John Kass - John Kasss Odyssey: A Journey of Discovery in Greece and Turkey

JOHN KASSS ODYSSEY

A Journey of Discovery in Greece and Turkey

Columns by John Kass

Photographs by Chris Walker

Copyright 2012 by the Chicago Tribune

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the publisher.

Chicago Tribune

Tony W. Hunter, Publisher

Vince Casanova, President

Gerould W. Kern, Editor

R. Bruce Dold, Editorial Page Editor

Bill Adee, Vice President/Digital

Jane Hirt, Managing Editor

Joycelyn Winnecke, Associate Editor

Peter Kendall , Deputy Managing Editor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

This book was created using material published in the Chicago Tribune from April 4 to April 15, 2012.

INTRODUCTION

In April 2012, Tribune columnist John Kass made a two-week journey to Greece and Turkey, where he explored questions with relevance to his readers in Chicago.

This collection of columns reflects his pride in Greece, his familys ancient homeland, as he tells evocative stories about his father who immigrated to Chicago as a young man, the Greek civil war, a stubborn mule dubbed Truman and the cousins who still make their homes in the tiny village of Rizes.

The birthplace of democracy and the wellspring of Western culture, Greece is perched on the precipice of financial ruin. Some believe a collapse in Greece could be the beginning of a domino effect that might knock us all down.

Neighboring Turkey, a rival of Greeces from antiquity, is resurgent economically and stands astride the fault line of Islam and Western secularism. The contrasts are sharp, and the crosscurrents are complex and constantly shifting.

In these columns, John poignantly describes his encounters and draws parallels between what he saw and our own economic hardships, divided and rancorous government, the challenges and blessings of multiculturalism and even the corruption that has plagued Chicago and Illinois for decades. Photographer Chris Walker, who accompanied John, brilliantly captures the timeless beauty and contemporary tension that mark the land.

I have written many times about our mission at the Chicago Tribune. We stand up for the community through watchdog reporting, and we capture what it means to live, work and play in this region.

We also view the world from the vantage point of this city, exploring the connections that make Chicago an important global citizen.

Gerould W. Kern

Editor, Chicago Tribune

PART ONE: GREECES DEMOCRACY AT A TIPPING POINT

A cousin touches a tree in Rizes, Greece, where villagers have carved their names over the years. Kass grew up in Chicago hearing stories about Rizes.

Chapter 1: In Modern-Day Athens, Confidence Lies in Ruins

ATHENS At night with all but a full moon overhead, the Parthenon is lit and golden, almost a place of dreams as it sits there on that high rock over the city.

And so, my first night here, on the rooftop restaurant of the Hotel Grand Bretagne, looking at the iconic ruin with fellow Americans of Greek descent, it was easy to talk of Greeces economic troubles as just some temporary setback, in the context of history and of Hellenistic glories of old.

But there is real pain here, and despair, and its in the present. And I couldnt help wonder if I was also looking at Americas future. Thats partly what I came to find out.

Youre a journalist? asks Katina, at a kiosk selling newspapers near Constitution Square. Will the politicians find the solution?

She laughed with her voice, but her eyes were flat and they werent smiling.

Of course you can see whats happened, cant you? The government continued to grow, feeding an entrenched, carnivorous bureaucracy that smothered entrepreneurship.

And the people, having been taught to trade votes for favor, couldnt help but flock to political parties for special benefits delivered to them by political leaders. These leaders increased their power by increasing government services.

It is a corruption that includes everything from do-nothing patronage jobs to luxurious public pensions, to university admission for the children of the politically blessed. And no real means to pay for it all except to increase taxes on the private sector, which uses political influence of its own to cut its taxes or avoid paying them altogether.

Finally, it was inevitable that the money would run out. The people lost their confidence. So no wonder its a catastrophe.

No, Im not just talking about Greece. Im talking about back home too. The bill hasnt come fully due yet in America. It will. But its past due in Greece, and guess who pays?

Here, the Greek people pay.

For decades after the war, politicians spent whatever they could borrow. It was a system that built power for the lords of the political machinery, and with power came great personal wealth. Even a moron should have realized that such a system was completely unrealistic and unsustainable.

Sound familiar?

And while patronage workers still keep their jobs here, massive layoffs have come in the private sector. Some 50 percent of young people in Greece are unemployed. Many have had their wages cut, others have lost their jobs entirely. Costs continue to rise.

An embroidery merchant passes Athens Parthenon, which has stood for more than 2,000 years as Greeces citizens endured disaster after disaster, from war to occupation.

I kill myself standing on my feet, and the guy with the political job, he has everything, and I have nothing, said Spyros, who works as a waiter nearby.

Spyros is in his 30s. He is thin and tired. He cant afford a family. He doesnt fit the stereotype of the Greek who sits lazily in the cafes, any more than a stereotypical Chicago political hack describes most Americans.

The reason? Spyros isnt a political hack.

These politicians are bloodsuckers, Spyros tells me in Greek. And the public sector workers, theyre bloodsuckers. When the politicians even talk of cutting them, they organize, they scream, they yell, and the politicians become afraid.

But you are going to see changes coming here, he said, no longer angry, but rather flat, a man resigned to natural law, the way you might be resigned to gravity if you saw a ball rolling off a table and knew there was nothing to stop it from falling.

The changes are coming, he said, maybe not this election, but the next.

And thats what concerns many. In a few weeks, there will be elections, and so far polling suggests that neither of the main parties, the left-leaning PASOK and the center-right New Democracy party, will win outright.

This means that the same parties that helped ruin the economy will form a coalition, and this coalition is also expected to fail, as other parties on the hard left and right play the populist card and attract support from a weary and frightened people.

I left Chicago on Saturday, March 31, flying on Turkish Airlines, first to Istanbul and then to Athens. And after a few days here, its on to Istanbul, to see a people who are excited and confident about the future.