65
straight-forward manner”, adding that the upper levels of the government probably
realized this too. He explained that the state was being controlled, on the one hand, by
big business which was dependent on the state’s compliance to maintain profits and, on
the other hand, by the EU and US62 which manipulated Greece for their economic and
political ends. So, Greece was pursuing an agenda of regional domination with the
interim intention of obeying its masters. However the state’s long term goal, Nikos
pointed out, was informed by delusions of a “cultural right” to greatness, certainly among
Western nations and ‘naturally’63 among the rest. Their willing manipulation by business
and foreign states might thus be seen as an attempt at reaching an ultimate end through a
particular means: “play the fool” (παfζoυv τηv πaπιa)64 now, to gain control later. Once
again, I remained generally unconvinced by Nikos’s argument, although recent news
items about political scandals gave credence to his assertion of a link between
government and big business. I sat quietly and nodded, writing carefully in my notebook.
“Whatever the motivation,” Nikos continued, “the citizen is manipulated, confused, and
pacified - his mind just one more item to be managed and controlled.”
This last thought hung in the air as Nikos took a deep breath. After a few
moments of silence, during which he lit another cigarette and gazed at the broken
chandelier above, he changed topics returning to his main interest: the streets. He
continued, “As I explained, citizens are lulled into complacency by confusion and
misdirection perpetrated by the state and its agents, and by the tyranny of labor bonds.” I
62 Of note, the influence of the West on strategies of Greek governance is well documented (see for
example Gourgouris 1996).
63 Here Niko made a veiled reference to an assumed sense of superiority among ancient Greeks towards
eastern nations, and particularly the Ottoman Empire. His vision of the state operating under the tenets of a
reincarnated, reinterpreted, and somehow mutilated and misapplied ancient Greek ideology was obvious.
64 This is a Greek phrase translated, literally, to “play the duck”. The meaning is that one pretends to be
ignorant.