Demonstrate Tradition in Hellas. Especially left young people do so. However, less and less people go on the road and get competition from the right.
2011: the year when demonstrators in the streets of Athens, populated
“There’s this photo of a student demonstration against the agreement in the name dispute with Macedonia. There’s a Boy riding on a horse, to the shoulders, he carries the Greek flag and looks at his cell phone,” smiles Alexandra Koronaiou. “A young person who is Alexander the Great, and at the same time on the Internet surfing – very symbolic of today’s Greece.” The sociologist is a Professor and Dean at the Institute for social Sciences at the University of Athens. Since 2011, she has been conducting research in collaboration with 14 European universities on the topic of young people shift to the right.
Just the dispute with Macedonia and the refugee crisis have given the ultra-right rise. In the process, be it in Greece, according to tradition, Left that regularly gather in public Protest. And not only current events, but also to commemorate important historical events. “There is in Greece a kind of Demonstration culture that emanates from the Left, and closely linked to the dictatorship. At the time, demonstrations were prohibited, and then there was the uprising at the Polytechnic Institute in Athens in 1973.”
“Alexander the Great” – with a mobile phone
I demonstrate, so I’m
As the military junta ruthlessly suppressed the uprising in a bloody campaign, has sealed you to your own end. The students involved were to the founding heroes of the post-dictatorial Greece. Since then, the Campus police-free Zone. Political student associations of all Kinds are present. However, the banners Calling for the Demos go back almost all the left-wing groups. Solidarity with anarchist Comrades, demands for free education and better learning conditions at the universities, and again and again the Slogan: enough with the capitalism!
Avramidis Christos is a PhD candidate of political Sciences, and activist. He knows the scene and is regularly to protest. For him not only the expression of a political opinion, but a building block of social life. “The consciousness of millions of people is not only determined by the mechanisms and the ideology of the state, or by the media. It is particularly important to participate in political life and to remember together the events in which you fought together.”
Greece has a Demonstration of culture – one that emanates from the Left
The Ritual of public protest is enshrined in Greece tend to be culturally, as in other European countries, explains Koronaiou. Today, this is not the last expression of an inner imbalance: “In Greece we have an identity problem. There’s this conflict with the ancient Greece, the man is in glory in the textbooks. But the reality of recent history is turning a lot more to political and economic problems. If you look today in the mirror, then you see any ancient Greeks, but a man with the problems of our time.”
Crisis after the crisis
The young Greeks can start with the optimistic forecasts of their Prime Minister or his European colleagues nothing. Lack of prospects, mass emigration, unemployment, low wages: recovery is hardly felt anything. Is affected, especially the middle class, those families who send their children to the University, and for the self-perception of the country play a decisive role. Depression. The Motivation to create a better life are diminished. For Koronaiou this is cause for concern: “These young people no longer see themselves in Greece. In some cases, is not supported by the parents, saying, Go and see.”
Alexandra Koronaiou is a sociologist and is researching why young people right back
Studies show that The majority of young people in Greece believe in democracy and free elections. At the same time you lacked the feeling to be able to make an impact on the prevailing conditions. “The current rallies are guided mainly by emotions. There is great anger. From our research we know that youth are seeking new forms of expression, not only in Greece but anywhere in Europe. You don’t want to collect just signatures, but very much direct influence.” Also, a negative trend can be observed. Even if the media constantly reports of rioting left the demonstrators, the number of participants to the left of the demonstrations declined sharply.
Ultra-right discover a Tradition
Of ultra benefit rights groups. More and more of these try to claim the public space for themselves. With the economic problems of the crisis, parties such as the fascist Golden dawn have gained followers. The refugee issue and the hatred of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to the agreement reached in the name dispute with Macedonia are also on the rise. More and more often to serious rioting by the rights of protesters, the Journalist Kostas Koukoumakas. There were mostly small groups that know exactly how to pay attention to it.
That even high school students took to the streets and nationalist slogans, they shouted, was due to the influence of these groups, says Koukoumakas: “It is easy to gain disciples for themselves and to send them on the road, especially if it’s a question of taboo topics such as Macedonia. Behind parties like the Golden dawn, but also parts of the conservative opposition party Nea Dimokratia, in Northern Greece.” Parents and teachers who are either against the agreement with Macedonia, or where it simply doesn’t matter, would tolerate political interference. For the students it was often simply a matter of skipping a day of school.
Everyday life in Greek universities – Left call for protests
Alexandra Koronaiou can confirm this: “The Golden dawn is not just in schools, but also in sports clubs, where you can reach the young people directly and their political views are spreading.” This success, for Koronaiou, especially with a sense of powerlessness: “The Problem is not that the policy of listening to young people. They don’t understand that it is not enough to make once every four years a cross.” Many on the Left have given up hopes of a political turn of a key, long – and leave it to the ultra-right, the ur-left-wing Tradition of protest in the public space.