In Greece, grassroots refusal to put up with austerity is quickly gaining momentum, as people give up on mainstream politics. By Hara Kouki and Antonis Vradis.

In Greece, as the old system of government crumbles under the burden of sovereign debt, a new, grassroots system of politics is starting to make itself heard, write Hara Kouki and Antonis Vradis.

Few people would want to be in the shoes of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou these days. Faced with an ostensible mutiny in the ruling social-democrat PASOK party, his worries have been exacerbated by the appearance of an unprecedented, continuous wave of protests in the streets of Athens by thousands of people - who had never demonstrated until a few weeks ago.