Gimme Shelter

I have Silence of Our Friends to thank for rescuing this video that I made just after the last national elections here in Greece in 2007. I posted it on Youtube only to have it pulled after " a third party" complained about my choice of music. For some strange reason it is still available on the blogs to which it was posted.

The clip consists of photographs I took during the 2007 campaign and, to tell you the truth, brings back a whole raft of memories, not all of them pleasant as I was the victim of an unprovoked attack by the MAT (Greek riot police) during a peaceful demo. I guess the case of Ian Tomlinson struck a raw nerve as, I suppose I could have suffered the same fate. Instead I ended up with a broken nose, dislocated shoulder and enough bruising to ensure I didn't get a good night's sleep for weeks after.

Unlike Ian, I was given the opportunity to turn my anger into something more productive.

Gimme Shelter - The Greek 2007 elections

The general election is over here and the ruling New Democracy party was returned to power with a reduced majority (click here for details). Over the campaign I took lots of photos with the intention of showing how such elections are in Greece. Hopefully, the video I made will give a sense of what was happening here. Dramatic, but politics here tend to be so.



The music is Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones. All photos by Teacher Dude.