Austerity tempest
February 15, 2012
The austerity measures that Greek politicians have agreed to in their latest bid to avoid a default on government loans came as assuaging news to global markets, but in Greece it's had a completely different effect.
"Who gave these politicians the right to even vote on such measures?" asked one 45-year-old man who owns a small cosmetics shop in the center of Athens. He voted for the Socialists last time around, he said, because former Prime Minister Papandreou told them back then that Greece "has money."
"They presented us with something different: How can a person live on 600 euros a month when the electricity bill costs 500 euros?"
Athens on fire
It's not hard to see that this man is enraged, as he points across to the other side of the street where firefighters work to put out the flames of a burning shop - set alight by protesters and rioters the night before.
"Look at this! What's left to say?"
As workers outside remove shards of glass from the street, the shop owners look on in desperation. They blame their politicians for the chaos.
Some 45 buildings were burned on Sunday in the worst unrest since 2008, when thousands took to the streets to protest the shooting of a 15-year-old boy by an Athens police officer.
Police said 142 people were arrested over the weekend and that over 100 people, including 35 civilians and 68 security forces, were admitted into hospital to be treated for their injuries.
"There is no democracy left here," a 50-year-old man told DW on streets that still smelled of burning two days after the riots. "The parliament has done what the parties wanted. We are now slaves to Germany and France. Of course we will pay Europe back, but we need more time and less pressure for reforms," he said.
'We are broke'
Standing in front of a building burnt completely to the ground, a 40-year-old lawyer looks depressed and lost with her two friends. The flames have extinguished, but the danger is still there that the building will collapse.
"We are broke," she says, woefully looking up at the remains of the building where she once worked. "This is criminal; people are going to lose their jobs. The demonstrators were peaceful … This is a provocation."
The woman pauses, takes a deep breath and says with a surprisingly solid voice: "We have nothing left to fear. What can they do? Do the banks want our homes now too? Well, they can have them..."
'All that's left is dignity'
"The worst is yet to come," a young man who was eavesdropping on our conversation prophesies. He chooses not to elaborate, because he says he's not from Greece - he's from Romania - to which the woman replies: "We are hoping for a miracle. It would be best if we could just turn back time to before the crisis and change our ways. But that's not possible, which is why I think we should just leave the eurozone."
She thinks Greece should return to the Drachma. Having their old currency, she thinks, would mean that all Greeks would help one another again. Right now, the country is a "bottomless pit" and this insecurity is no longer bearable.
A 55-year-old unemployed man then chimes in: "The only thing we have left to defend is our dignity. They've taken everything else. Our pensions, our salaries, our future."
Author: Maria Rigoutsou / glb
Editor: Joanna Impey