The mountain is still there
Through his handling of the Golden Dawn case, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has earned the support of people who did not vote for him and felt no particular ties to him.
No one knows how many citizens support his decision to draw a red line in the case of the ultranationalist party, especially when it comes to a society which is incredibly angry and ready to bring down everyone and everything. It’s hard to make sense of the situation given all the insanity and absolutely insane scenarios currently flying around.
Those who occupy the middle ground of the political spectrum hailed Samaras’s decision, a decision which wasn’t easy to make. There were strong voices and interventions by those who consider Golden Dawn as the dysfunctional child of a large political family.
One can only assume that the minister in charge of the case against the extreme right-wing party was aware of the fact that there was no shortage of criticism from within.
What we now have is the customary chorus praying both publicly and behind the scenes for the entire case to collapse. Why they are hoping this will happen is impossible to say. No one understands if they are hoping for a complete destabilization of the local political scene or if they feel this will result in the miraculous appearance of a “savior” which the rest of us never realized existed in the first place.
That said, the charges against Golden Dawn will not do enough to solve people’s problems. It’s still an uphill struggle. The political class has not really done enough to win back the trust of the citizens that has been seriously damaged. Sure, a small minority of politicians are trying to make the whole thing work, but as a voter, it is hard to put up with a number of the old guard who have come to symbolize the incompetence and vulgarity of years past.
Indeed, whatever happened to those much-hyped initiatives that would put an end to the notorious immunity of ministers and deputies as well as the campaign to overhaul the bankrupt political system?
On top of all this, of course, there is the economic crisis and the feeling of humiliation felt by the average citizen because of the ongoing presence of troika inspectors in the country. The mix has brought people to their knees as their last reserves are going up in smoke.
Now it’s time for a farewell deal with the troika. It will have to be based on Greece’s adoption of measures designed to bring prices down and to liberalize still closed professions instead of introducing fresh cuts and taxes.
It’s better to create some anger among the few and privileged than to upset an already frustrated majority.
