Author: Alex Mitchell
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Ecuador shames Australia
The first responsibility of every democratic state is the welfare of its citizens, a responsibility that has been abdicated by the Australian government in the case of Julian Assange. As a result, Ecuador, a tiny republic in South America, has stepped into the breach vacated by the Australian government to protect one of our citizens.…
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Greece’s long hot summer
It’s the peak of summer in Greece with temperatures each day up around 40 degrees and fire tenders are stationed on every roadway around the nation waiting to catch firebugs and idiots who throw lighted cigarettes from their cars. Because the countryside is tinder dry and fires devastate farmland, offenders are arrested on the spot…
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Human cost of bank austerity
The connection between the economic crisis and the increasing rate of suicide is worldwide. In April a 77-year-old retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas shot himself in front of the Greek parliament after shouting: “I have debts. I can’t stand this anymore. I don’t want to leave my debts to my children.” He said in a suicide…
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US medal count – blacks v Mormons
With only hours to go to the London Olympics closing ceremony, the United States is way out in front with a total of 46 gold, 29 silver and 29 bronze medals. I wonder how many were won by black Americans and how many by white Mormons? I doubt whether this will have any impact on…
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Among the gum trees of Greece
Driving north from Athens to the secluded beach and headland at Sounion the other night, Oz-born journalist Brian “Digger” Williams drew our attention to the avenues of giant eucalyptus trees along the way. They look like the “ghost gum” variety we have in Australia except that the trunks are not long and slender, they are…
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Ex-Defence Minister threatens to tell all
As noted in previous despatches, Greece’s vast over-spending on arms was one of the compelling reasons for its debt crisis as well as the corrosive spread of corruption among the political classes. We have been receiving a daily diet of reports on the impending trial of former Defence Minister Akis Tsochalzopoulos, a senior member of…
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History is both alive and dead
In just four days in Athens we’ve visited the Benaki Museum, the magnificent ruins and museum at Delphi, climbed to the Acropolis and inspected the Parthenon, and been to the Acropolis Museum and the breathtaking National Archaeological Museum in central Athens. In the days ahead we have a schedule of further trips and tours to…
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The Digger gives us a welcome to Athens
What a welcome to Athens. At the airport one of the Oz veterans of journalism, Brian “Digger” Williams, is there to greet us and drives us to our hotel which is a few hundred metres from the Parliament, the Presidential Palace and the venue for all the big political rallies. It is the first time…
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Rule by troika
When no single party won an outright majority at the May 6 general election, Greece held a second election on June 17. The stock, bond and money markets were ecstatic when the right-wing New Democracy topped the poll and immediately formed a three-party coalition with Pasok, the social democratic party, and the Democratic Left party.…
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A nation out of work
Unemployment in Greece has reached a new record high in April of 22.5 per cent, up 0.5 from March. The jobless rate is now 6.3 per cent higher than one year ago and climbing. Greece, in the fifth year of recession, has twice the jobless rate of the average in the 17 countries sharing the…