TOW #10 (visual text) Teenage Riots: Athens. VICE

Teenage Riots: Athens. VICE 

Rioting isn’t a new concept to any Greek citizen.  Greece has been dealing with unjust governments and citizen retaliation longer then most existing countries today.  The riots starting in may 2010, and continuing into mid 2012 with smaller movements still going on, are the most recent in Greek history.  The main cause of these riots is the Government’s “solution” to the Greek debt crisis of 2010-2012.  This “solution” was to cut public spending and raise taxes while the corrupt and wealthy remain in their positions of authority and comfort. 

In “Teenage Riots: Athens” VICE shows one of the most prominent strike and riot in this time period.  Showing how the government, and their violent police force, will do anything to control the population and pass their austerity bills at the cost of the population.  VICE uses this documentary to communicate to the rest of the Euro Zone, and the rest of the world, of the real situation in Greece.  This real situation is that the Greek government is neglecting its youth and drastically understating the real magnitude of the problem.  VICE effectively does this by citing strong statistics and by setting the scope of the documentary to mostly just the teenage rioters.  In the beginning of the documentary VICE cites statistics about the disenfranchised youth and crumbling economy.   The most prominent statistic, presented by a professor, states that 40% of Greece’s youth is unemployed.  This statistic is easily relatable by most people considering the audience most likely has some understanding of their respective countries’ unemployment rate.  The second way VICE influence’s their audience’s stance on the issue is by NOT taking any interviews from parliament or police officers on their stance in these pressing times. VICE is an international magazine that focuses on art, culture and news topics who has recently turned into a media hub who’s journalists have become infamous with many countries, most notably North Korea, who have banned several journalists from ever entering their country.  VICE is most known for pioneering Immersion journalism in many seeded and highly illegal activities ranging from prostitution to drug trafficking.

http://www.vice.com/vice-news/teenage-riot-athens-full-length