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European spirit has never managed to spread in Greece

12 April 2012 / 14:04:02  GRReporter
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At the same time, extremes are gaining more followers. Far left circles took the pensioner’s suicide in Syntagma Square a week ago as a political act, to which his suicide note had greatly contributed. "A few days after the suicide, I read an article, indicating something very interesting: That there are almost no suicides in the Gaza Strip despite the particularly harsh conditions. This may be due to the religion, because Islam does not allow suicide while there is a high suicide rate in Sweden, which is a developed country. This is true and applies to all Nordic countries. I read that the 77-year-old man was a supporter of the extreme Left. He was a pharmacist with a relatively good pension in today's conditions and without any financial obligations to banks. I suppose he was rather in an ideological gridlock than pressed by some very harsh circumstances. It has become clear that he was always very involved politically. Last year, he participated in the protests of discontented, in the "I do not pay" movement. In 1981, he was 46 years old, in his prime. I guess he was very committed to the spirit of the epoch, of the enthusiasm that brought PASOK to power. 31 years later, he felt that this model and its cycle are over. If everything that I say about him is true, then not only he but also all that generation is in this situation, I suppose. They find out that the things they have believed for so many years are no longer valid and are refuted in a particularly gruesome way. They realize they have to reconsider many things actually, but this is a painful process. I do not know whether we should seek a political sense in his suicide and his attempt to encourage young people to grab guns and go to a revolution and to identify him with Che Guevara. Rather, the case looks like a personal impasse to which he got and possibly, hundreds of thousands of people like him from this generation."

The analyst believes that this case shows how political processes should not be considered rationally. "I will repeat the idea that politics is mostly psychology. And a political process such as the one in Greece should be generally analyzed using the tools of psychology. Perhaps political analysts would be better professionals if they studied psychology too."

"If we would like to at least assume what is going on in Greek society, we should use the approaches of psychology. Of the few existing definitions of depression, I use just one. It defines depression as a phenomenon of four stages. The first stage is denial. Generally, you deny the existence of a problem. The second is anger. The third is pain and the fourth is resignation. I.e., you admit that the situation is what it is. I compare it to catharsis in its theatrical sense, as presented in ancient Greek drama."

Plamen Tonchev believes that the definition of depression can be applied to the processes running in Greek society. In his opinion, it has gone through the phase of denial with the violent protests in 2010 and 2011 and the slogans that everything that was happening was a conspiracy and aimed at destroying the country. "After that, Greece went through the stage of anger, the possible culmination being the protests of discontented. I am not convinced that it has emerged from this phase. I fear that in June, when the government will announce the new painful measures, there could be a new social explosion and I do not know what form it will take. I hope that the third stage is coming."

As for Bulgaria’s attitude towards the crisis in Greece, he believes that Bulgaria has the opportunity to draw a positive lesson from the negative example of Greece. "From former ignorance between the two countries, we went through the Bulgarian enthusiasm for Greece. Now it has gone. The Bulgarians have their own opinion of things thanks to the media and their own experiences when visiting the country. Recently, a tendency to the opposite extreme has been noticed. There are comments like "the Greeks deserve this" and the like. Recently, I read an article in one of the best Bulgarian newspapers, which wrote that it is of no use for Bulgaria if Greece is in a difficult position. Our economies are connected and do not benefit from this crisis. I think Bulgaria has the chance to learn from this bad example and avoid similar mistakes."

Tags: PoliticsPASOKNew DemocracyPopulismSocietyEuropean unionPlamen Tonchev
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