OPINION

Battling change, even when it’s for the better

It is not the first time that the forces which defend the ways of the past are fighting against change and a new way of running things.

Unionists, players within political parties and representatives of special interests big and small hide behind the lie that they are trying to protect the public good when they resist changes such as the privatization of state-owned enterprises.

They don’t bother to ask themselves whether Greeks were better off when OTE telecom operated in a way that was modeled after the Soviet style in the 1980s and applicants had to wait for months to get a phone line. Or whether Greeks wish they could still travel with a state carrier that had become synonymous with problems and hassle, instead of the options they have today. They don’t ask whether the public character of such enterprises ever worked as an obstacle against profiteers and the many different faces of corruption.

Greece cannot go back to a time when it was held hostage to vested interests. The powers of yesterday should not be allowed to win this battle.

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