Small States, Big Opportunities: Challenges and Problems for Greece in Cyberspace’ OR The Greek, The Bad and the Ugly: Q&A on the Greek Identity Shift, the Global Media and its coverage of the Greek Riots

Εισήγηση στο Συνέδριο “Εικόνες Κρατών και Μέσα Επικοινωνίας

σε ένα Διεθνοποιημένο Περιβάλλον: Δυνατότητες και Προπτικές για την Ελλάδα”,

Greek Politics Specialist Group, Political Studies Association,

Ελληνικό Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών, Αθήνα, 4 και 5 Φεβρουαρίου 2009.

Θεματική ενότητα: Το Διαδίκτυο ως Εργαλείο Δημόσιας Διπλωματίας κι

Εξωτερικής Πολιτικής.

Dr Athina Karatzogianni

University of Hull, UK, athina.k@gmail.com

Presentation Layout

Introduction Larger ProjectSmall States, Nation Branding and ICTsCyberconflict ModelThe Greek CaseQuestions Sample CollectionLocal Event and Media DescriptionsReaction and National PoliticsGlobal Reflection and Analysis of Greek Riots

Conclusion

Larger Project: Small States, Branding and ICTs

The project explores the effect of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) on state branding and global media framing in relation to small states and unrecognised entities in crisis, conflict and dependency.Explains: Processes of evolution of statehood from imaginary to virtual to realLinks these processes with the literature of small states and cyberconflict

– individual cases of secessionary, failed and small states in crisis;– idiosyncratic behaviour of small states in world system – state branding; – media and framing, political economy; of communications; – ICTs and war.

Seeks:To reveal how some frames offered by such entities are accepted by the established media, while others are only accepted by media sympathetic to the state, population or cause. To add to theory and evidence on how new technologies have enhanced small numbers, weaker contenders and marginalised societies and upset the balance of traditional political communication.To provide relevant recommendations for practitioners in the governmental, non-governmental and private sector by providing knowledge and skills and examining new policies exploiting ICTs.

Small States Background

Small states studies resurgence during the last decade, especially in policy sectors, not only in Europe, but across the globe. [e.g. emergence of new states in Europe and E.U. enlargement ]subfield, followed the theoretical developments in International Relations

– Concern rose in 1960s and 1970s with decolonization, and questions of self-determination and dependence of small entities (Baker Fox 1959).

– realism/neo-realism in the 1950s-1970s (size and foreign policy, small states in organizations); – neorealism vs. liberal institutionalism in the 1980s (small states interdependence and development issues) – and rationalism vs. social constructivism in the 1990s (small states in integration, globalization, ethno-political

conflict) (Nuemann and Gstol 2004).Research examined the effects of geographical proximity to areas of great power interest (Vital 1967).size, as a determinant of foreign policy and the compensation mechanisms, such as initiating more joint actions and targeting multiactor fora were examined by East (1973).Towards the end of the seventies the ‘small state’ as an analytical tool for understanding world politics was questioned (Baehr 1975).Until…Katzenstein (1985) argued that superior flexibility was exhibited by small states as compared with large ones with regard to their economic and industrial politics. The reaction to international liberalization of such states was theorised as domestic compensation and flexible responses (1985). In the 1990s: framing and discursive politics, and the importance of self-perception.For instance Reiter (1994) suggested that small states draw lessons and are influenced more from past experiences than from outside threats in comparison to larger states. More recently, Ingebritsen (2002) focused on smaller states with ‘social power’ to influence the system. In other literature also known as ‘soft power’.

State, Branding, Conflict and ICTs

Scholarship for state branding very recent and embryonic, focusing on tourism, attracting foreign investment and more rarely public diplomacy or the knowledge economy and culture (Anholt, 2002; Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2002; Kotler and Gertner, 2002; Jaffe and Nebenzhal, 2001; Van Ham 2001; Ryan 2002; Tzanelli 2006, 2007).Failed states and crisis states as empirical categories are examined by few scholars, such as Rice and Stewart (2008) and by institutes or centres, such as the Fund for Peace Research or the Crisis States Research Centre at the London School of Economics. Generally researched without focusing on the media side of the equasion.theorisation of the state in relation to globalization has been the object of research by significant contemporary theorists, commenting on

– the multi-variant tensions deriving from dependence and diffusion of the Western model of government (Badie, 2000);

– questioning the unproblematic and inevitable moral authority of the state (Rosenau, 2003); – arguing that minorities are sites for the displacement of anxieties of many states (Appadurai, 2006); – looking at the suppression of the nation-state and the inter-state system, whereby the nation-state is transformed

into a larger structure of a transnational capitalist state (Robinson 2005); – theorising hegemonic decline (Friedman and Chase-Dunne 2005).

Equally, the effect of media on conflict, and ICTs on coverage has seen an explosion of the literature (Wolfsfeld, 1997; Taylor, 1998; Robinson 2002; Rosenau and Singh, 2002; Rosenau and Johnson 2002; Schechter, 2003; Berenger 2004; Philo and Berry, 2004; Seib, 2005; McNair 2006; Karatzogianni 2006, 2008; Tremayne, 2007; Gow 2007; Hoskins and O’Loughlin 2008).

Small States and ICTs: SIDs case

how small states can achieve critical mass and speak with one voice through ICTsFor example, at a Workshop on ICT strategies for Islands and Small States (SIDs) in Malta in 1999, ICTs will allow them to pool their diplomatic efforts, through electronic networking: ‘This will facilitate their communications with each other and their home capitals, allowing a faster response to key issues, affecting their trade and economic security, under discussion with the WTO in order to improve their competitiveness, SIDs need information and ICT to find niche markets (Briguglio).Griego argued that ICTs can connect small states, small units and small islands into a substantial political and market force for affordable E-commerce technical development recommended that development agencies need to set up interactive sites which allow them to obtain feedback from locals regarding the projects developed.In the small islands context, as it is difficult to define indigenous skills, the diaspora is very important and can be virtually present too (Baldacchino). strategic information it is vital that small states gain competitive advantage by opening up markets through ICTs which were previously unthinkable (Sammut). The workshop identified the problems of top-level management and their mistrust of IT, because of their fear of losing power through the sharing of information. According to Kirkman (2002) SIDs are generally better off than the rest of the developing world in terms of some elements of their Networked Readiness such as ICT buildout and diffusionhowever, SIDS continue to lag in telecommunications liberalization. There is growing evidence that SIDS are pooling resources to take a regional approach in areas such as telecommunications regulation, natural resource management, maritime surveillance, and distance learning.

Cyberconflict Model

1. Environment of Cyberconflict (CC): The Reversal argument

a. Ethnoreligious cyberconflicts represent

loyalties of hierarchical apparatuses while b. Sociopolitical cyberconflicts are empowering

network forms of organisationc. Actors in ethnoreligious CC need to operate in

a more network fashion, if they are fighting network forms of terrorism or resistance

d. Actors in sociopolitical CC need to operate in a more organised fashion and more conscious of the rest of their hosting network, if they are to engage with the present global political system

2. Sociopolitical Cyberconflicts: impact of ICTs on

a. Mobilising structures (network style of movements using the internet, participation, recruitment, tactics, goals)

b. Framing Processes (issues, strategy, identity, the effect of the internet on these processes)

c. Political opportunity structure (the internet as a component of this structure)

d. Hacktivism

3. Ethnoreligious Cyberconflicts

a. Ethnic/religious affiliation, chauvinism, national identity

b. Discourses of inclusion and exclusionc. Information warfare, the use of the internet as a

weapon (hacking), propaganda and mobilisational resource

d. Conflict resolution, which depends on the legal and organisational framework, the number of parties and issues, the distribution of power, and the content of values and beliefs

4. Media Components: a. Analysing discourses (representations of the world,

constructions of social identities and social relations)

b. Control of information, level of censorship, alternative sources

c. Wolsfeld: Political contest model among antagonists: the ability to initiate and control events, dominate political discourse, mobilise supporters

d. Media effects on policy (strategic, tactical, representational)

Introducing present Greek case

Global media coverage dec 08-jan 09

Nation branding

Imaginary identity for internal and external consumption

Combine small states research and cyberconflict concepts

Create a map of the real, virtual, imaginary identity transformed by ICTs

Law and Order Frame vs. Justice and Defiance

New generation energy harnessed -explain social movements edge of chaos

Cyberconflict - online diaspora and online activists, the Sociopolitical/Economic against the ethoreligious/cultural, party politics

and banckrupt ideology of the nation-state

Sample Dec7-Jan 28

Majority texts chosen (60) are first reaction reports to the riots - editorials and subsequent analysis of events also includedSample captured one single search for articles for ‘greek riots’ on Google and it is drawn mostly only from the top 50 hits. [problems with Google’s (crypto)hierarchy of results is recognised]Mainstream Media: Al Jazeera, AFP, Associated Press, BBC, China Daily, Deutsche Welle,Die Welt,Euronews, Financial Times, France 24, Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, Le Monde Diplomatique, MSNBC, New York Times, News 24, Novinite (Sofia),Reuters, Spiegel, Sunday Times,The Boston Globe,The Economist, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph The Nation, Wall Street Journal, USA TodayVarious non-mainstream media, and online media: anarchistnews.org, bnp.org.uk, chabad.org, christian science monitor, freedemocracy wordpress, globalreach.com, internationalistbooks, indymedia.org, hellenic news of america, libcom.org,occupiedlondon.org, unite.gnn.tv

Central Themes:

Law and Order Frame vs Injustice and DefianceWorst riots in decadesGovernment reactionThe families-dynastic political systemCorruption The Lost 700 euro Generation (unemployment)Tradition of protestMake up of protesters (students, anarchists, middle class,unions etc)Financial position of Greece in the world system -perscriptiveVarious alternative explanations and conspiracy theories

Local Event- Initial Description

What happened? Who is blamed? Where did it happen? Government reaction, political parties, popular reaction etc. Who are the ‘rioters’? Who is quoted and interviewed?Sunday Times: Grigoropoulos was hardly an ideal martyr for a movement suspected of being heavily influenced by a hard-left party known as Syriza. His mother runs a jewellery shop opposite Prada in the Bond Street of Athens and his father is a bank manager. He apparently belonged to a cluster of Athenian youths from the well to-do families who enjoy goading police on a Saturday night in the troubled district of Exarchia. Nearly all media outlets used the phrase ‘worst riots in decades’, or ‘in Greece’s recent history or since 1974’Majority mention our tradition of protesting, how ‘dear’ and ‘sacrosant’ it is held since ancient times’ or a tradition on violence’ e.g. Reuters: Greece has a tradition of violence at student rallies and fire bomb attacks by anarchist groups Protests were described as riots interchangeably, students as gangs of youth, as anarchists, anarchists as students, ordinary citizens, all depending on the discursive mood of the journalist/citizen journalistMain quotes in the majority of the mainstream media in the first instance were officials Prokopis Pavlopoulos the Interior Minister, and PM Kostas Karmanlis, after that secretary of information, president of trade association, police, major’s office.Very few mentions of statements of opposition parties, no interviews of the opposition parties (incredibly 2/50 quote papandreou statement), no interviews from ‘rioters’, very few from students and very few from ‘ordinary people’

– Almost an exception New York Times (10 December 2008) sources Livadas general secretariat of Greece’s Secretariat of Information, 17-year old hairdressing student, protester (because of economy), researcher (economy and police brutality), law school student, international relations student. Other example Al Jazeera

Law and Order Frame: – Euronews quotes Pavlopoulos: Protests must and should take place. Citizens have every right to defend their ideas and principles but

not by destroying other people’s property– The Nation quotes Karamanlis: "We must all have a united stand against illegal actions, to clearly condemn violence, looting and

vandalism," he said, and appealed to unions to cancel a protest rally during a 24-hour strike scheduled for Wednesday. Injustice and Defiance Deutsche Welle: Amnesty International called for an investigation into the shooting death of Grigoropoulos and criticized "unlawful and disproportionate" police violence.

Reaction & National Politics: Family Politics, Corruption, and Unequal distribution

Associated Press: Before the riots began, the Greek government was already facing public discontent over the state of the economy, poor job prospects for students and a series of financial scandals…An opinion poll published on Wednesday showed that 68% of Greeks disapproved of the government's handling of the crisis. Spiegel: Many normal Greeks share the same views as the Black Bloc anarchists: They consider the country's elite to be corrupt and incompetent…. Their experiences with its scandals, cronyism and corruption are too deeply seated. And it is in their unanimous rejection of the elite that both business people and the Black Bloc anarchists have found common ground..Financial Times: Greek politics can be correspondingly raw: with family dynasties often treating both party and state as personal patrimony. Two aspects of this culture – vested interests that shade into corruption, and a robust tradition of public protest – keep colliding in ever more combustible ways, as the buildings ablaze in downtown Athens well attest.Le Monde Diplomatique: The big families - the Caramanlis, Mitsotakis, Papandreou - that have followed one another in power for decades, have, along with their loyalists, profited from a system of which the scraps and crumbs have nourished a large part of the population. The social crisis explains, without justifying, the violence of the last few days. Mr. Caramanlis's government may restore peace. It is too weak to attack the roots of the disorder. The Economist: The feel-good factor allowed the conservatives to ignore the pressing case for social reform, particularly in education, health and policing. But as the global slowdown takes effect, young Greeks see their parents struggling to pay the bills. If they cannot afford to study abroad, they get lousy tuition at a Greek university and, unless their family can pull strings, few chances of a good job. The unemployment rate for young graduates is 21%, compared with 8 % for the population as a whole.

National Politics: Lost generation and make up of protesters

Telegraph: The death of Alexis Grigoropoulos is a justifiable cause for public outrage. But it has become a bandwagon for a much broader coalition of anti-government interests: student anarchists, whose raison d’etre is to challenge authority; the socialist opposition Pasok and the trade unions, who want to unseat the ruling New Democracy party; and members of the middle class incensed by low wages, a high cost of living, rising unemployment and official corruption The Guardian: For many these are a lost generation, raised in an education system that is undeniably shambolic and hit by whopping levels of unemployment (70 per cent among the 18-25s) in a country where joblessness this month jumped to 7.4 per cent. If they can find work remuneration rarely rises above 700 euro (this is, after all, the self-styled euro;700 generation), never mind the number of qualifications it took to get the job. Often polyglot PhD holders will be serving tourists at tables in resorts…started selling them on [stones] - at three stones a euro - to other protesters whose parents may live in Hollywood-style opulence…What is certain is that Karamanlis's handling of the disturbances will go down as a case study of what not to do in a crisis.Wall Street Journal: Some 25% of Greeks 15 to 24 years of age are unemployed, meaning the benefits of the country's economic expansion haven't been equally distributed, said Claude Giorno, an economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development… Alexander Kitroeff, associate professor in history at Haverford College, said the length of protests among high-school and college students is particularly striking because it is an age group that hasn't been politically active since the early 1980s.Al jazeera interviews Psaropoulos, Athens News: The political reason is that some parties on the left are keen on making political capital out of any kind of mobilisation of this kind.We are talking about university students and even younger ages. A lot of kids of high school age have been turning up and taking part and that is very much a organised thing, it is not a spontaneous outpouring. But the social cause is more spontaneous, we saw enormous riots involving high school and university students during an attempt by the conservatives at reform two years ago in 2006. And that's where that age group acquired a renewed sense of its own power.

Global Reflection & Analysis: Globalization of protests and Greece’s position in the world system

Sunday Times: ‘My 12-year-old daughter has been getting text messages inviting her to join the demonstration’ said Constantine Michalos, president of the Greek chamber of commerce. Wall Street Journal: Thousands of students were joined by striking workers in a fifth day of protests in Greece, an uprising that mirrors growing discontent among youths in many European countries over outdated education systems, lack of jobs and a general apprehension about the future.Novinite (Sofia) According to the Greece Antenna TV, the Greek anarchists have been joined by like-minded people from all over Europe who have recently arrived to Greece in order to take part in the protests.Reuters: Protests have swept more than 10 cities across the European Union member state of 11 million people, including the tourist islands of Crete and CorfuAl Jazeera (posts on their site) Global conversations from people from Greece, mexico, Venezuala, Indonesia, the US, Canada, Netherlands)Le Monde Diplomatique: the last three days testify to the disequilibria of a society that over several years only went from being part of the Balkans to part of Europe. Financial Times: It must root out the corruption that places it 57th (out of 180 countries) and 23rd in the EU in Transparency International’s 2008 corruption perceptions index. As Athens burned, Greece’s parliament was investigating an illegal land-swap between a Mount Athos monastery and the state, from which ministers may have profited mightily. With bad governance, disparate causes for disgruntlement coagulate into rebellion. Good governance in Greece would recognise that reform is something you do all the time, unless you want to see the country overtaken by its Balkan neighbours, Romania and Bulgaria

Global Reflection & Analysis: Greece as foretaste/trigger for next phase in the financial crisis

Wall Street Journal: Thousands of students were joined by striking workers in a fifth day of protests in Greece, an uprising that mirrors growing discontent among youths in many European countries over outdated education systems, lack of jobs and a general apprehension about the future.Associated Press: Authorities say the incidents have been isolated so far, but acknowledge concern that the Greek riots could be a trigger for antiglobalization groups and others outraged by economic turmoil and a lack of job opportunities.Sunday Times: Some see a foretaste of the next phase of the global financial crisis, sensing in the tear gas and chants a warning to European leaders of what may unfold elsewhere if they do not take into account the frustrations of their people.The Independent: Bringing together youths in their early twenties struggling to survive amid mass youth unemployment and schoolchildren swotting for highly competitive university exams that may not ultimately help them in a treacherous jobs market, the events of the past week could be called the first credit-crunch riots. There have been smaller-scale sympathy attacks from Moscow to Copenhagen, and economists say countries with similarly high youth unemployment problems such as Spain and Italy should prepare for unrest.

Non-mainstream Media

Conspiracy theory: http://freedemocracy.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/riots-in-greece-the-undercover-news-culprit-islamic-netowrks-joining-anarchists/ Quite a few Greek radical groups have adopted Arabic Noms de Guerre, promote illegal immigration of Muslims into Europe and call in for the destruction of Western civilazation. They are part of an almost global network that acts as a soft power element of the hard one as envisaged by Al Qaeda. Globalresearch.ca world socialist website: Also playing a retrograde role in the struggles in Greece are anarchist elements, who hold workers responsible for the right-wing politics of PASOK, the KKE and the trade unions, serving to isolate the youth from the working class as a whole. The World Socialist Web Site and the European sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the Partie fur Soziale Gleichheit in Germany and the Socialist Equality Party in Great Britain, call for spreading the mass protests and struggles that have erupted in Greece throughout Europe ….there is the so-called "leftist coalition," or SYRIZA, an amalgam of the most diverse radical groupings—including the Greens, pacifists, feminists, radical lefts and self-described socialists. The heterogeneous composition of the party is matched by its complete lack of programmatic clarity. In last year’s election campaign, the coalition stressed the issue of ecology as the lowest common denominator to hold itself together, following bitter internal disputes.http://bnp.org.uk/2008/12/greece-suffers-under-wave-of-asylum-seeker-caused-violence/The Greek far left, who have in the past been closely allied to the far left in Britain, has now seized upon the initial asylum seeker unrest and started riots of their own, providing the controlled media with a perfect excuse to hide the cause of the violenceChabad.org (jewish) The rabbi said that the previous two hours had seen a drastic intensification in the protesters’ actions.It’s gotten really crazy here, said Hendel. Thank God, the Jewish community is okay, he added. So far, the rioters have not been targeting people.Diaspora Hellenic News of America:I think, is the sense that public institutions have been so far corrupted that they may, and should, be attacked with impunity. This may eventually provoke a backlash; but, so far, whatever apprehension or disgust the rioters have provoked is exceeded by disgust for those they are rioting against.

Various anarchist and radical left :

http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2009/01/17/fuck-greece-fight-here-greek-riot-info-events-in-the-uk/ : fuck Greece, fight here

http://libcom.org/news/occupation-news-editors-union-hq-athens-12012009 http://libcom.org/news/short-presentation-recent-events-athens-through-eyes-some-proletarian-participants-tptg-co-

http://unite.gnn.tv/blogs/24139/Breaking_news_from_Greek_Anarchist_movement

http://athens.indymedia.org/?lang=en

http://www.anarchistnews.org/

Greece in Motion - Creative and Positive Exploits The Edge of Chaos: Recommendations for Policy

Reverse current coverage by addressing Greece’s image/media coverage on 3 levels:The Real

– Family politics– Equaling distribution beyond party politics– Corruption– Unemployment – Social Reforms – Chanelling the Energy of the ‘Lost’ generation

The VirtualExploit ICTs to address every single element of negative coverage, exchange with the global media constantly Engage diaspora and online activists through providing for a in cyberspace for participation in e-government beyond ‘official’ ineffective information portals. THEY ARE CITIZENS NOT CUSTOMERSEngage youth in e-participation projects in p2p collaborative fashion to create new enterprise and business opportunities

The ImaginaryReconstruct the Greek imaginary through deep reform on all levelsReverse the image of Greeks as hard working creative non-violent hospitable and non-destructive, uncorrupt and forward-lookingRestore hope and dignity to people that have given up on democracy, politics, representation, equal distribution, equality of opportunites, human dignityEmbrace youth as the most valuable asset of a state (in raw biopolitical terms) and exploit their abilities through providing opportunities and rewards

Respect of minorities and embrace cultural diversity as a dynamic factor for cultural exchange and progress.