Understanding Narratives of Crisis in Contemporary Greece: History and the Illegitimacy of Austerity

weaadmin — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 17:25:57 +0000

In this paper I argue that any future economic recovery in Greece will require a deep understanding of the fault lines of contemporary Greece and the long-standing historical narratives which sustain and fuel the modern Greek state. The tension between analysing the efficacy of economic policies on the one hand, and the human effects of those policies on the other is increasingly stark. The collection of poems Crisis: Greek Poets on the Crisis published in 2014 provides a literary response to the Greek economic crisis, showing the human cost of fiscal contraction. As the blurb on the back cover of the book states: “unemployment is over 27%, the highest in the EU. Youth unemployment is 60%. One in three households now lives in poverty. In the last few years, the suicide rate has increased by more than 40%.” By discussing the collection of poems Crisis I hope to achieve a deeper understanding of the narratives circulating in Greek society about the economic crisis and how they intersect with long-standing historical narratives. In this paper I am interested in exploring two particular types of narratives. The first is the historical narrative of Greek victimization by the North, particularly by Germany. The second is the Greek response to the “living beyond one’s means” narrative. By exploring these two narratives my objective is to show Greek society’s complete rejection of the legitimacy of the economic crisis and start a conversation about where Greek society is heading in the post-austerity era.

Blood, Strawberries: Accumulation by Dispossession and Austere Violence against Migrant Workers in Greece

weaadmin — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 17:02:56 +0000

Rendered vulnerable to hyper-exploitation through the process of precarious migration, migrant workers are coerced and disciplined by systemically violent means by the state, the para- state, and capital. However, the conditions facing migrant workers are mystified by racist discourses that structure commonly held perceptions of the relationships among migration, crisis, and austerity. Migrants are often blamed by the Greek public for contributing to Greek unemployment and draining domestic resources, particularly in a period of “crisis.” Greek impoverishment has been widely used to justify the rise in racist attitudes and the political ascent of Golden Dawn. But the crisis did not generate racism in Greek society—even if it did supply a justifying discourse to naturalise it. Moreover, austerity politics targets migrants and other marginalised groups in ways that routinely go unexamined through a methodologically nationalist frame that constructs Greek citizens as the “authentic” victims of crisis and of austerity measures. In this essay, I examine how institutionalised violence against migrant workers, enabled by their precarisation and social death, is an integral part of the valorisation process in austere capitalism, securing “accumulation by dispossession.” My point of departure in this essay is the violent attack in Nea Manolada on 17 April 2013, during which foremen of a strawberry farm aimed hunting rifles and opened fire on over 200 migrant fruit pickers who were demanding the pay owed to them (approximately €200,000), injuring at least 35 people. Two of the four accused assailants—including the owner of the agricultural operation Vangelatos SA—were exonerated by the court, while the other two received relatively “light” sentences for reduced charges. I examine the ways in which the state, supranational institutions, and capital collude in the exploitation and disciplining of migrant workers under conditions of crisis, austerity, and a global war on migration.

austerity – Greece and Austerity Policies: Where Next for its Economy and Society?

Understanding Narratives of Crisis in Contemporary Greece: History and the Illegitimacy of Austerity

Blood, Strawberries: Accumulation by Dispossession and Austere Violence against Migrant Workers in Greece