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A Critique of the Greek Indignant Movement

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A Critique of the Greek Indignant Movement View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Newcastle University eTheses Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action: A critique of the Greek indignant movement Maria Bakola A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geography, Politics and Sociology Newcastle University February 2017 Abstract What can the Greek indignant movement tell us about the forces that shape political subjectivity and forms of collective struggle that can subvert and resist capitalist power relations? In this thesis I argue that Greek indignants’ desire for autonomy and a more “ethical” politics contributed to the decline of the movement, perpetuating the global politics of austerity and a liberal understanding of politics after the crisis that feeds inequalities produced within capitalism. I seek to unravel the forces that contributed to the decline of the Greek indignant movement and the social, political and economic mechanisms that contributed to the production of political subjectivities within the movement. My examination demonstrates that there is a tension between how participants maintain the diversity of the movement and how they build the movement as one with collective political goals; between a desire for autonomy and a desire for a cohesive and effective political programme that has been devised in a collective way. I navigate this tension by examining the production of contemporary forms of political subjectivities in these times of crisis. I engage in a critique of Laclau and Mouffe and Hardt and Negri’s theories on the mechanisms for the production of a collective political subjectivity. I critique their concepts of the “people” and the “multitude” and their assessment of the mechanisms for the production of a collective political subjectivity, bringing this critical analysis within my examination of the Greek indignant movement. I argue that emotion, ideology, culture and the economy bear upon the production of political subjectivities within the movement in important and significant ways. My critique of this theoretical debate provides a rigorous starting point from which to unravel the mechanisms of the production of political subjectivity. I continue with a close examination of the political processes that contributed to the rise and decline of the Greek indignant movement. I demonstrate how emotion and affect are key in the emergence of forms of resistance. In these forms of resistance emotion and affect are bound together with the embodiment of hegemonic ideologies that shape the actions of the Greek indignants contributing to the decline of the movement. I conclude by demonstrating that the Greek indignant movement, in spite of its failures, can still offer the basis for the beginning under which anti-capitalist politics can flourish and serve as an example for the forces that can contribute to building an emancipatory collective political subjectivity. i Dedicated to my parents Charilaos and Evridiki Bakola Στους γονείς μου Χαρίλαο και Ευριδίκη Μπακόλα Maria Bakola Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action Maria Bakola Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my father Charilaos Bakolas, my mother Evridiki Bakola and my sister Eleni Bakola for without their support and sacrifices this project would not have been possible. It is hard to condense within a couple of sentences how much I owe to Paul McFadden. His contribution in this project and my life is beyond measure and I will be always grateful to him for his love and support. I would like to thank my supervisors Matt Davies and Nick Morgan for their guidance, patience and understanding. I was lucky to have a number of people in my life that believed in me and helped me get to this point. First and foremost I would like to thank Dionysia Michalogianni who since we were kids has always been by my side and I will always cherish her friendship and intellectual engagement. Vasso Michalogianni for her invaluable friendship, encouragement and support. Christos Tolis, Alfonso Migdanis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Kostas Pirros, Kostas Spyratos and Despoina Vanioti for their friendship, guidance and support even in my mistakes. My aunt and uncle Despoina and Aris Kosmatopoulos and my cousin Ioanna Kosmpatopoulou. I would like to thank every member of staff in Newcastle University and especially Tony Zito for the support and advice he has given me from when I first began my MA in Newcastle University until today. I thank Simon Philpott, Michael Barr, Kyle Grayson and Richard Dawson for their guidance and for always keeping their door open to me. I would like to thank my extended academic family Alex Baker, Gemma Bone, Ben Coulson, Sarah Duggan, Russell Foster, Matt Jenkins, Lily Harding, Cahir O’Doherty and Cary Monreal Clark for the many hours we spent in philosophical discussions and for helping me in my hours of need. I would especially like to thank Ben Coulson, Russell Foster and Sarah Duggan for giving up their time to proofread this thesis. I feel a great amount of gratitude to all the people that trusted me with their stories and experience of the movement. A warm thank you to all the people who helped me during my fieldwork research. Miss Despoina Papadodima and Mr Nikos Papadodimas for their incredible hospitality and support during my fieldwork research in Athens. Christos Giovanopoulos, Manthos Gimas, Nikolas Kountouris and Georgia for the network of people they opened up for me, making this fieldwork research possible. Vasilis Koulakiotis and George Migdanis for their encouragement and for reminding me what makes Exarcheia the centre of revolutionary politics in Athens. I am grateful to Dr. Michalis Spourdalakis and The Hellenic Company of Political Science for giving me a home during my fieldwork research. v Maria Bakola Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action I would like to thank IKY for funding my PhD and granting me the opportunity to fulfil a lifelong ambition. I would also like to thank the people working at IKY, their support towards every awardee is a testament against every neoliberal argument that portrays public servants as lazy and irresponsible I would like to thank my grandmothers Eleni Bakola Bega and Eugeneia Gianni who have always motivated me to be better and work harder. In a way this project is inspired by their lives. vi Maria Bakola Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action Contents Abstract i. Acknowledgements v. Introduction: Political subjectivity within a period of Crisis 1 0.1. Collective Struggle in the Age of Austerity and Key Terms 0.2. A Brief History of the Rise of Neoliberal Politics in Greece 0.3. Financial Turmoil and the Rise of the Greek Indignants: the chronicle of a crisis 0.4. Crisis and the Genesis of the Greek Indignant Movement 0.5. Chapter Summary Chapter 1: Theory and Method: Discourse Analysis, Immanent Critique and Qualitative Analysis of the Greek Indignant Movement 17 1.1. Discourse Analysis 1.2. Critical Theory and Immanent Critique as a Method to study the Greek Indignant Movement 1.3. Studying the Greek Indignant Movement: Data collection and analysis 1.3.1. Why use semi-structured interviews? 1.3.2. Research Setting and Data Gathering 1.3.3. Data Analysis 1.3.4. Problems during the empirical study of the Greek indignant movement 1.4. Validity of the research Chapter 2: Hegemony, Antagonism and the Political Subject: A critical analysis of Laclau and Mouffe’s “New Political Logic” in light of the Greek indignant movement 47 2.1. Crisis, Collective Struggles and the Political Subject in Laclau and Mouffe’s Thought 2.2. The Call of Indignation 2.3. Autonomy and the Battle of Discourses within the Greek Indignant Movement 2.4. The Limits in the Logic of Laclau and Mouffe’s Discourse Theory vii Maria Bakola Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action Chapter 3: Autonomy and diversity in the Greek indignant movement: A critique of the politics of the multitude and the production of political subjectivity in Hardt and Negri’s thought 75 3.1. Hardt and Negri on the Production of Subjectivity 3.2. The question of organisation: Horizontality and the limits of a horizontal form of decision making within the Greek indignant movement 3.3. Autonomy and the Common Chapter 4: The Politics of Affect in Light of the Greek Indignant 103 Movement 4.1. Reflecting upon the role of emotions within a theory of affect 4.2. Exploring the Politics of Indignation 4.3. The Outraged Bodies: Managing intensities within the movement 4.4. The limitations of the “affective turn” in light of the Greek indignant movement Chapter 5: Crisis, Defiance and the Emergence of the Indignant Movement 131 5.1. Crisis of Hegemony and Emotional Dissonance 5.2. Subjectivity in Crisis and the Politics of Anxiety 5.3. Multiplicity, Emotional Reflexivity and the Emergence of the Movement 5.4. The Beginnings of a Movement Chapter 6: The Emotion Work of the Indignants 155 6.1. Transforming Anxiety, Fear and Depression 6.2. Managing Outrage 6.3. Emotion Work and Feelings of Solidarity 6.4. The Dominance of Outrage Chapter 7: “So what comes next?” The decline of the movement and fracturing solidarity 179 7.1. Diversity and the need to produce a common political project 7.2. Divisions in the Square 7.3. From Feelings of Outrage to Feelings of Civic Duty and Individual Responsibility 7.4. The End of “Indignation” viii Maria Bakola Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action Conclusion: Political subjectivity and the Greek indignant movement 205 8.1. The Politics of the Greek Indignant Movement 8.2. The Greek Indignant Movement and Areas for Future Research References 215 ix Maria Bakola Crisis and Concomitant Forms of Collective Action Introduction: Political subjectivity in times of Crisis During the time from when I began my thesis to its completion, Greece has been transformed from a laboratory of hope to a cemetery of dreams.
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