There was the four-day nationwide garbage strike which reheated the remains of several days’ dinners out in the streets almost to the boiling point. There were the forest fires. Catastrophes one reads about and doesn’t see are bad enough, but there were few vistas in the country without smoke.
The blood-red sunsets visible over Mandra west of Athens for days last month added to the uneasiness. Frequently there was a high wind from the south, too, a sirocco which is well known for putting people out of sorts. These events may go a long way to explain the peevishness of certain statements made recently by public figures which would certainly not have been made during a milder season.
The prime minister’s wife, Margaret Papandreou, in an interview with the August issue of Interview, replied to the question, “Isn’t Mr Karamanlis identified with democracy?” as follows: “In the eyes of the Western world only. They forget that Karamanlis was a premier when we had a very strong police state in this country. He is more of a fascist.”
Meanwhile, the honorary president of the New Democracy party, Evangelos Averof, remarked on ambassador-designate Robert V. Keeley’s words during the Senate confirmation hearings about relations between the two counties’ being held on a client-patron basis during the postwar period, with veiled acerbity: “This was naive, unfounded and, perhaps unintentionally, offensive to Greece.”
Even President Sartzetakis briefly lost his cool while conferring with a high-ranking military officer. As the latter was about to make use of an ashtray in front of him, the President snatched it away, exclaiming “This is the ashtray of the President of the Hellenic Democracy!”
What the repremanded officer then did with his smoking materials has not been recorded and whether the President smokes or not is a moot point. Yet for lack of other concrete evidence, some observers felt that it was the closest to being an antismoking slogan aired by a government official since Dr Spyros Doxiadis was minister of Social Services ten years ago. The eminent pediatrician managed to get smoking banned in the hallways of hospitals and parliament. The lifting of this ban was one of the most popular social liberalization measures taken by the present government when it came to power.
Careless smoking habits are particularly hazardous during periods of very dry weather and high winds. Such conditions prevailed throughout the Mediterranean last month and many fires were reported in France and Italy. Yet they were so numerous and widespread in Greece that the situation was declared a national emergency. In a two-week period in August, 500 square kilometers of wooded land had been consumed and seven persons had lost their lives.
Although any issue is easily politicized here, there was a growing belief that arsonists were at work. It was not only the large number of fires that suggested this but the fact that so many broke out simultaneously. On the other hand, if terrorists were expressing themselves as pyromaniacs, it seemed odd that extremist groups were not making claims for doing so.
Whatever their cause, these fires every year become an opportunity to accuse the government of gross negligence. Five years ago PASOK clamoured for the resignation of George Rallis on just this issue. While he at least was present at some of the conflagrations, today’s government leaders have shunned these burned-over districts. Of course, any government prefers to accuse terrorists than to be accused of negligence. Mr Papandreou has publicly declared that arsonists are trying to destabilize his government and has offered a 30-miliion-drachma reward for every arsonist’s arrest. This shows that top priority is being given to the matter, given the parlous state of the economy.
Most businessmen are also doing a slow burn. Very little commercial activity is completed in August except in tourism. Accountants slam shut their books and go on holiday. So nobody pays because nobody gets paid. Last month there was even less business than usual because nobody knew the price of anything. The official rises in price of homely products like bread, milk and water have at least the advantage of being clear-cut. It was the constant rise in the cost of every commodity – orders made on items which at the time of delivery would have a price that could only be guessed at – which left all commercial enterprise bewildered.
But perhaps a sense of moderation and accommodation was in the air. Some sort of price and wage freeze might be seen as publicly beneficial; new and better firefighting equipment and organization may be agreed upon. Christina Onassis and her husband seem to gave gotten together; Mrs Papandreou has said she was a good sounding board for her husband, and for what more could a spouse ask? Now, if only the winds would drop…
