I am not sure to whom I am addressing this text, to whom I want to explain, whom I want to answer. I think that the first addresee is myself, then my friends that all these days have sent brief text messages and emails asking me about the last events in Greece, and last maybe, to my students who are probably taking part in the demonstrations .
So, what's going on?
I read on the BBC page a report by M. Brabant stating that "Rebellion is deeply embedded in the Greek psyche" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7771628.stm ) from "Oxi" (the Greek NO to the Italian invadoers, 28October 1940) to the modern No against the Greek junta in the student rebellion on Noveber 17th 1973. I don't think that the social riots started on last Saturday after the murder of the 15-year-old high-school pupil Alexandros, by a bullet of a special forces police officer do not have anything to do with a special Greek psyche. On the contrary, I believe that the riots' motives are embedded in the economic, political and social condiitons of Greece andmoreover, they are not irrelevant to the wider global economic and political discontent. Corruption and nepotism were the main background for Le Monde (http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2008/12/10/le-gouvernement-grec-de-plus-en-plus-fragilise_1129402_3214.html#ens_id=1127970). Yes, but not only. Poverty and general disatisfaction. Yes, but not only.
It is true that since the end of 1990s something has changed. It was not the change of government or the Olympic Games, but gradually all the illusions about the strong Greek economy, the hegemonic role in South Eastern Europe and the end of "PsoroKostena" (a beggar woman in the first years of the Greek independence living on charity that often personifies Greece) started to get shattered. What was only a feeling, i.e. the fact that the optimist estimates about the economy and the macro figures which did not coincide with the hardships of the every day life of many of the Greeks, in particular after the introduction of Euro. At the same time, the big scandal of the Stock Market where fortunes of smaller stock holders were lost because of fraudulent companies remained with no punishment, although there was an orgy of rumours indicating the participation of members of the PASOK government. Moreover, the end of the Olympic Games left the country in more debts -the Games surpassed the estimated cost- and with a shrinking of the employment opportunities.
Unemployment, poverty, external debt, new scandals (the last one invloved the exchange of public land between the Greek State and a monastery of Mount Athos, Vatopedi) corruption, nepotism were few of the problems that Karamanlis' government failed to manage, let alone solve.
The G-700 (the generation of 700euros, usually young people of good education, see http://g700.blogspot.com/) is a example of these conditions and their disapointment is shared by many young Greeks. Some of them find refuge to the countires where they do their postgraduate studies refusing to return to a homeland that often deprives them from any dignity.
Some of these people are protesting in several European and American cities.
Another issue is education.
Only 3,1% of the new year's budge is invested in education, although Karamanlis' government was elected with the promisse of 5%. Μass education in relation to economic recession and corruption have discredited both educational system and degrees, which for decades played the role of the main mechanism redistributing income. Higher education also was a field of highly politicised in terms of Greek party politics and the quest for widening their voter's pool. An example of this is the fact that the main hall of main Greek public universities are covered with posters of every youth clubs of the main Greek parties which also have their own representative. For many of the students, especially for the new ones, this mechanism is helpfull since these representative give them information about their studies, timetables and courses.
In addition to that, the last years, the new Higher Education Reform Law and the recongnition of private colleges as equal to public universities was parallel to the gradual downgrading of the latter. Many people and not unreasonably, believe that this is a political plan to persuade public opinion about the necessity for private education. Low salaries, workload burdened with administration, understaffed departments, lack of well equipped labs and libraries have led to a system which does not provide incentives, and make education impersonal and indifferent to many young people-characteristics found in the other levels of the Greek education as well.
Some of these long-silenced and frustrated young people took part in the riots.
But if Greek state fails to satisfy its citizen's basic needs (welfare, education, employment) what is left to justify its existence?
Kratos was a sibling of Violence, Victory and Zela in the Greek mythology. The inhereted-for many- violent nature of statehood was also combined with the sense of alienation in Greece. THe centuries of formation of modern states found Greece under the jthe Ottomans . Only the Church and some elite groups-Fanriotes- took part in the imperial bureucracy of the latter, alienating the former from the Greek-speaking masses. After independence, the state passed to the hands of a Bavarian King and court, whereas was heavily dependent on the Great Powers., something that continued to the more recent years .
In addition, these powers heavily mingled in inthernal Greek politics and supported the Right contributing to the deep social and political gaps that divided the country for years. (Civil War 1945-1949, various juntas with the last of that of the colonels 1967-1973). The supression of an opposition all these years was heavily relied on the "forces of order" and many extreme rightist groups which, depending on the poilical timing, were more or less "legalised". Security both internal and external was the main slogan for politcal powers in order to appeal to their voters. During all these years state violence took place and went unpunished and was widely accepted as the "necesseary evil.
The shift of government in 1980 might have brought changes in the police but did not eradicate these rightist clusters. Besides, the 1980s was the period of the rise of the Greek version of terrorism with various urban "guerilla" groups like 17th Noveber. As member of the EU an dthen of Schegen, the Greek police was "modernized" and followed, with extreme zeal the new challagenges, especially since 9/11 and the pretext of the Olympic Games. And above everything, these people remained without any punishment, feeling powerfull but leaving us exposed to the face of Kratos
One of these people became a cold-blood murderer on Saturday night. He is not the Beast, as some blogs and newspapers call him. He is one of us. He might have spent hours to a deputee's office in order to get a permanent placement in the police.
In the meanwhile, Greece had been transformed into a migrant receiving country. The latter became the easy target for any of the problems caused by recession, social discontent and the rise of the extreme right.
The police arrested me in Thessaloniki and put me in jail for 25 days. The guards did not speak to me. If I tried to speak to them, they just shook their heads. I had no asylum interview when I was arrested, detained, or released. I told them I was an Iraqi. I gave them my real name. They only asked me if I wanted to stay in detention or leave. They told me that if I asked for asylum and a red card that I would need to spend more time in jail beyond 25 days, but if I didn't want asylum and a red card I could leave detention after 25 days. So, I refused the red card and after 25 days they released me. I got a white paper telling me I needed to leave the country in 30 days. I wanted to go to another country to seek asylum, but a friend told me that because they took my fingerprints, they would send me back to Athens. I have now been here a month without papers. Now I am in a hole. I can't go out. I can't stay. Every day I think I made a mistake to leave my country. I want to go back, but how can I? I would be killed if I go back. But they treat you like a dog here. I have nothing. No rights. No friends.
( http://www.hrw.org/en/node/76211/section/4)
Some of these maginalized and ghettoized NOONES, took part in the looting in the riots
At the same time, the police forces are very badly paid, often doing second jobs, e.g. providing security to bars, or getting bribed, not well-trained, according to their representatives, frequently becoming themselves victims of incompetent superiors or having to succumb to any political interfearance in order to keep their position.
Some of these people tried to keep a low-profile in the riots, after the appeal of the Minister of Interior, leaving the property of several Greek citizens unprotected and many whys unaswered.
And who are the people with the hoods, the so-called "koukouloforoi"? Are they notorious anarchists, nihilists, political propagators used as baits by the government in order trigger the Greek instict for security or part of the extreme right which is well connected with the Greek police that are used to provoke chaos, frustration and fear to the Greek people.Besides the Primes Minsiter's first steps to heal the wounds were economic measures in order to show sympathy and understanding towards these merchants that saw their property get destroyed during Christmas seazon-the most lucrative seazon of the commercial year.
photographs by http://parapolitiki.blogspot.com/
The Greek Prime Minister in his first reaction spoke of "zero tolerance"-many spoke or wished for the enforcement of the article 48, declaring of the country in a state of emergency or throwing in the streets the Greek army.
However, "zero tolerance" could easily be translated to no understanding, to intransigence. Wan't it the main issue of these riots.? No social solidarity, alienation between the people and the state, opression, marginalization and impoverishment of certain social grups, disillusion and frustration of other . People in the hoods means people wiht no face.
People with hoods are peopke with no face. People with no face could also mean people with any face, the face of each one of us. In order to give names to these faces, we should take a stance, articulate voices and arguments, to reappropriate the streets of our cities showing awarenes to the people who leave in them or are forced to get out there in order to be heard, to bring the political back to the streets of Agora and become citizens once again.
So, what's going on?
I read on the BBC page a report by M. Brabant stating that "Rebellion is deeply embedded in the Greek psyche" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7771628.stm ) from "Oxi" (the Greek NO to the Italian invadoers, 28October 1940) to the modern No against the Greek junta in the student rebellion on Noveber 17th 1973. I don't think that the social riots started on last Saturday after the murder of the 15-year-old high-school pupil Alexandros, by a bullet of a special forces police officer do not have anything to do with a special Greek psyche. On the contrary, I believe that the riots' motives are embedded in the economic, political and social condiitons of Greece andmoreover, they are not irrelevant to the wider global economic and political discontent. Corruption and nepotism were the main background for Le Monde (http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2008/12/10/le-gouvernement-grec-de-plus-en-plus-fragilise_1129402_3214.html#ens_id=1127970). Yes, but not only. Poverty and general disatisfaction. Yes, but not only.
It is true that since the end of 1990s something has changed. It was not the change of government or the Olympic Games, but gradually all the illusions about the strong Greek economy, the hegemonic role in South Eastern Europe and the end of "PsoroKostena" (a beggar woman in the first years of the Greek independence living on charity that often personifies Greece) started to get shattered. What was only a feeling, i.e. the fact that the optimist estimates about the economy and the macro figures which did not coincide with the hardships of the every day life of many of the Greeks, in particular after the introduction of Euro. At the same time, the big scandal of the Stock Market where fortunes of smaller stock holders were lost because of fraudulent companies remained with no punishment, although there was an orgy of rumours indicating the participation of members of the PASOK government. Moreover, the end of the Olympic Games left the country in more debts -the Games surpassed the estimated cost- and with a shrinking of the employment opportunities.
Unemployment, poverty, external debt, new scandals (the last one invloved the exchange of public land between the Greek State and a monastery of Mount Athos, Vatopedi) corruption, nepotism were few of the problems that Karamanlis' government failed to manage, let alone solve.
The G-700 (the generation of 700euros, usually young people of good education, see http://g700.blogspot.com/) is a example of these conditions and their disapointment is shared by many young Greeks. Some of them find refuge to the countires where they do their postgraduate studies refusing to return to a homeland that often deprives them from any dignity.
I am G700
Having a university education and experience like those of G700, I’ve only been able to advance my salary a mere 150 euros after 10 years. I first settled for illegal work with ex-bosses owing money I’ll never see, freelance work with no insurance and delayed payment (or no payment), unemployment, salaried work with no IKA, low salaried work with IKA, unemployment, better salaried work with IKA.
Being as I don’t live at home and my parents have not provided me with property (and I don’t expect it), my basic expenses are higher than most. After rent, electricity, water, phone, kinochrista, transportation and food are covered, I have less than 150 euros in reserve for bureaucratic fees that follow me as a non-EU citizen, gifts for friends and/or an emergency. Going out is not in my budget, Haagen Daaz is a luxury item and owning a car with a monthly payment, gas, insurance and registration is out of the question.
(from http://livingingreece.gr/2007/06/18/have-you-heard-of-g700/)
Some of these people are protesting in several European and American cities.
Another issue is education.
Only 3,1% of the new year's budge is invested in education, although Karamanlis' government was elected with the promisse of 5%. Μass education in relation to economic recession and corruption have discredited both educational system and degrees, which for decades played the role of the main mechanism redistributing income. Higher education also was a field of highly politicised in terms of Greek party politics and the quest for widening their voter's pool. An example of this is the fact that the main hall of main Greek public universities are covered with posters of every youth clubs of the main Greek parties which also have their own representative. For many of the students, especially for the new ones, this mechanism is helpfull since these representative give them information about their studies, timetables and courses.
In addition to that, the last years, the new Higher Education Reform Law and the recongnition of private colleges as equal to public universities was parallel to the gradual downgrading of the latter. Many people and not unreasonably, believe that this is a political plan to persuade public opinion about the necessity for private education. Low salaries, workload burdened with administration, understaffed departments, lack of well equipped labs and libraries have led to a system which does not provide incentives, and make education impersonal and indifferent to many young people-characteristics found in the other levels of the Greek education as well.
They don't listen to us unless we take the streets (Dimitra, 21 years old, student)
But if Greek state fails to satisfy its citizen's basic needs (welfare, education, employment) what is left to justify its existence?
Kratos was a sibling of Violence, Victory and Zela in the Greek mythology. The inhereted-for many- violent nature of statehood was also combined with the sense of alienation in Greece. THe centuries of formation of modern states found Greece under the jthe Ottomans . Only the Church and some elite groups-Fanriotes- took part in the imperial bureucracy of the latter, alienating the former from the Greek-speaking masses. After independence, the state passed to the hands of a Bavarian King and court, whereas was heavily dependent on the Great Powers., something that continued to the more recent years .
In addition, these powers heavily mingled in inthernal Greek politics and supported the Right contributing to the deep social and political gaps that divided the country for years. (Civil War 1945-1949, various juntas with the last of that of the colonels 1967-1973). The supression of an opposition all these years was heavily relied on the "forces of order" and many extreme rightist groups which, depending on the poilical timing, were more or less "legalised". Security both internal and external was the main slogan for politcal powers in order to appeal to their voters. During all these years state violence took place and went unpunished and was widely accepted as the "necesseary evil.
The shift of government in 1980 might have brought changes in the police but did not eradicate these rightist clusters. Besides, the 1980s was the period of the rise of the Greek version of terrorism with various urban "guerilla" groups like 17th Noveber. As member of the EU an dthen of Schegen, the Greek police was "modernized" and followed, with extreme zeal the new challagenges, especially since 9/11 and the pretext of the Olympic Games. And above everything, these people remained without any punishment, feeling powerfull but leaving us exposed to the face of Kratos
One of these people became a cold-blood murderer on Saturday night. He is not the Beast, as some blogs and newspapers call him. He is one of us. He might have spent hours to a deputee's office in order to get a permanent placement in the police.
In the meanwhile, Greece had been transformed into a migrant receiving country. The latter became the easy target for any of the problems caused by recession, social discontent and the rise of the extreme right.
The police arrested me in Thessaloniki and put me in jail for 25 days. The guards did not speak to me. If I tried to speak to them, they just shook their heads. I had no asylum interview when I was arrested, detained, or released. I told them I was an Iraqi. I gave them my real name. They only asked me if I wanted to stay in detention or leave. They told me that if I asked for asylum and a red card that I would need to spend more time in jail beyond 25 days, but if I didn't want asylum and a red card I could leave detention after 25 days. So, I refused the red card and after 25 days they released me. I got a white paper telling me I needed to leave the country in 30 days. I wanted to go to another country to seek asylum, but a friend told me that because they took my fingerprints, they would send me back to Athens. I have now been here a month without papers. Now I am in a hole. I can't go out. I can't stay. Every day I think I made a mistake to leave my country. I want to go back, but how can I? I would be killed if I go back. But they treat you like a dog here. I have nothing. No rights. No friends.
( http://www.hrw.org/en/node/76211/section/4)
Some of these maginalized and ghettoized NOONES, took part in the looting in the riots
At the same time, the police forces are very badly paid, often doing second jobs, e.g. providing security to bars, or getting bribed, not well-trained, according to their representatives, frequently becoming themselves victims of incompetent superiors or having to succumb to any political interfearance in order to keep their position.
Some of these people tried to keep a low-profile in the riots, after the appeal of the Minister of Interior, leaving the property of several Greek citizens unprotected and many whys unaswered.
And who are the people with the hoods, the so-called "koukouloforoi"? Are they notorious anarchists, nihilists, political propagators used as baits by the government in order trigger the Greek instict for security or part of the extreme right which is well connected with the Greek police that are used to provoke chaos, frustration and fear to the Greek people.Besides the Primes Minsiter's first steps to heal the wounds were economic measures in order to show sympathy and understanding towards these merchants that saw their property get destroyed during Christmas seazon-the most lucrative seazon of the commercial year.
photographs by http://parapolitiki.blogspot.com/
The Greek Prime Minister in his first reaction spoke of "zero tolerance"-many spoke or wished for the enforcement of the article 48, declaring of the country in a state of emergency or throwing in the streets the Greek army.
However, "zero tolerance" could easily be translated to no understanding, to intransigence. Wan't it the main issue of these riots.? No social solidarity, alienation between the people and the state, opression, marginalization and impoverishment of certain social grups, disillusion and frustration of other . People in the hoods means people wiht no face.
People with hoods are peopke with no face. People with no face could also mean people with any face, the face of each one of us. In order to give names to these faces, we should take a stance, articulate voices and arguments, to reappropriate the streets of our cities showing awarenes to the people who leave in them or are forced to get out there in order to be heard, to bring the political back to the streets of Agora and become citizens once again.
