Activism in Athens

By Samm Carbone

Athens is the largest city in Greece with a population of up to 3 million people. Tall buildings and cars are packed together on each side of the narrow streets with barely enough room for our bus to make it through. I'm not exaggerating, our bus drivers had to lift and move a car out of our path in order to scrape by. The people who live in the city seemed to be well-adjusted to the overflow of people.

During our visit, we were warned that we might experience some delays in our plans due to a general strike and protests that had been taking place in the center of the city. While I was hoping that we would not have to miss out on any of the archeological sites due to the demonstrations, I was intrigued to learn more about how the public interacted with the Greek government and vice versa.

We learned that the strike was organized by the civil transportation workers of Athens in response to a deadly train crash that occurred as a result of negligence. This tragedy had come even after warnings from railway unions that there weren’t the necessary safety measures in place, and it required attention. Transportation services such as railways, buses, ferries, etc., were shut down for periods of time.

We did not end up encountering any interference, and there was no protesting taking place in the areas we traveled through, but the tension could be felt looking at the signs and the enforcement who were prepared for whatever was to occur. Rallies like this one are not new to Greek society and this was one of many related to this specific incident. I sympathize with the citizens of Greece as they fight against injustice, especially because of how reminiscent this situation is of the Ohio train derailment that happened recently. Gross negligence resulting in the loss of lives deserves to be taken seriously by the government, so hopefully the people that come together in protest pile enough pressure on that they finally do so.