The Acropolis Museum, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), the Thessaloniki Metro: three important projects that constitute landmarks of a modern and evolving Greece. The museum is visited by tens of thousands of tourists and represents one of Greece’s most compelling arguments for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. Residents from all over Attica flock to the SNFCC every weekend, and over in the northern port city, the metro fills Thessalonikians with pride and impresses visitors with the unique way it brings together the past and present.
What do these three projects have in common? That none would exist today if their fanatical opponents, if reactionary parties that say no to everything, had had their way. Costas Simitis was dragged through the courts for years after he was no longer prime minister because certain obsessive naysayers came after him over the museum. Kostas Karamanlis spent a tremendous amount of time and money to get the park finished, and the new metro, of course, had been a focal point of opposition from a motley alliance of ideologically fanaticized citizens.
There is no arguing that every big infrastructure project needs to be put to a public debate. It is important for society to understand why it’s important and for the impacts and consequences it will have to be discussed. It is also important to be open to changes to the original plan when the need arises. But this is an entirely different thing to a country being held hostage by a minority that likes to cause a ruckus, that likes to oppose everything and wants to impose its point of view by bullying whoever is in government at any given time. Had these people succeeded in getting their way, the country would be a lot poorer than it is today and it would remain mired in the past.
Another blatant example is the Ymittos ring road, which was vehemently opposed by critics who claimed that hundreds of trees would be chopped down and the area would be filled with gas stations. I am sure that someone could create a chilling account of all the essential projects that were never carried out because such reactions succeeded.
The economic crisis matured us; it made us see that inertia leads nowhere and that small groups of fanatics cannot be allowed to keep us stuck in the past. The amount of clout they have is impressive, because they act like sects and never give up. They are part of the bad side of the Metapolitefsi, of the out-of-control radicalization that led to the closure of so many factories that breathed life into rural parts of the country and to so many lost opportunities for growth.
We need to remember this when the next argument breaks out about something the overwhelming majority of society believes to be good and necessary, but a vocal minority is determined to stop from happening.