No common sense
Last Thursday was set to be a lovely afternoon: spring temperatures, a light breeze, and the weekend but a breath away. You could do as you pleased: window shop, dive into a bookstore, make an impromptu date, or just enjoy the moment. But for the umpteenth time this winter, Athens was completely closed off. Yet another protest march had blocked the main streets. It was the usual desperate scene: infuriated drivers without the heart to complain and hundreds of people with a downcast air waiting at bus stops. The traffic police, apparently under orders from their superiors, did everything to make matters worse. They did nothing to restrict the marchers, but allowed them to take over the whole road for as long as they wished. Nobody wants to ban rallies or marches, as some unionists have suggested, trying to convince us that there is no middle way between paralyzing a whole city and abolishing democracy. The biggest difficulty is not government inaction, but the inability of Greek society to manage relatively simple problems, and to agree on obvious solutions that will make everyone’s life easier.
