Greece Is Not Okay and how Occupy Congress is a Step in the Right Direction

Recently, I've had conversations with friends about Europe and, without regard for the looming European economic crisis; they have somewhat idolized the culture. I'm not one to say I would not enjoy visiting such places as Italy or England or even France and Germany, but there are a few western European countries that aren't doing so well right now, and it's poised to crumble the EU as we know it.

 I'm going to focus on the one I think to be in the most peril, Greece. Partly, because a friend of mine thinks its safe enough to go "Spend a semester there." And partly because I'm not quite sure how it escaped the mainstream conscience, but Greece has turned into a divided country on the edge of Civil War. Where the police are armed as the military and the citizens armed as barbarians, hurling sticks, along with rocks and Molotov cocktails, firebombs. They've even gone so far as to take to the streets with hammers, not to use them in the attack, but to break every piece of stone and glass in sight as for more "ammunition."

 The important thing to know about what happened to Greece is, that it ultimately was Wall Streets collapse that caused most of the damage. Along with many acts of gross negligence perpetrated by the Greek government. Now the EU, European Union, have had to come in and issue the country a bailout. Which along with billions to a trillion of Euros, has also come with a life of debt for the young Greek generation. Thus these along with many other factors, such as historical events and Cultural pride, have led to the now tumultuous atmosphere that is Greece's capital city Athens. When you hear them speak, they sound a bit like the Occupy Movement, but with a bit, how can I say it?.. More. When they speak of their country and their unwillingness to be bound by the shackles of their government nor the mistakes of the generation before them, it made me realize something that I guess I already knew, but I was pushing to the back of my mind.

The fact that these protests in Athens, what used to be the capital city of a very civil country, are much more violent, beyond anything the likes that America has seen. Including Occupy Oakland and Cal State Berkeley. Its going to have to get much worse before it gets better. You see these people charging barricades and attacking police, and you wonder if its going to take that sort of conviction here in America.  But in the spirit of the Greeks, I think we are one step closer with Occupy Congress. They realized that their voices would not be heard unless they were personally affecting the people directly influencing the decisions being made. We must inconvenience those who inconvenience us. If they then proceed to inconvenience us we must proceed to do the same. It is the only way there is hope for a peaceful revolution.

Unfortunately those people are motivated by the most powerful thing known to man, money. People have prices already made up in their head for beloved family members like Grandma, you think that singing cumbiya on their front lawn is going to make them give up a seat so precious. Lets hope that's the case. In the case of the Greeks however, in the end it was the dividing of the people that led to their ultimate demise. We as a people need to stay united against oppressors, whether they be individual, large corporations or a national government. We, no matter what our current standing, need to put ourselves in the position of the oppressed and realize that it is wrong for any human to be put in such a position. Regardless of our conflicting ideas on how to fix the situation, we must all admit the system is broken in order to begin the arduous task of rebuilding.

It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. 


Henry David Thoreau