Healthy citizens propel a healthy economy for any civilized country, but surprisingly, in Greece, the government does not appreciate this.

Water services throughout Greece are municipal, except in the two biggest cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. In these two cities, the municipal companies which were founded (Law 1068/1980) as 100% state-owned companies, were turned into public-limited in 1999 (Law 2794/1999),, and were floated on the stock market in 2001.

For over five months, journalists, technicians, musicians, news editors and support staff of Greece’s public broadcasting network, ERT, have been occupying their newsroom.  In June of 2013 all 2,500 public workers were laid off by the Greek government due to austerity measures.  Occupying workers continue to provide 24-hour news coverage to Greek citizens for no pay.

In 2010, Greece’s government faced an uncertain future. Unable to finance the country’s debt, the nation’s leaders turned to the EU, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank – together known as “the troika”– to cover its financial needs to the tune of €45 billion for the remainder of the year.  As a condition of this loan, Greece would not only sacrifice its economic independence but the future of its people as well.