I could spend these last few hours of the day to watch a film before I fall asleep after a hard day and before an equally hard one, instead, I thought I SHOULD write something about the chaos going on these days in Athens. I wouldn’t sleep otherwise. I’ve heard, read, and seen lots of shit, although I’m not there. (Thank god the net)

I should tell you, that the shit going on these last days are not just out of the blue. There have been months, and even years of stuff. The shooting of the 15yr old gave a good push for everything to happen.

First, let’s take something out of the way: The cop that shot the kid is an ass. I don’t know if he’s a killer, or just plain stupid. Judging by the average IQ of a Greek cop, I tend to believe the latter. I know, the kid maybe said or even done stuff, stuff your normally don’t do to a cop when you’re 15yrs old (or even 25, 35, 45 etc). But that doesn’t change the fact that the cop could have found another way to deal with the situation. Period.

They say that it’s stupid to analyze the kid’s background. But that’s my blog, and since we hate so much the cops for representing authority, and we globally remain a state that promotes free expression of opinions, I’ll say whatever the fuck I want. Second Period.

Couple of years ago, the former minister of education, passed a law dealing with several issues concerning the universities, stuff that many people asked for since a long time ago. Although the public opinion was FOR the law, there have been strikes followed by violent episodes in the town center and closing of schools & unis by guys who were not the majority but on the contrary, a minority. I’ve seen personally assholes like that going into my university in Athens and destroying it or voting to our decisions of whether we’ll go on a strike or not (they were not students).

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I’m not a specialist on the ‘anarchists’ thing, but I’ve known a couple, and I know for sure that they don’t support burning shops and creating a mess for nothing. They have an ideology, and they stick to it, like many others do with theirs. They don’t do what they do cause it’s a trend or some of them even have normal lives. Unfortunately for them, they were taken as the same thing with the new guys.

So what about the new thing? Let’s read the elements of the recent story: The kid killed some days ago, was a student of one of Athens’ most rich schools. A school you have to pay like 20.000€ per year (maybe much more?) and still, maybe you don’t get in cause it’s really VIP. Son of a family which owned jewelry shop in Athens most commercial and expensive road, Ermou Street. He was shot while he was in Athens most ‘hot’ neighborhood, Exarheia. And he was just returning from a Panathinaikos – Olumpiacos match, where he was with other organized team fans – hooligans.

Now wait a sec. The kids’ profile doesn’t sound so anarchist to me. Why the FUCK would a 15yr old with lots of cash and a decent living, is so mad to insult a bunch of cops, in Exarheia? That’s a step AFTER ‘asking for trouble’.

It’s a fucking trend. Now let’s get to politics:

In the last years, after the election of the right party @2004, ‘Nea Dimokratia’ (New Democracy), and with the crisis of the socialistic/democratic party ‘Pasok’ (going on since 2004 and getting worse after the re-election of the right party) there has been room for the increase in popularity of another party, called ‘SYRIZA’ (formerly called as SYNASPISMOS) with a leftish ideology.

SYRIZA, with its presidents ALAVANOS and recently TSIPRAS has been following a political strategy which many politicians (even the communist party!), and people, find ‘strange’ and ‘dangerous’. They have been trying to ‘adopt’ these new ‘anti-authority’ guys, providing a political shield to their behavior which includes violent actions, like burning and destroying public or private property. And they seem to do a good work at it.

I just read an article of a Greek journalist, Pretenderis, I generally find an ass and I hate, but the stuff he writes seem right to me. I’ll try to translate one of his paragraphs, although it’s a bit hard:

“In that sense, SYRIZA uses one of the worst means to gain popularity. Not only because it’s aimed towards unformed intelligence and conscience. But mainly because he makes the youth believe that they have the right to everything while they’re not obligated to do anything. That life is theirs before they even conquer it. That their future is an issue of demand and not an issue of effort.”

I know and I’ve seen that the economical situation in Greece is tough. It was always tough, but it’s getting tougher (because it’s getting tougher for the entire world). I know that the politicians screwed up bad. Not only once, but repeatedly. The election of the right party gave hope to lots of people, and I must admit I was one of them. Now, and after the recent financial scandals, people are angry. They were sad, and anger follows sadness.

BUT I ALSO KNOW, people’s anger is not represented by the recent destruction of its own city. Athens has been ALREADY A MESS and that doesn’t mean we should make it an even bigger one (although I suppose it’s too late for that).

I ALSO KNOW that most of these anti-authority wannabe burning-everything assholes, generally don’t have a clue of what it means to try to live with 700€ a month in Athens. (I’m not saying I do, but at least I don’t pretend to). I bet the real 700€ generation are just watching everything in their small apartments’ uncomfortable couches. (that’s not so productive either)

I feel bad for the opinion of my non-Greek friends for my country, not because we start a revolution. Not at all. But because what we show is violence, cruelty, misery, chaos. The Greeks have 1000% the right to be furious about their recent sociofinancial situation, but unfortunately it seems they don’t have (use?) the culture to protest in efficient ways, ways that will gain support from the total of the public opinion.

And just because I think the recent Greek frustration is not at all just-Greek, just a few last words for everyone feeling fed-up by the “system”.

We have the means to react to this. We’re in 2008, not in the 70’s. Revolutions need to have a different form to succeed. Let’s react with creation, not with destruction. Let’s use clever ways. Let’s use technology, politics and education, to understand where the previous generation screwed up so we can do better. We have a bright recent example called OBAMA. Let’s make “Green” policies our number one issue. Let’s ignore and discard the lifestyle media is serving us every day. Let’s use the new media to act. Let’s win the system, not by pretending we’re not a part of it, but by taking it over from the inside, and changing it to what we want our future and the future of our children to be.

Can we do that?

YES WE CAN.

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