Riots: we're used to them in Greece. They usually occur in one specific place, they affect only the immediate area, and people work their way around them. The only time they spread to other urban areas around the country (ie they weren't centralised in Athens) was when Alexis Grigoropoulos, the 15-year-old boy who was somewhere he probably shouldn't have been, was killed by a police officer on December 6, 2008. The scenario sounds similar to what happened in the United Kingdom recently. But it's not similar at all. Here's why:
UK: Skirmishes between citizens and the police usually involve black people - the problem starts off as a racial incident.
GR: Skirmishes between citizens and the police usually involve Greek people - the problem starts off as an anti-social incident.
UK: Damage mainly occurred on private property. Shops selling consumer goods in all price ranges were targeted: eg clothes, cellphones, chocolates, beer, etc. This shows how consumer-minded people have become in such countries. (On the one hand, I feel sorry for them because
the consumeristic world they are forced to live in is trashy; on the
other, it looks like something is missing from their life - they have
no true concept of natural, unadulterated, pure, real, genuine.)
GR: Damage occurs on public (ie state) property, including banks (symbols of financial power) and multi-national companies (eg the iconic McDonalds on Syntagma Square was razed to the ground).
UK: People were quick to label the rioting looters as 'scum', before they call them 'disenfranchised youth'.
GR: People are quick to lay the blame on the government. It's rare for rioters (rather than looters) to be blamed for their actions.
UK: People are proud of their homes and their property - and their area, shown by the promptness of the clean-up measures instigated by citizens themselves, as well as the vigilante sessions they organised (more evidence of their highly consumeristic society - they're protecting their "things").
GR: People are proud of their homes and their property - but not their area. No citizen has ever started a clean-up operation; everything is left to the state (which explains why things are slow to happen, and why it costs so much of tax-payers' money). T
UK: The rioters found an excuse to make their main purpose looting.
GR: The rioters found an excuse to destroy those they felt responsible for the misery cast on society as a whole.
To sum up: "Y
©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.
UK: Skirmishes between citizens and the police usually involve black people - the problem starts off as a racial incident.
GR: Skirmishes between citizens and the police usually involve Greek people - the problem starts off as an anti-social incident.
UK: Damage mainly occurred on private property. Shops selling consumer goods in all price ranges were targeted: eg clothes, cellphones, chocolates, beer, etc. This shows how consumer-minded people have become in such countries. (On the one hand, I feel sorry for them because
the consumeristic world they are forced to live in is trashy; on the
other, it looks like something is missing from their life - they have
no true concept of natural, unadulterated, pure, real, genuine.) GR: Damage occurs on public (ie state) property, including banks (symbols of financial power) and multi-national companies (eg the iconic McDonalds on Syntagma Square was razed to the ground).
UK: People were quick to label the rioting looters as 'scum', before they call them 'disenfranchised youth'.
GR: People are quick to lay the blame on the government. It's rare for rioters (rather than looters) to be blamed for their actions.
UK: People are proud of their homes and their property - and their area, shown by the promptness of the clean-up measures instigated by citizens themselves, as well as the vigilante sessions they organised (more evidence of their highly consumeristic society - they're protecting their "things").
GR: People are proud of their homes and their property - but not their area. No citizen has ever started a clean-up operation; everything is left to the state (which explains why things are slow to happen, and why it costs so much of tax-payers' money). T
UK: The rioters found an excuse to make their main purpose looting.
GR: The rioters found an excuse to destroy those they felt responsible for the misery cast on society as a whole.
To sum up: "Y©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.
Just to set things straight on this, those involved in this week's riots/looting in the UK were from all ethnic groups and all sections of society. The groups involved were not overwhlemingly black, or any other ethnic group.
ReplyDeleteMost are British citizens, regardless of their origins. These troubles are less about race and much more about greed and the decay of values.
Most of the rioting stopped by Wednesday night, when the weather was wet and rainy, which opens up an interesting discussion about the effect of the weather on mob behaviour.
But then, as my husband said, when it gets hot in England riots break out, when it gets hot in Greece we reach for the frappe!
(It will have to be homemade from 1 Sep, unless we are happy to stump up 23% VAT for the privilege!)
The suggested causes of the riots are enumerated here. I don't think the prompt tidying up is a valuing of 'things' so much as a desire to get everything back to normal ASAP: this kind of rioting is something we just don't do here and it's left everyone bombshocked. If only they had followed the example of our politicians and bankers and done a little gentlemanly expenses fiddling instead.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Russell brand wrote a good piece about the riots here . A brief extract:
ReplyDelete'Why am I surprised that these young people behave destructively, "mindlessly", motivated only by self-interest? How should we describe the actions of the city bankers who brought our economy to its knees in 2010? Altruistic? Mindful? Kind? But then again, they do wear suits, so they deserve to be bailed out, perhaps that's why not one of them has been imprisoned. And they got away with a lot more than a few fucking pairs of trainers.'
i still think the way the UK handled things is kind of more effective than the way athens (and other major greek centres) are handling our riots - no community pride, no imposing state intervention - it's fuck all for both sides - this link http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_13193_12/08/2011_402061
ReplyDeleteexpresses pretty much the same thing as this post
http://roarmag.org/2011/08/london-calling-a-haunting-glimpse-into-our-future/
ReplyDeletea more realistic analysis of the problems underlying the riots
Happy nameday,Maria,best wishes are sent your way..XOXO
ReplyDelete