18 posts tagged “greece”
Happy New Year my fellow Voxers,
it's been a while since my last (noteworthy) post. You can blame the Navy for that! Every morning I have to wake up at 5 am, drive for 40 minutes, catch the ferry to Salamina island, work for 7 to 8 hours and then go back home at around 4 pm. I sleep most of the afternoon and then catch up with my friends and of course sleep for 4 to 5 hours. Sometimes, I feel that 24 hours are not enough.
Last night, I took some time off from my social activities and browsed my favorite medium, the internet. Most of my browsing time was spent on "The Daily Beast", which is -for me- a worthy alternative to the "Huffington Post". Best part of the experience? Checking out the "Sites We Like" section. I'm expecting Harlot's Sauce Radio to appear on top of that list in the next months! And I have to add the "Cheat Sheet". Spend five minutes to read it every day and you are ready to go.
In the meantime, Gaza and the Greek riots have been keeping me busy these days. We are on a downward spiral and noone can reach the breaks. In Athens, we are expecting the riots to continue after tomorrow. I don't know if arson will be on the menu. I think that we played enough with fire. Now it's the time for the "social fighters" to set their goals clear and decide their "weaponry". If destruction continues, the majority of the Greek population will not be able to support their rightful cause; to ameliorate our society, politcal system and financial apparatus.
Yet, something awful happened two nights ago. Since the murder of Alexander Grigoropoulos, whose death sparked the current social revolt, there is a disturbing rumor hanging that things will reach a closure when a polica officer will die.
A group of people (that goes by the name Public Rage) attacked (with massive guns) the group of officers who protect the Ministry of Culture and one officer was badly injured. Right now, he is at the hospital fighting for his life. This is just brutal. Is death the solution? Certainly not. I always believed that the "eye for an eye" principle was behind us.
As for Gaza, I will later post a series of links to articles and videos regarding the war that goes on down there. The situation is extremely grave and international attendance is needed. The stability of the Middle East is at stake, while the price of oil is rising again. Coincidence? Maybe, but from my experience nothing just happens. Any ideas on a greater plan? I am open to suggestions.
That's all for now!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hello my fellow Voxers,
the sixth day of riots is coming to an end, but violent incidents are still taking place in the center of Athens. Today, many police stations around Attica (Glyfada's included) were attacked but no casualties were reported.
Since I am in the army I don't have the time to blog as frequently as I want. Therefore, I am posting this link to a very elaborate wiki. Please check it!
Hello my fellow Voxers,
Another article by the Greek Foreign Minister, Mrs. Dora Bakoyannis. I can't remember any other Greek politician with such an international press presence. Even though, I don't support the New Democracy political party, I have to give her some credit. I also like the fact that her team has a strong social media strategy. She has an account for Twitter, from where her staff informs us about her daily schedule, where she goes, to whom she to talks, etc., an account in Flickr with her photos, a group in Facebook and a YouTube profile with her videos. In her personal website, she has a "citizen corner", where all Greek citizens can send her their thoughts and discuss about current affairs.
The past weeks, the diplomatic incidents between FYROM and Greece have stirred major controversies among the world. Recently, the Greek government vetoed the inclusion of FYROM in NATO. In the article below, Dora Bakoyannis, the Greek Foreign Affairs Minister, explains the reasons and writes about the Greek position on this matter. Enjoy!
As I was reading the Sunday papers, again, I came across an article on the Media section regarding the new blogging law that the Greek state wants to adopt.
According to this article, the Greek Ministry of Justice is drafting a new law for all Greek bloggers, which will not have any relationship with the first draft that was published a few weeks ago.This new law will not offend the right to anonymity in blogs, but it will facilitate the procedures of revealing a blogger's identity.
This new law will give the authority to whoever feels offended by a blog post to report the incident to the Greek Department of Electronic Crime Indictment (part of Greek Police Authorities) and demand the revelation of the blogger's identity in order to prosecute the latter according to the law.
According to sources from the Ministry, the government doesn't want, for the time being, to add clauses that will characterize blogs as information media and force the blogs' owners to post their true identities, while the law will continue to conceive the offense towards a person as a misdemeanor and not as a felony.
If the Greek parliament enacts this new law, it will be the first blogging law worldwide and it will bring many technical and ethical issues under the spotlight. One major issue that wasn't addressed in the article is the needed infrastructure for this law, as Vrypan (leading Greek blogger) states. The companies that give access to the Web don't usually hold personal data. Will this change? Will they have to keep a log of our personal web communications? Will our privacy be threatened?
I know that there are laws against defamation, but, from my point of view, the persecution of a blogger goes way beyond. Blogs started as a free medium of communicating our views and ideas without discrimination and they have nothing to do with organized media companies. I know I have a blog because I want to share my opinions on current affairs and personal issues with the rest of the world.I try to not swear a lot due to my personal values and not because there is a law. Yet, how could I know if my criticism on public figures is considered a misdemeanor? Do I have to discriminate my personal thoughts?
I support the idea of internet regulations to some extent, especially on issues that have to do with children pornography and economic frauds,but I don't support the idea of the government judging my thoughts. I am not a journalist, but I am an active citizen with strong opinions on political and social issues. And frankly, I don't like the idea of "Big Brother".
If they start discriminating our writings, what will be next? Our photos and videos? The Web, so far, has proved that is self-regulated, meaning that people who contribute to it, like you and me, are the same who protect it and the "social web" trend is making this effort more easy. The core of the Internet lies in the sharing of unbiased information among people and a strict regulation will only harm it.
I have the feeling that a new social movement is about to rise in Greece and this time to protect something very important, our very own freedom of speech. People who defame other people will always exist. Just because a government can wipe out their existence in the digital world doesn't mean that they will cease to exist. They will always be here and the Web community has shown that when these people go far, we can "regulate" them!
During the last couple of weeks, a new scandal has disgraced our national pride, again!
As many of you know, the Greek National Team of Weight Lifting is one of the most respected teams worldwide. Many of our athletes have scored new records during Olympic Games and International Athletic Meetings and Championships. They have become our contemporary heroes who have put our country back in the Sports Map. Their victories have been celebrated with grand gestures from the government and with public parties in the major cities of Greece.
After the 7th of March, all the above are just a glorious memory of the past. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) unexpectedly visited the training building of weight-lifters and tested them for illegal substances. The results of 11 out of 14 athletes were positive to the prohibited substances, leading to the resignation of Mr. Christos Iakovou who was the lead trainer of the National Team.
After this incident, the participation of our athletes in the European Championship, held in Italy in a few days, and in the Olympic Games in Beijing will be taken under serious consideration. Some people are talking about our team's ban from these major events.
In the meantime, the Greek Government passed a new law regarding insurance and labor policies, which doesn't have the popular support. Greece was hit by a major wave of strikes and public demonstrations that haven't had any effect so far. Even though, public insurance funds need to be reformed, pensions shouldn't be diminished. Global recession is hitting us really hard. Prices of basic commodities are rising daily and citizens who try to live through their pension money can't cope.
After the dictatorship of the period 1967-1974, the Greek nation has been accustomed to socialist governments that supposedly support the welfare state and the public funding of weak social groups. Suddenly, after the victory of New Democracy, our nation is in crisis. Yes, during PASOK's administration many scandals had occurred, yet, people weren't so poor. Though, the nation was fed up with the corruption, so we elected New Democracy, but we forgot a very basic difference between the two parties. New Democracy is a conservative and liberal (European meaning) political party that supports capitalism, free markets and minimum state intervention. Therefore, we should have expected its efforts to reform some basic policies. We did a big mistake. We didn't vote according to our ideas and values, but we vote according to the face we dig more.
This situation has aggregated major social groups and labor unions, thus creating a large national social movements which demands more socially oriented policies. Even though, sacrifices are needed in favor of successful reforms, we should be more cautious and try to participate in the public discourse when something is about to change and affect our future. We have to understand that political participation is not only for the elite, but for all of us. We can't stay numb in front of life-altering events and procedures. Sometimes, social injustice is "justified" when we stay inactive.
After the latest incident with press-gr.blogspot.com, the Greek government is considering the enactment of a new set of regulations regarding blogging activities. Digitalrights.gr is a site that campaigns against this action.
For those who don't know what is going on: Press-gr is one of the most visited Greek blogs. Its purpose is to provide information and news that go under the radar of mainstream media and criticize the faults of the Greek state and society. I visit it daily to get information about state scandals and corruption. Some posts are bogus, but most of them are accurate and 100% true. The past couple of weeks, the police entered the house of one of the writers of Press-Gr and searched for evidence concerning a blackmailing incident. It is said that one journalist of a major newspaper was blackmailed by Press-Gr; they threatened to release information about his political connections. In the meantime, many politicians felt that they were personally offended by the fierce, critical language of the posted texts.
Last Friday, some points from the draft of the new Blogs law was leaked. As it was expected, reaction from the Greek blog world was imminent. Maybe, the most important issue is the battle against the anonymity of bloggers. Through this law, anonymous posts could become illegal. Bloggers will be required to provide their true identities if they want to keep up their online activities.
Do I have to remind to our government that bloggers are not journalists? Do I have to remind them that the Internet is by "nature" a free medium which even the US cannot regulate and control? Do I have to remind them that this our space where we write our opinions? Is it possible to regulate someone's opinion? I am shocked by seeing my country acting like a third-world one, where YouTube is prohibited.
I want to believe that this legal movement will be considered as an ill-taken and nobody will pursue its elaboration.
A dark era is upon the Greek society and state. Many problems of foreign and domestic nature occupy the daily news and casual conversations. A few months ago, the general secretary of the Ministry of Culture committed suicide. His mistress went to jail, because it is claimed that she blackmailed him. In the meantime, a highly-publicized newspaper was torn apart, because one of the owners delivered a DVD with erotic scenes of the general secretary and his mistress to the office of the Prime Minister. Why? Because, the general secretary had a strong friendly relationship with the PM, which he used in order to gain more political power inside the Ministry. This power granted him access to a large number of funds and projects that provided him with the means of a lavish lifestyle. People have told to the press, that the secretary defied even the minister. But what could the minister do when the secretary was "in bed" with the PM's wife. It is said that they have established a well-funded NGO. This story is ongoing since we expect the secretary to leave the ER anytime soon.
Recently the left-wing political party, SYRIZA, elected a new president who is only 34 years old. This action is highly praised in our society, since our politicians are old and full with non-contemporary ideas. Right now, SYRIZA is creating a new constituency, since most people are getting fed up with the big parties. It was about time to see what the youth has to offer in terms of politics.
On foreign relations, we have a big issue with the name of FYROM and the ongoing negotiations that started almost 15-16 years ago. FYROM wants to obtain the name "Macedonia", while Macedonia is a the name of a large county in North Greece. I can't tell you much right now, because every day something new pops up. I want to see first how our current government will balance things and then write about it. And don't forget the Kosovo independence issue that brings more instability in the Balkans!
In the meantime, a new issue threw us back in turmoil. This time it has to do with a blog named Press-gr. This blog offers unbiased and alternative news to the Greek audience and it has a high rating in terms of page per views.Yet, politicians and some journalists have claimed that Press-gr blackmailed, mocked and insulted them through its posts and now they are ready to take legal action. And I ask myself my fellow Voxers: what should George W. Bush do with all these blogs that give him the worst names? Should he ask for NSA CIA and FBI to hunt them down? The thing here is that the majority of the Greek society treats the internet as something evil. They can't understand that the internet is a free space where everybody can express themselves without prejudice. Last night, while I was watching the news, some reporters commented that a solution to this problem could be a new legislation. Are we out of our minds??? Freedoms of speech and press are fundamental rights! Thank God, for the labor union of Greek journalists who issued a statement to prevent such a law-producing procedure.
Yet, the problem remains. As long as the Greek society treats everything new with a "bad" eye, how will she evolve in these modern times? Surely, skepticism is accepted, but denial is not. We have to face the fact that the world is in constant change. New media are taking over the traditional ones ; thus changing the way we report and analyze facts. We can't stay behind and treat everything new and contemporary with as tools of the Evil. Sometimes, our lack of knowledge and education can put us in uncomfortable areas, but after all these years of history and culture we should have known better.
I wish mine and future generations will make a difference.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Economics announced the findings of a research regarding poverty in Greece. This research was conducted by London School of Economics ( not a surprise, since our minister is an alumnus and used to teach there ) and Kapa Research, a major Greek statistics company.
According to the survey, a person needs 933.7 euros per month in order to not be included in the list of poor people. Thus, my generation, the generation of 700 euros, is considered poor. We can't fully support ourselves. If we didn't have our parents, we would be left in limbo.
What disturbs me the most is that there are no major state initiatives to help young people.It is very difficult for us to start up a new business, since most subsidiary actions are claimed by big corporations, while the heavy bureaucracy has created an unattractive environment for our potential ventures.
In the meantime, all basic commodities are on fire! It's cheaper to have a cow in your backyard (if you are lucky enough to have one!) rather than buy a bottle of milk from the super-market!
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