The shooting dead of a 15 year old boy Alexandros Grigoropolos has sparked off nationwide riots in Greece. There has been widespread violence and the riot police do not seem to be able to control it. Large groups of young people and specifically students are the main perpetrators many of them calling for the overthrow of the government. The 45,000 police officers are unable to contain the violence, however the military is not being called in. During the mid 70s Greece was run by a totalitarian military junta, since then civil disobedience is almost seen as justified in Greece. Any form of government force against civilians has since been seen as totalitarian behaviour.
Bearing in mind these riots are not rooted in this shooting alone. The deepening economic recession and dire social problems that have existed for decades as well as the hatred for a government that is seen as by many as inept and corrupt have all been factors.
The question is what should the government do? Should they step down? Should they hold another election? Should they reform or should they call in the army to deal with the situation?
Here is a link to bbc news with a video showing just how serious it is:
Yeesh... Haven't these kids heard of non-violent protest? Violence only solves governmental issues when you want to burn your country to the ground to reform it. From what I've read that isn't what this is about.
If you want change not destruction, non-violent protest is the proper method. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi both proved that.
Violence only solves governmental issues when you want to burn your country to the ground to reform it.
Now more than 50 buildings have been destriyed by fires caused by petrol bombs. It seems like many do want to burn the country to the ground quite literally.
You have to be aware of the context of these riots,not just the shooting but the long term causes exacerbated by the economic recession. Arguably protests that involve violence do get more done as they raise media atention much faster than legitimate methods.
When your mad as hell, burning some stuff is nice...
The situation with Martin Luther King was quite different. Blacks were the minority, violence would have done nothing. This is a whole nation of pissed off residents that want to kill some government.
The Greek government would be wise to do what they can to protect people and property, and let things calm down. Any action might cause the sitution to boil over again.
I believe there have been strikes and such in Greece before this mass protest.
You would be correct. It took 117 years (from 1832-1949) before Greece established itself as a sovereign nation. During this period, the country was repeatedly invaded, occupied, and ruled by foreign powers. It also fought a three-year civil war against Greek communists.
Between 1952 and 1967, Greece had a relatively stable democratic government and even became a NATO ally. In 1967, there was a coup d'etat led by members of the Greek army, which ended up as a totalitarian dictatorship.
After a series of bloody uprisings and power struggles during the 1970's, in 1977 Greece finally emerged as a parlimentary democracy.
Given this history, I believe it is safe to say that the people of Greece tend to have an extremely low tolerance for heavy-handed government interference.
The situation with Martin Luther King was quite different. Blacks were the minority, violence would have done nothing. This is a whole nation of pissed off residents that want to kill some government.
Sure it would have. It would have made the whole group of black minorities feel better by killing some governemnt. But they wouldn't have gotten a solution. Get my point?
If they want change, or in this case early elections to remove the conservative party from power that is charged with being rife with corruption and waste, they should protest, nonviolently. In a democratic government things happen when enough people pose a peaceful protest.
It also fought a three-year civil war against Greek communists.
Ahh, my mums family was from a communist held village. Very brutal people ive been told.
or in this case early elections to remove the conservative party from power that is charged with being rife with corruption and waste, they should protest, nonviolently.
The government in Greece is centre right not actually [articularly conservative. Its kind of a Greek cultural thing to protest violently rather than peacefully arguably getting more things done. If a whole nation rises up in violence then the government of that state cannot ignore it. In a parliamentary system with centralised government powers it is very easy to ignore what people want as if the ruling party has a majority it can push through legislation regardless. Sometimes violence just shows the government they have gone too far.
I would say that i am with the students on this one too. Us Greeks cna get pretty rowdy over small things but in this case i think they have hit the nail on the head. Recent polls show that only 20% of the population support the PM and his administration. Plus what the students are calling for is alll out anarchy, I will be interested to see what would happen if they gained power, a throwback to ancient athens with another try at a more direct form of democracy to counter balance the recent conservatism is my guess but in this chaotic atmosphere it could be anything.
