Greek Mainstream Politics, A Quiet Indoor Affair.

       The political scene has changed dramatically in Greece, elections are not what they used to be. Gone are the days when pre-election rallies were held in the open air with thousands gathering to worship their chosen leader. Massive public affairs with the messiahs from the various parties, mainly two, Pasok and New Democracy, openly accepting the adoration of the faithful. Now it is all so different, such is the loathing by the people of Greece for the mainstream parties and their corrupt cohorts, that meetings are indoors, invitation only and surrounded by security. They dare not show their faces to the general public for fear of a verbal and physical assault, in my opinion, a well deserved response.

Teacher Dude describes one such meeting:  

      Actually, I had no intention of attending the event which I assumed would be an invitation only affair in which the media (or, in my case, not-quite-media) would be kept at arms length. However, following the lead of some friends who were there legitimately, I managed to get myself past the metal detectors and security checks, which was lucky as I would have had a hard time explaining the gas mask in my bag. I'm guessing that telling the police my allergies were playing up would not have been terribly convincing.
       However, once inside the venue I decided to exploit my good luck to get into the swing of things taking pictures of the local conservative nomenclature which has ruled Thessaloniki for generations, noting the preparations being made ahead of the main speech. If only New Democracy paid as much attention to economic policy as it did to the placement of flag waving party workers in the bleachers.

Read the full article HERE:

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1984, The Miners Strike And George Orwell.

      Face recognition, car number plate reading, TV's that recognise your face and can remember your favourite programs, it's all there, and don't think it is not being used extensible. 

This from Teacher Dude:

      George Orwell's 1984 is sponsored by LG: "The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it,", a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ Yahoo webcam images from millions of users intercepted by GCHQ.

     "Britain's surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo

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Just Follow Instructions.

        Day and daily the propaganda hits you, some silently from billboards, ads. at bus stops, and newspapers, some surreptitiously through the education system, some screaming at you from cinema and TV ads. and then the official outpourings from our lords and masters. However it all says the same, it is the same message repeated and repeated in various guises Don't get involved, be a good citizen and just follow instructions, leave the decisions to us who know better. Of course we all know that freedom is the opposite.

 
Love the State
Respect your boss
Watch Television
Produce more
Obey authority
Don't be late
Abhor protest
Hate change
Fear difference
Stay at home
Know your place
Believe the news
Denounce colleagues
Love the State
Respect your boss
Watch Television
Produce more
Obey authority

This video from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

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We Can Stop The Machine.

     Saw this on Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ, it is probably more relevant today that it was in the 60's:

        "There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all! "

Mario Salvio - Berkeley, California 1964

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Misery Equals Success.

       So the Troika and the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) are pleased with their Greek political puppets. So much so the the rating agency Fitch has up-rated Greece by one notch from CCC to B-, which is still junk status, but the Greek corrupt political class are being rewarded for their success. 

     This success has included slashing the living standard of the people of Greece to approaching third world level, creating the ideal conditions for the corporate world to move back and take advantage of slave labour sweatshop conditions. 

   Another success of the neo-fascists political clique sitting in Athens has been to sell off billions of Euros worth of assets belonging to the people of Greece, to the corporate world in a fire sale of the century. Anything belonging to the people of Greece that could make money has to go.

      Most decent human beings look at what has happened in Greece as a tragedy, the financial Mafia see it as a success. A success they are willing to repeat in country after country in Europe. Only when they have sweatshop Europe will they be happy.

      The people have to stop asking for moderation in the cuts, we have to stop asking for "austerity" to be eased. What that is asking for is, pleased keep us a bit above third world conditions. The system is doing what it is intended to do, create conditions for the corporate world to make increase profits at lower costs. You and I are those costs, we have to be cut down in cost. That translates into low wages and no social services.

        For decent conditions for all our people the present economic system has to go, the profit motive has to be killed off. We the people have to take control of all the means of production and distribution and base our society on mutual aid.  

Photos taken from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ.

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The Ministry Of Love Needs You.

     This appealed to me as it seems very relevant to today's corporate capitalism. They have all the money they could ever desire, but still they want to grow. Control, domination, is what it is all about. Lifted direct from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

Ministry of Love Needs You, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr. 

      The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing.
     All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal.
     We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?’

1984 George Orwell

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Greece Today.

     A run through modern Greece today, courtesy of Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ.

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A YEAR IN GREECE.

      Most countries across the globe 2012, was a year of protest and mass demonstrations, in some cases, extremely violent confrontations with the protectors of the powers that be, have accompanied these events. In Europe, no more so than Greece. No matter how violent and brutal these confrontations become, life goes on in some form or other, people go about trying to get by, trying to get a life.

     In this slide show of a year in Greece, I think Teacher Dude has captured that fact, a year of love and hate, tranquility and anger, spectacular and ordinary.

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RAISE TAXES -- RAISE AIR POLLUTION!!

       The best laid plans of mice and men---- The Greek governments super plan to raise revenue by a 40% hike in fuel oil tax, seems to have back-fired somewhat. Once again it is the economics of the insane, thinking that in a country where there is extreme poverty and massive unemployment, you can still raise revenue by taxing the poor who don't have any surplus cash to hand over. The only thing they seem to have raised is the level of air pollution.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:
         Nowadays it's now known as fuel poverty, but to older generations it is huddling in cold, damp rooms round an inadequate fire hoping that either the weather will get better or that you'll have enough money to see out the cold spell. With temperatures in Greece dropping below zero in the mountainous northern regions, one of the government's most hated tax measures is starting to take effect. The decision by Athens to raise heating oil taxation by 40% seems to have backfired as millions decided not to turn on their oil fired central heating and turned to other sources, most notably, wood burning stoves, leaving the government with 790 million euro shortfall.
       In the northern region of Kozani heating oil whole sellers reported an 85% drop in demand in comparison with last year, whilst businesses supplying wood, sometimes logged illegally are seeing a roaring trade as Greeks seek to heat their homes using traditional wood burning stoves known as soumbes.

Read the full article HERE:

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COMING TO A CITY NEAR YOU.

    What is happening in Greece is a crime against a people deliberately perpetrated by the financial Mafia for no other reason than greed. The Greek people are being sacrificed on the altar of corporate fascism. What is more it will not stop at Greece, it is coming to a city near you--- soon.

From Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

Park bench converted into a temporary home for Greece's homeless

Park bench converted into a temporary home for Greece's homeless, a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

      With poverty pushing more and more Greeks onto the streets, parks in the northern port city of Thessaloniki are rapidly being taken over by the homeless. However, with temperatures dropping and heavy rains predicted its not sure how they'll be able to last out the winter in such conditions.

     I asked the permission of those staying here before I took this picture. I had a hard time getting that permission but once I explained that my aim wasn't to show them but the conditions in which they were forced to live, they agreed.

 

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AUSTERITY - NO PAY FOR THREE MONTHS!!!

    Not been paid for three months and then being put on part-time 20 hours a week at €200 a month, that's capitalism IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) style for you.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

Unpaid for three months - 

shop assistants in Fokas department store protest

 

       Employees at the Fokas department stores, one of the most well-known retail outlets in Greece taking part in a 24 hour strike over unpaid wages dating back to June. In addition according to Union of Shop Workers, the company is in the process of replacing full time positions with part time ones paying just 200 Euros a month for a 20 hour week.
       (200 euros a month is just enough to cover rent on a modest one room apartment in the poorest parts of Thessaloniki.)

enosiemporiothess@gmail.com

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THE PAINFUL END TO AN EXPERIMENT!!!

 

       The plundering of the public purse by the financial Mafia and the resultant misery that falls on the ordinary people, forces people in all different directions. Some stay on the belief that things can only get better, others decide to stay and fight for something better, while others cut that bound with friends and family and leave for some foreign land. None of these options are easy, all inflict misery and hardship, some physical, others emotional, some both.

Another excellent article from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ.  

 

Is the European experiment grinding to halt? 

      Earlier this morning I got a call from a friend, saying that she'd found a job but I was at a loss whether to congratulate her or not, as she will not only leave her country but her two young children as well. For the next nine months my friend will be teaching English at a private school in the Gulf States. In doing so she'll be following a path trailed by many other friends and acquaintances over the last few years.

     Her children will remain here to be looked after by grandparents for the duration, a story reminiscent of the sacrifices that many Greeks were obliged to make in the 60's and 70's as guest workers who went north to find jobs in the booming economies of northern Europe and especially in German factories then powering the country's export led economic miracle.

     As with so many other Greeks six years of recession has forced my friend to consider working abroad as the only alternative to a slow slide into poverty at home so repeating a story that has been told and re-told so often here over the last 100 years. However, this latest generation is both luckier and unluckier than their parents and forebears.

Continue Reading HERE:

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YOUR ENEMY WON'T SPEARD YOUR MESSAGE.

     The pattern is the same the world over, they talk of the "free press" but what the mean is that it's free of any really critical political action or ideas. Free press really means state mouthpiece, or corporate propaganda machine. The media is 100% behind the status quo, it is no more than a babbling brook of bullshit. So no wonder the left grouping SYRIZA, in Greece is finding it hard to get a voice, if they have to rely on that cesspool of corruption to promote their ideas and aims, they are doomed. They have to stay on the streets, reach out through networking sites, indymedia, direct action, meetings, mass leafleting and assemblies. Hard work, but there is no other way.

Graphic, by John Hartfield.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

      For fans of signs and omens the sudden end of summer and onset of rainy weather that accompanied the arrival in Greece's second largest city of the leader of the Radical left Coalition, Alexis Tsipras probably made perfect sense. The sudden chill in Thessaloniki seems to be a fitting metaphor for his relationship with the press as SYRIZA has an uphill battle on their hands trying to get the party's message out in the face of intense mainstream media hostility. With most of the traditional media joined at the hip to more mainstream parties such as New Democracy and PASOK  Tsipras has no natural allies in the media, whose members often play a dual role of journalist and party supporter, an incestuous set - up that has hobbled objective reporting for decades.

Read the full article HERE:

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WHEN THE POLICE JOIN THE DEMONSTRATIONS!!!!

         As the Greek political class go about enforcing more drastic "austerity cuts" at the dictate of the IMF, (International Mankind Fuckers) and the financial Mafia they have made it clear that the police will not be exempt from the wage cuts and slashing of bonuses and pensions. This has of course rattled the obedient servants of the state who have been mounting demonstrations of their own. How does a government force people to accept drastic cuts to their living standards when the police start to say that demonstrations and labour disputes do not come under our public duty? Greece is fast approaching that situation. Governments govern by consent or govern by force, if that consent is withdrawn and that force is no longer available, what then? A European Spring?

An interesting article from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

      Police officers were the first to react with demonstrations in Athens after the government said that their wages and bonuses would not be exempt from the budget measures being demanded by creditors in return for another cash injection. The Greek language blogosphere was alive with angry responses from police related blogs angry that pre-election promises had not been kept and promising a series of protests over the decision.

       The $64,000 question is how such cuts, if they are passed will be enforced without the support of the police. With resentment against yet more austerity rising after a summer lull, police officers are being used ever more frequently to end protests and labour disputes. If they decide that this is not their public function, as one police leader intimated last night during an interview on MEGA TV then what other means of persuasion does the government have? Even the feared quasi - military MAT riot units cannot be everywhere.

Read the full article HERE:

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POLITICS = NEPOTISM AND GREED.

        While the Greek people bleed from the wounds inflicted by the European financial Mafia, the Greek political class, like their counterparts in the rest of Europe, continue to shovel the loot into their bank accounts by the usual means. Those being fat salaries, mouth watering pensions, perks and nepotism. No matter how difficult things become, it is not for the political class to suffer. They will make the deals that savagely destroy the social fabric of society, while living in a parallel world of luxury. They are immune to this thing they call "austerity", that world is for the ordinary people. It is now so blatantly obvious that that all the decisions made by those political parasites, will be of no benefit to the ordinary people, it is all about getting as much of the public purse into the accounts of the billionaire class, the class that has bought the political apparatus of every country in the world.

 We need more austerity to get us through these difficult times.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

     Antonis Samaras is currently doing the rounds in Europe, attempting to persuade fellow EU leaders that Greece needs two more years to fulfil the obligations required to receive the country's next installment of cash to avoid bankruptcy. Samaras has even personally guaranteed that Germany will be repaid in full, though how intends to do this is another matter, unless there is a secret coda in Steve Job's will that no one has been aware of till now.

       On the other hand The PM's attempt to prove the Greece has changed and become a more fiscally responsible country have been undermined by even high ranking members of his own government, who upon being elected to parliament seemingly appointed to state jobs just about every member of their extended family not in jail or the grave. Case in point being New Democracy heavy weight, Vyron Polydoras, who secured a government job for his daughter after Greece's first national elections in May. Polydoras was also involved in a scandal during the Karamanlis administration after he used his position as minister for public order to have them transferred to his own offices.

Continue READING:

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WHERE DEMOCRACY WAS BORN, FASCISM FLOURISHES.

       With capitalist poverty doesn't come aid, but repression. As the possibility of anger and unrest simmers among the populace, your elected government turns to fascist policies to keep you in line. Greece today, tomorrow -----??

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

     With August coming to an end and the temperatures dropping from the low 40s C to low 30s C The northern port city of Thessaloniki shakes off of its summer lethargy as people come back from their annual holidays and the town readies itself for the return of its large student population. However, amidst the renewed hustle and bustle some things haven't changed. Many of the businesses in the centre remain shuttered, their store fronts decorated with graffiti and For Rent signs, the cafés while now busier are far fewer in number and the restaurants mostly remain empty except on the weekend. The only new business is a chain of fast food outlets that does a roaring trade in in 70 cent hot dogs and cheap iced coffees.

      On the other hand whether it be in the supermarket lines or in the streets the talk is about how everyone will pay the latest round of bills. The guy pumping petrol complains about the cost of road tax whilst the woman behind me in line frets about how she'll make it through the winter if the government decides to raise the cost of heating oil by 40% as promised. 

Read the full article HERE:

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THE HUMAN STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE.

      A moving and personal tale from the one who is there. Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ, is an insight into what happens when our political lords and masters follow the grand plan as dictated by the financial Mafia. It is a personal view of social disintegration and the struggle to survive.

         While for many outside, the main symptoms of the current economic crisis are the soup kitchens in central Athens, or perhaps the violent confrontations that light up TV screens from time to time,there is another quieter yet just as significant trend sweeping Greece. Thousands upon thousands of Greeks are on the move, leaving the larger cities for the countryside or smaller provincial towns or leaving the country to try their luck abroad. As with so many other economic and social upheavals the current one has forced people to move. However, there are no endless trails of refugees marching along dusty roads, or convoys of dispossessed Okies with their belonging strapped to the top of a car. Instead it's the steady rhythm of friends, neighbours and colleagues gradually slipping away.

        There are no firm figures for the numbers involved and those official statistics that do surface in the media often contradict themselves, however, the plan fact is that I see it with my own eyes every day. In every apartment block in every street no entrance hall is complete without a handful of For Rent or For Sale signs, apartments lay empty for months on end, even though the removal vans seem to be doing a roaring trade.

Continue READING:

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