The war of the flags
Nylon flags replaced those made of canvas or silk used at political party rallies – at least until the parties discovered an awareness of ecological issues (to a degree corresponding to their political action) and needed a new way to brandish their colors. So now we have banners made of words, of bombast. The incident in Pyrgos, where the issue arose of whether or not PASOK’s banner should have been raised over the town’s courthouse instead of the Greek flag during a speech there by party leader George Papandreou, is obviously unimportant. Yet precisely because of its trivial nature, it has all the potential to become a major issue, with huge headlines in the press, melodramatic television coverage and fiery speeches by various politicians. If it weren’t for the major national issue of the price of lamb, their country of origin and the kind of stamp they should bear (and the question of whether local lambs actually taste better than imported ones), then the news bulletins would have had a field day on the flag issue. When PASOK was in its adolescence, some of its party organs would indicate their degree of revolutionary fervor to the probably indifferent central organization by hanging up pictures of Marx and Greek resistance hero Aris Velouhiotis – smaller pictures, of course, than that of party founder Andreas Papandreou. It has been quite some time now since patriotism (if such a thing can be indicated by flags) has not been the sole prerogative of a specific party. So if the two parties that alternate in government are in a hurry to discover what is so special about the Swedish or Irish model of government, they should try and understand those countries’ language and mentality a little more, and take down the banners of pretentious cliches they have once again used to cause a storm in a teacup.
