by Ares Kalandides
The Athens-raised bi-national Berliner weighs in on the cultural animosity surrounding the euro debate.
Sometimes it’s hard to be a German, yet it seems that becoming one is even harder. I was doing well for a while. I got my own flat in Berlin’s most gentrified neighbourhood, assembled my little patchwork family and stopped smiling at unknown shop attendants. Things were going so well that in 2000, after 10 years in the country, I was even given German citizenship. I was finally home, as happy as any German can be.
Then two years ago everything started going downhill. In March 2010 Focus magazine published an issue that was to have considerable consequences. The cover showed the famous Louvre statue “Venus de Milo” giving the finger to the reader. The headline said “Crooks in the Euro Family” – and addressed Greece, the country where I was born and raised. Now, to be very honest, I do not much care for national symbols, so I was not offended by the statue’s rude gesture, but being called a villain – in a general, undifferentiated manner – was indeed shocking. The real blow though was the content of the main article. Practically every single piece of prejudice that can be conceived about a people was in there. Greeks (in general) were dishonest, lazy, and useless. Their civilisation was rubbish. Their islands overrated. Even their food was indigestible. That article was so stupid as to become ridiculous. Or so I thought. The global financial crisis, which had started in the fall of 2008, was producing its first visible victim among countries: Greece. The newly elected government under George Papandreou turned to Europe for help. National finances were so desolate that the state would soon be unable to meet its obligations. Greece was reduced to the role of a beggar, a role it is still playing. Continue reading →
