ATHENS LETTER: For Greeks interference with personal freedom is an insult to democracy – whether it's nanny-state health measures or sacrificing sovereignty, writes RICHARD PINE
WHAT’S THE link between terrorism and a ban on smoking? Between a recent spate of letter-bombs in Athens and widespread rejection of the new ban on smoking in enclosed spaces? At first sight, not much.
Yet both phenomena are driven by the Greek insistence on freedom and self-determination. The Greek word for "freedom", eleutheria, expresses the concept of movement and behaviour, the right to self-determination. As an editorial in Kathimerininewspaper observed, "smoking cigarettes is not simply the ritualised inhalation of nicotine, tar and other addictive substances, but a personal statement; not an admission of dependence, but a declaration of personal liberty".
In Athens, the anti-ban campaign is led by bar-owner Nikos Louvros, who even formed a political party to contest the recent elections. In answer to the charge that smokers imperil the health of non-smokers as well as their own, he says “the authorities cannot tell us what to do. That’s tampering with the electoral process.” This insistence that the right of the individual to smoke overrides the right of others to a smoke-free environment has a parallel with what the security forces fear may be a resurgence of terrorism. Responsibility for the letter-bombs sent last month to several embassies in Athens has been claimed by the self-styled Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire – without which, one might argue, there would be no smoke.
But it’s not only the terrorists’ proclaimed war on the Greek state that demonstrates the Greek reliance on freedom: largely peaceful demonstrations have indicated the general feeling that calling in the IMF and the EU for a bailout is an infringement of national sovereignty, a reduction of the Greeks’ ability to direct their own affairs. Whether it’s the kafeneion (neighbourhood bar) or the parliament, the affairs of state are the prerogative of the individual, and are fiercely debated.
It appears that even the health minister admits that the smoking law cannot be effectively implemented. This isn’t Greece’s first attempt to confront the twin problems of smoking and passive smoking – it’s the fourth in this decade. The last one, introduced in July 2009, failed completely, due mainly to the fact that there was no designated inspectorate to enforce the law. At first, cafes removed ashtrays from indoor tables and placed receptacles at the doors marked “please extinguish your cigarettes here”. But, as regular customers retreated from the winter and refused to observe the law, the ashtrays reappeared and no notice was taken. One of the ideological points of the Irish smoking ban was to protect employees; in Greek cafes it was the waiters who flouted it first.
As winter drives even the hardiest smokers indoors, there is widespread defiance of the new ban, introduced on September 1st. Tom Cameron, from Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, who runs the James Joyce pub and restaurant in Athens, says that he supports it in principle, but cannot compete with other cafe-owners who ignore the law, and therefore has to allow smoking in his bar. It’s a spiral encountered everywhere. Tasos Benisis, another cafe-owner, says “there is no point changing the law again. People will just carry on smoking”. Many criticise the government for not enforcing the law, while others declare that, if it is unenforceable, it should never have been enacted.
But smoking is as serious in Greece as elsewhere. Forty-two per cent of all Greeks smoke: 63 per cent of men; 39 per cent of women; 37 per cent of the 12-17 age group; and 45 per cent of those aged 16-25. Overall, it’s the highest smoking rate in the EU, annually consuming 32 billion cigarettes, with 20,000 deaths a year from smoke-related diseases and a health cost of €2 billion.
The government has called in the Harvard School of Public Health to train officials responsible for implementing the ban. Harvard says that if smoking among young people is not curbed, 350,000 of today’s young people will die prematurely.
This cuts no ice with dedicated smokers, who are bracing themselves for a further hike in tobacco tax. A packet of 28 cigarettes (yes, 28) costs €3.80 at present, hardly a deterrent when you consider that smokers in Ireland pay €8 for 20.
It isn’t an exaggeration to say the smoking issue and that of national security emanate from the same root cause. A fresh outbreak of terrorism, accompanied by an outburst of illegal smoking, points to the widely held concept that to interfere with personal freedom is an insult to democracy.
My memory of the introduction of the ban in Ireland is of almost complete and immediate effectiveness, compliance being based on acceptance of the principle. Here in Greece, the reverse is the case. Newspaper editorials urge citizens to think collectively, to establish a sense of community, whereas fierce individualism is the order of the day. The man in the street may not readily express himself in concepts, but certain ways of seeing the world are embedded within the Greek mind. When an already distrusted government introduces a measure which runs counter to that mind, ideas, if not actions, become violent.