Rotten Eggs

I knew it. I could play shocked and indignant but that would be just plain lying. It was just a matter of numbers and not really a matter of fact. The fact had already been decided. It had been brewing for a very long time and not only did we not do anything to make sure decisions that may stigmatize our already wounded image and divide our already shattered people, were at least not taken lightly, but we also reached for the hammer to smack our own fingers with and then complained loudly that it really hurt.

I am of course speaking of the rise of Nazi friendly extremist party Golden Dawn and its entrance in the Greek parliament.

I confess. On election night I got a measly two hours’ worth of sleep. It was not so much the breathtaking anticipation for a result more or less expected, nor was it the “surprising turn of events” which, if we are to be brutally honest, were to the only ones possible under the circumstances and thus not as much a surprise as the media made it out to be. It wasn’t even the completely human reaction of frustration as I watched dangerous and, quite frankly embarrassing extremes triumphantly gaining access to the Parliament (and all benefits stemming from this, such as immunity and, yes, a stand from which hatred and fascism may propagate right in the heart of the country which boasts to have invented democracy but has done very little ever since).

I already knew the Golden Dawn (or as some – unaffiliated to me – parties call them the Golden Eggs, due to the unintentionally hilarious resemblance of the Greek word for “dawn” and that for “eggs”) was here to stay. We nourished them. We made sure they gained support. I could not remove myself from my monitor any more than one can turn away from a nasty car wreck.

I must admit that 7% was indeed hard to swallow. The optimist in me – whom I am trying very hard to suppress – refused to take it in. People have reached their limit, I thought. Somehow they needed to revolt. And since an actual revolution is neither feasible nor desirable at the moment, the folk has decided to punish those they saw as shameless ‘pimps’ (and not without justification may I add) the only way they knew how: with their vote.

The rotten system made it possible, I thought/hoped, for votes of punishment, votes of rage to manifest themselves in such a forceful manner and not the fact that Greek people had turned racist overnight. But who is this system exactly? The system, for me, is nothing strange, nothing detached from us all. It is not the New World Order and it is not the (externally and maliciously controlled) media all on their lonesome. It is not just the corrupt politicians sucking our blood for decades with our consent, with out vote which we have in the past squandered without hint of consideration of what our choices du jour may one day mean, not for our children – because the dagger had already fallen – but for ourselves in ten, twenty years time.

We are the system. We are the ones who fed the Golden snake in our own bosoms and now we have to live with the consequences. For the first time in years voting has become what it has always been, or at least what it was supposed to be: the token of our responsibility regarding our future. And for the first time in decades, the future is not some kind of an abstract concept, it is not about how many ‘favors’ we may secure for ourselves within a few months. It is not about squeezing into an unmovable position within the – already overwhelmed – public sector and it is not about ideology. It is about survival. It is about truth or lie.

We are still new to this [disclaimer: there is of course a portion of the people who carefully consider their vote, aware as they had always been of the weight it carries. I am not referring to those, whether we agree politically or not]. It may take a while to get the hang of it. But, if there is a single positive thing that I may keep out of this debacle, is that for the very first time, the realization that accountability is not a foreign country has finally hit home and the people decided to show the two major parties ruling the country for the past thirty something years at least the door.

Of course, this novelty, just like all others, has the side effect of exposing rotting wounds. Wounds that had always been there but had never seen the light before because they simply never had to, comfortably covered as they were under the blanket of more ‘acceptable’ domains. Whether these wounds will ever get a chance to heal remains to be seen, but as I woke up, to a different era it seemed, the next day, and I watched the video with the bald (not bold) and puffed up ‘Aryan’ barking military orders to the press, forcing them to a standing ovation for the arrival of the Führer (oops, I meant to say leader) I had the most peculiar feeling of my blood boiling with rage while at the same time laughing out loud at the absurdity of it all. Had it not been dead serious, the short clip would be just the kind of material first class stand up comedy comes from.

But it was. Serious that is. It seems that the blanket exclusion policy which had been so dear to the media, along with all the blatant lies by those who fancied themselves the “one responsible solution” (the same ones who drove the country to desperation in the first place) and who did get all the available air time, had backfired. All that was accomplished was the slap in the face delivered on Sunday night by people who clearly lack in understanding of politics but more than make up for that shortcoming with a surplus of rage and a convenient outlet.

Ostracized and kept out of the spotlight deliberately, the Golden Dawn flourished within its mystery. And, without being given the chance to publically embarrass themselves – as they no doubt would have done – or show their true ugly colors, their appeal grew. It grew among the young and the old alike. It grew among those feeling like virtual prisoners in the center of Athens, those who watched as the neighborhoods turned into vicious ghettos and the buildings into depositories of lost souls.

Xenophobia was cultivated out of the fear and the failure for measures to be taken in order to control the phenomenon. It found fertile ground where even the hint that there was a problem was attacked as racist and politically incorrect. The conditions were ideal for Golden Dawn to step right in and play those fears for their political benefit, become the batman of a dark and hostile Gotham city, marginally still within the law, sometimes well outside of it.  Old ladies who otherwise felt (and actually were) well and utterly abandoned, acquired escort to the ATMs and anyone resembling anything other than Greek (though I must admit I am not sure about the criteria used, other than the obvious skin color) ran the risk of being trampled upon and beaten up. Fear ruled the country. And fear can produce some pretty faulty logic.

With unemployment climbing to a staggering 21.8% from 9.43% which had been the average rate between 1985 and 2010, and suicide rate increasing by 40% for the country which had previously held the record for less suicides in Europe, every unemployed youth watching their benefits shrink, their expenses catapulting through the roof and their chances of employment slim, becomes a soldier, and every pensioner shooting themselves in the head or jumping off a bridge a martyr. The world can only be seen through a distorted filter of fear and bitterness. The need to blame someone, to do something.

I doubt that the little old lady, standing proudly in front of the cameras and stating that she is a supporter of the Golden Dawn is a Hitler sympathizer or a holocaust denier for that matter. I doubt she even knows what her vote represented. To her, all that is real is the tragedy of her situation and her anger. Depression breeds misery, misery breeds paranoia and paranoia breeds extremism. Just a fleeting look at history will prove that. People don’t suddenly begin to hate other people because they are bored in their abundance any more than people may decide to blow themselves up in the middle of a crowded square because they were having too much good sex.

And it is not just Greece. People are ‘revolting everywhere it seems. When France went to the ballot, it was not just Sarkozy they were giving the middle finger to. It was a policy of unbearable austerity they were reacting to. So it was out with the old, tested and failed formula and in with the new, the perceived ‘radical’, the much dreaded left side. And esteemed spines of bankers, euro supporters and conservative government officials felt the chill. Marine Le Pen gathered 17% of the vote stepping on the very same ‘principles’ and tactics which made the Golden Dawn into a topic of conversation: the ‘bad’ foreigners and the ‘holy’ patriotism. A sustainable solution for a real problem not even discussed. When frustrated voters got their moment it was a case of hand hurts, hand cut off.

But how does the people’s wrath, as expressed by the election results wherever the austerity policy had been offered for judgment, affect stability, not only for the Eurozone but also for the European Union itself, after the spectacular failure of the Lisbon Treaty to create a political union with centralized functions and the subsequent attempts to go about it through the back door?

Opinions not only vary dramatically, but ‘experts’ of all kinds express views diametrically different from one another and extremely polarized. The only common ground? The future appears bleak. Whether Greece is forced to leave the monetary union (even under ‘radical’ left leadership a voluntary retreat is not considered an option and is not supported by the vast majority of people) or not, the Euro as a currency is on shaky ground, and Giscard D Estaing’s dream of a United States of Europe drifts further and further away. Amidst chaos and stern warnings that voting according to sentimental foolishness instead of much needed logic and level headedness will signal complete and utter annihilation for Greece – and possibly irreversible adverse effects upon the rest of the Union – on the one hand and praise for the courage to vote down the two main parties responsible for the current desperate situation as a sign that there is yet some wiggling room for the alteration of the heavy burden most of the people simply can not bare on the other, Golden Dawns all over Europe gain power by the minute.

          Such opportunistic organizations find breeding ground in turmoil. And not just at the heart of the storm either. Countries such as Germany or Austria have been doing great. In fact, it is safe to assert that Germany has not only managed to recover completely from total devastation after World War II, but it has managed to become the leading power of Europe. It makes sense to brand the Greeks as the unruly fools, lazy and stubborn and set to create problems instead of feeling gratitude towards their benefactors. Public opinion in Germany and Austria has grown impatient. And as the Nazi sympathizers hold a candle lit vigil by Vienna’s Hofburg and the National Democratic Party (NPD) in Germany getting 9.8% in elections, a very alarming trend is becoming evident. An us versus them

          To be fair, it does appear that Germany and Austria have indeed learned from history and have emerged wiser for it. The mere existence of such phenomena doesn’t characterize those countries any more than Golden Dawn’s success characterizes Greece. Human hatred and stupidity knows no borders and where there is a depression some degree of polarization is to be expected. Germany has tried to declare the NPD illegal (although the case was thrown out by the Constitutional Court) and in Austria openly expressing Nazi affiliated views and denying the Holocaust may lead to a lengthy prison sentence.

The vast majority of the people feel very passionate when it comes to such damaging ideologies and are very vocal about it. More than 2000 people gathered for a counter protest last week in Vienna as the sympathizers with the candles had to be protected by a sizeable police force and Nazi sympathizer and Holocaust denier Gottfried Küssel, up for trial by jury next Monday, is facing up to ten years imprisonment, for doing and saying pretty much the same things as Golden Dawn’s leader Michaloliakos in Greece.

          But what does all this mean in practical terms? Are we headed for a head on collision with each other, blinded by carefully cultivated hatred and pushed to the limit by countries falling apart? I believe the rise of the Golden Dawn is a tragic but fully understandable phenomenon, something between an oversized bubble with no real essence and a real problem we, as a society (and I do not mean just the Greek society) need to keep a very close eye on. It should serve as a warning. One we need to take very seriously. We can no longer afford to ignore real problems of real people and to brush genuine desperation under the carpet of political necessity, no matter how pristine we want it to look.

          I personally disagree with Austria’s approach even though I understand fully well where it all stems from. I disagree because I see the results such a policy had when it was applied to the Greek reality – albeit unofficially. Michaloliakos had no legal consequences to fear as among other equally infuriating things, he saluted Nazi style on his first day as a local representative, as he denied being a Nazi while openly idolizing Hitler, “the great Leader” and dismissed the number of Jewish people (77.377 of which of Greek origin, 50.000 members of the Jewish community in Thessaloniki, practically the entire community) as an overestimate, denied gas chambers existed and claimed that in a war atrocities happen on all sides and are nothing vile or unusual.

He was, however, pretty much gagged, banned from all media. Marginalized. He was never given the opportunity to embarrass himself. Instead, he became the oppressed hero of the oppressed Greek people who felt betrayed by their own country. When a small local television channel accepted to host one of the Golden Dawn candidates, they were attacked on air with eggs and yoghourt (to show, among other things we are not starving). The result: Michaloliakos became the valiant underdog. He appealed to fear and rage. And he won. Instead of focusing on the very real criminal actions attributed to members of the group, investigating and establishing the connection and making sure criminal actions are brought to justice, society focused on words. Words that might have never gained momentum had they been allowed to be heard.

          Whether we like it or not (clue: we don’t really) Golden Dawn was elected. It represents the people who voted for them and, regardless of the reasons which led them to this absurd choice, they are too many to ignore. Perhaps the wisest thing to do is to let the ‘Pure blooded Greeks’ show us who they are (as they did on election night) instead of letting those who voted for them out of disillusionment alone imagine what they might be. Demand clear, public answers on their exact beliefs, position and aspirations. Perhaps then the bubble will burst. But, sadly, even when it inevitably does, the gangrene has already spread far enough. And for as long as we find ourselves in the middle of the perfect storm, not knowing whether we will survive the next day or not, phenomena like the Golden Dawn will unfortunately accompany our painful journey.