Riots In Greece

For the record, it's scary as hell being in one. Living in the area where it's happening is even worse; your safety is compromised, and rioters rarely remember the citizens in their environments, much less remember to be mindful of them.

Yet, upon looking at pictures of the recent riots in Greece, and particularly in Athens, I could not help but think that the least few times these sorts of 'events' happened here, it was either to celebrate after a sporting event, or to show disarray after a rock show.

Over there, there was latent tension between the government and the People it should serve, what with a ridiculous unemployment rate and living conditions unfit of a European country in the New Millenium. But the pressure went past its boiling point when cops killed 15 year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on December 6th. And the cop was charged, too.

Here, when police officers kill people, they don't even face murder charges, and the public outcry displayed rarely goes beyond small communities, usually visible minorities. The media talks about it a bit, people express their shame and fear, and we move on to bigger and better things, like waiting 12 hours before seeing a doctor at the hospital for a common cold, and the stories die down.

In Greece, and in most countries where Citizens have more power than Law And Order, when dissatisfaction occurs, it shows. Leaders' heads get chopped off, cops get set on fire, military coups happen.

The Disco Inferno: