The truth is that every time I browse the news checking for the latest and something to write my eyes automatically always go to something about Greece and the situation that unveils dramatically there. Not that there is lack of things to write or write; while there are people all around the world starving and kids dying Mitt Romney and the rest of the republican gang are spending billions – enough billions to feed whole countries at least for some hours – in the name of democracy. And yes Mugabe continues destroying and murdering in Zimbabwe but nobody is moving him this time in the name of unity and democracy. Putin and Medvedev announced that there was a deal for the Tsar’s return so now they are just going to trade places with Putin returning to his throne and all that in the name of democracy.

And then in the name of democracy I return to Greece. Media experts, prime ministers and ministers in different tones warning the last few days the Greeks that they cannot vote any other than the parties that supported the austerity measures otherwise …and this otherwise very democratically hangs mysteriously in the air. So very democratically they threaten the Greek people on how to exercise their democratic right. And that coming after a global campaign against this very people – not the government, not the responsible but the simple people – accusing them for anything prejudice imaginable. I suppose that last one has to do with democracy and freedom of speech.

Greeks nowadays all around the world are not just the black sheep of the global economy but they are also victims of prejudice harassment and discrimination. According to the media, Greeks are lazy, corrupted beggars living on the others’ expense. The young man with the engineering degree that his comment has been circulating the social networks lately could not find work in France, any work, because he was ….Greek! And he is not the exception. He has become the rule. The other day a Greek friend of mine told me that a colleague of his from Bangladesh was sarcastic about the lazy and corrupted Greeks and my first reaction was “and you didn’t laugh?” He didn’t!

At least once a week somebody will make a comment about Greece to me and the comment will be intentionally hurtful and prejudice. And I will get it anywhere, in the café where somebody heard me speaking Greek on the phone, my workplace because they know that I’m Greek or in the supermarket where they notice my Greek name on my credit card. The comments vary from “time for you to pay your tax” to “you can have sunshine all the time with my money” and “the price of bread and my tax have gone up because of Greece!”

And perhaps the one who blamed the Greeks because the Finnish government increases the taxes and the price of bread is an idiot with limited understanding in anything beyond his/her nose but you cannot blame him/her because somebody has put in front of his/her nose the information that is responsible for this prejudice outburst.  Whose responsible and who’s going to be accountable, well this is a huge issue at least for me and in the name of democracy. Because this is where we crossed the line and democracy became semantics. Democracy semantics, even the sound of it is grotesque. After centuries of fighting, wars, civil wars and millions of dead fighting prejudice and discrimination at least for the Greeks we are back to zero where been Greek, been a national of a certain state is a reason of prejudice and discrimination. In this case the sad semantics is that every single nation in this world has lived one way or another prejudice and discrimination and we should know better. We should; we don’t!

Oddly the last few days German officials are complaining for the anti-German attitude of the Greeks. Well, who’s to blame? Amazingly the Germans blamed the …British media. Let’s leave out the British part and focus on the media part. The media have played a huge and dramatic role in the whole thing. Prejudice in the limits of social racism has made headlines all around the world and the darkest side of human behaviour has found an expression through the tabloids’ pages; and not only the tabloids. You would never call the Financial Times tabloid despite behaviour, would you? What you would accused them is that having an agenda which has nothing to do with the Greek people but with the capitals they represent or they have become their mouthpiece and lacking better arguments invested in people’s prejudice. And I’m not even going close to the German media! But again who’s responsible?

The German financial minister said that he doesn’t want elections in Greece now – who asked him? – and that he doesn’t trust that the Greek government will be able to apply all the measures due to corruption – who’s president was forced onto resigning. The Finnish financial minister openly demanded Greek land as guarantees for the loan, a loan where the overwhelming interest gives a very good profit to the Finnish government – oddly nowadays this is called partners solidarity – and during the “negotiations” with targeted public interviews she did everything possible to undermine the Greek people probably looking for more. And these are just some examples of state officials without going to what parliamentarians from every single European state has stated, things that should be accountable in front courts. In Finland Timo Soini and the rest of the “True” Finns gang have given a real show and based their whole electoral campaign on Greece. In the name of democracy always.

But in the end of the day it comes down to me, to my friend Panos, to my friend Mihalis and Kostas. To my friend Maria and Eleni, to my friend Georgios and Anthea. And we are all Greeks. All hard working people coming from a nation with the European foundations theoretically and practically. A nation that has done mistakes like any other nation in history but Panos, Mihalis, Kostas, Maria Eleni, Georgios and Anthea can not be accountable for those mistakes. Most importantly these people should have never been victimised, discriminated and prejudice because they are Greeks and because governments, state-people and media serving their own agendas turned people all around the world to racist animals because it ends to “Me Greek – You prejudice!”