varoufakis73_LOUISA GOULIAMAKIAFP via Getty Images_greece protest

How to Lose a European Country

Nov 30, 2020 Yanis Varoufakis

Soon after the conservative New Democracy government took office in Greece in 2019, it started to become apparent that democracy was not the goal it had in mind. Little more than a year later, the transition to postmodern parliamentary dictatorship is well advanced.

ATHENS – “This is no time for sadness, we are too pissed off,” the head of an intensive care unit at a hospital in my Thessaloniki constituency told me recently. Along with his staff of dedicated doctors and nurses, he had not slept the previous night, which he evocatively described as “our Night of St. Bartholomew.” I asked why he was fuming. “I lost a 43-year-old who could have been saved,” he replied angrily, adding: “But it is the lies, the damned lies, and the propaganda that drive me mad.”

Greece had a good first wave of COVID-19, but the second wave caught the government utterly unprepared. Insiders at hospitals in northern Greece, like the ICU chief I spoke to, now compare their situation to northern Italy’s in early spring.

But little information about the current horrors seeps into the public domain. One reason is that government-appointed hospital managers threaten staff with nasty repercussions if they speak to the media. Another is that during the pandemic, the media have become fully dependent on large grants that the Ministry of Information (Orwell lives!) dispenses at the minister’s whim.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 8 in all 8 Comments on this article

Andrés Galia Dec 6, 2020

Well, the problem is that George Soros is concerned about the rule of the law "only" when it has to do with Hungary...

But the author is right and the implication of this is that what he calls "liberal" Europe only cries murder when it affects their interests.
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j. von Hettlingen Dec 3, 2020

Yanis Varoufakis says Greece under the conservative New Democracy government is on its way to transition to a postmodern parliamentary dictatorship - another illiberal regime like Hungary or Poland. In July 2019 Greek voters gave the centre-right party under Kyriakos Mitsotakis a resounding mandate to form a new government after it won by a landslide over the incumbent leftwing Syriza party, which had been in power since 2015.
Critics from the left said the outgoing Syriza-led coalition government was responsible for New Democracy’s victory. It’s outgoing leader Alexis Tsipras accepted catastrophic EU- and IMF-driven austerity policies, abandoning its radical left programme, and betraying the results of a referendum in which the Greek people rejected austerity and signed up to acceptance of the bailout conditions. Tsipras alienated the lower-middle class and middle class voters.
Since New Democracy took office in Greece, it started to become apparent that democracy was not the goal it had in mind. The party of government is no modernising force, and has adopted the discourse of the far right. Since it was elected with a “law and order” agenda last July, repression has become the order of the day. Policmen routinely commit human rights violations and abuses, which include arbitrary detentions, torture, beatings, teargas attacks, raids in cinemas and nightclubs, public humiliation, verbal abuse etc.
The author says, “at a time when liberal Europe is fretting over Hungary and Poland, which are vetoing the EU’s budget in defense of their illiberal regimes, no one seems to be noticing that other EU member states, like Greece, are taking after them. Back in 2015, I commented that tanks were no longer necessary to overthrow Greek democracy. Bank closures sufficed.“ The fascist Golden Dawn may have failed to pass the 3% threshold and was excluded from the Greek parliament in 2019, New Democracy became its successor.
Although Greece had managed its first wave of Covid-19, “the second wave caught the government utterly unprepared. Insiders at hospitals in northern Greece” compared the current situation to northern Italy’s in early spring. “But little information about the current horrors seeps into the public domain. One reason is that government-appointed hospital managers threaten staff with nasty repercussions if they speak to the media. Another is that during the pandemic, the media have become fully dependent on large grants that the Ministry of Information…dispenses at the minister’s whim.”
The author accuses the Greek government of weaponising the pandemic to ban all demonstrations. “In recent weeks, the police have begun investigating medical personnel who had announced small symbolic strikes to protest staff shortages.” Together with several lawmakers, the author took part in a march on November 17, to protest against the “draconian decree.”
They were intimidated by police officers, who held them “caged” for seven hours, just because the prime minister and his entourage wanted to stroll down the road toward the Athens Polytechnic to lay a wreath that marked the 47th anniversary of an anti-fascist student uprising. Theys were held caged, “even after the road was opened to normal traffic and people going about their business.”
According to the author, the right-wing government wants to send the message that “Opposition MPs’ constitutional rights have been annulled de facto.” He and others “were being investigated for violating movement restrictions.” Anti-regime lawmakers can be stripped of their parliamentary immunity, because the government commands a majority in Parliament. Police forces sometimes play the role of arsonists, while seeking to put out the fire. The EU is watching closely whether Greece will soon be another Hungary or Poland.
- Antonia Furla Dec 6, 2020
  
  Is this a comment???
  - Andrés Galia Dec 6, 2020
    
    Only the first part is a comment. But it enforces my view that "liberal" Europe only cares about democracy and the rule of the law when it affects their interests. What the guy is saying is right: the present government won the elections because of the betrayal of the previous government, and that betrayal was the consequence of the catastrophic conditions "liberal" Europe forced the Greek government to accept, after more than 60% of the Greek people had told the Greek government what they wanted the government to do.
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Emanuel Müller Nov 30, 2020

The E.U. becoming more and more overtly a Neonazi network of states could be prudently hailed as a great progress as it is much less difficult to move from overt neonazism to post nazism than from covert neonazism to post nazism. Only by becoming proud of and confident in itself can Neonazi Europe hope to grow beyond its self.
- Michael Public Dec 1, 2020
  
  "it is much less difficult to move from overt neonazism to post nazism"
  Sure, you only need to fight a World War - that said, your point is valid - free societies will often move on to a Biden after four years of a Trump. Unfree societies will stay permanently neo-Nazi as all competition is systematically eliminated.
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P I Nov 30, 2020

With postmodernism, the Project Syndicate contributor above might be broaching the topic of Canadian French--perhaps more versatile than Jerba Berber, but comparably lacking in history. It seems consideration of past persons with attention to what mattered to them and why could actually be helpful. It is not obvious how informed any entity might be about various figures or movements; further, it can be challenging to treat them benevolently. Keeping that in mind, the term "Parliamentary dictatorship" might make one think of a relatively obscure theorist, compared to say Rousseau, Jean Bodin? Bodin is evidently known for his (rightward) political views, that perhaps are reflective of tumultuous, violent times. Expertise on his postulation about quantity of money and inflation is lacking, though it must be of (passing) interest to anyone with an economic background? Matters such as religion, or particularly sorcery, do not sound applicable to the article, though Islam is of course part of Turkish society.
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Michael Public Nov 30, 2020

The predictable response to any nation taking a step backwards (in Greece's case a giant leap backwards) is the election of a basket of closet neo-Nazi's. Idem the US today, idem the UK today or classically, Germany between the wars.

It is exactly the same with individuals, if a man has been robbed in his house he buys a pit bull and a large caliber firearm. The problem is that in the long term, the dog or the gun are more likely to bite/accidentally shoot his kids than the returning robber.

The same applies to nations - soon the hardline government turns on its own people and the proceedings are no less ugly than seeing a 3 year old child being savaged by a overbred pit bull.
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