23 April 2010: 4 years since the "crime of Castelorizo"

The calendar showed April 23, 2010 when the "Calvary" of Greece, begun.

Set against the beautiful Kastelorizo, the then Prime Minister George A. Papandreou, being (for many) in a "designated service" for salvation (;) of Greece, has delivered the country into the arms of the IMF.

"It is necessary and urgent national need to formally ask our partners for the activation of the support mechanism, which together created in the EU," he said in his address the "prime minister of the troika."

If the Greeks knew that day what is meant by joining us in the support mechanism and what would follow, then it is likely that Mr. Papandreou would not ever return in Athens. If the fisherman shown in the video knew what he was saying then the Prime Minister is certain that he would not be fishing light-hearted, but possibly he would had thrown Mr. Papandreou into the sea to prevent the "crime".

The 23rd of April is now a "black" anniversary for our country, which almost everyone will want to forget - except perhaps from the moral and the physical perpetrators.
Four years. Four years seemed to Greeks like a century. Nothing is no longer the same. Our country was forced to sign Memoranda, Medium Programs and many multi-bill, which included brutal, unpopular measures.

Pressures, threats and extortion, by the officials of the troika which had put the knife in the throat of the Greeks asking new harsh measures. Again and again the same story for four years...

Unrepentant ...

And while we all exorcize the memorandums and the troika, the only one who insists to brag even today for that dramatic option, is George Papandreou.
Only Mr. Papandreou insists on talking about right choice, when even European officials, leading economists, even IMF officials admit that in our country applied the wrong policies.

Even today no one can interpret with clarity and certainty the real thoughts and intentions of Mr. Papandreou. Ok, he had to deal with a bankrupt State; there is no doubt about it. But his own movements the fateful semester from October 2009 to April 2010 proved absolutely devastating and should definitely be investigated.
On 23 April 2010, Papandreou changed the course of modern Greek history. In retrospect he only causes negative emotions ranging from frustration and anger to surprise for his superficiality. And of course, we do not mean only of Papandreou but all those who have served as Members over the years and voted the memorandums that condemned the Greeks and destroyed an entire generation.
Remains unanswered whether George Papandreou knew where he led Greece that day and how much that fateful decision will cost to the Greek people.
It was ignorance or conscious choice? Was it an emergency decision or an order of foreign powers in which Papandreou bowed his head? Naivety or a planned political move?
The answer may not be only one. Whatever though, was a huge mistake. Papandreou on April 23, 2010 put the country on a course towards the unknown, on a path of great social, economic and national costs.

Papandreou has major responsibility for what happened and should finally be held accountable in court and Greek people for the "crime of Castelorizo".

Where we stand today

Four years after the announcement of Papandreou, from the border island in the Aegean, nothing in Greece is not the same.

Lenders now control everything in our country. They have opinion on everything, while Germany of Merkel and Schäuble intervene even in our national issues.

Greece's image in 4 years has changed dramatically. Hundreds homeless in the streets of cities, thousands of our fellow citizens seeking food at soup kitchens of Metropolis and municipalities, poverty, deprivation and humiliation of every concept of dignity for the proud Greek people.

Barbaric measures, wild austerity, sweeping changes to labor, cuts in wages and pensions, circumvent of labor rights.

Wherever you look around you see people lose their jobs, kids swoon at school because at home there is no food, people jostling in line for a plate of food or trying desperately to get vegetables that are distributed free of charge and people looking in the trash and sleeping on the street.

Padlocks everywhere, businessmen in debt, abandoned neighborhoods and high crime! Pawnshops springing up like mushrooms in the place of shops.
Illegal gangs and neo-Nazi formations, who are trying to emerge as protectors of society.

Education, health and social care are under collapse.

The Greeks feel anger, sadness and shame for all the above. But do not give up. The proud Greek people will get up again and will stand on their feet. They will regain their lost dignity and send away all those who deprived them of a life.