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Collective Action and the Re-politicization of Everyday Life in Times of Austerity: Challenging the Neoliberal Politics of the Greek Crisis

Democracy
Social Movements
Austerity
Political Activism
Solidarity
Konstantinos Roussos
University of Essex
Konstantinos Roussos
University of Essex

Abstract

This paper aims to broaden and deepen the debates on the recent protest waves against austerity in Greece. In doing so, it presents three main research findings from an ongoing research project with the title “Collective action and the production of alternatives in times of crisis: self-organized projects and everyday politics in crisis-ridden Greece and Spain”. Initially, in terms of identities, the paper investigates how the global crisis is understood, embodied and contested through the participatory forms of collective action and political organization in Greece. Second, it highlights transformations in the political attitudes and party affiliation of protestors within their socio-political context (economic crisis, austerity policies, protest mobilisations etc.). Finally, it highlights the ‘re-politicization of everyday life’, a process grounded in the establishment of novel and open spaces of solidarity and trans-local collective action. Building on these, the paper reflects on how participation in protest events against austerity and everyday activism constitutes an essential element in the transformation of cultures and subjectivities, and the development of novel dynamics for international political action. It is argued that the recent forms of everyday collective action can play a crucial role in challenging the prevailing neoliberal crisis politics. The paper draws upon material collected through in-depth interviews, conducted on March-June 2014 with participants in the Aganaktismenoi event as well as during fieldwork research in the three-days mobilisation for “democracy and against austerity in Europe” that took place in Greece on February 2015.