Radical Greek Society

[Pogue]

Greek society seems so radical, with an engaged and ware society...there are high school student unions, protests composed entirely of young people...you'd never see that over here in the UK. It seems amazing to me.

[BlackCapital]

Same is true if not more so in the United States. I haven't seen a single mention of the situation in Greece in the corporate media here.

Since the riots started, I've been thinking about what it would be like in the US. Would this be a sobering slap in the face to a government who seems to fear its population very little, or would this just give them more excuse to extend domestic spying and police state tactics?

[redarmyfaction38]

Greek society seems so radical, with an engaged and ware society...there are high school student unions, protests composed entirely of young people...you'd never see that over here in the UK. It seems amazing to me.
"when i were a lad" :D, back in late 1960s right through to early 1980s, the populace in general seemed more "politically aware" even if if they didn't agree with you.
i think 30 years of monetarism/neo liberalism has succeeded in dumbing down the population to the extent that the majority have no real idea of political issues or their own part in deciding the future.
they've been fed a diet of political incompetence, self interest and corruption to the point that they feel that is the norm for politics and want no part in it.
add into that the ongoing criminalisation of the youth, the blandness of political presentation in the media, the non entities that rule the political parties etc.
PLUS, in europe, in general, especially, france, italy and greece politics is a family affair, it is discussed at the breakfast table, political education begins in the home, a tradition that has long since died in the uk.
imo.

[Cheung Mo]

Many Americans are too busy complaining about having to work so much and talking about their love for j33bus to have salient discussions about politics. :-(

[Comrade B]

high school student unions
US schools wittily destroyed this risk with the "Assistant Student Body," pretty much the school expects everyone to be passive because they 'elect' a person to be present at the school meetings. They are ignored. They only control assemblies and school dances.


protests composed entirely of young people
Last protest in my school was a bunch of rednecks protesting the school's recognition of Cinco De Mayo. This was at the same time as the immigrant rights rallies on the west coast. My town is made up of, I think I heard the statistic was 35% Hispanics (mostly Mexican). These bimbo rednecks thought that they were not culturally important to our community. A few fights broke out (one involving my brother and the guy that organized the nationalist protest), but nothing big. It created a youth representation of ignorant nationalist ass holes.

[Dimentio]

Greek society seems so radical, with an engaged and ware society...there are high school student unions, protests composed entirely of young people...you'd never see that over here in the UK. It seems amazing to me.

Greeks are generally more polarised than the rest of Europe. But there is a strong extreme right-wing faction there as well. A nazi got over 20% of the votes in the latest presidential elections.

[Revy]

Greeks are generally more polarised than the rest of Europe. But there is a strong extreme right-wing faction there as well. A nazi got over 20% of the votes in the latest presidential elections.

What are you talking about? Greece doesn't have presidential elections.

[ZeroNowhere]

Eh, I'm in Singapore. If you think things are bad in the UK...
Of course, we do have compulsory schooling, the public schools are somehow ten times worse than, say, the US system, and there are no alternatives to red tape schooling. It's really quite impressive.

[Qajmer]

greece does have quite an inspiring history of revolt, if u look at the story of prometheus and others in the ancient greek mythology..

[Random Precision]

Many Americans are too busy complaining about having to work so much and talking about their love for j33bus to have salient discussions about politics. :-(

Where do you live?

[F9]

Greeks are generally more polarised than the rest of Europe. But there is a strong extreme right-wing faction there as well. A nazi got over 20% of the votes in the latest presidential elections.

Ehhmmm, who?:confused:

[Revy]

well something of this nature happened after the Kent State massacre in 1970. It was very similar to what's happening in Greece.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Many Americans are too busy complaining about having to work so much and talking about their love for j33bus to have salient discussions about politics. :-(

Complaining about having to work so much? Well, that complaint can only be resolved by POLITICAL action.