Transcript The Greek, The Bad and the Ugly: Q&A on the Greek Identity

Small States, Big Opportunities: Challenges and Problems
for Greece in Cyberspace’
OR
The Greek, The Bad and the Ugly: Q&A on the Greek Identity Shift,
the Global Media and its coverage of the Greek Riots
Εισήγηση στο Συνέδριο “Εικόνες Κρατών και Μέσα Επικοινωνίας
σε ένα Διεθνοποιημένο Περιβάλλον: Δυνατότητες και Προπτικές για την Ελλάδα”,
Greek Politics Specialist Group, Political Studies Association,
Ελληνικό Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών, Αθήνα, 4 και 5 Φεβρουαρίου 2009.
Θεματική ενότητα: Το Διαδίκτυο ως Εργαλείο Δημόσιας Διπλωματίας κι
Εξωτερικής Πολιτικής.
Dr Athina Karatzogianni
University of Hull, UK, [email protected]
Presentation Layout
Introduction Larger Project
Small States, Nation Branding and ICTs
Cyberconflict Model
The Greek Case
Questions
Sample Collection
Local Event and Media Descriptions
Reaction and National Politics
Global Reflection and Analysis of Greek Riots
Conclusion
Larger Project: Small States, Branding
and ICTs
The project explores
the effect of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) on state branding and global media
framing in relation to small states and unrecognised entities in crisis, conflict and dependency.
Explains:
Processes of evolution of statehood from imaginary to virtual to real
Links these processes with the literature of small states and cyberconflict
– individual cases of secessionary, failed and small states in crisis;
– idiosyncratic behaviour of small states in world system
– state branding;
– media and framing, political economy; of communications;
– ICTs and war.
Seeks:
To reveal how some frames offered by such entities are accepted by the established media, while
others are only accepted by media sympathetic to the state, population or cause.
To add to theory and evidence on how new technologies have enhanced small numbers, weaker
contenders and marginalised societies and upset the balance of traditional political communication.
To provide relevant recommendations for practitioners in the governmental, non-governmental and
private sector by providing knowledge and skills and examining new policies exploiting ICTs.
Small States Background
Small states studies resurgence during the last decade, especially in policy sectors, not only in Europe, but across the
globe. [e.g. emergence of new states in Europe and E.U. enlargement ]
subfield, followed the theoretical developments in International Relations
– Concern rose in 1960s and 1970s with decolonization, and questions of self-determination and dependence of
small entities (Baker Fox 1959).
– realism/neo-realism in the 1950s-1970s (size and foreign policy, small states in organizations);
– neorealism vs. liberal institutionalism in the 1980s (small states interdependence and development issues)
– and rationalism vs. social constructivism in the 1990s (small states in integration, globalization, ethno-political
conflict) (Nuemann and Gstol 2004).
Research examined the effects of geographical proximity to areas of great power interest (Vital 1967).
size, as a determinant of foreign policy and the compensation mechanisms, such as initiating more joint actions and
targeting multiactor fora were examined by East (1973).
Towards the end of the seventies the ‘small state’ as an analytical tool for understanding world politics was questioned
(Baehr 1975).
Until…Katzenstein (1985) argued that superior flexibility was exhibited by small states as compared with large ones
with regard to their economic and industrial politics. The reaction to international liberalization of such states was
theorised as domestic compensation and flexible responses (1985).
In the 1990s: framing and discursive politics, and the importance of self-perception.
For instance Reiter (1994) suggested that small states draw lessons and are influenced more from past experiences than
from outside threats in comparison to larger states.
More recently, Ingebritsen (2002) focused on smaller states with ‘social power’ to influence the system. In other
literature also known as ‘soft power’.
State, Branding, Conflict and ICTs
Scholarship for state branding very recent and embryonic,
focusing on tourism, attracting foreign investment and more rarely public diplomacy or the
knowledge economy and culture (Anholt, 2002; Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2002; Kotler and Gertner,
2002; Jaffe and Nebenzhal, 2001; Van Ham 2001; Ryan 2002; Tzanelli 2006, 2007).
Failed states and crisis states as empirical categories are examined by few scholars, such as Rice and
Stewart (2008) and by institutes or centres, such as the Fund for Peace Research or the Crisis States
Research Centre at the London School of Economics.
Generally researched without focusing on the media side of the equasion.
theorisation of the state in relation to globalization has been the object of research by significant
contemporary theorists, commenting on
–
the multi-variant tensions deriving from dependence and diffusion of the Western model of government (Badie,
2000);
– questioning the unproblematic and inevitable moral authority of the state (Rosenau, 2003);
– arguing that minorities are sites for the displacement of anxieties of many states (Appadurai, 2006);
– looking at the suppression of the nation-state and the inter-state system, whereby the nation-state is transformed
into a larger structure of a transnational capitalist state (Robinson 2005);
– theorising hegemonic decline (Friedman and Chase-Dunne 2005).
Equally, the effect of media on conflict, and ICTs on coverage has seen an explosion of the literature (Wolfsfeld,
1997; Taylor, 1998; Robinson 2002; Rosenau and Singh, 2002; Rosenau and Johnson 2002; Schechter, 2003;
Berenger 2004; Philo and Berry, 2004; Seib, 2005; McNair 2006; Karatzogianni 2006, 2008; Tremayne, 2007; Gow
2007; Hoskins and O’Loughlin 2008).
Small States and ICTs: SIDs case
how small states can achieve critical mass and speak with one voice through ICTs
For example, at a Workshop on ICT strategies for Islands and Small States (SIDs) in Malta in 1999,
ICTs will allow them to pool their diplomatic efforts, through electronic networking:
‘This will facilitate their communications with each other and their home capitals, allowing a faster response to key
issues, affecting their trade and economic security, under discussion with the WTO in order to improve their
competitiveness, SIDs need information and ICT to find niche markets (Briguglio).
Griego argued that ICTs can connect small states, small units and small islands into a substantial political and market
force for affordable E-commerce technical development
recommended that development agencies need to set up interactive sites which allow them to obtain feedback from
locals regarding the projects developed.
In the small islands context, as it is difficult to define indigenous skills, the diaspora is very important and can be
virtually present too (Baldacchino).
strategic information it is vital that small states gain competitive advantage by opening up markets through ICTs
which were previously unthinkable (Sammut).
The workshop identified the problems of top-level management and their mistrust of IT, because of their fear of
losing power through the sharing of information.
According to Kirkman (2002) SIDs are generally better off than the rest of the developing world in terms of some
elements of their Networked Readiness such as ICT buildout and diffusion
however, SIDS continue to lag in telecommunications liberalization. There is growing evidence that SIDS are pooling
resources to take a regional approach in areas such as telecommunications regulation, natural resource management,
maritime surveillance, and distance learning.
Cyberconflict Model
1. Environment of Cyberconflict (CC): The
Reversal argument
a. Ethnoreligious cyberconflicts represent
loyalties of hierarchical apparatuses while
b. Sociopolitical cyberconflicts are empowering
network forms of organisation
c. Actors in ethnoreligious CC need to operate in
a more network fashion, if they are fighting
network forms of terrorism or resistance
d. Actors in sociopolitical CC need to operate in a
more organised fashion and more
conscious of the rest of their hosting
network, if they are to engage with the
present global political system
2. Sociopolitical Cyberconflicts: impact of ICTs
on
a.
b.
c.
d.
Mobilising structures (network style of
movements using the internet,
participation, recruitment, tactics, goals)
Framing Processes (issues, strategy,
identity, the effect of the internet on
these processes)
Political opportunity structure (the
internet as a component of this structure)
Hacktivism
3. Ethnoreligious Cyberconflicts
4. Media Components:
a.
a. Analysing discourses (representations of the world,
constructions of social identities and social
relations)
b. Control of information, level of censorship, alternative
sources
c. Wolsfeld: Political contest model among antagonists:
the ability to initiate and control events, dominate
political discourse, mobilise supporters
d. Media effects on policy (strategic, tactical,
representational)
b.
c.
d.
Ethnic/religious affiliation, chauvinism, national
identity
Discourses of inclusion and exclusion
Information warfare, the use of the internet as a
weapon (hacking), propaganda and mobilisational
resource
Conflict resolution, which depends on the legal and
organisational framework, the number of parties
and issues, the distribution of power, and the
content of values and beliefs
Introducing present Greek case
Global media coverage dec 08-jan 09
Nation branding
Imaginary identity for internal and external consumption
Combine small states research and cyberconflict concepts
Create a map of the real, virtual, imaginary identity transformed by ICTs
Law and Order Frame vs. Justice and Defiance
New generation energy harnessed -explain social movements edge of
chaos
Cyberconflict - online diaspora and online activists, the
Sociopolitical/Economic against the ethoreligious/cultural, party politics
and banckrupt ideology of the nation-state
Sample Dec7-Jan 28
Majority texts chosen (60) are first reaction reports to the riots - editorials and
subsequent analysis of events also included
Sample captured one single search for articles for ‘greek riots’ on Google and it
is drawn mostly only from the top 50 hits. [problems with Google’s
(crypto)hierarchy of results is recognised]
Mainstream Media: Al Jazeera, AFP, Associated Press, BBC, China Daily,
Deutsche Welle,Die Welt,Euronews, Financial Times, France 24, Globe and
Mail, Huffington Post, Le Monde Diplomatique, MSNBC, New York Times, News
24, Novinite (Sofia),Reuters, Spiegel, Sunday Times,The Boston Globe,The
Economist, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph The Nation, Wall
Street Journal, USA Today
Various non-mainstream media, and online media: anarchistnews.org,
bnp.org.uk, chabad.org, christian science monitor, freedemocracy wordpress,
globalreach.com, internationalistbooks, indymedia.org, hellenic news of america,
libcom.org,occupiedlondon.org, unite.gnn.tv
Central Themes:
Law and Order Frame vs Injustice and Defiance
Worst riots in decades
Government reaction
The families-dynastic political system
Corruption
The Lost 700 euro Generation (unemployment)
Tradition of protest
Make up of protesters (students, anarchists, middle
class,unions etc)
Financial position of Greece in the world system -perscriptive
Various alternative explanations and conspiracy theories
Local Event- Initial Description
What happened? Who is blamed? Where did it happen? Government reaction, political parties, popular reaction etc. Who are the ‘rioters’?
Who is quoted and interviewed?
Sunday Times: Grigoropoulos was hardly an ideal martyr for a movement suspected of being heavily influenced by a hard-left party known
as Syriza. His mother runs a jewellery shop opposite Prada in the Bond Street of Athens and his father is a bank manager. He apparently
belonged to a cluster of Athenian youths from the well to-do families who enjoy goading police on a Saturday night in the troubled district of
Exarchia.
Nearly all media outlets used the phrase ‘worst riots in decades’, or ‘in Greece’s recent history or since 1974’
Majority mention our tradition of protesting, how ‘dear’ and ‘sacrosant’ it is held since ancient times’ or a tradition on violence’ e.g. Reuters:
Greece has a tradition of violence at student rallies and fire bomb attacks by anarchist groups
Protests were described as riots interchangeably, students as gangs of youth, as anarchists, anarchists as students, ordinary citizens, all
depending on the discursive mood of the journalist/citizen journalist
Main quotes in the majority of the mainstream media in the first instance were officials Prokopis Pavlopoulos the Interior Minister, and PM
Kostas Karmanlis, after that secretary of information, president of trade association, police, major’s office.
Very few mentions of statements of opposition parties, no interviews of the opposition parties (incredibly 2/50 quote papandreou statement),
no interviews from ‘rioters’, very few from students and very few from ‘ordinary people’
–
Almost an exception New York Times (10 December 2008) sources Livadas general secretariat of Greece’s Secretariat of Information,
17-year old hairdressing student, protester (because of economy), researcher (economy and police brutality), law school student,
international relations student. Other example Al Jazeera
Law and Order Frame:
–
Euronews quotes Pavlopoulos: Protests must and should take place. Citizens have every right to defend their ideas and principles but
not by destroying other people’s property
–
The Nation quotes Karamanlis: "We must all have a united stand against illegal actions, to clearly condemn violence, looting and
vandalism," he said, and appealed to unions to cancel a protest rally during a 24-hour strike scheduled for Wednesday.
Injustice and Defiance
Deutsche Welle: Amnesty International called for an investigation into the shooting death of Grigoropoulos and criticized "unlawful and
disproportionate" police violence.
Reaction & National Politics: Family Politics,
Corruption, and Unequal distribution
Associated Press: Before the riots began, the Greek government was already facing public discontent over the
state of the economy, poor job prospects for students and a series of financial scandals…An opinion poll
published on Wednesday showed that 68% of Greeks disapproved of the government's handling of the crisis.
Spiegel: Many normal Greeks share the same views as the Black Bloc anarchists: They consider the country's
elite to be corrupt and incompetent…. Their experiences with its scandals, cronyism and corruption are too
deeply seated. And it is in their unanimous rejection of the elite that both business people and the Black Bloc
anarchists have found common ground..
Financial Times: Greek politics can be correspondingly raw: with family dynasties often treating both party and
state as personal patrimony. Two aspects of this culture – vested interests that shade into corruption, and a
robust tradition of public protest – keep colliding in ever more combustible ways, as the buildings ablaze in
downtown Athens well attest.
Le Monde Diplomatique: The big families - the Caramanlis, Mitsotakis, Papandreou - that have followed one
another in power for decades, have, along with their loyalists, profited from a system of which the scraps and
crumbs have nourished a large part of the population. The social crisis explains, without justifying, the violence
of the last few days. Mr. Caramanlis's government may restore peace. It is too weak to attack the roots of the
disorder.
The Economist: The feel-good factor allowed the conservatives to ignore the pressing case for social reform,
particularly in education, health and policing. But as the global slowdown takes effect, young Greeks see their
parents struggling to pay the bills. If they cannot afford to study abroad, they get lousy tuition at a Greek
university and, unless their family can pull strings, few chances of a good job. The unemployment rate for
young graduates is 21%, compared with 8 % for the population as a whole.
National Politics: Lost generation and
make up of protesters
Telegraph: The death of Alexis Grigoropoulos is a justifiable cause for public outrage. But it has become a
bandwagon for a much broader coalition of anti-government interests: student anarchists, whose raison d’etre is to
challenge authority; the socialist opposition Pasok and the trade unions, who want to unseat the ruling New
Democracy party; and members of the middle class incensed by low wages, a high cost of living, rising
unemployment and official corruption
The Guardian: For many these are a lost generation, raised in an education system that is undeniably shambolic and
hit by whopping levels of unemployment (70 per cent among the 18-25s) in a country where joblessness this month
jumped to 7.4 per cent. If they can find work remuneration rarely rises above 700 euro (this is, after all, the self-styled
euro;700 generation), never mind the number of qualifications it took to get the job. Often polyglot PhD holders will
be serving tourists at tables in resorts…started selling them on [stones] - at three stones a euro - to other protesters
whose parents may live in Hollywood-style opulence…What is certain is that Karamanlis's handling of the
disturbances will go down as a case study of what not to do in a crisis.
Wall Street Journal: Some 25% of Greeks 15 to 24 years of age are unemployed, meaning the benefits of the country's
economic expansion haven't been equally distributed, said Claude Giorno, an economist at the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development… Alexander Kitroeff, associate professor in history at Haverford College,
said the length of protests among high-school and college students is particularly striking because it is an age group
that hasn't been politically active since the early 1980s.
Al jazeera interviews Psaropoulos, Athens News: The political reason is that some parties on the left are keen on
making political capital out of any kind of mobilisation of this kind.We are talking about university students and even
younger ages. A lot of kids of high school age have been turning up and taking part and that is very much a organised
thing, it is not a spontaneous outpouring. But the social cause is more spontaneous, we saw enormous riots involving
high school and university students during an attempt by the conservatives at reform two years ago in 2006. And that's
where that age group acquired a renewed sense of its own power.
Global Reflection & Analysis: Globalization of protests
and Greece’s position in the world system
Sunday Times: ‘My 12-year-old daughter has been getting text messages inviting her to join the demonstration’ said
Constantine Michalos, president of the Greek chamber of commerce.
Wall Street Journal: Thousands of students were joined by striking workers in a fifth day of protests in Greece, an
uprising that mirrors growing discontent among youths in many European countries over outdated education systems,
lack of jobs and a general apprehension about the future.
Novinite (Sofia) According to the Greece Antenna TV, the Greek anarchists have been joined by like-minded people
from all over Europe who have recently arrived to Greece in order to take part in the protests.
Reuters: Protests have swept more than 10 cities across the European Union member state of 11 million people,
including the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu
Al Jazeera (posts on their site) Global conversations from people from Greece, mexico, Venezuala, Indonesia, the US,
Canada, Netherlands)
Le Monde Diplomatique: the last three days testify to the disequilibria of a society that over several years only went
from being part of the Balkans to part of Europe.
Financial Times: It must root out the corruption that places it 57th (out of 180 countries) and 23rd in the EU in
Transparency International’s 2008 corruption perceptions index. As Athens burned, Greece’s parliament was
investigating an illegal land-swap between a Mount Athos monastery and the state, from which ministers may have
profited mightily. With bad governance, disparate causes for disgruntlement coagulate into rebellion. Good
governance in Greece would recognise that reform is something you do all the time, unless you want to see the
country overtaken by its Balkan neighbours, Romania and Bulgaria
Global Reflection & Analysis: Greece as
foretaste/trigger for next phase in the financial crisis
Wall Street Journal: Thousands of students were joined by striking workers in a fifth day
of protests in Greece, an uprising that mirrors growing discontent among youths in many
European countries over outdated education systems, lack of jobs and a general
apprehension about the future.
Associated Press: Authorities say the incidents have been isolated so far, but
acknowledge concern that the Greek riots could be a trigger for antiglobalization groups
and others outraged by economic turmoil and a lack of job opportunities.
Sunday Times: Some see a foretaste of the next phase of the global financial crisis,
sensing in the tear gas and chants a warning to European leaders of what may unfold
elsewhere if they do not take into account the frustrations of their people.
The Independent: Bringing together youths in their early twenties struggling to survive
amid mass youth unemployment and schoolchildren swotting for highly competitive
university exams that may not ultimately help them in a treacherous jobs market, the
events of the past week could be called the first credit-crunch riots. There have been
smaller-scale sympathy attacks from Moscow to Copenhagen, and economists say
countries with similarly high youth unemployment problems such as Spain and Italy
should prepare for unrest.
Non-mainstream Media
Conspiracy theory: http://freedemocracy.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/riots-in-greece-the-undercover-news-culpritislamic-netowrks-joining-anarchists/ Quite a few Greek radical groups have adopted Arabic Noms de Guerre,
promote illegal immigration of Muslims into Europe and call in for the destruction of Western civilazation. They are
part of an almost global network that acts as a soft power element of the hard one as envisaged by Al Qaeda.
Globalresearch.ca world socialist website: Also playing a retrograde role in the struggles in Greece are anarchist
elements, who hold workers responsible for the right-wing politics of PASOK, the KKE and the trade unions, serving
to isolate the youth from the working class as a whole. The World Socialist Web Site and the European sections of the
International Committee of the Fourth International, the Partie fur Soziale Gleichheit in Germany and the Socialist
Equality Party in Great Britain, call for spreading the mass protests and struggles that have erupted in Greece
throughout Europe ….there is the so-called "leftist coalition," or SYRIZA, an amalgam of the most diverse radical
groupings—including the Greens, pacifists, feminists, radical lefts and self-described socialists. The heterogeneous
composition of the party is matched by its complete lack of programmatic clarity. In last year’s election campaign, the
coalition stressed the issue of ecology as the lowest common denominator to hold itself together, following bitter
internal disputes.
http://bnp.org.uk/2008/12/greece-suffers-under-wave-of-asylum-seeker-caused-violence/The Greek far left, who have
in the past been closely allied to the far left in Britain, has now seized upon the initial asylum seeker unrest and
started riots of their own, providing the controlled media with a perfect excuse to hide the cause of the violence
Chabad.org (jewish) The rabbi said that the previous two hours had seen a drastic intensification in the protesters’
actions.It’s gotten really crazy here, said Hendel. Thank God, the Jewish community is okay, he added. So far, the
rioters have not been targeting people.
Diaspora Hellenic News of America:I think, is the sense that public institutions have been so far corrupted that they
may, and should, be attacked with impunity. This may eventually provoke a backlash; but, so far, whatever
apprehension or disgust the rioters have provoked is exceeded by disgust for those they are rioting against.
Various anarchist and radical left :
http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2009/01/17/fuck-greece-fight-here-greekriot-info-events-in-the-uk/ : fuck Greece, fight here
http://libcom.org/news/occupation-news-editors-union-hq-athens-12012009
http://libcom.org/news/short-presentation-recent-events-athens-through-eyessome-proletarian-participants-tptg-cohttp://unite.gnn.tv/blogs/24139/Breaking_news_from_Greek_Anarchist_moveme
nt
http://athens.indymedia.org/?lang=en
http://www.anarchistnews.org/
Greece in Motion - Creative and Positive
Exploits The Edge of Chaos:
Recommendations for Policy
Reverse current coverage by addressing Greece’s image/media coverage on 3 levels:
The Real
–
–
–
–
–
–
Family politics
Equaling distribution beyond party politics
Corruption
Unemployment
Social Reforms
Chanelling the Energy of the ‘Lost’ generation
The Virtual
Exploit ICTs to address every single element of negative coverage, exchange with the global media constantly
Engage diaspora and online activists through providing for a in cyberspace for participation in e-government beyond ‘official’
ineffective information portals. THEY ARE CITIZENS NOT CUSTOMERS
Engage youth in e-participation projects in p2p collaborative fashion to create new enterprise and business opportunities
The Imaginary
Reconstruct the Greek imaginary through deep reform on all levels
Reverse the image of Greeks as hard working creative non-violent hospitable and non-destructive, uncorrupt and forward-looking
Restore hope and dignity to people that have given up on democracy, politics, representation, equal distribution, equality of
opportunites, human dignity
Embrace youth as the most valuable asset of a state (in raw biopolitical terms) and exploit their abilities through providing
opportunities and rewards
Respect of minorities and embrace cultural diversity as a dynamic factor for cultural exchange and progress.