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Greek riots | 93 comments (93 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Greek riots (4.00 / 13)
Great rundown. Must be frontpaged. The situation is closely watched in Italy by the Anomolous Wave movement. Their Uniriot site has daily coverage with an report in English also (from edu-factory.org). (Uniriot is one of the main groups within the movement.)

The violence is precisely what the Italian student movement is seeking to avoid at all costs while what has happened in Greece is exactly what former president Cossiga would like to occur in Italy: Let the students go on a rampage and destroy property without police intervention so as to turn public opinion against them.

There will be a general strike on December 12th throughout Italy by the largest labour union CGIL and the student movement. The other unions have chosen not to participate. They prefer negotiating with the rightwing government- or more correctly, caveing into government diktats. The rightwing government has once again succeeded in dividing the labour union front with promises just as in the 2002-2005 period.

by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 02:42:57 AM EST
Re: Greek riots (4.00 / 3)
great coverage, talos!

the last paragraph was stunning journalism.

you'll likely go far, me lad, please keep us updated.

compliments also on superb english.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 06:06:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Greek riots (4.00 / 5)
it's been a perennial problem for millennia now:

bored armies.

you equip and mentally prepare thugs to guard the goodies, they hang around trying to stay battle-ready, and eventually their own desire to prove how macho they are triggers something colossally stupid, such as this.

i've a nasty feeling greece is just the fore-runner for other places, where also an inchoate rage is building, dying to release.

the remark about no-one minding seeing banks burn twanged some ancient chord when i read it.

right wing governments beware, your bluff is starting to be called, bigtime.

people have a limit...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 06:13:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
greece as prelude (none / 1)
melo: i've a nasty feeling greece is just the fore-runner for other places, where also an inchoate rage is building, dying to release.

i have the exact same feeling.

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.

by marco on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 08:10:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Greek riots (4.00 / 6)
Commentators on my Greek blogs that live abroad, noted exactly what you point out: the acute interest all over Europe is due to the fact that they are projecting their own fears  - that these are the results of a European policy that has transformed societies in analogous manners and might produce similar results. The fissure occurred at the weakest link.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 08:48:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Greek riots (4.00 / 6)
Let's also say there is a certain similarity with the French Riots of 2005 and those - a big difference being the social segregation of the projects in France, which prevented extension of the riots to, say, students.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 09:02:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Greek riots (none / 1)
To me, France's 2005 riots didn't manage to unite the student protest with the suburb one because of the unattended for racial issue. There is now absolutely no way that middle class representatives may get involved in a suburbian revolt: they just do not feel like being in the same country.
by Xavier in Paris on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 07:43:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Greek riots (4.00 / 3)
You could write the last paragraph for Italy with minor changes-- say € 900 instead of € 700...a small consulation where that is the cost of a month's rent.
by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Wed Dec 10th, 2008 at 09:10:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Greek riots | 93 comments (93 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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