Well, the Greeks are doing what the Greeks do best, fighting for freedom and practising democracy.
Joining other Greeks who have ignored five smoking bans in the last decade and light up just about wherever and wherever they want, Greek lawmakers are openly smoking in Parliament in violation of the law they passed, and in the building where they did it.
For those who don’t understand the word democracy it is Greek in origin: the New World dictionary defines the word as deriving :’ from the ancient Greek demokratia (δημοκρατία). It combines the elements demos (which means “people”) and kratos (“force, power”).’ Generally it is thought of as the power of the people, by the people, for the people.
Historians recognise that the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis opened the door for democracy, such is the importance of Leonidas’ 300 Spartans (and the Thespians who supported him) stand at Thermopylae, and Themistocles’ command of the Hellenic Navy at Salamis. These actions turned the tide of war in the Greeks’ favour and played a major role in securing the democracy we enjoy today.
It’s not only in the classical days that the Greeks fought for democracy and freedom. From the very first, Greek resistance made life a misery for the occupying German troops during World War II and, while not as widely publicised as the French Maquis, they were their equal in every respect, and resistance in Greece was as ruthlessly put down as it was in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia and France.
The Anti-Tobacco Industry is today one of the latest threats to our democracy and civil liberties. The people of Greece are still defending democracy and freedom just as they did in 482 BC and during the last war. They do so because they are a free nation, a democratic nation who will not give up their freedoms to major empires, dictators, the European Union or indeed the Tobacco Control Industry.
The spirits of Leonidas and Themistocles live on Greece, as does democracy: the power of the people, by the people, for the people.