Gail Cartmail blog

Greece will survive

The Greek Minister for Culture has quit his job.

This followed the theft of 65 invaluable pieces from the ancient site Olympia. Spending cuts resulted in reduced security and thieves made the most of this ‘opportunity’.

As London gears up to host the 2012 Olympic Games it is ironic that the home of the first games held in 776BC is compromised by the hammer blows of austerity.

Greek trade unions have organized general strikes and even the police had a one day stoppage. Yet it is the day to day stories that speak volumes about the unfairness of measures introduced to satisfy the European Union.

The economic process isn’t complicated. The Greek economy is in debt. The European Bank has said it will give Greece a loan but the people who are owed money will have to accept a ‘haircut’, which means they get less than they expect to be repaid.

To qualify for the loan the Greek government has been persuaded to agree to lots of changes that will drastically reduce public spending. If Greece doesn’t get the loan and can’t pay back the money it has borrowed, there is a strong possibility it will be chucked out of the Euro.

So far public sector pay and all pensions have been severely cut back, new taxes are demanded from households irrespective of ability to pay. 

Visitors to Athens will meet people who are cold, hungry and fear they will lose everything – their home, job and dignity.

Hospitals are in a pitiful condition with patients employing their own nurses. Teachers observe hungry children and bring into school material to enable lessons to carry on. 

As spring approaches people living in the country will pick wild plants and make pies, uproot flowers and cook the bulbs. The food my father-in-law coaxes out of a small patch of land is a marvel.

Grandparents are sacrificing their own comfort and good health to help family members, their generation is familiar with deprivation. 

It is the recent history of Greece’s suffering that gives voice to the expression of anti-German sentiment. Military occupation is always ugly and I have spoken to many Greeks who literally bear physical and emotional scars from the German occupation of their country.

Monuments to the destruction of whole villages as collective punishment for anti-fascist resistance are not uncommon.

Greek’s economic meltdown will not be resolved by the current EU driven plan. Turning against Germany won’t help either; Angela Merkle is the figurehead for the unacceptable face of capitalism.

Trade union protest and civil society actions against austerity vocalize the politics behind the crisis and it is my heartfelt hope that they together will drown out the far right. 

The beauty of Greece, the depth of its language and culture will not be trampled underfoot. But Greece will survive, just as it survived fascist occupation, civil war, the Junta and manhandling by a series of hapless governments. 

Artless cuts

I love visiting art galleries.

When my daughter was much younger we spent hours wandering about with a bag of crayons and scrap paper stopping to copy something that took our fancy, always under the watchful eye of gallery assistants.

Less spin, more opposition

During the Christmas holidays I watched the box set of ‘In the Thick of It”, a TV series parodying media spin as practised by the last Labour government.

Towards the end of it the Tory ‘spin doctor’ equivalent was introduced to the cast who was, not surprisingly, equally awful.

2012: The battle of ideas

I have really enjoyed the Christmas break. It was lovely spending precious time with family and friends and generally messing about.

Yet like many I am apprehensive about the year to come. It was good to hear the leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, emphasise the need to articulate an alternative to the current government’s policy of austerity in his New Year message.