Yesterday, Greeks elected a new government. Five years ago, they learned that for years the books had been cooked, and that the national deficit was out of control. "Austerity" was imposed, and Greece exploded in uproar and nationwide strikes. In 2011, we broadcast a documentary about the Greek crisis. This is an updated version of that programme, including an interview about the Greek struggle for national identity from writer Nikos Papandreou -- brother, son, and grandson in a dynasty of Greek prime ministers.



Modern Greek democracy has had a turbulent history-- a corrosive civil war, a military dictatorship -- and in more recent years, a running battle against terrorism. The question of how Greeks might best govern themselves has led to a long-running clash of ideas, and even though there are no deep roots of anarchism in Greece, anarchism, or a modern variant of it, is on the list of alternatives.

Back in 2011, producer Philip Coulter created a series of three documentaries about anarchism. The third was about modern Greece, where anarchism seemed to have gained a firm foothold - anarchism, for many people, was a serious alternative to the status quo. That programme was called The Death of Alexis Grigoropoulos.

On December 6, 2008, 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos was shot and killed by policemen in the Exarchia neighbourhood of Athens. In the weeks following, there were riots in the streets, rocks thrown at the police, buildings burned. It was neither the beginning or the end of social protest in Greece, a country with a deep streak of cynicism about all forms of government.



Participants in the program:

Brady Kiesling - former US Foreign Affairs officer, writer on Greek terrorism.

Nontas Skyftoulis - anarchist "mayor" of Exarchia region of Athens.

Sotiris Koukio - former aid worker, now writer, columnist, blogger.

Loukas Stamellos - radical anarchist.

Petros Markaris - crime fiction novelist.

Nikos Papandreou - novelist; also brother, son and grandson of three former Greek Prime Ministers.