A New Hellenic Philosophy: Rise Up!

The ancient world looked toward Greece as a fount of learning. The intellectual rigour of its ancient philosophers, mathematicians, statesmen and scientists were world-renowned (the ancient world) and their collected wisdom represented a world heritage. It was the Greeks who in 320 B.C. established the greatest collection of written works in the world, at the Library at Alexandria. And it was, unfortunately, an unruly mob protesting, that destroyed it by setting it afire.

The Ancient Library of Alexandria.

Do we then assume, a heritage of pyromania in the Greek tradition? And what has happened to Greece, formerly celebrated as the fount of worldly wisdom? The home of the world's greatest philosophers whose thought and work has never been eclipsed, has become quite other than it once was. It is now home to mediocrities of thought and of responsible action.

There is now the Greece of the European Union which gladly surrendered its drachma to the euro, and borrowed heavily to finance a lifestyle that it could not afford, but insisted it could, and it would. It has become a country whose concerns and values are administered by trade unions with its government a willing accomplice to the slow decay of responsibility.

The Greek communist party and Greek unions rage against the tide of incoming debts whose result will bankrupt the country, claiming that this is an ill-conceived and devilish plot by the IMF and the EU to belittle a once-proud country with an incomparably brilliant heritage of creative thought and understanding of the world around them.

What has happened is that this once proud nation has atrophied into a third-rate country incapable of matching its aspirations to its operations, where people feel entitled to what they have not earned, and are unwilling to share their earnings in the form of taxation to enable their government to provide services the population claims entitlement to, nonetheless.

If any of this makes sense to the average Greek thinker, it would be interesting to have them share it with the rest of the world for whom this is a puzzling non-starter. Banners reading "Peoples of Europe - Rise Up", will have consequences that absent-minded Greeks have missed; Europeans will indeed rise up, in righteous anger that they must sacrifice to save the imprudent.

The outrageous, uncivil and violent behaviour of protesters who have made the streets of the capital a very dangerous place, and who have engaged in a nation wide intifada against their struggling government forced to face the music of their incautiously dangerous economic fiddling, is incomprehensible. Throwing rocks and incendiary Molotov cocktails, demolishing property and destroying lives.

Thugs associated with unions and deeply dysfunctional ideological movements clashing with first-responders so that firefighters are unable to rescue people trapped in burning buildings represents a civil atrocity of atrocious incivility. All are implicated; teachers, hospital workers, trash collectors, pensioners, construction workers and any number of other public employees.

"Never! We will never pay for the EU and IMF." 'Pay for?' What might that mean? They will never pay their debts, they will bring Europe's financial situation to a stunning state of peril that will envelope other countries also teetering on the edge of default, and with them countries which have managed their economies wisely, and who are now called upon to rescue an improvident neighbour.

Worse, and more far-reaching, because the world economy is now so inter-related and inter-dependent, stock markets are teetering in uncertainty around the world, and other economies outside those of a united Europe are warily and fearfully witnessing the outrageously irresponsible behaviour of Greek citizens.

But the time has come for Greece to turn itself around toward responsible management of its economy. "This will create a different Greece", claims Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. "Our basic bet is that we are cutting down on disorder, cutting down on graft and tax evasion. ...There was a sense that people who had the power and means could go around and do what they wanted. They asked, 'Why should I pay my taxes when others don't?"

So the ranks of civil servants will be reduced, and those remaining will see a 3-year wage freeze, withdrawal of yearly bonuses; retirement age will be raised to 67 from its current 58-year average, and pensions will be diminished. The VAT will increase by 2%, and new tax hikes placed on fuel, alcohol, cigarettes and property. Above all, the corruption of tax evasion will be met head on.

Welcome to reality.