(PHOTO: Yiorgos Karahalis/Reuters)The recent events in Greece, after the cold blood assassination of the 15-year-old student in Exarhia (Athens) by a police officer have opened up a big debate on the social and economic situation of many Greek citizens and the way those socio-economic grievances are to be expressed. Political distrust, inter-personal distrust and lack of personal efficacy are some of the feelings of the Greek citizen, who, paradoxically though stays loyal to his basic civil right of participating in national elections (one of the highest turn-out percentages in European Union) voting in crushing majority for the same two big parties who are accused for the current gloomy economic and social conditions.
The recent violent events in Athens and other major Greek cities should be seen under a specific analytical prism. First of all, it seems to me that we should distinguish between on one side, the people who participate in daily demonstrations claiming their right to express their grievances about the unorganized and sometimes exaggerated and irrational use of police force and their opposition to the current governmental policies and its incapacity to provide the Greek people with concrete answers on the barrage of economic scandals, and on the other side normless-hooligans who find the opportunity to demonstrate their internal rage and emptiness by creating havoc through destruction and pillaging.
Second, it is true the fact that the assassination of the young student was not the cause of the subsequent mobilization and violent event, but the effet declencheur which brought on the surface a 15-year-policy of austerity measures which was used in the beginning as an excuse in order to attain the national goal of integration to the common European currency in January 2002, but which continued as a new plan of tight economic measures under which salaries remained virtually unchanged when at the same time prices were soaring. The introduction of EURO currency along with the lack of serious institutional ways and political will of controlling the prices in liberal professions, as well as the transformation of a great number of goods of luxury into goods of first necessity (i.e. cell-phones and other services of telecommunications) forced many families into the new national sport, the “bank credits”. Furthemore, a first salary of 700 to 1000 Euros/month is really not enough for a young man to hope for a happy family life, when only the monthly cell-phone bills (4-member family) can reach 300Euros. No wonder why Greeks can be considered to be the Europeans “most attached” to their parental home up to the age of 30.
Third, it is important to mention that despite all the grievances, the economic scandals, and the irregular cases of police repression, we haven’t yet seen a massive popular mobilization. Really, where are all those people who have seen their quality of life being degraded in the last years? Where are all those families who are under the pressure of a series of bank debts and who try to cover up economic holes of summer vacations with new “Christmas Consumption Credits”? All we have seen is student manifestations during the day and street battles between “anarchists” and the police forces.
The recent violent events in Athens and other major Greek cities should be seen under a specific analytical prism. First of all, it seems to me that we should distinguish between on one side, the people who participate in daily demonstrations claiming their right to express their grievances about the unorganized and sometimes exaggerated and irrational use of police force and their opposition to the current governmental policies and its incapacity to provide the Greek people with concrete answers on the barrage of economic scandals, and on the other side normless-hooligans who find the opportunity to demonstrate their internal rage and emptiness by creating havoc through destruction and pillaging.
Second, it is true the fact that the assassination of the young student was not the cause of the subsequent mobilization and violent event, but the effet declencheur which brought on the surface a 15-year-policy of austerity measures which was used in the beginning as an excuse in order to attain the national goal of integration to the common European currency in January 2002, but which continued as a new plan of tight economic measures under which salaries remained virtually unchanged when at the same time prices were soaring. The introduction of EURO currency along with the lack of serious institutional ways and political will of controlling the prices in liberal professions, as well as the transformation of a great number of goods of luxury into goods of first necessity (i.e. cell-phones and other services of telecommunications) forced many families into the new national sport, the “bank credits”. Furthemore, a first salary of 700 to 1000 Euros/month is really not enough for a young man to hope for a happy family life, when only the monthly cell-phone bills (4-member family) can reach 300Euros. No wonder why Greeks can be considered to be the Europeans “most attached” to their parental home up to the age of 30.
Third, it is important to mention that despite all the grievances, the economic scandals, and the irregular cases of police repression, we haven’t yet seen a massive popular mobilization. Really, where are all those people who have seen their quality of life being degraded in the last years? Where are all those families who are under the pressure of a series of bank debts and who try to cover up economic holes of summer vacations with new “Christmas Consumption Credits”? All we have seen is student manifestations during the day and street battles between “anarchists” and the police forces.
The authorities response to this crisis was to create confusion between destruction/”anti-democratic behavior” and legitimate claims for economic and social fairness, and on the other hand between student youth and “anarchists”/hooligans. Governmental officials have neither pronounced on the issue of economic and social difficulties, nor have they tried to draw a line between the young students and the “young” “anarchists”. The cornerstone of the actual debate has become the question of “who are those people with the covered faces” and not “what is the problem with the young generation of today”. The authorities have played the security card of “terrorism by the young hooligans”, who vandalize private property. In this way the same authorities aim at digging a wider gap between the young generation of 16-17-18 year old and the older generations who are integrated in the economic and social life. Following the experience of the last year’s widespread student mobilization against the revision of Article 16 of the Constitution which would authorize the creation of private universities, there are plenty of people who started expressing themselves in the media claiming that “it’s better for those young generations to try hard in their studies in order to become good citizens” rather than following the easy way of violence inspired by meager social sensibilities.
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