Greek Riots Spread In Solidarity
I have been watching with keen interest what is happening in my husbands homeland and reading and communicating with bloggers to get a view of what's happening. Greek husband also talks to his mother daily to make certain she is safe. I am not offering any photographs nor linking to the videos on youtube showing the violence. Those who want to see can do that themselves, they are pretty awful in my view.
I will not and cannot comment on this blog about my views since 1. I am not Greek and 2. I don't live there. I only spend a few weeks a year in that country and see things differently. Not exactly a tourist yet not a full time resident either. The financial damage to the country is so far pegged at 1.3 BILLION dollars...
My biggest beefs are with Olympic Airlines and most recently the bank. One has been resolved, the other may never be.
But for those who are interested I will link you to some bloggers with very different opinions on the ongoing crisis both for and against.
Living, Working, Musing & Misadventures in Greece
The Froth
My Big Fat Greek Life
Surviving Athens
This Is Not My Country
GG Wired
These are all very interesting people and write from the experience I don't have.
There are also various news reports and opinion pieces on the subject. And of course the counter opinion pieces.
Then of course the usual news reports from MSM which only confuse things even more.
Ekathimerini the English version, Spiegel on line who report the riots have spread to other major European cities, hell even Al Jazeera got in on the act.
This commentary is worth reading, if you read nothing else...
Labels: Greece Riots
posted by Rositta @ Saturday, December 13, 2008
4 Comments:
I had no idea things were as bad as all of this. The outlook for young folks seems so bleak. In situations like this, it's easy to understand why tempers flare and violence erupts. I hope your husband's family is able to keep safe. I'm also glad you're in Toronto and not Athens.
Yes it's rather bleak at the moment but there his hope too that things might change, someday...
I have very little knowledge of contempary Greek affairs. I have only visited Greece once.
I have therefore been shocked by what has been reported from Greece of late.
I would however say that daily riots are an unsustainable situation. If you support "revolution" they may achieve something.
I however am very sceptical that much good comes from most revolutions.
If there are problems in Greece I would hope that they can be resolved democratically. It would nice to think that Democracy could triumph rather than the rule of the mob. This maybe a naive hope.
I do not understand why the police stand by letting businesses built up by hard work, be burnt to the ground.
If this ever happened in Britain, I feel pretty certain the army would have been deployed within 2 or 3 days or unrelenting trouble. I appreciate that Greece has a difficult history in this respect but normal people should be free to go about their daily business.
I am confused and saddened by the situation. I wish your husband's family all the best at this time.
Again as I said, I can't comment too much but this much I can say. Since they joined the EU prices have gone up faster than in other countries and wages have not. When most starting salaries are around 700 euros compared to Germany at around 1200 euros and things cost more it makes life very hard. The police I believe were told to do nothing, at least that's what I heard. My MIL who has a bad heart and had a doctor appointment was and is afraid to go out right now. We all hope it settled down and a solution can be found...
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