Greece Deeply Divided on Eve of Referendum

It's gonna be a yes vote. People just can't hang around with no money and nothing to eat.

And recall the prime minister's not well liked at all. Freakin' communist, heh.

At WSJ, "On Bailout Referendum’s Eve, Greeks Are Deeply Divided on Which Course to Take":

ATHENS—At a cafe in an upscale district here, Dimitris Manikis, an anesthesiologist, was downbeat.

“I think ‘yes’ is going to win,” Dr. Manikis said. “Greeks are passive.” It was Saturday evening, the sun still bright in a blue sky. He said would vote “no” tomorrow in a referendum of extraordinary consequence, which will ask Greeks if they agree to a rescue deal with European creditors but may well decide the country’s future in the eurozone.

A few tables away, Alexis Tsirigakis, an interior designer who supports the ‘yes’ camp, was also pessimistic. “Tsipras will win,” he said, referring to Alexis Tsipras, the country’s leftist prime minister, who called the referendum and has vigorously urged a “no” vote. “I don’t know what, but he will win.”

Polls have the two sides evenly balanced. There are no public data that break down the demographics and the inclinations of “yes” and “no,” but conversations around this city depict a populace that is split in two: Haves and have-nots, young and old, those bitten by austerity and those less exposed, those with money in the closed banks and those without.

Whichever side wins and whoever is leading Greece next week, next month or next year, the gulf will be hard to close. Dr. Manikis said he would be happy to see Greece leave the eurozone. He came to this view in 2010, after the first round of austerity hit the country. He works in a public hospital and he saw the suicides and the suicide attempts come in. “It is not just numbers, statistics,” he said. “I have seen this.”

He said a “no” vote was Greece’s best chance to push back against austerity—a position adopted by Mr. Tsipras but roundly dismissed by his European counterparts. “The stronger the ‘no’ is, the better the possibilities for further negotiation,” Dr. Manikis said.

Mr. Tsirigakis said Greece must stay in the euro. “We have to pay,” he said. “Whatever the cost is, it is better to pay than to wake up tomorrow like Macedonia and Albania.”

He said a “no” vote would mean banks would stay closed, deposits would be lost and pensions vaporized. “I think people don’t understand,” he said. “Let’s see how they reopen the banks. How? How?”

A worker at the cafe, Harris Bouros, said he thought the country was split 50-50. He said he planned to vote “yes.” “No is like jumping from a cliff,” he said. “With ‘yes’ there is some hope.”

One apparent gulf in attitude comes with age. Retirees, who are owed pensions, have a big stake in the solvency of the state. The young have less invested in the system, and less money trapped in the banks.

Across the city center in the neighborhood of Koukaki, young Greeks gathered at a bar built in the shell of an old auto-mechanic’s shop. At an outside table were three 26-year-olds. All said they would vote “no.” The debt crisis has run more than five years, a substantial portion of their adult lives...