The neither-here-nor-theres
If a person does not support the ruling SYRIZA party, has recognized that it has tricked voters, and disagrees with the rally planned next week by a new movement – “Resign!” – hoping to push the government out, then where do they belong?
Which camp do you belong to when, on a daily basis, you witness the deterioration of quality of life in Greece, the shrinking of public spaces and the destruction of public property, while lamenting measures such as the rerouting of buses to avoid ambushes by vandals and the removal of statues from public spaces to protect them from thieves?
What kind of person are you when you see that we have reached a political impasse, but do not believe that early elections are the answer, or when you hate to see lawlessness spreading its tentacles across the capital without the authorities stepping in to stop it?
Whose side are you on when you know that every no-go zone that appears in the city has far-reaching consequences by empowering the brash and sapping freedom? On the side of the authorities or on the side of the others? And who are these “others” who keep being invoked every time the prevailing philosophy fails to give answers to a new problem?
This is a social category that cannot be counted and that remains silent because it is not represented by any one party. These are people who can be found in every part of the democratic political spectrum, who do not belong in the “don’t know/won’t answer” statistical category, because they do know what they want and they know how to express it. Nevertheless, they are not considered a force, neither by politicians nor the media.
They are neither radicals nor conservatives, they embrace innovation and change, they don’t choose sides according to what the majority is doing, they strive to keep up with developments in an educated manner, and they stay in touch with reality, a task that is becoming increasingly difficult. They try to process the information they receive without bias and prejudice.
These definition-defying citizens – despised by one camp for being too liberal and for championing Greece’s European future, and accused by the other of being apolitical or indifferent while still paying taxes and dreaming of a time of consensus – remain overlooked because neither one camp nor the other has anything to gain from them.
But it is these silent, in-between people who will determine how long the country will go on as it is by their own tolerance to go on as they are.
