Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Kristina Tremonti - Fighting Corruption in Greece!

I came across Kristina Tremonti through this article in Der Spiegel (the article is in German but the video at the beginning is in English). Here is another video about her fight against Greek corruption. And here is an English article from The Guardian.

Tremonti was born in Vail, Colorada, as daughter of an Italian father and a Greek mother. At age 2, she moved to Greece with her mother and at age 16 she returned to the US for studies, and she later received a degree from Yale University. At age 23, she left a well-paid job in NYC to return to Greece to make a contribution to her mother's home country. She is now 27.

After having had to pay a bribe ("fakelaki") to get her grandfather a cancer operation in a Greek hospital, Tremonti chose corruption as the field of her activity. She established the platfrom www.edosafakelaki.orghttp://www.edosafakelaki.org/.

I have browsed her activities in the internet a bit and everything sounds really quite impressive!

18 comments:

  1. Please Kleingut. You are acting like a professional propagandist. You choose a pretty face to attach to a cause - the sort of nonsense that sells in western media - and you fail to see that your poster girl is as unsophisticated and outmoded as they come. This is yesterday's news which might have meant something in 2011. We have pushed the reset button already and pretty faces with empty intellect don't appeal to Greeks. A Greek, to be won and impressed, needs a convincing display of reasoning and science. This is such an old issue and so much behind us. it's not even a joke.

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    1. "A Greek, to be won and impressed, needs a convincing display of reasoning and science" - oh, that's cute! The leaders who won and impressed the Greeks over the last 30+ years (including the ones of today) always impressed with their display of reasoning and science. That observation has certainly never occurred to me!

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    2. Now! Now! Don't be cute Kleingut.

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  2. Doubtful that her fight is going on. The site hasn't had a submission since mid-2016 and no comment since 2015. The associated youtube channel does not exist any more and the twitter account EdosaFakelaki hasn't been active since early 2016. The fact that she has been 'even advising the Greek Minister of Defense on these issues from 2015 to 2016' (Minister of Defense=Panos Kammenos) according to her profile helps explain quite a bit.

    Cheers.

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    1. It's a dead story. The typical 15 minutes of fame which everyone in our modern society could aspire to.

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  3. On the one hand it is nice to see such initiative. I find it interesting. On the other hand, what is depressing, is the inactivity of the maintenance of the site and its accounts acct update.

    This leaves me to the conclusion that someone attempted to make an honest effort as to shed some light onto an issue which hinders the greek economy. The site and the person attempting to bring light probably saw no results from the government so simply gave up. examples are that the last post are quite old. abandoned.

    If you look at the respective other site links to other countries you see posts even being made today. (india for example) Therefore the action of the respective site in those respective countries proved some kind of fruitfulness and willingness to help society. Maybe even help the government put an end to bribery to some extent. As to slowly educate the populace.

    My dear countrymen Anonymous 6:51 and 6:21. You should feel sad that you only came here to comment/bash mr. kastner on an interesting post without even investigating the underlining. You should feel as depressed as I, for an individual with an idea or an effort to help us, is once again simply flushed down the toilet because we are too thick headed to get around our own egotistical behavior. And how pggheaded the government public system is still far behind. It shows how slow we excel.

    Please do not jump to conclusions and try to dig a bit deeper before blurting out irresponsible thoughts. It makes us all look bad.

    V

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    1. That was a very thoughtful comment. Thank you!

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    2. V:

      By what means Leingut is helping Greece?

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    3. My Dear 7:05 PM Compatriot,

      Do you really need for me to reply in detail? As i will need to write for at least a few hours.

      How long have you followed Mr. Kastner?
      Do you know his background?
      Do you know his credentials?
      Do you know his influences?
      Do you know any other direct contact blogger with such an objective mindset? Such a long lasting give and take with his followers? And if it is not observed as objective sometimes and is mistaken, he always give credit and retractions.
      Also, when one is stating an opinion, it is by no means a judgement, a conclusion, nor an insult. It is simply an opinion and basis of discussion.

      If you want to understand the man behind the blog and what character he has, i would suggest to you to click 2011 on the right and start reading his posts of the last 7 years.

      If you want the short version. Ask me.

      He is NON - Greek with a sincere love and passion for Greece, in his own Austrian mannerism. A person with impeccable experience in the upper levels of societies. An courageous man with a humble integrity and superb wisdom.

      Give the man some respect. His blog has been active more than most and he is not even Greek. Isn't that enough information for you to understand?

      And to finalize. Even if you continue to think he offers nothing. In the end the least you can credit him with is his concern for the Greek country and Greek People. Is that not helping? You know our mindset as Greeks, that the world is against us. Here we find one man who isn't.

      Sincerely,
      V

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    4. V - that was most kind of you. I find it easier to respond to those who are aggressive against me than to those who support me, so I am a bit lost as to what to say in response. Perhaps a word to those who are aggressive against me.

      I think one of the most difficult things can often be to "see the other side". When I went through my secondary schooling back in the 1960s, conservative Austria raised the young generation on the premise that there wasn't really another side; that what we learned was the truth. With that background, I went on to work and live in 3 other cultures (not counting Greece...) and then one definitely learns that there is always another side.

      Many Greek patriots have a tendency to disavow any side that is not Greek. In such situations, I focus more on the non-Greek side (by default, not by intention) and then it doesn't take long to be perceived as a "dogmatic German". And back home in Austria, when Austrians explain to me that the Greeks are to blame for all the trouble with the Euro because they are all lazy, well, then I support the Greek side. The bottom line? Well, my old argument: focus on as-well-as instead of either-or.

      But you are right: back in 2011 I did have a lot of proposals which I thought would help Greece. Those were the days when one could hope that real change and improvement could come to the Greek economy and politics. I, for one, have lost that euphoria in the meantime. Back then, some of my friends and Greece-connaisseurs tried to slow down my enthusiasm and they warned me: "Greece and Greeks will never change!" I am afraid they will turn out to have been more right than I.

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  4. Sure, reasoning and science, pure intellect. It was crowned by the last 3 years of Syriza campaigns, pandering to vainness, entitlement feeling, narcissism and general feeling of being superior. And did they succeed? Oh boy they did, people were dancing in the street and congratulating each other with the victory the day after the referendum. It has always worked in Greece, it still does, it always will. One can only wonder what the next contender for government will promise, it will be hard to beat this one.

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  5. Reading her platform is heart breaking. The numbers and callousness, with which fakelaki is practiced by the medical profession, is sheer horror. At a time when the patients and relatives are at their most vulnerable they are being blackmailed, and blackmail it is, not bribery or the euphemism fakelaki.
    I can only think of one answer to it, immediate canceling of their license to practice, enough of them has been caught "red handed".
    PS. that she may have lost her virginity to Greek politics can reflect badly on her credibility, but not that of her original corruption case.
    Lennard.

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    1. Lennard, it is all mentality. Indeed the majority of fakelakia are in the medical profession and not only in the public sector. In thr private sector it is excused to some extent because one may be referred to a super specialist and when health is on the line, such specialist charge whatever they want because they know they are good. So the patients ask by themselves for no receipt.

      In the public sector it is more of stupid Greek mentality which is the culprit. Greeks still feel the obligation to pay doctors something when they are cured. Most times patients set up themselves to put doctors to ask for something.

      In the last two years i have had three surgeries. Both in public hospitals and one in private hospitals. In the public hospitals, room conditions i can say were worse than the worst barracks of where i served in the army. The surgery rooms were probably more high tech than the best of the best in the USA. I gave no fakelakia and i was never asked for one. I think the anesthesiologist hinted but i told her i can buy her a coffee and she laughed and walked out of the room.

      At the private hospital i paid 7,600 euro. Covered 80% by my private insurance, for two days. Nice rooms but significantly lower quality surgery rooms.

      People simply need training when it comes to bribery.

      Sincerely,
      V

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    2. "Most times patients set up themselves to put doctors to ask for something."

      Bollocks.

      In public hospitals if bribes (let's call them by their real name) aren't being asked directly, they are being asked indirectly through huge delays, poor service and general indifference.

      Also, bribes in the private sector? How can there be bribes in the private sector when you pay for the treatment? Bribes to do what?

      "People simply need training when it comes to bribery."

      The only ones who need "training" are the plethora of public-sector doctors who are caught on the act, don't get their licences suspended, rarely get any penalty at all, and if they do it's some petty fine.

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  6. Good grief, she was with ANEL, after trying to go with potami. Stay away from those opportunists. The last thing Greece needs is recycling the Kammenos/Tsipras garbage.

    http://www.thetoc.gr/politiki/article/xristina-tremontii-24xroni-apo-tis-ipa-prwti-sto-epikrateias-twn-anel

    http://www.thetoc.gr/politiki/article/xristina-tremonti-den-tinpire-to-potami-kai-katelikse-ston-kammeno

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  7. I can only agree with Jim Slip. It is extortion, blackmail. To those who can reduce it to Greek mentality, culture, fakelaki or bribery, "you lack a functioning moral compass".
    Lennard.

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  8. Asking questions are truly good thing iif you are not understanding
    anything fully, except this paragraph presents nice understanding yet.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon every day.
    It's alwys helpful to read articles from other authors and use
    something from other sites.

    ReplyDelete