'We stay in Europe' rally in Athens, June, 2015. Demotix/ Chrissa Giannakoudi. All rights reserved.Having spent the best part of the last six years talking and writing about the Greek crisis, I often find myself wondering what else one might add to that subject.
Then I realise that so many misconceptions still abound, even about basic facts, that to keep writing and talking (preferably with each other, rather than in parallel monologues), is our best bet for coming to terms with the crisis and its aftermath. After all, no successful resolution of any crisis is ever possible without a shared understanding of what went wrong and why – and without a common effort to ensure that next time we will know better.
Clearly, nowhere is this task more urgent than in Greece herself. On the one hand, because the country was far more affected by the European crisis than any other: in 2008-2014 the size of her economy shrank by an almost unprecedented 26%, compared to 8% in Italy and Portugal, and 6% in Spain. On the other hand, because since most Greeks like to think of ourselves as direct heirs of Socrates, they ought to feel especially bound by his imperative to “know ourselves”. Yet, looking at the current level of public debate in the country, a casual observer might be forgiven for thinking of Greeks what Talleyrand allegedly thought of the Bourbons: “They learned nothing, and forgot nothing”.
