Features and Causes of the Protests in Greece* Nicolas Voulelis[ 1 ] December 2008 In what follows we shall attempt to outline certain features of the protests in Greece and to identify their causes. It is not a comprehensive analysis and does not seek to establish final conclusions. If some of the judgments made here seem contradictory, that is no more than a reflection of Greek reality. The Protests The events cannot adequately be described as anything but a mass explosion, an outburst, chiefly by the young, and one that is independent of political parties and their influence. This outburst is to a great extent autonomous, using the most up to date forms of communication at national level, and with a strong element of violence in nearly every direction. Ten days on, both the government and the political parties are either unable or reluctant to look at the events without the blinkers and stereotypes of the past and to take the initiative. The Causes A definitive cause is hard to identify. The spark was clearly the murder of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, but the underlying causes are more diffuse. To summarise, they include the rage due to a sense of impotence, frustration in the face of dead ends, an aversion to the political and social system, and an indifference towards and even hatred of the organised bodies of society. In recent years, Greek political and economic life has been dominated by scandal and the complete impunity enjoyed by the culprits. Scandals of every kind have succeeded one another, involving ministers, parliamentary deputies, powerful business figures, the Church, the judiciary, the police and the secret services. But no one is ever punished, no one is convicted, no one goes to jail. The Institutions Regardless of the nature of the scandals – illegal enrichment on the part of politicians or judges, illegal transactions using Church property, bonds, Siemens's slush funds, electronic surveillance, sex scandals, the abduction and torture of immigrants, lawlessness and police brutality – public opinion and especially young people see all the central institutions of society as discredited and have reached the point at which they believe that the powers that be can act any way they like and go unpunished, that nothing can change and nothing can be solved by the existing parties, especially the two major parties that take it in turns to form the government. This is the basis on which indifference, aversion, rage and hatred have developed, setting the scene for the violence and fury that have been unleashed in all directions.