Σύντομη παρέμβαση μετά από την ομιλία του καθηγητή Maurizio Ferrera στην εκδήλωση του Πανεπιστημίου Πελοποννήσου προς τιμήν του (Κόρινθος 23 Μαΐου 2014)
Maurizio Ferrera’s use of Hanna Arendt’s
principle of “pardon and promise” to draw an analogy between the current
impasse and postwar Europe is certainly intriguing. Ferrera suggests that just as young
Germans coming of age after the war were allowed to make a new start free from
the guilt of their parents’ generation, so must young Greeks (and young
Spaniards, and young Portuguese and so on) be allowed to live their lives unburdened by the crippling debt accumulated as a result of the previous
generation’s imprudence: pardon and promise.
Well, yes and no. Even though denazification was less than complete, young Germans growing up
in the 1950s were unrelentingly drilled about German guilt – not just Hitler’s
guilt, or that of his closest associates, but the guilt of millions of Germans
who cheered him when in opposition, brought him to power with their vote, sustained
his rule with their enthusiasm or indifference to his brutality, actively
participating or turning a blind eye to his war crimes.
We shouldn't stretch the analogy too much: after all, those responsible for the Greek crisis didn’t actually
kill anybody – they just squandered a few billions. But, to pursue it further, I believe that in order to deserve pardon
and promise young Greeks ought to go just as deep: denounce not just ‘corrupt
politicians’ (that’s easy), or German politicians (that’s even easier), but the
false promises on which their own prosperity rested – and draw the appropriate
conclusions.
If young Greeks fail to do so, if they
choose to spend their energy on a state of permanent indignation, eschewing
reflection, ready to follow the next demagogue who flatters their narcissism,
then they will resemble a postwar generation of young Germans all right – but not
the one of the 1950s: they will resemble the bitter and vengeful generation of the 1920s.
And we all know how that played out.
And we all know how that played out.
