In a country like Greece, where the consequences of climate crisis is now a lived reality, with the rise in temperaturethe drought and them natural disasters to threaten the way of life, one would expect it ecological movement had already bloomed. Not only the volunteer aspect of it, but also the politics. The “green agenda» should be an absolute priority of the political system. However, this is not the case either. In contrast to the development it experienced in Western Europe – and especially in Germany and France – political ecology in Greece remains today on the sidelines. The parties of the space, despite some convulsive successes, were never able to secure their autonomous existence. But why does this happen?
Historical phase difference
The main cause, as for a number of other inconsistencies in relation to Europeanization, is found in the fact that at the time of the birth of social movements, including the ecological one, Greece had other priorities. At the beginning of the 1960s, about 10 years after the end of the Civil War, the primary stake for Greek society was its survival. And the state was not only inclusive. In short, the foundations of the movement were not laid when they should have been. “Western Europe experienced a great social explosion in those years. Then came social movements, anti-war, feminist, etc. Greece, however, was outside of this trend. He did not participate in these processes, so he essentially missed the train of metamaterialist claims.” says to “K” or Philippa Chatzistavrou Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Athens.
What does metamaterialist claim mean? “The period 1945-1975 is the 30 “golden years” for the United States and Western Europe,” points out Ms. Hadjistavrou and explains: “The welfare state has fully developed. It’s a generation of people who have now secured their jobs, their health care and their pensions, they feel stable on their feet, so now they can think about feminism, ecology and other such movements.” THE Nikos Marantzidis, political scientist and professor at the University of Macedoniaadds that apart from Greece, green movements did not develop in the countries of Eastern and Southern Europe either. “Issues of freedom of expression, gender equality, sexual freedom and the environment have dominated societies of abundance,” underline in the “K”.
When the country entered the Postcolonizationthat is, at the time when ecology was gradually gaining political representation in Germany, the local scene was completely different. The intense politicization and ultimately partisanization of society and the public sphere led to the dominance of harsh bipartisanship. This development, along with its intensive reactivation Left, communist and rejuvenatingleft no vital space for political ecology. “Greece is characterized by a polarized party system that was formed in the post-conflict and post-political conditions where the Cold War and the opposition between West and East were the central features of the political confrontation”, underlines Mr. Marantzidis.
The polarization of Postcolonialism, combined with the dynamic reactivation of the Left, deprived the vital political space of social movements, which had started in Europe many years before.
THE Petros Kokkalis, co-founder of the Kosmos partyan initiative that, according to its members, is inspired by the “principles of sustainability”, tells us that a prerequisite for the development of a green movement is the overcoming of divisive forms. “The scope, depth and speed of the necessary reforms require a broad consensus and mobilization, which can only be based on the need for social justice. In one of the few European countries that lack History and practice of finding common ground, this is difficult.” The party was tested in the recent European elections. It received 1.08%.
Division and fragmentation
Paradoxically, the trend of political ecology was first represented in Parliament at the time of absolute polarization. The Environmental Alternatives they won a seat in the November 1989 election, which was run under a variant of simple proportionality and without the 3% ceiling. Our interlocutors identify the Chernobyl nuclear accident in April 1986 as a pivotal event, which served as a wake-up call for society and a rallying point for the movement’s participants. The Environmentalists, however, were affected by the well-known diseases of the wider Left. Disagreements in details, polydissociation, decay, degeneration. Of course, a transcendent personality is also missing. “There is no legacy, but neither are the figures. For example, in France there was Daniel Cohn-Bedit as early as May 1968″, recalls Mrs. Hadjistavrou. “A subjective problem for the impossibility of political organization of the ecological space in Greece was also human resources. It never existed in abundance, while the notable executives did not manage to find all of them together”, says o Polydevkis Papadopoulos, founding member of ecological movements in the 80s and 90s and later responsible for the Press Office of the Environmental Greens.
The most notable autonomous political presence of ecology comes at the end of the first decade of the 21st century when in Europe the terms “climate crisis” and “green transition” have started to be heard more and more. The Environmentalists Greens elected in 2009 MEP (Michalis Tremopoulos and Nikos Chrysogelos they shared the mandate), while in the national elections of October, although the opinion polls gave them up to 7%, they remain outside the Parliament for 0.5%. It is the time when the project gets a backlash, which is also reflected in the municipal elections that followed a year later, but it is also a turning point. “The economic crisis breaks out and everything turns upside down there. Arriving at the 2012 elections, the majority tendency of the Environmental Greens adopted a merely anti-memorial stance, a role that was overshadowed by SYRIZA“, Mr. Papadopoulos recalls.
In the first elections, in May, they did not produce a deputy for 0.3%. In the second, in June, they got 0.8%. The project is flourishing again. In 2015, the Environmentalists essentially became a follow-up to SYRIZA. Two of their executives are elected MPs (Giannis Tsironis and George Dimaras), while ministers are also appointed. The autonomous political dynamic is fading, along with the SYRIZA government narrative shaken by the memorandum. And it is not recovered to this day. “The ecological parties and movements “submitted” to the dominant division “memorandum – anti-memorandum”. When the recession, unemployment and debts threatened the majority of households, the “environment” agenda was difficult to get across to many people”, underlines Mr. Marantzidis. “Since then, the space has tried various disparate and forced partnerships and alliances, with poor results,” adds Mr. Papadopoulos.
They did not break the wall of reluctance
The lack of a realistic “green agenda” in a global community, which today is called to face successive crises, wars and pandemics, which create deep rifts in societies, seems to be one of the major problems of the ecological movements. How to convince the citizens, many of whom consider the green demands far-fetched? Is deforestation the same as veganism? “It must be understood that man and nature are one, that the relationship of the environment with our lives, with the economy, society, health, is absolutely inseparable. It really saddens me that we haven’t consolidated this relationship yet,” he tells us Dimitris Karavelas, director of WWF-Greece. “When we realize that protecting the environment and dealing with the climate crisis primarily means protecting the country and its people, only then will we be able to discuss a truly sustainable future”, he adds disarmingly.
“Until now, in Greece, we have not had a political ecology party that could convince that it has workable solutions for major social problems, such as punctuality and unemployment. We must convince that our policies effectively address the challenges and ensure social justice and social cohesion”, points out the Kosmos press representative and former executive of the European Green Party, Ilias Papatheodorou. He also reminds that the citizens are not even aware of the most effective initiatives of the movement. “Positive interventions, such as the non-privatization of water during the years of the memorandums, were not credited to the green ecological space, but to others.”
In Germany, the Greens, although they adapted – others say “subjugated” – their policy, govern, even keeping the reins of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In Greece, not only is the space not united, but there does not seem to be the slightest prospect of forming a green party. Our interlocutors attribute this development to the different priorities of the youth, as well as to society’s weak voluntary attitude. “Young people don’t have access to housing, wages are low, how can they think about the metamaterialist stakes?”, asks Mrs. Hadjistavrou. “The climate crisis is here, we are experiencing it in a very painful way. Dealing with it, apart from bold policies, also requires the active participation of society. To understand the problem based on science, but also to do everything possible to reduce its own climate footprint”, says Mr. Karavelas, who nevertheless sees more and more young people with a willingness to take action. “Successful long-lasting ecological parties are mainly found in countries with a historically greater degree of industrialization, transcendence of classical political forms, but also the existence of societies with stronger metamaterial values, exchange, cooperation and volunteerism. In other words, elements that are rare in Greek society”, Mr. Papadopoulos objects.
2024-08-27 09:01:01