Courtesy of The Guardian:
Greek talk shows are by nature combustible affairs. But rarely have they witnessed anything quite as shocking as the moment when a leading member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party launched a physical assault on two female politicians.
Ten days before the debt-stricken nation goes to the polls in an election that will not only decide Greece's fate but quite possibly the course of Europe too, the attack, captured on live TV, involved Ilias Kasidiaris, a high profile member of Golden Dawn, lashing out at two prominent leftwing MPs – all part of a seven-strong panel attending the popular Good Morning Greece TV show.
The nation that triggered Europe's debt drama is now a boiling cauldron. In the third year of its worst crisis since the second world war, it has reached the point where fury becomes violence.
Within hours of a state prosecutor issuing an arrest warrant for Kasidiaris, word of the unprecedented punch-up had travelled across the country. And in the tavernas and cafeneia of villages and towns, on radio and TV channels, the overarching question was: is this the beginning of something worse to come?
Damn, and we thought American politics was getting ugly!
If you are like me you probably wondered what it was they were talking about that pissed the neo-Nazi guy off so much. Well it turns out that he is set to go on trial Monday for the stabbing of a student, and apparently he does NOT like to have that brought up.
With Golden Dawn's ratings dropping to under 5%, none have been more vociferous in their denial of the party's links with fascist elements than Kasidiaris, a weightlifting enthusiast who served in the Greek military's special forces before joining the party.
The MP stands accused of participating in an armed robbery that saw a Greek postgraduate student being fatally stabbed in 2007. Mention of his alleged complicity appears to have set off Kasidiaris during the talk show appearance that has highlighted Greece's teetering position on the edge of dysfunction and despair.
Yeah, you know nothing screams "I'm innocent of stabbing that man" like bitch-slapping a woman on live TV.
Anyhow I posted this just to provide a little perspective. Because though things are bad here in America, and yes they are quite bad, there is still room for things to get much, much worse. Here in America our politicians don't assault women on television, they just slowly take away all of their rights until they are reduced to second class citizens.
I won't watch this video because I have no interest in seeing a woman "bitch slapped." Although I think such incidents should be widely publicized. I just don't have the stomach to watch such hatred and violence.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I love this little gem from the Guardian article: "The nation that triggered Europe's debt drama is now a boiling cauldron."
What in the hell? Greece didn't trigger anything, it was the reckless and likely criminal activities of global financial institutions that have brought the entire world economy to its knees!
What IS causing a lot of drama within Greece is the IMF's disastrous austerity conditions they are forcing on the country in return for bailout loans. People are actually committing suicide because of this.
And to add to my post, it WILL get that ugly in America if the rightwingers get their way and force austerity on us. This is the direct result of such austerity policies: a country turning on each other.
ReplyDeleteWhich is probably why certain grifters living off her low income fans are loudly advocating for austerity on Fox "News."
THIS. Seeing it already, as friends and colleagues are forgetting friendship, loyalty and integrity to become sniveling, driveling little employee-nazis (relax, small "n" nazi there) who will backstab anyone they think is competition. Remember all the be a mentor talk a few years ago gone. Nothing today has beocome more true tha, "the reason workplace politics are so vindictive and vicious is just because the stakes are so low."
DeleteWe're fighting each other over the crumbs, folks, instead of taking back our pie - or at least taking back deciding on who gets a serving.
The shoutings of "kill him" to the GOP Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates at public forums was indicative of how ugly things can start.
ReplyDeleteShouting "You Lie" from the the floor of the once esteemed United States House of Representatives at the President was another shameful embarrassment. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) was properly chastened by his colleagues immediately after, but after calls and donations of support flooded in to him, he inflated again with bravado at his impudence.
A Rand Paul supporter emboldened with righteous mob mentality stomping on the head of a 98 pound girl is another marker.
It took over half a month for a congressman's spokesman, himself once a GOP primary winner for US Senate in the State of New York, suggesting we 'hurl acid' at female Senators, to resign, while his boss said nary a word of condemnation for such vitriolic talk.
It lives in the Tea Party, it lives in State's Malitia's, it is right here, right now. Political Discourse here in America is headed for the isle of Greek, and we need to a bigger rudder.
Don't forget Alito clearly mouthing "not true" for the cameras during the President's SOTU (?) when the President was talking about the possible negative ramifications of Citizens United.
DeleteRegarding Citizens United, I suggest reading Paul Hawken's excellent book, Ecology of Commerce and watching the Canadian film, The corporation. Both show that our "Founding Fathers" were all about restricting corporations and keeping them under state control so that they would not interfere in government. So for the record, "Impeach Alito and Robertson" who know-nothing about the Constitution, are lying corporate shills, who deserve little respect and certainly do not deserve to sit on the bench of the highest court in the US and be called "Your Honor, or "Justice" - they have no honor, and wouldn't know justice if it jumped up and bit them in their black-robed butts.
DeleteImagine if it was acid instead of water?
ReplyDeleteThe US is much more civilized. It arranges for a plane crash, ala Paul Wellstone or Mike Connell, or a "suicide." Sometims a heart attack occurs, also, too, or a fire.
ReplyDeleteYeah, l like Dar Miller.
DeleteThe guy who was going to testify about computer fraud in the Ohio vote of 2008 also mysteriously died in a small plane accident. How convenient.
Damn right we're civilized!
DeleteAnd I.'ll punch you in the throat if you say otherwise!
- Sarah AIP Palin
Another perspective from a friend whose elderly relatives live just outside Athens. Families are hungry. There is little access to cash for those with money. For the unemployed, there are no longer any social safety nets; all have stopped. Outside all the markets and restaurants there are mothers with their children pleading for just a bit of food.
ReplyDeleteThese 'beggars' were the middle class just a short time ago. Everyone is trying to help everyone else as best they can. Those with the ability to still buy a bit of food are sharing with the hungry.
The elderly and the sick have no access to medicine or medical care. They are terribly frightened and are without options other than to look to their families for help; their families are not in any position to provide reassurance. The children are quiet, depressed and hungry.
This is a powder keg.
Could it happen here?
Could it happen here? You betcha!
DeleteStrip away worker's rights, minority rights, women's rights to healthcare and choice, etc. and you'll get a poor, hungry populace ready to explode.
It's sad there are so many people who really want to see the world burn, yet think they'll come out of the blaze unscathed (looking at you Palin, Hannity, Limbaugh, Walker, and Cheney.)
Yes it could happen here and it will happen here if the GOP gets their way. Think what this country will be like then. The 1% living behind their walls with armed guards and the rest of us doing the best we can to keep ourselves alive.
DeleteRead Octavia Bulter's Parable of the Sower - most frightening book ever. Not because of what happens, but because of how close we are to what she writes about.
DeleteThey may not assault women on live TV, but they certainly do assault them. Please remember the WI Supreme Court Justice who choked his female colleague during an argument.
ReplyDeleteExactly. It is happening here.
DeleteActually Greece is the perfect example of the effects of corrupt politicians and bankers. It is a well known fact that Greece cooked the books to get into the Euro. They lied at every turn, knowing they had debt issues that magically went unreported. Take this, plus the fact people there are entitled to collect pay from 2 jobs but only work 1 and retirement very early in life (50's i'm pretty sure) and a good part of the country refuses to pay takes. The end result, a country run by cheats and liars and a population too fucking lazy to work their way out of this mess. They were given bailout and are now actually contemplating not paying the loan back and/or leaving the Eurozone? Good riddance. Fucking Greeks
ReplyDeleteRoid Rage.
ReplyDeleteDamn, I would think this guy named Kasidiaris would fit right in with the Teaparty crowd like Our Sarah.
ReplyDeleteSlapping those damn liberal women on live TV, good for him!. He's a real common sense conservative, dontcha know? He'd fit right in with the teaparty!
In fact, I'd think that Joe Miller and Sarah would like to hire him to run security for them, or maybe run for Senate in Alaska
Ilias Kasidiaris is about as stupid as he is brave. He not only physically assaulted a woman, but he did so live on TV in front of hundreds of thousands and then hundreds of millions on the web. The evidence will undoubtedly be played in an upcoming criminal trial.
ReplyDeleteI'll look forward to his insightful, well reasoned defense.
and LONG incarceration.
DeleteGryphen,
ReplyDeleteO/T - The Associated Press is reporting Shawn Christy, the Palin stalker, back in Federal court in Anchorage today for sentencing today.
Any chance you'll be able to post on this?
Think Palin will even show up at the courthouse?
It's all Greek to me!
ReplyDeleteNot only "bitch-slapping" a woman, but actually punching her. It was the worst public violence against a woman I have ever seen. Thanks for providing the context of the melee, since the teevee coverage didn't explain what had sparked his ire.
ReplyDeleteIt's already happening here, when the US has a cold, Europe has pneumonia. Greece is just the tip of the iceberg. They have a 27 percent unemployment rate, their money is worth shit because they cooked the books to get into the Euro/IMF program.
ReplyDeleteWhat they're calling "austerity" is actually hyper austerity. They're used to getting perks we dont have here (work for 11 months, full pay for 13. etc
The PIGS always follow suit, so Portugal, Italy and Spain aren't far behind.
And don't think it won't effect our economy.