Where Will Greece Be Five Years from Now?
Over the last 10 years, Greece went on a debt binge that came crashing down on them in late 2009, leading into an economic crisis. Greece's economy has been greatly hurt, the government has become corrupt, and social unrest has greatly increased threatening the future of the Euro. Other European countries such as Germany, France and Italy have continued to lend billions of dollars to insure Greece does not go into a deep depression. In return for two massive bailout packages, austerity measures have been demanded by France and Germany, diminishing Greek's safety net making the country fall into a recession. Greece has decided to tax the wealthy, instead of the majority of the country. The Greek government has demanded high tax rates from its' citizens for things such as luxury homes and goods. Meanwhile, the country is facing record high un-employment rates (17%) and resentment between the different economic classes. Greek citizens are extremely unhappy resulting in sometimes violent street riots and protests. There are two historical revolutions that are similar to the modern day Greek revolution. The French Revolution (1788-1799) was a direct result of the citizens of France being fed up with the corruption and terrible state of their economy and The Russian Revolution of 1917 had many street riots and terrible working conditions for the poor.
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The Revolution and Its Catalyst
Thousands of demonstrators marched in thenorthern Greek city of Thessaloniki.
On the evening of Saturday, December 6, 2008, a special guard of the police shot 15-year-old Alexander Grigoropoulos, after clashing between two guards and Alexander and his friends. Thousands of people across Greece were deeply saddened by the death of this boy. And for many, it was the start of a revolution. The tension in Greece has been slowly building up, pent up frustrations about numerous issues, like government corruption, bad economic times, violence between civilians and police, and upsetting education reforms, just to name a few, have been upsetting Greek society. But it was the death of Alexander Grigoropoulos that finally sparked change. The incident caused days of consecutive protesting, and every year rioting resurrects itself again to mark the anniversary of Alexanders death.