The streets
in the Pagkrati district of Athens are eerily silent - and although it is a
Monday afternoon, they are all but deserted.
It's in this setting that I come across a
corner Kafeneio, or coffee house. Half a dozen Athenian men of pensionable age
are chain-smoking under an awning, enjoying mezze dishes, alongside small
carafes of red wine.
On Tuesday, most of them are due to receive
their pension payments, which prime minister Alexis Tsipras has vowed will be
disbursed. The problem, at least for Yannis, who refuses to be photographed, is
that he does not own an ATM card, and if the banks remain closed, he has no way
of accessing his money.
Yannis wants this all to end. He will be
voting "yes" on Sunday, and wants Greece to accept Europe and the
IMF's bailout proposal, despite the potentially painful changes to pensions and
taxes.
Dimitris, a "no" voter, is having
none of it. When he hears I'm from the BBC, he launches into a series of
invectives against David Cameron, the UK, and the richer European economies,
but soon begins to tell me about his life. Now in his late sixties, Dimitris
had to close his stationery shop in February - after 43 years in business. His
children are planning to leave Greece - one wants to go as far as Australia.
"I want to stay in Europe," he tells me. "Just not this
Europe".
Before long, I've kicked off a heated
argument that will last for almost an hour, and encompass such diverse topics
as World War II, the British Empire, and the birth of the Greek state after the
end of the Ottoman period. History means a lot to these men, particularly to
Dimitris. They feel wronged by the powerful European nations.
An animated Dimitris wants me to tell the
Queen that she should have "stood up for Greece" on her recent visit
to Germany. I pledge to pass on the message when I next meet her. Victor,
another "no'" voter, worked in construction, and then as a security
guard. He's been unemployed for the past four years.
"Maybe they are jealous of us, that we
are sitting in the sun," he says, referring to the Germans, and the richer
eurozone countries. He lays the blame for Greece's current predicament squarely
at their door. "They should have known that this small country can never
repay this kind of debt - but they kept feeding us money".
"We're supposed to be equals," he
adds. "All these big countries have so much experience - Greece is so
small, can't they help us out of this mess?" He's also bewildered by the
sudden influx of foreign journalists and camera crews. "Where have they
been all these years? It wasn't much different a few years ago." Thanasis
won't be voting in Sunday's referendum, but not for political reasons. He's
still registered to vote in the southern city of Kalamata, and can't afford to
travel there. He's been working since he was 17, mainly as a bus driver. Not
one of them has ever considered leaving Greece.
By the time I get up to leave, I've been
offered some Greek coffee - for which they refuse to let me pay - despite my
protestations that this would be contrary to the BBC's editorial guidelines.
"We're all Europeans," Dimos, who works at the cafe, tells me as he
rejects my cash, but warmly extends his hand. "All we ask for is equal
respect." Politics aside, these men have mine.
Πηγή: bbc.com
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