Free The Full Catastrophe by James Angelos

wage and benefit increases for public workers, for example; generous pensions for people working in certain professions; the protection of monopolistic cartels through arbitrary regulations. Since politicians orchestrated this system and greatly benefited from it, it seemed indecent ofthem—particularly one like Pangalos, long in the PASOK ruling elite—to implicate the electorate, which, broadly speaking, did not believe that it shared in the responsibility.
    Vozaitis had a point about the former prefect and the island’s voters. In May 2012, Zakynthos elected Gasparos to the Greek parliament as a member of New Democracy. The result seemed to call into question voters’ willingness to upend the political status quo they often decried. On the night of his win, Gasparos walked through the streets of Zakynthos Town wearing a suit and tie striped with the blue and white of the Greek flag. His supporters gathered on the streets and applauded, many of them kissing him on both cheeks. The outcome, Gasparos told the crowd, was a victory for ethical and honorable citizens trying to improve life on the island. “Tonight is not my night,” he said. “Tonight belongs to the people of Zakynthos. To the youth. It belongs to hope. It belongs to a better tomorrow.”
    Unfortunately for Gasparos, his success was short-lived. Nationally, the election was inconclusive, resulting in no clear majority and a hung parliament. A new vote took place one month later, and though Gasparos received more votes the second time around, he nevertheless came in second to a candidate from the surging leftist Syriza. The new victor, a middle-aged lawyer, Stavros Kontonis, said his election represented a condemnation of the corruption that had brought infamy to the island. It proved Zakynthos was not inhabited by corrupt people, said Kontonis, but rather had long fallen into bad political hands.
    The outcome also meant Gasparos would not benefit from the parliamentary immunity enshrined in the Greek constitution. He was later charged with fraud, as was the ophthalmologist accused of making false diagnoses, Greek newspapers reported at the end of 2014; both maintained their innocence. Locals accused of wrongly taking blindness benefits would also face criminal charges. This degree of accountability was highly unusual inGreece, and it indicated a growing appetite for transformation. The outcome of the 2012 elections, however, meant that the two main parties that had for decades fostered the system of political patronage remained in parliamentary power for a few more years by forming a coalition. On the night of his defeat, Gasparos, appearing on television, said there was still cause to celebrate. Despite his loss, his party would be leading the national government. And he offered words of assurance for his supporters. “I’ll remain in politics,” he said.

2
Off the Books
    The just is always a loser in comparison with the unjust.
    —Thrasymachus, in
The Republic
by Plato
    H ydra is a tall, barren rock that juts from the Aegean Sea just off the eastern edge of the Peloponnese. A few thousand people live on the island, mostly in a settlement of white stone homes in “Hydra Town,” which rises like a theater on slopes that form a horseshoe over the main harbor. Hydra derives its name not from the eponymous nine-headed serpent of Greek mythology, slain by Hercules, but from the Ancient Greek word for water—at least according to locals, who say the island once contained an abundance of springs. Today, there is virtually no fresh water on Hydra, and the noxious-tasting auxiliary that flows from Hydriot pipes is shipped in on tankers. Given the paucity of fresh water and arable land, locals have traditionally sailed for a living and once thrived off a vibrant merchant marine business. The island now benefits from a lot of tourism, and the boats entering and leaving the harbor in the summer are often ferries and yachts from Athens, which is a short ride