Is Greece collapsing? Are Portugal, Spain, and Italy faltering? The writing is on the wall, but not just on the digital wall of the global economic tyrants. It's not just the Mediterranean "slaziness," but also the Western "yuppie disease" that's destroying every good tavern.
It seems that the masses of Greeks who burned down the streets of Athens sent an important message, shared by the tens of millions of victims of post-national capitalism: no threats, no favors, no patronage, and no condescension. We don't want to be like you. Not Germans, not Swiss, not Austrians, not Dutch, not British, not Swedes, and not Americans.
You are competitive, hardworking, thrifty (some say stingy), punctual, clean, reliable and obedient. But you are not the most graceful, not incubating, not family-oriented and not enjoying life. Your food is not tasty and you are lonely, stressed and suicidal.
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I also felt like shouting with the Greeks: People of the Mediterranean, rise up and unite! Do not surrender to the army of laborers from the cold lands. We will stand against them in swimsuits and flip-flops and defend our traditions and values with flaming bottles of raki and sharp skewers of lamb.
Enough with workaholism, enough with bulimic consumerism, enough with brands, enough with breakfast rolls and attendance cards, enough with disposable Starbucks, enough with layoffs, enough with the opium of reality TV, enough with supply and demand curves and enough with low-fat cheeses.To the government of children, lawyers and business managers.
No need for energy drinks and ratings, productivity and output indicators. Better cups of black coffee and small scooters, in balconies and pergolas swarming with flies.
They'll break their heads and we'll break plates.
We wish our Mediterranean brothers and sisters that they will not let sushi take over the mazatti and diet yogurt the tzatziki, and we will bless them with the ingenious Mediterranean greeting that was recently invented in our places (I never heard it from an Israeli guy): "May God bless you.".
• Oz Almog is a professor of sociology in the Department of Land of Israel Studies at the University of Haifa.
