On 6 December 2008 the Greek government armed the mind and hand of the policeman who murdered the 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, sending the message that the State will do anything to prevent the youth from questioning its policies. Alexandros' friend, Nikos Romanos, watched him dying right in front of him. In February 2013, at the age of 20, Nikos Romanos was arrested together with five other young ...

In modern Greece we often deal with little or large semiological civil wars or with a semiological poly-phrenia since different institutions employ the same language for very different processes. For example ancient Greek words referring to hospitality may either refer to e.g. touristic industry’s slogans (i.e. philoxenia, xenia hotels etc.) or to refer to the most brutal and xenophobic police operation tha ...

Worried by the current crisis affecting the Eurozone and many other parts of the world, we also sometimes feel disempowered by our lack of deeper understanding of the mechanisms that have triggered such devastating developments. Some time back, Allegra started to explore the financial world (here),  the current transformations of Universities (here and here) as well as the power and failures of bureaucracie ...

This post is about Ahmet Yüksel, Erdğan Çakır, Hasan Biber and Mehmet Yayla, who have been in hunger strike since 24/9. Ahmet Yüksel and Erdğan Çakır are facing the danger of extradition in Germany and France respectively and Hasan Biber and Mehmet Yayla in Turkey. All of them have asked for a political asylum. For Ahmet Yüksel and Erdğan Çakır arrest warrants are issued for pending decisions regarding thei ...

The real reasons behind the ERT shutdown, the 300 million the state lost, and who benefits from it. By Apostolis Fotiadis The eviction of the remaining staff from former public television’s (ERT) building last night in Athens was a bitter showdown of an unequal brinkmanship. The picture of handcuffs used as a padlock at building’s gate has already become one of historical value. It is a picture from the fut ...

The vandalism of the Greek authorities continues with the eviction of the Empros Theatre yesterday.  The infrastructure of solidarity is being systematically removed, from the squats and the … and now to the social health centres and cultural establishment   People in Greece are urgently trying to fill in the gaps in the best way that they can, to keep themselves occupied and share skills to survive in the ...

By Peter Stanford As Roma families are accused of abducting children in Greece and Ireland, we should beware of persecuting an ancient people A Roma girl at a migrants’ encampment near Paris. The Third Reich regarded Roma as racially impure; an estimated one million died in concentration camps Photo: Reuters It is a measure of the sensitivity of a topic that any nomenclature you use risks causing offence. S ...

Theresa Kerketa, 45 years old, poses for a picture at her residence on the outskirts of New Delhi November 2, 2012. Kerketa was working as a maid was rescued by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement), a charity which rescues victims of bonded labour. REUTERS/Mansi Thapliyal LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Some 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, trafficked into brothels, forced int ...

The conservative government of Antonis Samaras claims to be cracking down on “extremism”. But what skeletons does the Prime Minister hide in his closet?   Video by Ross Domoney, Klara Jaya Brekke and Dimitris Dalakoglou for the City at a Time of Crisis research project. Illustration by Latuff. The Greek Prime Minister, Mr Samaras, is currently visiting the USA. He arrived here in the immediate aftermat ...

27 anti-goldmine activists in the area of Chalkidiki are charged with the same accusation as the Golden Dawn: formation of a criminal organisation. Of course no weapons or ammunition have been found in their possession, nor have they been laundering money and blackmailing for cash as the Nazi gang. Without any specific action being linked with specific persons in the prosecutor’s call, the activists are acc ...