There is a global conspiracy to achieve the destruction of my Country. They started that on 1975, aiming at the Modern Greek Culture, continued with the distortion of our Modern History and our National Identity and now, they’re also trying to achieve our physical elimination with unemployment, hunger and misery. If the Greek people don’t show the will to stand up united and stop them, there is a serious, real risk, for Greece’s extinction. I believe, this will take place within the next ten years. From all of us, the Greeks, all that will remain is the memory of our Civilization and our Struggles in History for Freedom.
Till 2009, there weren’t any serious economic problems. The great “plagues” of our economy, were the Defense overspending and political, economical and journalistic corruption. But for these wounds, foreign nations had their share of responsibility. For example Germans, French, English and Americans, earned billions from our our national wealth for Defense expenses every year. This constant “bleeding”, “kneeled” us and didn’t allow us to move forward to economic growth, while offering huge capitals to foreign nations. The same happened with the corruption. For example, the German firm SIEMENS had a “special branch” for the subornation of Greek goverment officials, to place their products in Greek market. Therefore, the Greeks became victims of these “predators duet” (Greeks and Germans), who became very rich against Greek people.
It’s obvious, that these two large “plagues” could have been avoided, if the leaders of both ( pro “american” ) Greek political parties weren’t eroded by corrupted politicians, who tried to cover the wealth’s “drain” to foreign countries treasure vaults (a wealth which was the product of Greek people’s hard labor), by resorting to excessive borrowing, rocketing the Greek debt to 300 billion, or 130% of Greek GNP (Gross National Product).
With this scam, the foreign nations earned double. First, from Greek Defense Ministry expenses and by selling their products to the Greek market. And secondly, from the huge interest of their loans to Greek governments and not to Greek people. As we can fully understand from that, the Greek people was the main victim in both cases. Just one example, could convince you all. The interest on the loan of $1,000,000,000 made by Andreas Papandreou in 1986 from a major European country, reached $54,000,000,000 and Greece paid them up in… 2010!!!
Mr. Juncker said a year ago that he ascertained the excessive Greek “bleeding” from forced (!) military expenses, especially to Germany and France. Therefore, he concluded that these deals lead Greece to assured disaster. But he confesses that he took no action, because he didn’t want to harm the interests of friendly countries!
In 2008, a great economic crisis erupted in Europe. It was a logical consequense that the Greek economy will be affected. However, the standard of living in Greece was high, and remained essentially unchanged. Greece has been ranked among the top 30 rich world countries. But there was a rising of Public Debt.
This Public Debt, doesn’t necessarily lead a country to an economic crisis. The debts of great countries like U.S.A. and Germany, are estimated at Trillions! The problem is whether there is economic growth and production. Only in that case can a country borrow from large banks networks with an interest rate of 5%, until the crisis passes.
We were in that position at 2009, when the government changed. In November George Papandreou was elected Greek Prime Minister. To fully understand what the Greek people thinks today for his disastrous policies, I am quoting two numbers: In 2009’s elections, PASOK won 44% of the votes. Today, the polls give just 6% to PASOK! Mr. Papandreou could confront the economic crisis (which would reflect the European one), with loans from foreign banks – and the usual interest rate is below 5%! If he would do that, not only there wouldn’t be any problem for our country, but since we had economic growth, we would also have risen of our standard of living.
But Mr. Papandreou was conspiring against Greek people since summer of 2009, when he met in secret with Strauss-Kahn, to put Greece under the domination of IMF. The information for this secret meeting was published, by the former President of IMF himself!
But to get there, the Greek economy had to be “distorted” that much, to intimidate the foreign banks and have their lending rates risen to prohibitive high figures. This unspeakable conspiracy began with manipulating the Public Debt statistics, skyrocketing from 9.2% to 15%! For this serious crime, the economic attorney Mr. Peponis referred to Justice 20 days ago Mr Papandreou and Mr Papaconstantinou (former Minister of Finance).
This Public Debt skyrocketing, followed by the systematic “campaign” of Mr. Papandreou and the Greek Minister of Finance all over the Europe for 5 months, where they tried to persuade the Europeans that Greece is a “Titanic” about to sink, that the Greeks are corrupted lazy people and therefore unable to deal with country’s needs! In every single statement of them, the interest rates were rising up, till Greece couldn’t borrow anymore. So, Greece submission to IMF and European Bank took a character of “salvation”, but instead was the beginning of our death!
In May 2010, the famous “Memorandum” signed by a single one Minister. This Memorandum was Greece’s total subservience to our lenders. The Greek Constitution requires for such an important agreement to be valid, the votes of the 3/5 of the Greek Parliament. So basically, the “Memorandum” and “Troika” are ruling Greece illegaly, not only because of Greek Constitution, but according to European Laws!
If there are 20 steps leading to our death, with the Memorandum we’ve done more than half of the way. Imagine that with the “Memorandum”, we’re totally giving up our National Independence and our Public Property to foreigns! That means ports, airports, public roads, electricity, water, mineral and subsea natural wealth etc. Even our historical monuments, like Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia, Epidaurus etc., since we have resigned from any objections!
The production stopped, the unemployment rose to 18%, over 80,000 shops and hundreds of thousands of industries closed down. A total of 432,000 businesses, bankrupted. Thousands of young scientists are leaving this “sinking” country and every day we’re sinking in Dark Ages. Thousands of formerly wealthy citizens are diging the trash cans for food and have to sleep on the streets because they became homeless.
In the mean time, we are supposingly to staying alive thanks to the generosity of our lenders, the European banks and the IMF! But the truth is that every single package of dozens billions we borrow returns back where it came from, and the Greek people have to pay bigger and bigger interest rates. And because there is a need to maintain the State, the Hospitals and Schools, “Troika” loads the middle and lower economic class of Greek society with unreasonable taxes, which lead us directly to starvation! Greeks faced another general state of starvation at the beginning of German Occupation in 1941 during WWII, with 300,000 dead people in six months! The phantom of hunger returns to our slandered and wretched country.
If you think that the German Occupation in WWII cost us 1,000,000 dead and the complete destruction of our country, how do you expect we’ll accept the threats of Mrs Merkel and the German intention to impose on us a new “Gauleiter” (district manager of Nazis)… This time, with a tie!…
And to prove to you all, that Greece is a rich country and how the Greeks are conscious and hardworking people (consciousness of Debt to Freedom and Love for our homeland), I’ll tell you about the German Occupation from 1941 until October 1944. When “Waffen-SS” and starvation killed 1,000,000 Greeks and “Wehrmacht” systematically destroyed our country, stealing the agricultural production and our gold from our banks, the Greeks saved themselves from starvation by creating the “National Solidarity Movement” and they created a partisan army of 100,000, that riveted 20 German army divisions in our country!
At the same time, Greek art flourished (despite the hard conditions of the German Occupation), especially literature and music.
Greece chose the path of Sacrifice for Freedom and simultaneously, the path of Survival.
Again they hit us without a cause and we responded with Solidarity and Resistance… and we survived. The same we do now, and we know that the final victor, will be the Greek people. This is message I’m sending to Mrs Merkel and Mr Schaeuble, saying that I remaining friend of the German People and admirer of their great contribution to science, philosophy, art and particular in music! And perhaps, the best proof of this is that I trusted all my musical projects in two German publishers, Schott and Breitkopf, among the greatest publishers in the world and my cooperation with them is exceptionally friendly.
They are threatening us with eviction from Europe. If Europe doesn’t want us one time, we don’t want this “Merkel – Sarkozy Europe” ten times!
Today, Sunday, February 12, I’m preparing myself to take part to this new fight together with Manolis Glezos – the hero who took down the Swastika flag from the Acropolis and gave the signal for the beginning of resistance to Hitler. Not only of Greek but also European resistance. Our streets and squares will be flooded with hundreds of thousands of people, who will demonstrate their anger against our government and “Troika”.
I heard yesterday our banker-Prime Minister, addressing to the Greek people and saying that “we have almost come to point zero.” But, who are these men that led us to the point ZERO? The same men who should be in jail and are extorting their MPs to sign a new Memorandum worse than the first one, a Memorandum to be applied by the same people and with the same methods that led us to this point zero! Why? Because that demands IMF and Euro Group, blackmailing us that unless we obey, Greece will bankrupt… This is totally absurd! These economic circles hate us (Greeks and foreigners) and have the sole responsibility for our dramatic situation. Yet they threaten and blackmail us, to continue their destructive work, to lead us below the point zero, to our final extinction!
We survived from many great difficult conditions through centuries and it is certain that if they lead us by force at the final step before our death, the Greeks will not only survive but will regrow! Currently, I am devoting all my strength in an effort to unite Greek people. I’m trying to convince them, that “Troika” and the IMF isn’t an one-way! That there is another solution! And this is, to change radically our nation’s course and turn to Russia for economic cooperation and create economic partnerships that will help us grow the natural wealth of our country, with terms that ensure our national interest. Concerning Europe, I suggest we stop buying military equipment from Germany and France. And we’ll do anything necessary, to force Germany to pay the war reparations to Greece, which may amount now (with interest) to 500 billion!
The only force that can make these revolutionary changes, is the Greek people, united in a huge “Resistance and Solidarity Front”, to drive off “Troika” (IMF and European banks) from our country. While all these illegal actions (loans, debts, interest, taxes, acquisitions of Greece public wealth), are to be considered null and void! Of course, their Greeks “partners”, who are already convicted in the minds of Greek people as traitors, must be punished!
To this purpose (uniting the People in one Front) I am totally and completely committing myself and I believe that ultimately, I’ll be vindicated. I fought bearing arms against Hitler’s Occupation. I’ve spent time in the dungeons of “Gestapo”. I was condemned by Germans to death and miraculously I lived. In 1967 I founded the NAF (National Anti-Dictatorship Front), the first resistance organization against the Greek military Junta. I fought underground. I was caught and imprisoned in the “slaughter-house” of Junta’s Security Committee. Finaly I survived again.
Today, I am 87 years old and is very likely I’m not going to live the salvation of my beloved country. But I will die with my consciousness clear, because I’m still doing my Duty to the ideals of Liberty and the Law, till the end!
Athens, 12/2/2012,
Mikis Theodorakis
BRAVO STON LEVENDIMAS THODORAKI…..
ELPIDA KAI PISTI NA EXOMAI KAI H ELLADA DEN XANETAI…
D.T
Dear Mikis Theodorakis,
I think, it is not a question of German people against Greek people, but a question of industries and governments to exploit people for their benefit everywhere, also in Germany. Here we have more and more people, who have to work for low wages, and profits are raising. You know: Germany is one of the main export nations of weapons. Greece was one of the main customers for weapons. Turkish defense still is. Greece should finish this attitude to buy even more bombs and tanks and warships. Because people are starving and the government buys weapons. Let us hope, that coming elections will make an end to this!
Dear Mr. Theodorakis,
please give my best wishes to the greek people and please don’t hate us german people!
Also in Germany the “normal” people have to suffer – all only because a few people who always want to get more and more money and power.
I am very, very afraid that all european people sooner or later will loose freedom, democracy, worths of humanity if we can’t stop this social developement that is motivated only by avarice.
Please let’s work together to recognize and to fight against our real enemy that are that few avaricious people that want to opress the normal and poor people only for their own welfare.
We have to form an international movement against things like that. There are a lot of people in Germany, that are able to see the truth and who wish your country all the best!
We have to pay attention that we don’t let us incite against each other. Not one nation against the other but all people of all nations against that people that are destroying all worths of humanity, civilization, democracy, freedom …
I am so sad and so angry about our german government that betrays it’s own nation and the idea of european unity for money, money, money …
Dear Mikis,
I’m so tres tres heureux de lire vos mots….. et je vais vous ecrire de nouveau si j’aurai votre email. Mais est-ce-que vous vous rappelez de moi??? Avignon, Antigone, Micha van Hoecke, et moi je suis le danseur – mon papa de l’Indonesie et ma mere Hollandaise.
Depuis les annees 1974 (apres Paris) j’habite et travaille en Indonesie.
Et je dis je crie…. Vive La Grece….
Rudy Wowor
Dear patriot Theodorakis,
As a Greek who (since 3 generations) was born and raised out of our beloved country I want to thank you deeply for your pamphlet. We must learn the lessons of our history.. WE Hellenes must become the true friends of Hellenes and not our worst enemy.. Our blind and stupid dedication to our so called allies has proven to be a waist of time and energy for many generations.
We have much more common with Russians – Middle east countries – Asia …sensitivity – cultural tradition – passion – and feelings, that in all circumstances, we express… Happiness, anger, sadness..
I wish I could communicate directly with you. There is so much a Hellene of the diaspora could share with you and support our patriotism and unlimted trust and love to OUR ELLADA.
Respectfully
Tony Manias
Architect
Geneva- Switzerland
There’s an old rule that states Everytime snomeoe declares the old rules don’t apply any more, we’re on the verge of an incident that will prove just how much they do apply. That would strike me as the lesson of the EU. It’s goals are laudable enough, but Euroskeptics have long warned that the EU is a road to hell paved with good intentions. In particular, one only has to look at the economic center of gravity to realize that France and Germany were and always will dominate the EU, and that no matter what happens, the fortunes, good or ill, of the EU will always rest upon the good (or ill) will have France and Germany. Which, when you do a quick review of European history for, oh, the last 1,200 years, has been the way things have worked. The development of the EU has hardly modified the broad sweep of European history since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and those historical forces, as the rules of how Europe works, have not altered much. One thing we have learned, however, is that as bad as France and Germany being at each others’ throats has been, more frightening is the two of them traipsing through the daisies hand in hand.Greece isn’t the only EU member with big problems. Spain isn’t far behind, and the Irish economic wunderkind has taken a serious beating, leading to the kind of austerity which the Irish were told not so many years ago were things of the past.The EU has been too long sold as the only way to assure a European foot in the global economic door, and the only way to prevent the regionalism and nationalism that plunged it into so many past wars. There has also been the underlying anti-Americanism at the root of the Euro, that the Euro would deliver Europe, and the world at large, a currency not dominated by those vile imperialists in Washington. Soon Greece (and others) will soon find the bitter irony that they’ve become little more than provinces of another kind of empire.The British Euroskeptics have long warned of this, that membership in the EU ultimately erodes sovereignty, and just as importantly, the economic flexibility that sovereignty provides. However far the Brits have embroiled themselves in the EU soup, the one thing they can be thankful for right now is that they still have the indefatigable British pound.