This is What Democratia Looks Like

The Big Picture has a photo spread of the Greek Riots.

The images are very good, some high-quality riot porn. These in particular caught my eye.


Man on Fire. Not Denzel Washington.


Greek youth, in my opinion, are some of the most attractive youth in the world. This looks kind of a like a Colors of Benitton ad, except for the EZLN shirt and the fact that they are yelling at murderers.


Just Do It.



Merry Christmas.

Riots on the Streets of Athens

You may or may not be aware of the riots and general strike currently occurring in Greece due to the murder of a fifteen year-old man by police.

I would like to use this resource of a blog to express my full solidarity with the general strike, and with the anger of the people that are taking their society to the streets.

An internet acquaintance of mine who lives in Athens put me on to this blog post by bollybutton, who like him, is also a foreigner living in Athens. She describes the situation very succinctly and rationally, and if you are at all interested in why the Greeks are burning their own cities, here is why:

"Despite throwing my hands up in frustration at the hot headedness of the Greeks who like nothing better than having a strike or a riot, this time I am completely backing the young people who have taken to the streets in anger."

[...]

"I am in full favour of them [the riots], believing that it's healthy for a government to be scared of its people when it really fucks up. And this time the government deserves everything it gets."

[...]

"In my opinion only a small section of the crowds are trouble makers. The rest are just plain angry and are venting this anger through violence. And really, when you consider all the facts, why the hell should they not be angry? As so many news commentators have said, this is a generation without hope. The youngsters waiting outside at Alexandros's funeral were crying not only for the waste of a life, but also for themselves and their wasted lives in a country where the government is not the least bit bothered about their futures. They were tears of anger, sadness and frustration.

If this government has any brains at all, they will take a serious look at cracking down on the grievances of the young people who see no future instead of the rioters themselves.

Glass can be fixed, shops are insured. If they wipe out the hope of an entire generation, they are sowing the seeds for their own demise and if that's the road they want to go down, we haven't seen anything yet."

Beautifully written, and well said. Property destruction is anger, murder of a citizen by the state is violence.




I'll just end with one thing. My pal Sam recalled a quote to me, I believe from the G8 protests in Genoa. A Greek Anarchist is confronted by a counter-protester, who shouts:

"Who do you think you are, coming and burning down my city?"

The Anarchist responds:

"You come to my city and I'll burn it down with you!"

Greece

In one of those strange occurrences that hurl humans back and forth across the globe, I woke up one morning to find myself in Greece. It is a wonderful place. Mountains coming out of the sea, feta cheese, and lots of history. I took a lot of pictures, here are some of the best. I made them smallish so the site wouldn't take a long time to load (though it probably will anyway), but should be able to click on them to get a bigger view.

I'll insert my witty comments in between, to maybe give you some context. Here they are, in no particular order.

This is Nafplio (corrected spelling, thanks kiki and Betabug!). It was the original capital of Greece, and is now a quiet little town with many forts and dogs.



I think the trees in Greece are beautiful. Such greens, even though they are most conifers growing in rocky soil.


This is Santorini. You've probably seen this picture or one similar on a calendar somewhere. They sell lots of calendars on Santorini. I didn't buy one, because I took my own picture. Though now I don't know what day of the week it is.



There was much debate about what kind of tree this is. Maybe cyprus, maybe cedar? Either way, I can tell you these trees are at dusk. (Definitively, Cyprus trees).


This tree's most significant aspect is its size. It is very big.


This is the sun setting over Ia, on Santorini. The island is a volcano. The sun is the same one that you know.


This is Mycenae. Agamemnon lived there. He killed his daughter and was killed by his wife and her lover who were killed by his other daughter. All because sometimes the ancients liked to feed either other human as a joke.


This is the Omphalos; the belly-button of the world. It lives at Delphi. I wonder where the after-birth of the world is now?


This is the biggest olive grove in Greece (the trees in the bottom of the valley). I am looking at it from the modern city of Delphi. It is very pretty.


This is the temple of Poseidon, on the southern-most point of Attica. People live near there, like, just whatever, I live in Poseidonia. I, on the other hand, live near the drycleaners.


The greeks love graffitti! This graffitto loves autonomy. ("Freedom to G. Dimitrakis", an anarchist bank robber. Thanks Betabug!)


More graffitti. It's pretty impressive, though I don't really know what it is.


This is on the outside of the Monastiraki subway station.


I guess kissing on steps is pretty romantic.


For some reason this one made me think of Steve Erickson


It's a fish farm, you fishbag!


"Fjord" in Greek.


The theater of Epidauros, and my Saucony.


I really, really wanted to see a goatherd while in Greece. It's a good thing lots of roads aren't marked, otherwise we never would have gotten lost in the hills of the Peloponnese and I never would have seen these goats.


Balloons!


The theater of Dionysos in Athens. I'm imagining how nervous Sophocles must have been on the opening performance of Oedipus Rex.


When driving in Greece, you can pretty much go either way you like.


Pretty rock.


Part of the Epidauros site.


Fira, on Santorini. The island in the middle is the cone of the volcano.


Bye bye sun.


No diving.


Part of the boxing and wrestling practice space at Olympia.


The Corinth canal. Take that, isthmus!


A pretty little garden in Delphi.


The acropolis. They are rebuilding it, because I guess some of it has fallen down over the years.


The arch entering the stadium at Olympia. Can you tell I really like the blue/green filter on my camera?


The temple of Athena at Delphi. You would recognize it, but I took the picture from an "unconventional angle". Artistic!


Bell tower in Fira. Delicious sunshine.


Bridge connecting Attica and the Peloponnese. I forget the name of the town.


There are like 500 more (literally) but these are the best. I also pasted together a panorama of the Epidauros theater, that is at top. I'll leave it there for awhile.

Yamas!