Dimitrios' World

Undeniably, the riots of December 2008 in Athens and elsewhere in Greece have made a return to normalcy extremely difficult. Yesterday, we heard that 31 shots with the intention to kill were fired against three policemen on guard duty with one in stable but critical condition after marathon surgery. The holiday season is over and trouble is about to break loose again. While I try to convince myself that the end of apathy and the audacity of hope are near, if not here, the continued downswing of my country where what seems to prevail is the violence of a tiny minority, where the authorities are at a loss as to how to (re)act, where the police do not know anymore how to act, where should the violence and destruction begin anew, fear will become all the more prevalent should the rock and Molotov throwers become the norm. A demolition derby is in place, in full swing while we, most ordinary citizens, watch stupefied, irritated, apathetic at times and at a loss to react at others. I kee...

I t is hard to put into words what has been happening in Greece since 6 December with the shooting of a 15 year old by a policeman who thought he is a combination of Rambo and Dirty Harry while forgetting that both celluloid heroes sought to protect the innocent. Although rage and a feeling of helplessness still make concentration and proper expression extremely difficult at this time, I cannot help thinking that maybe 6 December 2008 is as important a date for Greece as 23 July 1974, the day the military government in Greece collapsed and democracy was reinstalled with Konstantinos Karamanlis becoming Prime Minister a day later. Since 1974, the co untry has fully reintegrated into NATO, joined the European Community/European Union in 1981, adopted the Euro, significantly contributed to the ‘europeanisation’ of its neighbourhood with Balkan states either having joined the EU or committed to join in the future and Turkey negotiating its candidacy, helped ensure the membership of Cy...