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Cardiff.doc.

Greece 2012: The mass media, fair play and other obsessions

By Emmanuel Heretakis, Associate Professor, University of Athens, Greece.

Abstract

With the mass media companies in Greece and the subsequent advertising expenditure exhibiting an indiscriminate downfall from 2008 and onwards, due to the heavy austerity fiscal measures imposed by the troika, we are in a completely different and uncharted situation than a few years ago. The remaining mainstream mass media were strongly servile to, and supportive of the pro-memorandum policies, as a kind of mechanism for the imposition of coercive dilemmas in Greek society, transforming crucial political questions into an unquestionable one-way street (TINA).

The “free market” reforms had the obvious outcome of depressing the earnings of working people, and weakening-to the breaking point- the role of the state. Voices in favor of support for the Greek people were heard all over the world, from the “Occupy…” movements in the USA to Spain (“indignados”), and through petitions circulating worldwide via the new technologies.

Through neoliberal fairy tales, i.e. the imposition and the rationale of unprecedented measures, via the mainstream subjugated global media, the neoliberal elites tried to counter, by diktats, the more than visible, daily opposition to policies aiming to destroy a country while pretending to save it. And the most crucial question of all is: “If Greece succumbs, who will be the next one?”

Key words

Neoliberalism, image culture, screen culture, convergence, deregulation, media groups, diktats,

advertising, consensus, fear, petitions, sovereignty, austerity, disinformation, blackmail,

precarity, kleptocracy.

1. The overall picture and the role of the mainstream mass media

The fear of the thinking man and the hatred of the intellect are revealed in a constant stream of

new expressions (1)

-The Greek media scene

A return to the past: in Greece, total advertising expenditure in 2010 (1887.5 million euros) was similar to the one in 2003 (1806.4 million euros) .Advertising expenditure in newspapers in 2010 (434.1 million euros) resembled to the one during 2006 (452.4 million euros), while advertising expenditure in magazines during 2010 (746.0 million euros) was close to that during 2004

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(803.5 million euros). Advertising expenditure in radio during 2010 (124.2 million euros) resembled to the one during 2006 (119.4 million euros), while advertising expenditure in television during 2010 (583.2 million euros) resembled to the one during 1999 (613.1 million euros):

Greece-Advertising expenditure in million euros(*)

Year Newspapers Magazines Radio ΤV Total

1991 45.9 m 73.7 m 17.2 m 162.8 m 299.6 m

92 59.3 101.5 27.0 300.0 487.8

93 70.4 106.0 44.3 389.2 609.9

94 94.9 134.8 52.9 558.1 840.7

95 123.2 168.4 69.5 836.5 1197.6

96 125.1 190.6 65.8 446.0 827.5

97 159.6 273.8 65.8 466.2 965.4

98 197.1 326.7 55.8 511.8 1091.4

99 256.1 380.8 69.0 613.1 1319.0

2000 302.5 470.4 70.5 665.1 1508.5

01 255.3 532.2 70.8 661.0 1519.3

02 253.5 604.0 87.7 712.6 1657.8

03 302.5 684.7 98.5 720.7 1806.4

04 352.9 803.5 115.6 771.1 2043.1

05 407.4 886.3 113.9 784.7 2192.3

06 452.4 978.3 119.4 793.6 2343.7

07 499.7 M 1047.9 165.6 941.5 M 2654.7

08 478.6 1113.3 M 214.9 M 862.0 2668.8 M

09 441.7 889.8 166.2 714.8 2212.5

2010 434.1 746.0 124.2 583.2 1887.5

(*) Remuneration fees of advertising agencies and the corresponding VAT is not included. M: Maximum, m:

minimum. Source: Media Services.

What this picture tells us is that in terms of advertising expenditure there is a clear-cut return to the past, although the story began under favorable auspices.

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In the Greek case, the much promising Eldorado of electronic media deregulation proved to be an investment opportunity mainly from sectors other than the normally expected one of publishing and electronic media enterprises, such as shipping, construction and finance(2):

“The Greek situation is very similar: industrialists with interests in shipping, travel, construction, telecommunication and oil industries dominate media ownership, and a long tradition of using media as a means of pressure on politicians continues” (3). Its outcome, i.e. the resulting concentration of economic power, distributed between a very restricted number of families, “quickly translated into political power, which has barely been affected by successive revisions of Greek media legislation 20 years on” (2).

The bare fact that this political power was not affected by successive revisions of Greek media legislation during these last twenty years is the crux of the matter. According to a commentator:

“It is not exaggerated to maintain that in the case of commercial television the prospect of (political) power is at stake for at least the coming fifty years[…] The existing possibilities are two: it is either that the legislative frame will safeguard competition in the newly-formed “television market”, of the private individuals-entrepreneurs between them, and the state TV will be forced to adapt to the new facts, or the so-called “liberation” of television will become an issue of a quite closed circle of financiers, that will have every reason to join forces and monopolize the market .And in parallel, forming an entrepreneurial power block, with the power to dictate its terms in the country’s political life” (4).

This is the way to play high politics through the mass media, and also entering the much-promised land of endless consumption through uninterrupted advertising, and exactly this reflects Greek reality, in which the country is not alone, if we consider, for example, the Italian paradigm (5), as well as the quite recent case with the “News of the World”, in Murdoch’s “News International” in the UK.

However, after the end of the 2000’s, as a result of the international regressing financial atmosphere, the downturn of advertising expenditures on a worldwide scale, the gradual collapse of consumer expenditure, the deepening financial woes of Greece, the “party” of indefinite consumer expenditure exhibited an indiscriminate downfall . The financial austerity measures enforced upon Greece, led to a downfall in advertising expenditure, and a sizeable slowdown in terms of consumption. And, of course, nowadays (2012), the indiscriminate consumer lending belonged to the past. It culminated into a “from riches to rags” situation, with no temporal end in sight. And consequently, there was a kind of pronounced rearrangement of the media conglomerates, partly also due to cataclysmic technological changes.

The exceedingly difficult fiscal climate in Greece, the rapid fall in overall consumption, the complete dislocation and vanishing into thin air of widely accepted costly consumption styles (such as the concept of lifestyle, pushing people into an unfettered consumption), the widespread psychological depression, the continuously worsening financial situation of the mass media and of the overall political climate: all these factors in combination, resulted into a significant drop in advertising expenditure, and therefore to significant losses in advertising revenue for the mass media (and for the respective media conglomerates) .

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The situation was further aggravated by the shrinkage in state advertising, due to quite restricted advertising budgets severely affected by the heavy austerity fiscal measures taken by the government.

The overall situation continues its downfall trend, even during the first semester of 2012:

Turnover and losses for the major media groups in Greece (6)

Group Turnover

1st

sem’11(1)

Loss 1st

sem.’11

(2)

(2): (1)% Turnover

1st

sem’12(3)

Loss 1st

sem.’12

(4)

(4):(3)

%

Turnover

+/- %(5)

Losses

+/-%(6)

Pegasus 62.8 14.8 23.6 49.5 12.7 25.7 -21.1 -14.2

Lambrakis 42.8 6.8 15.9 29.9 8.5 28.4 -30.1 +12.5

Kathimerini

(Alafouzos)

34.4 5.8 16.9 25.0 14.0 56.0 -27.3 +141.4

Mega TV 57.7 2.1 3.6 47.3 7.5 15.9 -18.0 +257.1

Naftemboriki 7.5 0.3 4.0 6.5 0.4 6.2 -13.3 +33.3

Technical

Editions

2.5 0.2 8.0 1.7 0.1 5.9 -32.0 -50.0

Total 207.7 30.0 14.4 159.9 43.2 27.0 -23.0 +14.4

Note: All sums in million euros. (5) and (6): Comparison between the two first semesters of 2011 and 2012.

This situation had been already forecasted with articles about the vortex of the crisis (7), the sinking of the “ships” of the mass media companies (8) i.e. their companies, that mass media are bad for the health (9), and a host of others both in the print media as well as in a number of weblogs.

In general, the mainstream Greek mass media were strongly supportive of the pro-memorandum policies, using every twist of language and utilizing statements that after a little while, were proven to be entirely false or totally misleading. Although it has not been still officially announced, the government of Mr. George Papandreou used the services of Civitas S.A (10).The irony of the matter is that this same company has now (end 2012) filed for bankruptcy.

In short “The mass media carry through the shock-therapy in the ideological and communicative level. They function as a mechanism for the imposition of coercive dilemmas in society. They transform crucial political questions into an unquestionable one-way street, leaving behind every possibility of an alternative solution in the communicative field. They accomplished this task by the weapon of cultivating fear. Of course, the recipe is not their own, it has arrived by delivery. When during the spring of 2010 the dilemma “Memorandum or

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bankruptcy” was posed, the Greek society yielded to this dilemma. At that time, the society was afraid that it would lose wages, pensions and bank savings. Thus, it gave its consent to a number of cuts, hoping that sooner or later the crisis would become a thing of the past. They told us that towards the end of 2011 or during the first months of 2012, Greece would return to a regime of positive development, and would return to the possibility of borrowing from the markets. In the course of time, the social and financial ruins were kept piling. Hope fades and is being replaced by desperation. And the accumulated desperation is transformed into rage. In its effort to check popular rage, the “memorandum front” brought into play the ideological hegemony of the euro” (11).

“Political intervention is carried out with no inhibitions whatsoever. For example, the Financial Times Deutschland last week published an article on its front page headlined “Resist the demagogue” (12). It was written in Greek. The article advised the Greeks to reject the radical left Syriza party and vote for the rightwing New Democracy today. It is the culmination of an astounding campaign of fear and blackmail against the democratic right of Greeks to elect a government of their choice.

Angela Merkel, the European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, and even George Osborne, have ordered the Greeks to vote the right way. This direct intervention into the democratic process of a sovereign state follows a plethora of threats and rumors, secrets and lies, telling people that if they vote for Syriza, the country will be ejected from the euro and untold catastrophes will follow. Why are the European elites carrying out this unprecedented campaign, which strikes at the heart of the EU and would lead to outrage if the target were the British, the Italians, or the French? The reason is simple. If the Greeks vote a Syriza government into office, the EU and the IMF will have to drastically change the austerity policies that created an economic disaster and a humanitarian crisis.

The 6 May result saw Syriza’s share of the vote jump from 4% to 17%, while the New Democracy and Pasok parties, which had alternated in government with a combined 80% of the vote in the last 40 years, collapsed to 32%. On 7 May, the Europeans started admitting the Greeks have been punished disproportionately, and that austerity does not work and must be mitigated. On 17 June, a Syriza victory will be the first defeat of austerity in Europe and will have international repercussions” (13).

Mr. Roumeliotis, until recently number two at the IMF hierarchy, made significant revelations about the stance of the then Papandreou government (before the imposition of the troika diktats in Greece): “Speaking to the New York Times, Mr. Roumeliotis had pointed out: ”We knew from the beginning that the (i.e. memorandum) program was impossible to be implemented, since nowhere there had been a successful example, also due to the fact of Greece participating in the euro, the latter not allowing its currency depreciation in an effort of gaining competitiveness”(14).

There were other, calmer, and more dispassionate voices against the demonization of specific political parties in Greece (15).

-A wider outlook and a number of petitions supporting the Greek people

In general, the structural adjustment programs (also known as SAP’s) are adopted in order to alleviate inflation, and constitute part and parcel of the neoliberal policy agenda, being applied

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worldwide. Their most obvious outcome is the depression of the earnings of working people, and at the same time the systematic weakening the role of the state. Among others, this “economic therapy” shifts the social burden of unemployment towards the younger age groups, thus excluding an entire generation from the job market.

The specific neoliberal policy agenda tends to develop a political consensus by governments all over the world, since the same agenda is applied worldwide, by all means. At this point, the crucial (and destructive for the interests of the people) role of the global media is more than evident. In fact these reforms tend to open new economic frontiers, opening new markets, but also with the added advantage of imposing very low wages, by entirely deregulating the labor markets, globalizing poverty and endorsing the development of a worldwide cheap labor economy.

These reforms are usually called “free market” reforms. What they do in reality is to decompose the national economy of every “indebted” country in which these policies are applied, and at the same time compressing internal consumption, and creating a “new” relationship of that indebted country with the global economy, by squeezing real earnings, lowering labor costs and furthering the decline of the level of basic human needs for the vast majority of the population.

And the politicians participating in the formulation and the accomplishment of this consensus are of course lavishly rewarded by the “private sector”, when they “retire” from their political position. Thus “R. Prodi was directed towards Goldman Sachs, G. Amato towards Deutsche Bank, T. Blair towards J.P. Morgan, J-L. Dean towards Dexia, G. Major towards Carlyle, J.M. Aznar towards News Corporation, G. Schreder towards Gazprom and G. Brown towards the Davos Economic Forum”(16).

This is the form of warfare during the late twentieth century:

“The worldwide scramble to appropriate wealth through “financial manipulation” is the driving force behind the crisis. It is also the source of economic turmoil and social devastation .This manipulation of market forces by powerful actors constitutes a form of financial and economic warfare. No need to recolonize lost territory or send in invading armies. In the late twentieth century, the outright “conquest of nations” –meaning the control over productive assets, labor, natural resources and institutions can be carried out in an impersonal fashion from the corporate boardroom: commands are dispatched from a computer terminal, or a cell phone”(17).

The traditional print media as well as a number of websites carried a series of announcements as well as petitions by eminent personalities, casting light on the Greek problem. A few specimens of petitions may be found in (18),(19).

-The foreign media scene

We include a wide range of mainstream European newspapers writing about the second elections in Greece (20):

-Süddeutshe Zeitung (21), spoke of “the Tsipras-factor”, implying that the success of Syriza is not due to the discontent and desire for change in Greece, but rather due to the insinuated populism of its party leader Alex Tsipras”.

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-Süddeutshe Zeitung (22), also wrote “Greece elects a new parliament on Sunday-and may decide on the future of the Euro-zone […] The world’s most important central banks are preparing themselves for heavy market turbulences after the fateful election in Greece […] Because the result of the parliamentary elections in Greece could seal the end of the Euro Greece in so far as the opponents of savings and reforms assert themselves”.

-The UK edition of the Financial Times (23), wrote “With his youthful good looks, open-neck designer shirts and BMW motorcycle, Mr. Tsipras appears more like a playboy than a politician grimly awaiting the call of destiny”. Syriza’s success, according to the FT, is not due to the social problems that Greece is facing, but rather good looks and an insinuated playboy-like aura”.

-Guardian (24), wrote that “Tsipras critics say he will bring about Greece’s hasty and humiliating exit from the Euro” and quoted Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the group of the Eurozone finance ministers: “If the radical left wins in Greece-which cannot be ruled out- the consequences for the currency union are unforeseeable”. Juncker told the Austrian newspaper Kurier “I can only warn everyone against leaving the currency union. The internal cohesion of the euro zone would be in danger”, quoted in the Guardian (25).

-Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (26) wrote that if Syriza wins, the outcome could be “chaos in Greece, the bank accounts would be emptied, and without new money Greece could soon no longer import oil”.

-Neue Zürcher Zeitung a Swiss conservative newspaper (27), argued “Further turbulences, but also interventions by governments and central banks could however be expected, if there were an unclear election result and prolonged political agony or even a majority of a coalition, in which the left-wing Syriza dominated […] On the other hand, the troika cannot adopt the extreme demands such as the end of saving efforts or an expansion of budget deficits”.

-Die Presse an Austrian newspaper (28), wrote that Syriza would be a “regressive force” that would bring about a “relapse by 50 years” and “the way to hell”.

-The German edition of the Financial Times: Financial Times Deutschland (29), more honestly than other conservative European newspapers did not try to indirectly manipulate public opinion, but rather very directly said it opposes Syriza and hailed Greek citizens in an article written both in German and Greek to vote for Nea Dimokratia ; “On Sunday there will be a historic election that will also decide […] about the future of the European monetary union. Therefore, the FTD makes an exception today. It gives an election recommendation for Greece, as otherwise only in the election of the Bundestag and the European Parliament […] Dear Greeks, ensure clear political condition. Vote bravely for the reform direction instead angrily against necessary, painful, structural changes. Only with parties that accept the conditions of international lenders will your country be able to keep the Euro. Resist the demagoguery of Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza […] In order that it [Greece] is governed the right way, we recommend Nea Dimokratia” (30).

-Dagens Nyheter, a Danish newspaper (31), wrote “More and more people go without jobs, suicides increase, soup kitchens are getting more visitors and homelessness is visible. Businesses are closing, fewer can afford to consume, young people are fleeing the country, and those who can move their savings to accounts abroad, are afraid of a transition to save for a transition to drachma”.

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According to European intellectuals like Jean Ziegler, neoliberal politics in combination with speculation against Greece that deepened the crisis are at the heart of the problem (32).

The Greek Left is presented as opposing reforms, but in fact it is the only reformist opposing more of the same old neoliberal credo that gives money to banks and conducts public spending cuts that negatively affect the masses and increase their misery and precarious lives. Whereas the left-liberal European press spoke of potential turbulences and unforeseeable consequences, conservative papers warned that an election success of Syriza could result in chaos in Greece, Europe and the world.

The European conservative press calls the questioning of budget cuts that affect the masses and especially the poor and those who live and work under precarious conditions (precarious workers, the more than 23% Greek unemployed university graduates in the age group 25-39; data source: Eurostat), “extreme”. It is extreme to demand better living conditions for the poor and precarious or is it extreme to use public funds for saving private banks, the rich, and companies that caused the crisis?

Interestingly, all of the analyzed articles in the European mainstream press employed one of the worst journalistic practices, namely unbalanced sourcing. Not a single of them quoted or interviewed Tsipras, but rather they acted as mouthpieces of financial interests and various European governments (especially the German one) whose representatives were quoted.

European politicians, governments, left-liberal and conservative media, as well as spokespersons of the capitalist class speak of the necessity of neoliberal austerity measures to save Greece. Their analysis is not that capitalist interests are at the heart of the crisis, but that the Greeks have spent too much money and do not know how to balance budgets. The racist stereotype of lazy people in the South is frequently evoked in the discourse. The role of privatization and tax evasion by the rich and companies in Greece is downplayed or not discussed. Capitalism and corporate crimes are not considered as causes of the crisis. Instead more of the cause of the problem is suggested as solution: capitalism. The logic of the market, privatization, wage cuts, cuts in public expenditure for pensions, health care, and higher education are evoked. No, they are not suggested, they are presented as the only alternative and as natural necessity. This is precisely how ideology works.

European mainstream media simply ignore alternative voices that suggest a different path for Europe and Greece, namely the end of neoliberalism. Such voices exist, especially among intellectuals, but hardly make their way into the European mainstream media (20).

Slavoj Žižek reminded that the extremists are actually the neoliberals who, inspired by thinkers like Hayek and the politics of Thatcher and Reagan, caused the crisis: “Syriza is not a bunch of dangerous “extremists”. Syriza is here to bring pragmatic common sense, to clear the mess created by others. It is those who impose austerity measures that are dangerous dreamers-we are not dreamers, we are the awakening from a dream which is turning into a nightmare” (33).

However, Syriza had been crystal clear about its aims and programs. It is very easy to find out the English translation of the Syriza program related to the Greek economy (34). Two films created by Greek journalists who had been sacked from the media they worked, created audiences of millions of people both in Greece and elsewhere, speaking with a simple and understandable language about the roots of the real worldwide financial problem, thus

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spreading the word about what is really happening in our days. The first one, Debtocracy, provided a very comprehensive explanation about the reasons Greece had entered this horrible financial state of things (35). The latest one is Catastroika (36) presenting examples of the robberies created by private capital and its sequel, privatization, worldwide.

Also, there is an interesting video under the title “EU slavery: Media hiding truth about debt crisis” (37).

The role of the greatest part, if not the entirety of global media in favor of the world’s hegemonic classes is well documented. In the name of their interest, they take refuge in the systematic distortion of news, by creating a system of false consciousness, therefore preventing (by all available means) people from obtaining a penetrating, satisfactory and comprehensible picture of what is going on worldwide, and henceforth facilitating policies of enforcement by neoliberal governments. Of course Greece hardly could be an exception from this rule (38).

2. What really happened in Greece before and during the elections of 17th June 2012

The overall environment after the elections of 6th May 2012 was really dense with political propaganda arising from the pro-memorandum mainstream media. The atmosphere was full with threats of psychological blackmail, and intimidation was totally reigning:

“The assault of the unthinkable was a shock for Greek society, for the political system and for its mirror, the mass media. After the 2009 elections and the electoral triumph of PASOK, the mass media portrayal of the pressures of the markets and the speculative attacks combined with the disclosure of the fiscal impasse, provoking the violent recourse to the support mechanism, possessed, to a degree, similar characteristics. All of a sudden, everybody was becoming economists, specialists in hedge funds and CDS, prophets of bankruptcy or advocates of final victory, specialists on the financial credit system, surgeons of chaos. The TV windows (a peculiarity of Greek TV) were full of anti-German sentiments, extreme patriotism, Keynesianism, eschatology, conspiracy theory, and a number of times, with metaphysics” (39).

It seemed that the whole world, starting from Greece, was conspiring against any conceivable possibility of Syriza becoming the first party and possibly the next government (40).

The symbolic violence that was exercised against the Greek voting population, mainly via TV, where a menacing TV spot from New Democracy playing on the intimidating and spurious dilemma “euro or drachma”, indirectly but definitely implying that Syriza was the “party of the drachma”(a fact that the present government never admitted vocally, to this moment), terrorizing people who were afraid of the wiping off of their ever diminishing, due to the very hard financial times, bank deposits. This symbolic violence reminded some people of the actual violence exercised by para-military gangs-as offshoots of the governmental secret services- during the reign of conservative parties for the longest part of the Greek postwar state. These para-military gangs constituted the para-state (parakratos, in Greek) having as their crucial role the terrorization, and at a number of times the punishment, of the “disobedient” population, who was not behaving according to the diktats and interests of the ruling conservative elite.

In spite of all this propaganda, the reality was that there did not exist any electoral dilemma, at least for those who could think in pragmatic terms, since there was a strong anti-austerity attitude in the majority of the population:

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“Besides all the radical changes, the election result has produced a clear mandate-first of all to Syriza, the radical left coalition, but also to the parliament more generally-for an anti-austerity turn inside the Eurozone. [ ……] Syriza is the party that expresses best the electoral mood. Allow Syriza to form a government and try to deliver on what the party has promised before the elections and on what the Greek public has demanded with the election result it has produced: a renegotiation of the memorandum within the Eurozone, which will allow a softer financial consolidation and a stronger emphasis on growth. It takes many kilos of optimism to see this happening, but the alternatives may weigh tones of misery in the weeks, months and years to come…” (41).

The ruling parties Pasok and New Democracy during the post-junta period were those having full responsibility for what happened to Greece with the imposition of austerity measures, as well as for the systematic humiliation of the Greek people, a job also accomplished by articles in a number of foreign media, e.g. the German magazine Focus, the newspaper Financial Times Deutschland, as well as others. Though these two ruling parties were “enabled by the tacit consent of the majority of the population, which was sold (in more ways than one) to the pipe dream of economic prosperity and consumerist comfort” (42). This is the human cost to its people, of a country being governed by incompetent-to say the least- politicians and political parties.

The whole world was witness in living a dream propelled by financial bubbles, until the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. The evolution of this type of capitalism is a new kind of predatory capitalism, that “rescues” countries one after the other, (with the aid of “rescue” plans) by turning them into colonies of debt, according to Mr. Tsipras. Of course, this state of things created reactions (43).

But one thing is evident; that the political elite had betrayed the people of Greece, acting with trivial differences from the manner of an outright kleptocracy. Hence, the search for a new model of democracy by the people, by people which gathered in Syntagma square for days and nights on end, being the Greek version of the Spanish “indignados”, until they were vehemently dispersed with unprecedented violence by the riot police:

“..the Greek people who filled Syntagma and the other squares last year, practicing civil disobedience and direct democracy, have other options. The mainstream media present the political collapse as the end of the post-dictatorship regime, hoping that the politicians who brought Greece to its knees can engineer its reform. But the reality is different. Post-civil war Greece was founded on the exclusion and persecution of the Left, and this culminated in Colonel Papadopoulos dictatorship. This divide is now coming to an end as both working people and modernizers realize that the political elite has betrayed them. For the first time, new types of political action are on the agenda. A hegemonic bloc combining the defense of the welfare state, democracy and national independence can bring together parts of the population who were historically on opposing sides but now express their indignation together. The necessary reform of the state, robust tax collection and punishment of the culprits can only succeed if undertaken by people who are not responsible for widespread corruption and mindless consumption. The task in hand is to rescue Greece from its “rescuers” and to create a new model for democracy in Europe” (44).

3. Fair play or fairy tales?

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The prevalence of neoliberal ideas over countries is usually based on unproven “truths”, which go along with the attempt of eliminating any kind of alternatives, as in the “There Is No Alternative” case, mouthed by Mrs. Thatcher, the TINA, as it is usually called. This is quite useful in the attempt of creating a consensus, which drastically restricts the (harmful to the dogma) reactions of those who are directly affected, i.e. the great majority of the people:

“Under neoliberalism, Western social democracy has been steered into a quandary: those elected to high office increasingly act as puppets or bureaucrats acting on behalf of the financial establishment. The State’s creditors have become the depositaries of real political power operating discreetly behind the scenes. In turn, a uniform economic discourse and ideology has unfolded. A “consensus” on macro-economic reform extends across the entire political spectrum. The fate of public policy is transacted on the US and Eurobond markets, policy options are mechanically presented through the same stylized economic slogans: “we must reduce the deficit, we must combat inflation”; “the economy is over-heating: put on the brakes!” (45).

But the exclusion of alternatives rests upon a language game, leading to a play of persuasion, sometimes with unforeseeable, and sometimes dramatic consequences. In this state of matters, sound information plays a dominant role; its lack has direct reverberations and may produce excessive and chaotic reactions. In such a context the suppression of information by the recent Greek government, along with state intimidation and its consequent course after enforcing direct suppression, constitute a direct threat to democratic governance. Censorship is a plague for societies, and is much more serious in times of distress:

“You spot the pressure points of a failing state by looking at what it censors. In the case of Greece, the authorities’ prosecution last week of Kostas Vaxevanis showed that he had hit a pressure point with the accuracy of a doctor sticking a needle into the nerve. While Greeks live with austerity without end, while Greek GDP has shrunk by 4.5% in 2010 and 6.89% in 2011, and will shrink by a predicted 6.5% this year and 4.5% in 2013, the list of the names of [more than] 2.000 Greeks with bank accounts in Switzerland Vaxevanis published, suggested that the well-connected were escaping the burdens that fall on the masses […].

Even in good times, independent journalism has rarely been a force in the land. Most Greek TV stations and newspapers are owned by either the state or plutocratic corporations, neither of which likes seeing corruption exposed. The leftwing daily Eleftherotypia, which for all its faults and flirtations with terrorism at least challenged the oligarchs, filed for bankruptcy last year […].

The following day, Greek state TV replaced Kostas Arvanitis and Marilena Katsimi, the presenters of its morning news show, after they told managers they planned to follow up the Guardians’ claims. Another state TV reporter, Christos Dantis, has joined the ranks of the vanishing journalists” (46).

We do also have the Wikileaks revelations about the practices of a good number of countries, intended to be kept away, entirely hidden from the eyes of the people, who were the first having the right to know. This is even more verified by a chain of scandals in European countries; the Leveson Inquiry (47) about the UK media is one of the latest attempts to find out the roots of these Mafia practices related to the mass media, and especially the Press.

It is a fact that the Greek economy constitutes only a small percentage of the total EU economy, not more than a 2% of the total. And at the same time, Greece is a small country, in terms of geography, with an extensive mineral wealth, very well hidden by successive postwar Greek

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governments. A good number of commentators claim that these are the reasons of its selection as a guinea-pig for the application of neoliberal policies through the diktats of the troika. Though the majority of the Greek people are refusing to accept the dismantling of their lives, their social and economic infrastructure (48), as well as the sell-up of the country’s mineral wealth, and this fact had been made overtly evident through the results of successive elections on May the 6th and June the 17th, 2012:

“This painful awakening includes the realization that state mechanisms have become thoroughly compromised, as ruling elites have come to trade their country’s sovereignty for a small piece of the financial pie. Hence, politics is taking an interesting turn towards its elemental aspects: mass citizen action, first of all out in the streets, which has become the only available uncompromised option, but then also at the ballot box, where citizens revoke their consent to the very clientelistic relations they had helped foster. No doubt, as the political is violently overtaken by the economic in the very field of government-literally, as bankers or financial technocrats are appointed to manage the affairs of the state (Greece and Italy being recent examples)-the only space to reclaim the political is in taking over the public spaces in mass numbers. We have reached a point that the very language of numbers that discredits the existence of the real social individual can only be conducted by large numbers of real individuals who demand back their abrogated self-determination against capitulation to the language of numbers”(49).

In the case of Greece, the so-called troika comprised of representatives from the EU, the IMF and the ECB, had chosen to follow a course in complete conformity to the neoliberal book of recipes. Selecting and enforcing “internal devaluation” onto the Greek people, which in other words means slashing wages, welfare benefits and drastically limiting any remaining budgets for welfare, education, health, chronic stagflation, but not (of course) the budgets for importing arms manufactured in the EU countries, since this would create serious financial and political problems for the exporters. In other words, Greece could prove to be the Eurocrat’s very own Weimar on the Aegean, since they helped build it, this new Weimar, by their continuous financial procrastinating tactics, in order to hide, among others, the simple fact that the majority of EU banks are zombies in reality(50).

4. Language and meaning games

The foundations of these language games are to be found in the dominant economic discourse, and mostly in the higher education system, a place were critical analysis is strongly discouraged, if not prohibited. The academia produces theory without facts, together with facts without theory, which is pure nonsense (51):

“The dominant economic discourse has also reinforced its hold in academic and research institutions throughout the world. Critical analysis is strongly discouraged; social and economic reality is to be seen through a single set of fictitious economic relations, which serve the purpose of concealing the workings of the global economic system. Mainstream economic scholarship produces theory without facts (“pure theory”) and facts without theory (“applied economics”). The dominant economic dogma admits neither dissent from nor discussion of its main theoretical paradigm: the universities’ main function is to produce a generation of loyal and dependable economists who are incapable of unveiling the social foundations of the global market economy. […]

13

The political, principally ideological game, is masked by the mainstream media, them being avid supporters of the successive Greek neoliberal governments, through the mass media construction of a divide, the populist/anti-populist divide, and placing those pro-memorandum governments as belonging to the anti-populist side. This is an old trick, reminding us of the communist/anti-communist divide prevalent in Greece during the Cold War era, reflecting the progressive/conservative divide, very useful for the viability of conservative, almost dictatorial postwar governments, in the Greek case. In order to substantiate this divide, Syriza is placed in the populist side, which is strongly attached to everything with negative connotations. Another divide constructed by governmental propaganda, is the drachma/euro divide, where the neoliberal government takes the side of the euro, and its main political opponent, Syriza, is called “the party of the drachma”, in an effort from the present government to associate Syriza with its own intimidating pre-electoral campaign, when it used TV spot advertising as its main medium:

“But we haven’t referred yet to the “elephant in the room”, the supposed “populists” that the elites (inside and outside of Greece) were “opposing” in the Greek elections. According to Christine Lagarde, Evangelos Venizelos and Antonis Samaras, or even according to German newspapers like Bild and the Financial Times Deutschland, the epitome of “dangerous populism” and “demagogy” in Greece was Syriza: a radical left coalition (resembling in some ways the French “Front de gauche”) which constituted the main pillar of anti-austerity and anti-bailout opposition. Against the prevailing “anti-populist” hysteria, this radical left coalition managed to perform an amazing jump from 4.6% in 2009 to 16.78% in May 6th 2912 and finally to 26.89% in June 17th. It thus emerged as the true winner of the elections, even though it didn’t manage to seize power. Today Syriza appears as the only political formation with an upward dynamic and with the possibility of rising in power in the next elections, while the peculiar coalition government of ND, PASOK and DIMAR has already retreated from their pre-electoral promises of “renegotiating” the bailout agreement. They still intend to impose budget cuts and austerity measures along with massive privatization plans” (52).

An interesting opinion, entirely divergent from the prevalent ones, which is very close to these language and meaning political games ; that the EU-Greek crisis is being played out as one giant piece of theatre:

“Pretty much every commentary on the EU’s interventions in Greece mentions the fact that Greece was the birthplace of democracy. They all talk about how ironic it is that this country where democracy was first conceptualized should now be subjected to such stringent external intervention. Once the birthplace of democracy, Greece is now its graveyard, we are told.

But I think there is another Ancient Greek tradition which is more appropriate to call upon in our discussions about the EU and Greece. And that is the Ancient Greek tradition of theatre, of masked theatre in particular, Greece’s historic role in developing the art of performing human emotions. Because it seems to me that the EU-Greek crisis is being played out as one giant piece of theatre, as one giant performance. Both sides in this clash-both the EU officials who are imposing austerity measures on Greece and the Greek opponents of those austerity measures-seem to be driven more by a performative instinct than by a political instinct, by a preference for theatrical gestures over serious political debate.

14

So I think what we are seeing with the Greek crisis is not only the EU’s disregard for the democratic set-up in one particular nation, but something more profound than that-we are seeing the demise, and possibly the end, of serious politics and serious morality(53).

And the results of a skewed academic system, attaching the wrong meanings to concepts, reflect upon people with an unheard severity:

“The Eurozone that is coming into being will be defined by large swaths of poverty, chronic stagflation and endemic unrest […]. As it is, Europe looks like floundering in crisis and stagnation for years and possibly decades to come, while Asia and the world move on”(54).

And these are also the products of a tax system subsidizing debt creation and promoting asset-price inflation:

“I can understand German reluctance to finance the budget deficits of governments such as Greece that are unable or unwilling to tax the wealthy, and whose insiders control public spending and contracts. This would merely subsidize tax evasion and wrong-headed fiscal policy by ECB credit-provided ultimately by European taxpayers. The deep problem-which hardly has been discussed-is that Eurozone tax policy is the opposite of what classical economists defined as free markets-markets free of unearned income, headed by the land’s site value rent stemming from what is provided by nature and given value increasingly by public infrastructure spending (e.g. on transportation, water and sewer services) and the general level of prosperity. Economic rent is independent of the landowner’s, homeowner’s or mine owner’s own investment or costs. What makes it a free lunch is that, by definition, it has no counterpart in the recipient’s own outlays-except to finance the purchase a rent-extracting privilege or asset.[…]

Greece and other “southern rim” countries are not rejecting their European identity as such. They are rejecting austerity. The Eurozone is in danger of breaking up because it has come to mean central planning by bankers, or at least on their behalf. Neoliberals accuse government planning of being inefficient, but central planning by bankers threatens to resolve the present crisis by imposing depression. This is what the Eurozone has come to mean as the 1% at the top of the economic pyramid seek to increase their power over an increasingly indebted labor force, industry and government” (55).

5. The aftermath

It seems evident that the practices of kleptocracy seem to have a much wider geographic application than believed until now by a good number of observers. In fact, what is really being done in our times is a wholesale looting of whole countries, implying the application of a system of bankruptcy for profit. And this system has been widely applied into lots of countries, beginning with the financial crisis in Chile in recent times (56).

But the unhampered and efficient functioning of kleptocracy needs the consolidation of the politics of fear, combined with an extensive opaqueness; this is the reason why censorship, or its post-modern equivalent, private ownership of mass media conglomerates, with their entrepreneur owners supporting those in government in a do ut des relationship, with mutual profit, is entirely necessary:

15

“In spite of the fear mongering spread by the pro-memorandum forces that a negative parliamentary vote would entail an immediate euro exit and the ensuing Africanisation of Greece, the popular support for the new EU-ECB-IMF loans and the correlated austerity measures is waning significantly. The formal political debate is increasingly based on a politics of fear: the government’s and mainstream media’s principal argumentation is stripped, on the one hand, to the bare threat of what a disorderly Greek bankruptcy would entail-invoking often assumed similarities with Greece’s plight during the World War II occupation by German and Italian troops-with basic food and medicine shortages and a lack of basic public amenities like gas, heating, electricity ; on the other hand even mainstream media cannot but be critical vis-à-vis the most dismantling provisions of the memorandum no.2 for any sign of consensual legitimacy, such as the automatic decrease by 22% of minimum wages, the collective bargaining and so on, insisting however “in the final analysis” that the dilemma posed leaves only one choice” (64).

These remarks open the discussion for the post-modern term of “post-politics”, which assumes that the idea of politics simply now seems to be outdated (57).

Of course, these practices lead us straight into a post-modern hell of controversy. The need for copiously defining the terms we use is more than obvious and utterly urgent.

Post politics seems to be the twin brother of the notion of communicative capitalism which “conceptualizes the commonplace idea that the market, today, [and] is the site of democratic aspirations, indeed, the mechanism by which the will of the demos manifests itself” (59).

But I am afraid we are trying to escape from age-long notions by creating “new”, still uncharted notions. A game familiar for those rather afraid of attempting to solve existing and urgent problems. My opinion is that politics, in its old sense and meaning, is back again and is here to stay, since there are tangible signs that the demos is arising again at the same time as the broadly based demand for real journalism (some would call it “traditional”) fighting for reportages, journalistic research, analysis and commentary, and being definitely adverse to parasitism, extravagance, anti-rationalism (60), kleptocracy and lawlessness.

The overall situation was very succinctly expressed in an interview with a Greek actress:

“-And how do you perceive society in this new era we are living?”

I believe that in this atmosphere of madness we are now living, something useful might emerge. […]. I know that an evil game is played upon our backs. I feel underprivileged, not as a person, but because a very big part of society is hard hit in several ways. My father worked all of his life so as to receive a pension, and it is now uncertain if he will receive it. So this that hurts me, not only at the financial level, is the way the dignity of people is offended. I do not know what is valid in a statutory sense, but we aren’t a democratic state any more. We have a universal crisis of conscience, of personality, and of identity” (61).

16

Notes

1. The overall picture and the role of the mainstream mass media

(1): Klemperer, V. “The language of the Third Reich”, Continuum London, New York 2006, p.3.

-The Greek media scene

(2): In Yannopoulos, D “Greek media groups come of age” in newspaper “Athens News”, March the 26th

, 2011, in

athensnews.gr/issue/13345/19514, last accessed 28/3/2011 (in Greek).

(3): In Hallin, D.C & Mancini,P “Comparing Media Systems –Three Models of Media and Politics, Cambridge,

Cambridge.org.97805218355350, pp. 114-115.

(4): In Tiletheati,D “Private television or oligopolistic pluralism”, magazine “Anti”, issue No 412, Friday 11 August

1989, p. 40, (in Greek).

(5:)In Usher,S “Berlusconi relishes power of TV”, in newsvote.bc.co.uk/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/.,Note 3, last

accessed 4/2/2011.

(6): As quoted in the article “Armageddon in the mass media with breathtaking losses for dinosaurs (i.e. the listed

Greek mass media companies), in www.kourdistoportocali.com/articles/14007.htm, last accessed 10/9/2012(in

Greek).

(7): In Galanis,D: “Situation is tough for the Greek mass media –Advertising collapses and the vortex of the crisis puts up the shutters and brings a series of problems”, in newspaper “To Vima” in www.tovima.gr/default.aspx?pid=6525&1a=1&aid=438829,, last accessed on 18/1/2012 (in Greek). Read also the post “Greece’s media crisis-We look at how the country’s economic collapse has hit the Greek media”, in www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2012/05/20125..., last accessed 10/5/2012.

(8): As quoted by Papachristoudi, M. “Heads of mass media, as a group of friends, are helping one another to save themselves, by sinking their “ships””, in newspaper “O dromos tis aristeras” (i.e. The road of the Left), Saturday November the 10

th, 2012, page 19 (in Greek).Except for the case of Lyberis Group, the article refers to the magazine

“Mototech”, and the IMAKO Group of publications.

(9): In Raptopoulos,V. “The mass media are seriously bad for the health”, in the newspaper “Eleftherotypia (“E”) on strike”, June the 30

th, 2012, page 10 (in Greek).

(10): A company specialized in public relations with a host of foreign clients of a high profile, such as Nokia, Adidas, Siemens, Swatch, Philips, Thyssen Krupp and Mastercard, among others (see civitas.gr/index.php/en/our-clients/corporate-clients.html, last accessed 3/12/2012). It is noteworthy that there exists a company with the same name, i.e. Civitas public affairs group L.L.C. in the USA (see civitaspublicaffairs.com/) .

(11): Ligeros, S. “For journalism and bad journalism”, in www.the pressproject.gr/article/33414/Gia-ti-dimosiografia-

kai…, last accessed 29/11/2012 (in Greek).

(12): See also Note (29).

(13): Douzinas, C. and Bourke,J:“A Syriza victory will mark the beginning of the end of Greece’s tragedy-A vote for the left today will drastically change the austerity policies that have created a humanitarian crisis” in guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/17/syriza-victory…, last accessed 1/11/2012.

(14) Kati,K. “The accusations of Mr. Roumeliotis for the responsibilities of the Papandreou government are forwarded to (to the Greek) Parliament the accusations of the Papandreou government are forwarded to (the Greek) Parliament”, in “The journalist’s newspaper”, Friday November the 23

rd 2012, page 4 (in Greek).

17

(15): “In addition, as regards Syriza’s choices for Greece’s future, the truth is that these correspond to what most European social democrats would find reasonable. The party has argued that its priority is to keep Greece in the Eurozone, but not at any cost. In light of the magnitude of the crisis-in economic, social and political terms-and the fact that the program imposed by the Troika will not lead to growth (read www.social-europe.eu/2012/10/the-patient-is-dying-increase-the-dosage/) this seems hardly irresponsible.

Syriza also calls for an end to the policies of internal devaluation and for a pan-European fiscal stimulus vis-à-vis the European-wide budgetary straitjacket promoted by conservatives. In their absence it argues, the Greek government might have to leave the euro and default. This is hardly radical. In fact, it is a scenario that Paul Krugman believes would actually increase Greece’s chances of recovery. As for Europe’s obsession with austerity, this is something which is castigated by almost all social democrats.

The entire text in Papanagnou, G. “About Democracy and Chaos in Greece: Or why demonizing SYRIZA makes no sense”, in http://social-europe.eu/2012/10/about-democracy -and chaos-in... (last accessed 5.11.2012)

-A wider outlook and a number of petitions supporting the Greek people

(16): In the article “Who is creating the chaos?” by Tsakiroglou,T. in the “The journalist’s newspaper”, Friday

November 23rd

, 2012, page 5 (in Greek). See also Edwards, C. and Irwin, G.: “The Tragedy of Greece”, in www.social-europe.eu/2012/06/the-tragedy-of-greece/, last accessed 12/11/2012.

(17):In Chossudovsky, M “The globalization of poverty and the New World Order” Second Edition, Global Research –globalresearch.ca, p.321. See also Notes (44,52,58).

(18): Statement from Balibar, Brown, Butler, Spivak in “Greek left”, published in www.left.gr/article.php?id=2422, last accessed 24.11.2012.

(19): The petition “Stand with the Greek Left for a Democratic Europe”, translated by Warren Montag, in: http://cadtm.org/Stand-with-the-Greek-Left-for-a, last accessed 21.11.2012). This petition is quoted as well as in: blogs.mediapart.fr/edition/English-club/article/080612/stand-greek-left-democratic-europe, last accessed 21.11.2012.

-The foreign media scene

(20): I owe the largest part, if not almost everything of the current sub-chapter to the very useful remarks of Professor Christian Fuchs, whom I cordially thank . The article had the title: “The Right-wing European Mainstream Media Campaign against Syriza and the Need to End Neoliberalism”–in http://fuchs.uti.at/825/, last accessed 21.11.2012.

(21): In the article “Wut der Straβe gegen Wut der Märkte”, June 16th

, 2012.

(22): In the article “Notenbanken rüsten sich gegen Panik an den Finanzmärkten”, June 15th, 2012.

(23): In the article “The Loud-Mouthed Radical Awaits his Fate”, June 15th, 2012.

(24) In the article “Greece prepares for election: “we are going to the wall…things must change””, June the 16th

, 2012.

(25): In the article “World Bank warns that euro collapse could spark global crisis”, June 16th, 2012.

(26): In the article “Was ware, wenn in Griechenland…?”, June the 15th,20120.

(27):In the article “Weitere Runde im Wahlpoker”, June the 16th

, 2012.

(28) In the article “Parlamentswahl: “Griechen zeichnen Weg zur Hölle vor”, June the 16th

, 2012.

(29): In the article: “Widersteht den Demagogen”, June the 14th

, 2012. The FT Deutschland announcement against

SYRIZA just before the Greek elections is to be found in the address: ftd.de/politik/europa/: wahlempfehlung-antistatheite-sto-dimagogo-widersteht-den-demagogen/70050480.html.

(30): Bertelsmann has already announced that the last day of circulation for Financial Times Deutschland will be on the 7

th of December 2012. FT Deutschland belongs to the company G+J, a subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Group. Its

website will also vanish during the closure date (7.12.2012).

18

(31): In the article “Dystra greker till valurnorna”, June the 16th, 2012.

,

(32): In the article “Europe is playing along with the IMF and multinationals”, in http://humaniteinenglish.com/spip.php?article1527.

(33): In http://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/slavoj-zizek-response-to-the-campaign-against-syriza/, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWtn7iECkyY.

(34): This is located in left.gr/article.php?id=2406.

(35):The Debtocracy film- (with English subtitles)-is located in www.dailymotion.com/video/xjyyvx_debtocracy-directed-by-aris-hatzistefanou-and-katerina-kitidi_news.

(36):The Catastroika film (with English subtitles) is located in youtube.com/watch?v=RORPpFL21dM.

(37):The video is located in www.dailymotion.com/video/xsyssa_eu-slavery-hiding-truth-about-debt-crisis_news.

(38): “The global media fabricates the news and overtly distorts the course of world events. This “false

consciousness” which pervades our societies, prevents critical debate and masks the truth. Ultimately, this false consciousness precludes a collective understanding of the workings of an economic system, which destroys people’s lives” in p. 12 in Chossudovsky, M.: “The globalization of poverty and the New World Order” Second Edition, Global Research –globalresearch.ca (See also Notes (17, 45, 51).

(39):Spanou,A.: “We have scattered them together” August the 28th, in tvxs.gr,tvxs.gr/104364-last

accessed 28/8/2012 (In Greek).

2. What really happened in Greece before and during the elections of 17th

June 2012

(40):Koroneou, A: “An unprecedent intimidation was exercised during pre-election times”, in edromos.gr/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=8948…, last accessed 12.11.2012 (In Greek).

(41): In Monastiriotis,V:“There is no electoral dilemma in Greece”,9.5.2012-social-europe.eu/2012/05/there-is-no-electoral-dilemma..last accessed 12.11.2012.

(42): Gourgouris, S: “Greece and the future of the European project-The neoliberal economic experiment with Greece” will make or break the European Union as we know it”, in www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/06/2012661525514, last accessed 12.11.2012.

(43):Interview with Garganas, P:-“Greece:the struggle radicalizes” in http://isj.org.uk/index.php?id=793&issue=134, last accessed 6.4.2012.

(44):Douzinas, C: “What now for Greece-collapse or resurrection?-Neoliberal economics planned in Brussels and Berlin will push Greece into third-world working conditions” –Guardian 5 March 2012, in www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/05/greece-colla..., last accessed 23.3.2012. Douzinas is speaking about the multitude, which is also treated in Sotirakopoulos, N: “The rise of the Greek Multitude (and why we need to move a step beyond) in http://criticalglobalisation.com/blogs/nikoss_rise_of_greek_multitud..., last accessed 31.8.2012. Read also: Mason,P.: “Greece: Trying to understand SYRIZA” in http://paulmasonnews.tumblr.com, May22, 2012. Also: Douzinas,C: “The Greek election could be the start of a European spring” Guardian 1 May 2012, in www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/01/greece-vote-... directly related to the May 6

th elections.

3. Fair play or fairy tales?

(45): In Chossudovsky, M: “The globalization of poverty and the New World Order” Second Edition, Global Research p.305.–globalresearch.ca.

19

(46): In Cohen,N: “Greece flirts with tyranny and Europe looks away-Greek democracy is in peril and much of the fault lies with the EU’s stance” published in the Observer, Sunday 4 November 2012, in www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/04/nick-cohen-g..., last accessed 5.11.2912. Read also:Week 44: Hero-Kostas Vaxevanis, by George East on November 4, 2012. in www.allthatsleft.co.uk/2012/11/week-44-hero-kostas-vaxevamis/, last accessed 12.11.2012.

(47): Read the Executive Summary of the Leveson Report in guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2012/nov/29/leveson-report-executive-summary.

(48): See Note (42).

(49): See Note (42).

(50): In Hudson, M: “Financial Predators v. Labor, Industry and Democracy”, in michael-hudson.com/2012/08/financial-predators-v-labor-indu…., last accessed 12.11.2012. See also: Dearden, N.: “Greece is a smokescreen to hide the mother of all bank bailouts”, in www.leftfootforward.org/2012/02/greece-is-a-smokescreen-to...., last accessed 12/11/2012,and also Varoufakis, Y.: “First as History, Then as Farce: The Euro Crisis Revisited”, in mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/varoufakis17101, last accessed 15/11/2012, and “What happens when Greece defaults?”, in www.leftfootforward.org/2011/11/what-happens-when-greece..., last accessed 12/11/2012., as well as: Auerbach, M: “Today Germany is the Big Loser, Not Greece”, in neweconomicperspectives.org/2012/05/today-germany-is-the-.., last accessed 15/11/2012.

4. Language and meaning games

(51): Chossudovsky, M: “The globalization of poverty and the New World Order” Second Edition, Global Research –globalresearch.ca,p p.27,28.

(52):The populist/anti-populist divide in the Greek elections, by George Katsambekis, in www.fairobserver.com/article/populistantipopulist-divide-gre..., last accessed 21/11/2012. See also irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0616/1224318057259.html, last accessed 21/11/2012.

(53):O’Neill, B: “Why the EU is treating Greece as a moral punchbag”, Monday 5 March 2012, in www.spiked-online.com/site/printable/12198/, last accessed 19.5.2012.In a speech in Athens, Brendan O’Neill argued that it is the EU’s crisis of moral authority that has made it so hysterically anti-Greek.

(54):In Gray,J: “Why Europe is floundering-Its architects envisioned the EU as a model for the world, but current dogma will achieve the opposite” in www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/17/europe-sinis..., last accessed 12.11.2012.

(55:)See Note (50).

5. The aftermath

(56) The book of Chossudovsky, M:”The globalization of poverty and the New World Order” Second Edition, Global Research, provides the reader with a host of lootings in a host of various countries around the world. But the scientific basis of looting practices is provided by the very well-known article of Akerlof, G.A and Romer, P.M, both at the university of California, Berkeley,: “Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit” published in the scientific magazine “ Brookings Papers on Economic Activity” 2:1993, pp. 1-73.

(57): In Hatzopoulos,P. et al. “An Absolute Refusal? Notes on the 12 February demonstration in Athens”, in http://interactivist.autinomedia.org/node/43062, last accessed 1/6/2012.

(58): in http://jdeancite.typepad.com/i_cite/2007/06/the_errors_of_p.html, last accessed 30/8/2012.

(59): Dean,J: “Communicative Capitalism: circulation and the foreclosure of politics”,p.101-121 in “Digital Media and Democracy-Tactics in Hard Times”, ed. by Boler, M, the MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 2008.

(60): As being expressed by the recent rise of neo-Nazi formations in a number of European countries.

(61): Interview of Efi Marinou with Evi Saoulidou claiming “I am not afraid on the scene” “The newspaper of editors”, Monday November the 19

th, pp.18,19.