Dear reader,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.
 

But first, please, consider becoming a member. It’s important because we want to grow this newsletter as there is more space for analysis around Greece. Support us so we can sustain AthensLive and grow our community.

You can give 2.5€, 5€, 10€, and 35€ on Steady. You can always make a one-off donation by clicking here. You can spread the word by FWding this email to your friends and inviting them to support us if you believe it’s worth it.

AthensLive needs your support so we can keep doing what we do!
 

And now, the news from this week.

A storm caused immense problems to Athens and other regions of Greece. Long-lasting problems turned the city into a non-viable wetland.

Teachers and students took the streets to protest another Education Ministry reform. Yet, they did not lose their humor.

International media organizations call on the Greek government to withdraw a deeply problematic Penal Code amendment on “false news.” A SYRIZA proposal to investigate millions of public money thrown into the media with no transparent procedures gains pace, while the National News Agency crosses a line.
 

Storm cause scenes of a failed state in Attika.

Greece surrendered to stormy weather on Thursday - and a lesser degree on Friday. Continuous and intense rainfall can of course cause problems anywhere - even in developed Germany. Yet, the “Balos storm”, as it was called, revealed (once more) a country with derelict infrastructure and a non-existent state, left to survive on its own devices. And it’s not only the Mitsotakis’ government to blame. This is the result of a series of failed policies going back decades since hundreds of rivers and creeks have been cemented in Athens.

If you thought that the previous description is an exaggeration, take a glimpse at the following:

- A 69-year-old man went missing in Evia, the island ravaged by wildfires in the summer. He went missing during the storm while he was going to feed his animals. Sadly, he was finally found dead on Friday.

- A city bus sank when the underpass of the old Posidonos (sic) highway, under the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, flooded. The water covered it almost completely, and the passengers escaped the way you can see here and here.  On Friday, a prosecutor ordered a probe into the matter.

- Teaching rooms in a school in the Nea Philadelphia suburb were turned into a lake. The pupils managed to escape by creating a make-shift “bridge” with their desks. What is more interesting is that the rooms that flooded were containers (not proper constructions), operating as school rooms since 1999. Videos and pictures, here. In an interview later, government spokesperson Nikos Romanos, called to comment on the video documenting the event, stated that the pupils “would only get their feet wet.” It was reported later that it was two schools and one kindergarten in Nea Philadelphia that had been flooded, with authorities trying to evacuate dozens of pupils.

- Many university buildings and rooms flooded, including the Athens School of Philosophy (where water was dripping from the ceiling), Western Attika University, the Athens School of Fine Arts, the Physics Department, the Agronomic School, plus the University of Crete. Videos, here.

- One of the most touristic pedestrian streets of Athens, Ifaistos street in Monastiraki, turned into a torrent. See the video here. 

- Serious problems also occurred on Corfu island, where landslides were reported, and multiple roads (both secondary and highways) turned into torrents trapping drivers who depended on helicopters for their rescue. Practically, the island was cut in two. Corfu was declared in a state of emergency late on Thursday.

- Serious problems were reported in Crete, where recently two strong earthquakes took place. In many areas, roads were turned into rivers, and landslides were reported. Arkalochori village residents, who were most affected by the recent earthquake and 35 of them still reside in tents, found themselves in a most difficult situation as there is no floor and no heating in the tents. Among them were two women on oxygen support.

With the most severe problems reported mainly in Attika and Corfu, including power outages, the storm left the citizens scared. The Fire Brigade received more than 1.000 calls for help.  

While there was an early forecast of the storm, the Civil Protection sent at 12.15 noon an SMS alert through 112 services in Greek and English to residents of Athens, Piraeus, and other suburbs of Attica warning them of extreme weather phenomena and urging them to refrain from unnecessary movement outdoors and to avoid flooded or at risk of flooding areas.

Sending a “red alert” SMS without having done any anti-flooding work like cleaning sewage gutters, streams and roads is more like trying to avert state responsibility for any storm catastrophes.

Later on Thursday, Civil Protection minister Stylianidis repeated advice on how the citizens can be protected from the extreme weather. Among others, citizens were advised “to move to the highest spots in the house and avoid staying in basements, semi-basements, and ground floors when we foresee flooding, especially during the night, or we call the Fire Brigade to move us.”

What kind of houses does the minister think we live in? How can people in basement or ground floor apartments move - go where?

Following the unprecedented evacuations of the aforementioned schools, authorities decided for all schools in the region of Attica to remain closed on Friday, as the “Balos storm” was expected to continue. Schools in Corfu, Samos, and Ikaria, Halkidiki, and Evia, as well as the kindergartens and the structures for the disabled, would remain also closed.

Apart from schools, a series of other “emergency measures” were announced later on Thursday, decided during an extraordinary meeting with several ministers and the newly appointed Minister for Civil Protection Christos Stylianidis.

The measures included advice for teleworking for the private sector and a shut down of the public services apart from those dealing with the weather emergency.

It should be pointed out that the government took the Covid19 curfew tool and applied it as a prevention measure for a natural phenomenon. Thus, they imposed a traffic ban from 1 a.m. until 8 a.m. Friday for cars and public transportation along the Kifissos river/end of national highway Athens-Lamia and along the coastal road in Athens Riviera. For trucks, the situation would be assessed depending on the evolution of the phenomenon.

What is more, according to media reports before the measures were announced, apart from the traffic ban on the specific streets, Stylianidis had also proposed that the army and the police would undertake to safeguard that there would be no access to those areas.

For the moment, the latter has not been enforced.
 

Teachers-pupils united against government “reform” aiming at merging schools.

A large teachers’ demonstration and a big pupils rally converged on Monday at Syntagma square, at the heart of Athens. They united their voices against the new workings of the Education Ministry. “Pupils, teachers, united, we will win” was the slogan rocking the air.

What has happened again? Well, the educational community is protesting among others the evaluation of school units promoted by the Ministry of Education, the Minimum Admission Base which left thousands of pupils out of the Universities, and the lack of teachers at schools.

The teachers went on a strike on Monday. Tension among teachers and Minister of Education Niki Kerameos has reached record heights, as the Minister resorted to Justice regarding the teachers’ strikes. After the court first ruled that the teachers’ strike is “illegal”, the Ministry appealed so that the strike would be ruled excessive and the previous ruling to be immediately enforced.

Note that the teachers had acquiesced to the evaluation plan as laid out by the SYRIZA government. Now, the teachers estimate that the evaluation of school units aims at categorizing them in “good” and “bad,” targeting the teachers for long-existing shortages and infrastructure problems in schools, for which clearly the state is responsible. This, according to the teachers, would lead to closing down school units.

Furthermore, they reckon that the evaluation would cold-bloodedly quantify problems in schools, without taking into account other factors. For example, according to reports, head principles would be evaluated for succeeding in finding sponsors. Apart from the fact that a school is not a football team or anything else that should be subjected to marketing, it is for sure that the principle of a grass-roots, poor neighborhood will find far fewer sponsors than the principle of a posh place. Thus, the first one would be downgraded in the evaluation, with all repercussions as to the school unit.

And amidst all these, Kerameos ordered classes to merge due to lack of teachers, instead of filling the gaps by hiring teachers.

The Education Minister’s plans have many times caused the reaction of the educational community - the plans for the University Police, to remind you of just one.

Therefore, it came as no surprise that after the “Balos storm” and the recurring problems in school buildings, pupils of Athens wrote a letter full of sarcasm to Kerameos.

To cite just an excerpt: “We inform you that school buildings and infrastructure were ‘evaluated’ highly, thanks to your generous state funding. We were particularly enthusiastic that canoe-kayak and swimming lessons were added to our curriculum.”
 

International media organizations alerted by the “Orbanisation” of Greece.

International Press and media organizations are calling on Greece’s government and the Justice Ministry to withdraw a vaguely defined amendment on “false news” as it puts press freedom under immense pressure.

“We believe draft law’s vague definition and punitive sanctions would undermine freedom of press and have chilling effect at time when independent journalism is already under pressure in Greece,” the International Press Institute (IPI) and partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) write in a letter to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The proposed amendment to Article 191 of the Civil Code brought forward by the Ministry of Justice (we have referred to it in a recent newsletter) has gone largely unnoticed by the Greek mainstream media. The aforementioned letter emphasizes that the amendment “would include penalties for those found guilty of disseminating false news that is capable of causing concern or fear to the public or undermining public confidence in the national economy, the country’s defense capacity or public health.” It adds: “If the transaction was performed repeatedly through the press or online, the perpetrator is punished with imprisonment of at least six months and a fine. The publisher or owner of a media outlet responsible would also face prison and financial penalties.”

IPI and MFRR emphasize that the term “false news” in the amendment “is ambiguously defined, broadly applicable and open to misuse.”

As we also emphasized in this newsletter, the international media call points out that particularly problematic is the sanctioning of reports “capable of causing concern” or which “undermines public confidence” in state authorities. “Journalism which holds power to account naturally shakes the public trust in government, just as investigative reporting causes legitimate public concern or anger. Under such a vaguely worded law, this kind of vital watchdog journalism could be targeted by political leaders intent on limiting criticism of their policies,” the report warns.

This letter comes only a day after the IPI press release urging fresh impetus in the police investigation on the six-month anniversary of crime reporter Karaivaz’s murder in Athens in broad daylight. “We call on authorities not to let Karaivaz’s murder become another long-running and damaging case of impunity for the killing of a journalist within the European Union,” they emphasized.

The developments regarding Freedom of the Press in Greece should come as no surprise. After all, the government gave 42 million euros on the pretext of the pandemic to the media, in a completely non-transparent way.

Main opposition SYRIZA on Monday tabled a proposal “to assess the Mitsotakis’s government acts to manipulate public opinion”. Specifically, they demand the set up of a parliamentary committee to investigate “into the criteria under which these subsidies were distributed, into the failed as to its outcome Health Ministry vaccination campaign and into financing Enterprise Greece to launch an international campaign to promote the image of the government as well as financing with public money Opinion Poll polls company, the results of which the governmental majority has denied assessing in the context of Institutions and Transparency Parliamentary Committee, despite a relevant request by the opposition and the evidence the latter brought in.”

It is considered almost certain that SYRIZA’s proposal would be realised, as it is expected that KINAL, KKE, DiEM25, and the Greek Solution would vote for it - that is, it will have the 120 votes needed for its approval.

Furthermore, as to the state of Press Freedom and quality in Greece, on Monday Greece’s National News Agency (ANA-MPA) seems that it forced one of its journalists to take responsibility for a mistake on Twitter. The mistake concerned an anti-SYRIZA hashtag roughly translated as “SYRIZA_this_disgrace” put next to a news item title regarding SYRIZA members visiting wildfires-ridden Evia.

Journalist Angeliki Boubouka took full responsibility for the mistake “on behalf of ANA-MPA” with a tweet.

As our editor, Tassos Morfis noted, not even the lousiest startup would ever act this way.

It is worth reminding that National Broadcaster ERT and National News Agency ANA-MPA were both put under the authority of the Prime Minister with the first Presidential decree issued when ND was elected in power.

In which democracy such a thing is considered legit?
 

Read.
 

How Greek Delivery Riders Are Fighting the Gig Economy.

Still Demoralized by Syriza, Greece’s Left Is Struggling to Rebuild.

Crete on alert for aftershocks after 6.3R earthquake on Tuesday.

The prosecutor on Mati fires: “Lack of coordination, ineffective cooperation, incompetence, criminal mistakes.”

Leader of KINAL, Fofi Gennimata, withdraws from leadership race due to health reasons.

Pope Francis includes also Lesvos in his official visit schedule to Greece.

President receives women judges, lawyers and MPs from Afghanistan.

Investigation into murder of Caroline Crouch concludes; shocking audio when husband calls the police.

Head of Roman-era statue found in the sea off Preveza, western Greece.

Oldest footprints of pre-humans identified in Crete; dated over 6 million years.

And don’t forget!

Become a member!
 

Your membership enables us to produce more 100% ad-free content and continue delivering our independent journalism. You can give 2.5€, 5€, 10€, and 35€ on Steady. You can always make a one-off donation by clicking here, but we prefer you to become a member so we can include you in our international community and start to interact in meaningful ways.

Do you have an Instagram account? We want to tell more engaging stories with photos from FOS PHOTOS archive. Follow us on Instagram. We won't use any unnecessary hashtags. Promise.
 
Are you a journalist? Do you have a good story? Here's how to pitch AthensLive.

Is there more stuff you'd like to hear from us? Do you have any ideas about how we could make our newsletter better for your understanding of Greece? Drop us a line at info[at]athenslive[dot]gr
 
If you enjoy our newsletter, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. The more people we can get involved with, the better this will be. Here's the latest version of our newsletter.
 
Thank you for supporting journalism and democracy.
 
Stay safe,

AL