Kanellos: The Greek Protest Dog

The Greek protest dog, Kanellos, picked the interest of the broad public after the dog’s mysterious appearance in press photographs. This male dog seems to relish the excitement of the protests. Photographers caught him in the thick of things: barking his displeasure at shield-wielding police, running away from tear gas, attending protest meetings, and all sorts of action one would expect in a street riot. Kanellos, if he had grasping hands in place of paws, would have raised a clenched fist in solidarity with the Greek protesters.

I do not know if this is a deft media gimmick or whatnot but Kanellos has nonetheless been turned into a symbol of the Greeks’ struggle. It is by way of Kanellos that I tried to learn why the Greeks are on the streets. Like Cerberus who guarded the access to Hades, Kanellos, for many of us, is the entry point to knowing more about the current unrest in Greece. According to media reports, the civil strife is spurred by government austerity measures aimed to squeeze savings of some $38 billion through 2012. The Greek government instituted public sector salary cuts, higher taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, and tighter retirement rules, among others.

Kanellos is everywhere in the blogosphere. He even has a Facebook page devoted to him.

Below are images of the dog from various press sources (AFP, Reuters, and AP posted at various websites):

This slideshow requires JavaScript.