ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A sign taped to a wall in an Athens
hospital appealed for civility from patients. "The doctors on duty have
been unpaid since May," it read, "Please respect their work."
Patients
and their relatives glanced up briefly and moved on, hardened to such
messages of gloom. In a country where about 1,000 people lose their jobs
each day, legions more are still employed but haven’t seen a paycheck
in months. What used to be an anomaly has become commonplace, and those
who have jobs that pay on time consider themselves the exception to the
rule.
To the casual observer, all might appear well in Athens.
Traffic still hums by, restaurants and bars are open, people sip iced
coffees at sunny sidewalk cafes. But scratch the surface and you find a
society in free-fall, ripped apart by the most vicious financial crisis
the country has seen in half a century.
It has been three years
since Greece’s government informed its fellow members in the 17-country
group that uses the euro that its deficit was far higher than originally
reported. It was the fuse that sparked financial turmoil still weighing
heavily on eurozone countries. Countless rounds of negotiations ensued
as European countries and the International Monetary Fund struggled to
determine how best to put a lid on the crisis and stop it spreading.
The
result: Greece had to introduce stringent austerity measures in return
for two international rescue loan packages worth a total of €240 billion
($312.84 billion), slashing salaries and pensions and hiking taxes.
The reforms have been painful, and the country faces a sixth year of recession.
Life
in Athens is often punctuated by demonstrations big and small,
sometimes on a daily basis. Rows of shuttered shops stand between the
restaurants that have managed to stay open. Vigilantes roam inner city
neighborhoods, vowing to "clean up" what they claim the demoralized
police have failed to do. Right-wing extremists beat migrants,
anarchists beat the right-wing thugs and desperate local residents
quietly cheer one side or the other as society grows increasingly
polarized.
"Our society is on a razor’s edge," Public Order
Minister Nikos Dendias said recently, after striking shipyard workers
broke into the grounds of the Defense Ministry. "If we can’t contain
ourselves, if we can’t maintain our social cohesion, if we can’t
continue to act within the rules … I fear we will end up being a
jungle."
CRUMBLING LIVING STANDARDS
Vassilis Tsiknopoulos,
runs a stall at Athens’ central fish market and has been working since
age 15. He used to make a tidy profit, he says, pausing to wrap red
mullet in a paper cone for a customer. But families can’t afford to
spend much anymore, and many restaurants have shut down.
The 38-year-old fishmonger now barely breaks even.
"I
start work at 2:30 a.m. and work ’till the afternoon, until about 4
p.m. Shouldn’t I have something to show for that? There’s no point in
working just to cover my costs. … Tell me, is this a life?"
The
fish market’s president, Spyros Korakis, says there has been a 70
percent drop in business over the past three years. Above the din of
fish sellers shouting out prices and customers jostling for a better
deal, Korakis explained how the days of big spenders were gone, with
people buying ever smaller quantities and choosing cheaper fish.
Private
businesses have closed down in the thousands. Unemployment stands at a
record 25 percent, with more than half of Greece’s young people out of
work. Caught between plunging incomes and ever increasing taxes,
families are finding it hard to make ends meet. Higher heating fuel
prices have meant many apartment tenants have opted not to buy heating
fuel this year. Instead, they’ll make do with blankets, gas heaters and
firewood to get through the winter. Lines at soup kitchens have grown
longer.
At the end of the day, as the fish market gradually packed
up, a beggar crawled around the stalls, picking up the fish discarded
onto the floor and into the gutters.
"I’ve been here since 1968. My father, my grandfather ran this business,"
Korakis said. "We’ve never seen things so bad."
Tsiknopoulos’ patience is running out.
"I’m thinking of shutting down," he said, "I think about it every day.
That, and leaving Greece."
JUSTICE
On
a recent morning in a crowded civil cases court in the northern city of
Thessaloniki, frustration simmered. Plaintiffs, defendants and lawyers
all waited for the inevitable — yet another postponement, yet another
court date.
Greece’s sclerotic justice system has been hit by a
protracted strike that has left courts only functioning for an hour a
day as judges and prosecutors protest salary cuts.
For Giorgos
Vacharelis, it means his long quest for justice has grown longer.
Vacharelis’ younger brother was beaten to death in a fairground in 2003.
The attacker was convicted of causing a fatal injury and jailed. The
family felt the reasons behind the 24-year-old’s death had never been
fully explained, and filed a civil suit for damages. Nearly 10 years
later, Vacharelis and his parents had hoped the case would finally be
over.
But the court date they were given in late September got caught up the strike. Now
they have a new date: Feb. 28, 2014.
"This
means more costs for them, but above all more psychological damage
because each time they go through the murder of their relative again,"
said Nikos Dialynas, the family’s lawyer.
Vacharelis and his family are in despair.
"If a foreigner saw how the justice system works in Greece, he would say we’re
crazy," said the 35-year-old.
"Each time we come to court we get even more outraged," he said. "We
see a theater of the absurd."
VIGILANTES
In
September, gangs of men smashed immigrant street vendors’ stalls at
fairs and farmers’ markets. Videos posted on the Internet showed the
incident being carried out in the presence of lawmakers from the extreme
right Golden Dawn party. Formerly a fringe group, Golden Dawn — which
denies accusations it has carried out violent attacks against immigrants
— made major inroads into mainstream politics. It won nearly 7 percent
of the vote in June’s election and 18 seats in the 300-member
parliament. A recent opinion poll showed its support climbing to 12
percent.
Immigrant and human rights groups say there has been an
alarming increase in violent attacks on migrants. Greece has been the
EU’s main gateway for hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants — and
foreigners have fast become scapegoats for rising unemployment and
crime.
While there are no official statistics, migrants tell of
random beatings at the hands of thugs who stop to ask them where they
are from, then attack them with wooden bats.
Assaults have been
increasing since autumn 2010, said Spyros Rizakos, who heads Aitima, a
human rights group focusing on refugees. Victims often avoid reporting
beatings for fear of running afoul of the authorities if they are in the
country illegally, while perpetrators are rarely caught or punished
even if the attacks are reported.
"Haven’t we learned anything
from history? What we are seeing is a situation that is falling apart,
the social fabric is falling apart," Rizakos said. "I’m very concerned
about the situation in Greece. There are many desperate people … All
this creates an explosive cocktail."
In response to pressure for
more security and a crackdown on illegal migration, the government
launched a police sweep in Athens in early August. By late October,
police had rounded up nearly 46,000 foreigners, of whom more than 3,600
were arrested for being in the country illegally.
Police say that
in the first two months of the operation, there was also a 91 percent
drop in the numbers of migrants entering the country illegally along the
northeastern border with Turkey, with 1,338 migrants arrested in the
border area compared to 14,724 arrested during the same two months in
2011.
HEALTHCARE
At a demonstration by the disabled in central Athens, tempers were rising.
Healthcare
spending has been slashed as the country struggles to reduce its debt.
Public hospitals complain of shortages of everything from gauzes to
surgical equipment. Pharmacies regularly go on strike or refuse to fill
subsidized social security prescriptions because government funds
haven’t paid them for the drugs already bought. Benefits have been
slashed and hospital workers often go unpaid for months.
And it is the country’s most vulnerable who suffer.
"When
the pharmacies are closed and I can’t get my insulin, which is my life
for me, what do I do? … How can we survive?" asked Voula Hasiotou, a
member of an association of diabetics who turned out for the rally.
The
disabled still receive benefits on a sliding scale according to the
severity of their condition. But they are terrified they could face
cuts, and are affected anyway by general spending cuts and the pharmacy
problems.
"We are fighting hard to manage something, a dignified
life," said Anastasia Mouzakiti, a paraplegic who came to the
demonstration from the northern city of Thessaloniki with her husband,
who is also handicapped.
With extra needs such as wheelchairs and
home help for everyday tasks such as washing and dressing, many of
Greece’s disabled are struggling to make ends meet, Mouzakiti said.
"We need a wheelchair until we die. This wheelchair, if it breaks down, how do
we pay for it? With what money?"
___
Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece contributed to this story.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.