The Greeks have been using social media like blogs, twitter, friendfeed and facebook as well as e-mails and SMS messages to organise a peaceful sitting protest in front of the Greek House of Parliament today.
The Greek social media scene has been boiling for days now. The blogs started by discussing alleged police brutality and the death of young Alexandros Grigoropoulos who was killed by a bullet on the chest on Saturday. Comments abound in the Greek blogging community but the interest the situation sparked saw an increased level of debate with people venting their frustration or discussing what has been happening.
As the whole country seemed to errupt in violence Greeks continued discussing the situation on a variety of social media. #griots was started and updates were pouring in from people on the streets up and down the country, with reports of closed of spots to the traffic, police presence, destruction of property, teargas and hooded youths.
Most discussions conceded that the situation in Greece was bleak. Helena Smith, a Guardian correspondent, calls this
a lost generation without work or hope, it is a rage that has been fuelled by allegations of corruption and the seemingly relentless scandals involving sex, money and the church which have swirled around the conservatives – and for which, despite public outrage, no one has been punished.
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As the violence continued frustration mounted. On the social media scene people started pleading for calm, for an opportunity to protest peacefully and to stand against the hooded destroyers that seem to be taking control of the situation.
People not normally associated with protecting peaceful demonstrators or participating in any way started going down to the streets to stop the violence. A blog reported that some politicians from PASOK (the opposition party) went to the street and made a human chain, to allow students to go through the police ranks and leave flowers at the spot where Alexandros was killed. A friendfeed update reported that in the city of Patras the citizens went downtown “to do what the police couldn’t do. To stop the hooded people.” A twitter call for calm and ideas for peaceful protest was taken up by twitter users, friendfeed, blogs and Facebook.
Almost immediately the idea to get together for a peaceful protest at 11.00 in the morning in front of the House of Parliament was shared via RSS feeds, blog posts, twitter and friendfeed updates, e-mails and SMS messages. A facebook group brought this to the attention of a wider crowd as well.
Is this really going to be a peaceful protest? I doubt it. Tensions are now running high and when in a crowd your individual sense of ethos tends to break down.
But I am hopeful. The citizens reached out and spoke to each other. Now that we have found a way, I can only hope that we can stop the violence and go on with the discussion.
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Follow the events as they unfold
- on the #griots hashtag
- on the #griots friendfeed room
- on the Guardian website
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Update:
Photos from the silent / peaceful protest. Vrypan snaps away and cpil uploads them.
The Greeks are very angry, the reputation of the State is really buttered and the fact that there is no real civic society in Greece to help the citizens get out from this tunnel makes the whole situation even worse. As ex pat I really suffer to see my compatriots in a such a mess and confusion
[...] See original here: Greeks use social media to organise protest [...]
It's a problem and the issue is that nobody can see a solution. How do you get the nation to heal its wounds and work towards a better tomorrow? "It's just big words" I can almost hear the disappointed Greeks saying. Yet, all this interest, all this talk, all these discussions about peaceful protest and what the real issues are do offer a glimmer of hope.
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[...] I greci fuochi Puntata web radiofonica, social media live reporting. The Greeks have been using social media like blogs, twitter, friendfeed and facebook as well as e-mails and SMS messages to organise a peaceful sitting protest in front of the Greek House of Parliament today. (Sofia Gkiousou, “Greeks use social media to organise protest”) [...]