Democracy in crisis
Greece was one of the countries hit by the economic crisis that swept through the global markets in 2008, after a liquidity shortfall in the United States banking system. Since then the Greek government had to borrow money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pay off debts, accumulated through years of mismanagement by consecutive governments. A prerequisite set by the IMF in order to lend the money was a hard economic policy of austerity measures, affecting primarily the middle and working class of the country by way of salary and job cutbacks in the public and private sector along with an aggressive privatization program of public companies and assets that many believe to be wrongly and hastily implemented. Following the example of the Spanish Indignados people gathered at the main squares of cities across Greece, asking for a halt in the implementation of the measures.
