Yesterday, I was in the riot with some of my friends. From some sources over the internet, it was estimated that 1.5 million of people came down to protest. I was near the parliament from 17:00 when around 18:00, for no reason whatsoever the police force started the use of tear gas. That resulted in several people abandoning the square heading towards Omonoia.
In the meantime, since me and my friends split, after a while when the tear gas were resolved, we called them to ask if they were in the square and it turns out they were. For the next two hours a crowd consisted entirely of normal people and that can be assured, was pushed towards omonoia with tear gas, thrown at us, without any reason. Then anarchists joined the group and started burning down stuff, which resulted into resolving the tear gas.
I decided to go ahead and find my friends still at the square near the parliament, where things were peaceful and I assure you, that that wasn't possible because the police did their best to keep us from the square.
I want to mostly result to the very fact that the news are being bothered about places being burned, which is of course wrong, and not about a hero being hit without provocation.
Apparently to beat the one that lowered the German flag is not important. Somehow he had to leave it there to remind us what we have become, because now it reminds us of who we are and that hurts.
I am sorry not to add something relevant to the post, buuuuuut..
ReplyDelete"You might like:
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I see what you did there blogspot
I salute you dear DualNames!
ReplyDeletePersonal Opinion: Either the Greek people get what they want for a little while and the government goes bankrupt and collapses, which will surely lead to financial collapse within the country, OR the people will calm the hell down, stop protesting and accept the fact that things have to change, so that their government can do the necessary budget cuts and begin to enforce taxation so that Greece can receive monetary support from other EU nations.
ReplyDeleteWe don't want to loan money to a nation that seems to be in such a bad shape that it is highly unlikely to be able to pay any of the loans back. Billions of Euros from Finnish (not to even speak of other EU nationS) taxpayers have already gone to Greece, will we ever get them back? I doubt it...
Perhaps we don't know everything, but here is what we Finns have been told of the Greek people by the media: Greeks avoid paying any taxes at all costs, cheat and lie to their government, raise pension checks for dead relatives to get more money and public sector workers receive an extra month's pay before every christmas (which is unheard of over here!). If any single one of these are true, then I wholeheartedly support any efforst by the Greek government to impose more strict rules over it's people.
Well...
ReplyDeleteI am from Germany and I am asking myself only one thing.
What do greek people have especially against Germany.
We paid that much money twice now in order to keep Greece in the EU.
And in our newspapers they often show us on the main pages Greek people who burn German flags, or put a swastika picture in front of the German embassy.
If you can explain to me what the problem is, it would be very interesting.
Or maybe it's just the media and in reality these are single events?
Anyway it's difficult for a normal person that is not involved into politics what Greek people actually think about Germany.
I doubt it's the entire truth, WHAM. Got to make the Greek people look bad in order to justify the crushing austerity measures being imposed upon them, after all... just report the bad, to justify the indefensible.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it's the entire truth, WHAM. Got to make the Greek people look bad in order to justify the crushing austerity measures being imposed upon them, after all... just report the bad, to justify the indefensible.
ReplyDeleteGeez, WHAM. Are you that dumb, really? In last paragraph you've admitted your insufficient knowledge od the matter. So if you're ignorant, why won't you refrain from stupid things, repeating what media say? Have you ever actually BEEN in Greece, is there some real life experience behind your words?
ReplyDeleteIf I were thinking with media coverage of your fatherland, I would say all Finns are grim, dark mined folks with suicidal tendencies and live in the forests. Because you see, that's the stereotype that media feed us.
To Anonymous German guy:
Have you ever played the first Gabriel Knight game? I guess not, otherwise you would know it's subtitle. Insert Germany instead Gabriel Knight and now you'll have some clue.
Last not least about giving EU money to Greece...
Thats what this f******g EU is for, TO HELP EACH OTHER, you fools. Stop being a greedy bastards and show some, I dunno, if not compassion, then a bit of imagination. What would it be like to be in their place? Bet that didn't ever crossed your mind, WHAM. People like you and me have an internet connection so don't tell me your starving because those corrupted savages in Greece are rioting. And if EU collapses, then it means it wasn't strong enough. World doesn't end with EU.
I feel for Greece, because I was there, I can say I know the culture and the people. There are people the same as everywhere in Greece and dualnames is a good example. Poland was in deep shit like Greece not once, not twice, and very rarely other nations could/cared to help. So I'm glad every time I hear Greece gets some money from EU, and sad and shaken when I see it doesn't help.
I'm counting months and years since this unrest, can't wait until its over and you people of Greece will start to get up, recuperate. Greece was on its knees many times in its long history and I know it will stand again, its out of question. It's just a matter of time. Hopefully it will happen sooner than later.
Please show some heart and refrain from negative thoughts, everyone. Especially if you haven't been there and haven't got a clue about what it's like.
Cheers,
Kasander
You mean "The sins of the father?" Is that really true, that other people still judge Germany based on the "Sins of the great-grandfathers"? That would be like judging Greece for the wars of Alexander the Great. That alone makes no sense and is no argument...
ReplyDeleteThe German constitution is one of the youngest constitutions on earth and contains sexual liberty, religious liberty, priviledge of property, freedom of art, freedom of opinion, freedom of press and much more. This constitution gets continously supervised by an independent court that lies in a totally different city than the capital city Berlin.
It's simply wrong to call Germany a nazi country or a remaining of evil energy. More or less Germany get's controlled by freemasons, jews and other independent groups. After all it is more likely that the European Union is a masonic work, than a neo-nazi work.
Lad, you make no sense. Who the heck remembers Alex the Great now, the real person? Who cares? Do you know anyone who has any memories of the ancient wars? Or do you know anyone who treats Alex as a war criminal today? Even if he was one, today nobody really cares. It's been a while since his merry soldiers raped and plundered in Persia (whis in history books goes as "conquering"). People see him as an ancient hero, there are even monuments built in his memory. And Persia is no longer a country.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I have visited my grandma only few hours ago. It's 2012, she's 80, but she still remembers your granpas (or gran-granpas) "having a ball" here in Poland.
Do you catch my drift now?
Try to understand. I'm not judging YOURSELF. I'm not even saying: "Germany IS an evil country". I believe Germany has changed, and hopefully remembering the evil past will help to avoid the evil future. What I'm saying is:
YOU ARE (STILL) REAPING WHAT YOUR (GRAND-GRAND) FATHERS HAVE SOWN IN 1930s and 40s (and earlier too, read some history books, if you don't have a clue).
By YOU I mean "all todays young Germans" and by YOUR (GRAND-GRAND) FATHERS I mean all Germans that followed Adolf H in 1930s and 40. And they've sown pretty evil seed back in their young days, you can't deny it (or can you?). Ask your parents about your grand-grandparents, if you're brave enough to handle the truth. You could discover some pretty disturbing facts about them, their relatives or the people they knew. That is, if your parents weren't in denial about family's/nation's history.
The sad fact is, you can't erase history. Shame, huh? Any country had some shameful, grim moments in their history, but, unfortunately for you, Germany's national concience is burdened in the heaviest way possible. I honestly don't know how long it will take to evaporate such things like war, occupation, Shoah* from victimized nations' memory. Tens of years wasn't enough, perhaps hundreds of years will have to do.
About German constitution. That's all very heartwarming. Still, you didn't exactly manage to do denazification succesfully after the war* and there are still ongoing controversies about future shape of Museum of the Expelled (the one that Steibach was to administrate).
To the conclusion. As a person, you don't need to defend yourself. But perhaps you should understand what history and memory means, especially their continous (and unfortunately, repetitious) nature. You don't need to feel ashamed for yourself, be ashamed only for past generations. IMO, that kind of burden can only make you more human, more understanding towards other people and nations. Carrying our historical heritage on our shoulders we can only try to make the future better. More peaceful. Be more understanding for each others. See through differences.
*Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" is the film to watch. Enlightening experience, if I may say so.
PS. "Sins of the fatherS", it's plural.
Sorry that's too pathetic, lad...
ReplyDeleteLet's talk about repetition of history in Greece. Everyone who knows about Greek history knows about all the violence that has taken part in that country. Not only Alexander the Large is a violent fact to mention. Also take Agamemnon and the last days of Mykene and the intrigues among them. Tiryns corrupt ways to surpress and tax any form of import export business with other countries. The crimes of the Dorians that fell over the last remainings of the pre antique Greek culture and many more examples to mention... Apart from that in newer history the effects of radical socialism and kommunism that have ruined the country for real, not only in a political and economic way but also the mentality of the bourgoisie after the civil war. Facts of history are a important argument no matter how long they are ago.
About me personally: I am very relaxed. My grandpa comes from France, my grandma from Swizerland, the rest from Germany and Italy. If I research the life of my German grandpa, I came up that he deserted from the German army and was condemned to death but managed to survive in the black forest all alone... So I personally have no problem with my past and the past of my family.
It is also an interesting fact, that "young Germans" in many many cases are kind of half-breeded like me. I don't know a single young person that proclaims to be fully arian or something like that. Many of them are partly Turkish, Russian, one of my closest friends is actually Polish. Germany got that much mixed up in the last 40 years, that we cannot even talk about something like a race anymore. The reason for this is also a constitutional issue, since it is written in German constitution that everybody who can proof that he is a politically followed person will be maintained and helped by Germany. Apart from that it doesn't cost any money for young foreign persons to study in Germany. So lot's of foreighners who studied for free remained in Germany and started to deal with their original countries. This was a clever way to accelerate import export business and to raise gross national product and is the reason for the low unemployment rate of 4% that we currently have.