In another sad recession-related story a Greek man, 77-years old Dimitris Christoulas, killed himself so as to not be a 'burden' to his children and so as to not lose his 'self respect' by having to scrounge for food.
He killed himself Syntagma Square, the focal point of protests in Greece.
He left a note which read:
The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state. And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting (although if a fellow Greek were to grab a Kalashnikov, I would be right behind him), I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance. I believe that young people with no future, will one day take up arms and hang the traitors of this country at Syntagma square, just like the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945
His death sparked outrage and a riot.
It's unfortunate that this is going on, but not surprising.
From a PR perspective, the bankers and politicians are handling all this austerity horribly. I'm not sure if the powers-that-be thought they could send a country in to poverty and not have riots on their hands or what.
The truth of the matter is that riots are the least of everyone's problems. The system's utter disregard for who caused all this and what is just in terms of fixing it is going to lead to revolutions. You can't make people who didn't create the debt suffer in order to pay back the debt and not expect the populous to conclude that they are run by a group of sociopathic gangsters.
Had they thrown the culprits in jail the populous might have some hope that one day things will get better. But with the same people in charge that caused all the problems, the populous realize they are in for decades (which for many will be the rest of their life) of poverty.
Not much to say here on the PR front other than this man's death is what could easily spark a revolution. The thing with 'messages' - and his actions were clearly a message to his fellow Greeks - is that certain messages do move people to action.
Humans are odd in that they will often take a large amount of abuse themselves and not fight back. However, when an innocent is abused - a child, a senior citizen, etc. - they are moved to action because suddenly they perceive said abuse as evil that must be stopped. Their regard for the 'rules' goes out the window when it becomes apparent to them that the rules are not just.
From a PR perspective, while I wish this man hadn't killed himself, you can rest assured that his message to the youth got through and I wouldn't be surprised if quietly people in Greece begin to organize to fight back beyond mere protests.
The next 'protest' might be a storming of parliament and the banks and the dragging of the politicians and bankers in to the streets.
Time will tell however.
He killed himself Syntagma Square, the focal point of protests in Greece.
He left a note which read:
The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state. And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting (although if a fellow Greek were to grab a Kalashnikov, I would be right behind him), I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance. I believe that young people with no future, will one day take up arms and hang the traitors of this country at Syntagma square, just like the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945
His death sparked outrage and a riot.
It's unfortunate that this is going on, but not surprising.
From a PR perspective, the bankers and politicians are handling all this austerity horribly. I'm not sure if the powers-that-be thought they could send a country in to poverty and not have riots on their hands or what.
The truth of the matter is that riots are the least of everyone's problems. The system's utter disregard for who caused all this and what is just in terms of fixing it is going to lead to revolutions. You can't make people who didn't create the debt suffer in order to pay back the debt and not expect the populous to conclude that they are run by a group of sociopathic gangsters.
Had they thrown the culprits in jail the populous might have some hope that one day things will get better. But with the same people in charge that caused all the problems, the populous realize they are in for decades (which for many will be the rest of their life) of poverty.
Not much to say here on the PR front other than this man's death is what could easily spark a revolution. The thing with 'messages' - and his actions were clearly a message to his fellow Greeks - is that certain messages do move people to action.
Humans are odd in that they will often take a large amount of abuse themselves and not fight back. However, when an innocent is abused - a child, a senior citizen, etc. - they are moved to action because suddenly they perceive said abuse as evil that must be stopped. Their regard for the 'rules' goes out the window when it becomes apparent to them that the rules are not just.
From a PR perspective, while I wish this man hadn't killed himself, you can rest assured that his message to the youth got through and I wouldn't be surprised if quietly people in Greece begin to organize to fight back beyond mere protests.
The next 'protest' might be a storming of parliament and the banks and the dragging of the politicians and bankers in to the streets.
Time will tell however.
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