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The following article was written for publication by WPI in the early January 2009 edition (issue number 98) of their official Farsi-language magazine, Kargare Kommunist.
The continuing struggle in Greece
On the night of December 6, 2008 at around 9:00 PM, 15 year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos was gunned down in the Exarchia district of Athens, Greece. He was murdered in the street without mercy and without cause, the victim of a government which regularly exercises wanton force with relative impunity in an effort to suppress dissent and maintain the prevailing social order of the day. The executioner in this case was a police officer, 37 year-old Epaminondas Korkoneas, who, with the aid of one or more accomplices, arbitrarily and unilaterally imposed a death sentence on an unarmed and defenseless boy. Perhaps Korkoneas and his cronies thought his position as a cop placed him above suspicion and outside of the bounds of human decency. It’s possible that he believed that the death of one free-spirited teenager would be lost among the cumulative brutality of everyday life on the streets of one of Europe’s most populous cities. Maybe he thought his actions would be well-concealed by the nighttime darkness. But people would soon know the truth of the matter. The police on the scene tried to justify the shooting by claiming they were defending themselves against an attack. But the witnesses on the scene contradicted the claims made by the cops in their cover story and as the witnesses came forward to tell the truth of the matter, a grieving and angry public took notice.
Alexandros "Alexis" Grigoropoulos (1993-2008)
The gun blast that killed young Alexis was truly a shot heard ‘round the world.
As news of the murder of Alexis spread throughout Athens, the righteous anger of the Greek people gave way to collective opposition and mass action. On December 7, students took to the streets to demonstrate against police and government abuses. The murder of Alexis was the breaking point for thousands upon thousands of students who were already angry about government corruption, budgetary excesses and a campaign to privatize higher education. The massive outcry against all sorts of new and old repression in Greece was met with fear and aggression on the part of the Greek government, who acted quickly in their attempts to suppress dissent. Through the use of provocation and extreme force, the police forces hounded and attacked demonstrators, escalating the conflict and inciting violence in the streets of Athens.
The Greek people showed their solidarity with the students in Athens by taking to the streets throughout the country. In Thessaloniki, Naupolio, Patras and numerous other cities, students and workers engaged in empathetic demonstrations against a government which has marginalized itself through its own incompetence and arrogance. Such expressions of support were not just confined to Greece, as citizens marched in solidarity with the Greek people through the streets of Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. Even the people of Turkey – whose government is historically at odds with that of Greece – organized demonstrations in support of the people of Greece in their struggle against injustice.
The bourgeois media has been all too selective in their coverage of the events in Greece. Mainstream television newscasts are certainly happy to show buildings and cars ablaze, but they seldom show footage of the police conduct which precipitates such events. Even on the day of the funeral of Alexis Grigoropoulos, police harassed mourners as they walked peacefully in the boy’s funeral procession. Moreover, recent photographic evidence suggests that police agents – some armed with truncheons – have infiltrated demonstrations posing as students on more than one occasion, subsequently inciting unrest and violence from within the demonstrations themselves, thus providing the government the opportunity to portray demonstrators as reckless and unruly.
The real story unfolding on the streets and in the universities of Greece is being told through progressive and independent media outlets and through user-generated Internet forums and networks. It is, of course, unfortunately true that violence has occurred in the streets of Athens since the murder of Alexis, but whenever people rise up to challenge their oppressors, it is seldom an orderly or gentle affair. It has been said time and again with complete accuracy that “a revolution is not a dinner party.”
Contrary to the wishes of government officials, the demonstrations in Athens and throughout Greece have not subsided even in the face of police suppression and a government-sponsored anti-student propaganda campaign. A general strike against police and government abuses was initiated on December 10, allowing workers across the country to show solidarity with the students in defiance of the floundering Greek government. The student unions acted as a vanguard in this particular area, taking on the effort to plan and organize the strike. Teachers struck for two days and university lecturers for three days. Even the union of white-collar workers at the Commission of Competition (a service of the Finance Ministry) staged a three-hour strike on December 9. As of December 18, protests continue with sustained fervor throughout Athens, from the historic Acropolis to the gates of the Greek Parliament.
Over the course of the last century, the Greek people have endured repression and brutality in the most extreme forms imaginable, and in each instance they have triumphed through indomitable spirit and resolute determination. From the brutal years of the Metaxas dictatorship to the invasions and occupations by fascist armies during the Second World War to the draconian rule of the Military Junta, the Greek people – led by workers and students – have resisted tyranny, meeting force with force and fighting injustice and exploitation at every turn. The present situation, which originated in Athens and has spread throughout Greece with the might of a prairie fire, is a bold new chapter in the ongoing struggle of the Greek people.
Mike B. resides in the Midwestern United States. He maintains regular contact with many family members and friends throughout Greece. Mike has been an administrator for the Marxists Internet Archive (http://www.marxists.org) since 2001.
Thousands of protesters have attacked banks and shops in Athens and Greece's northern city of Thessaloniki, angered by the police's killing of a teenager.
[...]
After a lull in the fighting on Sunday morning, youths left the National Technical University of Athens, known as the Polytechnic, and joined thousands of leftist demonstrators and anarchists on a march towards the police headquarters on Alexandras Avenue.
They passed close to where 15-year-old Andreas Grigoropoulos was shot dead on Saturday. One banner called the police "murderers".
One protester told the BBC he had been greatly angered by the actions of the police.
"It's not the first time. They always kill people - immigrants, innocent people - and without any excuse," he said. "They murdered him in cold blood."
The unrest, the worst in several years, has spread throughout the country
"I think [the violence] is justified. Peaceful demonstrations cannot get a solution to the problem."
The scene inside a long, low-slung factory on this city’s North Side this weekend offered a glimpse at how the nation’s loss of more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs in a year of recession is boiling over.
The company, which was founded in 1965 and once employed more than 700 people, had struggled in recent months as home construction dipped, workers said.
Workers laid off Friday from Republic Windows and Doors, who for years assembled vinyl windows and sliding doors here, said they would not leave, even after company officials announced that the factory was closing.
Some of the plant’s 250 workers stayed all night, all weekend, in what they were calling an occupation of the factory. Their sharpest criticisms were aimed at their former bosses, who they said gave them only three days’ notice of the closing, and the company’s creditors. But their anger stretched broadly to the government’s costly corporate bailout plans, which, they argued, had forgotten about regular workers.
“They want the poor person to stay down,” said Silvia Mazon, 47, a mother of two who worked as an assembler here for 13 years and said she had never before been the sort to march in protests or make a fuss. “We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere until we get what’s fair and what’s ours. They thought they would get rid of us easily, but if we have to be here for Christmas, it doesn’t matter.”
[...]
At a news conference Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama said the company should follow through on its commitments to its workers.
(M)ore than 4000 students protested at Tehran University. Their chants included "Ahmadi-Pinochet, Iran will not become Chile!", "Death to the dictator", "Free all political prisoners!", "University is the last barricade", "Students die but will not be humiliated" and "Mr. President, the student movement will stand until the end!" A large number of students from other universities and colleges in the capital, including Polytechnic (Amirkabir), Industrial University, Abbaspour, Science and Technology and Rajai joined the protest.
Read more: "Students Rally For Democracy In Iran" from CBS News This link is especially for the American "progressives" who have asserted to me that Students' Day doesn't exist because they have never seen the mainstream media cover it.
In commemoration of 'Οχι Day, we present the text of the October 31, 1940 "Open Letter of the General Secretary of the KKE" by Nikos Zachariadis. The English and Greek editions of this text were transcribed by my pal Panos Fidis. We worked together on the footnotes to create these documents for marxists.org. Μου λείπεις, my friend!
Open Letter of the General Secretary of the KKE [A],[B] to the People of Greece
Nikos
Zachariadis
Mussolini's fascism backstabbed Greece in a murderous and immoral way in order to occupy and enslave Greece. Today all the Greeks are fighting for our freedom. our honor, our national independence. The struggle will be very hard and very tough. But a nation that desires to survive must fight defying the dangers and the sacrifices. The people of Greece are fighting a national liberation war against Mussolini's fascism. Alongside with the main front, EVERY ROCK, EVERY HILLSIDE, EVERY CITY, HOUSE BY HOUSE MUST BECOME A FORTRESS OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE. Every agent of fascism must be exterminated mercilessly. In this war which is led by the government of Metaxas, all of us must offer all their efforts without doubts. The reward for the working people and the capstone of today's struggle will be a new Greece of work and freedom liberated from any foreign imperialist dependence with a true popular culture. Everyone to the struggle, each one to his position, and the victory will be a victory of Greece and the Greek people. The workers of all the world are on our side.
Athens, 31 of October 1940. Nikos Zachariadis Secretary of the Central Comitee of KKE
B. The KKE had been banned in 1936 by the Metaxas regime. As such, much of the KKE leadership had been imprisoned by the onset of Italian aggression toward Greece. Zachariadis wrote this letter from jail, urging unity with the Metaxas government the effort to defeat the common enemy of the Greek people.
Ανοιχτό γράμμα του Γενικού Γραμματέα του ΚΚΕ Προς το λαό της Ελλάδας
Ο φασισμός του Μουσολίνι χτύπησε την Ελλάδα πισώπλατα, δολοφονικά και ξετσίπωτα με σκοπό να την υποδουλώσει και εξανδραποδίσει. Σήμερα όλοι οι Έλληνες παλεύουμε για τη λευτεριά, την τιμή, την εθνική μας ανεξαρτησία. Η πάλη θα είναι πολύ δύσκολη και πολύ σκληρή. Μα ένα έθνος που θέλει να ζήσει πρέπει να παλεύει, αψηφώντας τους κινδύνους και τις θυσίες. 0 λαός τής Ελλάδας διεξάγει σήμερα έναν πόλεμο εθνικοαπελευθερωτικό, ενάντια στο φασισμό του Μουσολίνι. Δίπλα στο κύριο μέτωπο και Ο ΚΑΘΕ ΒΡΑΧΟΣ, Η ΚΑΘΕ ΡΕΜΑΤΙΑ, ΤΟ ΚΑΘΕ ΧΩΡΙΟ, ΚΑΛΥΒΑ ΜΕ ΚΑΛΥΒΑ, Η ΚΑΘΕ ΠΟΛΗ, ΣΠΙΤΙ ΜΕ ΣΠΙΤΙ, ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΓΙΝΕΙ ΦΡΟΥΡΙΟ ΤΟΥ ΕΘΝΙΚΟΑΠΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΤΙΚΟΥ ΑΓΩΝΑ. Κάθε πράκτορας του φασισμού πρέπει να εξοντωθεί αλύπητα. Στον πόλεμο αυτό πού τον διευθύνει ή κυβέρνηση Μεταξά, όλοι μας πρέπει να δώσουμε όλες μας τις δυνάμεις, δίχως επιφύλαξη. Έπαθλο για τον εργαζόμενο λαό και επιστέγασμα για το σημερινό του αγώνα, πρέπει να είναι και θα είναι, μια καινούργια 'Ελλάδα τής δουλειάς, τής λευτεριάς, λυτρωμένη από κάθε ξενική ιμπεριαλιστική εξάρτηση, μ'εναν πραγματικά παλλαϊκό πολιτισμό. Όλοι στον αγώνα, ο καθένας στη θέση του και ή νίκη θα 'ναι νίκη τής Ελλάδας και τού λαού της. Οι εργαζόμενοι όλου του κόσμου στέκουν στο πλευρό μας.
About a month ago, I visited a local antiquarian bookseller and, among other things, I picked up a book called The Socialism of To-day. The book was published by Henry Holt and Company in 1916 by members of a committee of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and purports to be “the first international and comprehensive source-book dealing with the Socialist movement in any language.”
An appealing feature of this volume is the fact that it was published just a year before the Russian Revolution and my natural inclination was to flip immediately to the section entitled “Russia and Finland” (Part I, Section II, Chapter VI) and review the authors’ assessment of Lenin and company on the eve of the birth of the USSR. It is actually Kerensky and not Lenin who dominates the 7½ pages devoted to Russia, the latter of whom is referred to only in passing on page 98 through the collective reference of six deputies of the Duma known as the “Lenin followers.”
The movement in America garners extensive coverage in this book. Entire sections are devoted to the efforts of American socialist organizations in addressing vital topics of the day such as the then-burgeoning tensions involving immigrant workers and racial and ethnic minorities. The narratives therein clearly show the care and attention that America’s radical left was willing to devote to these matters many decades before the American government offered anything other than relative indifference and complete disregard. Eugene Debs and Daniel De Leon are mentioned in these sections, highlighting their integral roles in the organization of American workers and activists.
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Otto Bauer feature prominently in an extensive section of the book entitled “The Proposed General Strike for the Equal Suffrage in Prussia” (Part II, Chapter II). Included here are addresses and resulutions by Luxemburg, et al. and and editorial summary from Vorwaerts (Vorwärts).
I was pleasantly surprised to find material dedicated to the movement in Greece as part of the chapter entitled “Roumania, Bulgaria and Greece” (Part I, Section I, Chapter IX). The piece chronicles the struggles of the early socialist movement in Greece, highlighting the work of Dr. Dracoules. Eleftherios Venizelos merits only a passing mention in the piece, although the two decades following the publication of this volume would see the political career of Venizelos in a succession of high highs and low lows...often to the collective detriment of the the Greek people.
Reproduced below are pages 188 through 190 of The Socialism of To-day in their entirety. This text has been reproduced in accordance with Fair Use provisions.
GREECE
Greece has experienced a rapid industrial development during the last 15 years. As far back as the year 1885, Dr. Dracoules began with his propaganda work. In 1893, as leader of the Greek Socialist Party, he secured 4,000 votes in Athens, and in 1901 he was elected to the Greek Parliament, where he served several years.
Προλετάριοι όλων των χωρών ενωθείτε!
Attempts have often been made during the past few years to establish a consolidated economic or political organization, but up to the present without any satisfactory results. This regrettable state of affairs may be attributed to the fact that emigration is increasing day by day, and it is just the most skilled and intelligent workers who are driven from their homes on account of their unfortunate political and economic conditions. At any rate, the constant agitation of a more progressive body has already had a great influence upon public opinion, and it is to-day generally recognized that the present conditions are untenable.
It was in 1909 that the military arose and swept away the existing government. The movement was supported by a great mass of the people, because an improvement in their conditions was hoped for as soon as new members were elected to the government. The new government relied to a certain extent upon the Socialist or semi-Socialist elements which had arisen from the Dracoules propaganda, and had developed a program "of struggle against the plutocracy." Venizelos, the skillful prime minister, succeeded in turning a part of the movement to his purposes, at the same time that he was building up the Balkan League against Turkey inspired by the idea–launched by the Socialists–of a confederation of all the nations of the peninsula.
The government also succeeded in serving their own financial interests under the cloak of a propaganda campaign against modern capitalism. The people were forced to put up with this because they were helpless and disunited. The new political power offered brutal opposition to any attempt on the part of the workers to organize. Dr. Dracoules, in 1912, secured 12,000 of the 48,000 votes of Athens, and was almost elected in another district where he was also candidate. Nevertheless, the propaganda and the rising number of votes for the new movement resulted in a small progressive group in Parliament pushing forward with the labor laws.
In the meantime a Socialist weekly paper was established for the purpose of furthering the propaganda and organization work systematically. This was the first necessity–having regard to the great disruption in the existing groups. There is a very mixed "Labor Federation of Athens and Piraeus," to which 17 industries belong, whilst 1 yellow organization has compromised 14 groups since 1910. Some 15 organizations, which are naturally still weak, both numerically and financially, belong to a third tendency. They represent no unity, it is true, but there are hopes of building up modern organizations with these as a basis. The followers of Dracoules created a labor league in 1909, which comprised two separate organizations–one Socialist Party and one trades-union center. This league has organizations in several towns. It propagates an understanding between the workers of the other Balkan States, hoping to put an end to the race hatred which exists.
The Youth of the
Democratic Army at Inspection Photo detail from
The Youth of
Greece: The Heroic Struggle of
EPON, also available from the Greek Civil War Subject Archive at marxists.org
Written prior to the critical events of 1949, this work by Olive Sutton casts a critical light on British and American intervention in Greece following the formulation and execution of the Truman Doctrine. Sutton's piece places special emphasis on the horrors of the "White Terror" in Greece, a period rife with the execution of political prisoners and the starvation and murder of many Greek civilians. Murder Inc. is indeed a candid chronicle of the marriage of imperialist intervention and capitalist exploitation in post-WWII Greece. [Thanks to Mike B.]
Excerpt from the Introduction toMurder Inc. in Greece:
MOST of the seats in the auditorium were filled by bright-faced youngsters—boys just old enough to borrow their father's ties, and girls the age of trying out lipstick and piled-up hair.
They listened wisely when the speaker mentioned Hitler and Mussolini. But when he recalled "Guernica, Barcelona, Granada, the battle of the Ebro, the fight for the Spanish Republic," they widened their eyes and looked at each other, puzzled.
They didn't know the story of the Spanish Republic the first European battleground against fascist aggression, where World War II could have been prevented. They didn't know Hitler's first blow was struck in Spain ten years ago, and they grew a little restless as the meeting wore on.
It wouldn't have mattered at all if, leaving the meeting, you could think: They don't have to go through that again. But you couldn't.
You could only think: These kids may have to learn the meaning of other names, other battles…Salonika, Larissa, Sparta, Corinth, Athens…They must learn these names now, before they become the names of lost battles.
We've already fought one war so that one generation could grow up in peace. But in Greece, children die of disease and starvation and stray bullets. Bullets made in America. Those bullets endanger American children, too.
My good friend Zdravko Saveski recently translated the Wikipedia biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos into Macedonian for the Marxists Internet Archive. When I expressed an interest in posting portions of Zdravko’s new translation on our website – alongside Greek and English translations of the biography of Pouliopoulos – Zdravko kindly agreed to write an introductory text for greeklish.org. Solidarity between the Greek Left and the Macedonian Left is alive and well!
Pandelis Pouliopoulos
Introductionby Zdravko Saveski Nationalists in every nation build idealistic and inflated versions of the history of their people and country. In doing so, they perceive the neighbour peoples and countries as enemies that have, throughout the history, conspired against the nationalists' people and country. The purpose of the leftists, who are internationalists by definition, is to overcome the ethnic prejudices, to present the real instead of romanticized view on history and to build bridges among peoples.
Macedonian nationalism and Greek nationalism were both recently resurrected by the redundant "name dispute". Paradoxically, the Greek nationalists help Macedonian nationalists to increase its support in the Republic of Macedonia, and vice versa. To counteract the influence of Macedonian nationalists, I have started to popularize the stances of the Greek leftists who have friendly attitudes towards Republic of Macedonia and Macedonians so the Macedonian public can see that "all Greeks aren't bad." Among others, I have written the biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos for the Macedonian section of the Marxists Internet Archive and for the Macedonian Wikipedia, and I want to thank Mike for supporting my efforts. The Greek Left is much stronger than Macedonian Left and I am looking forward to future cooperation with our Greek comrades. Excerpt from the biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos from the new Macedonian translation by Zdravko Saveski: Пантелис Пулјопулос (10 март 1900 година – 6 јуни 1943 година) е грчки троцкист, некогашен генерален секретар на Комунистичката партија на Грција и основач на троцкистичкото движење во Грција. Ги бранеше правата на етничките малцинства, вклучително и на македонското, во Грција и тоа беше една од причините за судирот со КПГ.
Во 1919 година Пулјопулос се запишува на Универзитетот во Атина, каде студира право. Истата година се приклучува кон Социјалистичката работничка партија на Грција (претходник на Комунистичката партија на Грција). Во 1920 година, за време на Грчко-турската војна 1919-1922, е регрутиран во грчката војска. Во 1922 година е уапсен за антивоено делување, но со крајот на војната е ослободен. Во периодот 1923-1925 година е активен во движењето на воените ветерани, а во 1924 година е избран и за претседател на Панхеленската федерација на ветераните. (full text) Excerpt from the biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos in Greek, provided by Nikos Loudos: Ο Παντελής Πουλιόπουλος (10 Μαρτίου 1900 6 Ιουνίου 1943) ήταν έλληνας κομμουνιστής και ο πρώτος γενικός γραμματέας του Κομμουνιστικού Κόμματος Ελλάδας (ΚΚΕ). Υπεράσπισε το διεθνιστικό και επαναστατικό χαρακτήρα του κομμουνιστικού κινήματος. Είναι ο ιδρυτής του τροτσκιστικού κινήματος στην Ελλάδα.
Γεννήθηκε στη Θήβα το 1900 και το 1919 πήγε στην Αθήνα για να σπουδάσει νομικά στο Πανεπιστήμιο. Την ίδια χρονιά, εντάχθηκε στο Σοσιαλιστικό Εργατικό Κόμμα Ελλάδος (ΣΕΚΕ), τον πολιτικό πρόγονο του ΚΚΕ. Το 1920 επιστρατεύθηκε για να πολεμήσει στον ελληνοτουρκικό πόλεμο του 1919-1922. Το 1922 συνελήφθη για αντιπολεμική δράση, αλλά απελευθερώθηκε με το τέλος του πολέμου.
Από το 1923 ως το 1925 έπαιξε ηγετικό ρόλο στο κίνημα των βετεράνων του πολέμου και το 1924 εκλέχτηκε πρόεδρος της Πανελλήνια Ομοσπονδία Παλαιών Πολεμιστών και Θυμάτων Στρατών..., η οποία κυκλοφορεί την εφημερίδα "Παλαιός Πολεμιστής" με κυκλοφορία που φτάνει τα 20 χιλιάδες φύλλα. Excerpt from the English language Wikipedia biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos: Pandelis Pouliopoulos (10 March 1900-6 June 1943) was a Greek communist and onetime general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). He stood for the internationalist and revolutionary character of the communist movement. He is the founder of the trotskyist movement in Greece.
Born in Thiva, Greece, Pouliopoulos enrolled at Athens University in 1919 to study law. In 1919, he joined the Socialist Labour Party of Greece (SEKE), the forerunner of the Communist Party of Greece.
In 1920, he was conscripted to fight in the Greek-Turkish war of 1919-1922. He was arrested in 1922 for anti-war activity, but was freed with the end of the war.
If
it's the first weekend after Labor Day and the heat index is in the
mid-nineties, then it must be time for the annual Greek Festival.
Despite the heat, we had a good time visiting with friends, eating and
watching the dancers. I am kind of surprised at how much Greek
memorabilia bears the label "Made in China" these days. Did Greece
grant China "Most Favored Nation" trade status or do the Chinese just love Greece?
It
was nice to see that in lieu of tip jars, festival workers were
collecting donations for relief funds to benefit victims of the
wildfires in Greece. Assuming that the cash ultimately gets where it
is needed, this seems like a great idea. As we have some good friends
from Pelopónnisos, we have heard some firsthand tales of how horrible the situation has been in recent weeks. My understanding is that the Red Cross of Greece
is still one of the best places to donate money for relief right now.
The bureaucracy of the Red Cross is often criticized, but the
organization remains one of the best centralized points for the
collection and disbursement of aid for major disasters worldwide. At
any rate, I have already received at least one chain letter for an
allegedly "genuine" ad hoc relief effort that is almost assuredly fake
and I am sure there are more to come. I would rather give to the Red
Cross and know that at least some of the money is getting through as
opposed to having a fly-by-night scam keep my cash for themselves.
On
a completely unrelated note, I have to mention the most interesting
t-shirt that I saw at the festival today. To be clear, the shirt in
question was worn by a female festival attendee and not a festival
worker or anyone affiliated with the church (as far as I could tell). The message on the shirt
read, "Hustle for Jesus." Nice.
Anyway, we have uploaded some photos of the Evzonakia Dancers in a new, off-site photo gallery. (username & password required)
My good friend Zdravko Saveski recently penned an article for the July/August 2007 issue of the Canadian journal Relay (download the complete PDF here). The article, entitled "Socialist Organizing in Post-Communist Macedonia,"provides analysis of the main problems facing the Macedonian left through discussion of specific and unique domestic and regional issues.
Included in the article is a short piece on the so-called "naming dispute," in which Zdravko accurately describes the dispute as a "preoccupation with ethnic issues, so easily aroused by the nationalist political parties and other organizations." This is, in fact. a profound statement, succinctly characterizing the nature of this significant distraction for the working classes of Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria.
Additionally, Zdravko discusses the problem of "nostalgia for the communist past" in the former Yugoslavia, noting:
The social standards were high in the former Yugoslavia, the repression – low, and the communist leader, Josip Broz Tito, very popular. Comparing the present with the former system, the common people are ignoring the issue of democracy-dictatorship and tend to concentrate on the social issues.
Zdravko's intriguing perspective and his level of insight are characteristics which are difficult enough to come by in many publications by the international left, to say nothing of the shortcomings of the mainstream (bourgeois) press. The issues facing the left in the Republic of Macedonia are a series of complexities which include dynamics and conditions that are unique to the region itself. These problems are an addition to the myriad of more general problems faced by progressives and the radical left throughout the world. Should the Macedonian working class rise to these challenges and ultimately present a strong, unified, and sustainable movement, perhaps the working people of the world will share in the optimism of Koco Racin and proclaim, "As you have prevailed, we'll prevail as well!"
Kalliope finished her first year of Greek School tonight and we are absolutely amazed with the results of her final exam! She got 113 out of 116 possible points plus 8 extra credit points! That's 121/116! It's an A++!
If you're old enough to remember the late 1980's/early 1990's (and you were in the U.S. at the time), then you probably remember the public access television explosion. Local public access channels were jammed with amateur producers and "talent" of all sorts, covering subject matter from the obscure to the mundane. The public access sensation was more or less the basis for the film "Wayne's World" and because of the success of the film, public access cable gained a shred of credibility for a very short period of time. Hell, I even joined a friend in taking the "Community Producer" course at the local cable access channel back in 1992 or so in hopes of launching a comedy show of sorts. Thankfully, the show never made it out of the "concept" phase which was probably a good thing because most of our "concepts" were pretty bad. But somewhere there is an awful, awful public access show from 1992 that features my name in the credits as a camera operator. It was my final project for the "Community Producer" course. Don't bother looking for it.
Miss Mia and
Ratso from
Chic-a-go-go
There's still a bit of bad programming on the local public access channels where we live. I suppose this is also true in bigger cities as well, but I am sure that it is not at the level that it was 15 years ago. As far as our current selection of public access shows in Dayton goes, you can choose from a terrible show on wine-tasting or incredibly bad, boring shows on local politics. Occasionally, there is a 1970's "documentary" on the Illuminati or some other kind of conspiracy theory. These shows are always fun in a creepy sort of way. The local access channels also feature dreadfully boring shows about local city attractions and history, most of which feature embarrassingly bad "talent" and poor audio and video. I could provide the names of the shows I am thinking of, but I don't really want to give them any press. Most of these studio shows are pretty formulaic, featuring the same desk, chairs, curtain and scenery ("scenery" typically refers to 1 plastic plant). And really...it's like death to try and watch more than 5 minutes of them. The call-in shows are really the most entertaining of the bad shows, because there's a least a little suspense in waiting for a crank caller to curse on air or say something really disgusting. It becomes annoying when the on-air "talent" try to stay ahead of the callers and hit them with one-liners before hanging up on them. The absolute power of controlling a telephone (with real, live callers) becomes just too much for these guys to handle.
There are some good things to have come from public access television in the U.S. I suppose my favorites are probably pretty obscure. I have previously mentioned my affection for the show Chic-a-go-go, which I think has something of a cult following in the Midwest. There's also Pirate TV which I think is produced out of Dayton' s MVCC. This is really one of my favorite shows on television. Each episode is about an hour's worth of oddities which include music videos, cult film movie trailers, commercials and clips from long-forgotten shows of the 1980's, toy commercials, clips from Japanese game shows and all kinds of other weird stuff. I am completely serious when I say that I think that Pirate TV is one of the only shows on television worth watching. I wish they had a web site or that there was some kind of info somewhere on the web to share, but all I can offer are my rave reviews.
In the U.S., I think interest in public access television is definitely waning due to the rise of blogging and YouTube. But my friend Panos has shared that Greece is fortunate to boast a bumper crop of vintage public access-like craziness. Consider the work of Anestis Keramidas, who believes that the DNA of Greeks is different from the DNA of other humans. He also believes that in 2012 the Greeks and their ancient culture will dominate the world, giving peace to all the living creatures with the help of something called the Epsilon Team. Awesome. Then there's the work of religious oddballs like Anastasis Theodoridis and far-right wingers like the Georgiades Brothers. Demosthenis Liakopoulos seems to be a bit nutty as well. But it seems that Nikos Konstantinidis takes the cake. Apparently he was bitten by a stray dog in 2006 and he used his television show to declare that the attack was orchestrated by the Antichrist. Now who wouldn't be fascinated by this guy? And he's got the backing of the Church — or at least a representative of the Church — in the esteemed Father Modestos. Christos kai Panagia!
It's good to know that Greece has picked up where the U.S. left off when it comes to televised insanity!
Thanks to Panos for sharing his Wikipedia articles. Recommended viewing from YouTube Dimosthenis Liakopoulos video 1video 2 Anestis Keramidas video
The following article was written for publication by WPI in the early January 2009 edition (issue number 98) of their official Farsi-language magazine, Kargare Kommunist. 
