On the Greek Riots blog getting back in the game

It appears that I am not the only one thinking that English-language info from Greece was getting thin in some quarters; the 'On the Greek Riots' blog has been 're-activated.' As they put it themselves two days ago:

"So, where were we?

This blog stopped being updated in late January as the main contributors left Greece and things there seemed to be getting quiter. With so many developments in the country not covered in the least by national or international media, the need was felt for this blog to be reactivated… So here it is. Same “rules” as before apply: updates will be irregular; comments will be disabled in most posts due to excessive spamming (if any of you are familiar with the wordpress platform and think you can help out on this one, get in touch!)

Posts for the next few weeks will include a mix of translations of communiques, statements etc. released from Greece, updates on the prisoners of the revolt and news updates from the ground, by the new people that are reporting from Athens and Thessaloniki."

True to their claims, there have been recent posts providing background on the case of Konstantina Kuneva (a migrant with the temerity to make 'radical' demands for workers in the recently-privatized operation that takes care of cleaning Athens' metro, rewarded with a brutal attack involving sulphuric acid), a translation of a doscument circulating in Athens which provides a feminist analysis of the nature of that attack, and 'breaking' info pertaining to the grenade attack noted below...

Interestingly enough, the statement about disabling comments due to spam problems garnered an impressively quick couple of replies (within hours) - step-by-step on how to enable comment moderation, and a suggestion for helpful plugins. So pepople are interested (quick to notice this fresh activity), looking to keep that comment function operational, and pretty helpful, to boot.

An excellent article from the Observer, recommended today on one major anarchist portal's message-board thread about the Greek situation; while I had earlier noted (with some ambivalence) the tendency of some bloggers to use much of their virtual (and visible) space to re-disseminate 'mainstream' content, often with minimal commentary or supplement - a question I am still a hm-hawing about - the occasional well-chosen recommendation shines through:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/22/civil-unrest-athens

...and another aspect of the situation in Greece that doesn't make the mainstream: far-right targeting the radical-left in Greece, in this case a hand grenade thrown at a window of a buildingin Exarchia, Athens in which a group called the Association of Conscientious Objectors was meeting...

http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2009/02/25/242-the-haunt-of-migrants-in-exarcheia-attacked-with-hand-grenade/

what flows through the networks when the smart mobs go home?

Just-a-thought post...as has been pointed out, networked technologies probably played a significant role in the come-up of the Greek protests and rioting (though online/mobile technologies having the jump on 'traditional' media does not necessarily mean that that these technologies were primarily responsible for coordinating widespread actions - though this is certainly possible); as Howard Rheingold put it:

"It’s hardly news any more that demonstrations, riots, get out the vote campaigns are coordinated via social media. In other words…smart mobs."

http://www.smartmobs.com/2008/12/18/twitter-ahead-of-news-media-in-greek-riots/

...but it remains an open question what, exactly, 'smart mobs' (or any mobs) accomplish. It is certainly likely that the initial public response made it impossible for the Greek authorities to sweep the police shooting of Alexis Grigoropolous under the rug (think of the shooting of Mohammed Anas Bennis in Montreal three years ago, for example), and that weeks of actions have certainly made clear that a lot of people are not happy (with the Greek state, the Karamanlis government, police violence, capitalism, etc.). But specific demands, such as the disarming of police and Karamanlis' resignation...reamin outstanding. As one anarchist forum-poster put it recently, the main effect (as with most mass protest actions) could be seen as 'the propagation of dissent.' But what, then, are the resonances of this dissent when the initial wave of actions subsides into something less intense? And how do users of networked technologies deal with the seeming calm after the storm (even if the situation on the ground is not as calm as it might sem from afar)?

I think it's time for me to start proposing some relatively coherent answers to these central questions on the basis of what I'm seeing. In the next couple of weeks, that's what I'm going to try to do...in addition to my promised digression on 'violence'(both theoretical and actually described), my regular random updates and links, and a cursory treatment of the main questions outlined at the outset of this thing.

new news!

...and it's on the front recently on topic in my blogging; a 'foiled attack on Citibank' in Athens:

http://greeceriots.blogspot.com/2009/02/police-foil-bomb-attack-at-citibank-in.html

And aside from all of this TALK about anarchism, Marxism, spontaneism, historicity and the question of 'violence,' it would be a mistake to leave out the IMAGES; images are perhaps irreducible, their impact undeniable. Photographs and other images are variously emphasized at the different points in the networks that circulate information on the recent Greek situation from a radical-left/anarchist perspective (some forums, such as the discussion boards on major anarchist portals, are pretty spartan; others keep up a steady stream of engaging visual material). Just a taste...

http://www.libcom.org/gallery/greece-riots-2008-photo-gallery

Another AP article on recent Greek 'terrorism' scavenged from a left-wing blog:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/15/europe/EU-Greece-Arsonists.php

What little commentary was offered suggested that it was strange that an 'anarchist' group would pay homage to a Marxist tied up with the aforementioned 17 November group...

...and segued into a major international news provider's thumbnail sketch of N17.