Nothing Passive About Greek Resistance To Bans And Bailouts

Richard Pine reports for The Irish Times:

What's the link between terrorism and a ban on smoking? Between a recent spate of letter-bombs in Athens and widespread rejection of the new ban on smoking in enclosed spaces? At first sight, not much.

Yet both phenomena are driven by the Greek insistence on freedom and self-determination. The Greek word for “freedom”, eleutheria , expresses the concept of movement and behaviour, the right to self-determination. As an editorial in Kathimerini newspaper observed, “smoking cigarettes is not simply the ritualised inhalation of nicotine, tar and other addictive substances, but a personal statement; not an admission of dependence, but a declaration of personal liberty”.

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My memory of the introduction of the ban in Ireland is of almost complete and immediate effectiveness, compliance being based on acceptance of the principle. Here in Greece, the reverse is the case. Newspaper editorials urge citizens to think collectively, to establish a sense of community, whereas fierce individualism is the order of the day. The man in the street may not readily express himself in concepts, but certain ways of seeing the world are embedded within the Greek mind. When an already distrusted government introduces a measure which runs counter to that mind, ideas, if not actions, become violent.

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