On Loukanikos, the riot dog

A couple of days ago I’ve read that Loukanikos, Athens’ riot dog, was included among TIME’s Person of the Year feature story. Its central subject was “The Protester”.

Loukanikos posing for TIME Magazine

Loukanikos with Patrick Witty and Peter Hapak after his portrait session for the TIME magazine.

Greece has a history in so-called “riot dogs“. There was Kanellos, now we have Loukanikos, who became internationaly known from a BBC video about the Greek protester’s front line dog. TIME Magazine’s website also hosts a collection of photos with Loukanikos’ appearances. Click here to see the gallery.

Thanks to modern technology, Loukanikos manages to become a sort of a pop idol. Videos in YouTube praising his braveness, blogs, facebook groups that want Loukanikos for Prime Minister, etc. Here’s an animation by Norwegian Flash-animator Bjørn-Magne Stuestøl (www.shagrat.net) in collaboration with David Rovics (from his “Big Red Sessions”-album -free for download atwww.davidrovics.com- the song “Riot Dog” is David’s salute to this brave dog’s fight for justice in the economic turmoil that has hit Greece).

A high quality Flash edition of the animation can be seen here:
www.shagrat.net/riot.html

One of my favourite photos of Loukanikos had featured in a contest for Nikon.

Loukanikos "I am the Resistance"

The photo was taken by Aris Messinis (AFP/Getty Images) and can be seen in full here.

And here are some pop graphics of the canine resistance idol.

Loukanikos Che Guevara-style

Loukanikos Obama-style

If you’re interested in following Loukanikos’ activity, follow the Rebel Dog blogwhich posts photos sent from various people who have met the four-feet rebel.

Drawn by Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff

Isn’t he adorable?
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