You recall, we had told you, we were at war with an insidious invisible enemy. You didn’t see it, but here we painted it for you. Huge, threatening. Your health and your own survival were at stake. You see, our responsibility was to “save you.” Thank you, for your health you gave up other rights. You persistently asked for more! Greater severity, far-reaching confinement. Generously, we left you open the florists, yes, and supermarkets, supermarkets, taking youρ pets out. You see, we have succeeded, this is a triumph! Let’s not talk about anything else, it’s a triumph …

A win? A success? Which win? Success in doing what? What was the goal? “We will make it” was vaguely promoted to the public! In other scenarios, the President also said that “we will survive”, yes!, thanks to the DNA, our Greek DNA. But, not all of us have survived!

In order to ‘survive’, they deprived us of fundamental rights and freedoms, arbitrarily. Health is paramount, the legal issues should be left to the lawyers, the Attorney General told us, who immediately evaded his duties by saying:This is not the time for questions! Deviation from the constitution, with measures that, at the very least, were not the products of dialogue, of any debate. “For our health,” they told us, they decided, they issued orders, and the vast majority surrendered. How can it be so?

How is it possible that a government whose policies are consistently and primarily serving the interests of the few to the detriment of the country’s good, a government that’s destroying the environment, how can this government call on people to trust its thinking and choices? How can we abandon ourselves in the hands of a government that has been the champion of the highest increase of the corruption index, with a decline of the rule of law, from 2013 to 2018, according to the World Bank?

But, we have a pandemic, a corona virus pandemic! No; let’s reconsider the situation for a moment: We have a threat, a danger, but we are also an island-country and as an island we can, we could make the country almost inaccessible. Yes, with good planning, almost inviolable:

  • With strict controls at every entry point from the beginning, before the gates were violated;
    • By closing access from all high-risk locations, every one, without exception;
    • With proper precautionary and control measures at check-points, immediately after inspections started;
    • With medical, paramedical and other health personnel provided with protective equipment;
    • With a full-fledged nursing staff, with no medical staff infected, no hospitals closed;
    • With hospitals adhering to every precautionary protocol from the beginning, constantly open and fully operational;
    • With clear instructions from the state, based on a communication plan and strategy that disseminates, informs and repeats information by all means, so that they reach every person; making sure the rules are well understood, and precautionary measures are observed;
    • With experts, state advisors understanding their role and their limits;
    • With state counselors giving clear information, avoiding football-results-type predictions and contradictions;
    • With government officials deciding on policies, not just following their advisors who had already announced policy measures in the media, before advising the government.

We expected the government to set goals and priorities from the beginning, with respect to all!

They arbitrarily took away our fundamental rights, and then,

  • They assumed that they had the right to get angry at us as if we are pupils;
  • they kept ruthlessly threatening us with “harsher measures”;
  •  with the help of the media, they pointed fingers at us like fools who do not obey;
  • they deflected attention by incriminating the “disobedient”, as if they were responsible for doctors and nurses, health officials being infected by the virus;
  • they charged disobedient persons as if it were they who were responsible for leaving the gates open to persons from high-risk countries;
  • As if “disobedient persons” were the ones who contaminated doctors and nurses;
  •  As if the cause for all the hospitals been closed were those who were “disobedient”;
  •  At the same time ministers and “officials” showed ‘exemplary behavior’ parading in the media without observing any precautionary measures!

Yes, tracking contacts of infected cases seemed effective, however prevention is a better choice.

Yes, more than 100,000 diagnostic tests is a positive thing.

We have succeeded, they repeat … But we have / had almost 1000 people infected by the virus, 20 deaths, with rights and democracy put on hold.

Remember, your experts have predicted 200 to 300, perhaps more than 300 cases. Yes, yes, 940 is over 300, but, no, no, 940 is more than three times 300.

And we’re an island country, the gates are easy to lock, we don’t have public transportation, the virus allowed us time to prepare and be ready; Moreover, almost, everyone gave in, they surrendered their rights.

Yes, sure, the final result is good, but 15 countries in Europe have performed better, so it could have been much better here as well. And what is happening is not a success. You don’t call this a success! You just don’t!