It seems that Zoe Konstantopoulou has confused being a political leader with being a sheriff in low-budget western.
Her latest “feat” at the Athenian Club, just before the lunch in honor of the Ecumenical Patriarch, was not just another burst of authoritarianism, but a monument to political picturesqueness that would be the envy of even the most ardent devotees of totalitarianism.
The lady who was elected by handing out hearts and promises of “love”, decided to honor Patriarch Bartholomew by calling for arrests on live TV. In her sights, journalist Vasiliki Polyzou, who committed the “crime” of being on site as an accredited editor to do her job.
But for the president of the Eleuthera Party, journalistic status is apparently a detail that yields to her personal rage.
With rhetoric that harkens back to dark ages, Mrs. Konstantopoulou described the journalist as a “criminal element” and a member of a “criminal organisation”, demanding that the Speaker of Parliament turn into an instrument of her personal vendetta. It’s no wonder: at the next official event she will call for the reintroduction of the guillotine for anyone she doesn’t like
The response of Nikita Kaklamanis (“But, he’s a journalist”) was the voice of common sense in the face of delirium. But common sense is an unfamiliar word to someone who thinks Parliament and public spaces are extensions of her office.
As the president of Liberty Front continues to see “criminals” everywhere and to call for arrests between the appetizers and the main course, the more she will confirm that her political presence is reduced to a sterile and toxic performance.
Democracy requires sobriety and dialogue, elements that seem to be conspicuously ignored by one who sees herself as the sole arbiter of morality and legitimacy, turning every public appearance into a compassionate show of authoritarianism.
