Dimitrios' World

We live in an interesting world at an interesting time in history where universal access to information makes for complex deciphering of its trends and challenges. We live in a world where a country like Greece which accounts for 0,15% of the world’s population (ranked 78 th ) and 0,30% of the world’s GDP can still grab the world’s attention because of internal political and economic dynamics. Being part of the European Union, the world’s largest economy, and a member of the Eurozone, with the Euro being the world’s second most powerful currency, explains this discrepancy between the relative power of a Greece on its own and that of Greece as a midsize and longstanding member of the European Union. As a result, the current electoral campaign which will culminate on Sunday, 25 January has all the makings of making or breaking the country’s global standing with the almost certain victory of SYRIZA, the anti-establishment radical left party. On its own, a victory of the left would r...

A quick weekend trip to Athens has brought to the limelight many of the traits/characteristics of what it is to be a Greek today. Political and ideological polarization undoubtedly prevails to the point that national symbols such as the flag and the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the uprising at the Athens Polytechnic have become instruments of partisan design. Witnessing a small gathering of Golden Dawn stalwarts in front of Parliament on a Friday afternoon (15 November) made me reflexively cringe. More troubling was their taking for their own use of the national flag as an instrument for their protest; in a way soiling it for the rest of us proud citizens of a proud nation.  This past weekend also marked the honoring of the 24 fallen of the  Polytechnic uprising of 14-17 November 1973 that culminated in the eventual fall of the military junta and the return to democracy in Greece in 1974. The annual pilgrimage to the site and ...

I was proud of my country and its institutions on Saturday, 28 September when numerous arrest warrants were issued for members of the neo Nazi,  national  socialist gang that calls itself a party -- Golden Dawn. Among those arrested where its party leader as well as other standing members of parliament. I am still proud that they will be tried for their numerous hate crimes including their organized crime activities. It was about time to crush them even if if they cannot be nipped in the bud anymore.  A week has passed. So much has changed, yet much remains the same. Instead of witnessing and experiencing a mass sensation of relief, and a wider debate around the issues of hate, racism and tolerance, all we have seen is much ado about nothing....an embedded suspicion of the political system and within it where the so called 'democratic' political parties of the left and the right continue to snipe at each other in public about the objective of the arrests and the cra...

The Democratization Package that was made public by Turkish Prime Minister Rexhep Tayyip Erdogan on 30 September leaves much to be desired although it could be described as a small step forward. In today’s polarized political climate, anything the government promotes is viewed with much suspicion in particular in light of the upcoming electoral season beginning next year with local elections in March, the presidential election in August and the general election in 2015. In true autocratic Turkish political tradition, which Erdogan usually decries, the package was decided in back rooms among a small cadre of apparatchiks and unveiled to the rest of us. Obviously, it caters to the conservative-nationalist sensitivities of the Prime Minister’s electoral base in particular with regard to allowing women to wear head scarves in public places (though not everywhere) and token reforms for minorities. Most importantly and ominously, it sets the stage for widespread gerrymandering with a v...

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...

Like everyone else that works hard for a living, I need my small summer break to recharge my batteries in the sunny beaches of my homeland, in the village hearth of my parents, with the engaging company of my son and friends. In these times of crisis, the need to feel rejuvenated in order to tackle the various challenges life  presents us, is even more compelling…I need the time to read, to reflect, to write, to sleep, to admire the rich nature all around me, to wake up when I want, to talk, to touch, to plan, to wear khakis and bathing suits all day, to dream…nothing out of the ordinary here, you might say…Isn’t this what we all more or less look forward to during our vacation?     Yet, even this idyllic moment of a few days has become almost impossible to even consider as the stream of emails requiring responses seems overwhelming…Why do I have to even look at them, you may ask? What if I don’t, I ask? We have become prisoners of our laptops, tablets, and smart phones...