Clashes break out as Greek strikers aim for nationwide shutdown, by CNN Wire Staff.
PUBLISHED: Oct. 19, 2011. ACCESSED: Oct. 20, 2011
Summary:
The new "austerity" laws formed by leaders of the European Union regarding the Greek debt have angered the people of Greece, particularly Athens. This has led to strikes and closing of industries all over the capital. Though peaceful in the beginning, the strikes and demonstrations have slowly turned violent as people have attacked government buildings with mild weapons. People and police have both been injured, leading to arrests. The people’s discontent is mostly due to the fact that these austerity laws will lead to around 30,000 losses of jobs and a decrease in the salary of many workers in all industries. Leading economic powers have come to such conclusions as a way to stabilize Greece’s economy and debt, though the two leading powers of Europe, France and Germany, have conflicting ideas on the solution. The EU will know of the final plan this Sunday, while the Group of 20 economic powers, in November.
Response:
Many characteristics of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the news article are similar. The reasons for the new austerity laws and laws made by Nurse Ratched and the “Combine” seem similar. Both types of laws are aimed towards benefitting all the people as a group, though many individuals might suffer or be negatively affected by them. The strikes are the equivalent of everything that McMurphy and the ward members do to go against Nurse Ratched’s words. In the end of the book, there are people from both sides that are hurt, like Nurse Ratched and her throat, the black aides who fight McMurphy and Bromden, but ultimately, the damage to the other side is far greater: McMurphy, Billy Bibbit, and Cheswick die, and the whole group is dispersed at the end. The people of Athens will ultimately reach the same results, because the people will be injured and arrested, but the austerity plans will still be carried out.
Vocabulary:
1) Greeks are angry at yet another round of planned austerity measures as Greece tries to bring down its stratospheric debt.
stratospheric: any great height or degree, as the highest point of a graded scale.
stratosphère: Fr. sphere of layers. stratum/stratus: L. for " a covering"/"a spreading out"
sphère: Fr. globe (from L. sphaera)
The effects of a student rebellion in school would be stratospheric,and no amount of force would be enough to make school normal again.
2) Protesters and police clashed violently in front of the Greek parliament building Wednesday, as tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Athens on the first day of a two-day general strike over austerity measures.
austerity: severe and rigid economy, extreme rigor or strictness.
austērus: L. dry, harsh. austēros: Gk. bitter, harsh. austerite: Fr.
Woodstock shows no austerity in its rules when compared to other schools across India.
3) Germany has stressed that individual European states should inject capital into domestic banks that lack sufficient buffers.
buffer: Something that lessens or absorbs the shock of an impact.
origin unknown. first used in 1749
Peer mediation and most interventions by teachers in arguments or fights in Woodstock are more or less futile, as these "mediators" are anything but buffers: they only heighten problems and make them more serious.
