Greetings from Athens. It is true that my heart is heavy, following our wonderful trip to Delphi last week, where we saw and heard so much and returned with our hard drive full of conversations we didn’t have time for—because we chose others. So, we will indeed be missing the unparalleled scenery and the many friends we met there. But we will now enjoy, in peace, without the greetings, without the jitters (there’s always that there, with so many people watching you, live or on continuous loop and screens), the speeches we couldn’t hear.
Person of the Day, in Delphi, European Prosecutor Ms. Kovesi, who exposed the agricultural subsidy scandal—what we call OPEKEPE—which sounds to me like the name of a wild zeibekiko dance. There was complete silence when her interview with Pavlos Tsimas began. She had a lot to say. For those of you who are interested (and everyone should watch the interview; it’s available on the website of the 11th Delphi Forum), it’s worth listening to and studying.
In any case, I agree with Ilias Kanellis’s comment in Protagon. To set the record straight, as he puts it:
“The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is useful; its investigations and indictments will be judged by the courts. There is criticism of them; it is reasonable, but it is not decisive. And it is not the prosecutor’s job to substitute for the Court by issuing rulings. Nor is it a judge’s job to argue with governments. The work of governments is one thing; the work of prosecutors is another.”
Hardly a day goes by now without a “fatality case” in the “mirror of current events.” Most crimes are related to traffic collisions on the roads, especially at night caused by drunk drivers, burglaries, thefts, money, drugs, and extortion by the so-called “nighttime thugs.”
Whether you like it or not, if you don’t already have “protection” for your business, they’ll take it upon themselves, whether you want them to or not.
Fortunately (!), this “sport” isn’t unique to Greece. I don’t know if it’s thriving in Cyprus, but I do know that even in so-called “strict countries,” such as England and Germany, these so-called “pimps” exist.
Of the shop owners I’ve spoken with, most—and not out of fear—told me that “with protection, we have peace of mind.”
This, of course, reflects very negatively on the so-called “regular” forces of the state, whose job is exactly what the “protectors” do! That is, to ensure the enforcement of laws and order.
Ever since I “landed” in Greece from Africa in the early 1970s, I quickly learned and realised that there are many laws that are not enforced. On the contrary, I also learned that if you follow all the laws, you won’t get anywhere. I never came to terms with this unacceptable, criminal “advice.”
And yet, little by little, over the years, I realised that the segment of the population that chose to stay away from the “filth” was growing larger and larger.
There are two “key factors” that have brought about—and continue to bring about—this wonderful shift toward normality: Education, which is now accessible to far more people than in the past, and the law enforcement agencies, which draw on the experience and determination of Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrysochoidis.
He is known to everyone as the man who dismantled the criminal organisation of November 19, whose leaders are still in prison and will remain there forever.
