moontza

Every year on the 25th of March here in Greece we celebrate our independence day with parades. There is a military parade in Athens and student parades everywhere else. It is our equivallent of the Fourth of July. In every town and city a stage is set upon which distinguished members of society, military chiefs and the local mayor along with some guest MPs will sit. As the parade marches past this elevated stand the flagbearer will turn his or her head towards the honored and give them the salute. This year many students decided not to give the usual salute and instead of facing the honored stand turned their heads and gave a different salute. The open handed gesture known as moontza is one that is demeaning and disgraceful. It is the equivallent of giving the finger and also means "go to hell". A profoundly insulting gesture that is usual reserved for the worst drivers the moontza has its own urban legend. The myth is that as Jesus was being led up Calvary or Golgotha a Roman legionaire struck Christ with his hand open, just like in our rude gesture. So what does it all mean? Just ask the shriner...many thanks to Main Street Oceanside.

sugar sugar

Looks can be deceiving or sometimes looks can be revealing. Take the case of the packaging for Greek sugar. EBZ stands for Greek Sugar Manufacturing and it is a healthy and profitable company. It is also a company that is up for sale. It employs close to three hundred employees and is the sole buyer of Greek sugar beets. The packaging on the left reveals just that. White crystal sugar and a Greek flag to show that it is a 100% Greek product. So profitable in fact that last year our legislaters tried to run it out of business. Now the same company is put in the uncomfortable position of having to import sugar from other countries and simply package it here. Thus the bag of sugar on the right. Notice how there is no Greek flag and how the little girl is not holding a bag of sugar. In fact her hands are behind her back. Something like the expression "my hands are tied". It is all part of the game of belonging to the European Union. The little train that could has a caboose that travels at half the speed of the engine. It is called two tiered economics and is definetely uncomfortable for those on the lower level. We will be expected to pay to be a part of the EU for the next few years while our incomes and wages are slashed and prices are pushed through the roof with newer and meaner taxes. Maybe when we start exiting this crisis they can give the little girl on the package some shades. Rose colored. Still need to catch y'all up on PSI, CDS and partial default...

Hot potato

A recent event here in Greece that many people overseas may not know about is the potato movement. It all started by a group of individuals in northern Greece who decided to cut out the middleman and sell potatoes directly from the farmer to the consumer. At the time, almost a month ago now, potatoes were selling around the one euro mark in supermarkets and farmers markets around Greece. The little group on individuals managed to get a price of 25 cents a kilo directly from the producer. Potato growers typicaly get paid 10 cents a kilo by wholesalers so it was a sweet deal for them. Ten kilos of potatos for 2.5 euros or for ten to twelve euros at the market. Grower direct off the truck and with a receipt hand written on the spot. All legal and win, win, win. Sure I too am excited although my kids don't eat potatoes. The story aired on the news and within a week mayors and other organizations started to copycat everywhere around Greece. Here in Nafpaktos it was the labour hall that organized the potato sale and the instant response was 70 tons of potato at 33 cents a kilo off the truck. You have to order in advance and it takes a few days for the order to arrive but it is a sweet deal. Watching people line up to load up on cheap potatoes is like a breath of fresh air. To think that the middlemen in this country have been marking up produce, and everything else for that matter, up to tenfold makes me happy to see them pushed out of the way. They have been fighting back with mud. Representatives of the middleman have been apearing on news broadcasts trying to convince people how wrong and unsafe it is to buy potatoes without their help. How farmer direct is not fresh, or is in some way inferior, to their overpriced produce. They have also set up a very effective network around the countryside so that we have not seen a single potato grower on the news. They all refuse to be interviewed in fear of retribution. Middlemen are typicaly mafia types. I say keep buying direct and cut out the middleman. Why feed your enemy?

Keep Breathing

Seems to be the name of the game in this modern age. As my good friend Sakis so aptly puts it, "must to survive". The alternative is unthinkable. We have kids to raise and bills to pay and it is all coming to a horrible halt under the iron rule of the troika. There is no way to escape the irony of Schauble telling us to "go ahead and have your elections" just as long as the winner honors this recently signed rotten deal. I am not sure what to believe anymore. Here in the news there is a constant stream of beaurocrats getting caught with the hands in the honey pot. A million euros here, a couple million there, twenty million over there. It is insane. Most of them will go unpunished and that is truly depressing. I am considering finking on a few myself but I am not aware of any officials on the take. I only know of rumours. I sure would like to see more getting caught. I know that the last year I have slipped from having an uncomfortable income to having no income at all. It has to change. As for those poor suckers that owe the tax system small amounts, you know 200-2000 euros, well the law now alows the government to simply pick-pocket peoples savings without even asking. As for the big time offenders, well they have to be taken to court and after three to five years there may or may not be a decision. If seven years go by then the debt is simply erased. That is the letter and the spirit of the law. March 25th is our independence day celebration and I expect it to be a hot potato. More on potatos in my next instalment. I will say it is ridiculous to see the Prime Minister on tv, you know the appointed one, asking people to safeguard politicians at commemorative parades. Safeguard against who? It is the majority of people that want to chuck yoghurt at their elected mps. I would like to as well but dairy products have gotten too expensive. Construction grade lime is much cheaper and causes second degree burns as well. 2 euros will buy 3 gallons of the stuff that has the same texture and consistency and even colour of yoghurt. I don't know what will happen on the 25th but our leaders seem willing to push us into a civil war before they will ever take responsibility for their own actions. I wonder if it is the same elsewhere?