Emergency staff ran hospitals, schools closed and thousands of austerity-weary Greeks took to the streets on Thursday in a 24-hour general strike that tested the resolve of a national unity government.
Greek unions took to the streets Thursday to force the new government to change tack on its austerity polices as Prime Minister Lucas Papademos insisted he would press ahead with more spending cuts.
Chanting “Get out, take the budget and get out of here!,” Greeks poured into the square in front of parliament to protest about a new dose of austerity medicine prescribed by foreign lenders as the price for bailout loans.
Kostas Tsikrikas, head of the ADEDY civil servants union, said “workers continue their struggle against this unfair, barbarous policy … We are going to coordinate our action with unions in other southern (eurozone) countries.”
Tsikrikas conceded there were fewer protestors than at the last general strike October 19 which attracted around 120,000 but added that “the problems are going to get worse, we have had enough and we can’t go on like this.”
Police put the demonstrators at 17,000 in Athens and 6,000 in the northern city of Thessaloniki as the sixth general strike this year shut down public services and crippled train and ferry services. (source: AFP, Reuters)
Tony nominated actor and American Idol alum Constantine Maroulis was a celebrity guest at the Loukoumi Celebrity Cookbook premiere, that took place at Barnes and Noble on Sunday, November 27, 2011 in Lexington Avenue and 86th Street. He opens up to Markos Papadatos about being a part of Nick Katsoris’ newest children’s book, which benefits such organizations as the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Chefs for Humanity, the charity of Iron Chef Cat Cora.
“It’s a great honor to be here,” Maroulis acknowledges. “Nick Katsoris is a great friend and he is doing so much great work for kids. It’s just an uplifting and beautiful story. I’m glad to be a part of it. I have a baby girl to think about now, and it’s great to know he is doing such great things for the children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and young people everywhere.”
Throughout the Loukoumi series, Maroulis voiced the character of “Gus the Bear.” According to Maroulis, he remarks, “it’s great as an actor to be able to do voices and to be part of cool projects like these.”
For this latest book, Maroulis contributed his childhood recipe for Greek lemon roasted potatoes. “It’s my mother’s recipe that was probably passed down from her mother,” Maroulis discloses. “It’s a beautiful, basic Greek dish of potatoes that goes with anything; they are baked, nice, and they smell great. It’s a pretty easy recipe to follow, and you can make them in approximately twenty or thirty minutes.”
This year, Constantine Maroulis, was awarded a prestigious Gabby award in Ellis Island in the “Performing Arts” category besting out fellow Greek-American entertainers, Zach Galifianakis and Tine Fey. “It’s a wonderful honor to be recognized by my peers especially in the Greek community for my work in the performing arts. It’s really nice, and I appreciate all of the support from the Greek community. I promise to keep on doing good work for them,” he says.
When asked about what he feels is his proudest professional accomplishment, Maroulis reveals, “I think that I haven’t reached that just yet. I am working on that! As an artist, I try to grow each and every day and do great projects. Hopefully, I will be doing them for many, many years to come.”
Regarding his future plans, Maroulis shares, “I have two brand new Broadway shows in the works and you’ll hear about them pretty soon.”
Asked about which musicians he would like to collaborate with, Maroulis underscores, “There are so many great artists out there,” he admits. “I am lucky to do what I do. I have gotten a chance to work with so many great people, so I am very grateful for that. I think it’s great when people from different styles collaborate, such as Lady Gaga with Tony Bennett. Something along those lines will be great.”
Maroulis notes that he stays connected with his dedicated fans via his social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. “I try to arrange meet and greets after events, and I know a lot of the fans on a first name basis, so it’s been like a growing family over the years,” he adds.
“The Greek-American community is incredible,” Maroulis states. “They are very supportive of me and the arts. We stick together and we are trying to do great things for the future of Hellenism. Greece has taken a bit of a black eye in the media and we are doing our best to remedy the situation, and a lot of Greek leaders are out there and they are working tirelessly to remedy it. I encourage people to go to Greece, spend time there, discover their roots, and just have a good time.”
For hopefuls who wish to enter the entertainment and music profession, Maroulis stresses the need to practice. “Work hard, and explore higher education. Try to do as much good work as you can, whether it’s community theater or a high school play! It’s all positive and productive,” Maroulis concludes.
The Festival of Films from Greece started on the 1st of December and will last through the 11th of December, 2011. The festival is being held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The festival’s opening day began with Attenberg, Greece’s submission for Best Foreign Film for the 2012 Academy Awards, and highlights include Pelican’s Watch, a documentary about Europe’s oldest vineyard, on the island of Santorini, and the farmers struggling to keep it up and running.
Location: Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston
Christina Martini, designer of Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, has made her own ‘magical’ sandals. Born and raised in Greece, Martini has designed 31 styles of Ancient Greek sandals. “Our idea was to make our sandals look like they were archaeological finds but with a modern twist”, says Martini. The sandals are designed with vegetable-tanned leather and are handmade which makes them look like the goddess Aphrodite has brought them down as gift for us to enjoy.
The word sandal has Ancient Greek origins and comes from the Ancient Greek word “sandalon”. The Ancient Greeks had different types of sandals to help them distinguish between actors, philosophers, horsemen and hunters. There was also a myth that in the beautiful island of Crete there lived a gifted sandal maker who enriched each pair with magical powers. The gods and goddesses had their sandals made from him.
When you look at Christina Martini’s sandals think of the magical sandals that were once made in Crete in Ancient Greece.
A propaganda poster and publications circulate on Canadian, American, and Australian Newspapers by Skopje against Greece that are offensive. Skopjans aim at entering the NATO and the European Union.
The photo on the left depicts a girl that shouts the name of Macedonia, concerning the Name Dispute that exists between Greece and Skopje.
The abstract sculptures of Greek artist Sophia Vari will be presented to the Colombian audience for the first time.
The exhibition opens on Sunday December 3, with fifteen of Vari’s large sculptures to be revealed in the large Caribbean beach resort city of Cartagena, in the Plaza de los Coches.
The artistic exhibition will be hosted in the Colombian city until February 29, 2012.
In addition, several sculptures will be on display at the Plaza de Santo Domingo, San Pedro Claver, La Proclamacion, and Estribos Alley.
“We are pleased that Cartagena is the chosen site [for Vari’s sculptures] because it is an exhibit that has already been in important global cities such as Madrid, Paris, and Athens, among others. The city’s administration has supported cultural tourism, and we believe that this decision is strengthening Cartagena’s global image,” told Irina Junieles, director of the Cartagena Cultural Heritage Institute of Colombia.
Sophia Vari (1940) is one of the most renowned modern Greek sculptors and has managed to entwine the abstract with the classic, the figurative with sharp shapes, volumes and tangles, light and colors.
Pantelis Kapsis
Journalist Pantelis Kapsis was appointed the interim government’s spokesman and Minister of State on Tuesday.
Pantelis Kapsis was a personal appointment of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.
For many years the managing director of the newspaper Ta Nea, Pantelis Kapsis, who now writes a regular column for the centre left daily To Vima, is considered to be one of Greece’s most influential journalists.
Papademos also appointed University of Piraeus professor Gikas Hardouvelis as the director of his economic office.
And here we are with a major political issue. “Political” in terms that here comes the Greek deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos and swears at Greek citizens, precisely the “Indignant Greeks” movement. Speaking to French television TV5, the deputy PM swears at the movement with ”French” in real …French!
“Ils sont des communistes, ils sont des fascistes et est sont des con” Pangalos said in 2:55 footage minute stunning the French audience -I assume- and triggering an outrage among Greeks. This remarkable sentence that shows if nothing else a high culture nivaeu translates into English as “They are communists, they are fascists and they are as*h**s”. In Greek we translate it simply as “mal***s”.
Of course, the French Journalist could ask Pangalos to ”Define Communists, Fascists and “Con” – but he didn’t…
The interview footage makes the rounds around the internet like crazy.
Theodoros Pangalos has angered many social groups in the past for swearing at them. Not only he described readers of a certain Greek newspaper as Animals, he also put the whole blame on citizens for ‘blackmailing politicians through trading votes for a work place.
[youtube]8-M1xbv9lac&feature[/youtube] (source: allvoices, preza tv blog)
The Lilywhites went down 2-1 to PAOK at White Hart Lane, leaving Harry Redknapp’s side three points behind Kazan – and five goals worse off on goal difference. PAOK took the lead after six minutes when Dimitris Salpingidis was on hand to head past Heurelho Gomes in the Spurs goal.
The Greek side doubled their lead seven minutes later when Stefanos Athanasiadis was unmarked to head in from six yards.
Spurs gave themselves a lifeline with five minutes to play in the first half when Luka Modric scored from the spot after Konstantinos Stafylidis had handled Harry Kane’s shot on the line. The defender was sent off for the offence.
Harry Redknapp’s side bombarded the Salonika goal in the second half and they thought that they had equalized with 10 minutes to go when Jermain Defoe collected the ball in the area before poking in. However, the goal was ruled out for offside despite a PAOK defender, who was down after a challenge by Defoe seconds earlier, was led on the line.
PAOK have now qualified, and Kazan will only need a draw in Greece in their final match to progress without any complications, rendering Spurs’ final result away at Shamrock Rovers meaningless.
Faced with the Greek economic crisis, Turkey has proposed Greece to cut the ”non-essential” defence expenditure of both countries.
The proposal was made by Turkey’s European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis, in a press meeting today in Brussels. Bagis is convinced that the time has come to ”take a step” in this direction, considering the friendly relations between the current Defence Minister of Greece, Dimitris Avramopoulos and Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
”Greece and Turkey together spend more than the NATO bases,” said Bagis, ”and yet they are not enemies, but neighbours and allies inside NATO. We have a responsibility to defend ourselves against threats from the outside, but there is no reason to defend ourselves from each other. Greek and Turkish citizens need new schools, roads, hospitals and bridges, they don’t need airplanes or submarines.
Together we can cut our non-crucial defence expenditure,” Bagis explained. He added that ”the current Greek Defence Minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, is a good friend of Turkey and of Prime Minister Erdogan: Avramopoulos was mayor of Athens when Erdogan was mayor of Istanbul, and they helped each other when they were hit by an earthquake.” So ”I am certain that we can discuss the matter,” Bagis concluded.
The abstract sculptures of Greek artist Sophia Vari will be presented to the 
