There has been a lot of talk about the votes that ultra-right wing and “eurosceptic” parties received in last week’s european parliament elections. Less attention has been given on the votes which were not cast at all. Continent wide the abstention rate was 43% but that ranged from 10% in Belgium to a mind-boggling 87%…… Continue Reading
I have been asked in the last few days what I make of the electoral results in Greece and Europe, whether it is Syriza’s victory or the rise of Golden Dawn and fascist parties. There are a lot of celebrations and alarms raised by different sectors of the political and media classes. But the situation…… Continue Reading
The media have no problem naming the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels as the vile act of anti-semitism that it seems to be. I wish they would be just as willing to name the attack at UCSB as the vile act of misogyny that it clearly is. And to recognize the grounds where…… Continue Reading
I have noticed over the last several days a disturbing number of memes about the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, many of them trying to be funny and failing miserably. Alongside them are reposts of speculations about what happened from bored media outlets and pundits who seem to think that if you don’t have anything good…… Continue Reading
I was going to the local tax office this afternoon in Greece (I needed to pay a fee for the replacement of a lost ID card) and as I was approaching I noticed several police cars, cops cordoning off the sidewalk and after a little bit a fire truck, ambulance and military truck as well…… Continue Reading
I have commented a fair amount about the sanitization of Mandela’s life and legacy and I want to make an important clarification, prompted by a someone’s Facebook comment. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate and value Mandela’s messages of reconciliation. I do in ways that I cannot even begin to describe. But it is important…… Continue Reading
The 6th of December is a day of many anniversaries of death. I am sure that I am missing some but here are the ones that I recall: 1961 Franz Fannon, decolonization thinker and writer extraordinaire, dies. 1989 Marc Lepine kills 14 women in Montreal, calling them “a bunch of feminists.” 2008 Alex Grigoropoulos, a…… Continue Reading
Yesterday afternoon I was in the center of Athens with my mother and after we finished some errands and visiting with some friends we decided to stop by a local place that she likes, to get something to eat. Just outside the entrance an older man was pacing around, hand slightly extended, muttering over and…… Continue Reading
A few days ago a young girl died from poisonous fumes in Greece after she and her mother had been using a homemade brazier to heat their apartment when their electricity was cut off for non-payment. You would think that this is as bad as things could get for the poor mother but no. She…… Continue Reading
To all my friends who are spending this day with loved ones, may you enjoy your day and your feast (hopefully with minimal arguments and indigestion). To all my friends who are spending this day with the grief of the loss of loved ones, may the warmth of memories and the love and good times…… Continue Reading