No Money? Fight the Government: The Athens Recession Protests

• Protests in Athens, Greece turned violent on February 23 2011.
• Protesters and the police were raging outside many squares and important buildings throughout the city.
• Reports said that heavy battles between youths and the Greek riot police units took place with both police officers and protesters being hit with Molotov cocktails.
• Stones, bottles, tear gas and stung grenades were flying throughout central Athens.
• The unions organizing the strikes are the civil servants union ADEDY and GSEE, which represents the private sector

STRIKE

Their debt and deficits, our debt struggle.

We are witnessing the most brutal attack on the rights and lives.

The government and the Troika, on the pretext of economic crisis and debt problems, through the memorandum, remove - if these rights and achievements of employees and society to meet the interests of lenders, speculators, the bankers and employers.

The attack that we all respect our rights. Our incomes are reduced by cuts in the 13th and 14th salary and allowances, with increases in the prices of popular consumer products, with increases in ticket prices, tolls, the accuracy and the irresponsibility of the market. The insurance and pension rights we abolished the anti-insurance laws.

Merge, remove, degrade public services and public companies with the sole criterion to reduce costs and find funds for lenders. Restructured public transport, Public Education, Public Health Service with deletions and carrying costs on the backs of workers and society.

Abolish collective agreements and collective rights to ensure greater profits for employers.

• This excerpt is directly from the ADEDY Website(translated in Google Translator) and briefly explains the union’s reason for the strike.
• Riots have been common, violent, and deadly. In May 2010, three people were killed in blaze at a bank after demonstrators pelted the building with petrol bombs and set it on fire.
• Salary cuts have pushed Greece into a deepening recession with many analysts doubting whether its ailing economy can keep up with its loan obligations.

Interrelated

Political	Economic	Social/Cultural
Greek Government introduced severe cuts in spending and in the benefits and public services. Investors have lost confidence in the Greek government's ability to pay back the borrow money.	The austerity was to try and receive financial aid from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Greece secured a 110 billion euro bail-out from the EU and IMF in May 2010. In Greece, tax evasion is commonplace and pension rights are unusually generous	Opposite the Greek Parliament buildings is the ‘arena’ of often violent protest rallies in Athens. Rallies have become to turn violent, causing injuries. Tension is growing between citizens of Athens as the protests continue

The protets on the 23rd became especially dangerous when a police officer was hit with a Molotov cocktail which burnt his uniform.

Controversial

How did this issue start?

How should it be resolved?

Like many countries, the Greek government relies on borrowed money to balance its books. The recession has made this harder to achieve, because tax revenues are falling just as welfare payments start to rise. Using public spending to even out the bumps of the global downturn is what most large developed economies are trying to do right now. Investors have been demanding higher rates of interest to compensate for the risk that they might not get their money back.

Greece has already tried to get out with huge spending cuts coupled by big tax increases. The Greek citizens should try and wait it out, while their government gets control over their ever plummeting economy. "Greece owns buildings, companies and uninhabited islands, which could all be used for debt redemption," said politician Josef Schlarmann. Greece could also put what little they have into travel, because much of the countries income is from the tourism industry.

Complex

This mind map shows in some detail my thoughts and knowldge of the protests in Athens.

My Opinion

I believe that the protests in Athens are acceptable, to an extent. I believe that many of the Greek citizens that participated were over-reacting and foolish. It was also mainly the younger Greeks that were throwing the Molotov cocktails at the police and causing the protests to become riots. I also think that the government should get better control over their money so they have a better change of being able to get out of the current slump.

Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India

·         It began in 1967, and is still going on today.

·         The Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency is a conflict with arms in India.

·         It is a dispute between Maoist groups, known as Naxalites or Naxals, and the Indian government.

·         In the past year, the largest percentage of people that died due to violence was the civilians. 713 civilians, 285 security forces, and 171 Insurgents died in 2010.

·         In May of 2010 there was a bus bombing just outside of the city of Dantewada. The bus had hit a Maoist land mine. Fatalities ranged somewhere between 31 and 44.

·         Nearly the entire east cost is riddled with the warzone of this unhappy dispute, especially around the city of Hyderabad.

Satellite Image of India

·         This is called by many, The Red Corridor.

(Map of The Red Corridor)

Interrelated

Political	Economic	Social/Cultural
·         The Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency is a political issue because the Maoist is India’s eastern communist political party, and Naxalite is a term generically used for the southern communist party.	·         This is an economic issue because both parties are putting most of their funds into the fights. ·         Whether it is for guns and ammunition or rally parties, the economy is being rattled by the insurgency. ·         But somehow, the economy as a whole is staying somewhat stable.	·         The battle is a social issue because it is a dispute between two parties, that both want communism in the country. ·         The south and east communist parties fighting has brought a lot of hatred to the communities they represent and are destroying the culture of those communities. ·          It is a struggle for people of these different counties to be friendly with one another. ·         The Insurgency is affecting the Tribals of many villages.

(Social/Cultural issue Video)

Controversial

How did this issue start?

How should it be resolved?

·         The issue began in the 1960’s.  In West Bengal, where a section of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) led by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal initiated a violent uprising in 1967. ·         On May 18, 1967, the Siliguri Kishan Sabha, of which Jangal was the president, declared their readiness to adopt armed struggle to redistribute land to the landless. ·         On May 24, when a police team arrived to arrest the peasant leaders, they were ambushed by a group of tribal peoples led by Jangal Santhal, and a police inspector was killed in a hail of arrows. ·         This event encouraged many Santhal tribal’s and other poor people to join the movement and to start attacking local landlords.

·         Put down the weapons. Though it seems like an easy thing to say, it’ll be a lot harder to implicate in the real life situation. But this is a necessary step. ·         Make Muppala Lakshmana Rao (Current leader of the Maoist Party) sit and speak with K Vijaya Kumar (Current leader for the Naxalites). Though there is a lot of tension between the leaders of the opposing parties, a sit down is necessary. ·         Discuss the original land disputes. To fully understand why they are still fighting, they would have to understand why they are fighting. ·         Work, however long, to a solution. This is the hardest step, but if they make it this far, then they will have to make compromises. They could return the land to the landlords, and agree to stop the killing. Over the past 20 or so years, over 10000 people have lost their lives due to the insurgency

Complex

This mind map shows how bluntly the Nalalite-Maoist Insurgency can be seen. It causes death, and is a fight for power and control.

My Opinion

I believe that the Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India is a foolish fight. I think that communism is not the answer, and the fact that the two communist parties are fighting over power is a little funny. Thought my opinion is blunt, I believe it had to be said. I think that if the two parties combined, they would have a higher likelihood of ruling over India, though that will never happen. I think the casualties are useless, and did not need to occur, and that the current government should put an end to the war.