Antiquities theft in Greece - VPRO documentary - 2010
50One of the strangest consequences of the Greek crisis: the looting of greek antiquities by a farmer, intending to sell it on the Greek antiquities black market. When the poverty in Greece hits everyone and when the Greek protest in the streets, one farmer decided to save his own head from the Greek austerity by selling antiquities for a few million euros.
On May 19, 2010, the Greek government reported a very rare finding of two statues of Greek antiquity. The Kouros statues - both 2700 years old - were found on the land of a Greek farmer who was planning to trade them illegally for tens of millions of euros abroad. Backlight is looking at the mysterious story behind the discovery of the two statues and strikes on a true crime story, a whodunnit in the Greek countryside.
Original title: Een Griekse tragedie
Greece is one of the first European countries that came into serious trouble when the financial and economic crisis broke out in 2008. Last autumn, the Greek budget deficit turned out twice as high as the Greek government had previously predicted to the EU. The IMF and the World Bank came in return for support with a package of emergency measures that the Greek government had to implement. A threatening bankruptcy has been turned off for the time being, but the Greeks will have to lead a severe austerity politic in order to get the country back on track. The anger grows amongst the population, and the streets are filling up with protesters more and more each day.
What does it mean for a population if their country is threatening to go bankrupt and what impact does the cuts policy have on the daily lives of the Greeks? In contrast, the portrait of a village in crisis with in the leading role the farmer Kostas, who has already started selling Greece in order to keep his head above water.
Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2010.
© VPRO Backlight September 2010
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Credits:
Director: Shuchen Tan
English, French and Spanish subtitles: Ericsson.
French and Spanish subtitles are co-funded by European Union.