Wednesday, June 15, 2011

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people" V For Vendetta moment

In Athens, Thessaloniki, patra and many other cities against Greece angry protsters gathered to show their opposition to the latest round of austerity measures and a political system widely reviled for being corrupt and ineffectual.

With demonstrations now entering their third week prime ministerGiorgos Papanderou is fighting a losing battle to push through legislation being demanded by Greece's creditors in return for further loan guarantees. However, resistance to the package of wage cuts, public spending reduction and privatisation has stirred up a popular movement unprecedented in modern greek political history.

Disavowing links with all established political parties Greece's Los Indignados movement has sprung up overnight using Facebook, internet and blogs and been able to bring hundreds of thousands of previously disenchanted Greeks into the political arena, setting off a political crisis the current administration is at a loss to handle.

www.demotix.com/news/726464/greeces-indignant-challenge-g...

4 comments:

Rodney said...

First, I really enjoy your Flickr stream and your Web site as a source of information about life in Greece.

Your tone is one of support for the people protesting against a corrupt government and police force.

However, I just read this comment by Robert Merkel in Larvatus Prodeo, an Australian blog:

"As such, and admittedly relying on second-hand information, I’m rather less impressed than Costas Douzinias (in The Guardian) by the supposed “democracy in action” on the streets of Athens aimed at rejecting the austerity measures in the bailout. What are the protestors seeking? Sure, it’s great that the “ordinary person” is finally taking an interest in these issues, but one might ask what the hell they were doing for the last 30 years, when in democratic elections they continued to vote in parties that enacted policies leading to the current mess. And what do they propose as an alternative course of action? For Greece to immediately and completely default on its debt – and thus immediately enforcing austerity measures just as severe and far more chaotic? To leave the Euro – and watch the national fire sale as everybody attempts to move what savings they have to the safety of the Eurozone, or Swiss banks? Or do they simply expect France and Germany to hand over the cash to keep their country going indefinitely?"

I guess you're not really an economics commentator, but I would be interested in your view of what the Greek protestors are really hoping to achieve.

Thanks,

Rodney Topor

teacher dude said...

For a more detailed economic analysis of the roots of the current economic crisis I recommend this blog.

http://redesigning-the-foot.blogspot.com/

Rodney said...

Thank you for the reference. It doesn't explicitly answer my question about Greek demonstrators, but it is very informative.

teacher dude said...

Your question would take hours to answer but basically, the Greek publc make aact with the devil when it comes to the local political parties.

This post might explain it better.

http://teacherdudebbq.blogspot.com/2010/02/morning-after.html