us,
then they attacked us
then we won"

"Sooooo boring!!!Can we go home NOW???"

A helicopter for the government to leave ASAP.
 From left to right :our PM,the minister of Finance and the vice president of the government *sigh* what a title for doing absolutely nothing for 18 months:]

Reporters and police estimate that around 20.000 people gathered in Syntagma (Constitution) Square this afternoon.

Some are planning to spend the night there.

We will see what happens tomorrow.

But I have to admit it feels so gooooood after all this time :]

Now, let me see which flasks and glyphs to use tomorrow....oops!

Wrong raid :P

Greeks in the Twilight Zone!

It's a habit I had since childhood:My brain always whispers the proper song for every mood.

Lately, the mood here is a cocktail of anger,fear and despair. Our nursery-school-level government took last years some measures that raised unemployment,took economy deeper into recession and in the end failed to deliver what they were supposed to...


Why? Because no Greek politician ever dared-or will ever dare- do what is needed:
1.Put a stop to rampant mismanagement of funds by the all powerful state bureaucracy.
2.Organize this $#@%^& state!!! *pops a piece of chocolate in her mouth to calm down* The Greek state in our lords year of 2011 doesn't even know how many public servants it employs in each Ministry and has no idea what it's assets are (publicly owned buildings,land etc). No one knows for sure which public funds are spend for which purpose. Many public hospitals don't even give an account of their yearly spending (of OUR taxes) !!!
*eats half a chocolate cake*
3.Collect taxes from those-a healthy portion of the population-who don't pay them! Doctors,lawyers,constructors etc who declare just 12.000 euros income a year and have two villas,a luxury boat three Ferrari and 2 million euros in their bank account !
*opens the jar of sweet preserve-Roula's present :]-and scoops the first piece of "pergamonto"

This is what I've been whistling since I woke up...

As I make my second espresso and try to see the bright side of life,the government is getting ready to announce another epic-fail-plan for saving the economy!
Like the last year's plan, this one piles even more taxes on those who loyally pay them anyway ,and of course leaves the tax evaders to happily enjoy what they steal from the rest of us.

Another Greek citizen in the Twilight Zone ...nanananana!!
It really happened last February and the guy is shooting arrows at ze Parliament :D

I have to confess that when ever I reach the edge of depression and desperation I take one more step and....reach the realm of the absurdly surrealistic. 
I cross to ze other zide!The twilight zone! muahahahaha!
Now,everything makes sense! 
Everything is cool and normal!
After all,the view from to top of the cross is absolutely marvellous!