Fruitless anger and abstention
Greece’s demographic problem is not limited to the fact that deaths outnumber births. It is not enough to look for a formula of subsidies and other incentives to encourage young people to become parents. First, they themselves need to be persuaded that it is worth staying in Greece, as the low birth rate is tied directly to the problems that they face. From the limited opportunities for a decent income that will allow them to raise children, to the lack of security and justice that they feel, young people know that their country does not provide the things that they are struggling to attain, that it promises less than it provided to previous generations. For over a decade now, the young have lived through crisis, deprivation and disappointment. Now that precious political stability has come about, the government and parties need to persuade the people that they understand the problems (great and small) and that they are dedicated to solving them. The mentality of “this is how things always were” will not do.
The extraordinarily low interest of citizens in the last few elections shows how alienated many have become. Nationwide, participation in the second round of voting for the local and regional elections dropped to an unprecedented 40.7% (and 26.7% in Athens). Until we have the necessary data, we cannot know for sure who showed the least interest (young people or their elders), nor the reasons for this. But we can assume that younger voters feel less of an obligation to vote when they feel that it will not lead anywhere. (Whoever knows serious young people knows also the clarity of their thought and the direct way in which they express it). A recent survey on what drove young people to vote in the summer’s parliamentary elections is most illuminating. The Ierax Analytix poll for the Dukakis Center at Anatolia College (in ekathimerini on 19/10/23) found that for 32% of those polled the Tempe train disaster was their main motive to vote. This was followed by “fires and floods” at 15%. High prices, health and police violence were next, but way behind at 8%, 5% and 3%, respectively.
Insecurity, grief and anger motivated the young. And when this leads nowhere, despair and abstention follow.
