FDR once famously said, “You have nothing to fear but fear itself.” What passes for our Prime Minister here in Greece totally reversed this dictum and made a speech with the purpose of instilling the fear of hell into his subjects… sorry, I suppose I mean citizens. But do I?

Anyhow, he subjected us to a whole gruesome tirade of how hellish things will be if we don’t sign up to Germany’s latest demands to annihilate our economy. Hunger, cold, violence and such. Absolute intimidation of a people rendered helpless by the politicians and technocrats in charge. He even went so far as to publish a time schedule of how in a few weeks, say, there would be no food, a few months down the line looting would break out and so on and forth. Calculated to the time and day. As you would expect from any self respecting technocrat.

What he failed to say was that when we submit to the new demands, things will be pretty much the same if not far far worse. What he also failed to say was that a large slice of the population is already going cold and hungry and with no prospects, and that petty theft, is already spiraling up. As a result of the policies already imposed on Greece by Germany. And given that these latest demands are even worse, we will be plunged into hell even without an ‘official’ bankruptcy.

In his lovely little time schedule of how things will play out if we do default now, he forgot to mention one detail. That in this rioting and looting and mayhem that will break out, there will also be (without fail!) the lynching of corrupt politicians and of those instrumental in the destruction of the Greek Economy. Himself included. Though rumour has it he has his air ticket to Boston permanently in his pocket. I have no way of knowing if this is true of course.

But as to fear, unlike Roosevelt, he wishes to stoke it dangerously. He wants to reduce the Greeks to a cowering fearful mass of kow towers obedient to The Frau’s dictates. When it is common knowledge that in her infinite wisdom The Frau has decides to ‘make an example’ of Greece. Treat her so badly and viciously and violently, grind her into pulp, so that no one else in her growing Reich will ever dare go against her wishes.

This is in fact what German policy was in the war. Make an example of them!! For every German soldier killed, annihilate 10 villages, kill off all the men, destroy their very existence! (And by the way the Germans never did pay reparations to Greece for all that.) So this is German policy all over again.

Lela Karayanni was a young woman who, in April 1941, when the German tanks started trundling into Athens was not overcome with fear. Contrary to what Mr Papdemos wants to turn us into here, she was proud and fearless. She committed the first act of defiance against the German occupation of Greece. As the tanks trundled into Athens through Patission Street, totally unarmed, in an act of total defiance, she threw herself against the tank and was squashed to death. But she lit the spark of defiance which grew into a forest fire. and ultimately prevailed

A street has been named after her near where she committed her act of defiance. Apart from that she has receded from our memories. However, Mr Papademos, perhaps we should do well to remember her now. She gave her life for the nation. Fearlessly. Intimidation may work to a certain degree but it does have a tendency to back fire.

And remember, Lela Karayanni showed us what ‘you have nothing to fear but fear itself’ means in practice.