The Corona Blog

I'm not sleeping. Or rather I'm not sleeping enough. Every night this week I've woken up around 4 or 5 o'clock and been unable to get back to sleep. However, unlike this is no '4 AM of the soul' kind of insomnia, driven by existential questions about what will happen to me in the future. No, this is far more concrete and far scarier. The Corona virus outbreak has been in Greece for weeks now and the news just keeps on getting grimmer and grimmer with restrictions on movement becoming ever tighter. There's even talk of a possible curfew over the weekend, though what this depends on seems unclear.

Officially the number of COVID-19 cases in Greece seems to be rising slowly, with just 30 or 40 new ones per day. The number of deaths is currently six, in both cases the figures are far lower than in many other places, yet it is very hard to get accurate, independent information. The current Greek government, like so many before it, always attempts to bury or ignore bad news. The fact that so much of the local mainstream media is willing to support the ruling conservatives New Democracy party, just adds to their ability to present whatever message they see fit.

During the recent tensions on the Greek-Turkish border, example of extreme abuse of migrants and refugees by Greek security forces only came to light due to the work of foreign news crews. Even then, the government and their many supporters in domestic media were happy to decry all such incidents as 'fake news' without feeling the need to provide any kind of evidence to support their claims. I'm worried that  this same pattern will be repeated, either in the name of national security or for less honourable reasons of party self-interest.

Whatever the true picture is, the good news is that ordinary Greeks are taking the official instructions about self-isolation, social distancing and other preventive measures in deadly earnest. The streets are not empty yet, but the number of those out and about is far, far lower than before. The thing is we are having a gloriously mild spring and the weather seems perfect for going out and relaxing at a cafe or in park. Not that this is possible as all the cafes, bars, restaurants have been closed down for anything other than take away.

This morning, once again unable to sleep beyond 5 AM, I decided to stock up once again just in case the talks of a weekend curfew proves to true. The local supermarket security guard was carefully controlling the flow of people entering and there were gloves for customers who wanted them. The shelves are still full and there are few shortages, with the one exception of yeast. It turns out Greece is once again turning into a nation of home bakers, a folk reaction, perhaps, to previous crises and disaster the nation has been through in living memory.

I remember when I first came to Greece, my then girlfriend, Athena had invited me to her place and I still remember vividly standing in her kitchen as she explained in an somewhat embarrassed way why all the cupboard space was full of bags of sugar, sacks of flour and large 5 litre metal containers with olive oil called 'teneke'. This was something her mother always insisted on having in the home, a relic of the difficult times she had lived as a young child during the German occupation of Greece in WWII. Then, a collapse in food production and distribution to the cities caused widespread famine which killed tens of thousands. Even so many years later, after most Greeks had achieved the kind of material comfort and prosperity undreamt  of by previous generations, the memories of those difficult times still haunted Athena's mother and many other members of her generation.

And not just her. The sudden spike in prices for things like surgical masks and hand gel was termed 'black marketing' by many and the urge by some, especially those who have the wealth and power to exploit a crisis reappeared. TV stations, owned by some of the richest
men in Greece were full of their own ads for 25 euro packs of masks. A week ago those same six masks would have cost just a few euros from any pharmacy. The fact that these very same TV stations are the ones who are so happy to support the government and act as PR agents just add to my anxiety.

The funny thing is that I stopped blogging regularly here just as another crisis was starting in 2015. Then I ended up heading a refugee solidarity group that worked in the camps on Greece's northern border for six months and I saw just how bad things can get when things fall apart. 

Updating the blog

A retrospective update of my blog. What between tweeting about Greek elections, taking photographs and fighting off a chest infection straight out of the Contagion B-roll I haven't done much here lately.

Greece held elections on the 25th January and despite all predictions to the contrary, the world did not end not did global economy implode, but Europe being Europe, this simply meant the same threats were rewarmed and served up again and again and again, over the following weeks as Athens and its creditors played hard ball the possibility of a new deal.

For the first time I can recall, the central squares of Greece's major cities were filled with pro not anti-government protests.



In Athens the fact 20,000 people had gathered outside parliament in support of the Syriza-led government caused no end of cognitive dissonance to the riot police units on duty. Here in Thessaloniki Greeks from across the political spectrum came in support of the government's stance, echoing the start of the Indignant movement in 2012.,

Greek elections - state of play so far

The Greek national election campaign is now well under way and all parties involved have started their campaigns, both on the road an in the media. The Greek prime prime minister, Antonis Samaras kicked off New Democracy's efforts with a televised rally in a hotel in city of Larissa, almost immediately followed by SYRIZA leader's rally in a stadium in Athens. The contrast could not have been greater, while the prime minister gave a lacklustre performance which meet with lukewarm response, even among party faithful, Alexis Tsipras on the other hand showed just how far he's come as a public speaker, both energising the party base with his speech and showing that he was clearly setting himself out as a national leader.

In the meantime, coalition party leader Evangelos Venizelos addressed PASOK party members in a cafe, reminding viewers that the glory days of the party when they could attract crowds numbering hundreds of thousands were well and truly over.

To add to the uncertainty surrounding the most unpredictable Greek election in years, ex-prime minister and once leader of PASOK Giorgos Papandreou announced his formation of a new party, The Movement of Democratic Socialists in the same period, a move that was quickly condemned by the current PASOK leader as "irrational and unethical". Some media outlets were even predicting, rather generously as it would later turn out, that the new party would garner anything up to 6% of the poll, so allowing it representation in parliament.

New Democracy's campaign which as being spraying the internet with banner ads and pop up non-stop since the day of the vote for president has been focused on playing on fears of ordinary Greeks that a SYRIZA victory would be tantamount to an exit for the Eurozone, even the the European union itself. 

The talk of Grexit cultivated by the Samaras and echoed by pro-government TV stations and newspapers has spooked markets and led to a number of European officials to back track and say that such a contingency is out of the question. However, such denials did not stop prime minister repeating such threats in his speech on Tuesday in the northern city of Komotini, though latest news reports seem to indicate that the party's campaign will change direction and now focus on the government's track record in power.

As part of this change in tack it seems Samaras is willing to use the even more incendiary topic of immigration, even the tragic deaths of the 12 people killed in the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris on Wednesday were used by him in order to attack SYRIZA's immigration policies. In his speech in Halkidi he said, 

"There was a massacre today in Paris yet some people want to invite more illegal immigrants and hand out citizenship"

This campaign promises to be the dirtiest in years, and as if to underline the point the prime minister and other senior New Democracy figures were eagerly using the deaths of the victims in Paris to drum up votes for their party which has consistently been behind the polls over the last few weeks. Whilst some surveys have put SYRIZA anything up to 7.5% ahead, most seem to agree on a 3-4% lead for Alexis Tsipras's Radical Left party, despite the fact that they are facing an almost uniformly hostile mainstream media inside Greece and to a large degree abroad.

If such figures prove accurate this mean that SYRIZA will be unlikely to elect the 151 MPs required to have a majority government in Greece's 300 seat parliament and so will probably need to form a coalition with one or more of the smaller parties vying for power. This is where the waters muddy and accurate predictions of what will happen on election day and afterwards become less certain. All the other parties who could be in parliament are polling between 6 and 2% which given the margin of error present in such cases means any meaningful estimation of how seats will be distributed is difficult.

However, some guesses can be made. It would seem sure that KKE (Greek Communist Party) will once again get 4-6% and so about 12 seats as it did in 2012. Whilst KKE has not been able to exploit the economic crisis in order to widen its base, it's party organisation and strong campaigning abilities mean that the party faithful will turn out and support them. Likewise Golden Dawn's support in the polls has remain steady at 5-6% despite the jailing of most of it leadership on criminal charges pending trial. Despite almost singularly negative press coverage there remains a hardcore of voters who are willing to vote for them, no mater what.

On the other the once might PASOK party was in the throes of a major meltdown, even before the announcement of Papandreou's new party which is likely to drain what is left of its popular support among older voters. Latest polls show PASOK at between 3 and 5% and the Movement of Democratic Socialists at 2-3%, though there is a possibility that neither will break the 3% barrier needed to gain a seat in parliament. The situation is not helped by high level defections from PASOK to other parties. Today, PASOK cabinet minister Angela Gerekou announced she would be standing on a New Democracy ticket in the next elections.

The other major unknown is the amount of success the Potami (River) party will enjoy,set up last year by a former TV presenter with the oligarch owned MEGA TV station, Potami has been built up as a centre - left alternative to SYRIZA for those unhappy with PASOK's record in power. Currently, it is polling 5-7% and seems on track to be the third largest party.

Other parties such as the far light LAOS and the centre left Democratic Left party who once were government coalition partners have paid the price for pushing through deeply unpopular austerity measures and seem unlikely to win even one seat in parliament. Even the Independent Greeks party once seen as a viable centre right alternative to New Democracy is struggling to reach 3%

(It should be noted though that Greece's pollsters have proven notorious political in the results over the last few elections and so any results should be taken with a pinch of salt, and the political affiliations of the news outlets that commission them should be taken into account).

Whatever the final outcome, it seems SYRIZA may need allies, but this is where things get complicated. A first glance the most obvious coalition partner would seem to be KKE but this is extremely unlikely given the deep ideological gulf that divides them. The insistence of KKE's party leadership on maintaining ideological purity in the face of siren calls of power is unlikely to disappear soon.

A partnership with either a rump PASOK or Potami also is not without risks and threatens to split SYRIZA which till very recently was a loose coalition of leftist parties, many of who are far to the left of the Tsipras leadership and would view such allies with the deep suspicion, seeing them as the agents of the establishment seeking to worm their way back into positions of power and responsibility. 

Finally, there is a possibility that no government may be formed and so Greece may have to go to the polls again. Such a move would definitely make the nation's creditors deeply uneasy as it would raise the spectre of default over debt repayments due in 2015. 

No job? No money? No problem: Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaraspromises free wi-fi.

No job? No money? No problem: Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras promises free wi-fi., a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

This is a Photoshopped image. Satire and parody.

Show them the money - Business as usual in run up to Greek local elections

With Greece set to go to the polls on Sunday the pressure on prime minister Giorgos Papandeou to avert electoral disaster for the ruling PASOK party grows ever stronger and so the sudden slew of government promises to the unemployed, mothers and pensioners over the last few weeks. Today brought the promise of 1000 euros for every unemployed Greek in the form of coupons which can spent on training and education. In addition the state run ERT news service reported that mothers  with childen under 18 who have the requisite number of national insurance stamps will be still able to retire early and comes hot on the tail of Athens promise to give retirees an extra 300 euros in December.

Of course, none of this is new and very much marks business as usual as far as election campaigning is concerned. Just as PASOK has promised to fund training through coupons Kostas Karamanlis's New Democracy administration also promised to give every school pupil entering junior high school 450 euros which could be used to buy a computer in the run up to 2009 general elections. However, such campaign pledges have been seen by much of the press and public as an attempt to buy votes by promising one -  off payments in return for support on Sunday.

The coupon scheme in particular smacks of last minute panic and provides a classic example of how the Greek economy got into its present mess. Public money is desperately flung around in order to bolster support for the party in power leading to huge costs and minimal benefit for the country as a whole.

The idea of giving those out of work the chance to upgrade their skills is based on sound logic, at least at first glance but is doomed to failure for a number of reasons which the government is probably well aware of.

1 - First and foremost where is the money going to come from? Even if the EU provides 50% of the funding, with the official unemployment rate at 12% and rising fast this means hundreds of millions will be need to be spent to train the unemployed. Currently, the country is having difficulty raising money to pay basics such as medical supplies to hospitals, back wages to government employees and even heating in schools.

2 - Who is going to provide such training and under what oversight? Much of Greece's private education and training  is subject to few checks and inspections (I worked 20 years in various language schools and never witnessed a single inspection). Given such lax rules the possibility of abuse and fraud is ever present. The reality is that many such institutions only survive through connections with corrupt local officials and politicians who mandate who gets sent where. In such an environment the chances of getting the high quality training most modern economies demand is limited.

3 Lack of training and education is not the cause of the present unemployment crisis.Indeed unemployment is highest amongst the young who have far more qualifications than previous generations. The problem is not lack of skills but lack of businesses that can utilise the massive pool of talent already available.Put bluntly, the economy can only absorb a fraction of the educated youth entering the job market every year.

4 The availability of coupons will push up prices for those who do not qualify and wish to do training courses. The example of the one lap top per student scheme introduced last year by the conservatives is a recent example of how the private sector raised prices of computers to make the most of the coupon scheme implemented. While it allowed students and parents to buy PCs it also pushed up prices meaning that everyone else wanting to buy such equipment paid more.

5 As with the measures promised mothers and pensioners it is a one off measure that does not deal with more fundamental issues such as what is going to happen to the present wave of people made redundant when their unemployment benefits run out in six months time.

The economy is in free fall and with two businesses closing for every one that opens the future for Greece's most vulnerable groups looks bleak with a bankrupt, mismanaged state leaving the poorest to fend for themselves. Likewise the electorate is rapidly losing faith in any political party to offer a way out of the impasse Greece finds itself in and promises of yet more money and funding is convincing ever fewer voters.

Sarkozy is history

Sarkozi is history, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

A young Nicolas Sarkozy addresses the masses in St Petersburg on the eve of the October Revolution. However, in the years that follow Nicholas attempts to play down his youthful transgressions.



Later Nicolas through force of personality and determination managed to reach the very highest circles of international politics to give his personal stamp to events shaping the world.

Democracy in Motion omnibus reaches Thessaloniki

Yesterday the Direct Democracy Omnibus made its appearance in Thessaloniki. The bus is part of a German based initiative aimed at promoting the idea that people take responsibility for their own lives rather than just leaving it to organisations such as parliaments.

"This new foundation of democracy can only occur directly; hence, direct democracy. “Direct” means that it can only sprout within the human self, and that it can also only be implemented directly by him or her, in the form of direct votes on all essential questions which concern everyone. The principle of “election” must be supplemented at all levels by the principle of “referendums.” The suitable form for that is a three-stage structure: the popular initiative, the petition for a referendum, and the referendum vote."

Democracy in Motion

Today they will be in Delphi then they are off to Athens then Leptokaria. They will be back in Thessaloniki from 15th to 18th October (see here for the rest of their tour program).

Here is some video of their work in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Democracy in Motion: Episode Sofia "Sofia Initiatives" from OMNIBUS on Vimeo.

Joking while Rome burns

The massive wave of protests and riots which started in Greece last December was sparked off, in part by the widely held impression that the present ruling party, New Democracy is both incompetent and deeply corrupt. I keep on seeing the same kind of accusations levellled at the government in Iceland which has presided over the worst financial crisis in the country's modern history.

However, the popular anger felt by many people over how their own political elites have allowed the current situation to spiral out of control has also spread to other places such as Riga and probably will not stop there as unemployment and poverty starts to affect other Europeans.

The latest in-joke from Ireland:

"What’s the difference between Iceland and Ireland?

Answer: One letter and about six months.”

The latest joke from Greece

What's the difference between the present government and the boy scouts?

The boys scouts have adult leadership.

Time for change

Time for change, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Here is hoping that the presidency of Barack Obama will bring a change for the better in the world. In a time of uncertainty and crisis we need believe that there are people who can deliver on what they have promised and do not simply rely on sound bites and spin to wriggle out from their commitments.

But remember, whoever is in power, politics is too important to leave to politicians.

Greek government slammed over abuse of refugees

Photo: Chiara Tamburini, Brussels, all rights reserved

In a damning international report the Greek government was severely criticised for systematically denying refugees rights and turning a blind eye to abuse of those seeking asylum on its territory.

The German based PRO-ASYL (National Working Group for Refugees) report on the country claimed theat the situation was out of control and the the state had reneged on its international treaty obligations to treat asylum seeker humanely.

In the report published in October Karl Kopp, head of PRO - ASYL referred to a number of violations by the Greek government of refugee’s rights, including the summary deportation without hearing of thousands who had entered Greek territory from Turkey and the ill - treatment of other refugee by the police and border guards. One such example was given by A 34-year-old Iraqi Turkoman from Kirkuk who said that he made 10 attempts to cross into Greece before succeeding.

"One time I crossed the river into Greece and arrived in Komotini," he said. "They put us in jail for five days and then took us to the river and pushed us back. We were 60 persons. They put us in a small river boat with a motor in groups of 10. They did it in the middle of the night. It was raining hard, and the Greek police started beating us to make us move more quickly. I saw one man who tried to refuse to go on the boat, and they beat him and threw him in the river. They beat us with police clubs to get us to go on the boat."

Last year the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) also noted in its report considerable number of allegations of abuse by police officials of foreign nationals in custody including the case of a detainee allegedly tortured with pliers while in custody in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupoli.
It should be noted that the land crossing from Greece and its traditional rival Turkey is littered with anti-personnel mines and that between 1997 and 2006 61 people lost their lives due to land mines.

In addition the PRO - ASYL report outlined the unwillingness of Greek authorities to accept asylum seeker’s applications. In the first six months of 2008 the authorities issued 8,387 decisions concerning asylum applications of which all 8,387 were rejected. During the same period just 71 of 2,886 appeal decision resulted in the granting of refugee status under the Geneva Refugee Convention. In 2007 just eight of the 25,111 claims proved successful.

Also simply getting access to offices dealing with asylum applications can be a risky business. On 25th and 26th October 2008 one immigrant died in custody and several were hospitalised after 3000 desperate asylum seekers applying for papers at the Petrou Ralli police station in Athens clashed with police. The police station had ceased to accept applications from the 3rd October for an unspecified period of time according to the Greek ombudman so leaving those without documents with the possibility of arrest and deportation.

In addition refugees deported to Greece from other European Union countries under the Dublin II accord have also had their rights violated and sometimes face violence at the hands of the police according to human rights organisations. A joint report published in 2007 by the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Greek Helsinki Monitor wrote of the case of Noori, an Afghan asylum seeker transferred from Austria to Greece in December 2007.

“The policemen hit my face and the back of my head until I began hitting myself to make them stop. I thought that it is the same everywhere, the police is as bad. I thought of throwing myself out of the window in order to end my life. “

The situation has gotten so bad that that the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees has recommended that no asylum seeker be deported back to Greece from within the EU. Indeed Germany and Norway have already suspended such deportations in some cases citing concerns over human rights violations.

In a recent article on immigration in Greece for Time, Greek officials argued that the small Balkan state can not handle what is a pan European problem, however, such claims have to be seen in the light of the state’s ability to suddenly find 28 billion euros to prop up the country’s banking system in the wake of the global credit crisis.

Despite all this the conservative New Democracy government is unlikely to act to ease the plight of refugees at a time of rising domestic unemployment and embroiled as it is in the latest finance and influence peddling scandal to hit the prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis’s administration since being re-elected in September 2007.

PS. I just came across this comment on the Al Jazeera video posted above.

"Giati de tous petane pisw sth 8alassa?
Arketa me tis oumanistikes malakies , de ginete o ka8e apovlitos apo th koloxora tou na erxete edw.
Gia th metanasteush yparxoun diakratikes simfonies opws px me th Voulgaria pou erxontai oi an8rwpoi kai mpainoun se doulies kanonika kai me kanonikous mis8ous.
H paranomh metanasteush prepei na timwrite me 8anato epi topou . "

Translation

"Why don't we throw them back in the sea? enough of this humanistic b#llshit. It's just not on for every scumbag from his f#cking country to come here. As far as immigration is concerned there are discreet agreements, such as the one with Bulgaria by whuch people come and get work normally at regular wages.Illegal immigration should be punished by death.. on the spot."

NowPublic

Tags: Greece | Time | World | unhcr | human rights abuse | immigration karl kopp | pro - asyl | european immigration

Greek politician faces one million euro law suit for criticising

In a move that sent shock waves through the Greek political world, Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the left-wing Synaspismos party has been sued for over 1 million euros for defamation by the Marfin Investment Group (MIG) over his criticism of the company's role in the sale of its 2.5 billion euro stake in the Greek state run telecommunication OTE to Deutsche Telekom. In addition the Greek TV channel, Star is being sued for 150 million euros over claims that MIG's funds had come via the Albanian mafia.

Tsipras, who was recently elected the president of Synapismos, has repeatedly called the controversial OTE deal a "fraud" and along with other opposition leaders has tried to block the sell of OTE to the German telecoms giant. In statement posted on the party's website Tsipras called the suit an "unprecedented attempt at penalising political life."

The other major Greek parties have been swift to condemn the action by Marfin. Government spokesman, Evangelos Antonaros, stated that the government disagreed with any attempt to sue any political leader for exercising their right to criticise. In addition PASOK party secretary, Giannis Ragousis, speaking to Alpha Radio said that the legal action was "unthinkable and unprecedented", adding that is was the duty and not just the right of political partys and leaders to engage in criticism and debate on public matters.

Andreas Vgenopoulos, vice-president of the Marfin Investment Group, claimed in a press conference that that the company had been the victim of a slur campaign organised by politicians, trade unionists and elements of the media. The lawsuit, he added, was needed to restore the honour and dignity of the MIG Group's 52,000 employees.

NowPublic

Tags: Greece | Alexis Tsipras | Andreas Vgenopoulos | Deutsche Telekom | Marfin Investment Group | OTE | Politics | Synaspismos | World

Far - right politician

Far - right politician, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Kyriakos Velopoulos - member of the far right LAOS party which has 10 members in the Greek parliament. The leader of the party, Giorgos Karatzaferis was quoted as saying in 2002;

"First of all, I am not a Jew. Can the prime minister say that of himself? Secondly, I am not a communist. Can Mr Karamanlis say that?” asked LAOS leader Giorgos Karatzaferis, speaking in Corinth on May 28, 2002. “Thirdly, I am not a homosexual. There aren’t many who can say that,”"

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=89039

He is also the author of books claiming that the Mayans are in fact descendants of the ancient Greeks. Nice to know that such fine, upstanding educated folk are representing the people of Thessaloniki in parliament.

Greece passes pension reform bill

Greece's parliament has narrowly passed the conservative government's controversial pension reform bill that triggered mass public protests.

The bill passed with 151 votes in favour, 13 against and 136 abstentions.

The reform is to eliminate most early retirement schemes, merge pension funds and cap auxiliary pensions.

The plans have outraged unions and civil servants. Tens of thousands of workers took to the streets on Wednesday in a series of strikes.

Athens clashes

As legislators debated the bill inside parliament, police and protesters clashed outside the building.

"The government is stealing the people's money. It's that simple," the leader of main opposition socialists, George Papandreou, said before his party's 102 deputies walked out of the vote.

"People have worked hard for their pension rights. Now, they are being taken away from them in the most arrogant way."

The conservatives have 152 MPs in the 300-seat parliament, but one did not vote due to illness.

A nationwide strike by civil servants on Wednesday paralysed transport and closed public offices.

Trade unions said millions of people took part in the 24-hour action, which was marked by clashes in Athens.

Re-elected last September, the conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis wants to overhaul Greece's debt-ridden pension system.

It had warned the system faces collapse unless the sweeping reforms are implemented.

More than 130 social security and pension funds are to be merged into 13 funds, cutting administration costs.

The government also wants to raise the retirement age in some sectors, and give incentives to those who continue working after the retirement age, which currently stands at 65 for men and 60 for women.

A survey by the banking unions showed that 71% of the population opposes the pension reforms and 69% supports the strike.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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Tags: Greece | BBC | labor action | pension reform bill | STRIKES | World

Greek government facing perfect storm

Despite having won a re-election campaign just six months ago the conservative government of Greece is facing a political perfect storm. With the streets of major cities filling up with uncollected rubbish and the country facing rolling blackouts, both caused by striking public sector workers, the New Democracy government of Kostas Karamanlis is beset with a series of scandals and political battles both at home and abroad.

The ongoing sex and blackmail scandal which saw the minister for culture, Christos Zaxopulos attempt to take his own life last month has continued to shock and titilate the Greek public. In addition revelations over alleged corruption and bribery by the German Siemens corporation in order to win security contracts for the 2004 Olympic games in Athens have severely dented the ruling party's standing in the polls.

The next  two weeks will prove crucial to the gvernement as it has promised to push through controversial pension reforms that have stirred up a wave of strikes and protests by groups as diverse as lawyers and rubbish collectors. With a slim parliamentary majority of just two seats, Prime minister Kostas Karamanlis is faced with a plethora of problems not least of which is the thorny issue of the naming of Greece's northern neighbour. Greek foreign minister, Dora Bakoyianni has vowed that Greece will not allow the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia apply for either NATO or European Union membership with the name Macedonia.

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Tags: Europe | Greece | Macedonia | Kostas Karamanlis | pension reforms | Politics | STRIKES | World

Sluicing the crap out of my ears

After hearing this particular member of the government's speech at the OKANA (an organisation the helps people deal with the effects of drug addiction) I just wanted to sluice out the bullshit from my ears. I'm constantly amazed by their self - love and total unwillingness to accept any responsibility for any mistakes, they or their party have made.

Instead, pol after pol droned on about how he has been trying to get more funding, but mysteriously they have all failed due to the "establishment" or "special interest groups."

I'm sick of them playing pass the buck whilst trying desperately to sell the idea of themselves as rebels fighting the system.

Gimme Shelter - The Greek 2007 elections

The general election is over here and the ruling New Democracy party was returned to power with a reduced majority (click here for details). Over the campaign I took lots of photos with the intention of showing how such elections are in Greece. Hopefully, the video I made will give a sense of what was happening here. Dramatic, but politics here tend to be so.



The music is Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones. All photos by Teacher Dude.

The eve of the Greek elections

The eve of the Greek elections, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Blogging hits the political mainstream in Greece

Interestingly, it seem that blogging has started to make itself felt in the Greek political system. Evangelos Venizelos , minister of culture in the previous PASOK government has set up his own blog (see here). Unfortunately for non-Greek speakers, there is no translation in English. However, I will be keeping an eye on it and will translate anything you might find of interest if necessary.

Una fatsa, una ratsa ?

It seems the more I see Panangiotis Psomiadis, (Παναγιωτης Ψωμιαδης) head of the prefecture of Thessaloniki, the more I'm reminded of another illustrious Mediterranean leader, The late, great Il Duce himself, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini.The comparison becames even more apparent when I saw Psomiadis give a speech this morning live on TV100. Both look back to ancient glories, both evoke with fiery rhetoric the bravery of patriots, both past and present.

Apparently, the only thing stopping the government in Athens gving away the whole of Northern Greece are fine patriots like Psomiadis, who with courage, faith and devotion are single-handedly defending Thessaloniki and Macedonia.

Of course what what he is doing is playing the national chauvanist card. Stung by the scandal and facing possible criminal charges over his dodgy political connections, he is doing what every self-respecting far right candidiate in trouble does: Suddenly, (re)discover enemies abroad and traitors at home. Whether they be Reds Under The Beds or the Elders of Zion, there is always someone who can be demonised and turned into a threat to the motherland.

BTW while Googling Psomiadis I came across this interview by Dora Kitsi-Makiridou a hard hitting journalist who writes for Businesswoman.gr, not afraid to challenge those in power with tough questions such as;

"Your message to the city we love as it is our roots, our history, our home?"

or

"What do you admire in a person?"

Unfortunately, the interview which is hilariously sychophantic, is only in Greek. I will however translate the first paragraph to give you a taste. It's quite difficult to translate into comprehensible English as the original is so badly written.And boy, does she ever get her money's worth out of her Thesaurus.

"Λεβεντιά, χαμόγελο, ανθρωπιά!!Επιτυχημένος, σοβαρός, χαρακτηριστικός, χαρισματικός!! Μάχεται, μοχθεί, ακούει, μαθαίνει, συναντά, κερδίζει την εμπιστοσύνη, εργάζεται, εργάζεται!! Διοικεί!!Κάποιο Σάββατο, τον έκλεψα από υποχρεώσεις,«τον κ. Νομάρχη», τον δικό μας, αγαπητό και φιλικό, Παναγιώτη Ψωμιάδη, με σκοπό να γράψουμε μαζί, για την ζωή του, για τις προσωπικές ισορροπίες του, και τις απόψεις του, στο κάθε τι…Συναντηθήκαμε σε ένα καφέ, με θέα την θάλασσα, συζητήσαμε, περπατήσαμε, χαιρετήσαμε ανθρώπους…Την εικόνα του την γνωρίζετε, το έργο του φανερό, ποιος άραγε είναι ο επαναστάτης «άνθρωπος» που χάραξε πορεία για τον τόπο μας ;Κύριε Ψωμιάδη, ας ρίξουμε φως, στην προσωπική σας ζωή, και ας μάθουμε, τα μυστικά, τις ανησυχίες σας, την ζωή που καλά κρατάτε «κρυμμένη», μακριά από τα φώτα, μόνο για εσάς…."

Translation

Upstanding, a smile, humanity a successful, serious charasmatic, characteristic man. He battles, he toils, he listens, he learns, he meets, he wins people's trust, he works and works. He commands!!!!! One Saturday I "stole " from his duties as the mayor, our beloved Panagiotis Psomiadis in order to have him tell us about himself, the way he keeps his life in balance, and his views on.....everything.

We met in cafe overlooking the sea and we talked, walked,and greeted people. His image, you all know from his work, however, who is this "revolutionary" who has made a name for himself here in our city?

"Mr Psomiadis, lets shed some light on your personal life and lets learn your secrets, your concerns, the life you keep well "hidden", far from the limelight, just about you."