MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
By Suzanne Daley, New York Times, October 17/18, 2011
ATHENS — Stories of eye-popping waste and abuse of power among Greece’s bureaucrats are legion, including officials who hire their wives, and managers who submit $38,000 bills for office curtains. The work force in Greece’s Parliament is so bloated, according to a local press investigation, that some employees do not even bother to come to work because there are not enough places for all of them to sit.
This week, the government’s resolve will be tested once again. Greece’s two major umbrella unions have called for a rare 48-hour general strike, and several critical austerity measures are coming up for votes in Parliament, including one that would cut 30,000 public-sector jobs.
....though salaries have been cut, the government has yet to lay off anyone.
The main reason is also one of the very reasons that Greece got into trouble in the first place: The government is in many ways an army of patronage appointments built up over decades. When election time rolls around, state workers become campaign workers, and their reach is enormous. There are so many of them that almost every family has one.
....This puts the Socialist prime minister, George A. Papandreou, or any other Greek leader, in a tough spot....
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Violent anti-austerity protests grip Greek capital (with video & slideshow,)
by Lefteris Papadimas and Yannis Behrakis in Athens, Reuters, October 19:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/19/us-greece-idUSTRE79H1FI20111019
by artappraiser on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 1:02pm
Excerpts from The Guardian's live blog on today in the streets:
4.42pm: The man who has died is now being named in Athens as Dimitris Kotsaridis, a construction worker and communist party unionist.
As our previous blog post should have made clear, the precise details of his death are still not clear.
4.36pm: Confusion is deepening around the death of the man in Athens. The hospital is now officially saying that he was not injured when he was brought to the hospital and died from natural causes.
Eyewitnesses are claiming that the man, a trade unionist, collapsed after being tear gassed by police in Syntagma Square.
Separately, the BBC is reporting that one trade union member was attacked by a group of other demonstrators, but it is not clear whether there is a link.
4.25pm: Doctors at Evangelismos Hospital are now confirming that a 53-year-old construction worker attending today's protest outside the 300-seat Parliament has died.
Helena Smith in Athens has the details:
4.08pm: The reported death of a 53-year old protester has cast a dark shadow over Athens.
Parliament deputy speaker Anastasios Kourakis announced the death during a debate on the new bill ahead of a final vote later Thursday.
There had been fears of fatalities, following the deaths of three bank workers during another general strike in May 2010.
We must emphasise that it is not certain at this stage how the man died.
3.49pm: Greek media are now reporting that a man has died in Athens after being injured during today's protests.
Skai News says a 53-year-old construction worker died of a heart attack after he was hit by a rock.
More details as we get it.
by artappraiser on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:08pm