The rise of the far right in Greece and opposition to ‘othering’, hate speech, and crime by civil and civic organizations

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on forms of opposition to ‘othering’ and far-right politics in present-day Greece. This opposition takes a variety of forms, comes from a range of actors, and is motivated by a number of concerns with differing assessments of what should be done. More specifically, the article focuses on the far right in Greece and discrimination, hate speech, and hate crime against the ‘other’ from the perspectives of those who are active in mobilizing against racism and counteracting the country’s populist and neo-nationalist turn. Concentrating on the forces opposing discrimination, the analysis describes present-day social movements and actions from grassroots to governmental level, their strategies and politics, their diversity of thought and action, and their contribution in providing the resources for social change, and the production of new meaning in the context of anti-racism in Greece. Trying to provide answers as to how social movements and activists produce meaning, we argue that activists develop less intentional, inadvertent meanings which emerge in the course of the not-always conscious schemas of their struggle. This calls for a more dynamic explanation of the relationship between practice and meaning-making in social movement contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Far right
• civil organizations
• Greece
• racism
• discrimination
• migration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), a left-wing coalition party.

2. Anti-Capitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow (ANTARSYA), a radical left political party formed by a coalition of 10 small groups composed primarily of university student activists of orthodox Marxist, Trotskyist, and Maoist backgrounds as well as members of unions. The party is effective for activism, but it did not manage to achieve more than 0.64% in the 2015 elections.

3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2440035/Ex-Golden-Dawn-members-reveal-Greek-neo-Nazi-party-organised-assault-millitias-hunt-immigrants-street.html.

4. http://www.xryshaygh.com/index.php/enimerosi/view/trapeza-aimatos-laikou-syndesmou-chrush-augh.

5. Constructing immigration as a social danger provides an opportunity to define the other and solidify the self. Douglas (1984) long ago outlined that discourses of danger construct difference as a means of constituting shared national and cultural identity.

6. Press releases and recommendations to the government on Greek immigration policy in Greek at http://www.hlhr.gr/index.php?MDL=pages&SiteID=683.

7. Enar shadow report ‘Racism and related discriminatory practices in employment in Greece by Christina Psarra (http://enar-eu.org/IMG/pdf/greece_pdf) accessed November 2016.

8. http://www.unhcr.gr/1againstracism/en/press-release-call-for-the-immediate-withdrawal-of-an-unacceptable-ammendment/ In this video, Hall shows how race is a ‘discursive construct’ and its meaning is never fixed; it can be described as a ‘floating signifier’.

9. In 2012, two GD supporters stabbed to death a Pakistani immigrant, Luqman, as he rode his bicycle to work; KEERFA lawyers acted pro-bono to bring Luqman’s murderers to justice.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the financial contribution of the European Union’s Justice and Home Affairs for its financial contribution to a project on Hate Speech and Populist Othering in Europe through the Racism, Age, Gender Looking Glass. 2014–2015 [Just/2012/FRAC/AG/2861], on which this article is based.