Teo Kermeliotis's blog

The devastating shooting of a young student, and the string of violent episodes that followed it, has brought Greece to its knees and laid bare a deeper feeling of discontent and anger that has been simmering among Greeks for quite a while.

Much of the international focus on the crisis has been limited to the familiar territory of recession. Yet attempting to trace the root of the unrest in the economic slowdown is a rather simplistic approach that cannot entirely explain or justify the level of the events. Similarly, the drawing of parallels with other cases, such as the riots in Paris in 2005, are no better at helping us understand the causes, since the conditions surrounding each situation are different.

It is easy to assume that the street battles, the biggest the country has experienced in decades, are able to stir Greece's political situation. To what degree though? And are they capable of producing substantial change?  

The first signs that have emerged do not look very encouraging. The majority of the political forces across the entire ideological spectrum seem to be trapped within their short-sighted self-delusional agendas, embarking on just another vote-collecting mission while lacking the will or the capacity to bring forward truly brave changes. The flag of reform has been waved repeatedly and rather light-heartedly in Greek politics in the last decades, especially in connection with the educational and health systems, but the constant failures in applying it have caused great frustration. The scarcity of alternative policies, in combination with an inefficient and disappointing media, distances even further the prospect of a real response to the accumulated discontent of the population.

The street violence and the plundering that have tormented Greek cities should not be identified as the platform that conveys this mounting disenchantment; at least, maybe not right now. Similar incidents, although of smaller scale, are not uncommon in modern Greek history. Furthermore, they can be seen as part of a wider behavioural approach in which the population tends to react and not to act, largely because this is what it has been guided to do.

It is important however not to forget that frustration and lack of faith prevail among Greeks, especially among the Greek youth, most of whom are highly educated. Such feelings can easily be identified with several aspects of every day life. The majority of those entering the productive age, with two or three degrees and foreign language certificates already under their belt, come across the sad realisation that they have to face a corrupt and complex jumble of failed policies that affects their lives in fundamental ways; abuse of official authority - expressed either by scandal-ridden politicians, citizen-hostile police or disrespectful civil servants, accompanied by a lack of jobs, low salaries, untrustworthy justice and poor educational and health systems.

And then there is the most discouraging realisation of all: that this system is being depicted as an invincible social de facto that preaches in all directions that the road to success can only be reached by passing through it. When viewed in this light, it is no surprise that Greeks are Europe's most pessimistic people, according to a study by Eurostat.

Speaking on the BBC's ‘World, Have Your Say' programme, Professor Kevin Featherstone, director of the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics, said the recent events have raised the question of whether Greece is capable of delivering reform. He identified as a possible source of the problem the country's lack of direction; Greece speaks with two voices and its people have "contradictory divergent demands."

Such contradictions tend to be a common phenomenon in Greece, as they seem to be deeply embedded in the population's actions, only adding to the complexity and confusion of the situation.

The debate over the shape of the Greek democracy is dominating the country's political life, with Greeks frequently and multilaterally engaging their democratic rights, as the country's record of demonstrations also suggests. Yet, that plethora of voices and opinions is rarely transformed into a concrete political act, as three political families have been voted almost consecutively to run the country in the last three decades. They look likely to carry on doing so as new members of these political dynasties are now seen as the favourites to take centre stage. The country is clearly experiencing a political crisis as the two-party system, with its almost steady rotation after the passing of two terms, does not seem to offer realistic alternatives.

Opposite the collective demands for a cleaner state with less corruption, stands the common place practise of nepotism and the use of favours, which prevails at all levels of society, from the pettiest social interaction to the most important public affairs. As mentioned before, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that those seeking an alternative way usually end up hitting an impassable wall. It is apparent that the eradication of such entrenched practices can only be brought about by a competent political leadership that will set new guidelines in order to restore trust and respond to the calls for meritocracy.

It has yet to be seen how the accumulated discontent of the Greek population will choose to deliver its message and if it will manage to trigger substantial and profound structural changes. The only certainty so far seems to be the need for new heroes and leaders. Once they are found, one can only hope that inner determination will collectively emerge too.

If the rather hasty, western view that wants those who refer to themselves in the third person to be in the threshold of schizophrenia is valid, then psychiatrists all over the world should soon start preparing themselves for a huge workload.

Millions of Facebook users have been incorporating such practises for a long time now in their daily online activities, feeling the urge to express their feelings and inform the world of their thoughts and plans.

As if the world did not already know.

Sadly enough for those of us who almost always struggle to come up with upbeat and boasting updates for our virtual statuses, the amount of information that exists out there about us is so extensive, that often it does not leave much space for our buoyant, kind-of-hip version.

A constantly increasing network of applications is designed and installed to stoke a vast system of surveillance, destined to deliver results in the name of promiscuous purposes, from deterrence and control to convenience and marketing.

The 9/11 attacks and the consequent rise of security in the policy agenda undoubtedly accelerated the implementation of such measures. Both the biometrics and the video surveillance industry are growing at a fast rate, with rocketing sales in the last few years. At the same time, surveillance technology is rapidly becoming an important part of the arms trade.

“Every breath you take, every move you make”

Ubiquitous security cameras monitor our moves, look down on us while driving and walking, as well as scan the areas we go for shopping and entertainment. They are growing in numbers and getting smaller, to the point of invisibility, while more sophisticated technology is enhancing their capacity.  

Features such as “Talking CCTV” – in which operators can intimidate via loudspeakers anyone thinking of behaving in an inappropriate manner – and “The Bug” – an “intelligent” system that uses movement tracking software to predict a crime by detecting, zooming in and following those who might be acting in a suspicious way – are not figments of an Orwellian mindset but just a few aspects of the many established trends that govern the “under-the-lens”  society.

Under the European Directive on Data Retention, all the fixed-line and mobile operators are required to keep records of their customers’ communications no matter if they are investigated or not. Although the content is not recorded, a range of data that most people value as private such as the destination, date and duration of phone calls and text messages are stored and could be made available to law enforcement authorities, for up to two years.

The European Commission is also considering a new policy on biometrics, including the creation of a central database of fingerprints, while under new proposals all non-Europeans would be asked to submit facial scans and fingerprints before being allowed to enter the continent.

At the same time, governments are ordering the airline carriers to hand over travel records while border agents can seize laptops without cause to search them for criminal evidence; mobile phones with embedded GPS constantly keep an automatic trail of the phones holders’ location; shopping centres track the motion of their clients by triangulating their cell phones; credit or debit cards record spending patterns.

The list is enormous and is growing in accordance with technological achievements. How far is the future where individual identification will be based on odour or saliva? 

“Digital ghost”

And of course, the surveillance net can creep and perforate virtual walls too. A number of companies, from Internet Service Providers to web-based businesses, are our official online shadows, monitoring all our web searches and visits. They gather data on which sites we visit, at what time and for how long, what do we consume and what we are interested in buying. As Privacy International says, “in the off-line world this would be comparable to, for example, having someone follow you through a shopping mall, scanning each page of every magazine you browse though, every pair of shoes that you looked at and every menu entry you read at the restaurant.”

Data mining and behaviour advertising are inextricably associated in the digitised world. Consumerism targeting the individuals by putting them at the centre of all choices seems to has found, in the face of the Internet, an ideal platform to act, as the virtual world is both isolated and public.

Webmail providers, such as Gmail, scan every e-mail read or sent and then display relevant ads keyed to certain words. Charter Communications, the third largest cable operator in the US, has recently spoken of plans to introduce a new system that will capture their customers’ online surfing, and then provide the information to advertising networks through a third party.

Just a few weeks ago, a US court ordered Google to give every log of every video watched by Youtube users, including their ID and IP addresses, to Viacom, the media conglomerate. Would that ruling ever be possible if Google did not keep that amount of user data in the first place?

Also, as expected, the aforementioned European Directive on Data Retention applies, of course, to the online world as well, with similar provisions about the monitoring of all internet activity (e-mails, URLs, etc) by the ISPs.

At the same time, the expansion of social networking sites has seen millions of people willingly reveal a vast amount of detailed information about their lives, blurring even further the lines between private and public. This has not gone without cost to many, as their experience of such exposure ranges from minor consequences like personal embarrassment to more grave ones such as job losses, lost opportunities and negative profiling.

Looking from some distance, it is not difficult to realise that it is rather easy to be deceived by the isolative nature of the online process. Yet, it is essential to truly internalise, beyond the point of simple knowledge, that whatever we do online is leaving an electronic trail behind us that is here to stay.

The understanding of such a reality can undoubtedly create a bleak conception to many over the shape of modern life, as it is not difficult to comprehend how this has the ability to monumentally affect every day choices. Yet, as Bill Thompson puts it, “it is possible to take an optimistic view and treat our current concerns as a reflection of a period of transition and generational difference: we may just be taking our time coming to terms with the new levels of exposure.”

“Brave new world”

As different perceptions and prejudices collide in this rapidly changing environment, we still need to find our way around the new system. Today we are wary that online photos showing us drunk at parties could deter recruiters from hiring us, but in twenty years time it is quite likely that most employers will be much more lenient, as they will have their own online past and will be more familiar with such images.

Perhaps in the end we should dare to go one step further. The idea of identity is at the core of the most important debates of our time. Industrialisation and the enlightenment have given us an idea of “self” and of the boundaries between private and public that seem natural but are not. With the industrial age now in a transient stage, we should acknowledge that the concept of identity is itself a social construct and therefore subject to modification. The boundaries are now re-chartered, with technology playing a key role in the process. Bill Thompson explains: “The growth of online services, social tools and surveillance are challenging the assumptions that underpin the enlightenment idea of identity and we will see new ideas emerge to help us cope in an increasingly digitised world where little is truly private.”

At the top of this massive wave of public exposure, from the external, omnipresent monitoring to the voluntary revelation of personal and possibly harmful information, lie some fundamental questions whose answers can determine the route of our existence in the interconnected world. Are we willing to sacrifice freedom of expression in the name of avoiding unwanted public exposure? Should we choose between safety and privacy?

These questions can often be misleading and result to extorted choices. Just as liberty requires both security and privacy, respect for the individual and freedom of expression are equally important in the digitised environment.  Similar to the annoying prospect of being treated as citizens under constant investigation or as life-long objects in a market research project, there is the danger of encouraging the breeding of “clinical” behaviours by imposing self censorship to avoid potential personal harm.

Such fears can deeply affect our attitude towards a wide set of every day choices. Are we going to care, for example, about the CCTV cameras that monitor our moves if we want to go to a demonstration that condemns the involvement of our country in a war? Are we going to post pictures of that protest on Facebook?

Perhaps our response can draw some inspiration from our previous reactions while other monumental changes were taking place. In the same way that 18th century people dealt with the culture shock of moving from the fields into factories by developing urban culture and its plethora of attitudes and characteristics, we should now adjust our mindset in the modern conditions and assess what from everything being done is “acceptable and even normal,” as Bill Thompson points out.

Although without the benefit of hindsight, it is not incongruous to underline the historic significance of our generation. The fading memories of the world before the heavy interconnection might be rapidly abandoning us but they have not yet completely evaporated. Without acting as if the standards that dominated the world half a century ago can still be applied today – or have some inherent eternal wisdom – we should boldly enter this brave new world, trying to keep values such as tolerance, respect and openness at the core of the new environment. The burden is heavy and the conditions are not easy. Yet, it is vital to succeed.

Varnished with a pale yet discernible mixture of complacency and pomposity, the developing assumption of late regarding America’s sub-prime crisis is that greedy, careless borrowers, and not bankers, should be held accountable for much of the emerged mortgage mayhem.

As it was expected, the president of the IOC turned down the idea of boycotting the Summer 2008 Olympics in the aftermath of China’s crackdown on Tibet. Yet, the recent unrest is unavoidably adding more fuel to the escalating controversy that has been surrounding the Olympics since they were awarded to Beijing on July 13 2001.

When Australian band Midnight Oil took the stage of the Sydney Olympic Stadium in 2000 to perform their reconciliation anthem "Beds Are Burning," with the word SORRY printed in their black outfits, John Howard was present; perhaps the most distressed member of the enthusiastic audience as the whole world was in tune for the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics.

The country that gave supermarkets, Superman and Super Bowl to the world is ardently anticipating for its latest “super” invention, this week’s Super Tuesday elections.

Against the backdrop of a blur political landscape, the US election caravan makes another stop in its long journey, as candidates, campaigners and media descend in South Carolina.

While race, drugs and rock’ n’ roll dominate the political news agenda, accompanied by a mainstream media frenzy about tears and gender issues, Paul Rogers’ latest openDemocracy article, Iran and Pakistan: Danger signals, acts as an alarming reminder on  the immediate foreign policy challenges which the US presidential wannabes and their campaigns have been astonishingly ignoring or avoiding, for a nation that has declared and runs an abiding and unpredictable war.

Against the backdrop of a blur political landscape, the US election caravan makes another stop in its long journey, as candidates, campaigners and media descend in South Carolina.

While race, drugs and rock’ n’ roll dominate the political news agenda, accompanied by a mainstream media frenzy about tears and gender issues, Paul Rogers’ latest openDemocracy article, Iran and Pakistan: Danger signals, acts as an alarming reminder on the immediate foreign policy challenges which the US presidential wannabes and their campaigns have been astonishingly ignoring or avoiding, for a nation that has declared and runs an abiding and unpredictable war.

Amid post-election violence in Kenya, more than four hundred civilians have lost their life while thousands of displaced people struggle to find food and shelter on a daily basis. The turmoil threatens both to undermine a country that has made significant steps ahead over the last years, and the politically and economically fragile - East Africa region.