I Don't Pay - Economic Crisis in Greece

ATHENS, ATTICA, GREECE - 2017/01/21: A mirror in a coffee shop in Exarchia neighbourhood. Many Greeks, especially young people in the persisting of the economical crisis have decided to emigrate. The latest statistic report says that nearly half a million people, mostly with a hight education profile, emigrated looking for better job opportunities. After eight years of an ongoing economical crisis, Greece is still struggling to start to recover from what is said to be the worst economic crisis the country has gone through. The Greece still faces a very high unemployment rate. People seem to have lost hope in any near solution of the crisis. One of the biggest problems many people have to cope to now is the risk to lose their houses because of unpaid mortgages. In the early 2000s banks have been conceding loans very easily but when the crisis hit the Mediterranean country this has become a boomerang and a huge problem for banks, but, mostly for Greeks. Half of the banks debt is represented by non-performing loans for an amount of almost 110 billion euros. In the Summer 2016 the government passed measures allowing the sale of delinquent mortgages and small business loans to international funds. Sometimes properties end up auctioned for very few thousands of unpaid euros without any distinction between primary and secondary residences. Civil society movements like Den Plirono (I dont pay) fight against this system trying to protect the homes of the Greek families. The protests that regularly take place in many civil courts around Greece managed to stop hundreds of auctions from taking place so notaries are working on an online system to avoid the problem. The new online auction system is meant to start operating in the next months. (Photo by Alessandro Rampazzo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)