Greek Youth Burn Christmas Tree, Riot & Do Bad Things

News from Greece paints a sensational picture of out of control Greek youth burning property, vandalizing stores, fighting police, burning a town's Christmas tree, and making mayhem in an otherwise peaceful society. To stop here at this conclusion is akin to recognizing the symptoms of a sickness without inquiring on the nature of the sickness. It is much easier to condemn the public actions and pontificate about how the Greek youth are lawless than it is to find out what could cause them to act this way.

From the UK's Guardian:

"Young people are right to take to the streets. They have absolutely no future. It's not just the global economic crisis. Even if they speak three foreign languages and get the best degrees they can't find work, and if they do it pays badly. The only thing that saves them is the strong family ties here."

"These protests are our answer to a government that always closes the doors in our face," said Yiannis Yiapitsakis, a student at Athens' fabled Polytechnic.

"If the root causes of our problems are not solved there will be more explosions. It's a smouldering fire, all it needs is another match."

The major catalyst for the recent unrest was the killing of a 16-year-old Athens boy by police during a confrontation between them and a number of teens including the victim, Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Saturday, December 6, 2008. As in most countries of the world, the police act above the law in implementing the law at the behest of those who control the state, whether rich benefactors, politicians, or other influential citizens. The larger problem then is not so much that youth and adult citizens are lawless, but that police brutality is a significant social cancer the world over from highly trained police in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami and other prosperous democratic locales to poorly compensated police and militas in countries with oppressive regimes. That of course, is not to say that all police are bad, because that would be a generalizing stereotype, however, my concern is with extrajudicial killings and unequal application of the law in order to intimidate and oppress a population instead of providing safety, security, and law enforcement for the same. Rogue police in Haiti, New Orleans, Brazil, Jamaica, etc. come to mind.

Another significant issue acted as a secondary spark to the current unrest is the anger at the lack of the government's ability to help it's citizens make better lives for themselves. Greek citizens particularly those of the opposition political parties blame Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis for supporting political and economic policies which have exacerbated the global financial crisis in Greece as well as planning to privatize hospitals and schools. So far protesters have stormed the National Bank of Greece, occupyied high schools and universities, pleaded for reversal of public spending cuts, demanded the resignation of the country's Interior Minister and the release from custody of arrested riot suspects, and occupied a private Athens radio station as well as other radio and TV venues to publicize their complaints.