Ahead of the referendum, the fear is not just of collapse, but of a return to the nightmare of the nation’s violent historyBack in the autumn of 2011, I sat in an Athens restaurant with an old acquaintance, a cosmopolitan man who works in the arts. The crisis had begun to bite, though we had no idea then how bad it was going to get. We could hear chanting from Syntagma Square: there was a general strike against the first bailout memorandum. “I don’t feel close to those people,” my dinner companion said. “There’s a civil war going on. It’s not fighting in the streets – yet. But it will become like that. I don’t recognise those people as my compatriots.”Greeks are preparing to vote in a referendum ostensibly on whether to accept the creditors’ latest conditions for extending the country’s bailout. But in these lurching, seasick days, everything is uncertain. Greek banks are closed; the markets are plummeting; Jean-Claude Juncker has declared his love for the Greek people. The bailout programme expires tomorrow; it’s not clear if the offer will even be on the table after that. And assuming we get to this vote on a no-longer-valid document, nobody knows what happens next if the country says no – or yes. Continue reading...
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