Greece's ambitious new privatisation plan revealed

Greece's ambitious new privatisation plan revealed, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

Greece is cutting public spending to the bone

Greece is cutting public spending to the bone, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

Why I left Demotix

As of last Friday I no longer contribute to the Demotix website. For those who do not know them, Demotix bills itself as an;

"award-winning newswire where YOU tell the stories. We put photos and video from ordinary people and freelance photographers into the international news media."


When I started to upload photographs and news stories I was hoping that the site would be a serious replacement for other citizen journalism news hubs I had previously worked with. I was hoping that unlike these others Demotix would not degenerate into a centre for crack pot ideas and conspiracy theorists desperately trying to convince us that Hitler's brain was living on Mars.

In that respect Demotix has suceeded by retaining editorial control over content and judicious choice of what stories it promotes. So why am I leaving? The first and most obvious reason is the seemingly endless list of technical difficulties that mean uploading photographs (forget video,where problems grew exponentially) and stories can take hours and many repeated attempts.


If you're sitting in the comfort of your own home, an hour of two wasted now and then may not mean much but when uploading  more often or you're outside in difficult conditions, such delays are infuriating.I remember cursing the site with every swear word I possess in both English and Greek when trying to upload a story from the Athens riots which was written on a rapidly dying laptop in an arcade filling up with tear gas.

Despite recent attempts to improve. every upgrade simply changes the nature of the bugs rather than their frequency, it seems. The last straw was on Friday when an entire story just disappeared from before my very eyes never to be seen again. With my main job about to start again I do not have the time to spend two, three hours nursing a story through defective software.

The other problem I have with Demotix is over payment or rather the lack of transparency over what is being sold, where and for how much. By chance I happened to come across some of my images that had been licenced to the Wall Street Journal and some Danish news sites yet no mention was made of this either via my account on Demotix or email. Later a member of the Demotix staff assured me that all the details of these transaction would be made available to me within the following days. That was over a month ago and still no update of my sales has appeared in my account data in Demotix.

As you can imagine this lack of feedback is both disappointing and frustrating and has confirmed my decision that Demotix is not the place for me.

Greek students take to the streets to protest controversial education reforms

Greek students take to the streets to protest controversial education reforms, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

Over 300 university and polytechnic departments now under occupation by Greek students

Over 300 university and polytechnic departments now under occupation by Greek students, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

Despite the fact that the Greek academic year has yet to begin, students in universities and polytehnics across the country are already gearing up to resist contoversial reform programme being introduced by minister for education, Anna Diamantopoulou.

According to student leaders over 300 department in institutions of higher education nationwide are now being occupied by students unhappy with changes designed to overhaul Greece's ailing universities and technical schools. For protesting students and academics the reforms are little more than than a cost cutting exercise being foisted upon Athens by its international creditors anxious to bring public spending down.

Amongst the most contested elements in the reform package is the abolition of the country's campus asylum laws whch mean that the police are only allowed to enter university/polytechnc proprty at the inviation of the dean. Such laws ahve long been a thorn in the side of the authorities as it means that institutions of higher education are essentially off limits to the police.




Today students took part in demonstrations nationwide, in the northern port city of Thessaloniki between two and three thousand students marched peacefully through the centre of the city.


The latest wave of protests in yet another headache for the ruling PASOK party whose austerity measures have been opposed by an ever widening section of Greek society and has seen groups as diverse as taxi drivers and doctors clashing with the authorities. With popular support at record low levels prime minister Giorgos Papandreou attempts to implement deeply unpopular economic measures demanded by the IMF and EU are in danger of failing completely.

Thessaloniki city council in tree attack

TThessaloniki city council in tree attack, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

It's that time of year again. The 76th Annual Thessaloniki Trade Fair approaches once again and the local political hacks, in order to look good for their political masters in Athen look to spruce up the city.

Usually, this takes the form of expensive vanity projects within walking distance of the trade fair and the hotel in which the prime minister and the rest of the cabinet stay. A tradition that the current PM is unlikely to break given the problems with public order that are caused every time high raking government official appear in public.

This year in order to do something the local town council has decided to lop down a number of fine old trees in the part near the hotel and build a "sculpture park".

In a time of direst austerity, in a city where one in four is without work and many do not have the money even to pay their power bills such vandalism and extravagance is a public slap in the face and yet another reminder of how far the country's political leadership is out of touch with the average voter.