Graffiti in Athens. Photo taken by author.During the recent period of high-level negotiations in Brussels, European nations were gripped at what possible outcomes could result. Greek politicians going head to head with the troika raised many important questions about the state of Greek national debt. However in that time the impact of debt and job precariousness felt by real people were the stories we didn’t tend to hear as much about.
Many of us are well aware of the important figures, though. After receiving its first bailout in 2010 unemployment in Greece stood at 15%. The following year that figure was 21% and by 2014 it had shot up to a record high of 28% (and 60% of young people). All the while the minimum wage had been dragged down, private household debt soared, and, not surprinsingly, the economy as a whole shrank by 25% from 2007-14.
When I visited Athens recently to attend a conference on household debt with colleagues[i] from the Political Economy Research Centre at Goldsmiths, University of London, finding and listening to those stories was what I set out to do; to cut past the numbers and hear what people’s lives are actually like, and what campaigns and organisers are doing at the same time that Greek government officials meet eurozone leaders and creditors.
