On a personal note

In Belfast, it's raining. Heavily, falling on my windows, as if it is October. But it's June.

In Greece, the conservatives are into government, with some ex-socialist losers and an opportunist small "left-wing' party that will soon go to the footnotes of History. Not "the radical left", because if it was up to them we would be out of the Euro apparently. Whatev.

In Greece again, but in the whole of Europe, neo-nazi movements are on the rise. Prominent figures note that last time the world had an austerity agenda, nazism rose. But people don't listen. Perhaps they didn't get the 'history repeating' memo? Should we give them a copy of Thucydides's Historiae? As if...

But life goes on, you know? I am leaving for Greece tomorrow. And no matter what is wrong with my country, I really want to go back and spend a month there. I want to spend a month in the heat, feeling myself again. And then get married. That's right, I am getting married this summer. I am usually working like an idiot, having no time to stop and think, but this year I will take it easy, go to Greece for a month, tan like a motherfucker and be a bride!

So, in the immortal words of the amazing Robyn: Konnichi wa bitches! Have a good summer, go to somewhere sunny and forget the woes of the world. it will all be ok, as long as there is sun...

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.


(Martin Niemöller)

More and more often in my life, I find myself thinking about the above poem. These days I've been thinking about this because of how I feel of the way Greece and the Greek people have been treated by the western media. In a poignant article, economist Yanis Varoufakis tries to set the record straight. Essentially, he criticises the way the BBC have misrepresented the Greek election as a fight between a Pro-Europe group and an Against-Europe group. Don't get me wrong, there have been many many excellent analyses of the Greek crisis in foreign media, and you can have a look at some here, here, here and here (courtesy of my friend, Captain Red, as I like to call her these days). 

My estimation, which is not a very well-informed one admittedly, can only be summarised in the poem above: be careful who you don't fight for, fellow Europeans. Greece is a corrupt country with a lot of problems, but these problems are not the reason for the crisis. They just contribute to it. When the euro collapses, and the bubble of the Northern EU countries bursts, they won't have anyone to blame but themselves, because they chose to blame Greece for everything that was wrong with the EU, without realising the truth behind the problem. Then, though, it will be too late and truly there will be no one to speak out for them. 

Racism

How do we go from this:



to this:


Different as they are, they both deal with some form of racism. Real life racism vs. racism in art. The Golden Yawn rep (new term courtesy of my good friend WL) attacked people, women, live on air. He is a neo-nazi fascist, racist to the bone, of the people who go around terrorising immigrants in Greece everyday. I even saw they attacked an israeli journalist, and they they don't like the term 'neo-nazi'



I am in two minds about these people, do we need to see them in TV or not? Norway, France seem to think not. In some countries it is a crime to be a holocaust denier. Some years ago I thought we didn't need to go down this road, I like Voltaire too much "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." But these days, seeing elected representatives hitting women on live TV, I am not so sure anymore. Perhaps freedom of speech should be somehow restrained and when you are a criminal and speak and behave in a way that society has deemed as criminal and disgusting, then you have no more right to speak. 


You do however have every right to fuck off out of my face. 

The slow win

I hate Facebook, this much I am sure you know. Foolishly I thought I hated all social media (obviously forgetting I am a blogger). I guess I think blogging is not a silly social medium, or something like this.
Last week though I succumbed to the charms of instagram (those filters!). And today I joined twitter... There is no hope for me now, is there?

Missed being Greek

I've been living outside Greece for 10 years now. Seems too much sometimes if you ask me. When I first left I never thought whether that was for ever, or when I would come back. Now of course, my return seems more and more unlikely and doubtful. I live here, I work here, my fiancé is from here. Most probably I will never be able to get a job in Greece anyway.

Financial crisis aside, I often feel out of place when I go back to Greece. People shout a lot. They drive like mad. They smoke everywhere. People put too ugh oil when they cook (whereas I have to count it...) Nothing works properly. And so on and so forth.  These, of course, are stupid generalisations, but I am Greek myself so I can make them, and entirely unapologetically so. My father jokes with me often when I complain, sometimes with a hidden bitterness in his voice "why are you complaining, are you not Greek yourself?"

Sure, I am, I think. but not a real Greek surely, at least not anymore. I have been too bastardised by living in these western lands for so long.

Sometimes however, I miss my Greekness. I want to sing again, I want to dance trashy eurovison songs (Paparizou - my number one, anyone?) and go to μπουζούκια. I want to eat σουβλάκια for dinner in the warm summer outdoors. I want to stroll in the heat. I want to eat καρπούζι till I feel entirely bloated. I want to sweat so much from the heat, that I cannot put any make up on whatsoever. I want to listen to my favourite radio shows in real time. I want to watch trashy and not so trashy TV (Το νησί rules! I found it so late...) I want to know who is big in Greece these days, which songs do kids like. I want to buy Korres stuff from my local pharmacy. I want to go to my local bar and have a beer. I want to feel Greek again, I want to feel myself.

People change. Our lives change. I think I've written it before here in this blog: am I the same person I was when I was 19, living in Crete, listening to stereo nova and reading 01? Maybe. Partly. Maybe not. Yesterday I was dancing to Greek trash in my oh so proper office and it felt so out of place really, it was comical. But I felt myself again, and it was fucking fun.

Can't wait for the summer. 

Gay or European?

God bless Scott Mills. He and Sara Cox are doing Eurovision semi-finals and they're playing the game: gay or just european? You just need to see some of finalists and say whether they are gay, or just... european :-) I love this game, coming from Greece we have a lot of these ambivalent creatures there too.

What do you think about this guy then? He is the guy from Georgia.

And him, the Norwegian effort?

Pictures don't do them justice, look them up on youtube.

My point is that I love political incorrectness. I laugh like a mad do with Timmy from Southpark, and unashamedly so...

Anyway, I am sorry for this brief and largely incoherent effort. I have to return to the semi-finals. A crazy Wham! relic is singing blind-folded 'love is blind'... I will finish my important point about the usefulness of political incorrectness at some other point...

Stuff from the web

Protagon is by far my favourite new discovery, although I'm not even sure it's new. With all the things happening in Greece at the moment, when you live abroad you need a good, thoughtful, interesting and balanced site to see how things really are. Protagon is all that and much more. It is eclectic, it is pluralistic, it is interesting, it has Varoufaki's Modest Proposal for overcoming the Eurozone crisis, it even has my old linguistics professor from the University of Crete. Along with LiFO, it is my main portal of information on the Greek crisis.

On a more personal note, welcome to blogosphere diasoil, aka d/a! May your days be creative and plenty.

And finally, a new Greek magazine Ough, with interesting alternative stuff and a translation facility.

Life is continuously hard but being well-informed is crucial.

PS. Have a look at Tsipras's Guardian and NYT interviews. As a friend says, clearly people abroad take him more seriously than people within. But isn't this the Greek curse from the times of Socrates and Aristeides anyway (no comparison intended of course)?