Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Greece -- the citizens vs. the elites by Marie K., Unknown News Dec. 10, 2008 Despite more work still to be done on updating my computer system, I just had to set that aside given the TOTALLY STUPID reporting on Greece and the protests related to the 15-year old boy shot dead by the police in a deprived district of Athens. This typical article says that this incident has led to 4 days of “massive protest riots” while it puts the
One just has to wonder -- what’s really going on in Greece? Are emotions really running that high or are those “hooded and masked protestors” really undercover police/agents out working to see that the real protestors and their protests are made to look bad so that the government can come up with some nasty crack-down measures? I figure that it is some of both along with a disproportionate response by the police. The real question is why the so-called reporters aren’t looking a little more deeply into what is going on. Since they won’t I will. This Dec. 8 Guardian “background” article offers a few clues while using a little less inflammatory language. It points out that the “unrest” comes “at a bad time for an already unpopular government” -- ”a conservative administration.” I think we can interpret that as a “neo-liberal” government since, as the article says, there have been “allegations of sleaze and dissatisfaction with its policies of tax cuts [for corporations and the rich?] and deregulation.” It also points out that “the opposition socialists [social democrats?] are now consistently ahead in opinion polls for the first time in eight years” and that “there is growing anger at the widening gap between the rich and poor.” Well, that was something but not much. So, again, just what IS going on? Geez, now live pictures of big crowds at the funeral of the dead boy are being shown on TV. Of course, there’s no reporting on the neo-liberal policies that are upsetting so many Greeks. In general, neo-liberal policies include deregulation for corporations, as mentioned, but also (as I’ve written before) privatization of everything including utilities, education, and health care, also open markets (with no, sometimes necessary, tariffs allowed), and cuts to social services. No doubt Greece has seen all of these and more. So here’s a little MORE background info. As I see it, this Oct. 23, 2008 article sets the scene for the current events. In brief, things have been pretty tense in Greece. Firstly, on Oct. 21 there was a 24-hour general strike with millions taking part and marches through Athens. “The general strike was called over several issues including the 2009 draft budget, privatizations, and limits on pay, changes to the pension system [causing cuts & ending early retirement], and opposition to the recently proposed bailout for Greece’s banks.” Other articles indicate that in May there were other 24-hour strikes by the two largest unions against the privatization of telecommunications and of shipping operations at two major ports along with sympathy workers’ marches and student sit-ins. Then, in November -- first there was the anniversary of the Greek army killing 40 students at the university located in the area the boy was killed in, and second there were clashes between demonstrators and the police outside the US embassy. 2007 was also a pretty “hot” year. On Sept. 16 there were national elections that resulted in both “center” parties losing out -- the center-right party currently in power and the center-left party that have ruled alternately over the last few decades. Parties further on the left and one far-right party got the votes. Earlier on during the summer there was the scandal of serious forest fires that enabled developers to gain the right to build on what had been protected land. Finally, 2007 began with 3-month long strikes at the country’s universities against privatizing higher education and a big demonstration when the constitution was changed to allow the establishment of private universities. In Turkey, privatization of education and new fees has meant less tax money going to the state universities/schools and the increase of for-profit schools. Also, more and more middle class Turkish families are paying tuition fees that start with pre-school education all the way through fees for graduate school. Of course, the poor can’t afford this expense so their kids end up in over-crowded state schools with the less experienced and sometimes less talented teachers not hired by the private schools. So, it also sets up divisions between the middle class and the poor as does the privatization of social services, health, and pensions. It is pretty clear that those Greek students know EXACTLY what privatized universities will mean. In fact, this rather long but interesting article from a Greek writer sees the struggle against the privatization of education as part of the larger struggle against “neoliberal globalization.” Indicated is that Greece’s 2007 student protests, the 2006 campaign against the Constitution of the European Union (EU), and the 2005 mass strikes such as those in France were actually ALL against neo-liberal policies -- the Constitution was neo-liberal and the strikes in France were against “’hire and fire at will’ (or, ‘flexible’ labor relations, as neoliberals euphemistically call it)” types of legislation. Thus, to the author the unrest in Greece in 2007 was overdue. The likely changes to the system of education pointed to are NOT just those of new fees and less access to education. Included are curriculums that become limited to being “in the service of private enterprise” and “the elites controlling it.” Thus, “the real needs of society, the desires of educators and the educated and, by implication the ‘pure’ cognitive needs of science” are ignored as “technocrats” who may have difficulty thinking beyond the narrow and specialized knowledge of their field are mass produced. Also pointed out is that such technocrats, given their superficial general knowledge, could more easily be controlled by the political, economic, and cultural elites. They could be even worse off if they haven’t learned about learning or thought about thinking or if they are also paying off student loans along with their other loans and expenses after graduating and are too busy to learn or think for themselves. That last article also discusses how the police in 2007 attacked demonstrators, used a lot of tear gas, and violated the demonstrators’ rights before and after arresting them. Many were injured by the police. This was all reported as the "political violence" of demonstrators or blaming the victims who were actually resisting the elite’s violence and oppression -- the same way the current events are being reported. In other words, because they protested, the Prime Minister said that they think “’the state belongs to them’” and they “’do not respect democracy.’” WOW. That enabled the parliament then to introduce legislation that “allowed the security forces to enter the university boundaries.” What will the parliament do this time? That article also goes into the topic of democracy. It seemed to me that it said democracy doesn’t amount to much these days since the “the majority of citizens are merely given the right to choose between parts of the political elite,” elites that have only “decorative” differences, while the fact of elites monopolizing political and economic power is never acknowledged--enabling the elites to ignore the wishes and rebuff the protests of millions. Thus, it says that the Greek political elite never asked for the views of educators or the educated while calling “the popular reaction to its unilateral decisions ‘fascist’!” As indicated above, the current media reports are using a lot of that propaganda technique called “demonizing the enemy”--in today’s world anyone the elites are picking on. SO, my take on the article’s conclusion is that students in Greece have learned that they need to act independently of political parties and mobilize against the elites themselves. As far as I can tell, that is going to be the way forward around the world from now on. It’s “us” vs. “the elites.” P.S. Another Dec. 8 Guardian article, a timeline, says that one more 24-hour general strike in Greece is scheduled for Wed. Dec. 10, 2008 “against pension reforms and the government’s economic policies.” Note, the use of “reforms” as though the changes are improvements!
Very helpful, Marie, and sincerely appreciated. The New York Times, America's finest newspaper by reputation, actually has reporters in Athens. But from the inflammatory photo of a lone scary protester tossing a Molotov cocktail at dozens of cops in riot gear, and the paper's breathless coverage of "student anarchists", I just get the impression that the NY Times wants readers to root for the police and be concerned about troublesome rioters, and never seriously ask what the protesters are protesting. What's going on in Greece? According to the NY Times you're supposed to believe, quote, "Clashes broke out in Athens when youths among a large crowd of strikers who gathered outside the Parliament building began hurling gasoline bombs and riot police responded with tear gas".
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