Greece 2004 Olympics flame ceremony. Mai Linh-Doan/Wikicommons. Some rights reserved.Not so long ago, much of Europe’s mainstream media portrayed Greeks as Europe’s lazy and corrupt citizens, the ones enjoying a life of relative affluence and shockingly early retirement thanks to hard-working northern Europeans. Banal racism and quasi-Orientalist attitudes have now given way to a new discourse.
Greeks have resurfaced in Europe’s media headlines as the continent’s longed-for rebels that just had enough of austerity and are ready to deliver a resounding “Nein”: to Merkel, to the troika, to austerity, to a transnational union that has failed its citizens. Syriza’s win in the elections, the government’s subsequent steps and its ministers’ sartorial choices have been subjected to media frenzy, some kind of spectacle – albeit a left-tinged one – that is being hyper-consumed all over Europe. Meanwhile solidarity protests are taking place on a nearly everyday basis, from Dublin to London and into Rome.
I would argue that solidarity has been the silent protagonist in the streets of Athens (and beyond) way before this potential turning point. The rise of Syriza can be viewed as at a critical juncture in what has been a significant and profound reconfiguration of Greece’s institutional landscape; and its embodiment in the everyday logics and practices of solidarity by its residents. Let me explain.
