The mblogkosfaira: Αμαλία (Amalia) and the Greek blogosphere

In true blogger fashion, there are video interviews of Matt Mullenweg at the Greek blogger camp, from what I’ve seen so far he talks about the future of WordPress and WP features. Interesting stuff straight from the source!

I should mention this Greek blogging camp comes at a great time for the Hellenic blogosphere. This Reuters article (in English) gives some explanation over an event that has mobilized so many in the Greek blogosphere. In sum, a 30-year-old Greek cancer patient named Amalia Kalyvinou blogged while in treatment about the corrupt doctors and medical bureaucrats that took advantage of her condition for monetary gain. This sounds shocking but is not unheard of in Greece. Amalia’s first-hand accounts of her mistreatment grabbed a lot of attention in Greece and beyond.

(Her blog is aptly named “malpractice,” even her blog’s URL refers to corruption in the Greek system: a “fakellaki” is an under-the-table cash gift to doctors.)

Amalia died on May 25. Her blog’s final post has become something of a memorial site (well over 1,000 comments on there and counting), as well as a rallying point for Greeks to take action against the rampant corruption in the medical system.

Corruption in any kind of bureocracy in Greece has kind of been a given for many decades. From the stories my parents told me over the years, in order to get anything done easily, it’s expected you either have an “in” with someone, or you’ll pay a bribe.

The furor over Amalia’s treatment, which has only intensified with her death, has caused nothing short of a storm in the Greek blogosphere (check out the posts on metablogging.gr tagged “Amalia”.) There are videos on youtube in her memory in several languages, here’s the one in English:

More links in Amalia’s memory as rallying points for protest:Gia Thn Amalia (For Amalia) : here is specifically the list of grievances (in English). Even more via GreekAlert.com (Greek).This movement gathered attention outside of the blogosphere and in the mainstream media. The following videos are in Greek, of bloggers being interviewed by network television news or of Greek MSM covering the blogosphere’s solidarity after Amalia’s death, etc:
Even if you don’t speak Greek (and I’ll be the first to admit my knowledge of the Greek language is basic at best) these videos are fascinating. Just recognizing the critical mass that action on the web through blogging can cause boggles the mind a bit.The “digital revolution” is not just how we download music or consume the news—this outcry might cause in some real change for the Greek medical system. It’s already gathering plenty of attention. It is tragic, though, that it took the death of a young woman to really shed some light on a long-embedded problem in Greece’s bureaucratic and medical system.