Crisis and land dispossession in Greece as part of the global ‘land fever’

Abstract

The exploitation of land, but also of natural elements linked to it―such as water, forests, landscape, the subsurface and biodiversity―nowadays comprise investment targets for local and international speculative capital at some unprecedented extent, intensity and geographical spread. From 2009 on, Greece became a target country due to the current crisis which has decisively contributed to the de-valorisation/depreciation of the exchange-value of land, decreasing monetary values by 15–30%―depending on the area―when compared to 2005 prices. The special legal status imposed by the Troika as of 2010, forms a lucrative environment for speculators–investors, dramatically altering the legal, constitutional order and imposing something of a semi-protectorate status upon the country. This short paper explains how the crisis in Greece made public land via privatisations a major target for dispossession by global and local capital.

Key words:

• public land dispossession
• Greece
• crisis

Notes

1 Excerpt from the volume by Costis Hadjimichalis (2014) Crisis and Land Dispossession, to be published in Greek in the fall of 2014. The author thanks Andonis Vardis for his kind translation.

2 See the pre-crisis book by Lois Lamprianidis (2011), dealing with this issue.

3 See the very interesting study: Land Concentration, Land Grabbing and People's Struggles in Europe, Hands Off the Land, European Coordination via Campesina, April 2013.

4 In the international bibliography, the term used is ‘land grabbing’―while Harvey (2010, 2012) uses the term ‘land dispossession’.

Additional information

Costis Hadjimichalis is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Geography, Harokopio University.