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Yiannis Boutaris the 71 year old Greek businessman, politician and current mayor of Thessaloniki has given Greece’s second city, Salonika a well needed shake up after succeeding the former mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos a former sprinter and medical student nicknamed the Flying Doctor. On his taking of office, Boutaris accused Papageorgopoulos of providing inaccurate financial figures, resulting in an investigation. Niki Kitsantonis for the New York Times has published an article titled ‘Ex-Mayor in Greece Gets Life in Prison for Embezzlement’ highlighting how the subsequent convictions have prompted a frenzied response in the news media and on blogs, where many hailed the unusually severe sentences. Kitsantonis states “The former mayor of Greece’s second city, Salonika, and two of his top aides were sentenced to life in prison …after being found guilty of embezzling almost 18 million euros, or $23.5 million, in public money — a rare conviction in a case involving the political corruption that has contributed to the country’s dysfunction and economic decline. A court in Salonika, a northern port city also known as Thessaloniki, found that the local authorities had set up an “embezzlement machine” and that Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, a prominent conservative who served two terms as mayor from 1999 to 2010, had been “aware of the whole plan but had stayed on the sidelines, feigning ignorance.” …Two other former treasury officials were given terms of 15 and 10 years, and 13 other former employees were acquitted after a five-month trial that began after an estimated shortfall of $68 million was found in the city’s coffers. The court said there was proof that $23.5 million of that sum had been swindled. In trial testimony last month, Mr. Saxonis admitted that the cash transactions had taken place in his office in “flimsy carrier bags” and said he had been taking orders from his superiors.”  Inspired by Niki Kitsantonis, New York Times ow.ly/iuuk3 Image source Γιάννης Μπουτάρης ow.ly/iuuVi Salonika gets a well needed shake up (March 25 2013)

 

Yiannis Boutaris the 71 year old Greek businessman, politician and current mayor of Thessaloniki has given Greece’s second city, Salonika a well needed shake up after succeeding the former mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos a former sprinter and medical student nicknamed the Flying Doctor. On his taking of office, Boutaris accused Papageorgopoulos of providing inaccurate financial figures, resulting in an investigation. Niki Kitsantonis for the New York Times has published an article titled ‘Ex-Mayor in Greece Gets Life in Prison for Embezzlement’ highlighting how the subsequent convictions have prompted a frenzied response in the news media and on blogs, where many hailed the unusually severe sentences. Kitsantonis states “The former mayor of Greece’s second city, Salonika, and two of his top aides were sentenced to life in prison …after being found guilty of embezzling almost 18 million euros, or $23.5 million, in public money — a rare conviction in a case involving the political corruption that has contributed to the country’s dysfunction and economic decline. A court in Salonika, a northern port city also known as Thessaloniki, found that the local authorities had set up an “embezzlement machine” and that Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, a prominent conservative who served two terms as mayor from 1999 to 2010, had been “aware of the whole plan but had stayed on the sidelines, feigning ignorance.” …Two other former treasury officials were given terms of 15 and 10 years, and 13 other former employees were acquitted after a five-month trial that began after an estimated shortfall of $68 million was found in the city’s coffers. The court said there was proof that $23.5 million of that sum had been swindled. In trial testimony last month, Mr. Saxonis admitted that the cash transactions had taken place in his office in “flimsy carrier bags” and said he had been taking orders from his superiors.”

 

Inspired by Niki Kitsantonis, New York Times ow.ly/iuuk3 Image source Γιάννης Μπουτάρης ow.ly/iuuVi

Judge had courage to go against the prosecutor (November 21 2012) Judge had courage to go against the prosecutor (November 21 2012)

Kostas Vaxevanis the 46 year old Greek journalist and founder editor of the magazine Hot Doc, has been acquitted of charges relating to his publishing of the ‘Lagrade List’ of possible tax cheats. In an Aljazeera article titled ‘Crusading Greek journalist acquitted’, John Psaropoulos states “The late night acquittal … was met with an eruption of applause in courtroom number one, building two, of the Athens judicial compound. “The court has found you innocent,” was all the judge had time to say. Vaxevanis had faced a year in prison and a 30,000 euro ($38,500) fine for allegedly breaching Greek privacy law. His offence was to publish the names of what purports to be the infamous Lagarde List, a spreadsheet of more than 2,000 influential Greeks with Swiss bank accounts who might warrant investigation as tax evaders. It is named after the former French finance minister, now IMF chief, who handed it to her Greek counterpart, Yiorgos Papakonstantinou, in 2010. “A junior court judge had the courage to go against the prosecutor’s office which created all the fuss in the first place, to listen to society, to see the results of all this activity surrounding the revelation of the list and of course to see the truth.” Vaxevanis told Al Jazeera after the verdict was announced. …Vaxevanis offered an explanation as to why authorities have been so loath to prosecute the list. “Greece is being governed by a closed group of interests… comprising businesspeople, politicians and a few journalists,” he said. “The Lagarde List is a document that proves what everyone suspects – that a powerful elite… enjoys the privilege that no one dares move against them.”

 

Inspired by John Psaropoulos ow.ly/fmSms image source Facebook ow.ly/fmSfk

Naming and shaming hits Greece (November 13 2012) Naming and shaming hits Greece (November 13 2012)

John Psaropoulos the Greek Freelance journalist and Director of Development for AKTO College in Athens has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Naming and shaming hits Greece’ highlighting how a new website dedicated to sharing stories on corruption in the public sector is creating a flutter. Psaropoulos states “…Greece’s first website dedicated to sharing stories of corruption in the public sector. The response has been impressive – after just two weeks online, the site has logged 40,000 visitors and highlighted more than $85,000 in bribes requested and paid. “What we’ve noticed is how incredible the bribes can be,” says Panos Louridas, one of several volunteers who built the website. “The funniest thing I saw was a hospital patient who had bribed staff to allow his wife to sleep in an empty second bed in his room. It was reported by a patient in an adjacent room.” Anyone can make an anonymous entry on teleiakaipavla.gr, loosely translatable as “Stop it. Period”. Names and dates are not mentioned, but institutions are – the top eight by number of entries are hospitals. …The site is a cast list of corrupt characters: the tax collector who blackmails a business, the surgeon who turns public healthcare into private practice, an official who wants a grigorosimo, or speed-up fee to avoid delays. Corruption is a big part of Greece’s unrecorded and untaxed economy, estimated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development at roughly $90bn this year, dwarfing the deficit of $17bn. …”It is well known that the vast majority of tax collectors is deeply corrupt,” says a former minister who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This shop cannot be easily fixed. You have to break lots of eggs.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/f5pmV image source Aljazeera video

The Greek crisis as racketeering (July 28 2012) The Greek crisis as racketeering (July 28 2012)

Despina Lalaki the Greek Sociology doctoral candidate in Hellenic Studies and University Lecturer has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘The Greek crisis as racketeering’ citing the Greek government’s classic mobster tactic of offering citizens protection from threats it has itself created. In the article Lalaki states “Sociologist Charles Tilly drew a compelling analogy between the state as the place of organized means of violence, and racketeering. He defined the racketeer “as someone who creates a threat and then charges for its reduction”, in order to gain control and consolidate power. In this regard, a state and its government differ little from racketeering, to the extent that the threats against which they protect their citizens are imaginary or are consequences of their own activities. Considering the pain, the humiliation, and the social degradation that the economic and political policies of the Greek government have inflicted upon the country the past four years, Tilly’s analogy may offer us a useful tool to both describe and evaluate the current crisis and the regime of fear that the state has unleashed on the Greek public. …In defiance of this fear, an awakening of political consciousness is taking place in Greece’s squares, streets, and online social networks, not merely condemning the policies of austerity and social degradation but collectively working towards new types of political resistance. It is becoming clear that only the people of Greece can deliver and ultimately save themselves from the racketeering, criminal practices of their “protectors”.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/coJd1 image source Academia ow.ly/coJbM

Greece brain drain wrecking my social life (July 12th 2012) Greece brain drain wrecking my social life (July 12th 2012)

Giorgos Christides  the 36 year old Greek Freelance journalist and Economics editor discusses his experiences in his austerity ridden homeland for a BBC magazine article titled “Greece brain drain ‘wrecking my social life’” Christides states “As the queues of jobless Greeks grow, more and more young people are moving abroad. …The trend is not limited to 30 and 40-something professionals, but is spreading to younger age groups as well. According to the latest national polls, more than seven out of 10 young Greeks aged 18 to 24 believe that emigration is the ideal – indeed the only – way out from the crisis. Two out of 10 have already applied for jobs and university places abroad. …[Greece] considered an economic wasteland for ambitious young students and graduates, who are now suffering from unemployment rates in excess of 50%. Workers’ and students’ mobility has been, of course, one of the landmarks and major achievements of European integration. But it is now evolving into a medium-term death sentence for the ageing Greek society and economy. …In an era characterised by intensified global competition for talented, innovative and highly-skilled workers, the brain drain afflicting Greece means the country is losing its best hope of revival. Viewing your country as a dead-end and a prison is therefore a more daunting and condemning prospect than defaulting or exiting the euro.”

 

Inspired by BBC http://ow.ly/c4X0R image source linkedin ow.ly/c4WZ6

Daniel Gros the German Director of the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies, and former economic adviser to the European Commission, believes that only determined action by EU governments that is strongly supported by their citizens will save the common currency. Gros published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Democracy versus the eurozone‘ in which he states “The reality is that the larger member states are more equal than the others. Of course, this is not fair, but the EU’s inability to impose its view on democratic countries might actually sometimes be for the best, given that even the Commission is fallible. The broader message from the Greek and French elections is that the attempt to impose a benevolent creditors’ dictatorship is now being met by a debtors’ revolt. Financial markets have reacted as strongly as they have because investors recognise that the “sovereign” in sovereign debt is an electorate that can simply decide not to pay. This is already the case in Greece, but the fate of the euro will be decided in the larger, systemically important countries like Italy and Spain. Only determined action by their governments, supported by their citizens, will show that they merit unreserved support from the rest of the eurozone. At this point, nothing less can save the common currency.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/bzDeO image source World Economic Forum ow.ly/bzD9E

Evi Pappa the Greek Professor of International Macroeconomics and Monetary and Fiscal Policy believes a Greek exit from the euro could have wide-ranging consequences for other European countries. Pappa in an interview with Sam Bollier for Aljazeera, states “The Greek election results express the anger of the Greek population. They had somehow to punish the two political parties that have been in power the past 20 years. So they voted in anger and in protest… I think that most of them realise that leaving the euro is going to be disastrous for Greece. …You would expect three things if Greece leaves the euro: inflation, devaluation, and banking collapse. …Inflation is sometimes good. But the problem is that Greece is not going to experience inflation. It is going to experience, most likely, hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is not good at any time. …Modern Greece, like Antigone [Classic Greek tragedy of Sophocles], is condemned to the austerity measures of the European Commission, burying it alive, and it looks like, when the Europeans come to her mercy, it might be too late – and Greece might commit suicide by deciding to leave the eurozone. I don’t have a lot of hope for Greece.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/b9tCR image source uab ow.ly/b9tPc

Nikola  Kosmatopoulos the Greek PhD Candidate with the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland has published an article on Ajazeera titled “If elections could change things, they’d be illegal”. In the article, Kosmatopoulos states “The old anarchist slogan that inspired this article’s title has gained urgent actuality in Greece. …For a long time, the most insightful and inspiring quotes about the political situation in Greece have totally eclipsed the manifestos of technocrats and the reports of journalists. Hope and insights, endurance and critique, are more likely to be expressed through red and black graffiti than in the speeches made by experts. …members of the political elite have shamelessly suggested the indefinite postponement of elections, while European officials have clearly indicated that unless voters choose one of the two major parties, the country would be plunged into chaos. …In the face of all this, it appears essential to ask whether: Instead of drafting an electoral program, it would be more useful to craft everyday programs of population mobilisation against elite-driven violence and misery. Instead of debating with those who massacre “democracy” in the parliament, it would be more effective to join the ranks of those who surround the building.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera http://ow.ly/aORni image source ethno.uzh http://ow.ly/aORf7

Arianna Huffington [Stasinopoulos] the 61 year old Greek born US columnist and co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post, has been profiled by Vogue Magazine as “slightly teeter-tottery.” Huffinton’s profile included observations from her colleague and former other Huffington Post co-founder Kenny Lerer, refuting Huffinton’s claim of de-emphasizing the politics of the liberal website, stating the site had never been left wing to begin with, and was only seeking to pacify advertisers by appearing to move away from progressive stances on issues. The profile included descriptions of Huffinton’s clothing tastes, including the excessive use of thick makeup and the drinking of cappuccinos’ with a straw. Huffington is the ex-wife of former Republican congressman Michael Huffington, and stood as an independent candidate for Governor in the 2003 California recall election.

 

Inspired by Kat Stoeffel http://ow.ly/6FY4J image source Jezebel http://ow.ly/6FYFN

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