STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 13 February 2012

[bread_and_roses]

34. "Greece in Flames After Austerity Measures Pass"

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/13

Published on Monday, February 13, 2012 by Common Dreams
Greece in Flames After Austerity Measures Pass
- Common Dreams staff

Fires raged in Athens overnight with reports that more than 40 buildings had been set ablaze in a violent response to the Greek parliament's passage of an unpopular austerity package negotiated with its European creditors - the EU, ECB, and IMF - in exchange for a tranche of new bailout funds.

... State television reported the violence spread to the tourist islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece.

... Under a sea of banners denouncing further wage, pension and job cuts, tens of thousands of protesters chanted against "the occupation" of the country by foreign lenders keeping Greece afloat.

... Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, who arrived in Athens as the violence was escalating, described the atmosphere as "surreal"

Maybe I'm not reading around enough - not been online much - but it strikes me as surreal that in general the reaction to the protests in Greece seems so flat - so un-amazed? I mean, after all, here is a "Developed" country - a "Western Democracy" - with its citizens erupting by the many thousands, in the streets burning buildings, throwing rocks - ! And not "minorities," not "students," not "immigrants" - !