Greek PM compares current situation to pre-WWII Weimar Germany

Resorting to highly unusual language for a man who weighs his words carefully, the 61-year-old politician evoked the rise of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party to highlight the threat that Greece faces, explaining that society “is threatened by growing unemployment, as happened to Germany at the end of the Weimar Republic”.

“Citizens know that this government is Greece’s last chance,” said Samaras, who has repeatedly appealed for international lenders at the EU and IMF to relax the onerous conditions of the bailout accords propping up the Greek economy.

Mounting anti-austerity rage before a new round of sweeping EU-IMF-mandated austerity measures appears to have caught the government off-guard, with officials voicing fears over the ability of Samaras’s fragile coalition to survive.

The unprecedented storming of Greece’s defence ministry by hundreds of protesting dockworkers on Thursday – a breach of security not seen in modern times – has especially unnerved officials. On Friday, Samaras lashed out at “those who don’t understand the meaning of law and order”.

thepoliticalnotebook: “ Picture of the Day: Athens, Greece. Protesters have left their mark on this wall in the capital: “Capitalism is killing you,” and “Fascism won’t save you.” Credit: Kostas Tsironis/AP. Via. ” And from the Guardian last week,...
Pop-up View Separately

thepoliticalnotebook:

Picture of the Day: Athens, Greece. Protesters have left their mark on this wall in the capital: “Capitalism is killing you,” and “Fascism won’t save you.”

Credit: Kostas Tsironis/AP. Via.

And from the Guardian last week, reports that neo-nazi party Golden Dawn is assuming a police role, while also taking and re-distributing food and clothes. 

(via lowbidinal-deactivated20160705)

thepeoplesrecord: “ Musqueam to protest at Marpole Midden to mark 100 days vigil at ancient site August 9, 2012 Members of an urban Vancouver aboriginal band say they’re stepping up their protest to protect a mound of ancient refuse left behind from...
Pop-up View Separately

thepeoplesrecord:

Musqueam to protest at Marpole Midden to mark 100 days vigil at ancient site

August 9, 2012

Members of an urban Vancouver aboriginal band say they’re stepping up their protest to protect a mound of ancient refuse left behind from an aboriginal village nearly 3,000 years ago that, despite its designation as a national heritage site, is at risk of being built over — again.

Members of the Musqueam First Nation say they will block traffic to protest against construction on the Marpole Midden, even though B.C.’s aboriginal relations minister says a cash-for-land deal is close.

Mary Polak said Thursday the money offered to the Musqueam should be more than enough for the band to purchase the midden land from the owner who wants to develop the property.

In June, the province paid the Musqueam $4.8 million in compensation for one of three pieces of land that are part of major projects such as a new transit line.

Polak says the government will offer another $12 million for the remaining two pieces of land, and the money should exceed the midden owner’s asking price.

But the band, whose members have been protesting against construction on the site ever since human remains were unearthed earlier this year, says the province’s cash offer is money owed to the First Nation anyway.

“That’s our money, that’s for other deals that have nothing to do with this, and we are choosing to redirect that money to buy back that land (on Marpole Midden),” band member Rhiannon Bennett told reporters on Thursday.

“That is not money they are providing for us out of the goodness of their heart so we can buy the land back.”

The band had originally wanted to do a land swap to protect the Marpole Midden, but the deal was not signed off.

The band also says it wants construction work on the site to stop completely.

Source

Top