Dimitrios' World

Question: what does a frustrated and desperate citizen do when he realizes, as a horrified onlooker at the developments in his country, that not one of the parliamentary or extra-parliamentary parties (or constructs) expresses him? What does he do when the democracy he believes in and wants to constructively engage in is broke?  It has taken the murder of Pavlos Fissas by a member of Golden Dawn, Greece's brand of neo-Nazis, to shock society into action....a society that has been largely silent when the Nazis murder or rough up immigrants. Yet even this call for a higher calling that this ideology minimizes us and should have no place in mainstream politics or otherwise has brought us closer by awakening most to the danger of extremism but has polarized us further as other mainstream political and social actors seek to equate extremism on the right with extremism on the left. Roger Cohen correctly coins it when he writes that " [t] he perfect political storm for violent e...

I remember the excitement I felt when Athens was awarded the 2004 Olympic Games on 5 September 1997...I felt happy, inspired and hopeful about the adventure my country was getting into...its chance to shine, and actually work on much need urban development projects such as roads, ring highways, a subway, etc. as well as build state of the art sport facilities..the Games came albeit the wastefu l public spending of our ever enlightened public officials and I had the opportunity to enjoy athletics, volleyball, basketball, and water polo in different venues and become proud of my city with its volunteers, transport system, smoke free venues....The colorful and joyous atmosphere in the Olympic stadium where we were all citizens of the world in spite of our different national affiliations is a once in a lifetime experience I am glad to have lived. it was a magical three weeks in a magical summer...'Yes, we can when we set our minds to it' was the prevailing sentiment...then the har...