Greece on the Brink

There is an uneasy calm in Northern Greece right now, with no sign yet of the harsh Balkan winter or the demonstrations against soaring fuel costs and taxes it will bring. I was last here two years ago, during the early days of the crisis – people were joking about ‘tin krisi’ but still dining out and consuming, albeit more cautiously. Today, they are a tired, broken people, afraid and turning to increasingly desperate survival methods.

Amid the discussions of Greece’s economic challenges, an uncle who’s an avid online gamer and follows industry trends closely, mentioned instant withdrawal casino sites in passing. He explained how these platforms are revolutionizing the gaming industry by providing players with immediate access to their winnings, a stark contrast to the delayed economic measures being felt across Greece. While newspapers focus on the country’s debts and austerity measures, he pointed out that many Greeks, especially in rural and coastal areas, are finding solace in the virtual world of gaming. On these sites, unlike their current economic system, users can instantly withdraw their funds, offering a semblance of financial control and immediacy that is otherwise lacking in their day-to-day lives. His casual mention shed light on how digital platforms can offer a sense of autonomy and relief amidst nationwide financial turmoil.

First up is Theo, the taxi driver who picked me up from Thessaloniki airport (Greece’s second largest city). He is in his 40s and lives in a modest two bedroom apartment with his wife and four year old son. Here’s what he had to say: 

What was life like before the crisis?

“Two years ago I worked 10 hours a day, six days a week and took home around €12,000 a year. I shared this taxi with another driver – we split all the costs and shifts down the middle. My family and I were comfortable and could afford a few luxuries. We took a two week holiday every August, went out for dinner once a week, did big weekly food shops and treated ourselves to new clothes. I spent around €300 on loan repayments every month, which was manageable on the money I was making.”

How has life changed?

“Now I work 16 hours a day, seven days a week just to survive. And for this I had to borrow another €50,000 to buy the other half of the taxi so I can work all these extra hours.

On a good day I’ll take €100 in fares but only €30 of it is mine, the rest goes on running costs and taxes. And I’m one of the lucky ones because I have work and can feed my family.

We haven’t bought any new clothes for two years. Luckily, my sister’s boy is a few years older than our son so she gives us hand-me-downs. We do most of our food shopping at markets and if we do go to the supermarket we only buy value or own brand products – basically whatever is on special offer. We only buy exactly what we need.  My wife goes to the market two or three times a week; that way there’s no danger of us wasting anything.”

How does this hardship relate to the current system of political economic control?

“This is not the future we were promised. We made plans, took out loans and organised our lives based on the money I was making and suddenly they [the politicians] tell us that we borrowed all this money and that it now has to be paid back. I’ve always worked hard and paid into the state. I see no light at the end of the tunnel, no hope for the future at all because they’re asking for money that we simply don’t have.”

Why is Greece in this position?

“The politicians borrowed all this money and made bad decisions, frittered it away on I don’t know what, and now it is us working people who are paying the price.”

Yiannis is a fruit farmer in Naoussa, a small town in northern Greece, about an hour and a half from Thessaloniki.

“The cost of producing has gone up. I pay much more for pesticides and fuel but I’ve had to cut prices to get business both in the internal market and the external one.

I don’t think we’re anywhere near the bottom yet – things are going to get a lot worse. Our politicians, the global market and the international system, are playing a dangerous game. We are the guinea pigs of Europe and the world.

Capitalism is to blame for the crisis not just here in Greece but in the rest of the eurozone too. I don’t believe that we’re living under capitalism any more but imperialism; a giant corporate state where the private sector reaps the rewards, while the state picks up the tab when things go wrong and pays off its debts.

A lot of people are blaming the euro for this crisis. I don’t agree. It’s good that we entered the euro as we gained a hard currency. But we should have used this opportunity to reduce our debt – the politicians did the opposite. They borrowed money from Europe to give to their supporters in order to buy votes and for fake business ventures. Not all the money was wasted. Some people used the EU’s development loans to start businesses but many others used the extra cash to go on a spending spree buying goods from abroad so the money went back to those countries.

We’re at war right now. The politicians are using divide and rule tactics.”

Maria lives in Afitos, a coastal resort in the Halkidiki peninsular, about an hour and a half from Thessaloniki. She makes her living from the tourists, renting rooms and beach umbrellas. She’s married and has a 12 year old daughter.

“I don’t know how I’m going to heat our home this winter. Home heating oil prices doubled last year and we hear there’ll be even more rises this winter. Everyone bought wood-burning stoves last winter after the first big price hike but now the wood merchants have put up their prices because they know there’ll be lots of demand again this year. A lot of them are holding back supplies until winter so that they can put their prices up, like they started doing towards the end of last winter. A lot of people have resorted to illegal logging. They are going into the forest at night to cut down trees in secret and storing it for winter. I don’t blame them but I worry about the effect this will have on our woods and forests.

As for us, we’ll be using blankets, hats and coats indoors to keep warm once the cold weather comes. Food prices are also a problem but we’re better off than the people in the cities. At least we’ve got some land. I’m planting vegetables all year round – now it’s tomatoes and aubergines, come winter it will be potatoes and onions.

It’s the medicine that is the real worry. I had to buy the HPV vaccine for my 12 year old daughter – you know the one that protects against cervical cancer. The state doesn’t pay for it upfront any more. I had to pay the €150 and then claim it back. I ask you who has a spare €150 sitting around the house these days? Then the doctors went on strike and by the time I could claim the money for the vaccine back they told me it was too late and that I should have claimed it within a month. There was no way I could do this when they were on strike. So I lost the money through no fault of my own.

We’re all a lot more conscious of where anything we do buy comes from. The milk, cheese and yogurts have started carrying signs that say things like ‘this is 100% Greek’. We don’t go to shops owned by foreign companies like Lidl, even if it is cheaper. We have to make sure that any money we do spend is circulating here not going abroad.”

Thanassis, 30, is a market trader in Thessaloniki. He still lives at home with his parents, grandfather and two sisters in a small two bedroom flat. He sleeps in the living room with his parents, his sisters share a bedroom and his grandfather sleeps in the other bedroom. He has given up hope of settling down and having a family of his own.

“Illegal traders on the pavements by the official market where I have my stall are taking all my trade. They undercut my prices because they don’t pay any tax or pitch fees. I have to pay my pitch fees, plus tax on my earnings, which is about to go up to 30% from the very first euro I earn, as well as a new tax of €500 every three months whether I make any money or not. The guy who’s selling illegally outside the market doesn’t pay a penny in taxes and the police do nothing to stop it. I owe €1,500 of this new tax but I’m not paying it. I don’t have the money, I don’t own anything so let them come and arrest me. I don’t care.

I didn’t vote in the last election – they’re all thieves but if I had to choose someone I’d go for Golden Dawn. At least they are doing something. They give people food and deal with crime where police aren’t bothering to do so. People call on Golden Dawn to deal with problem neighbours, immigrants sleeping rough in their area.”

Dimitri is 36 years old. He runs a restaurant in Naoussa with his wife and parents. He has a two year old son.

“Every day we open the restaurant but it isn’t making any money – we’re not breaking even. The last of the profits from the good times are keeping us going but once that’s gone we’re going to have to close it down. I can’t keep losing money like this.

In the last year we’ve had to let go of two waiters and two kitchen hands. Now it’s just me, my wife and parents who run the place. I just have one waiter at the weekend.

The big problem for us – apart from the crisis in general – is the new taxes on food. The tax on food was 8% a year ago now it’s shot up to 23% – so food and alcohol are taxed at the same level. How can that be right?

I can’t raise the prices of food and drink in the restaurant because it will mean no trade at all, so instead I have to take the hit. I’m doing this so money still circulates. If the money stops moving, then it really is over for us.

We still get customers as you can see. [It’s Thursday night, the annual Naoussa film festival is on and there are about 15 customers.] The problem is that they’re not ordering very much at all. Four people will come out for dinner, order one main course between them, a side dish with bread, one drink each and sit there all night. They come out to socialise but they’re not spending. It’s okay now while the weather is fine but in the winter I’ll be heating the restaurant and losing even more money if this carries on.”

Fear, desperation and anger are everywhere. Greece is moving through dangerous terrain, with extremists filling the void left by the discredited mainstream parties. The Greek Civil War saw brother fight brother as families were split down the middle. Thanassis sympathises with Golden Dawn, while his student sister is an avid supporter of KKE (the Greek Communist Party). Immigrants are attacked in the streets by organised racist thugs. What is happening right now in Greece is a warning to us all of what a depression can lead to – scapegoats, fear and loathing, dehumanising of whole sections of the population.

People don’t understand why things have got so bad and so are blaming the rise in legal and illegal immigrants over the last 20 or so years. The question is where will it end? Do the Greek people have the belief or stomach to see through these austerity measures? From what I saw this September, I think not.

By Smarayda Christoforou