This month marks the anniversary of Greek independence. If the Greek patriots of 1821, who fought a life or death struggle against the vast Ottoman Empire could see the present state of affairs, I am sure they would be crying bitter tears. One hundred eighty nine years later their progeny have squandered the very freedoms that they fought so hard for. Not much has changed since the days of the Sultan's rule. The average Greek still lives in a world dominated by bribes and nepotism in which he must hide as much of his income as possible to avoid the onerous taxes. Before independence, the Turks used to kidnap the strongest and smartest Greek children to be trained as the Empire's shock troops, the Janissaries. Nowadays, Greek children are the victims of another type of insiduouspaidomazema (gathering of children) that takes the most talented and promising youngsters away from Greece because they have no future there. Even worse, Greeks now silently countenance genocide in the form of widespread, easily obtainable abortion on demand perpetrated against hundreds of thousands of innocent unborn Greeks. A genocide infinitely more efficient than anything the Turkish or Nazi occupiers could have devised. Greeks have traded dhimmitude status for a European citizenship that seeks to transform them into faceless homogeneous automatons who must rely on the state to take care of them from cradle to grave. During the Ottoman oppression Greeks were able to retain their culture and language by clinging to their Orthodox faith. Within the European Union however, that faith is being replaced by a corrosive imposed secularism whose new twin Gods, global warming and multiculturalism are intent on destroying the very things that preserved Greekness. To make matters worse, the EU has foisted upon unsuspecting Greeks a monetary system that encourages a standard of living that is unsustainable and unaffordable because it is based on borrowing. Borrowing which is readily encouraged because it means greater consumption of the goods produced by the more industrialized states within the Union like Germany. Runaway government spending also fuelled by borrowing, is a direct result of the cradle to grave social welfare model that the Europeans themselves fostered. Now they complain when poorer countries like Greece try to emulate the policies that have been ruinous in the richer countries of the Union. The Ottomans have been replaced by a state apparatus that is just as authoritarian and alienated from its subjects. Greeks have become the victims of European and homegrown pashas every bit as corrupt and uncaring as the Turkish ones they kicked out. Unlike the Ottomans, however, who took full advantage of the entrepreneurial spirit and the work ethic of their Christian subjects, albeit for their own narrow purposes, the Greek elites at the behest of their masters in Brussels, have virtually expunged them in their headlong rush toward a multi-cultural, socialist nanny state. A state which by the way, employs a significant portion of the population, who gorge themselves at the public trough at the expense of the larger productive, mostly self-employed, segment of society, one of the hardest working in the world, surpassed only by the South Koreans. Every year the public sector awards itself increasing benefits, vacations, salaries, and pensions, all paid for by the private sector drones who have to work 12 hour days to make ends meet. Unfortunately there are fewer and fewer wealth-creating self-reliant Greeks thanks to a pitiful birth rate and a mind numbing, mediocre educational system to fund the entitled few who retire at 58 and expect their due, the rest of the country be damned. Like many others, I cheered Greek entry into the European Union. Greece is a small country surrounded by unruly and aggressive neighbors, struggling to recover from the devastation and substantial wounds of the twentieth century. Many Greeks thought things might be different. No one imagined that they would have to give up what they have historically prized above all else, eleftheria, the Greek word for freedom. Eleftheria is not the freedom that allows anyone to do anything he or she pleases, irregardless of the consequences to themselves or others but freedon from tyranny, oppression or enslavement. It was the Greeks who taught the West the meaning of the word; it was once the solid foundation on which Western civilization was built. Now even the inventors of the concept no longer value it. Greeks who thought they could trade some of their precious, finite freedom for security and stabilty have learned it was a Faustian bargain. Give some faceless bureaucrat in Brussels or Athens a little of your freedom in exchange for some temproary monetary advantages and he will take much more. Greeks should not seek to blame others for their predicament. It is largely a self-inflicted wound. Trade unions, academia, political parties and even unscrupulous investors have been complicit. Νor are Greeks the only ones who will have to face the consequences of their vacation from history. The European Union and even the United States will soon face similar fates. That is what happens when people and governments live beyond their means, when people elect leaders who promise something for nothing, when corrupt elites are no longer accountable, and when greed takes over. It's all a house of cards that will collapse on itself. So now Greece conveniently extends its out-stretched hand to its orphans in the Diaspora. Many are reluctant to donate their hard earned money, as they so willingly did after the disastrous fires that swept the country, only to see much of that money line the pockets of corrupt officials. Greeks have distinguished themselves in every field of endeavor throughout the world; one can only lament that they had to leave Greece in order to do so. The millions of Greeks living abroad would re-invigorate Greece if there was a reverse migration, yet Greece is as ill equipped now to welcome (let alone entice) them as it was for the refugees it received in 1922. Greece will inevitably survive, yet again, in some twisted form of its former self. All it will need to do is give up a little more of its sovereignty and its people will consequently have even less control over their lives. One thing is certain, when Greeks celebrate their Independence Day on March 25th, the fluttering flags, marching children and fighter jets flying overhead will not conceal the fact that Greeks are no longer independent but entirely and utterly dependent. Dependent on other countries who see Greece only as another piece of real estate up for sale to the highest bidder and to a bankrupt state whose only solution to the country's vexing problems is taxation or more intrusive laws. Those of us that wish the Greeks well can only hope they have reached rock bottom. Are they willing to sacrifice, to seek bold solutions and above all to clean house in order to regain their self-respect and eleftheria once again by working together toward a common goal? I am reminded of something that I read by Ioannis Makriyiannis. For those not familiar with this towering figure of modern Greece, Makriyannis was a man of humble origins who became a revolutionary fighter and leader in the Greek War of Independence. He was a veteran of innumerable battles, an accomplished writer and a political idealist who, after Greece became an independent state with a Bavarian monarchy, was active in the movement for constitutional government. He was rewarded with imprisonment for his efforts. In Makriyannis's own Memoirs we find the following significant passage in the epilogue: "Well, we all worked together [to liberate Greece] and we need to guard her together and for the powerful or the weak not to say 'I'. Do you know when someone should say 'I'? When they struggle on their own to make or destroy something. When many people struggle and make something then they should say 'we'. We are at the 'we' not the 'I'." His words ring as true today as they did in his own time. Nikos Kazantzakis, another great Greek writer once noted that Greece survives through a succession of miracles. As the country stares once more into the abyss of irrelevance and self-destruction, let's all pray God has one more up his sleeve. Greek Dependence Day
An article by Stavros Nassis
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