The digital generation's political voices - Greece - WP6 webinar Dimitris Parsanoglou 26/05/2021 - DigiGen

The digital generation’s
         political voices – Greece
                       WP6 webinar

Dimitris Parsanoglou                 This project has received funding from the
                                     European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
26/05/2021                           innovation programme under grant agreement No
                                     870548.

Methodology

Greek case studies

 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

Material collected
Police violence and sexual harassment were identified and
could be classified according to the type of the producers as
follows:
§ material coming from formal or quasi-formal campaigns,
  e.g. the https://metoogreece.gr created by the General
  Secretariat for Demography and Family Policy and Gender
  Equality or the relevant Police/Ministry of Citizen Protection
  campaign (#exeisfoni) and particularly the comments that
  it generated;
§ material coming from collectivities, active among others on
  the issues we are examining;
§ material coming from individuals, activists or not, who have
  acted or reacted on Police and/or gender-based violence.
  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

Participants          Nature of Participation                                                                  Date of Interview            Country

  Participant 1         Student, activist                                                                        26/02/2021                   Greece

  Participant 2         Student, activist against Police violence                                                31/03/2021                   Greece

  Participant 3         Student, activist against Police violence                                                05/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 4         Activist in anti-sexist org + against Police violence                                    06/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 5         Non-activist, participated in action against Police violence                             10/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 6         Student, activist in several areas                                                       11/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 7         Student, activist against Police violence                                                12/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 8         Activist in anti-sexist org                                                              13/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 9         Student, actions against Police violence                                                 13/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 10        Student, non-activist                                                                    15/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 11        Organised activist in an anarchist group, active against Police violence                 16/04/2021                   Greece

  Participant 12        Student, activist in anti-sexist organisation                                            21/04/2021                   Greece

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

Main themes

Motivations – rites of passage
§ Personal experiences/identity building
   § ”At this age [high school] I started with student protests and
     demonstrations, usually for issues concerning students and education.
     Afterwards, at a more serious [re commitment] level, it was the fact that
     every human bears many contexts of identity where they might be
     opressed in the society we live. So, by recognising somehow these
     identities, my identities personally and how I am oppressed in the society
     we live, I started my activation on this matter [anti-sexism]” (Participant
     8)
§ Socialisation
   § “Discussing with other students at the university there was an interest to
     do some things, not to change the world, but first to change our everyday
     life; so, we started like that, based on our experiences” (Participant 4)
§ Triggering events/milestones
   § “People usually get active/mobilised on the grounds of a specific event,
     e.g. what happened with Police violence in Nea Smyrni, and not for a
     more general purpose/cause or for a broader change” (Participant 8)

  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

Meaning(s) of politicisation
§ Against partification (κοµµατικοποίηση)
  § ”I intend to become more active when I go to the university, I just don’t
    know about student groups [unions] because most of them tend to be too
    close to political parties, and I think that young people should not be
    affiliated to parties so early in their lives. They should certainly vote in the
    elections, I believe in this, but they shouldn’t, let’s say that student
    unions are unified with some parties, and I think that this is not the best
    thing for young people” (Participant 2)

§ When it comes to age/generations and the sense of belonging
  § “Every time something happens, and we have to inform the members of
    the organisation to share it with other people, we have the issue of older
    people on ‘how do we share’, ‘how should I have a Facebook account’,
    phone calls etc. (…) This is one part and another is the issue of
    politicisation which is understood [by the older] somehow in a more let’s
    say traditional way. They don’t understand how someone who is not in
    your union, in your assembly, might come to a meeting because they saw
    the form on the website. They don’t accept it yet. (Participant 4)

  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

(Social) media: sine qua non
§ Scripta manent
  § “Having something in written in Messenger that is not just
    said in a meeting or in a gathering, but is simply written, this
    certainly helps” (Participant 1)
§ Diffusing and monitoring
  § “For example, we uploaded on Facebook an event of our
    organisation on the history of student movements, and by
    doing this we could see how many people we expected to
    come, if the thing we are doing has any impact, the likes, the
    follows etc. All these things matter, especially in our world at
    this moment, with Covid and all. And before Covid it
    mattered, because when people are in front of a screen all
    the time, they are going to see it, no matter what. I think
    this is very important (Participant 11)
  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

(Social) media: reluctance and mistrusts
§ Timeo Facebook/Instagram/and/so/on et dona ferentes
   § “Sometimes I post [ideas or thoughts on a matter] but not very often, because I think it’s a
     delicate issue. And I don’t know how data on Facebook and Instagram is used, because
     there are private companies behind, so I want to be secured and not have a profile on what
     I post and so on, so I’m a bit reserved. I’m not very public” (Participant 2)

§ Censorship
   § “There was a rise of censorship incidents in the beginning of 2021 in Facebook and in
     Instagram. Sites of reporters, posts of lawyers, for example that of Thanassis Kambagiannis
     who was in the Golden Dawn trial, sites of political organisations, our site was banned twice”
     (Participant 4)

§ The fear of the post-Covid condition
   § “This is something we are much afraid of. We believe that in general the government has
     found the solution and once we have a demonstration etc., yes I personally believe that the
     government will have the easy solution, that is ‘Oh, you are having an occupation? Go
     ahead! There will be no result at all because the classes will be held online’. So, I think that
     this is a tactic that will be consolidated. I am not saying that we won’t go back to our
     faculties, but it is convenient for them [government] to be remotely, not to have interactions
     with the other students or the professors; everyone being at their home, alienated, not
     participating, not understanding what is going on, so that they can pass their bills etc.”
     (Participant 7)

   This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

Online-offline: Not the digital era yet?
§ Not even for communication
  § “Face-to-face communication cannot by any means be
    compared with online communication; the latter plays a role
    only in arranging the time and the place” (Participant 1)
§ The political primer on the street or La beauté est
  (toujours) dans la rue!
  § “I think they complete each other [the online and the
    offline]. We cannot exclude a form of political action. On the
    contrary we must use it, exploit it. (…) Online campaigns
    have helped a lot to mobilise people, for example to sign a
    petition and think politically on the matter. But I find it
    difficult not to say that somehow the street is more
    important in the hierarchy, and we cannot abandon it”
    (Participant 4)
  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870548.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
         under grant agreement No 870548. The content of this presentation are the sole responsibility of the author(s)
         and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

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