Syriza Imitates the US - on immigration

One of the worst trait of knee-jerk lefties around the world, or here actually, is an lazy anti-Americanism.  For a country like Greece, that does not make sense.  There are many ways in which America could benefit from imitating Greek attitudes on food, family, and work-life balance.

But Greece really needs to copy American ideals such as meritocracy, faith in democratic institutions (courts, etc.), taking more personal responsibility for civic life  (volunteerism, citizens boards), and above all not asking what your country can do for you but what can you for your country.  

One way our meritocracy manifests itself is an immigrant can come to America and instantly feel like an American, and more importantly know a child born here is automatically an American citizen.  

Unlike the U.S. or Canada, most old world nation's determine citizenship by blood or heritage. For instance, in Greece there are generations of Greek-born Albanians who despite that birth are officially Albanian citizens. The same was true for Turks in Germany, northern Africans in France, etc.  That is starting to change in Europe, though not everywhere, but in a very progressive move changed this week in Greece courtesy of Syriza. 

On Tuesday, Alternate Migration Policy Minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou announced that Greek nationality would be granted to all migrants' children who were born and raised in Greece. She added that this would apply to even those who were not born here, but came to Greece at very young age and finished school here.

That is huge!  Congrats to Syriza for that very humane and logical move, AND for imitating the U.S. too.

If it weren't for bad luck

Sometimes a person, but in this case an entire country, simply can not catch a break, has absolutely no luck.  


That's true of the Greek state, a nation battered by bad leadership, bad economic problems - and even worse solutions.


Sports is one potential reprieve.  But whereas Friday's spirited fight and 1-1 tie with Poland was inspirational, today's depressing defeat to the Czech Republic was just 'throw up your hands' sad. 


What more can happen to the motherland?  We came out sloppy on defense, victim to a new back line made up of transplanted midfielders and a new goalie. The Czechs immediately took advantage of Greece's awkward back line to score two quick goals within the first seven minutes (a EURO record, BTW).


Our back line was weak, our goal keeper Halkias even weaker. The second goal in particular simply and sloppily squirted right past him.  Bad luck defense, bad goal keeping.


Like they did versus Poland, things proceeded to get a little worse. With five minutes left in the first half Ellas scored, but the goal was negated by another bad call - this time a terrible offsides call.  It's soccer's worst and most inconsistently called rule, and it stung the inventors of civilization today.


Greece did admirably fight back in the second half, and Fanis Gekas punched in a misplayed ball by Czech goalie Peter Cheh to cut the lead in half early in the second period. Despite outplaying the Czech Republic squad for the final 50 minutes Greece could get no closer, and lost a crucial game today.


All is not lost.  If Greece manages to defeat Russia and if the Czechs defeat the Poles the motherland could advance to the knock out round.


Greece miraculously won EURO 2004; no one expects a repeat of that improbably championship. However, it would be nice to see Greece win a game or two, or at least not run into so much bad luck, bad goal keeping, and tough calls from the refs.   But I guess when you are on a country-wide losing streak, complete with double digit unemployment, a 3-year long recession, record deficits, and a mean spirited and ineffective austerity plan' that's simply too much bad juju and bad karma for the Greek soccer team to overcome. 


Our Ethniki has admirably shown some fight at EURO 2012.  Let's hope the team - and of course the nation - is rewarded for that effort against Russia on Saturday.

Anarchy

Is it ironic to write about anarchy, especially if you are not using spray paint?

I'm a few days late blogging on this topic, one that bookended the Saturday Washington Post. Of course, Greece was once again on the front page with an article on the rise of the anarchist movement in Europe but especially in the motherland.

Though a punk rocker from way back, at least 1981, I was never into anarchy that much. It might have been okay for the U.K. and the Sex Pistols, but I was too much of a socialist punk rocker, with a soft spot for government programs and public projects funded by progressive taxation (so maybe I was a Keynesian punk rocker) to see the appeal of anarchy as an ideology or world view.

The irony here is that many punks in England, especially the Pistols, hated the welfare state and it's leveling and blandness (even the national health service!).  There were other punks, like The Clash, who were more leftist/Marxists/populists/etc.  and in the U.S. most punks of that era were very left, following the anti-corporate, anti-Reagan, and anti-hippie credo of The Dead Kennedys and others (I may be overgeneralizing here, but that was my experience).

So I liked the state too much to be an anarchist, but also you simply can't trust anarchy, and more importantly the mob mentality that usually accompanies it.  I can't imagine anarchy is the best way to accomplish anything progressive, so it's odd to think it's popularity is on the rise in Europe.

One of the great political paradoxes is 'without order there is no freedom."  Or justice for that matter.  The rule of law, just law, is more important and more liberating than anarchy. 

A vivid example of that truism was also in The Post on Saturday, in my main man Colbert King's column on the Freedom Riders.   King brutally reminded us the cost of anarchy. In the south in the 50s and 60s there was anarchy.  The mob ruled, the police looked the other way, and in the anarchy that followed African-Americans and members of the civil rights movement were terrorized.  

His column is just one, small, snap shot of how the white power structure reacted to the civil rights movement, and took advantage of the lack of the rule of law, of anarchy.  

A year ago anarchists in Greece fire bombed a bank, killing 3 employees including a pregnant woman.  That incident prompted Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to state "protest is one thing, murder is another."

The U.S. has learned a lot from the Greeks.  Greek youth, the most active participants in the 'We won't pay' movement, have plenty of reasons to have little-to-no faith in Greek political structure. But they should learn from the U.S. in this case.  

All the great leftist victories in the U.S., from winning the Civil War to labor to civil rights, have relied on citizens insisting on a just application of the law and our democratic values.  Despite the anarchy, the civil rights movement eventually won (legall; within 10 years legal racism had been defeated).  But it was a disciplined, organized movement. 

The 'We won't pay' movement and others like them should focus on organizing around democratic values, not on promoting anarchy.