I witnessed the December 2008 riots in the streets of Athens following the shooting by police and subsequent death of Alexander Grigoropoulos in Exarhia. I was witnessing a mass frustration at the inability of the government to manage the economic and social affairs of the state and to provide security in the streets.

I was concerned at the cynicism about political events and the sense of deep betrayal that cut across all layers of society. I hoped it would be a wake-up call for those who seek to govern Greece.

So, now back, has anything changed in Greece since then? It certainly has! You’d have to be blind, deaf and mute not to have noticed the changes since then.

There is no time for a detailed history of the economic chaos that has struck Greece since the elections on last October. But let’s get the basic facts.

PASOK, under the leadership of George Papandreou swept into power with 160 seats.

Nea Demokratia under the leadership of, now very silent, Kostas Karamanlis was swept out of power with a loss of 61 seats and left with 91.

In May this year, the EU and the IMF agreed on a US$147 billion bailout of Greece. In return, Greece promised to slash the public sector deficit from the current 13.6 per cent to 3.0 per cent of GDP by 2014.

The level of official public debt would rise to 150 per cent of GDP. For the record, Australia’s public debt is listed as 17.6 percent of GDP in 2009.

Over the past week I’ve had the chance to talk with Greeks from all walks of life in Crete and Athens. Many are personal friends who have spoken openly about the situation as only friends can do. Overwhelmingly the common factor across all is: fear, uncertainty and doubt or FUD.

FUD is the only way I can summarise the feelings of the people I have spoken to. Fear about the current situation, uncertainty about the future and doubt that the drastic changes being forced upon them will have the desired outcomes.

Expenditure by tourists has dropped almost by 30 per cent. You can actually find hotel rooms across Greece at short notice. They are not exactly cheap but they can be found. One hotel chain in Rhodes is advertising an all inclusive 65 euro per person for double occupancy plus one child for free, meals and soft drinks included!

That’s for July and September. The same deal at their world-class resort in Herakleion, Crete is 199 euro per room plus a free child including breakfast. With the strong Aussie dollar and cheap Euro there has been a rush of Australians to Greece this summer.

Symbolic of the changes that are sweeping this country are the number of young Greek graduates who are planning to leave the country to look for work. Eighteen months ago, nobody was interested in working in Dubai unless they were going to be earning 5,000 euro per month.

The oft-quoted salary for public servants here is about 1, 000 euro per month. Well, the local salaries have been cut by as much as 20 per cent , the 13th and 14th salaries are being discontinued and the special allowances are now taxable. Those who were waiting for temporary positions to get in line for permanent public sector positions have been told there is a freeze for at least two years.

The pension scheme for government employees is being radically remodelled closer to Australia lines (65 years) and that has triggered a rush as the door has been left open until the end of the year. What was a difficult situation before has gone beyond desperate to hopeless.

You cannot even rely on friends and politicians to bypass the system and get a job.

The brain-drain is just starting and a whole generation of talented Greek youth are commencing the traditional migration.

Even more alarming for me was a sight so uncharacteristic of Greece that I was too shocked to even remark on it.

Kifissia is one of the most prosperous suburbs of Athens, akin to Double Bay in Sydney, Toorak in Melbourne and Burnside in Adelaide.

People there are comfortable. Yet, I saw an elderly well-dressed man pause by a rubbish bin to quietly fish something out of the bin.

It was dignified, not desperate but deliberate.

Many friends are now quietly confiding that there are families who are hard pressed to add meat to the table these days and who have resorted to switching off their lights earlier in the evening. It’s noticeable in the older, poorer areas of Piraeus.

Greece is going through a massive period of social as well as economic upheaval. Let’s be blunt. It has been noted that many of the Albanians and Rumanians who had come here to work as construction labourers have sent their families back and are packing up themselves.

Not much has been said this year about boatloads of immigrants that used to slip across the border from Turkey into the Greek islands.

Economic migration has not only reversed directions but is claiming the future of Greece as well. The solution for Greece is not going to come from cutting the salaries of the workers nor from making the tax collection net more effective. These are important steps but they only buy breathing space.

Three important steps need to be taken over the next five years. The competitiveness of the Greek economy must improve through productivity and quality improvement not through wage reduction to third world levels.

The size of the public sector must be reduced so that meaningful reform can be achieved and the public sector wages burden can be reduced. Finally, Greece must start exporting goods and services more effectively. Tourism and exporting people cannot be the mainstays of the economy.

For all of this to happen, the Greek nation must forge a social and economic compact that puts the public interest above private interest, it must expand the education sector to reduce the outflow of Greeks studying abroad, currently the highest in Europe, and party politicians need to reform their own behaviour as well as that of the public sector.

Can we hope that FUD will be replaced by a common purpose, global competitiveness and social justice in Greece. I certainly hope so.

The spirit of the 1829 revolution must be tapped and the future of Hellas rests on the ability of Hellenes to bridge the political divide and create an economic bond that keeps the nation free, strong and independent.

The opportunity to do so when the global economy was strong and EU subsidies were plentiful has been wasted. It will be so much harder going forward.