Not 1969
As a returning expatriate, I really try to view Greece in the most positive way, but I am deeply troubled with what I’ve seen in my country, its people, and its policies. This isn’t the Greece I knew in 1969. I don’t know where to begin, but I see polls where 76 percent of the Greek population believe Slobodan Milosevic was correct in his policy of ethnic cleansing and is innocent of genocide; where the poisoning of animals is the accepted practice of animal control; where municipalities haul and then dump raw sewage illegally in the countryside and into the sea; where mountain paths, beaches and country roads are littered with plastic, garbage and building rubble; where there are insufficient teachers and decaying schools; where healthcare is, in a word, pitiful; where there is a three- to four-year wait for a court to adjudicate your case; where murderers and thieves are granted furloughs and vacations from prison; where most laws are not enforced and more than 50 percent of the people have no confidence in their police. This is the same country where the automobile of choice for its elected officials is a Mercedes; where tax evasion and bribery are considered national sports; where the cost of sending a delegation to the winter Olympics or perhaps redecorating a recycled minister’s office takes priority over funding school or hospital supplies. Where blocking the roads is the only way to have your grievance addressed. Where the public response to all these problems is «Ti na kanoume?» (What can we do?). To this I say – shame on all of you.
