Papers by Monia Cappuccini
Acquired for development by... le giovani generazioni e la rigenerazione di East London Acquired ... more Acquired for development by... le giovani generazioni e la rigenerazione di East London Acquired for development by… The Young Generation and East London Maria Michou_p. 29 Athens streetside arcades: silent gestures of minor occupation Giansandro Merli & Monia Cappuccini_p. 37 Atene tra crisi economica, narrazioni urbane e discorso razzista Urban narratives and racist propaganda in the city of Athens Ifigeneia Kokkali_p. 43 City representations and the selective visibility of the (ethnic) 'Others'. A short note on the fervent 'diversity' in Europe Maria Elena Buslacchi_p. 49 La moltiplicazione degli Off. Rappresentazioni urbane in una Capitale Europea della Cultura Off Multiplying. Urban representations in an European Capital of Culture Petra Potz & Ariane Sept_p. 57 Cittaslow-Germany: dove i piccoli centri urbani si rappresentano Cittaslow-Germany: where small cities represent themselves Lidia K.C. Manzo_p. 65 MILANO MONTECITY. La città sospesa MILANO MONTECITY. The suspended city #03 settembre_dicembre 2013 numero tre anno uno september_december 2013 issue three year one 4
Austerity & Democracy in Athens
This chapter offers an overview of the entire neighbourhood, exploring its wild style by way of t... more This chapter offers an overview of the entire neighbourhood, exploring its wild style by way of the graffiti flourishing on its walls. Theo and Kostas, who belong to the old school and the most recent generation of Athens writers, respectively, illuminate the public side of Exarchia’s antagonism, from its traditional role as an archive of signs of political resistance up to the new graphic wave of spray-can languages detonated by the events of December 2008. In their interviews, they also give an account of the birth and the growth of Athens’ hip-hop scene, surprisingly explaining that Exarchia did not immediately embrace this youthful counter-culture. Finally, they recall the death of the rapper Pavlos Fyssas, aka Killah P., which occurred in 2013 at the hand of Golden Dawn.
This chapter leads us into the heart of the neighbourhood, through its main entrance: Exarchia Sq... more This chapter leads us into the heart of the neighbourhood, through its main entrance: Exarchia Square, whose darker and brighter sides are both exposed. The myth of rebellion transformed into urban reality comes across firstly in the square’s spatiality, from its triangular-shaped perimeter to its internal pedestrian area. A swarm of social spaces populates the neighbourhood, each of them associated with a distinct political identity. Yannis Felekis, a long-lasting and still tireless activist, brings us back to the days when “there was only one kafenion on the corner”, thus recalling the origins of Exarchia’s anti-authoritarian history. An iron statue of three Erotes dominates the square, a sort of guardian or totem watching out over the complexity of this free space.
This chapter provides a general portrait of Exarchia, describing its spatiality and its social co... more This chapter provides a general portrait of Exarchia, describing its spatiality and its social composition on the basis of official quantitative data. Above and beyond both its reputation as an entertainment spot and its national stigmatisation as an “enemy within”, it is depicted from its historically significant role in the city’s struggles through to its current lively atmosphere. Exarchia’s distinct character is recognisable by way of the strong radical and cultural features that mark its stekia (the Greek term indicating familiar places for socialisation), alongside the political collectives revolving around its main square. It is a place out of the ordinary, where the city air still makes us free, and the “right to the city” becomes a clash of urban identities.
The cluster of places dedicated to sociability and radical politics in Tsamadou Street comes to a... more The cluster of places dedicated to sociability and radical politics in Tsamadou Street comes to a close at the headquarters of Asteras Exarchion, located in a semi-basement just below street level almost facing the Steki Metanaston, which has been transformed into a meeting spot for supporters and friends. Founded in 1928, this popular sports club is collectively managed on the basis of principles such as self-organisation, consensus and horizontality. Light years away from the so-called modern football, Asteras boasts a reputation as a politically oriented fan club with anti-fascist and ACAB overtones. “Crazy, drunk … and loyal”, as one of their own mottos puts it, this chapter relates how their “subversion on the stands” has produced some of the most grounded experiences of teamwork and affection for the neighbourhood.
Urban narratives and racist propaganda in the city of Athens. In the last six years Greece is fac... more Urban narratives and racist propaganda in the city of Athens. In the last six years Greece is facing a harsh economic crisis. Neoliberal austerity measures imposed by Troika exerted their pressure even on the urban spaces with purposes of securitization. This process affects the political discourse that kept a racist character. Homeless, drug-addicted, prostitutes, political protesters, migrants: all the social marginalization has been stigmatized as “social enemies” and the latter targeted as one of the most dangerous. Inside the process of securitization a specific actor took substance: the neo-nazist party of Golden Dawn. In the last years, the Greek authorities showed an increasing tolerance for this criminal organization and this permivissiviness allows them to control a district of Athens: Aghios Panteleimonas. This urban area is characterized by a strong concentration of migrants, important social inequalities and a deep process of impoverishment of the historic inhabitants. ...
This chapter offers analytical details about the city space of Athens, based on the urban policie... more This chapter offers analytical details about the city space of Athens, based on the urban policies implemented during the IMF/EU/ECB era, thus outlining and providing some details as to the auste-city model, that is, an exportable and reproducible pattern of governance specifically targeted at normalising the state of economic crisis into a definitive form of rule. Accordingly, the Greek capital is seen as strategically representing an urban laboratory for testing debt policies, with a deeper look at the combination of privatisation programmes and bio-political processes, alongside the national politics of social exclusion and marginalisation. At a later stage, stressing the concept of spontaneity, the Greek anti-austerity mobilisations’ joie de vivre (Leontidou) is depicted as a counter-discourse able to offset the stigmatisation of Southern Europe.
The most appropriate place to visit first is one of Exarchia’s symbolic locations, the Polytechni... more The most appropriate place to visit first is one of Exarchia’s symbolic locations, the Polytechnic School of Athens. Its fame is inextricably linked to the country’s history of political struggle, which culminated in the resistance against the dictatorship in the late 1960s. Located along its western border, this important cultural institution is an integral part of Exarchia and furthermore contributes to its reputation as a student quarter. Largely based on interviews with Dimitra and Paschalis, both architects and members of the Encounter Athens researchers’ collective, this chapter examines the dominant discourse on public space during the economic crisis in Athens, including urban policies aimed at greater privatisation and how they are locally opposed by practices of resistance initiated by social movements.
Austerity & Democracy in Athens
Επιθεώρηση Κοινωνικών Ερευνών, 2015
Επιθεώρηση Κοινωνικών Ερευνών, 2015
International Planning Studies, 2019
This article offers a depiction of Athens focused on the consequences that the initial round of M... more This article offers a depiction of Athens focused on the consequences that the initial round of Memoranda measures (2012-2015) produced on its urban space. On a theoretical level, a strategic function of the Greek capital is posited, seeing it as an urban laboratory for testing debt policies; accordingly, the primary focus is on the neoliberal agenda set in motion there, mainly consisting of the combination of privatization programmes and the securitization of urban space. Consequently, some of the emerging critical issues-i.e. Rethink Athens and the cases of the Akadimia Platonos, Ellinikò and Aghios Panteleimonas neighbourhoods, alongside the most relevant bio-political tactics of social control-are encapsulated within a specific model of governance, named auste-city and specifically targeted at normalizing the 'extraordinary' state of economic crisis into an ultimate rule. The conclusion is that austerity is currently disclosing an opportunity for neoliberal forces to reorganize their own dominion.
Ethnologia Europaea, 2018
This article will examine the relationships between urban space and social movements in times of ... more This article will examine the relationships between urban space and social movements in times of economic crisis in Athens, Greece. I will focus my attention on the impact that the Syntagma square movement had on those grassroots mobilizations which precipitated at a local level as soon as the occupation of the Parliament’s square ended in summer 2011. Accordingly, the anti-authoritarian neighbourhood of Exarchia will provide the spatial setting for pointing out how, starting from ‘the origin of the conflict’, which occurred in December 2008, ‘joie de vivre’ (Leontidou 2014) has reflected on practises of resistance. I will briefly depict two empirical cases, the Time Banking System and the Social Solidarity Network, in order to finally recount Athens as a relevant hub for incubating social movements.
This is an 11-minute video I did for my PhD research in Urban Planning at DICEA, University La Sa... more This is an 11-minute video I did for my PhD research in Urban Planning at DICEA, University La Sapienza (Rome) and in partnership with EKKE (National Center for Social Research) of Athens. Title of the thesis: "Urban space and social networks in times of crisis. A local perspective from the Exarchia neighborhood of Athens". Essentially, I developed an ethnography of social movements in Exarchia in the age of crisis and austerity on the basis of my fieldwork in the neighbourhood, which lasted over one year, mainly consisting in the lapse of time from November 2012 to early 2014. Located in central Athens, not far from the Polytechnic, since its origins in the late 19th century Exarchia has stood out as a historical space of political conflict, alternative culture and anarchist and anti-authoritarian activism within the capital of Greece. It played a leading role during the student opposition against the Junta dictatorship in 1973, and continues still today to act as one of the most vibrant and radical areas for social resistance and political activism in the city. More recently, the antagonistic character of Exarchia came into the global spotlight once again in December 2008 with the death of a 15 year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, occurred just some months before the crisis was officially declared in Greece.
I did this video using my iPhone as a non-professional tool for urban research. Given the possibilities that new technological instruments and techniques provide in renovating the tools used in ethnography, I consider this production as an experiment aimed at better representing ‘the instant in urban space’. It tells about Platia Exarcheia as a place for movements, sociability and urban practices to finally show it as the place for police repression and violence. In between it tells about my ethnographic path passing through Steki Metanaston, literally the migrant’ house, where I based myself attending a Greek course lessons with migrants and hanging out there. Steki Metanaston is a social center mainly for migrants located in Tsamadou Street, a pedestrian road starting from Platia Exarchia.
Austerity versus democracy. Increasingly the contemporary urban landscape seems to be inscribed i... more Austerity versus democracy. Increasingly the contemporary urban landscape seems to be inscribed in this dialectical sphere, which is harshly scarring the present of our cities undermining their future as well. On the one hand, public policies originated by loan programs planned, decided and managed at a supranational level by financial Troika; on the other hand, a large variety of urban practises and participatory processes that have been raised at the local level to address the crisis, embody a significant critique to the representative democracy model. The debate between these two opposite parts are shaping the urban space in terms of conflict, revealing at the same time the political nature of the crisis as a sovereignty issue.
Consequently even the perspective of global cities that are interconnected on multi-levels (as described by Saskia Sassen in 1997) needs to be fully rewritten. Although global cities can be still conceived as hubs for trans-national processes, since the neoliberal system collapsed in 2008 an unprecedented function has been assigned to them in the view of a global power reorganization. The previous decentralization has been carried to the extreme of a new polarization, marked by the spatial inequality and social injustice increase. From this perspective, the debt politics seem to represent a new model of governance that has been translated both in a global and in a local scale.
Actually we can’t consider the crisis a historicized process yet, at the same time we need to outline a first short-medium period analysis. Back to territories: starting from a specific spatial narrative this paper will examine its potential influences on a global urban discourse. According to this, the aim is to give an ethnographic account of Exarchia, the radical and anarchist neighborhood based in the city center of Athens (Greece), from to the identities and practices passing through it up a metropolitan macro scale contextualization.
Books by Monia Cappuccini
This book, based on an empirical form of narration, outlines a short-medium term analysis of the ... more This book, based on an empirical form of narration, outlines a short-medium term analysis of the social impact of austerity politics on urban life.. Set in Exarchia, a radical and anti-authoritarian neighbourhood located within the city centre of Athens, Greece, this is an ethnography examining the social struggles and grassroots mobilizations that emerged locally during the crisis. Based on over two years of fieldwork between November 2012 and early 2014, the author brings together participant observation and a period of research-action in one of Exarchia’s stekia. One particular pedestrian street is used as a case study – ‘Odos Tsamadou’ is located near Exarchia Square and here multiple social centres and political activity converge to allow the neighbourhood’s climate of solidarity and reciprocity to fully emerge. This book is specifically targeted at academics specialized in the social sciences, ethnography, cultural anthropology and urban studies and more generally at anyone interested in contemporary urban and social development.
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Papers by Monia Cappuccini
I did this video using my iPhone as a non-professional tool for urban research. Given the possibilities that new technological instruments and techniques provide in renovating the tools used in ethnography, I consider this production as an experiment aimed at better representing ‘the instant in urban space’. It tells about Platia Exarcheia as a place for movements, sociability and urban practices to finally show it as the place for police repression and violence. In between it tells about my ethnographic path passing through Steki Metanaston, literally the migrant’ house, where I based myself attending a Greek course lessons with migrants and hanging out there. Steki Metanaston is a social center mainly for migrants located in Tsamadou Street, a pedestrian road starting from Platia Exarchia.
Consequently even the perspective of global cities that are interconnected on multi-levels (as described by Saskia Sassen in 1997) needs to be fully rewritten. Although global cities can be still conceived as hubs for trans-national processes, since the neoliberal system collapsed in 2008 an unprecedented function has been assigned to them in the view of a global power reorganization. The previous decentralization has been carried to the extreme of a new polarization, marked by the spatial inequality and social injustice increase. From this perspective, the debt politics seem to represent a new model of governance that has been translated both in a global and in a local scale.
Actually we can’t consider the crisis a historicized process yet, at the same time we need to outline a first short-medium period analysis. Back to territories: starting from a specific spatial narrative this paper will examine its potential influences on a global urban discourse. According to this, the aim is to give an ethnographic account of Exarchia, the radical and anarchist neighborhood based in the city center of Athens (Greece), from to the identities and practices passing through it up a metropolitan macro scale contextualization.
Books by Monia Cappuccini
I did this video using my iPhone as a non-professional tool for urban research. Given the possibilities that new technological instruments and techniques provide in renovating the tools used in ethnography, I consider this production as an experiment aimed at better representing ‘the instant in urban space’. It tells about Platia Exarcheia as a place for movements, sociability and urban practices to finally show it as the place for police repression and violence. In between it tells about my ethnographic path passing through Steki Metanaston, literally the migrant’ house, where I based myself attending a Greek course lessons with migrants and hanging out there. Steki Metanaston is a social center mainly for migrants located in Tsamadou Street, a pedestrian road starting from Platia Exarchia.
Consequently even the perspective of global cities that are interconnected on multi-levels (as described by Saskia Sassen in 1997) needs to be fully rewritten. Although global cities can be still conceived as hubs for trans-national processes, since the neoliberal system collapsed in 2008 an unprecedented function has been assigned to them in the view of a global power reorganization. The previous decentralization has been carried to the extreme of a new polarization, marked by the spatial inequality and social injustice increase. From this perspective, the debt politics seem to represent a new model of governance that has been translated both in a global and in a local scale.
Actually we can’t consider the crisis a historicized process yet, at the same time we need to outline a first short-medium period analysis. Back to territories: starting from a specific spatial narrative this paper will examine its potential influences on a global urban discourse. According to this, the aim is to give an ethnographic account of Exarchia, the radical and anarchist neighborhood based in the city center of Athens (Greece), from to the identities and practices passing through it up a metropolitan macro scale contextualization.
Inside the process of securitization a specific actor took substance: the neo-nazist party of Golden Dawn. In the last years, the Greek authorities showed an increasing tolerance for this criminal organization and this permivissiviness allows them to control a district of Athens: Aghios Panteleimonas. This urban area is characterized by a strong concentration of migrants, important social inequalities and a deep process of impoverishment of the historic inhabitants. In this context, Golden Dawn managed to ride the social discontent, stressing the racist positions.
Aghios Panteleimonas is an example of how the sudden collapse of the living conditions of a big part of the population and the simultaneous securitization of the political discourse and of the urban spaces can produce anti-democratic actors and racist violence. In this sense, Greece can be considered a laboratory not just for the austerity measures, but also for the production of racist discourses and practices: a really dangerous dynamics, above all in an impoverished and disintegrated social context.