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Patriotism Trumps Economics for Many Greeks Ahead of Bailout Referendum
National pride, anger toward ‘Europe’ runs high outside Athens before vote
ENLARGECitrus farmer Andreas Mallios, left, and Nikos Ntakaris, who owns a trucking business, at a roadside cafe in Argolis, about 80 miles east of Athens.PHOTO: EVANGELOS BOUGIOTIS/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY FORTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ARGOLIS, Greece—In this fertile region of rolling hills covered in olive groves and citrus plantations, national pride is coming before financial considerations as people decide how they will vote in Sunday’s referendum on the country’s international bailout.
“My dignity as a human being and as a citizen of this nation has been brutally crushed by Europe,” said Andreas Mallios, a 50-year-old orange farmer, dragging on his cigarette at a roadside cafe. “I’m a European, my currency is the euro, but I say, no more: I’m also Greek and I’m a man, and I’m voting against this blackmail.”
The outside world sees Greece’s conflict with its creditors—the other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund—as an economics argument about debt, austerity and reforms. But to many Greeks, especially those outside cosmopolitan Athens, feelings of national humiliation and dependency are playing a bigger role.
Greece’s referendum on creditors’ demands could decide the country’s future, as top European officials warn that Greece doesn’t belong in the eurozone if it isn’t willing to take up reforms. What does Sunday’s vote mean for the Euro? WSJ’s Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer.
If Greeks vote “no” to their creditors’ demands, leaving the country at grave risk of bankruptcy and euro exit, the wounded national pride of many rural and small-town Greeks will have been a decisive factor. Most analysts expect a very close vote.
Mr. Mallios used to get 28 euro cents per kilogram (about 15 cents a pound) for the fruit he sold to wholesalers. He now gets around 8 cents per kilo, because of Greece’s economic collapse.
His financial loss, he says, is nothing compared with a mounting sense that his country is under attack from external forces.
“National dignity within the European family means that there is a proper dialogue among equals, not having the finger wagged at you and being told how to vote,” he says. “I don’t want to be part of this Europe.”
Patriotic language and fear of foreign enemies, real or imagined, has long characterized Greek political discourse, whether of the ideological left, right or center, says historianThanos Veremis, author of what’s widely viewed as the authoritative tome on modern Greek history.
“Even now, there’s still a populist game going on, over which political party is more patriotic,” Mr. Veremis said.
Some 15% of the Greek electorate voted for outright nationalist parties such as the Independent Greeks and Golden Dawn in the January elections. Economic depression is making such messages more popular, especially among poorer Greeks.
Syriza, the main governing party, fuses nationalism with Marxism. It is calling on voters to reject the creditors’ conditions on Sunday.
ENLARGE
Dimitris Panagopoulos, a 50-year-old farmer, says Greece’s creditors are punishing the Greek people for choosing a government European leaders don’t like. PHOTO: VANGELIS BOUGIOTIS/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY FORTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“We say ‘no’ for a Greece that resists. We say ’no’ for democracy and dignity,” a softly spoken young woman says in a radio spot that has been airing here, paid for by Syriza.
“The only thing to fear is fear,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says at the end.
The government says a “no” vote would empower it to drive a tougher bargain for bailout funds with less austerity, while securing the country’s future in the euro. Greece’s creditors have said a “no” vote wouldn’t soften their demands.
Away from the bustle of the Athens metropolis—home to about a third of Greece’s 11 million people—the emotional message resonates most strongly.
“Professionally, it would serve me better to vote in favor of this agreement” with creditors, says Nikos Ntakaris, 53, whose trucks deliver agricultural goods from Argolis to the rest of the country.
“Right now, I can’t even pay for my 11 trucks’ gasoline, with the banks closed,” he says. “But they have taken a proud nation and turned us into beggars. So I say no. That matters more to me than anything else.”
Syriza teamed up with the far-right Independent Greeks to form a majority government after elections in January, in an alliance some saw as peculiar given the distance between the two on the political spectrum.
But Mr. Veremis reckons they make a potent partnership that is successfully appealing to many Greeks’ emotions.
“Greece’s is the patriotism of the downtrodden people who have been hard-hit by a conspiracy of powerful players, and therefore their only way of taking revenge is blowing themselves up along with the citadel,” he says, alluding to patriots in the war of independence against the Turks who chose death over surrender.
Dimitris Panagopoulos, a 50-year-old farmer, says Greece’s creditors are punishing the Greek people for choosing a government European leaders don’t like. “There’s more to life than money,” he said. “I’m voting no on Sunday. I’d rather hold my head up high.”
As Greece’s creditors say no deal can be done before Sunday’s referendum, Charles Forelle reports on how Greeks are coping with a frozen banking system and only 60 Euros a day available at automatic teller machines. Image: AFP
Nationalist ire is especially directed against Germany, against which Greece fought in both world wars, and which many here feel is becoming their master.
“Germany wants a servile Greece,” says Petros Vlassis, a 60-year-old retiree.
As Europe’s biggest economy, Germany has been the driving force behind the stringent austerity and economic overhauls that creditors have imposed as the price of Greece’s rescue loans since 2010.
Posters adorning roads nationwide show a stern-faced German Finance MinisterWolfgang Schäuble with the slogan: “For five years he’s been sucking your blood, now tell him NO.”
“We want our true allies in Europe and the world to remember that we fought by their side against a country that twice tried to annex Europe,” says Mr. Vlassis. “What did we fight for? Not this.”
Write to Matina Stevis at matina.stevis@wsj.com
