February 15th, 2012 ATHENS
by @TheLiveProject
Possibly in order to avoid discussing the real impact of Sundays parliamentary vote as well as the size and resilience of the demostrations, greek mainstream media provided extensive coverage of the accompanying fires and looting.
But even there, closer inspection reveals a story better not told in black-and-white, (where black are the alien rioters and white the rest of the population)
First, a tweet from Thesaloniki, by citizen journalist @teacherdude
Then, a description from the editor of To Vima daily of a “phenomenon needing attention and control, one we shouldnt pretend to ignore”.
Titled “Those who burned Athens”, Karakousis' article on Tuesday, Feb 14th, dismisses theories of the “usual suspects”
Tv networks insist in the “hoodies” theory
Greek police blames anarchist groups
The official left says the responsibility lies with the state and parastatist groups trying to supress the movement and slander the struggle
Anarchists openly admit that in large protests such as the one on Sunday they aim at specific political targets, such as banks and big businesses, but they reject looting, burning of shops and the like.
(…)
The most crucial, denied by the official left and ignored by the self-styled anarchists and the police alike is that a sizeable number of people have crossed the Rubicon and do not hesitate to perpetrate violent acts against the police, to applaud or take part in vandalism or the destruction of banks and shops, especially those with flashy brand names.
On Sunday, eyewitnesses said that those who burned banks at Athinas street were neither anarchists nor provocateurs. Protesters, lacking any obvious political affiliation, faces uncovered, without tools and without molotovs broke and burned with all available means banks and other shops, in front of a crowd cheering every time a glass fell or a fire was lit.
(…)
Let's not kid ourselves. The harder things get, the more ground violence will gain and the more pressure will it put on politics. And its input is never linear, it either causes a conservative backlash or a wave of radicalization. You pick and chose. (…)
This could possibly answer a few questions in Brussels, as to why, although Greek leaders have rushed through parliament everything they been asked to, they are still trying to appear as if they were fighting it out.
As opposed to Ms Merkel, Mr Rehn and Mr Junker, Greek politicians actually live here.