It’s true, Athens is still in the throes of austerity, but not for everyone, darling.

The severe financial austerity imposed on Greece’s government and people by the international bankers was never meant for everyone – vulture capitalism is designed with winners in mind.

Just check out the clubs and nighttime entertainment near Kolonaki Square where this new INO mural is.

Once you pass the phalanx of security, you are welcomed into the party – preferably wearing designer labels – the men are in blazers and “casual cool” as they watch barely dressed women in high heels dancing on the stage, sometimes acting out fantasies to the aural euphoria and plumes of smoke blown skyward. In these thumping houses of free-market hedonism, you can feel free while waving your hands and glow sticks in the air at the DJ booth, but for a comparably hefty price.

The average annual salary in Athens is €21,618, or about 60€ a day. A visitor to one of these clubs reports that “prices start from 90€ (bottle of proseco/wine), 290€ for a bottle of vodka, and 145€ for a bottle of gin”.

This financial inequality may have been on his mind when INO painted this new mural. “They did not give me a specific theme and I chose to create an image that from the first point of view may look optimistic but it is not,” he says. The title is “Freedom for Sale”.

Who’s buying?

238

138

45