PROGRESSIVE POPULISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Populism as a term reappeared in everyday public discourse in Greece with the first protests against the memorandum with IMF, … Continue reading
THE PROBLEM IS THE GREEK GOVERNMENT, NOT ONLY GOLDEN DAWN
A torrent of world-wide publicity has followed the murder of leftist musician Pavlos Fyssas by Golden Dawn supporter Giorgos Roupakias, … Continue reading
TROIKA EMAIL CONTRADICTS GREEK GOVERNMENT CLAIMS THAT NEW LAW WAS “OWN INITIATIVE”
An email obtained by UNFOLLOW magazine appears to contradict the Greek Government’s claims that their proposed bill regarding the Code … Continue reading
NEW DEMOCRACY “TRUTH TEAM”: FORGERS WITH THE PRIME MINISTER’S APPROVAL
The New Democracy “Truth Team” made its appearance before the national elections of 2012. Its official mission is stated as … Continue reading
GOLD MINING IN CHALKIDIKI: GREEK GOVERNMENTS IN THE SERVICE OF MINING COMPANIES
The controversy over gold mining in Chalkidiki, a province of rare natural beauty in northern Greece, is dominated by the … Continue reading
GOLDEN DAWN, 1980-2012. THE NEONAZIS’ ROAD TO PARLIAMENT
425.000 Greek voters sided with a neonazi political party in the last election. Though Golden Dawn is implicated in a … Continue reading
PRIVATIZING WATER IN GREECE
Despite the fact that international exprerience shows that water privatization is harmful to the interests of citizens, the Greek government is pushing ahead with privatizing water supply and sewerage companies. In this report for UNFOLLOW magazine, Christos Avramidis and Antonis Galanopoulos present several sides of the issue, including a much debated attempt to claim the Thessaloniki water supply company for the people of the city.
“The idea that water is a human right comes from ‘extremist’ NGOs. Water is a food like any other, and must have a market value,” said the president of Nestlé in 2005. This is perhaps the only man who found it in him to label the UN, which registered water as a human right in 2010 by 122 votes in favor and 41 abstentions, “extremist” – though it has to be said that, interestingly, one of the countries that abstained was Greece.
Greece’s abstention, however, might be less surprising if one considers the ongoing attempt in recent decades to privatize water supply and sewerage companies. Currently, the sale process of 51% of EYATh (Thessaloniki Water Supply and Sewerage SA) is under way, while EYDAP (Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company) is also scheduled to be offered up. Abroad, Portugal’s national water supply company has also embarked on the course of privatization. David Hall, director of the Public Services International Research Unit, believes that the new push for water privatization “is manipulated by the austerity policies in public spending and the cutbacks on public services imposed more strictly in the countries subject to IMF and EU bailouts.”
A profitable business in spite of the crisis
EYATh was founded in 1998, following the merger of the Thessaloniki Water Supply Organization and Thessaloniki Sewerage Organization. In 2001 the company entered the stock market and was divided into the sector of EYATh of assets that manages infrastructures, and EYATh SA. Furthermore, a 25% is ceded from the State to individuals. The company serves the greater Thessaloniki region, that is over a million and a half of people. It is worth noting that EYATh supplies the cheapest water in Europe.
Greek public water supply companies are significantly profitable in spite of the crisis.
Taking advantage of a natural monopoly such as water, the company ensures large profits. In particular, during the period 2007-2011 it achieved a profit of 75,2 million euros, and in 2012 a profit 17,8 million euros. The company also has a reserve of 35 million euros. Indeed, according to the president of the workers’ union Mr. Archontopoulos, “municipalities and other big debtors owe over 50 million euros, which shows that the investor will make payments in a very short time.” Certainly, the company’s profits are associated with the wage cuts and personnel downsizing that has occurred in recent years, as no employees have been hired since 2003, when the last call for hiring was published. Thus, while in 1998 EYATh numbered 650 employees for a smaller population and area, it currently numbers 250, with only 11 plumbers for the whole city.
In any case, Greek public water supply companies are significantly profitable in spite of the crisis. Moreover, the State and municipalities owe to water supply companies a total sum of 356 million euros, a fact which sheds a different light on the paradox of privatization: the state will lose revenue from attributed dividends, while it will have to pay its debts to the new owners of the companies with the money earned from the sale. “The winners will be the new private owners and the citizens will be the losers,” MEP Kriton Arsenis told us.
NO JUSTICE FOR HUNGER STRIKER KOSTAS SAKKAS
Kostas Sakkas’s health is deteriorating rapidly. As of today, he is 32 days into a hunger strike, protesting his unlawful pre-trial detention by the Greek authorities, which now extends to 31 months. On June 17th, Sakkas was moved from prison to a general hospital, where doctors monitor his condition closely. Meanwhile, New Democracy, the leading party in Greece’s government coalition, responded to mounting criticism by attacking the main opposition party, SYRIZA, and saying that the opposition should “stop defending everyone accused of anarchy and terrorism”.
According to a medical report by Olga Kosmopoulou, MD at Nikaia General State Hospital, Kostas Sakkas’s life is in imminent danger. She points out that the hunger striker has already lost a lot of body mass, and his heart or other vital organs could fail at any moment.
Nevertheless, Public Prosecutor Ioannis Moraitakis proposed today that the detainee’s petition for release be rejected. The Judicial Council is scheduled to discuss the matter within the next few days.
Sakkas went on hunger strike on June 4th, the day on which the extension of his pre-trial detention was supposed to have ended.
Greek law allows for a person accused of a crime to be detained before trial for a period of up to 18 months. In exceptional cases, and provided certain legal conditions are met, this period may be extended to 30 months. In 1996, a law was passed (2408/1996), which provides that a single case against any person may not be broken up into several partial sets of charges, resulting in successive pre-trial detention terms, which would exceed the legal 18 month limit. This law was a result of several convictions Greece suffered in the European Court of Human Rights.
Videos
“Ruins: Chronicle of an HIV Witch-Hunt” is a documentary about the criminalization of HIV. Directed by Zoe Mavroudi, it tells the story of a group of HIV-positive women who were detained by the Greek Police, forcibly tested, charged with a felony, imprisoned and publicly exposed, when their mug shots and personal data were published in the media, in the run-up to the country’s 2012 national elections.
“Ruins” premieres in the Benaki Museum – Peiraios Street Annex, Athens, on Sunday September 15th, 7pm, and the Aula Maxima, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, on Tuesday September 17th, 7pm. Both screenings will be followed by a discussion with the film director. Screenings are open to the public and entrance is free. After a round of public screenings in Greece and abroad, “Ruins” will become available online.
Visit the “Ruins” website for more information and related material.
Greek police launched an unprovoked attack on a peaceful solidarity demo, protesting hunger striker Kostas Sakkas’s continued, unlawful pre-trial incarceration. The attack took place in Thisseio, an area just below the Acropolis, among tourists, on Wednesday July 10th, 2013.
Images
© Stefania Mizara, Cairo, March 2013
Women Struggle on Tahrir Square. Look at the whole series of images by Stefania Mizara at Haytham Pictures.
© Stefania Mizara, Athens, February 2013
Asides
We are very happy that two members of the UNFOLLOW magazine team, and also contributors here at Borderline Reports, Mariniki Alevizopoulou and Augustine Zenakos, will be participating in the International Conference “Freedom of Information under Pressure” at the University of Vienna.
The conference takes place February 28th and March 1st and will gather more than 30 international speakers (academics, media practitioners, librarians, experts of open culture and public space, activists and policy makers) from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom, and will call for an open discussion on the challenges of freedom of information in the light of the recent surveillance revelations and the increase in censorship and prosecutions of media, journalists and whistle-blowers in Europe and beyond. For those not able to attend, the event will be streamed live through The Press Project, with a choice of three languages – English, which is the official language of the conference, or simultaneous translation in German or Greek.
Please visit the conference website for more information, the programme and the complete list of speakers.
Also, there will be a pre-conference event, a screening of “Ruins – Chronicle of an HIV witch-hunt”, on Thursday, February 27th, at 19:00. The documentary describes the shocking case of HIV criminalization in Greece and the prosecution and public humiliation of HIV positive women – a case study of severe violations of privacy and human rights. After the screening, a discussion will follow with Professor George Katrougalos (Democritus University of Thrace, Greece), Mariniki Alevizopoulou and Augustine Zenakos (UNFOLLOW magazine), and the Researcher Kathrin Niedermoser (University of Vienna).
What Is the Price of Freedom? A debate. Thursday, October 3rd 2013, 7.00pm, Free Thinking Zone, Athens.
A debate on “tolerance” at an interesting juncture: The leadership of Golden Dawn, Greece’s neonazi party that holds 18 seats in Parliament, has been arrested and charged with forming and participating in a criminal organization. This debate, set up before these recent developments, aims to address the issue of “tolerance”, framed within a liberal-democratic discourse. It will be challenging to see where recent events take us.
The speakers are: Nicos C. Alivizatos, professor of law; author, What Kind of Democracy After the Crisis? | Geoff Kidder, director, membership and events, Institute of Ideas; convenor, IoI Book Club; IoI’s resident expert in all sporting matters | Dr Theodoros Skylakakis, MEP; member, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe; president, Drasi | Nikos Sotirakopoulos, PhD student; assistant lecturer in environmental sociology, University of Kent, Canterbury | Dr George Sotiropoulos, lecturer, Department of Political Science, Democritean University of Thrace | Augustine Zenakos, head of editorial team, UNFOLLOW magazine. The debate will be chaired by Claire Fox, director, Institute of Ideas; panelist, BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze.
The debate will be in English, streamed live on the Free Thinking Zone channel. Twitter hashtag is #battleofideas.
Quotes
During his recent visit in the USA, Greek Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection Mr. Nikolaos Dendias made a speech at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of City University of New York. According to the Athens News Agency, the minister said later on: “I had the chance to elaborate on a subject connected to human rights and law enforcement and to analyze the huge challenges the Greek society is facing today”. It is true that Minister Dendias talked about the rule of law, the principle of proportionality, Aristotle, Plato and other stuff, before he justified his policy. However, most of the theoretical part of his speech, which was published later on both the ministry’s and his personal websites, has been found to be copy-pasted from Wikipedia and other sites. It has also been found that some of the material used by the minister has been copied with some mistakes, too…
The AP Stylebook today is making some changes in how we describe people living in a country illegally.
Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explains the thinking behind the decision:
The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.
Why did we make the change?
