While the state simply looks on
The worst aspects of post-junta Greece can only be put to rest when the state is in a position to impose law and order, protect the country’s democratic structures and procedures, and safeguard the vast majority of the public from the actions of a small, organized and violent minority. So far, the example of the blockade of a Italian-owned ship in Corinth, as well as other recent cases involving seamen protesting against the abolition of cabotage rules, have shown a state that is hesitant to assume the role it has been assigned by the Constitution and by the rules of this democracy. We are in a situation where some 20 or 30 people have been allowed to take the law into their own hands, openly flout every rule in the book and have made a laughingstock of Greece on an international level. The responsibility for this situation, which is now completely out of control, rests squarely on the government’s shoulders. If it continues to tolerate this kind of behavior, it should be ready to see further such instances in other areas as well, because the law will hardly matter anymore when people receive the message that they can do as they like and go unpunished.
