We congratulate Reporters Without Borders (RWB) for an amazing reportage on photojournalism. No other organization before dared to go to so many dangerous places to find the truth. RWB points out that only professional photojournalists can still hope to make a living in Greece, but it is hard to get professional recognition as 99% of them are freelancers.
To get recognized, a photographer has to declare his income and get a book of invoices in exchange. Photographers have to prove they have billed for at least €10,000 of work over the year. EFE tries to stipulate €19 per photo, which means selling 43 photos a month to reach the annual target.
"As well as media photos, the authorities count advertising shots, but even I, after 25 years in the business, couldn't reach this target today," Marios Lolos, president of the Greek Union of Photojournalists (EFE), says. "Apart from theft of photos from the Internet, all media groups have agreed not to pay copyright fees for republication, which reduces even further the chances of reaching the annual target.
Like cockroaches who stay in the dark, Graecokleptocrats try to escape the light of cameras. The impunity of the 300 Graecokleptocrats of the Grand Brothel on Syntagma Square is the most freakish thing on Earth. Even though Graecokleptocrats looted many billion euros in kickbacks and churning, not a single Graecokleptocrat has ever gone to jail! They are protected by the parliamentary immunity, and nobody can touch them, no matter what. Moreover, they have the nerve to jail dissident bloggers. It's a long way from the 300 Spartans of Leonidas! Allons enfants de la Grece! http://venitism.blogspot.com
"We're also weak because we're very divided," he says. "We should have just one union, with professional categories. But we have lots of locally-based federations which doesn't make sense anymore. We're all running after the ESY EA, which is the biggest, but their board still hasn't met since its elections last May. EFE doesn't take any cut on advertising sales. Advertisers are charged 20% over the standard publication rate with 19% going to social security and 1% for journalist unions, including the Foreign Press Association. We don't have any access to this money, but such things can be easily settled with a bit of good will. We don't have any real differences but they harm our interests a little more each day," Lolos says.
"After what happened in Constitution Square on 28 and 29 June, we went to see minister Papoutsis (human rights and protection of citizens) who told us no specific orders had been given to attack journalists. But he said he couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen again. He didn't say any investigations would be launched or any sort of action would be taken. Even more oddly, he told us the police considered our camera-phones as `deadly weapons.'
Greek Spring is coming! Many eggheads predict a Greek revolution, an inexorable change which will release the elastic energy of discontent inside Greeks. Eggheads' work is like that of geologists who compile the signs of an imminent earthquake or volcanic eruption. But the time of eruption and its form and severity cannot be predicted in an exact way. So we know a tsunami of discontent will hit the Cradle of Kleptocracy, but we do not know when.
"Many of our colleagues have been threatened – `We know who you are and where you live. We'll wake you up and you'll hear us passing by' and so on. The language is often abusive and obscene, especially towards women colleagues. I was beaten up in December 2010. By chance, a German TV crew was there and filmed the incident. I went to the police station in Vari with a flash-drive containing the pictures. They were supposed to pass them on to their superiors. I'm still waiting. We have dozens of cases like that. We don't want stage a witch-hunt against the police and we're not saying what's happening is official policy, but the failure in every case to punish those responsible means that this kind of thing may continue. We want to see genuine investigations resulting in real punishment which will finally serve as warnings and examples. If nothing is done now, in two months time it may be impossible to work," Lolos says.
October-18 Mafia uses religion, patriotism, public education, and the mainstream media to manipulate Greeks. Greek rabblerousers believe their job is to get kickbacks! These kickback collectors are masters of bribery and cronyism, serving not the people, but the pullpeddlers. These freaks try to gag all dissident bloggers, manipulate justice, churn the pension funds of poor workers, and equate truth with treason.
RWB notes the world of Greek football has also become a very risky place for journalists to work. Being at the foot of a stadium's terraces, behind the goalmouth or in the corners is vital for getting the best photos. "But that's also where the troublemakers and political extremists are," says Lolos. "They throw everything they can find at us, including smoke-bombs, cigarette-lighters and stones. One colleague was even hit by a toilet u-bend. They target us directly and insult us throughout the match. These days we wear helmets in the stadiums. Sometimes they invade the pitch and then all our equipment is stolen or damaged and we get beaten up. We have the same problems at basketball matches but less so because of the layout of the venue."
October-18 Mafia is the most disgusting predator of internet on Earth! Civil society was shocked by the brutality and stupidity of the October-18 2010 terror, initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of Greece. That's why October-18 Mafia is the new name of the government of Greece!
RWB points out the sporting world is also corrupted by rackets and uncontrolled betting that can't be eradicated. "You can't see anything at international events," says Lolos. "FIFA has strict rules that everyone obeys, including the supporters' clubs, but in the Greek League, club bosses impose a tight law of silence. The clubs' private security squads often attack us when we take pictures of club managers or their stands and demand that we erase the photos. If you don't obey, you risk having your equipment smashed. It's almost the law of the jungle."
Greece uses marilizardist tools to manipulate netizens. Marilizard Libel is accusing dissident bloggers of treason. Marilizard Spaghetti is hurling charges against innocent people. Marilizard Tower is a stack of imaginary charges to scare a blogger. Marilizardism is terrorizing dissident bloggers. October 18 is the international day against marilizardism, and October-18 Mafia is the marilizardist government of Greece.
Some people try to understand why the police behave the way they do. "They're part of the state and thus reflect all its weaknesses," says Markaris, "but the big problem is that they've never really been controlled by the state. There're no clear policies or directives. They don't know what they should do or how they should do it. The lack of training is glaring, especially among young policemen."
Atlas shrugged in the Cradle of Kleptocracy. It's impossible for Greeks to produce when Graecokleptocrats loot them with heavy taxes, especially the 23% VAT, demand kickbacks, confiscate computers and personal files, impose stupid laws and regulations, harass dissident bloggers, condone cybercop brutality, and spread the cancer of socialism.
RWB laments that police are only trained for three months and most riot police do not know the laws under which they operate. They are very badly paid and have to pay for some of their equipment and their training ammunition themselves.
Global Tax Revolt declares the Cradle of Kleptocracy, is the most disgusting gagger of dissident bloggers. Abolishing marilizardism, kleptocracy, and cybercop brutality in modern Greece, the most corrupt country of Fourth Reich, will prove even more futile than the famous search by Diogenes for an honest man in Ancient Greece. Marilizardist Graecokleptocracy is now George Orwell's Dystopia with Minitrue(Education), Miniluv(Police), Miniplenty(Economy), Minipax(Defense), and Minidip(Foreign Affairs). Anarchy would be a much better system for Greece than the present kleptocracy.
"We've always made very bad use of the police," says Markaris, "and for most Greeks they're still the police of the colonels' regime who can't arrest a thief but can always pick out a political opponent. There's an almost-instinctive distrust and defiance towards them. The police and the army weren't purged after the dictatorship. When PASOK came to power they put their allies in control of them and there was a dual authority at all levels of the police. It was a paralyzing balance. Half the police were pro-government and half anti-government, depending on the election results. The police shouldn't be politicized, they should be simply functional and under control. We're very far from this. The police also can't represent a state that doesn't exist, which is the situation we're in right now."
Greeks are used to the violence of far-left, but now far-right is also becoming a problem. Many people told RWB they were worried about the growing influence of the far-right, estimated at more than 5% of the electorate and now with seats on Athens city council. It is gradually infiltrating the police, especially the Athens anti-riot squads. Their officials have pointed out to police the great legal weight carried by shots by photojournalists [as opposed to those taken by amateurs] in court cases involving a clear offence.
Greeks are especially adept at the art of the tragedy. We can see that expertise playing out in the Cradle of Kleptocracy today. The October-18 Mafia is fighting for its life as the nation teeters on the edge of default and descends into violent street protests. The leaders of Fourth Reich are embroiled in embittered disputes over how to resolve the Cradle of Kleptocracy's debt problem before it drags the PIGS and the euro into the toilet.
Manolis Kypraios has been a photographer for nearly 20 years and RWB went to see him at his home. He was brutally beaten on 15 August 2011 and his resultant loss of hearing has meant loss of balance, which makes any moving around difficult.
"I've covered nearly all the wars of the past 20 years," he said. "Kosovo, Nigeria, all over the Middle East, Georgia and Abkhazia, and it's here in my own country that I get a lifelong injury. I still don't believe it!
"On 15 August, I was covering the trade union demonstrations. Between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, at the junction of Xenofontas and Filellinon streets, protesters were clashing with the MAT riot police. I went closer while continuing to send photos live to my customer from my phone and also taking photos for the website. The police, making obscene gestures, ordered me to stop taking pictures. So I went back toward Constitution Square and came to a cul-de-sac near Filellinon Street where one of my customers had an office where I thought I could take refuge as the situation was deteriorating. The MAT followed me and asked what I was doing there. I said I was taking photos, that I was a journalist and I showed him my press card.
"He turned to his subordinate and said: `Deal with him!' The other MAT fired a stun grenade at me. The shock, and the flash and noise in the alleyway was terrible. I threw myself on the ground and thought I was going to die, and then I fainted. When I woke up I was surrounded by people trying to bring me round. They helped me to get up, I couldn't hear anything and I was staggering. The people said I should go to hospital. Going up Filellinon Street, I came across a group surrounded by motorcycle police, two on each bike, one hitting out as the other drove. It was terrible. I saw one terrified boy no older than 15 and I threw myself on him to protect him. The police beat me on the back, chest and in the kidneys and then kicked me. It lasted about 10 minutes.
"When they left I got up and tried to make my way to the nearest hospital. I was in pain all over and I couldn't hear anything. I sat down on a bench near the Anglican church. I asked the way to hospital from the first police I saw and asked them to call an ambulance because I could hardly walk. But they just laughed. Passers-by helped me get to the Evangelismos hospital where doctors couldn't help me. Nurses sent me to another hospital, Erithro, and I got there by taxi and was immediately taken in. Next day they told me I'd gone deaf in my left ear and the day after that I lost hearing in the other. I stayed there for eight days.
"I can't hear anything anymore and I can't sleep. In the evenings, I feel like I'm drowning at the bottom of the ocean in total silence. I have terrible toothache. Since I left hospital, I've shut myself in at home. I no longer have my bearings and I can't drive or work. I communicate by writing on a notepad because I can't speak properly anymore and don't hear anything. I'm depressed but I'm seeing a psychiatrist. I've had a first operation for an ear implant. In a year's time I'll have another and if doctors can coordinate sound frequencies, I might get some of my hearing back. But I won't be able to drive at night again or walk without a stick.
"If the MAT knew they'd be prosecuted and punished, they would never've done this to me, and there wouldn't have been so many injuries during these last three demonstrations. They just do what they want. I always said the most violent police I'd seen were in Turkey, but what we've seen here is worse. This is what I'm most concerned about. It has to stop before there're other cases like mine, or worse."
The Greek tragedy is risky for all of us. The expected total bankruptcy of the October-18 Mafia will spread new waves of contagion across the eurozone. Spain's borrowing costs have already been on the rise as the Greek crisis has intensified. That means the eurozone could require more bailouts to dodge more defaults, which would put the euro itself at risk. Losses on their holdings of sovereign bonds eat into the balance sheets of Fourth Reich's major banks, undercutting the strength of euro. Shockwaves would ripple around the world as jittery investors fled stocks and other assets in a renewed quest for safe havens.
RWB notes that like many other journalists, Kypraios is very worried about police using plastic bullets in future demonstrations. "They're not trained to use this kind of thing and there'll be some real tragedies," he says. "This can't be allowed to happen. It's not worthy of a European country. The justice minister has publicly apologized and even intervened to see my complaint is dealt with , the minister for human rights and protection of citizens, Xristos Papoutsis, hasn't done so and says he has no responsibility in the matter.
There is little beyond venting their anger on the streets that the Greeks can do about it. Whatever happens as the crisis unfolds - whether the October-18 Mafia defaults or not, whether the country sticks with the euro or ditches it - years of painful reform and austerity measures to straighten out the nation's finances are unavoidable. Like the classic Greek tragedies of old, the players in this modern drama can't avoid their tragic fate.
Kypraios had not been paid since June. The Greek Union of Photojournalists (EFE) has taken on all his medical costs (more than €100,000) but he can no longer work and now depends solely on his family.
Marilizardism is a new tool of kleptocrats. Tunisians, Egyptians, and Libyans got rid of their kleptocrats. Now it's high time for Greeks to get rid of October-18 mafiosi, marilizardist Graecokleptocrats, and Graecocybercops. Greece is the next domino. We stand in solidarity with the people of Greece in their demands for an end to Marilizardist Graecokleptocracy and cybercop brutality.
We stand in defiance against all those marilizardist Graecokleptocrats who try to suppress the growing movement of Greek people standing up for their rights, facing down injustice, and offering hope for a better world. Please show your solidarity and defiance by wearing blue and white, the colors of the Greek flag. Allons enfants de la Grece!
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