Tens of thousands of Greeks have gathered peacefully for 2 weeks in central Athens and other cities to demand change, after a year of painful austerity measures। Organized through social-networking sites (Facebook & Twitter) and copying similar mass protests in Spain, the evening rallies have attracted mostly young people, including many who are jobless in a country where the unemployment rate is nearly 16 %. Many also point to the decades of corruption and misrule that brought the country to its knees, and are calling for a radical change. In a proclamation uploaded onto the Internet, the “Indignant” movement - which takes its name from the original Spanish campaign “Los Indignados” - said that it would keep going until the politicians and technocrats it blames for the current situation “go away.”
The protests come as the Greek government is planning to impose a new austerity package in efforts to secure the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout installment। Greece received a 110 billion Euro EU - IMF bailout loan last year, as it faced a massive debt crisis. Greece was obliged to implement a strict austerity package, including the cutting of public sector salary and pensions, increasing taxes and overhauling the pension system, to survive.
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© 2011 Jordan Kevrekidis
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