By Dimitris Kouvaras,
There is no prelude more fitting to the events of February 28th in Greece than those inspiring verses of Odysseas Elytis, one of the country’s two Nobel Prize-winning poets. Not only were these verses of “Axion Esti” melodised and set in stone as a national ode to Justice by composer Mikis Theodorakis, but their song symbolically ended one of the greatest demonstrations Athens has seen over the last years. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks in Athens, throughout Greece, and across continents took to the streets on February 28th to mark the second anniversary of the fatal head-on train collision at Tempi, which cost the lives of 57 souls, many of whom were university students as young as 18 years old.
A whopping 346 rallies —big or small— took place across Greece and the globe, from Australia to South Africa, to demand justice and political seriousness after two years fraught with pain and question marks, yet few tangible answers. Only the final accident report of the investigative authority EODASAAM (HARSA in English), which was announced as late as February 27th, enabled the public to access credible information about the sequence of events, the immediate and underlying causes, and the handling of the collision against a backdrop of trustworthiness. Therefore, you can find it attached in this article’s references.
However, let’s focus more precisely on what stirred the public reaction of February 28th. One knew that the demonstrations would be remarkable days before their actualisation, since a massive grassroots campaign took place inviting people to the streets. The protest was organised by the families of the victims, especially the parents of the students who lost their lives at Tempi, who have tirelessly tried to claim justice for their loved ones. Unfortunately, they have faced insurmountable challenges along the way, including a patchy investigation, undisclosed evidence, and governmental scorn. These challenges reverberate with many Greek citizens whose trust in state mechanisms is flailing, along with hopes for a brighter future. Therefore, the Tempi tragedy became a unifying point for a wide range of concerns about how the country is governed and doubts on whether the truth will finally be revealed. In that context, the railway became the prime example of a decay permeating many of Greece’s public services.
The warnings and strikes of worker unions about the imminence of a grave accident in the months before Tempi were ignored by officials, who instead pointed fingers at the criticism, describing it as “shame”; the safety equipment that would enable the monitoring of trains was never installed despite the contract’s being signed and paid by Greek taxpayers; railway spending lay below the minimum of any other EU country, while a shortage of employees piled up for years. All in all, a series of governments left the railways in ruins, with dire consequences.
After the accident, no investigative body was in place until the creation of EODASAAM to enable a transparent examination of the collision and provide recommendations; vocal records seemingly turned out to be tampered with; evidence was claimed to be withheld from the investigating authorities or the families of the victims; key witnesses allegedly were not invited to testify; the incident area was paved in a way that may have led to a loss of evidence. Except for the first point, the rest remain contested. Nevertheless, their circulation has caused frustration since no convincing answers have been provided by the government or the judiciary. The former emphasised the narrative of the stationmaster’s error in placing the intercity train on the wrong track, while only providing the resignation of the transport minister, whose re-election a few months later proved that the move was a stunt.
Meanwhile, the final report indicated that many of the factors aiding the stationmaster’s error related to the design and flaws of monitoring infrastructure, the lack of safety valves, and the shortage of personnel, which resulted in a culture asymmetrically emphasising adherence to stipulated procedures yet without any supervision to ensure it. As for the freight train involved in the collision, it was carrying an undeclared fuel that caused a lethal fireball after the crash. As a result of these parameters, trust in the authorities has vaporised, which brings us to February 28th.
The atmosphere of the day was unique, and the scale of the protests was enormous. Businesses and entertainment venues closed for the day as a show of compassion and support, taxi drives offered free rides to protesters, employees of all sorts went on strike, school students came to the rallies along with teachers, families with children and groups of youth took to the streets. As I was walking towards the metro in the morning, which was already full hours before the time of the rally, I felt an unprecedented sense of union and purpose by knowing that I shared the same reason of why I boarded the train as well as the destination with all other passengers. At Syntagma, the streets were flooded with people of all ages, united by one rallying cry: “I have no oxygen”. These were the words of a student caught in the smoke of the train crash as they called 112 after the collision, which have now turned into a cry for breathing space against state rot.
Speeches were given by students, railway unionists, and parents of victims, who stressed the need for justice while facing the closed windows of Parliament. Emotional statements regarding the pain of child loss combined with heated demands for transparency and accounts of the series of omissions in railway security. Often, cries by the crowd interrupted the speakers by symbolically yelling “murderers” concerning politicians. Therefore, unlike what the prime minister tried to portray after the demonstrations, they were not just a form of commemoration but a clear and direct challenge to the legitimacy of the current government and the lack of legal charges against involved political figures. Irrespective of who was legally responsible, the demonstrations also made clear that both the executive and now also the judiciary branch of government have been delegitimised in the eyes of many Greeks and that people share a sense of mockery by the political establishment.
In Athens, despite the police estimates of 180.000 protesters that convinced no one, the likely number of participants was above 400.000 according to conservative AI estimates. In Thessaloniki, the rally was four times the size of the previous Tempi demonstration and probably the largest ever held in the city during the Metapolitefsi. Overall, the Greeks who took to the streets on February 28th throughout the country and the globe might as well have transcended the one million mark. Contrary to the baseless allegations of a government minister, these people served no partisan political interest nor shared the same political views. They were people from all walks of life who united in a call for change and justice, ringing the alarm to the establishment that trust in the state’s institutions, is on the verge of being lost. Despite the riots that ensued and were fostered by a few radicals, the demonstrations were a great democratic exercise and a potent show of active citizenship of a kind rare in contemporary times, which is reminiscent of the rallies held in Greece during the 1970s and 1980s.
On February 28th, political apathy in Greece gave way to righteous protest, which drove people into the streets. Everyone felt that they could have been in the place of the students whose lives ended at Tempi two years ago and that human lives should not be left to luck. In a country that is more often divided than united, these demonstrations were a remarkable achievement, one that reminds us of who is the legitimising base of power in a democratic society. What I hope –although I am by no means optimistic about it– is that officials listen to the public anger and act accordingly so that the Sun of Justice from Elytis’s poems finally shines over Greece. Otherwise, the establishment’s legitimation crisis will only worsen.
References
- Head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train in Tempi, 28 February 2023. Hellenic Air and Rail safety Investigation Authority. Available here
- No Trains, No Planes and Huge Protests: Strike Brings Greece to a Halt. The New York Times. Available here
- Greeks hold mass protests demanding justice after train tragedy. BBC. Available here
