Greece in chaos Personally and collectively, the Greeks don’t understand and can’t cope with what’s happening now, let alone what will happen next. The welfare state is being swiftly and deliberately dismantled without any time to set up replacements by Noëlle Burgi “Who knows what tomorrow will bring?” people ask in Athens, Salonika and right across [...]
As lawmakers debated the budget, hundreds of youths clashed with police outside the parliament [Reuters] Greece‘s parliament has approved an austerity 2012 budget aimed at shrinking its debt mountain with tax hikes and spending cuts, hours after protesters clashed with police outside parliament. Three major parties backing Prime Minister Lucas Papademos voted on Wednesday for the [...]
Greece braced for major protests Uprising of 1973 against military rule to be remembered on a day expected to be marked by anti-austerity protests Demonstrators are set to gather in Athens for a march marking the anniversary of the 1973 uprising that helped bring down the military rulers. The march on Thursday is [...]
Papademos will lead a coalition to push through a bailout to prevent the country from going bankrupt [Reuters] Greek party leaders have agreed to name Lucas Papademos, a former European Central Bank vice-president, as prime minister of a new interim government until early elections, the president’s office said. “The president, after recommendations by political leaders [...]
Photo by AFP The talk is all of EFSF, firepower, leverage and haircuts. But amidst all the jargon of the Eurozone crisis, it’s easy to forget that there are livelihoods at stake, and that real people are seeing their world turned upside down. Nowhere more so than in Greece. So here are a couple of reminders. [...]
Thousands of protesters have marched in the Greek capital Athens at the start of a two-day general strike, as parliament prepares to vote on sweeping new austerity measures designed to stave off a default that could trigger a crisis in the wider eurozone. Police were deployed in force in central Athens on Wednesday [...]
Greek Default Looms Eurozone At Death’s Door by MIKE WHITNEY “After almost two years of fighting to contain the region’s debt crisis and providing the biggest share of three European bailouts, Chancellor Angela Merkel is laying the ground for what markets say is almost a sure thing: a Greek default.” – Bloomberg News Greece is hurtling [...]
The accident and emergency ward at a hospital in Athens – hospitals here face regular shortages of materials and equipment. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian Adonis Kostakos is unemployed and diabetic. Aged 50, he last worked regularly four years ago in the port of Piraeus. Back then he usedGreece‘s public hospital system to have [...]
Manolis Glezos was teargassed by a riot policeman outside the Greek parliament in March last year. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images Seventy years ago Manolis Glezos scaled the walls of the Acropolis to tear down the swastika, hoisted over the monument that Hitler had triumphantly described as a symbol of “human culture”. This single act of [...]
Striking taxi drivers pass the White Tower in Thessaloniki, the site of protests against the austerity programme in Greece. Photograph: Giorgos Nisiotis/AP Among the chic bars along Thessaloniki’s historic waterfront, one restaurant stands out. “We want our money!” reads a banner dangling from the terrace of an American-themed diner and grill. Inside, 12 staff have [...]
Rupert Murdoch: Intellectual terrorism by PAUL J. BALLES on JULY 25, 2011 The past week’s news has been dominated by reports of scandals in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. As journalist Ted Newcomen points out, there’s more to the story: The latest revelations in the UK about phone hacking, bribing the police, and frightening political leaders are just [...]
Protesters have camped outside the Greek parliament building since May 25 to protest against austerity measures and a venal government [GALLO/GETTY] The historical fact that Athens was the birthplace of democracy has been haunting the crowds assembled for nearly two months in the city’s Syntagma (Constitution) Square, right across from the House of Parliament, protesting undaunted against the [...]
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she was confident that the Bundestag would vote through the Greek rescue package. Photograph: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images A rally on European stock markets evaporated on Friday night as investors began to voice concerns about whether the eurozone rescue plan for Greece would be enough to stem the currency bloc’s debt [...]
The message below from Anarchists overseas is very consistent with comments this page makes as prefaces to articles, particularly about Greece. With all the disclosure of the thoroughly criminal activities by the Murdoch press it is well to remember that you should not divorce corrupt and illegal conduct from the basically very corrupt system that is the source of it all. Most of the [...]
George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, has sent an excoriating letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, the eurozone’s chairman. Photograph: Petros Giannakouris/AP Greece came under further pressure to tackle its growing debts after a report by the International Monetary Fund urged Athens to move faster on fiscal and structural reforms to avoid defaulting. The IMF highlighted the country’s [...]
Foreign Policy Goes Gaga Lady Gaga and Alice Walker don’t have much in common. One dresses in red meat; the other doesn’t even eat the stuff. One writes lyrics like “I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want your everything as long as it’s free.” The other writes The Color Purple. But they are both [...]
You can watch this interview at the RealNews at http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7010. please remember this is a very worthwhile service that depends on public donation. George Ikners ikners.com PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Paul Jay in Washington. In Greece, the Parliament has passed the austerity measures. And judging by the [...]
AS the heartland of Democracy, Greece has always managed to show different colours. Castro summed up the position so well when he contrasted the claims about the Greek democratic invention with the two slaves per household the ancient Greeks had, with each slave’s life totally decided by the whim of the new democrats. George Ikners ikners.com [...]
A Greek Tragedy: Seizing the Gaza Flotilla on Israel‘s Orders by MOHAMED KHODR on JULY 5, 2011 Spread it! 4Share| Share 1 inShare 1digg email print By Mohamed Khodr* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz Greek coastguards stand in front of the Canadian boat Tahrir after forcing it back to port. Photograph: Reuters The odyssey and fate of eight ships, [...]
