If you feel like following the developments yourself, the most common Twitter hashags seem to be: #greekrevolution, #syntagma and #15jgr

• Live streaming courtesy of News247.gr

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Note: newest updates are first

23.30 OK, folks, it’s been a long day. We’re signing off.

23.29 According to the constitution, the confidence vote will take place Sunday, after a two-day debate.

23.11 Antonis Samaras, leader of main opposition New Democracy, spoke some minutes ago. He said an historic chance has been lost. He had believed that his party could work with Pasok and that Papandreou was prepared to stand down for this to happen. But in the end, Papandreou seemed to have changed his mind about a crossparty government after details of his were leaked to the public.

21.46 PAPANDREOU has spoken. He said that he will announce a new government tomorrow, without the participation of opposition parties, and will put the new cabinet to parliament for a vote of confidence.

21.44 We’re still here! What’s been happening? Government sources have confirmed rumours leaked earlier by main opposition New Democracy, that Prime Minister George Papandreou was prepared to step down if this would allow a cooperation or all-party government to be formed.

17.52 State-run Net television is reporting that George Papandreou said he is prepared to accept the formation of a coalition government, even under the premiership of someone else

17.41 Indignants are returning to “reclaim” Syntagma Square for peaceful protest. Net TV is showing an injured person being carried out on a stretcher from the entrance to the metro station.

17.12 The prime minister had a 20-minute phone conversation with Antonis Samaras, leader of main opposition New Democracy, which has refused to reveal any details of the conversation.

17.08 More trouble for the government’s vanishing majority as Pasok MP Dinos Vrettos calls for the resignation of the cabinet.

15.42 There is now a fullscale riot taking place on Syntagma. Many Indignant protesters have remained, amid charges that the violence has been orchestrated. Alter TV has been broadcasting a photography showing youths gathering projectiles and loading them into shopping trolleys while riot police look on.

14:52 Petrol bombs have been thrown at police standing outside Syntagma post office.

14.48 Details of the content of the prime minister’s telephone conversations with party leaders have emerged. According to Aleka Papariga, general secretary of the Communist Party, Papandreou emphasised that consensus was needed in order for Greece to obtain additional loans from the European Union. He also mentioned the possibility of a referendum. Papariga rejected his proposals, saying elections were the only way forward.

14:45 It has been reported that Tasos Tellolglou, a journalist with Skai TV and Kathimerini, was punched in the face by a protester and has been taken to hospital. His injuries are not thought to be serious.

14:43 The meeting between the prime minister and president about an hour ago. Prime Minister Papandreou said he would make an address to the nation later in the afternoon after consulting with the leaders of the political parties.

14:25 Things have quietened down on Syntagma. Thousands of protesters and police remain in the general area.

14:06 Tweets say that the medical centre run by the Indignants on Syntagma Square is treating four injured people.

13:45 Groups of black-clad youths wearing masks or helmets, better known as koukouloforoi in Greek, are throwing stones and bottles at police lines outside parliament. Indignant protesters have demanded they cease violent actions. TV scenes have shown koukouloforoi attacking Indignant supporters, while the police retain their position at the entrance to Vass Sofias Ave and in front of parliament.

On Rigillis Street, behind parliament, confrontation is continuing between riot police and demonstrators.

13:21 Large numbers of the Indignants can be seen leaving the area in front of parliament, via the steps leading down to Syntagma Square, as hooded youths arrive at the of Hotel Grande Bretagne.

13:15 Skai TV are showing live footage of masked youths armed with sticks on Syntagma Square. Protesters from the Indignant movement, who have been on the square since May 25, are challenging the masked youths, obviously in order to keep the protests peaceful.

13:11 George Papandreou has just been received by State President Karolos Papoulias. The prime minister says that this is an historic period for Greece, that he has been regular contact with other party leaders, that the government must press on responsibly to lift the country out of the crisis.Nothing new there, but the meeting will now continue behind closed doors.

13:08 There have been scuffles between riot police and protesters on Rigillis St, behind parliament. A number of people have tweeted that teargas has been fired on Rigillis and on Vassilissis Sofias.

13:00 Health Minister Andreas Loverdos has told Real FM that the prime minister does not intend to call elections, my colleague Costas Papachlimintzos has just tweeted.

12.27 Of course, the big news today is that Prime Minister George Papandreou has requested an extraordinary meeting with State President Karolos Papoulias. Speculation is rampant about that the agenda of the meeting could be, with rumours circulating on the formation of a coalition government or the calling of snap elections. Papandreou’s move comes after a two Pasok MPs withdrew their support for the government, bringing its parliamentary majority down to just four seats.

12.22 The steel barrier doesn’t seem to be most secure and Skai TV footage shows that protesters have already managed to pull sections of it apart.

12.08 Thousands of protesters have gathered in central Athens for the 24-hour strike against the austerity measures. There are no estimates yet of how many have turned out. Some reports say the human chain which the Indignant protesters wished to place around parliament stretches from Syntagma to the Hilton Hotel and around to the War Museum. Using a steel barrier, purchased three years ago and similar to a type used in the anti-globalisation protests in Genoa, police created a corridor to allow MPs enter parliament. TV footage earlier showed the MPs driving through police cordons into parliament, to the abuse of protesters. Skai TV has reported that demonstrators hurled water bottles at the car carrying Prime Minister George Papandreou.

The good news though is that this endeavour was not for nought and Athens News (now Greece’s only English weekly) has overhauled its web operation.

Check out athensnews.gr for Greece in English.

A statue of Eleftherios Venizelos in Thessaloniki (cc) flickr user macropoulos

Controversy corner includes opinions, analysis and commentary “out of the Athens News covers”.

THERE IS only one precedent in the history of modern Greece when a prime minister allegedly called an ‘unscheduled’ election for the purpose of losing it. And that was Eleftherios Venizelos, arguably the country’s greatest statesman; the man whose unrivalled diplomatic and political acumen had single-handedly doubled Greece’s sovereign territories in less than ten years (1912-1919).

At the peak of his power in 1920, having suspended all domestic democratic procedures, Venizelos suddenly called the first legislative elections in six years. His subsequent defeat at the 1 November 1920 polls proved to be a political watershed that ushered in Greece’s darkest hour, the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922.

Historians are still debating the claim (most notably by the premier’s Cretan friend, the renowned novelist, Nikos Kazantzakis) that Venizelos lost the 1920 elections on purpose, to avoid his share of responsibility for the impending disaster. But nobody can dispute that Venizelos was the only man who could foresee it, and capable – if not to avert it altogether – at least to limit its scale and tragic consequences.

Greece’s defeat by Kemal Ataturk’s reformed Turkish army in 1922, with the sacking of Smyrna and the uprooting of 1,500,000 Greek inhabitants from their ancient Ionian lands on the eastern coast of the Aegean, has indelibly scarred Greece’s political landscape for the rest of the 20th century. Its reverberations are still casting their shadow over Greece’s internal political divisions as well as its open ‘national’ fronts in Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, Cyprus and, of course, in the Aegean Sea.

Now, Kostas Karamanlis is no Eleftherios Venizelos.

But precisely because he possesses neither the international stature of his great Liberal predecessor nor the record of government achievements in the past five years, Karamanlis had little to lose in the remaining quarter of 2009. There is nothing worth salvaging for posterity to justify him calling an early legislative election for October 4 barely three months after the June 7 Euro-elections.

By the end of October, Greece is bound to face the same humiliation it suffered in 2005, when its EU partners in Brussels branded it the black sheep of Europe. The country had to submit to two years of fiscal supervision for letting its budget deficit overshoot the 3-percent-of-GDP by a wide margin: 7.6 percent of GDP in 2004.

The deficit has now jumped back to 8 percent with public debt well above 100 percent of GDP. And Greece’s inescapable humiliation in Brussels may be compounded with ridicule. This is not because Karamanlis’ economic aides had courageously decided to pump-prime domestic demand in order to combat the domestic impact of the global recession, but because they had virtually dismantled the country’s tax-collection mechanism in the preceding five years of New Democracy governance. At the same time, public expenditure and debt was allowed to rise out of control while Greek banks were ‘bailed out’ for their dubious Balkan investments with an additional 28-billion-euro package they never asked for.

An honest and thorough admission of these flaws, in conjunction with tough political punishment (expulsion) of all the ND culprits, could have salvaged some of Karamanlis’ personal credibility. Even if this wouldn’t ward off a respectable defeat in 2010, Karamanlis might still have rescued his public image of a charismatic leader betrayed by an entourage of lesser ministers.

But then there are also pressing matters of Greek foreign policy which may come to crunch by December 2009. And Karamanlis is definitely no Eleftherios Venizelos in this field.

www.unnecessaryquotes.com/2009/07/big-problem.html

Athens News was recently asked the question below, though not in so many words. This, you could say, is our own interpretation:

Why, in the birthplace of democracy and the land of ancient marvels, am I forced to endure the indignity (not to mention the smell) of having to toss the tissue I used to wipe my bum into tiny garbage pails filled with other people’s sodden, stinky scraps?

That is a very good question, and Athens News has the answer.

But first, we would like to ask you what you think, so click on the polls below to weigh in on this mystery.

Then scroll down to the bottom to read the answer to our query.

View This Poll View This Poll

The president of the Athens Plumbers’ Association, Thanasis Strumboulis, said that one can’t flush paper mainly because of the different, and often small, diameters of sewer pipes in many areas.

The answer seems logical enough. We apologize for any disappointment.

Click the logo to go to Larco's Web site: www.larco.gr

Two accidents in one month at the Larco plant in Larymna have now killed three employees of the metallurgical company and injured at least two others.

The latest victim had been seriously burned in an accident on August 26 when a furnace exploded and covered him in molten metal. He died of his injuries yesterday.

One of his coworkers was killed in the same accident, which prompted the local police to detain the managers of the place, while the Development Ministry ordered five furnaces at the site be closed.

It is unknown whether those furnaces have been reopened for use.

Six Larco managers have also been suspended while authorities investigate the accident.

On August 5, another worker died at the same site, after a cart transporting molten ore overturned, burning the man and killing him. This accident, according to Reuters, did not affect production.

Larco is one of the world’s largest producers of ferronickel, an alloy of nickel and iron used in steel production.

At the time of the first fatal accident in August, Greece had been searching for investors in the company, which had suffered a loss of 116 million euros in 2008.

Parts of the Parthenon were not pinched, but it does have colossal capitals. Apologies for the alliteration. Photo by Erinn Unger.

A thief made off with a capital from the archaeological site of Ancient Olympia, according to the AP.

The capital, which was part of a 6th century Byzantine church on the site, was discovered to be missing right before midnight on Saturday, the ministry of culture says. Authorities don’t know how someone could have managed to leave the site with a large chunk of column without being detected.

The local head of antiquities has been suspended without pay pending an investigation into the pilfering of the portion of the pillar.

]]> http://athensnews.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/a-capital-caper/feed/ 0 Erinn Unger photo http://athensnews.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/snap-elections/ http://athensnews.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/snap-elections/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:03:55 +0000 George Mesthos http://athensnews.wordpress.com/?p=517 ]]>

Photo from last December via papapapa.pblogs.gr

After months of speculation and political calculus, Greece will have its general election on October 4.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis - of reigning but faltering New Democracy -announced the snap polls in a nationwide television address 8pm Wednesday night.

PASOK rejoiced at the news. The opposition has held a slim but clear lead in the polls throughout 2009. This could be the moment George Papandreou truly assumes the mantle of his father, Andreas. His party had already announced a 35th anniversary celebration for tonight in Thissio via Twitter.

If this June’s Europarliament elections were any indication ND and Pasok are not the only players in these polls. Stalwart KKE, upstart Laos and sputtering Syriza may all complicate the parliamentary map.

Here’s a look at each major party (and their web offerings) a month before the polls.

The Incumbent

New Democracy has run up quite the rap sheet since its sweeping electoral victory this time two years ago.

Lethal fires in 2007; environmentally devastating blazes last month; the Vatopedi monastery land swipe debacle; the Zahopoulos sex tape scandal and botched suicide; massive riots after the police-killing of a teenager that has re-invigorated domestic terrorism to name a few blemishes.

If that wasn’t enough, ND also ran into the buzzsaw of a global economic downturn that has dented Greece’s flagship enterprises; tourism industry and shipping. PM Karamanlis argued in his address last night (now posted on ND’s Blog and Twitter) that the government’s “conservative” approach spared the country from the damage suffered by other European countries. That might be true in practice, but

ND has been trying to liberalize Greece’s economy in many of the ways that backfired elsewhere. Karamanlis hailed Greece’s recent growth rates and relatively low unemployment rate (about 10%) but made no reference to under-employment, i.e. the many well-educated Greeks working below their skill levels.

Karamanlis said he trusted the polls to the “mature” Greek people. But they’re a gamble. Although ND has 350 members in a 300-seat parliament -the most fragile and unworkable of majorities – there are still two years left in his term and his party just took a major black eye from the fires. Political analysts quoted by the Guardian called the move “political suicide.”
In other words, Karamanlis may well have persuaded people elections are essential. But they are likely to decide it’s neccessary to oust ND.
The Opposition

Pasok has possessed a safe, if slim, place atop the polls since the December Riots. It took a great deal of time to get there considering ND’s floundering for the previous 12 months. Papandreou’s party has already begun the celebration but being more popular than ND isn’t exactly being popular.

Take the Europarliament results for example. Pasok did indeed eek out a victory over ND. But the margin was 220,000 votes, i.e. a small plurality, and Pasok received the same amount of seats (8, Pasok gained no seats while ND lost 3) as ND.

The bigger story was how many people stayed home or voted blank in a country where voting is supposed to be compulsory.

The tactics employed by Pasok indicate how much the party has craved taking advantage of its poll position to take back the government. Pasok has made it clear it would oppose the re-election of President Karolos Papoulias (it takes a 3/5 majority of parliament) in order to force elections. That’s despite the fact that Papoulias is a former Pasok foreign minister.

Based on the polls, a Pasok victory does seem likely. But it’s possible there will not be enough of a majority to form a government or to be considered a healthy mandate.

The Stalwart

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Aleka Papariga might have opposed Pericles she has been on the Greek political scene so long. Born just after the end of WWII, she joined the communist party during the right-wing Junta and was elected party leader in 1991.

She’s still there and so is KKE at no. 3 in the polls.

Greece’s communist party has made a name for itself via frequent strikes and demonstrations. The image of Papariga speaking before a throng of red banners is at once iconic and ubiquitous.

The feeling that institutionalized far-left tactics have failed to shake up the political scene may well have contributed to the frustration feeding the December Riots. In other words, KKE is as much a part of the system as any of the other parties.
Papariga told the Athens News Agency that the snap elections are the parties serving themselves again:

The country’s plutocracy, the businesspeople and, of course, both their parties, New Democracy and Pasok, are aiming from these elections, each for itself, the emergence of a strong government, a government capable of providing a breakthrough, not for the people, but for the unimpeded profit-making of capital. A government capable of taking new, more barbaric, more savage measures against the working people, at the expense of working people.

The Greek Europarliament elections seem to bear out that people are as frustrated with KKE as they are with the other parties. KKE maintained its 3rd place position, but lost 1 seat and about 100,000 votes from 2004.

Still, ask a migrant who they feel stands up for them, and they’ll likely see KKE as the People’s Champ. Thing is, migrants don’t get to vote.

KKE and Papariga have blasted the government response to the Attica Fires. But Greeks, perennially discontent, have yet to trust the communist party with a substantial share of governance.

Besides its website KKE can be followed on Facebook.

The New (Old) Kid

Laos, The Popular Orthodox Rally, is a thorn in the side of New Democracy and a bit of an anomaly on the Greek political landscape.

The party’s title and its motto, For Greece by the Greeks, would seem to say it all: a right-wing, religious based party with shades of the junta.

The party’s leader, George Karantzaferis, has tried to position Laos as a kind of non-communist KKE, i.e. a party people can trust to represent their interests unfulfilled by Pasok and ND that’s not extreme or on the fringe. Comments made by the former journalist and ND MP have been branded far-right, chauvinist, homophobic, xenophobic and anti-semitic.

Well, based on the polls, he knows his audience.

Laos has risen from the obscurity of its founding in 2000 to a solid fourth place. The party doubled its europarliament seats (from 1 to 2) and was less than 100,000 votes behind third-place KKE. It made the largest poll improvement of any Greek party and likely contributed to ND’s abysmal showing (in addition to Pasok’s rise and low turnout).

A sea change launching LAOS to power is unlikely (though there is a month to go). A coalition between ND and Laos could save the incumbents but the wounds between the two sides run deep (Karantzaferis formed LAOS after he was expelled from ND) and LAOS has shown no interest in risking its rise by affiliating with the unpopular ruling party.

Karantzaferis wasn’t exactly collegial toward ND in a statement to Athens News Agency.

In a difficult situation the prime minister chose to escape. Fortunately, for the party and the country, reserves exist.

Laos can be followed on Twitter.

The Contenders?

2009 was supposed to be the year for the Coalition of the Radical Left, Syriza.
Round 1 was a disappointment.

With ND sinking and people largely unimpressed by Pasok, Syriza was supposed to put together a strong showing in the Europarliament elections.

Instead, Syriza garnered just a handful of new votes, fell behind Laos and likely lost key environmental (and fed-up) voters to the insurgent EcoGreens. No new seats.

It was a missed opportunity after a revitalized coalition (there are over 10 member parties, the largest of which is Syaspismos) shocked the 2007 Greek legislative election by taking over 5% of the vote (largely away from Pasok).

Syriza is holding an event on Saturday to kickstart its election drive. Leader Alex Tsipras has said a liberal program of social protection is the only course of action. A strong showing could undercut Pasok. A weak one with low turnout could neutralize the coalition or perhaps even knock it off the parliamentary map.

Syriza’s activities can be followed on the coalition’s Twitter page.

The Surprise

The success of the Ecologists Greens (EcoGreens) was the biggest surprise of the Europarliament elections. After the fires that scorched Attica, they may be in position for even bigger gains.

As the name suggests, the party is focused on environmental issues and “green politics”.

The party, founded in 2002, has no representation in the Greek parliament yet managed to win a seat in the 2009 Europarliament elections with 3.49% of the vote.

The party’s platform as described on its website:

Their Founding Declaration defines their approach to ecology as: creative, radical, politically independent, tolerant, internationalist and pacifist;movement-orientated, community-based, participatory, feminist, solidarity, anti-consumerist; anti-authoritarian and alternative.

A repeat performance would give the greens parliamentary representation.

The EcoGreens can be followed via twitter.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user smith120bh (cc)

Elaine Green is Business Editor of the Athens News. Her Citylife column on the blog is a lighter look at life away from her usual business beat.

On returning from my holiday, halfway through August, a friendly taxi driver shared the pleasure of the open road and the lack of road rage. He asked me about my experiences and I listened with interest to his plans to go to Kephalonia. The windows were open, the breeze flowing, and one of my favourite old Greek rembetika songs Ego Plirono Ta Matia P’agapo (I Pay for the Eyes that I Love By Vasslis Tsitsanis ), was playing on the radio.

I arrived quickly at my destination refreshed and with “kefi” or in high spirits. When I asked for a receipt it was provided speedily and without complaint. I tipped the driver some 60 cents rounding up to the nearest euro. Two days later I had a similar experience with another taxi driver (although without the extra bonus of Tsitsanis).
With the roads deserted, the cost was also cheap enough to be worth a taxi in the sweltering heat.

Rewind to early July and a sadly typical experience of obnoxious taxi driver. Short of time leaving a press conference at Caravel, I hopped into a cab to Singrou. But progress was slow, not just from the traffic, but every few yards the driver stopped to see if other passengers were also going my way. He lit up a cigarette and then told me I was strange (periergi) because I politely asked him if he would mind putting it out. The electric windows were also locked from the
front and he pretended the rear ones were “not working”.

Upon arriving after a slight de-tour for another passenger (another infringement), when I asked for a receipt you’d think I was asking for the moon (even though this is the law). The driver shouted at me to go back to my own country if I didn’t like the ‘system’ (his system) and refused to give the receipt as well as complaining about my not having
the exact change. Needless to say the only tip I gave him was to be more polite or change jobs. I arrived at my destination frazzled on this occasion.

When the charming August taxi drivers return from holiday later this month and next, I can only pray to hail one of them when in need – and not the usual rule-breaking ignoramuses eaten up by rage I seem to stumble upon. Are the charming chauffers out there somewhere, or without the empty roads to calm will they too, like some Jekyll and
Hyde movie, transform back into beasts?

From wikipedia, an F-16 Fighting Falcon performs during the 2009 Paris Air Show.

Three of the 30 warplanes Greece ordered from the US arrived on Monday. Greece received ten planes earlier this year and will receive 17 more in the coming months.

Greece also holds the option of purchasing ten more planes bringing the possible total cost to about 2.2 billion euros.

One of the planes, which will arrive from Lockheed Martin’s plant in Ft. Worth Texas, was flown by col. Steven Speckhard, brother of US ambassador Daniel Speckhard.

Defense Industry Daily called the Greek purchase “a blow to the Euro Fighter.” Greece did scrap a nearly 5 billion euro contract in favor of the more affordable F-16s.

And now for your viewing pleasure, this is allegedly a Greek F-16 intercepting…a Turkish F-16.

A Greek anarchist poster calling for Solidarity with Iliopoulos

Thodoros Iliopoulos’s hunger strike didn’t make it to a 50th day. He was released from “temporary” custody soon after we posted our last update on August 27.

Ekathimerini reported on Friday that he was in “extremely fragile but stable condition.” The Greek version of Ekathimerini included that Iliopoulos was freed by the Council of Misdemeanors and that he will have to visit a police station twice a month. He also cannot leave the country.

Pro-Anarchist blog Occupied London trumpeted the release calling it a victory for the international solidarity movement and a protest held this week. “Now we need to keep up this struggle, to demand that all his charges are dropped”.

Other blogs such as anarkismo.net said that in light of Iliopoulos, an immigrant hunger strike on Naxos and the fires in Attica, “The social war continues.”

POSTSCRIPT: It should be noted that a comment from a Mr. John B brought the release to the blog’s attention, which had been lasered in on fire coverage.

Other Links

Libcom.org: Iliopoulos released

Athens Indy Media: Update before the release