Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Greek protesters clash with police (2:02m video)

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Greek protesters clash with police (2:02m video)

from the Guardian, includes report in addition to video.

In the video George Papendreou, the President of Greece makes a brief appearance to offer reassurance to the US administration and, no doubt, to all the capitalist ruling classes that Greece (the working people of Greece) will make the necessary sacrifices while Greek workers shut down Greece in a general strike. Despite some "socialist" credentials, Papendreou and his family have long had very close ties to the US. Many political figures in Europe make pretenses of being socialists because of the historical appeal that socialist ideas have held for working people in Europe. Hence even the Nazi party (commonly known in English as the Nazi Party from the German pronunciation of Nationalsozialist) was called the National Socialist German Workers Party.