|
Debtocracy
''Debtocracy'' ( el, Χρεοκρατία ''Chreokratía'') is a 2011 left-wing documentary film by Katerina Kitidi and Aris Chatzistefanou. The documentary examines the causes of the Greek debt crisis in 2010 and advocates for the default of "odious debt". The documentary has been distributed online under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license since 6 April 2011, and the production said that it has no interest in any kind of commercial exploitation of the project. The documentary is available in Greek and English and is subtitled in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. According to ''The Nation'', half a million people watched the film in the first five days of its release. The film was followed by a Greek-language book with the same title. Name The production team coined the word "debtocracy" (Greek "Χρεοκρατία"), defining it as the condition by which Greece found itself trapped in its debt. The term is derived from the words "χρέος" (debt) and the Greek " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aris Chatzistefanou
Aris Chatzistefanou ( el, Άρης Χατζηστεφάνου) is a Greek journalist and filmmaker. Born in Athens, Chatzistefanou started his career as a journalist in 1997 at Radio Skai 100.3, where in 2005 he began his own show ''Infowar'', a big success on Greek radio. In April 2011, he released ''Debtocracy'', a documentary co-directed by Katerina Kitidi about the Greek debt crisis, which, despite garnering almost a million viewers on YouTube, was not well received in the traditional media and caused the cancellation of ''Infowar'' and his dismissal. He has worked for the BBC World Service in London and Istanbul, and contributed short documentaries and articles to ''The Guardian'' and other international media outlets. In 2012, he co-directed with Katerina Kitidi, the documentary ''Catastroika'' that focuses on the effects of massive privatization in Greece and several other countries. The documentary features Naomi Klein and others. The film was released by the co-owned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2010 Greek Economic Crisis
Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis (Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that led to impoverishment and loss of income and property, as well as a small-scale humanitarian crisis. In all, the Greek economy suffered the longest recession of any advanced mixed economy to date. As a result, the Greek political system has been upended, social exclusion increased, and hundreds of thousands of well-educated Greeks have left the country. The Greek crisis started in late 2009, triggered by the turmoil of the world-wide Great Recession, structural weaknesses in the Greek economy, and lack of monetary policy flexibility as a member of the Eurozone. The crisis included revelations that previous data on government debt levels and deficits had been underreported by the Greek government: the official forecast for the 2009 budget d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world." Formed in 1944, started on 27 December 1945, at the Bretton Woods Conference primarily by the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international monetary system. It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. , the fund had XDR 477 billion (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (; born 25 April 1949), also known as DSK, is a French economist and politician who served as the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and was a member of the French Socialist Party. He was a professor of economics at Paris West University Nanterre La Défense and Sciences Po, and was Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 1999, as part of Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government. He sought the nomination in the Socialist Party presidential primary of 2006, but was defeated by Ségolène Royal. Strauss-Kahn was appointed managing director of the IMF on 28 September 2007, with the backing of then–President of France Nicolas Sarkozy. He served in that capacity until his resignation on 18 May 2011, in the wake of an allegation that he had sexually assaulted a hotel maid; the charges were later dismissed. Other sexual allegations followed, and resulted in acquittals. These accusations were seen as controver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Revolution
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by the British Empire, Kingdom of France, and the Russian Empire, while the Ottomans were aided by their North African vassals, particularly the eyalet of Egypt. The war led to the formation of modern Greece. The revolution is celebrated by Greeks around the world as independence day on 25 March. Greece, with the exception of the Ionian Islands, came under Ottoman rule in the 15th century, in the decades before and after the fall of Constantinople. During the following centuries, there were sporadic but unsuccessful Greek uprisings against Ottoman rule. In 1814, a secret organization called Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends) was founded with the aim of liberating Greece, encouraged by the revolutionary fervor gripping Europe in that peri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PIGS (economics)
PIGS is a derogatory acronym that has been used to designate the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. During the European debt crisis of 2009-2014 the variant PIIGS, or GIPSI, was coined to include Ireland. At the time these five EU member states were struggling to refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks. The term originated in the 1990s with the increased integration of the EU economies, and it was often used in reference to the growing debt and economic vulnerability of the Southern European EU countries. It was again popularised during the European sovereign-debt crisis of the late 2000s and expanded in use during this period. In the 1990s to late 2000s, Ireland was not included in this term; the country was still in the midst of its "Celtic Tiger" period, with debt significantly below the Eurozone average and a government surplus as late as 2006. However, taking on the guarantee of banks' debt, the Irish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . The euro is divided into 100 cents. The currency is also used officially by the institutions of the European Union, by four European microstates that are not EU members, the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, as well as unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo. Outside Europe, a number of special territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally, over 200 million people worldwide use currencies pegged to the euro. As of 2013, the euro is the second-largest reserve currency as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. , with more than €1.3 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Papandreou
George Andreas Papandreou ( el, Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving as an MP for Movement for Change. Belonging to a political dynasty of long standing, he served under his father, then-prime minister Andreas Papandreou as Minister for National Education and Religious Affairs (1988–1989 and 1994–1996). He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Costas Simitis from 1999 to 2004. Papandreou was leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party, which his father founded, from February 2004 until March 2012, and has been President of the Socialist International since January 2006. On 6 October 2009, George Papandreou became the 182nd Prime Minister of Greece. He was the third member of the Papandreou family to serve as the country's prim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kostas Karamanlis
Konstantinos A. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis ( el, Κώστας Καραμανλής, ), is a Greek politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Greece from 2004 to 2009. He was also president of the centre-right New Democracy party, founded by his uncle Konstantinos Karamanlis, from 1997 to 2009, and he is currently a member of the Hellenic Parliament. Karamanlis was first elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for New Democracy in 1989 and became president of the party in 1997. After leading the opposition in the Hellenic Parliament for seven years and his narrow defeat in the 2000 parliamentary election, he served as the 181st Prime Minister of Greece for two consecutive terms, winning the 2004 election, with an all-time record number of votes, and again in 2007. However, he asked for mid-term general elections in 2009, as his party enjoyed a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kostas Simitis
Konstantinos G. Simitis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Σημίτης; born 23 June 1936), usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis (Κώστας Σημίτης), is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece and was leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) from 1996 to 2004. Biography Costas Simitis was born in Piraeus to Georgios Simitis, a Professor at the School of Economic and Commercial Sciences, and to his wife Fani (née Christopoulou). He studied law at the University of Marburg in Germany and economics at the London School of Economics. He is married to Daphne Arkadiou (b. 1938), and has two daughters, Fiona and Marilena. He currently resides in the Kolonaki district of Athens. His brother Spiros Simitis is a prominent jurist specializing on data privacy in Germany. Political activity before 1981 In 1965 he returned to Greece and was one of the founders of the "Alexandros Papanastasiou" political research group. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Konstantinos Mitsotakis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Μητσοτάκης, ; – 29 May 2017) was a Greek politician who was 7th Prime Minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993. He graduated in law and economics from the University of Athens. His son, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was elected as the Prime Minister of Greece following the 2019 Greek legislative election. Family and personal life Mitsotakis was born on 31 October 1918 in Halepa suburb, Chania, Crete, into an already powerful political family, linked to the distinguished statesman Eleftherios Venizelos on both sides. His grandfather (1845–1898), a lawyer, journalist and short-time MP of then Ottoman-ruled Crete, founded the Liberal Party, then "''Party of the Barefeet''" () with Venizelos, and married the latter's sister, Katigo Venizelou, Constantine's grandmother. The 1878 Pact of Halepa, granting an Ottoman Crete a certain level of autonomy, was signed in his very home. His father (1883–1944), also MP for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Kostas Karamanlis")
