Dialogue and duty
Dialogue is the cornerstone of democratic society, the process whereby differences are bridged, opposing views converge, where people of good will seek compromise without winners or losers. At least in theory. In practice, things are quite different. «In war, we wage war,» Aleka Papariga, the Communist Party’s general secretary, declared yesterday, replying to the government’s invitation for a dialogue on the future of the social security system. According to Papariga, there is no room for compromise, because «the dialogue is rigged» and aims solely at gaining legitimacy for Capital’s onslaught on the working class. According to this theory, the social security system is not in danger of collapse and all it needs is for the state and employers to provide more funds to shoulder the burden of the deficits. Dialogue, in such circumstances, is merely confirmation of the impasse, and the participation of the two sides is reduced to a declaration of their respective, opposing views. We see a variation of this in Antonis Samaras’s rejection of Dora Bakoyannis’s call for a direct dialogue (a debate) in the runup to Sunday’s election for the New Democracy party’s new leader. There are also cases where the discussion has no end, where dialogue is an excuse for the government to let sleeping dogs lie, so that it incurs no political cost. We see this repeatedly in issues that will determine the country’s future, as in education, social security and agricultural reforms. When dialogue repeatedly starts from scratch, this reveals not democratic sensitivities but a hypocritical attempt to evade responsibility. Do we want to continue the act or to fix the country? We are all aware of the problems and the radical reforms that are needed. The parties’ positions have been clear for years. If the government cannot do what it needs to do it should shoulder the burden on its own. It should certainly not pretend to be the «victim» of those who would rather play their own games than take part in the government’s charade.
