A pro euro rally held in front of the Greek parliament, June 2015. Demotix/Nicolas Koutsokostas. All rights reserved.The management of the Greek crisis still dominates the attention of the international media and press. As time is running out, the main debate focuses on whether a compromise between the Greek government and the European creditors remains feasible so that a Grexit can be prevented. The last couple of weeks have also seen a series of analyses that center on the peril of social unrest in the likelihood that no deal is reached.
Nevertheless, certain commentaries in renowned informative publications (e.g. the Financial Times), as well as popular columnists (e.g. Paul Mason on the Channel Four blog), have been stretching this probability several steps further. According to these analyses, the threat of social unrest that may even escalate into a ‘civil war’ is looming in Greece.
These authors concentrate on a string of pro-EU, as well as more Eurosceptic, demonstrations that have been taking place in the major urban centres (i.e. Athens and Thessaloniki) lately. In their opinion, this pattern of mass mobilization hints at a state of ideological polarization and irreconcilable political cleavages. Furthermore, some of these external commentators have even appealed to cultural essentialism and stereotypical allegations that ‘civil war is as old as democracy in Greece’.
