On the state of the black market in downtown Athens…
I am currently in Greece enjoying my easter vacation. I was travelling through downtown Athens and happened to come across Ermou Street, named after the ancient Greek god of commerce (Hermes). This, as I remember it from years past, used to be a street of great commercial activity, featuring a plethora of stores and a great number of customers. However, these days, although the stores are still there, there are also a multitude of illegal traders, setting up camp on the sidewalk and selling all sorts of illicit goods, from pirate dvds and cds to fake handbags, fake watches, toys of questionable origins, counterfeit eyewear and so on… I was absolutely shocked by their numbers and their audacity; nobody seemed to mind them and they were handling their counterfeits in plain sight!
I cannot and absolutely will not believe that the average citizen of Athens, and by that I mean the informed Athenian, wants to live in a society like this. I like to think that the Greeks will eventually rise up and replace their corrupt political “elite” and elect some leader worth following. Further, I also hope they will look inwards to shed off the long-ingrained bad traits of Greek culture (inability to declare real income, compulsively trying to cheat the state and so on). I really really hope that in the next few years Athens will transform itself to a modern city like all those marvellous places I have visited all over northern west Europe.
