Greeks celebrated OXI-Day in hope that it will never turn into a YES. Just kidding. Seriously: in October 1940, Greeks said OXI (NO) to Italy’s ultimatum that Greece surrenders to the powers of Axis. Result: Greece came under occupation by fascist Italy first and nazi Germany later.
In July 2015, in a referendum Greeks said NO to creditors’ dictated austerity. Result: a week later the Greek government signed an agreement with the economic creditors and so-called EU-partners. We are in sixth year of austerity occupation and counting…
I suppose, something is going wrong when Greeks say NO. Or Not?
Loukas Theocharopoulos, an F-16 pilot flying over Thessaloniki where the military parade of the OXI-Day took place, had his onw intrpretation of NO.
“The NO symbolizes the unity and determination of the Greeks. We remain strong and proud of our ancestors, we follow their footsteps. Let’s look into the future with optimism.“
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“Unity and determination”. Correct. Both can take Greeks out of the dark tunnel of austerity and poverty and despair.
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Cheer up Greece! We maybe poor, but we are rich in unpaid bills. And patriotic feelings. 🙂
Greek-Italian War 1940-1941
“On 28 October 1940, after Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum demanding the occupation of Greek territory, Italian forces invaded Greece from Albania. The Greek army counter-attacked and forced the Italians to retreat. By mid-December, the Greeks occupied nearly a quarter of Albania, tying down 530,000 Italian troops. In March 1941, Operation Spring (Operazione Primavera), an Italian counter-offensive failed and on 6 April, Nazi Germany invaded Greece through Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, beginning the Battle of Greece.”
The German occupation of Greece ended in 1945 after the collapse of the Nazi Regime.
PS military occupation… economic occupation… what’s the difference after all?
Military or economic occupation are options out of healthy inter-state relationships, supposedly out of available choices between European Union member states. The fact is: this is void now. And Greece, Ireland and Portugal have all fallen in this trap. Iceland escaped nicely.
Allow me to share with you – Greece is always in my mind – some thoughts regarding parallel processes taking place in Greece and Portugal on these days:
1. PASOK option to adhere to German driven austerity programs eroded the electoral base so deeply that scared the Portuguese Socialist Party. Now the socialist in Portugal are open to a left-wind coalition together with bloc-ist (Syrisa like), communists and greens (122 out of 230 PM’s, so, the required majority).
2. The possibility of a left coalition remains only with all these parties on board. Therefore, if this condition is met, Brussel beaurocrats will not face a coalition representing 40% of the votes (Syriza+Independent Greeks as of January 2015), but four parties representing 62% of the electorate in Portugal.
3. Next week the assigned prime-minister (austerity friend) will submit to the parliament his program. It is expected to be rejected by the new left majority, causing his immediate dismissal. Then, the left majority will present to the President a new government solution. I’ll will be back.
Good luck Antonio & Portugal! Courageio!!
Hronia pola !
The people of Greece said NO
The Political Arena
The oligarcs … should I have used a capital letter because they are power brokers extrodinair ? – O – na to.
The Digniteries all said YES, as the corruption monies were transfered to their bank accounts.
Big Favours like this cost big bribe money.
Take heart, it is always darkest before the dawn.
Ktg, 2 “no”s don’t make a winter!
The first OXI – did you hear a single Greek criticize Metaxas for that? Never!
The second OXI still stands, since it was our quisling government that said NAI.
Let me point out that Metaxas, when he did the right thing (despite the cost), had no warning. He did not have 63% of the population freshly on record as supporting him. Nor did he have a brilliant alternative plan B prepared by the top international economists including 2 Nobel prize winners.
Never did a leader go into a hard negotiation with such overwhelming support. Now we are expected to believe a tall tale of Donald Tusk locking him in a room for 17 hours and torturing him.
So we voted OXI but Tsipras was simply lying to us.