This post is addressed mainly to my British friends, aiming at informing them of what is happening here in Greece during the past few days/weeks, as I am sure the english-speaking media aren't giving a clear view of everyday life over here.
So we just came out of a brief election period that gave us a multi party parliament that was unaible to form a goverment, so now we go back to elections on the 17th of June - during the first elections two major surprises: 1. The extreme-rigth neonazi party Χρυσή Αυγή - Golden Dawn came strong into the parliament with an unheard of pecentage of 6%!
2. A coalition of left & ectreme-left groups jumped from 4,5% to 17%, coming second.
The most recent polls give that coalition (calles SYRIZA) the first place & the possiblility to form a leftist goverment. You might have heard the leader of that party, Alexis Tsipras, on the news as he is touring Europe during this week.
It is puzzling to treat this with a clear mind. On one hand you have someone who appears arrogant, usually with extreme opinions on several aspects, but on the other hand you have someone who finally defends Greece in front of his "peers" in Europe (& does not go begging for money), and who admits unspoken truths about Greece, the public sector & the manipulation of Greek poilitical & financial life by strong financial interests.
To worsen the case, the Greek mass media as a whole attack SYRIZA & its leader, with unbelievable lies (that are easy for everyone to see through).
And during all that comotion, the Greek society & financial market crumbles - the stock market is at its lowest level since 1990 - can you imagine?
So we just came out of a brief election period that gave us a multi party parliament that was unaible to form a goverment, so now we go back to elections on the 17th of June - during the first elections two major surprises: 1. The extreme-rigth neonazi party Χρυσή Αυγή - Golden Dawn came strong into the parliament with an unheard of pecentage of 6%!
2. A coalition of left & ectreme-left groups jumped from 4,5% to 17%, coming second.
The most recent polls give that coalition (calles SYRIZA) the first place & the possiblility to form a leftist goverment. You might have heard the leader of that party, Alexis Tsipras, on the news as he is touring Europe during this week.
It is puzzling to treat this with a clear mind. On one hand you have someone who appears arrogant, usually with extreme opinions on several aspects, but on the other hand you have someone who finally defends Greece in front of his "peers" in Europe (& does not go begging for money), and who admits unspoken truths about Greece, the public sector & the manipulation of Greek poilitical & financial life by strong financial interests.
To worsen the case, the Greek mass media as a whole attack SYRIZA & its leader, with unbelievable lies (that are easy for everyone to see through).
And during all that comotion, the Greek society & financial market crumbles - the stock market is at its lowest level since 1990 - can you imagine?
Athens Stock Exchange Ends at Lowest Level Since 1990
The huge problem we have with illigal imigrants has taken new turn as the (now leglay elected) neonazi party performs organized attacks on them, and they the attack everyone back, so now we have killigns of Greeks for 50 euros etc.
Even worse, Greeks are commiting suicide in increasing numbers, especially elderly people. In the last 15 days we had 10 suicides, yesterday a 60 year old went in front of a children's playground & slight his wrists & today morning a 50 year old & his 90 year old mother jumped from a roof.
Oh, & by the way, these stories rarely make it to the headlines.
Also, about the neonazi party, as soon as the election results were made public, the Greek secret service releashed a memo, saying that up to that day they have been monitoring the Golden Dawn's actions, & they have formed cases for several of their members, but since most of them are now elected MPs they have no authority to investigate political figures, so they stop their investigations.
Also, just to get a taste, as soon as the results were releashed, the leader of Golden Dawn was about to release a statement at the party's office. The party members ordered all the reporters to stand up as a sign of respect when their president walked in the room - so they started yelling a military call (it sounds something like EGERTHITO) and they force to stnad up those reporters who didn't stand on their own.
All this is disheartning for everyone, & it has only just began.
& before you go blindly blaming all Greeks for being lazy, bear in mind that statistics says otherwise: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18144319 "Greek workers have had a bad press recently but, as we reported in February, they work longer hours than any other Europeans. Their average of 2,017 hours a year puts them third in the international ranking, based on figures compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)."
Finally, there are two documentaries called "CATASTROIKA" & "DEBTOCRACY" concerning the situation in Greece & the games that have been played on our people. If you want to have a look you can find them on this website: http://www.infowarproductions.com/catastroika/
With kind regards,
Even worse, Greeks are commiting suicide in increasing numbers, especially elderly people. In the last 15 days we had 10 suicides, yesterday a 60 year old went in front of a children's playground & slight his wrists & today morning a 50 year old & his 90 year old mother jumped from a roof.
Oh, & by the way, these stories rarely make it to the headlines.
Also, about the neonazi party, as soon as the election results were made public, the Greek secret service releashed a memo, saying that up to that day they have been monitoring the Golden Dawn's actions, & they have formed cases for several of their members, but since most of them are now elected MPs they have no authority to investigate political figures, so they stop their investigations.
Also, just to get a taste, as soon as the results were releashed, the leader of Golden Dawn was about to release a statement at the party's office. The party members ordered all the reporters to stand up as a sign of respect when their president walked in the room - so they started yelling a military call (it sounds something like EGERTHITO) and they force to stnad up those reporters who didn't stand on their own.
All this is disheartning for everyone, & it has only just began.
& before you go blindly blaming all Greeks for being lazy, bear in mind that statistics says otherwise: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18144319 "Greek workers have had a bad press recently but, as we reported in February, they work longer hours than any other Europeans. Their average of 2,017 hours a year puts them third in the international ranking, based on figures compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)."
Finally, there are two documentaries called "CATASTROIKA" & "DEBTOCRACY" concerning the situation in Greece & the games that have been played on our people. If you want to have a look you can find them on this website: http://www.infowarproductions.com/catastroika/
With kind regards,
