Monday 6 June 2011

Switch to Syntagma Square



The mysterious media blackout continues.
The big bosses in charge of our news seem keen on keeping us ignorant of the wave of protests sweeping through Europe.
Forget corruption of governments, the only corruption we must concern ourselves with is the corruption in Fifa.
We must strive for honesty in football above honesty in politics.
Confused?
Don’t worry.
If the Fifa story is too difficult to follow, then there’s always Cheryl Cole and her awful humiliation at being sacked from the X-factor.
Football and reality TV. Our daily bread. Not even bread, more of an unsalted cracker that’s decades old.
There are better stories than these and we want to hear them.
In Greece a staggering 500,000 people took to the streets yesterday in protest against their government.
I watched live streaming from Syntagma Square and it made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
It comes after 12 days of crowds gathering in the city centres and towns to show their anger at the proposition of new austerity measures.
Public sector pay, minimum wage and pensions have already been cut.
Unemployment has reached 16% and is still rising.
Now the prime minister is talking about taking more drastic measures.
The sentiment of the Greek people is clear and spreading.
‘We are not commodities in the hands of bankers and politicians,’ a banner reads.
At 9m each evening The People’s Assembly begins in the centre of the square.
The Greek news is reported to be focusing on the nationalist minority chanting racist slogans and choosing to ignore the largely peaceful and united movement.
The same happened in the UK with the march against the Cuts.
The news focused on a disruptive minority and undermined the largest UK march since the anti-Iraq war where a million came out in protest and a million voices were ignored.
If the established media won't let us know what's happening then it's up to us to spread the word.



No comments: