The Right Is Wrong

We are one year into the coronavirus situation. Greece has not been doing well.

Actually that statement is not 100% to the point. Greece does not have a lot of covid-related deaths. So, that’s good.

But apart from that, everything else is SHIT.

The government has not ordered/paid for the creation of new ICUs. They have merely instructed the hospitals to transform normal rooms to ICU-like rooms. Of course, that means that the equipment is not always adequate, other patients have been thrown out or not admitted, surgeries have been pushed back, in favor of treating covid patients.

The government has not hired medical personnel. They have asked for nurses and doctors to work overtime (with no or minimal additional payment), they have transferred nurses and doctors of other medical areas to treating covid patients. They have only made a few new temporary (a few months) hires of nurses.

The government has not shown any initiative in developing local tests or treatments for the disease, nor have they tried to make any independent deal with any of the companies offering vaccines. The rollout of vaccines has been slow, the tests have been sold at extraordinary prices by the private sector, and they have been underutilized by the public sector.

The government has put out probably the most strict and illogical forms of lockdown in the developed world, back to back. Greek people have to send specific SMS codes to go out, for very specific purposes only. Curfew exists every day of the week, from 18:00 to 05:00. Moving away from your local area is prohibited. Disobeying one of these results in a 300euro fine, roughly 55% of the minimum national income (pre-tax).

The government has shut down everything. Restaurants are closed. Gyms are closed. Bars, cafeterias, closed. The government has not given enough support to them nor have they relieved them of some expenses (or did so later in the year), and not to anyone else either. A lot more types of shops have closed down by their own choice, since they are losing money staying open for no customers.

The government has not done any kind of contact tracing for diagnosed people. This means that anybody who has come in contact with an infected person won’t know until they develop the symptoms themselves.

The government has not added support to the national health telephone line. Instead they outsourced it, with seemingly no training. This has resulted in more deaths, as badly sick people were instructed to not seek medical help but to stay at home.

The government has not ordered the private health sector to provide its support without cost. Instead they are paying them more than necessary to do simple side tasks.

The government has grasped this opportunity it created to pass other laws in its agenda, with minimal public outcry, since everyone is in lockdown. Also, they have taken advantage of the chaos to embezzle millions of money, to share with their allies, to please their “more distant” friends, to buy and build unneeded stuff.

The government has hired thousands of cops, upgraded police equipment, cars and motorcycles. They have increased patrols, they have seemingly allowed the police to do as they choose, as long as they break up any kind of objection to all of the above from civilians. They have been turning a blind eye to the fascist symbols on policemen, they have been patting policemen on the back for using excess violence and they have been covering their crimes against simple civilians.

The government, themselves, has shown a complete disregard for all the measures they imposed upon the people. They have been moving freely away from their homes, them and their families. They have been vaccinated out of order, them and their families. They have been eating at restaurants and at friends' houses, them and their families.

The government has lied, stolen, corrupted, covered crimes and taken everything from the people, while giving nothing back.

How I feel about this?

I feel angry that my government does not want me to stay in this country. I feel sad that they people do not want me to stay in this country. People voted for this government, they knew what was coming, covid or not. Thieves, liars, murderers.

I feel sad that I have to leave this beautiful place, and of what it has become this last century. I would have liked to stay, in peace, and be able to prosper. This can not be done.

There is a great hole in the place of justice. Corruption is everywhere, getting beaten by a cop is a very real possibility every time I leave the house, even though I am doing nothing wrong.

Democracy has died at the place where it was born. It has died in Greece.

Αντίο Ελλάδα.