These past few days there have been unprecedented attacks against journalists by the Greek government as more and more evidence of corruption and power abuse are being publicized by investigative reporters.
Just as the latest measures of unbelievable austerity loom (read: utter impoverishment and break down of society), and are about to be voted, the current government is dropping most pretenses and slowly goes into dictatorship mode against non mainstream and some mainstream media alike:
1. 28-10-2012.
Kostas Vaxevanis is arrested for publishing a list with names of people who had accounts in Swiss bank HSBC, which can be traced for tax-evasion and involvement in corruption. Names of Greek politicians and mega-business men are included. Incredibly, its the reporter who gets arrested instead of starting to investigate the list. It was widely covered by media.
Some examples:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20126553 :
http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-journalist-kostas-vaxevanis-2012-10 The Controversial 'Lagarde List' Was Leaked In Greece, And You Won't Believe Who Got Arrested
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-vogl/corruption-takes-center-stage_b_2043796.html : Corruption Takes Center Stage in Greek-Euro Crisis
More details: Kostas Vaxevanis used to work for the Greek public TV and was fired a few years back for daring to go against a government minister at the time publicizes the Lagarde List as it is called here, or the Falcionne List as its most commonly called in most media. This is a list circulated by a whistleblower who used to work for Swiss bank HSBC.
http://www.businessinsider.com/herve-falciani-hsbc-2010-7
Its a list that contains thousands of bank accounts, with names and account numbers, of
So this list was given by Lagarde to Papakonstantinou, minister of finances in Greece at the time (2 years ago or so), part of the team who plunged Greece into the TROIKA ordeal along with Papandreou.
For 2,5 years the list remains hidden and Greek politicians have been pulling ridiculous stunts to hide it and claim it cannot be used.
2. 29-10-2012.
Public TV reporters Arvanitis and Katsimis news show was instantly cancelled for daring to cover the story about the police torturing anti-fascist protesters, and calling out the minister of public order Dendias (incredibly ironically being named minister of citizens protection here).
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCABRE89T0VI20121030
The story of the beatings and torturing was also extensively covered by most Western media:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/09/greek-antifascist-protesters-torture-police
http://www.globalresearch.ca/greek-police-torture-anti-fascist-protesters/5307860
3. 27-10-2012
Workers of Greek public TV (different channel than the above with the cancelled news show) issue statement about being forced to spread false propaganda in issue of Greek goldmines being taken over by Canadian company TVX Gold, about the protests of the people in the area, and also accuse the government of using the police to terrorize them during an attempted strike:
http://alterthess.gr/content/ergazomenoi-stin-ert3-xeiragogoyn-ta-deltia-eidiseon (ARTICLE IN GREEK)
My translation on the fly:
Regarding propaganda:
Regarding police presence:
The goldmine issue is a huge one, I wanted to make a thread about it, where Greek politicians sold goldmines worth 15 Billion for 11 Million so they could get their cuts. Even the EU was forced to intervene (http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-08-1927_en.htm?locale=en) and actually fined the government for fraud. The Canadian company now wants to use the freely purchased mines through an experimental, cheap for them but utterly destructive method that will spread incredible environmental damage to a huge area of pristine forests and beaches that are tourist destinations.
4. 31-12-2012.
Just a few hours ago, reporter Spiros Karatzaferis is arrested after midnight as he was going to his home from the TV studio for having reported that he has facts about the Greek deficit that "forced" Greece to surrender to the IMF and the TROIKA, being constructed and a fraud. He said that he has all the evidence from Greek Statistics Bureau, and he would present it tomorrow.
He asked live for a member of the ministry of finances to call him to check the veracity of his sources, which didn't happen. So he said he would publish the data tomorrow.
The excuse for his sudden late night arrest is some old charges against him for libel or something like this, in a totally unrelated case. The issue is too sudden and there is not much information yet.
http://www.inews.gr/0/ektakto-synelifthi-prin-liga-lepta-o-dimosiografos-spyros-karatzaferis.htm (ARTICLE IN GREEK).
Meanwhile, the latest package of measures is coming to be voted, on top of the already society-wrenching measures in effect, the humanitarian crisis that the center of Athens is facing, the hundreds of thousands of closed small businesses and millions of unemployed (in a country of 10m. or so).
These measures truly seem to be the last coffin in the deal, asking for further salary cuts, firing of public employees, additional taxation to already medieval taxation that causes all small businesses to close, imposes selling off natural resources and public companies at ridiculous fractions of their value, and imposing yet another bailout payment that goes in a special account the TROIKA set up, that Greece cant touch, and from there goes off to pay German and French banks, while mounting up the Greek debt.
This would be an issue for an even larger post of its own, so I won't go into details here.
But perhaps the most frightening and telling show that the system is slowly sliding towards dictatorship here, is what happened 2 days ago, during the national day celebrating Greek resistance against the Nazis.
During that day there is a huge military parade in Thessaloniki, Greeces second largest city. It used to be a festive event, with families coming to watch, little children waving flags, etc.
Last year the event was used by enraged citizens throughout Greece (there are also smaller, student parades in all cities and towns), to verbally or even physically attack the political mafia of Greece that dared show up in the parades as customs dictate, calling them thieves and traitors.
This year, to avoid similar humiliation and possibly the spark many say are waiting for a full scale uprising, there were immense measures against Greek citizens:
The parade was essentially private, citizens being stopped by fences 500-1000 meters away from the politicians and generals. There were 2000 riot police, forming lines with their shields facing the people. There was a police helicopter constantly flying above for intimidation.
And most importantly, for the first time since the military junta, the army was actually used to guard citizen events. The government refused that it was so, but at this point not even the blindest komatoskila (political party loyalists) believe them:
To avoid misunderstanding, this is NOT standard practice, and there have NEVER, in the past 30 or so years of parades, been any soldiers standing armed around the parade grounds so that citizens wont invade.
Just as the latest measures of unbelievable austerity loom (read: utter impoverishment and break down of society), and are about to be voted, the current government is dropping most pretenses and slowly goes into dictatorship mode against non mainstream and some mainstream media alike:
1. 28-10-2012.
Kostas Vaxevanis is arrested for publishing a list with names of people who had accounts in Swiss bank HSBC, which can be traced for tax-evasion and involvement in corruption. Names of Greek politicians and mega-business men are included. Incredibly, its the reporter who gets arrested instead of starting to investigate the list. It was widely covered by media.
Some examples:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20126553 :
http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-journalist-kostas-vaxevanis-2012-10 The Controversial 'Lagarde List' Was Leaked In Greece, And You Won't Believe Who Got Arrested
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-vogl/corruption-takes-center-stage_b_2043796.html : Corruption Takes Center Stage in Greek-Euro Crisis
More details: Kostas Vaxevanis used to work for the Greek public TV and was fired a few years back for daring to go against a government minister at the time publicizes the Lagarde List as it is called here, or the Falcionne List as its most commonly called in most media. This is a list circulated by a whistleblower who used to work for Swiss bank HSBC.
http://www.businessinsider.com/herve-falciani-hsbc-2010-7
Its a list that contains thousands of bank accounts, with names and account numbers, of
So this list was given by Lagarde to Papakonstantinou, minister of finances in Greece at the time (2 years ago or so), part of the team who plunged Greece into the TROIKA ordeal along with Papandreou.
For 2,5 years the list remains hidden and Greek politicians have been pulling ridiculous stunts to hide it and claim it cannot be used.
2. 29-10-2012.
Public TV reporters Arvanitis and Katsimis news show was instantly cancelled for daring to cover the story about the police torturing anti-fascist protesters, and calling out the minister of public order Dendias (incredibly ironically being named minister of citizens protection here).
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCABRE89T0VI20121030
The story of the beatings and torturing was also extensively covered by most Western media:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/09/greek-antifascist-protesters-torture-police
http://www.globalresearch.ca/greek-police-torture-anti-fascist-protesters/5307860
3. 27-10-2012
Workers of Greek public TV (different channel than the above with the cancelled news show) issue statement about being forced to spread false propaganda in issue of Greek goldmines being taken over by Canadian company TVX Gold, about the protests of the people in the area, and also accuse the government of using the police to terrorize them during an attempted strike:
http://alterthess.gr/content/ergazomenoi-stin-ert3-xeiragogoyn-ta-deltia-eidiseon (ARTICLE IN GREEK)
My translation on the fly:
Regarding propaganda:
Regarding police presence:
The goldmine issue is a huge one, I wanted to make a thread about it, where Greek politicians sold goldmines worth 15 Billion for 11 Million so they could get their cuts. Even the EU was forced to intervene (http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-08-1927_en.htm?locale=en) and actually fined the government for fraud. The Canadian company now wants to use the freely purchased mines through an experimental, cheap for them but utterly destructive method that will spread incredible environmental damage to a huge area of pristine forests and beaches that are tourist destinations.
4. 31-12-2012.
Just a few hours ago, reporter Spiros Karatzaferis is arrested after midnight as he was going to his home from the TV studio for having reported that he has facts about the Greek deficit that "forced" Greece to surrender to the IMF and the TROIKA, being constructed and a fraud. He said that he has all the evidence from Greek Statistics Bureau, and he would present it tomorrow.
He asked live for a member of the ministry of finances to call him to check the veracity of his sources, which didn't happen. So he said he would publish the data tomorrow.
The excuse for his sudden late night arrest is some old charges against him for libel or something like this, in a totally unrelated case. The issue is too sudden and there is not much information yet.
http://www.inews.gr/0/ektakto-synelifthi-prin-liga-lepta-o-dimosiografos-spyros-karatzaferis.htm (ARTICLE IN GREEK).
Meanwhile, the latest package of measures is coming to be voted, on top of the already society-wrenching measures in effect, the humanitarian crisis that the center of Athens is facing, the hundreds of thousands of closed small businesses and millions of unemployed (in a country of 10m. or so).
These measures truly seem to be the last coffin in the deal, asking for further salary cuts, firing of public employees, additional taxation to already medieval taxation that causes all small businesses to close, imposes selling off natural resources and public companies at ridiculous fractions of their value, and imposing yet another bailout payment that goes in a special account the TROIKA set up, that Greece cant touch, and from there goes off to pay German and French banks, while mounting up the Greek debt.
This would be an issue for an even larger post of its own, so I won't go into details here.
But perhaps the most frightening and telling show that the system is slowly sliding towards dictatorship here, is what happened 2 days ago, during the national day celebrating Greek resistance against the Nazis.
During that day there is a huge military parade in Thessaloniki, Greeces second largest city. It used to be a festive event, with families coming to watch, little children waving flags, etc.
Last year the event was used by enraged citizens throughout Greece (there are also smaller, student parades in all cities and towns), to verbally or even physically attack the political mafia of Greece that dared show up in the parades as customs dictate, calling them thieves and traitors.
This year, to avoid similar humiliation and possibly the spark many say are waiting for a full scale uprising, there were immense measures against Greek citizens:
The parade was essentially private, citizens being stopped by fences 500-1000 meters away from the politicians and generals. There were 2000 riot police, forming lines with their shields facing the people. There was a police helicopter constantly flying above for intimidation.
And most importantly, for the first time since the military junta, the army was actually used to guard citizen events. The government refused that it was so, but at this point not even the blindest komatoskila (political party loyalists) believe them:
To avoid misunderstanding, this is NOT standard practice, and there have NEVER, in the past 30 or so years of parades, been any soldiers standing armed around the parade grounds so that citizens wont invade.
