Whose Performance? : The Politics of Protest and Terror in Greek Civic Life

Part of : Γράμμα : περιοδικό θεωρίας και κριτικής ; Vol.22, No.2, 2014, pages 189-202

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189-202
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Since 2008, when the recent global economic crisis first broke out, Greece has been shaken by escalating violence in a series of massive public protests, often derailing into riots with fatal results. Far from demonizing or spectacularizing the recent Greek riots, I will analyze them within the contemporary political civic practices and the parallel theoretical discourse describing the politics of antagonism between active citizens, the state and the media in all performative democratic societies. With brief reference to similar devastating riots the world over the article stresses the spectacular dynamics of public protest and points to the strategic appropriation of the new media for a more effective reclaim of the urban space and a renegotiation of civic and national mythologies (such as fear and insecurity) promoted by the authorities.
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