We Talked About How Fucked Greece is With Everyone at Athens' Awesome Plisskën Festival

In the last five years, Greece has become as synonymous with their interminable financial crisis as it has always been with democracy, philosophy and yogurt. Just last week, the left wing government lead by Syriza put two fingers up to the International Monetary Fund and told them that they’re not going to pay them back the €300m they were supposed to until at least the end of June, when they absolutely promise they’ll come up with the full, erm, €1.5billion they now owe them.

Even the world’s sharpest economists seem unsure about what the future holds for the country. This cloud of uncertainty that hangs over Athens really sucks for young people, because they just want to do the same things young people everywhere want to do: get drunk, smoke cheap cigarettes, buy inexplecably pricey trainers, and awkwardly make out to Perfume Genius.

That’s why this weekend some four thousand of them headed to Plisskën Festival at the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Centre in downtown Athens. There they enjoyed a great festival: moshing to Savages, losing their shit to Evian Christ and generally trying to ignore the endless headlines telling them how monumentally fucked they are. That was, until I turned up with my dictaphone and started reminding everyone about it. Here's my conversations with the kids and performers on site, about what it’s like trying to have a good time when your entire country is, like a geopolitical Azealia Banks, broke with expensive taste.

Noisey: As a Greek rapper, do you feel a responsibility to talk about the political situation?
In Greece, they used to rap about politics too much. You got tired of it. I want to say something positive. I have a song called "White Day", which is asking about the day when Greece will shine for me as a black man. There’s a lot of racism here. When you say fuck politics, fuck the government, the government is corrupt - we all know that already. But when it comes to the police… That's when I get angry.

What sort of racism have you experienced?
I hear racist things all the time. On Wednesday I was in town waiting for my friend and an old man said to me: "It's all your fault that Greece has ended up like this." I'm the problem? Who was the Prime Minister? Was it a black guy? I'm not even allowed to be voted into the parliament, and you're telling me that I'm responsible for your crisis? It's a weird country, man. I was born here but I don't have Greek ID. The law is that you have to be Greek by blood. That's kind of racist. I love Greece. I've got Greek culture in me, but also Ghanaian culture. I don't see why they see that as a bad thing. I could live here and work here my whole life, but when I get old they won't support me. That's why I rap about it. It's something to struggle for. I rap in Greek.

Would you ever leave?
I'd like to stay for a long time. The thing is not to avoid the problem, but to solve the problem. That way the problem will go away. When you're saying you want to leave your county, it's avoidance. The problem will still be there when you come back. A lot of young Greeks think the country is fucked up and corrupted, there's no money and shit, but where are the dreams and the new ideas?

Could you see yourself getting involved directly in politics?
I stay out of it. It's a lie. When you get involved, it changes you. It's the same as being a cop; you're the dog of the politicians. When you're a politician, you're the dog of some other fucking pimps. In Greece, you have the anarchists fighting the police, and some of the police are Nazis. There's a political war going on. They say Greece has the most riots in the world. The problem is when you do something out of hate, hate comes back. You can't say "Fuck you!" to someone without expecting them to say "Well, fuck you too!". That's why we need the love. We need it so much.

What do you guys do when you’re not at this festival?
Natalie: Nothing.
Stephanie: We’re looking for jobs.

How many of your friends don’t have jobs?
N: A lot of them. It’s normal.

There’s quite a politically aware line-up here. Do you look to bands to say something about what’s going on?
N: Today it’s just about the music. We came here to escape.

Do you follow the news closely, or is it easier to just disengage?
S: I think young people in Greece are obliged by the circumstances we’re in to be informed and to know what’s happening with the economy. Things are changing every day, so there’s a constant feeling of insecurity. I think the only positive thing to come out of this whole situation is that many young people are now working together to try and find a creative way out. That’s the way we have to look at it. Everything else is dead. All the old institutions, in every sector, are dying. So… we have to create new ones.

Are you a student?
Yeah, I'm currently studying maths. It’s weird being a student here because of the financial problems we face, but I'm trying to be positive. I think that when I graduate I'll go to Seattle to study astronomy. I love space, and I love grunge music.

Would it be tough for you to stay in Greece?
Yeah. Right now many people are unemployed. About 35% of the population are unemployed, and that rises to about 40% of young people.

So most students want to leave?
Yeah. There's no future here.

Continues below

Are you following the news about the economy?
Yiannis: It's so boring. Every day it's the same news. It's like a tape on repeat. Again and again and again: "We're going bankrupt, we're going bankrupt." Ok, let's go bankrupt then! We're bored, I'm tired. I remember first hearing the news that Greece was going bankrupt six or seven years ago. We're still doing the same thing. Maybe we're already bankrupt, who knows? They don't tell us.

Do you look to your bands to be political at the moment and help reflect the situation?
I don't think we’re into politics in particular, but last night when Savages started talking about politics it was empowering. I think a lot of young people feel that even though we vote, you can't really change politics. As you've seen, Greece is being blackmailed. It's not our decision anymore.

Is Syriza doing a good job?
I don't think they're doing a worse job than the previous government. The situation is not their fault. Before them we had the same government for the last 20 years, so it's obviously their fault. They're doing what they can. Don't blame the government, blame capitalism.

What impression has coming to Greece made on you?
W: It’s chilled, but there’s not a lot of opportunity and that fucks over young people. We were just in Spain, and I know the economy is kinda shitty there too. We saw some construction workers clocking off at 4pm earlier. In New York they'd be working all fucking day! It feels like Greece is being told they can't afford to keep their culture. That's so interesting, especially because Greece is where European culture came from. Whenever I'm in London I say that it has so much more history than American cities, but then you come out here and it has ten times the history. It’s the birthplace of democracy. It's tough, because it makes you think: at one point this was the glorious Greece! They were the shit. Now they're just chilling, and broke.

Some of the Greek kids I've talked to are saying they want to go to America.
W: Yeah, they should know it's probably not as chill as it seems. It's same thing from way back in the history of America: "The land of opportunity - it's gonna be fucking lit!" It might not be. And if they all leave Greece, where's Greece gonna be at? If all the yoots leave here? That's a crazy situation. They could end up driving cabs in New York saying: "I was an engineer back home! I was a professor, now I'm driving this cab!"

What impression of you got of Greece since you’ve been here?
Jason: I was watching the Greek news earlier and the finance minister was almost laughing about the fact that they're not going to pay back the IMF. They're standing up to them, and perhaps we should have little bit more of that at home. That would be really nice, after looking at the fucking Labour leadership candidates today. They're absolutely terrible. I think the Greeks are inspiring, and although I couldn't understand what they were saying it was nice to see a little bit of humour directed towards a positive direction, instead of the in-jokes they do at Prime Minister's Question Time.

Some of the students I've spoken to here have talked about wanting to leave the country.
Well that seems to be a growing consensus in England too. Not just for students, but for a lot of people. It's a shithole. I've got family out here, so I can tell you Athens looked just like this in 1978. Although, it's difficult to get a sense of how people are really feeling here without staying for longer.

The younger people seem fairly positive about Syriza, but on the other hand my taxi driver on the way home last night…
I bet he was having none of it! Hahaha. Taxi drivers are good for that aren't they?

You can find Kevin EG Perry on Twitter.

Head to the festival’s website for more information and full details on line-up and ticketing. Thank you to the lovely people of Athens - the festival is an absolute blast.'