Athens in November

....a few tourist shots on top of the Acropolis:  most of the dogs we saw in Athens seemed large and knocked out like this one - its clearly stressful guarding the Parthenon and all the other world heritage sites.

The crocuses are on the wonderfully named Areopagus  - the rock from which St Paul spoke to the assembled Athenians

 

 

Aspects of solidarity

With Greek Greens at Athens Council of European Greens.

Truck drivers inspect ferry docking procedure at Brindisi this morning

Nov 14th European Day of Solidarity against austerity - Brindisi

Publish lists of rich tax dodgers. Get inquiries set up!

Speakers at the European Greens final meeting: Eva Joly (France/EFA) said, "It's very important that the lists of rich tax dodgers is published and inquiries are set up." In this way the rich and powerful, withholding money from their countries, can be called to account.

This woman from Crete said there is a Greek saying that "The fish stinks from the head down." These governments have done nothing for Greece: the social fabric has been shredded and education has been devastated. Yet the pressure is still to vote for old parties but really dynamic interventions are needed now to break the vicious cycle.

Green Ways out of the Crisis: 
- Dany Cohn-Bendit speaking, and left to right, Monica Frassoni (co-chair of European Green Party), Rebecca Harms MEP (co-president of the Green Group in the European Parliament) and Nikos Chrysogelos Greek MEP. (9/11/12)

- This man (Greek Greens) was saying that there has been destruction of people's collective spirit and the only real solution is to build a socially-based economy: large cooperatives, local schemes, etc.

The Greek guy was saying that there must be more federalism.

Shan Oakes, Athens.
European Green Party Council

Balkan Green Network meeting: a Greek panel discussing the economic crisis in Greece. (8/11/12)

The European Greens meeting in Athens

Green Party of England and Wales delegates, Constantine Buhayer and Shan Oakes

We voted on important resolutions in Athens:

• to condemn the authoritarian behaviour becoming evident in various countries, 
• to support the Nov 14th strikes across the EU, 
• to oppose the use of the EU budget for defence research and 
• to oppose an increase in destructive mining practices, 

to name a few.

Shan Oakes

The debates get under way

Issues emerging in the first full plenary of the European Green Party - 

• the austerity measures are having a serious impact on both the community and the economy. They are leading to societal breakdown and the reinforcement of a system which has already badly failed
• the importance of integrity and good governing as a key factor in any programme to move forward
• the need to show that the economy cannot be relaunched. Instead it needs to be re-tooled systematically
• a Green electoral platform will only make headway with the electorate by making clear what alliances it is prepared to participate in
• and that corruption is not unique to Greece within the EU!
  
  Shan Oakes, Athens
  
  

Athenian graffiti

 

Athens - demonstration last night

Everybody was out on the streets marching or supporting the marchers and awaiting the vote in Parliament.


People are angry that the Greeks are being portrayed as shirkers to justify these draconian measures:  ' They want to make Greece like a failed Balkan state.' 


Someone else not on the march who had seen the event on TV, thought a military government is the answer...  

People agree that the current government is useless, without a mandate, and is reneging on all its promises. Some comments were:

'Salaries are being cut by 50% and prices are going up - you can't live', said a woman who works in a research institute and staying in Greece only to support her elderly parents.

 'You just can't live on the reduced salaries... if you get ill you can't afford treatment - even if it's available' - a woman who works on the Parthenon restoration.

'Lots of the decisions don't even bring any revenue to the government... it's illogical, unprecedented and insupportable ... and it's encouraging the rise of the far right' - Aristides, a human rights lawyer. 

It was very much the ordinary people, not 'troublemakers' as the media would have us believe, yet the people in Syntagma Square still got the tear gas treatment from police. But the people kept marching - despite the rain.  

The proposed measures have no logic in economics or common sense.  

'New ideas are needed', a taxi driver says. 

The European Greens Council this weekend must get its progressive message out there... there is no-one else with the radical vision to get Europe out of this mess. 

Shan Oakes
Green Party