I was talking to my parents over the weekend, and they asked me what I thought about what’s going on in Greece. I told them that I don’t like the violence, but that the people in the streets have some very real complaints about the situation in their country. I think it’s worth elaborating on that.

The present unrest was touched off by the brutal and unprovoked police murder of a 15-year-old boy, but police brutality is only part of the problem. 60% of the Greek public sees the current situation not just as a reaction to Alexandros Grigoropoulos’s murder, but as a broader social uprising — and for good reason. There’s a huge gap between the rich and the poor in Greece which plays out in all kinds of ways. Neoliberal reforms have concentrated wealth in the hands of a few, eroded public services, and created a dismal economic climate. Young people in particular have few prospects: 21% of recent university graduates are unemployed, not to mention all the working-class kids who can’t afford post-secondary education. The cost of living is extremely high, with “700 euro a month wages [going] towards 600 euro per month rents in the cities.” The current government is deeply corrupt and unresponsive to the needs of the people it purports to represent.

In a situation like that, social unrest is inevitable. Heck, the riots and protests coincided with a one-day general strike that was planned long before the cops killed that 15-year-old kid. And in a country where a student uprising helped to end 25 years of (US-backed) authoritarian government, it’s no surprise that young people are taking to the streets. They have no prospects and no voice in the existing system. What else are they supposed to do?

That’s not to say I approve of every action taken by every single person involved in the riots and protests. Throwing rocks at riot cops is one thing, but looting stores and firebombing police stations are ineffective tactics for creating social change. And for what it’s worth, many of the people on the streets seem to feel the same way. The anarcho-syndicalists who occupied a TV station the other day blamed the violence on “a small minority” and would prefer a strategy of “strikes and occupations,” and the student vigil for Alexandros Grigoropoulos was a peaceful event until the cops started bombarding the attendees with tear gas.

Ultimately, I sympathize with the protester who said, “Speaking as an anarchist, we want to create those social conditions that will generate more uprisings and to get more people out in the streets to demand their rights. In the end, the violence that we use is minimal in comparison to the violence the system uses.” I think he’s right. The violence we have seen so far is the natural and predictable consequence (albeit occasionally extreme and counterproductive) of an economic and political system that has failed to provide for those who are subject to it, leaving tens of thousands of people powerless, poor, and disaffected.

It’s that system — not the burnt cars and broken windows — that is the real problem.