WHOEVER shouts the loudest seems to get his way in Cyprus. An argument is not judged by its rationality but by the decibel count and aggressive intent of the person making it. It is an environment in which the bullies are in complete control, calling the shots and giving direction to society. And when politicians talk about consensus or the middle ground they are merely trying to cover up the fact that they have once again given in to the brazen intimidation of the bullies.
The mere mention of the word ‘compromise’ is considered a sign of weakness and does not enter the agenda of the bullies who invariably take an ‘all or nothing’ approach to every dispute, disparaging anyone who does not share their extremist view. The country has been held hostage for decades by these loudmouthed cliques which have come to believe that nothing and nobody can stand in their way when pursuing their narrow interests and ill-conceived objectives.
On the political front, this clique consists of hard-line politicians and journalists who dismiss any attempt at a compromise with the Turkish Cypriot as betrayal and selling out. So much so, that moderate politicians avoid speaking out for fear of being accused of lacking patriotism or, even worse, being traitors. Even the president, who counts himself as a moderate, regularly panders to this clique by adopting its hard-line rhetoric and uncompromising positions. These arbiters of patriotism take an ‘all or nothing’ approach to the Cyprus peace talks, totally ignoring the high probability that we will end up with nothing.
Public sector union bosses operate along the same lines, but at least they have an excuse. Their refusal to compromise has served their members very well until now, making them the best-looked after, affluent workers in Cyprus. But now that the catastrophic consequences of their militant greed, allowed a free rein by weak politicians, have put the state on the brink of bankruptcy, they refuse to shoulder their share of responsibility. As we have seen in the last week, the bosses of the public sector unions are not prepared to make any compromises to save the state pension system, described as a ticking time bomb. It is once again a case of all or nothing – hard-line union bosses would rather the state went bankrupt than give up any of their ‘rights and conquests’.
Needless to say, the bullies never take any responsibility for the consequences of their hard-line antics. It is always the fault of someone else. In the Cyprus problem there is a long list of candidates routinely blamed for the failure to reach an agreement – apart from the intransigent Turkish side, there is the US, Britain, the UN and now also the EU – because the bullying hard-liners are infallible. And so are the union bosses, whose excessive demands that were satisfied over the years are not the cause of the out-of-control public sector payroll and unviable pension system. The problem is supposedly caused by tax evasion and failure to tax the rich, a claim that has been embraced by the president, terrified of the union bullies accusing him of going against workers’ interests.
As a society we have reached critical point and we need to make choices. Do we allow the cliques of irresponsible, self-serving, bullies to carry on imposing their diktats on the country knowing that they will lead us into the abyss or do we try to stop them? Never before has there been such a desperate need for the silent majority of decent people who genuinely care for the future of their country to take a stand. Failure to do so now will lead us to a Greece-type bankrupt economy and the occupied north becoming a province of Turkey.
Time is running out. The UN has set a deadline for a Cyprus deal which, if not met, will open the way for permanent partition. We may have slightly longer to sort out public finances, but given the uncompromising attitude of public sector union bosses, it is difficult not to be pessimistic. Our only, slim, hope is for the silent majority – the sensible, decent people who have no private agenda or motives – to stand up to the irresponsible bullies who have prevented our society from growing up.
