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	<title>Love of History &#187; Greek debt</title>
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	<link>http://loveofhistory.com</link>
	<description>A historical perspective of current events</description>
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		<title>The end of democracy in modern Athens</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/the-end-of-democracy-in-modern-athens/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/the-end-of-democracy-in-modern-athens/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:33:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[athens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greek debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greek protests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IMF]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Otto. syntagma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[riot police]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://constantinakatsari.wordpress.com/?p=1047</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday I witnessed the Greek protests in Constitution (Syntagma) square in the center of Athens. The square took its name from the chants of protesters during the uprising of the 3rd September 1843. Back then, the Greek people forced their Bavarian king, Otto, to abide by a constitution. Back then, my country was a protectorate of England, France and Russia. Today, Greece is a protectorate of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. As in 1843, Greek people today are asking for independence and a new constitution. We fight a financial war as brutal as the War of Independence. Only this time we seek independence from the French and German Banks that hold Greek bonds at exorbitant interest rates. In the last two days the need for a new political system and constitution became abundantly clear. Hundreds of thousands of people started gathering in the center of Athens in order to protest against the new package of austerity measures, the new loan they try to force on us. Protesters attempted to block the entrance of our 300 elected MPs to the parliament. These efforts did not persuade our representatives to stay home or even to take into consideration the wishes of their electorate. It has been estimated that 80% Greeks oppose the new measures, not because we do not want to pay for the debt but because we do not wish to lose the sovereignty of our country. Selling the most important (and highly profitable) national assets and agreeing to external political and economic supervision of our government should not have been part of the deal in the first instance. No democratic country should be reduced to this state; not least the cradle of democracy. As if the MP&#8217;s decision to disregard the wishes of the people was not enough, the government employed 15000 riot police officers to suppress any kind of opposition. The police started a chemical war against the peaceful residents of the square (people who stayed there for more than a month). Hundreds ended up in hospitals with serious breathing problems, broken bones and bleeding heads. The police has even thrown teargas into the underground station of syntagma with dire results to the passengers of the passing trains. The presidents of the pharmaceutical association and medical association intervened asking the police to stop using chemicals, so that we do not mourn dead protesters. If you want to get an idea of what happened on the ground, please, watch the video I include here carefully. http://t.co/KJgfGIj Greeks today talk about the junta (dictatorship) &#8211; our government. There is fear in the hearts of the people and despair about the future. I would like to finish, though, with a positive note. The Greek revolution taking place these days in Athens need not end up in another totalitarian regime. It is in our hands to change the constitution by taking into consideration the decisions of the popular assemblies of the squares. An air of Direct Democracy circulated in Greece for more than a month. Direct Democracy may not be a viable political system in a modern national state but the direct participation of its citizens in political life is essential and could be achieved.]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Direct Democracy in Athens, ancient and modern</title>
		<link>http://loveofhistory.com/direct-democracy-in-athens-ancient-and-modern/</link>
		<comments>http://loveofhistory.com/direct-democracy-in-athens-ancient-and-modern/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:20:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[constantinakatsari]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[athens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[direct democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greek crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greek debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greek revolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IMF]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[syntagma]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://constantinakatsari.wordpress.com/?p=1008</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last night I was checking my twitter account, when the most amazing message appeared on screen. &#8220;50.000 Greeks obstructed the exits of the Greek parliament at Syntagma square and did not allow the members of the parliament to leave the building&#8221;. Similar messages continued throughout the night. Eager to find out more details on the subject I turned on the Greek tv. The silence of the traditional media was deafening. Not a single channel reported the news. In the meantime, twitter live stream was buzzing with updates. I tuned into #syntagma #greekrevolution #m25gr to learn more about current events in Athens. For those of you who have not been informed of the news, a political revolution is taking place in the cradle of democracy. Since last week dozens of thousands of people gather around the boule (the modern Greek parliament) to protest against the economic measures imposed by the IMF, to disapprove of corrupt politicians and to ask for a better future. The call for such protests came through Facebook and twitter. No political party can claim the organisation of this crowd. The gathering in several squares in Athens and other Greek cities seems to be spontanteous. In a matter of days the unlikely crowd organised itself into committees responsible for the cleaning of Syntagma square (both literally and metaphorically speaking), legal advice, medical aid, food provision etc. Above all, we witnessed the establishment of an open Assembly. During the first day, no more than 100-200 people attended the talks. A week later, though, more than 2-3 thousand citizens become involved daily at the procedures. The Assembly is organised in a way that promotes Direct Democracy, according to the ancient Athenian model (in general terms). Everyone who wishes to speak is allowed to take the stand for no more than 3 minutes. Several attendants keep records of what has been said, while fellow twitterers report on the results. After only a few days of talks the same themes seem to be emerging. The protesters ask for 1) an official rejection of the imposed economic measures, 2) punishment of the politicians who have stolen the money, 3) a restriction of parliamentary service to 8 years and 4) Direct Democracy. The Greeks are turning back to centuries of democratic tradition in an attempt to reconstruct the ancient model of popular government. Whether it will be successful or not is irrelevant. What matters is that the current government and the traditional consider the movement dangerous. Why else would they suppress such significant news? On the other hand, the devotees of social media continue disseminating significant information from the Athenian political front.]]></description>
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