By Michael Karadjis
The impression that Greeks are unanimously behind the Greek government in its campaign against Macedonia has been widely fostered in Australia, by both the Greek media and the establishment media. The reality is vastly different.
For a start, the Greek Communist Party (KKE), which has traditionally been the third party in parliament, voted against the embargo that the Greek government recently imposed on Macedonia. This embargo, essentially an act of war, stops virtually everything from reaching landlocked Macedonia through the Greek port of Salonika.
Greece imposed the blockade following recognition of the new republic by the US and European countries under the name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) earlier this year. The ruling parties in Greece organised a new round of nationalistic mass rallies against the republic being recognised, culminating in up to a million people demonstrating in Salonika. However, the size of these rallies was partly due to all schools and many workplaces being closed and students and workers, along with everyone else, getting free transport from all over northern Greece to attend.
The KKE opposed these rallies, as it has other such rallies, because of their chauvinist character. It also protested against the forced closing of schools. The other major left current, the Coalition of the Left and Progress (CLP), which two years ago was in the thick of the chauvinist hysteria, has since changed its position and opposed the latest rallies.
Slogans at the rallies included "Macedonia, 4000 years Greek" (there was no such thing as a Greek 4000 years ago) and even "To arms! To arms! Let's take Skopje!"
Similar rallies have been held in Australia by sections of the Greek community. The odd thing about all these rallies is that they protest against recognition of the new state under the ridiculous name "FYROM", even though Greece supported the entry of the republic into the UN last year with that name.
KKE leader Aleka Papariga has even broken the ultimate taboo by referring to the minority population in Greek Macedonia. While not using the term "Macedonian" but simply referring to the rights of the "Slavophones", she nevertheless created a chauvinist uproar in parliament, followed by a vicious media assault and attempted attacks by right-wing thugs, and she was declared "persona non grata" in various cities.
The clearest opposition to the government's line on Macedonia has come from the far left and many prominent individuals. They have organised rallies of 10-15,000 people.
Last year, 358 academics, artists, unionists and others put their names to a petition which stated, "Only Greek Macedonia is Greek" — counterposed to the official slogan "There is only one Macedonia and it has always been Greek." Another 169 prominent people put their names to a statement headed "The neighbouring peoples are not our enemies", which called for the recognition of Macedonia and democratic rights for the minority in northern Greece.
For handing out this leaflet, four people were sentenced to 19 months in prison. There are now around 20 people facing prison sentences for expressing oppositional views on this issue in this "land of democracy".
Last year, 17-year-old Michael Papadakis was sentenced to a year in prison for handing out a leaflet calling Alexander the Great a war criminal and stating that there are no races, since everyone is of mixed ancestry. Three Macedonians face prison sentences for crimes such as saying that they "feel Macedonian" and suggesting that their people are oppressed.
Even sections of the right have expressed discomfort with where the chauvinist tidal wave is taking Greece. Former Prime Minister Mitsotakis, who is on record when PM as saying that Greeks will "get used to" the name Macedonia, has recently raised the possibility of breaking with his right-wing New Democracy party, over its support for the blockade imposed by the current PASOK government.
This position may reflect a more sober "European" view than the isolationism of the ex-socialist PASOK and its ultraright allies in the Political Spring party. Greece's blockade has been condemned by the European Union, and the European Commission has referred Greece to the European Court of Justice.
Greece's allies have shown little interest in Macedonian self-determination, taking two years to recognise the republic, and then under the name FYROM with various conditions attached. However, Greece's more extreme measures, such as the blockade, threaten economic collapse in Macedonia, possibly followed by a flare-up between the regime and the large Albanian minority.
This could invite intervention by the surrounding states and a wider Balkan war, bringing in NATO allies Greece and Turkey on opposing sides and dramatically increasing the flow of refugees to western Europe. It is this scenario that Greece's Western allies want to avoid.