2015. Solidarity, Ethnography, and the De-instituting of Dissent

2015

The economic and political crisis present in Greece since 2010 has brought about a number of radical and violent changes in the country and the society, none more troubling than the resultant humanitarian crisis that has left its indelible imprint on the breakdown of the long-held and recognized social safety net. Famine, lack of pharmaceuticals and medical care, and the rapid loss of sustaining income have brought the vast majority of the population to the brink of destitution. As a response to it a self-organized movement has appeared that seeks to address these emergences on the local level with the institution of soup kitchens, exchange and barter markets, and free clinics. The Solidarity Movement, as it has come to be known, operates on a platform that is multiply complex. We asked Heath Cabot and Theodoros Rakopoulos, two young anthropologists who have been working on this movement, to offer us their insights.

Naked Punch 12, 2009

The three bul­lets fired by police spe­cial guard Epaminon­das Korkoneas that killed 15 year old Alexis Grig­oro­poulos in cold blood in Athens on Decem­ber 6th star­ted a revolt that shattered two of the country’s strongest lin­ear polit­ical under­stand­ings. First, the anarch­ist and autonom­ous left has long viewed itself as being in a severe decline in influ­ence, a sense of a bleak future has been grow­ing for years and was only mag­nifed when viewed against the spec­tac­u­lar suc­cess of the move­ment in the past. Those that remem­ber the near myth­ical 1973 stu­dent upris­ings against the dic­tat­or­ship; the riots that fol­lowed the assas­sin­a­tion of another 15 year old, Michalis Kal­tezas in 1985 and the protests that fol­lowed the 1995 police siege of the Athens Poly­tech­nic, had almost lost hope in the voice of the rad­ical left. Tales from such moments of rup­ture and revolt cir­cu­lated together with a firm if indir­ect reminder that none of this was pos­sible any more.

2020

Greece has a sustained political tradition of social movement activity. From the restoration of democracy in 1974 to the recent financial crisis Greece has experienced numerous episodes of collective action, ranging from peaceful demonstrations to violent protests. This chapter delineates the trajectory of major social movements (the student, feminist, ecological, alter-globalization movements, the anti-austerity protests, the Greek Indignados as well as the urban disruption of December 2008) underlining that social protest has not been pacified in contemporary Greek society. Even though protest is a normal and ubiquitous aspect of political life, social movement activists have not retreated from the use of confrontational protest, nor has political conflict become more institutionalized. On the other hand, the Greek social movement sector has also witnessed significant long-term shifts since 1974, including the diminishing influence of political parties on movements, the transnationalization of contention, and the increased heterogeneity and fluidity of collective identities, as well as the proliferation of non-state-centric forms of political activism. The chapter concludes with some reflections on future challenges for social movement studies in Greece.

For over 5 years the Greek state has been devastated by crippling debt and a series of severe austerity measures (enacted in accordance with the EU International Monetary Fund), a developing condition which has resulted in a highly problematic web of socio-economic hardships. The systemic issues emerging from the Greek Crisis, including but by no means limited to an unemployment rate of nearly 30% (over 50% among youth) as well as a startling rise in violent activity among ultra-nationalist and anti-establishment groups alike, have inevitably had a profound effect on the political climate of Greece. More intriguing, however, and perhaps more significant, are the myriad effects of the crisis on contemporary Greek culture;

McKowen, Kelly, and John Borneman. "Digesting difference: Migrants, refugees, and incorporation in Europe." Digesting Difference. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020. 1-27., 2020

Radical Right Movement Parties in Europe, 2019

The rise of the Independent Greeks (ANEL) represents a unique case of rapid ascendance from an indignant right-wing movement to a governmental force in Europe. Despite its peculiarity, multiple parallels exist in relation to other (far-right) movement parties that emerged during the same period: catch-all policies, an alleged embodiment of the people’s will, and the personalisation of leadership, just to name a few. The present study focusses on the context in which ANEL emerged, its available resources, and the framing efforts taken by its leadership to mobilise ‘national indignation’. The study traces the political genesis of ANEL from a grassroots rebellion rooted in Greek conservatism and nationalism to a governing party and, subsequently, a declining political actor.

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 1997

"Modern Greek Studies in the Age of Ethnography," Journal of Modern Greek Studies 15: 2 (October): 197-208

Heiko Schmid, Kostis Stafylakis (eds.), The Other designs. Historical authenticity as artistic project. Athens/Zurich: books on demand, 2014