A fresco of Greece since the dictatorship
Antonis Karakousis is well known to readers of Kathimerini. Until a year-and-a-half ago, he was on the staff of the paper, having risen through the hierarchy to his final position as executive editor. His executive role never cut him off from current reportage and constant commentary, written in a torrential flow, as is his book «Meterori Hora: Apo tin Koinonia tis Anaghis stin Koinonia tis Epithymias» («Country in Limbo: From a Society of Need to a Society of Desire»), published recently by Estia and already in its second edition. In contrast with other journalists who often compile books of articles they have already published, Karakousis chose to write something original. As the title indicates, the writer covers the political, social, economic and business trajectory of Greece from the reinstatement of democracy until the present day. He depicts Greece’s transition from a «society of need» to a «society of desire» – in other words, from a poor society to one with high consumer expectations – and its marked difficulty in obeying the rules imposed by the incontrovertible fact that one cannot consume more than one produces, even now, after many attempts at fiscal adaptation and five years’ participation in the «hard core» of the European Union. The man with the bow tie Karakousis begins his book with a brief but pointed personal reference illustrating the «society of need,» as experienced in the Greek provinces. He tells how as a young boy he left his school in a hidden rage – which he did not admit to his father, who punished him for the truancy – when he saw a well-dressed man in the schoolyard with a bow tie and a hat. Years passed and the writer started to work in the press, closely following developments in Greece after the reinstatement of democracy, recorded in his book. Karakousis deals briefly with Constantine Karamanlis’s term in government, crediting him with the systematic effort and persistence that brought Greece into what was then termed the Common Market. The analysis proper begins in 1981, with the rise to power of Andreas Papandreou and PASOK and the first definable, significant changes in the political and social fabric. The author reminds us of the many sweeping and cumulative measures Papandreou took that had the effect of redistibuting income, sparking meaningful change, improving the quality of life and creating an extensive lower middle class. Karakousis also uses apt statistics to show how PASOK’s social policy was funded by excessive loans, how objections and petty party expediency left the government’s initiatives half-finished, and how imprudent economic management eventually led, in 1986, to then finance minister Costas Simitis’s stabilizing program. Karakousis detects the clash that started then between the demand for modernization and economic rationalization and that between the voices for change the forces of inertia. That clash re-emerged, and regardless of who is in power has remained salient up to today, holding Greek society and the economy captive to many pressures. The writer then traces PASOK’s fall from power in 1989 amid a storm of allegations about real and imagined scandals, the controversial collaboration between parties of the Left and Right, and the attempts by the New Democracy government of Constantine Mitsotakis (1990-93) to lay foundations for economic rationalization that were eventually stifled by ND’s own internal political divisions, mistakes and «extremely aggressive» decisions about privatization. All roads to Europe Papandreou’s return to power in 1993 is set amid sweeping changes on the international stage and is defined by the re-elected prime minister’s view that European convergence was a one-way road for Greece. Papandreou adopted a radically different line from his past approach. Rationalization and fiscal housekeeping became prime goals. But, as the writer sees and records, the divisions had not healed, the forces of inertia were not overcome and advisable solutions were left, at best, half-finished. Even the arrival of Simitis in 1996 did not reverse the process as his governments, despite some reformist voices, continued to waver between pushing for change and fearing its political cost. Besides, despite the premier’s rationalism and European outlook, despite the cosmopolitanism which the writer sees as bringing PASOK closer to the reforms of Europe than New Democracy, Simitis and his colleagues could not rally society and demonstrate that they understood its concerns so as to forge a social front that would support the reforms. Matters worsened, in the author’s view, after Simitis’s re-election in 2000, when immoderate displays of new wealth and signs of corruption infuriated the public and created the impression that the phenomenon was widespread. «They threw the baby out with the bathwater,» Karakousis comments on that era. He claims that ND built on that image, using the strategy of «moralizing criticism» as a handy weapon to hit PASOK with and to improve its own electoral prospects. At the same time, this image of people on the take contributed to what the author terms «neo-conservative» positions on issues such as the inclusion of religion on identity cards and opposition to the merger of the National and Alpha banks, which often rallied both right-wingers and former left-wingers, and which Karakousis believes were steps backward for Greece. All those events were blown up by the media, in particular by private television channels, which the writer sees as a monstrous soundbox of «nonsense and lifestyle.» In such a climate, ND’s win at the polls was not going to change anything. Karakousis believes that the language the current government used when in opposition undermined the essence of the reformist message. Now it appears awkward and inactive, in some cases clumsy, as in the case of the fiscal audit. Its attempts at reforms started after a delay of a year-and-a-half, in his view, and there is every indication that ND has neither the planning nor the dynamism to achieve anything substantive. The need for inspired political leadership So what conclusions does Karakousis draw? He sees Greece as a country in limbo, its middle class threatened and its poorer classes suffering, but still sufficiently seduced by distorted images of prosperity that they do not even try to adapt to the demands of the new era. Yet there is a dynamism. Society is ready to go beyond the stereotypes purveyed by television and move ahead. He believes the country needs inspired political leadership and contact with one’s birthplace to remind us of who we are and what the essence of progress is. What does the reader see in the book? First, it is a fresco of life in Greece since the return to democratic rule, an outline of great political and economic events in chronological order, highlighting what the writer sees as crucial: What progress is; what must be done and what the obstacles are; how the battle continues between reform and the forces of inertia; how that is linked to the reaction aroused by the sense of the West imposing itself; and how that fuels neo-conservative trends. Second, it shows the effect on politics and the economy of powerful factors such as clashes among entrepreneurs, the rapidly growing power of the electronic media, and the actions of the November 17 terrorist organization. Third, it relates significant events and comments on facts unknown even to experts about how the foundations for major policies such as the fiscal restructuring of 1998-99 were laid far earlier. This inspires recall and reflection. Even where readers disagree (which is inevitable at some points), they will recognize that Karakousis’s effort is both systematic and honest. And the quick flow of the book gives them the feeling that they are conversing directly with the writer, face to face, even if they don’t know him personally, as we do.
