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All this seems to be a Greek phenomenon.

Yes, it is unfortunately. According to the information I have from friends and publications in the international press, there is no such violence in countries that introduced such economic measures, like Portugal for example. There is a phenomenon in Greece that I would call "Greek nihilism", which is expressed through an almost auto-catastrophic mania. We see it in the fury with which groups of people destroyed the city center. This phenomenon should be considered and explained. It is something of deep concern to me. I am witnessing a thorough nihilism in Greece, which is not a harbinger of positive events of course.

Could you identify such cases of violence in difficult times in the course of Greek history?

I'm not the most competent to give such information. However, based on the encyclopedic knowledge of the New Greek history, I could not mention many such examples. There always have been individual acts of violence during protests. But even when there have been heavy clashes, they were within one political proposal. Let us take for example the 1960s. There were protests at that time, which could switch to violence. But this happened because the police had violently attacked the protesters.

But today things are different. We are talking about a MP who went to speak at an event and was hampered physically, abused and cups of yoghourt were thrown at him. In other words, we are talking about a qualitatively different phenomenon. I do not think there have been similar phenomena in Greek society in the last 50 years. But I repeat that I am not certain about the data. A historian would be much more competent in this field. 
 
Of course, the left coalition SYRIZA is not accused for the first time of organising protests.

Look, the reasons for blaming SYRIZA are clear. This is а party - movement. This kind of parties is always willing to listen to social protest movements. They, in turn, could transform in time from a purely peaceful protest movements to dynamic movements, then in movements inclined to violence until getting to raw violence. A party that defines itself as a party - movement does not condemn social movements from their inception. It stands up and tries to capture them. In this attempt, it deletes the boundaries between the clear speech that we have when trying to analyze a phenomenon and the political speech, which has an opinion on this phenomenon. I mean that those who have a positive attitude towards social movements from the beginning are in very difficult situation because they balance between the explanation and the political position. The explanation calls for understanding the phenomenon and therefore for not condemning it. But the political position in a democratic framework calls for condemnation of the phenomenon. Well, SYRIZA is balancing between these two extremes.

What do you think will be the future of the movement of the discontented?

I think it would calm down first, because the summer is coming and second, because it is tired. I also believe that some components could stem from the movement of the discontented which would resort to more violent acts. I could not suggest anything else for the moment.

But in the autumn when next year's budget will be discussed, we will all feel very strongly the new economic measures on our own backs and the government will continue to have no moral legitimacy. And then the movement will rise again. So, I do not think the phenomenon of popular anger and resentment will calm down easily. I think then the movement will join forces with trade union movements that will oppose the privatization and the rest of the measures.