Best people to follow on Twitter in the run up to the 2015 elections - Greece

On 25th January the Greeks will once go to the polls to elect a new government, if the international media coverage so far is anything to go by the chances are we will see a repeat of the scaremongering news headlines that marked elections in 2012. Once again people who know no more about Greek politics than  you will appear on your screens and in the newspapers passing themselves off as experts. Often they will be doing nothing more than repeating received wisdom handed to them by EU and Greek government officials and their English speaking allies in the domestic press.

To give you a chance of hearing a much wider, not to say better informed range of opinions I have compiled a list of Twitter users who have consistently proven to be reliable sources of English language information about what is happening in Greece. They are an eclectic bunch though most would place themselves on the Left of the political spectrum, a fact neither I nor they hide. Ideology aside, though, they are people whose opinions I trust and who have demonstrated time and time again that they care more about telling the truth than promoting a particular party line.

So, in no particular order, let me present;

Asteris Masouras - The Godfather of  the Greek twittersphere.

Keep Talking Greece - Blogger who runs a website analysing latest Greek stories in English.

Thomais Papaioannou - Greek reporter based in Paris - Writes in Greek, French and English.

Stephanos Livos - Writer. Tweets in Greek and English.

Apostolis Fotiadis - Freelance journalist based in Athens.

Spyros Gkelis - Cyanobacteriologist, university lecturer. Tweets in Greek, English, Spanish, Italian.

Damian Mac Con Uladh - An Athens based Irish journalist.

Albert John - A rogue economist based in Greece.

The Press Project - An independent news outlet providing news and analysis for a global audience,

Vasiliki Siouti - A Greek journalist who writes in Greek and English.

Olivier Drot - Journalist and photographer, Writes in French, Greek and English

Mehran Khalili - Does political communications and photojournalism.

Tsimitakis - Greek journalist who tweets extensively in English

Joanna P - Radio Bubble contributor

Katharine Sarikakis - Professor of Media Governance University of Vienna

Derek Gatopoulos - An AP writer who tweets in English and Greek

Bruno Tersago - News junkie, philhellene, freelance correspondent for Flemish and Dutch media - based in Greece.

ElenaTzouanacou - UK based academic who writes in Greek and English.

Nick Barnets - An Athens based freelancer.

Katja Lihtenvalner - Athens based Slovenian reporters who also tweets in English

Stratos Moraitis - Writes in Greek, English and Turkish.

Yanis Varoufakis - Economics professor now standing as a SYRIZA candidate.

Zoe Mavroudi - Greek director and documentary film maker.

Yiannis Baboulis - Greek journalist based in Athens.

Yiannis Mouzakis - Greek economic analyst - writes in Greek and English.

Theodora Oikonomides - Blogger and contributor to the RadioBubble indie news service.

Last but not least.

Teacher Dude - Blogger and photojournalists based in Thessaloniki, northern Greece

Do not think of this as a definitive list, but rather a first attempt, so I you want to suggest an addition to this list, help me out by posting a comment.

However, the following news organisations are definitely sitting out 2015 on the naughty step. Not because of their political line but rather the long track record of blindly relying on Greek government sources, sloppy fact checking and inability to distance themselves from an official party line. Do not take their reports on Greece at face value, make sure you double check with more reliable sources.

Guardian

Bloomberg

The BBC

The Economist

Kathimerini (Greek daily that has an English language edition)

Create your own media message - a community guide

"If we play by their rules we lose, if we create our own rules we have a chance"

Once again the power of of social media can not only be seen in its ability to spread information but also in its power to challenge the way in which the mainstream media sets the agenda on a particular issue, even in places as far apart as The Gaza Strip and Ferguson, Missouri. Despite the vast differences in both geography and cause both cases show that even the most well-oiled media machine can be challenged by ordinary people on the ground using tools such as Twitter, Youtube and Instagram. 

Here are some tips for anyone who wants to use the power of the internet to get their message across and give themselves leverage in their dealings with more traditional forms of media.

1 A community or group should never rely solely on mainstream media to get their message out. It's naive to believe they're are neutral parties in many news events. Remember TV channels and newspapers are often large organisations whose first loyalty is to those who own and/or control them and not to you. In the worst case scenario you are simply another lunch item on their menu, to be consumed today and forgotten tomorrow.

2 Even if the reporter on the scene is sympathetic to your cause, they are often not in charge of how the final story is seen. They may be on your side but as we have seen from coverage in Gaza there is often a massive disconnect between the story reported by those on the ground via Twitter and the one that reaches viewers and readers back home once the editorial line comes into play.

3 Yes, cultivate media who seem sympathetic, but remember media organisations frequently come to a story with their own agenda. Check them out on the internet see if their views and your views coincide. Do not take it on faith that what a journalist tells you is what they are telling their audience.

4 Don't just give the news channels "raw material" in the form of video, footage or interviews without knowing who they are and how they operate. Too many of those in the media see "civilians" as just another expendable resource to be used and then discarded in order to get their story out. Remember once you hand over your material you have no control over how it will be edited and presented. 

5 Use your existing online and offline social networks to communicate your message, share material, produce your own media. The more people who can help you, especially in the beginning, the more others are likely to pick up on it later on and promote your cause. Remember on the internet you have the possibility of contacting sympathetic voices across the globe.

6 Share materials and talent with those around you. If you can, form a group that will allow you to pool talents, materials and resources. Whether it is video footage from a different angle, access to PCs or a gift with writing or photography, your community or group is likely to be a treasure trove as far as material and skills are concerned, it's your job to make the most of these gifts.

7 If a community  or group produces its own coverage (video/pictures/written accounts) it stands a better chance of getting its story out intact.  The more you can do for yourself, the less your have to rely on media outsiders taking your story out of your hands and turning into something you do not recognise. If nothing else you can point people to your version when calling out distorted accounts produced by others.

Video can edited with free tools  with  programs such as Windows Movie Maker which comes pre-installed on many Windows PCs (see here for training video). It allows you to make your videos shorter and more effective and also means you can add media (video, photographs or audio) from many different sources.

8 None of this needs a lot of cash or fancy equipment but it does take time and you will need some technical skills which are well worth learning. A good place to begin is the Witness.org site which is full of practical tips on using video for activism. It is designed to teach those not in media how to cover different events in a professional manner and how to keep yourself and those whose stories you are covering safe. Check out their YouTube channel here. 

If you are going to use photographs rather than video then always remember that a short text describing what is happening in the picture adds to your audience's understanding of the context of the event and also makes your image more credible. 

9 Don't forget to licence your images (be they video, articles or photos) under a Creative Commons licence when posting them online. This means that media outlets cannot just claim that once you posted them you allowed free use of use them to anyone. Of course many will steal your work anyway but at least a CC licence gives you some kind of legal leverage and shows your audience that you are the victim of copyright theft and not just negligent or naive. See more on CC in this video.

Turkish PM bans Twitter

Turkish PM bans Twitter, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

Hosni Mubarak welcomes peaceful democratic change

Hosni Mubarak welcomes peaceful democratic change, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Over the last 24 hours I have been following the tragic events in Cairo and other Egyptian cities as ordinary people try to rid themselves of a truely corrupt and violent regime which has ground them into the dirt for decades. Yet despite endless abuses by Mubarak and others in the government the USA still finances them to the tune of nearly $2 billion per annum ($1.3 billion going to the military), making Egypt the second largest recipient of American foreign aid. Just how much blood do such large amounts get you?

For live coverage check out Al Jazeera here or on Youtube.

Also for more updates check out the #Egypt and #jan25 hash tags on Twitter.

Greece goes on strike

Yesterday the Greek parliament wAS in the process of debating a raft of new labour laws that would radically change the pay and conditions of  most employees and is likely to trigger a fall in wages that will further depress living standards of most Greeks, perhaps pushing them back to levels not seen since the 80's. I do not know the outcome of the vote nor do I particularly care as the result is a forgone conclusion and in the final analysis the decision is not in the hands of elected officials in Athens but rather those of  technocrats in the IMF, European Commission and the European Central Bank. What the ruling PASOK government cares to call the outcome of the vote is merely window dressing and should not be confused with anything resembling democratic process.

However, away from the parliamentary puppet theatre the country today is set to come to a standstill as trade unions in the public and private sector have declared a general strike for today. Trains, buses, planes are  not running and much of Greece's infrastructure has shut down for the durqtion. Across the country people are gathering to take part in protest marches and demonstrations as I write this, angry and disappointed by their rulers.

I will be on the streets trying to take photographs and video of today's events and will be providing updates whenever I have internet access and time. To follow the events on Twitter use the #imfgr hastag. Most of it will be in Greek, of course but Google Translate does a good job of rendering Greek into English and other languages. Alternatively, you could use the following Greek words in your search engines and then translate.

ΑΠΕΡΓΙΑ (STRIKE)

ΕΛΛΑΔΑ (GREECE)

ΑΘΗΝΑ (ATHENS)

ΠΟΡΕΙΑ (MARCH)

Remembering December 2008

Greek students mark second anniversary of death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in December 2008, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

For most people the defining moments of their life usually come during youth when we still have the passion and energy to give a damn about the world around them rather than just sit on the sofa and curse at the TV screen.

For me, however that experience came to me in my forties, hardly an age given over to violent uncontrollable emotion, Yet something in me was woken by the news that police officers had gunned down a 15 year old for no apparent reason in central Athens. I cannot say what I expected when I joined a demonstration on the following morning, an uncharacteristically warm Sunday morning. perhaps a small march with a few hundred (if that) politically active students which would last about an hour before everyone went back home or grabbed a bit to eat.

Instead thousands of people of all ages appeared and then more and still more till the marcher numbered anywhere near 10,000. But as well as the larger than expected turn out I noticed other, more worrisome signs such as the guys rapidly stuffing the necks of beer bottles with cloth.

From the beginning there was a feeling of anger and rage from many in the march, an undefinable sense that some unwritten covenent had been broken and that it wasn't business as usual. That was confirmed when the march verred off its usual route and made its way to the central police station in Aristotelous Square. Moving a little ahead of the front of the crowd I witnessed the first wave of clashes between protesters and riot police, a scene that would be repeated endless times over the following month in Thessaloniki and every other Greek city.

The police responded with endless rounds of tear gas and baton charges yet, almost miraculously people scattered then reformed, determined not to be intimidated by them. The rage and anger towards the police then mutated as the protests went on day after day into a general sense of violent discontent with the authorities in general.

Witnessing these events reminded me of all the account I had read of the student revolts of the late Sixties including Paris in 1968. Yet these protesters were not just teens or college students but rather came from virtually every age group including pensioners who red with anger would hurl the most furious insults at police officers.

The other aspect of the events of December and January was the sense of unreality that came from listening to the mainstream Greek media's account of the events which ranged from clueless to perneciously misleading. At a loss to explain a revolt which owed nothing to traditional party politics they attempted to describe it either in terms of mindless hooliganism or shadowy conspiracy theories.

It was then that I realised the true power of internet tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and blogs as they quickly proved a far more reliable source of information than TV stations which lumbered through the crisis like a half-blind brontosauras.

Two years on the conditions which fuelled the massive protests of 2008 have worsened still further and the anger feel by many then has grown and intensified as people feel betrayed by their leaders. The ruling political caste seems even more cut off from its popular grassroots support than ever before and seem oblivious that they are standing in the middle of a pool of petrol flicking cigarette butts into the void.

Latest Wikileaks revelations in pictures

The latest revelation by whistle blowing site, Wikileaks has brought emabarrasment to US officials as secret diplomatic cables from American embassies worldwide have come to light, including criticisms by Bank of England Governor that UK prime minister David Cameron "lacked depth" and French leader, Nicolas Sarkozy was an "emperor without clothes"

For more on the story as it develops click here to see Twitter stream

Julian Assange and Daniel Ellsberg - Is history repreating itself?

Julian Assange, founder and spokesperson of Wikileaks yesterday was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Swedish authorities, accused of two cases of rape and molestation in Stockholm and Enkopin, a town one hours drive from the capital. The story hit the headlines after the Swedish tabloid, Expressen published an article which was quickly picked up by the rest of the world via Twitter.

Now it appears that the police in Sweden have withdrawn the charges without explaining either what led to the decision to issue the arrest warrant in the first place and why it was so quickly dropped. Already the internet is awash with conspiracy theories which point the finger of accusation at the American authorities who have been outraged by Wikileaks publication online of 77,000 sensitive military documents connected with the war in Afghanistan, many of them extremely damaging to US efforts to win over world opinion.

It is very hard not to see parallels between the Leaking of the Afghan War Diaries and the Pentagon Papers which revealed American policy in the Vietnam war and produced a furore when published in the New York Times in 1971. In both cases the documents showed just how wide the gulf was between official statements concerning the purpose and conduct of the wars and the bloody reality on the ground.

In both the Wikileaks and Pentagon Papers cases attempts to slience whistle blowers via the courts failed and as a result Ellsberg soon drew the ire of the Nixon administration who used a wide array of dirty tricks to discredit him, including breaking into the office of his psychiatrist in an attempt to find possible blackmail material (the same group of burglars would later go onto set in motion the Watergate crisis) and the hiring of 12 thugs to "totally incapacitate" him at a public rally.

Ellsberg reported in an interview with Huffington Post that Assange might also be the subject of threats by the American government and that just as they looked to smear him in the 70s such an attempt would most likley be made against Assange. With the rape and molestation charges, many believe that such a plan was put in motion and the fact that the charges have been dropped so quickly is likely to fuel such speculation.

Wikileaks video struggles to get airing on US TV

Yesterday Wikileaks released a decoded video showing the killing of a dozen people, including a Reuters news agency photographer, Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver, Saeed Chmagh in Baghdad in 2007. The footage, which is harrowing not only in what it depicts but also the attitude of the Apache attack helicopter crew to those who were shot to death, spread across the internet, driven by Twitter users who were quick to pick up the story.

On the other hand the mainstream press in the US has been more reticent about the incident and for a period yesterday MSNBC blocked all search attempts using the term "wikileaks". Even as I write this CNN is not showing the whole video but rather a truncated version which has scenes from the start of the video and not footage which shows the helicopter crew a firing upon a civilian van which had drawn up to help the Reuters driver who was injured in the initial attack and resulted in the serious injury to two young children inside.

The video is also at odds with the account by the Washington Post published at the time where those who took part in the operation stated that the chopper, code named Crazy Horse was responding to insurgent fire and that every effort had been made to deal humanely with the dead and wounded. As Capt. James Hall, a chaplain with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, who arrived on the scene minutes after the incident said to the Post, July 13, 2007.

"We pulled up and stopped, and I could hear them over the intercom say they couldn't drive the Bradleys in because there were too many bodies and didn't want to drive over them,"

On the other hand the transcript taken from the Apache's radio traffic just after the attack (see here for the transcript on the Wikileaks site) reveals a different story.

"I think they just ran over the body,"

"Ha, ha."

"Yeah"

"Maybe it was just a visual illusion, but it looked like it."

"Well, they're dead, so."

Greek general strike - rolling coverage

Iwill be posting updates here and on Twitter as the day goes by and giving impressions of what is happening here as the general strike proceeds. So far all is quiet with the first people turning up to the rallies scheduled for this morning. The weather is grey and rainy which may have put some off. On the other hand these things never get going till at least an hour after the programmed start.

All the public services are closed but the buses are still running. There are two platoons of riot police stationed outside the ex-ministry of Macedonia and Thrace and another one next to Agia Sophia church in the centre.

Egyptian riot police attack and injure UK aid convoy volunteers

Just before Christmas I reported on the Viva Palestina aid convoy that was delivering medical and educational supplies from UK to the Gaza Strip. I talked with those taking part and was deeply impressed by their commitment to their mission.

However, the latest news is not so gratifying. After being given the runaround by the Egyptian authorities and being told that they could not enter the country via Jordan they tried to get their supplies through via a Syrian port. Also the Israeli government attempted to stop the ferry the convoy reaching Egyptian territory using naval exercises as a pretext though this plan was thwarted thanks to the intervention of a Turkish warship which escorted them to their final port of call.

The latest hurdle thrown in their path are new restriction placed on who can and cannot enter Gaza placed upon them by Cairo which has said that only 150 of the 450 volunteers who have come from all over the world to help can go through. The Egyptian responded to protests by sending in the riot police who are attacking convoy members as I write this.

Follow the latest Twitter update here and here.

Help Viva Palestina - send a email to the Egyptian government

At this moment the Viva Palestina aid convoy lies stranded on the Egyptian-Jordanian border (follow their progress on Twitter) unable to proceed with the delivery of much needed humanitarian aid as the Egyptian government has so far refused the hundreds of volunteers who've raised thousands of pounds in order to buy medical and educational supplies entry.

Please feel free to copy the template below and send an email to your local Egyptian embassy or consulate. For those in the UK:

eg.emb_london@mfa.gov.eg


To the people and government of the Arab Republic of Egypt,

I, like many others around the world, have been following the progress of the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy as it has made its way from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Turkey and Malaysia in order to bring medical and educational supplies to those in need in the Gaza Strip. I would like to call upon the Egyptian people to alllow the convoy to enter their territory and so complete their mission to help the Palestinian people.

Yours faithfully

****************

For those in other locations a complete list of Egyptian embassies can be found here.

UK - Gaza aid convoy reaches Greece - Viva Palestina

UK - Gaza aid convoy reaches Greece - Viva Palestina, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

With just over half their journey completed the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid covoy reached the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki en route from the UK to Gaza. The collection of 80 plus ambulances and other vehicles carrying medical supplies stopped in the Greek city to raise awareness of the situation in the Gaza Strip which has been subject to a strictly enforced Isreali blockade since 2007.

After this evening's stopover the convoy's itinerary will take it through Turkey, Syria, Egypt and eventually to Gaza. If permitted to enter, the group which comprises of volunteers from over a dozen countries intends to donate the vehicles and supplies to Palestinian aid organisations.

The Egyptian government in conjunction with the US army engineers of has recently begun erecting a 11km steel wall aimed at cutting supply lines into Gaza. For latest updates check out their Twitter page here.

More photos on Demotix.com

Gordon Brown accepts his ABC award for best newcomer on West Wing

Gordon Brown accepts his ABC award for best newcomer on West Wing, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Following hot on the heels of Hugh Laurie, Gordon Brown has taken the now well trodden path from British stage to Hollywood screen. Brown's guest appearance on the revival of the 90's classic TV drama, West Wing was enough to get him this year's ABC award for best newcomer.

Twitter News

How Gordon Brown paid West Wing Writers $40,000 for 'tailoring' speech

"Gordon Brown's speech to the US Congress in March earned no fewer than 19 standing ovations, a congratulatory call from President Obama and plaudits for its command of global economics and rousing call to action.

What American politicians did not know at the time was that at least some of it was the work of a Washington-based speechwriting company called West Wing Writers – which charged the prime minister $7,000 (£4,300) for its services."

The Guardian

Twitter - Tar and feathering for the modern age?

It seems that even in the 21st century we still need a vat of boiling tar and a sack of feathers on hand to punish those considered to have violated the rules of their community. In times gone by the hapless transgressor would have been covered in the black stuff and then rolled in down, a lesson to others that the upstanding folk of this burg would not put up with their shenanigans any longer.

In an electronic twist on this fine tradition we now have Twitter, on which tweets, retweets and hash tags achieve much the same results but with less mess (besides, trying to pluck a frozen chicken is a thankless task).

Yesterday's casus belli involves uber Twitter user, Stephen Fry and fellow Twitterer, Brumplum shows that other pre-modern traditions are alive and kicking 2000 years after Cicero wrote that;

"Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion."

A mild comment by Brumplum that he found Fry's Twitter output boring followed by the surprise announcement by Fry himself that he was considering quitting Twitter as there was "Too much aggression and unkindness" sparked off an instant reaction and people quickly reached for their electronic pitchforks and went a - hunting for the culprit. Here is a taste of some of the Twitter responses;

abacab1973 @brumplum wanker. hope you enjoy the whirlwind of shit that you've invited.

musicknurd721 This person @brumplum is be the mosthated individual in the world..Finally found someone that wins douche of the year instead of Kanye

iamJaymes This asshole (@brumplum) may have caused@stephenfry to quit twitter, I don't know about you but I want torches and pitchforks at the ready!

Brumplum, or Richard as he known to the non - Twittering world is not the first to feel the wrath of keyboard avengers. In the last couple of weeks oil trading firm, Trafigura, Home Office minister, Alan Johnson and newspaper columnists Jan Moir and A.A. Gill have all attracted the collective ire of Twitter users. Thousands upon thousands of words have been sent out into the ether condemning them for their sins, both real and imagined.

Richard's case, however, is different as he is not a scum bag corporation guilty of untold human misery, a hate mongering hack looking to raise sales figures nor a rifle carrying moron with taste for blood.No, he was an ordinary guy who happened to politely express his opinion about a public figure and as a result was hounded for it by thousands online.

This whole affair has the whiff of the lynch mob about it, a reminder that even "nice people" can behave badly and that online beastliness is not the sole preserve of far right conspiracy theorists and religious wingnuts.

Thankfully, this story has a reasonably happy ending with profuse apologies being offered and accepted on both sides and appeals by Fry to put all this behind us. Yet this incident does raise some worrying questions about the nature of sites such as Twitter and the internet in general. As people, organisations and government become more adept at using this new technology they will realise that the mob still has its uses for dealing with those who disagree with their views and I predict that future Brumgate incidents will not have such a benign conclusion.

Carter - Ruck gag Guardian

Carter - Ruck gag Guardian, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.

The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.

The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the media for clients, who include individuals or global corporations."

Check out Twitter which is doing brisk business on the #trafigura trend.

Happy birthday Asteris!!! - Chronia Polla

Yesterday was a full day with lessons to go to, protests to cover and parties to attend. The highlight of the day was Asteris's party which attracted the creme de la creme of the Greek language blogosphere. Anyone who is anyone on Twitter, blogs etc was there. Also it was great once again to see all the people whose work I follow on the net in real life. There was plenty of laughter, ribbing, gossip, dancing and plain ol' fun, which put paid to that tired old cliche that us bloggers write about life as we do not have one our own. Pictures can be found here.

I just spent the last few minutes catching up on everyone's via Twitter and once again it reinforces my belief that social media is all about being social, allowing us to connect with others in ways that were not possible beforehand. In a city as big as Thessaloniki it would be very difficult otherwise to meet and keep in contact with so many like minded people without the internet.

Forest fires ravaging Greece again

Fire Morning, originally uploaded by orestis f.

I am watching the terrible images of the forests in the Attica region around Athens being devoured by fires which seem to be raging out of control. As well as hundreds of acres of woods many homes, farms are villages are also threatened with destruction.

Once more the country's natural beauty is being destroyed through a mixture of government indifference and state sponsored idiocy. Today's Kathimerini newspaper (the Greek equivalent of the Independent) ran an article noting the connection between the destructiveness of forest fires and general elections. According to Spyros Skouras and Nikos Christodoulakis, professors at the Athens University of Economics in the period from 1954 to 2008 half the forests burnt were lost in the 16 years in which the country held elections (click here to see the study in English).

The current round of wildfires bring back bad memories of the 2007 debacle (another election year) in which 84 people lost their lives in Southern Greece.

To find out the latest news check out the #grfires hash tag on Twitter.

Excitement over

Well, it seems that yesterday's excitement is over and the sites such as Indymedia that went down are now back online. However, I still can't post anything on Twitter. I can read other's tweets and search but it still refuses to let me add stuff except on a couple of occasions.

I think that it's all part of a plot to silence me and so I am not taking off my kitchen foil headset until the CIA stops beaming messages from their secret low orbit satellites. And people call me crazy! Just kidding folks, I'm never taking off my headset.

What exactly is going on?

I seem to be having a hard time accessing my blog. I keep on getting a message from Google saying that either my computer or network is sending out automated messages. I'm not sure what that means but it seems that other blogs in Greece are suffering the same difficulties. Also using Twitter is proving problematic, sometimes I can tweet but after a couple of posts it refuses to let me write any more.

It's interesting to note that so many sites have experienced problems in such a short period of time. Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and Indymedia have all had difficulties over the last 48 hours. If nothing else it shows how vulnerable our supposedly open internet networks are to the possibility of interference.

As far as Indymedia is concerned the issue of the domain name seems not to have been simply a matter of human error according to Carpathia.dereferenced.org.

"If you are reading this page, then you probably know that Indymedia is down due to the primary nameservers being changed from NS2.RISEUP.NET and NS.LACKOF.ORG to NS1.BADWHOISSHUTDOWN.COM and NS2.BADWHOISSHUTDOWN.COM. People are presently investigating this change, however it is probably related to an ICANN whois data "inaccuracy" report (which, unfortunately, is a known tool that trolls have successfully used in the past to get sites they don't like taken down)."

Indymedia Athens and Indymedia Patras as still not accessible.