“Okay it’s time to go now - they have started throwing stones.”
The words were calm but it was hard to miss the rising panic in the voice of my Greek host Danai as stones pummelled into the building behind us as we watched the latest episode in the demonstrations that have been rocking Athens for the past month now.
Yesterday the tension was palpable.
Women who looked like they had just walked out of a Louis Vuitton store put on their face masks, gripped spray bottles and marched into the crowd of people protesting in Syntagma Square, the main gathering point for the protest movement.
And they needed it; by late afternoon protesters had been injured by tear gas and reportedly some protesters had been beaten by riot police who many demonstrators accuse of trying to incite violence. By night stones and sticks were flying and the protests had become truly dangerous.
The crowd of tens of thousands of people have been protesting against the loans the Greek government signed with foreign money lenders and the austerity measures the governnment is now trying to impose on its people.
These women might not have looked like typical political activists, but like most people from Athens they looked angry.
Danai, who I am couchsurfing with in Athens, has spent the last two days patiently trying to explain to me the feeling among Greek people about this financial crisis.
The two main feelings that she touches on again and again in our conversations is a fear that Greek people have that the conditions the EU and IMP are trying to impose on Greece will threaten the country’s very soverignty and a deep, deep anger at Greek politicians who are accused by their people of mass corruption and poor governance.
The middle class Danai explained believe they will be hit hardest by the austerity measures and the rich will go on not paying their fair share of taxes just as they always have.
And no-one has any faith in their politicians, Danai explained.
In Britian this week David Cameron made a chest-beating speech declaring his desire that Britain not contribute any money to helping Greece. The Greek government has been dishonest and now they should suffer, was the unsaid undertone.
When I told Danai this her anger very naturally matched Mr Camerons’.
“But it is the Greek government that has done this, not the Greek people. We are angry at our government for this, but why should we be punished?”
At a dinner last night one of Danai friend’s used a joke that is doing the rounds in Athens to explain how people view their politicians.
In the joke a local MP is looking for a job for his son who has finished school but refuses to go to university. The MP was to show his son how tough life can be and teach him to work hard, so he calls a friend who is a minister and asks if he can organise a hard working job for his son.
A week later the minister calls back and says, ‘I have a job for your son, he will be a secretary in my ministry, he will earn 10,000 Euros a month and he can start next week. But the MP complains; ‘this is not what I wanted, I want to teach my son how to work hard.”
So a week later the minister calls the MP back.
“Okay I have another job for your son, he will be a secretary to the Minister of Defense, he will earn 5,000 Euros a month and start next week.”
But still the MP complains.
“That’s not what I wanted, don’t you have a job that earns 700 Euros a month and involves hard work?”
And the minister replies: “But that is impossible, you need qualifications for those jobs.”
Many Greek people, like Danai and her friends, feel they are now being punished for these sins of their politicians.
The other fear, the fear of losing control of Greece, can also be seen on the streets of Athens.
When we were talking about the reputation of Greek people for driving in a fairly crazy fashion and disobeying all road rules Danai told me for Greeks following rules can still be an issue.
“We were ruled by outside powers for so long I think for us we still really want freedom and not to follow any rules,” she explained.
And it is this attitude that more than anything is perhaps what is hurting Greece the most. It’s government did after all not follow the financial rules for a very long time and now its people are bristling at the idea of their country being told what to do.
“What is the worst-case scenerio that could eventuate from this crisis?” I asked Danai over a coffee (in Athens even mass protests haven’t closed the city’s cafes).
“For us to agree to these loans and for the poor and the middle class to get poorer and for the few rich people to get even richer and rule everything,” Danai replied.
“And the best-case scenario?”
“For the Greek courts to rule that these loans are unconstituional and for Greece to renegiotiate them,” Danai said.
And then her mother inturrupted.
“And for new laws to throw in jail all the politicians who create these deals and steal from the state.”
“And what do you think the most likely outcome will be?” I asked.
“We just don’t know, we don’t know,” Danai said.
Don’t miss it: Get The Punch in your inbox every day
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
In my sports column on The Punch tomorrow: why Eurovision was easily the best game on the weekend. Mummy bloggers, you'll like this one!
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it
An email was sent to almost every politician in Australia this week saying that someone should cut off…
Our special forces don’t always need special treatment
We admire them, but we’re not entirely sure why. We allow them to operate in the shadows; we rarely…
A good holiday is about unrest, not rest
Like a fat full-stop, it lay in my hand. A small orange – not exactly fresh, but purchased anyway…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
Michael S says:
"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone
Change Up! says:
I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more
Most commented