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Transformations

The three transformations: social, economic and historical

Altogether the organisers of the photo exhibition state that their aim is to "understand the social, economic and historical transformation currently taking place in Greece".

Given the fact that the group consisted of only men with just one woman the exception, note should be taken this happened despite protest by some women photographers. It prompts immediately the question whether a male glance differs from a female one when looking at the crisis. But given modern developments how can the exclusion of the other sex be explained, never mind be justified? A likely interpretation thereof can be that the group itself replicates Greek society in which over dominance of the male is still quite common.

There is another case to be made out of this initial exclusion of women. If it has lead to set such terms under which this collective would photograph the crisis, then the collective would put itself at risk to miss out on something inherent to any crisis, namely the impact upon the man-woman relationship. If even an alcoholic who ended up in psychiatric care can predict that when the next phase of unemployment begins, that the divorce rate shall be again on the increase, it says something. Some couples can endure the strain upon their relationships if their incomes are no longer stable; others, more pragmatic, last only as long as there is good weather. So what happens to human relationships during a crisis should not be left to only men. In short, the perception of women photographers is crucial to know what happens in time of crisis. Since some women did join the collective, there might have been some correction, but after a first look around in the exhibition there was noticeable an absence of this sensitive 'sujet'.

To this can be added what Prof. Klaus Heinrich at the FU in Berlin maintains, namely that the tension between the sexes is what keeps institutions alive. Without such a tension, many interesting things fade simply away or else leave spaces not neutral or empty, but be occupied solely by men who play endless card games in the shade of some run down cafe neon. Of interest would be to see if the crisis has changed this occupation of urban space by men? Or where the equality between the sexes manifests itself as outcome of the crisis? The latter notion does remind of the role women played during the German occupation of Greece and what they managed to bring through their families in especially hard times. Consideration of that factor would give certain perceptions of what is happening more weight.

Furthermore, if crisis means to displace the concept of normal relationships existing in an open society, then photography should bear witness to a devulge in endless excuses for that would be a sign of demotivation. Like Oblomov who would only get off his couch when in love, there very lack thereof can explain how the romantic notion of love has disappeared but no new agenda of love been put in place.

The economic crisis is as well a crisis of economic theory: false tools lead to a wrong policy, or rather the political and especially ideological development has left governments short changed, that is without the tools needed to bring about solutions. These cannot be reduced to economic growth as the latter entails many more problems which have so far been left unresolved, climate change just one of them.

At lot has been made of the trend towards automatation and digitalization which has altered work tasks, but also the organisation of work. Linked to that is the lack of clarity of how values are being created, and who ends up being paid, who not.

In a global context, the classical economic models meant to be applied within the context of a national economy no longer apply. Rather the set of tools are interdependent as to what others do or not. There are countries which offered tax incentives to the degree that they undercut the competitiveness of other economies while many EU member states depend upon the European Central Bank after having adopted the Euro as common currency. In Greece, this has led at first to an easy access to loans while over spending meant not only consumption at an ever higher level, but also more imports. Partly the deficit can be explained a lack of adjustment not merely of the economy to these international conditions; likewise it is a matter of accounting or what amounts in the end really to be a 'sovereign debt'.

The text prompts as well the question as to what is to be understood with the term 'historical transformation'?

If used to replace the 'political' even though the organizers do mention as well political transformations, it may have been prompted by the wish to come closer to the term 'era'. Athough the project started only in 2011 and has covered, therefore, a short period, crisis.

Leaving out political transformations may satisfy the wish to keep the photos out of possible criticism of being propaganda, or else taking sides, but if the wished for transcendence may satisfy certain aesthetical criteria, it risks to make the exhibition both a neutral place of reflection and in reality ahistorical. It may conjoin with an over powerful wish to end the crisis and therefore end up silencing the experiences people have been making while going through this crisis before they had the time to speak up. Alone the silencing of the assembly on Syntagma Square as early as July 2011 coincides with the beginning of this project 'Era Depression'.

All the more needs to be posed the question to what and especially to whom these photos on exhibit give a voice to, compared to what has been silenced? Definitely the photo by Dimitris Michalakis of a policeman with a shield as part of a series called 'Burned out' suggest people were not only exhausted - another form of being silenced - by loss of jobs and no prospects, but by endless demonstrations manifesting everything from simple shouts out of protest to violent clashes with the police. They were also silenced by these forms of protest not leading anywhere but to be 'burned out'. Consequently many experienced set-backs in their health, among one of the most strange forms being the 'chronic fatigue syndrome'.   

Moreover there is also something odd about the use of the term 'historical transformation' especially in a country which prides itself to be living a continuity with its Ancient Past. Without having giving it too much a thought, the organisers may want to use the term as well as a heuristic concept. Still, it is far fetched from the kind of reality in historical terms being played out constantly in Greece.

For instance, Melina Mercouri would repeatedly claim 'now as then' to beseech such a continuity does exist, and this despite all kinds of many transformations or rather discontinuities. Ancient Greece and the Orthodox Church are incompatible with one another, and yet they are blended into one cultural and religious identity. To show then how politics evolves out an ideology made to appear at one and the same time to be historical and yet unchanging, that would require a far more elaborated critique of the concept of crisis then what the organisers had in mind.

Instead of developing further the narrative by understanding that culture is a search for truth, and much depends on what stories are told and memories kept, provided people really listen, the unwillingness to learn out of mistakes invites instead to a constant building of a new legend. The problem has to be recognized if to be avoided. If not, then Pireaus can link its bid for the ECoC title to be designated to a Greek city for 2021 to Salaminas and the sea battle which took place there 2 500 years ago. Such a recourse takes on an even greater form than simple patriotism, insofar as it seeks to remind everyone that 'Greekness' means 'greatness'.

Instigating self pride, it follows the path of self assertiveness, a form which has become so virulent in the 21st century. By fostering this kind of national narrative, a special kind of mental institution is created, one which is capable of imprisoning the mind. It does so at a very high prize as the gaze upon the self is like looking into the sun so that all other histories and narratives are blended out. It leaves humanity and the 'voice of reason' as it has become known through the Enlightenment completely silent.

By implication, it is suggested throughout history till the present. There is also no reason why this should not be the case as well in future. Greece has always been and shall always be great!

Forgotten in this search what Pablo Neruda recommended, namely the abolition of pride as it leads only into a strange kind of loneliness. The Pantomimist Marcel Morceau would show this in the form of someone passing by a monument in the park and begins to imagine that he could be like that statue being admired by all those people passing by. In the end, he does climb up on this monument and suddenly his body turns to stone. The only thing which reigns thereafter is silence. 

Such a legend and identity allows many to presume that they stand above any need to be self critical and therefore it never comes to an open discussion about how Greece ended in such a crisis. Instead national pride is linked to the ancient past as if this is proof enough of greatness. Here the symbol of the pillar of Ancient Temples stands out as most significant reminder thereof. By evoking repeatedly this allusion to the past as if it is still real in the present, this illusion can be nourished to be someone above any crisis. Naturally when living in Athens, it is difficult to ignore the evidence of the Acropolis. Nevertheless the relation to the past is constantly distorted so as not to come to terms with present challenges and demands. Instead there is cultivated a new kind of national narrative as exemplified by the underlying concept of the new Acropolis Museum. The jury decided for that specific design as it exemplifies kitsch, something which existed admittedly as well in Ancient Greece.

The return of history as a difference between Ancient and Recent Past

Most telling is the story told by Harry Kakoulidis who calls his series of photos 'city of refuge'. He starts with a photographic glance at a semi rubbish dump or an empty builing site, but then states in an accompanying text that this site has yet to be transformed. In remembering what great opportunities this city had developed in the Ancient past, the viewer is left to wonder if he means by this the opportunity to erect still another building at that specific site?

Harry Kakoulidis
City of Refuge
 A city of refuge is a place where a man, usually a sinner, could claim the right of asylum;
This photographic documentary presents a metaphor of our current situation using this notion as a starting point. The location of the city is of no importance. The important fact is the history of the place. It is inhabited since ancient times and it was a land of opportunity, and transformation. It still remains as such.
 
The buildings presented here, attempt yet another metaphor.
They represent the armor; a castle, but in a sense of a social armor that we humans try to build around us.
 
Interestingly, the building in the city centre resembles the ones that surround it.
Their identities, the same. Change of dreams, a sense of no fulfilment, adaptation, hope.
 
This piece of work is just a whisper. Maybe the inception of an inner dialogue.
What do we do when all safety measures fail?
 
[Do we run to a city of refuge?]
 

 

The text prompts as well a question about how the organisers understand the term 'historical transformation'? It may have been used to replace the 'political' and bring the time period to be covered much closer to the term 'era', even though the project started only in 2011 and therefore has covered directly three years of the crisis.

Leaving out political transformations may satisfy the wish to keep the photos out of possible criticism of being propaganda, or else taking sides, but if the wished for transcendence may satisfy certain aesthetical criteria, it risks to make the exhibition both a neutral place of reflection and in reality ahistorical. It may conjoin with an over powerful wish to end the crisis and therefore end up silencing the experiences people have been making while going through this crisis before they had the time to speak up. Alone the silencing of the assembly on Syntagma Square as early as July 2011 coincides with the beginning of this project 'Era Depression'.

Moreover there is also something odd about the use of the term 'historical transformation' especially in a country which prides itself to be living a continuity with its Ancient Past. Without having giving it too much a thought, the organisers may want to use the term as well as a heuristic concept. Still, it is far fetched from the kind of reality in historical terms being played out constantly in Greece.

For instance, Melina Mercouri would repeatedly claim 'now as then' to beseech such a continuity does exist, and this despite all kinds of many transformations or rather discontinuities. Ancient Greece and the Orthodox Church are incompatible with one another, and yet they are blended into one cultural and religious identity. To show then how politics evolves out an ideology made to appear at one and the same time to be historical and yet unchanging, that would require a far more elaborated critique of the concept of crisis then what the organisers had in mind.

Instead of developing further the narrative by understanding that culture is a search for truth, and much depends on what stories are told and memories kept, provided people really listen, the unwillingness to learn out of mistakes invites instead to a constant building of a new legend. The problem has to be recognized if to be avoided. If not, then Pireaus can link its bid for the ECoC title to be designated to a Greek city for 2021 to Salaminas and the sea battle which took place there 2 500 years ago. Such a recourse takes on an even greater form than simple patriotism, then it reminds everyone immediately that 'Greekness' means 'greatness'. By implication, it is suggested throughout history till the present. There is also no reason why this should not be the case as well in future. Greece has always been and shall always be great!

Forgotten in this search what Pablo Neruda recommended, namely the abolition of pride as it leads only into a strange kind of loneliness. The Pantomimist Marcel Morceau would show this in the form of someone passing by a monument in the park and begins to imagine that he could be like that statue being admired by all those people passing by. In the end, he does climb up on this monument and suddenly his body turns to stone. The only thing which reigns thereafter is silence. 

Such a legend and identity allows many to presume that they stand above any need to be self critical and therefore it never comes to an open discussion about how Greece ended in such a crisis. Instead national pride is linked to the ancient past as if this is proof enough of greatness. Here the symbol of the pillar of Ancient Temples stands out as most significant reminder thereof. By evoking repeatedly this allusion to the past as if it is still real in the present, this illusion can be nourished to be someone above any crisis. Naturally when living in Athens, it is difficult to ignore the evidence of the Acropolis. Nevertheless the relation to the past is constantly distorted so as not to come to terms with present challenges and demands. Instead there is cultivated a new kind of national narrative as exemplified by the underlying concept of the new Acropolis Museum. The jury decided for that specific design as it exemplifies kitsch, something which existed admittedly as well in Ancient Greece.

  

      Visitors in front of photos showing Greek pillars as edifices of 'now as then'

Given such a glorification of the past, no wonder when apparent contradictions inherent in the Greek situation are not really told. Consequently it becomes a crucial matter of interest if trying to tell the story of a crisis through photography deviates from that.
 

                            Photos of times of vanity prior to the crisis

Most telling is when visitors look at photos not taken during the years of crisis, but before and therefore during better times. Of interest would be to see if those photos had made some careful observations and noticed the coming of the crisis in 2009. These were the days when the famous and the wealthy came close to 'vanity' as described by Baudelaire.

 

Slowly especially the small shops serving the neighborhood started to disappear. Gone is the grocery woman who had kept an eye on the children as they pass by on the way to school. Instead of her shop, there are now garages. The owner has found another income source. To observe such changes in just one street, photographers would have to bring out those images which show that things are no longer just the same. It would require a comparison to what was still alive, in place, that is before the crisis hit. That is a real challenge for photography. With it go mental changes which are difficult to capture as a visual image, and even if possible, it does not suffice to claim that the 'Depression Era project' has inhabited the urban landscape.

Whether or not this is really the case when photographers take to the streets, so to speak, needs to be examined further. Until the exhibition itself, the work of the photographers had gone largely unnoticed. Also critically said, other images and therefore photos depicting the crisis come immediately to mind when seeing what photos are exhibited to mark the 'Era Depression'.

The crisis made evident that poverty was not to be found this time in the countrysite but in the city itself. With that something else entered the collective self consciousness.

At first, there were massive protests and huge gatherings on Syntagma Square with Tahir Square in Egypt or the indignant protest in Spain serving as models. But by July 2011 that wish of the public to inform itself was swept aside by street violence. Whether it came from protesters belonging to the Anarchist movement or was orchestrated from behind the scene, whatever, violence gave the police the legitimacy to move in. There followed the cleaning crews who removed the tent village and started to tidy up the most central square of Athens. Kamenis, the mayor of Athens, had argued that tourist do not wish to see unhealthy and dirty places.

Invoking an argumentation not only in favour of a certain kind of aesthetics, but as well of hygiene reminds of what had been the key factor for the down fall of the Pariser Commune after the French Revolution. Jean Pierre Faye made out during that time once a health police had been created, reactionary forces set in. Alone this example serves as a caution when invoking a certain kind of aesthetics.

As for the public discourse, politicians of all 'coleur' have tended to exclude the public throughout the crisis. They seem to believe vigorous debates in public are not a sign of a healthy democracy. Rather they favour suppression by police force and being in control so as to ensure top-down measures can be implemented. Literally, it means undertaking every effort to safeguard established power within the given institutions.

In contemporary Greece, execution of power is upheld by the 'social contract' of 1975. It emerged out of the period of military dictatorship lasting from 1967 until 1974. Upon its interpretation rests the governance through the Greek Parliament. Most damaging for the entire social cohesion is that it includes tax exemption for ship owners. Interestingly enough, some have taken the initiative to redraft the 'Social Contract'. It would be important to link this with the overall question what can be done to salvage the European project which suffers ever since the EU Constitutional Treaty was not ratified in 2005.

Given the general lack of public debate and therefore mistrust in public institutions in Greece, the political elite of the country is left on its own to manage the country's affairs. Not surprisingly politicians find it to be relatively easy to create spin-offs to special interests. They include the army and the Orthodox church but includes as well party members.

Stuck in a post-colonial mind set best described in "Marketplace of voices by Waqas Khwaja", this elite continues to imitate successful models practiced elsewhere, fore mostly in the UK and United States. By applying half backed measures and never taking the time to think through policy measures, it fails to undo the clientel practice of exceptions and shared privileges. An entire life would not suffice to undo all the damages constantly inflicted upon the social and human body.

Definitely the lack of real democracy is also the result of a systematic exclusion of civic society. Almost everyone thinks only political connections count and which can only be activated, if the politicians stand to gain something in the process.

Politicians are afraid of public truth being revealed in public spaces as it would enable citizens to truly question their practices. Some of that fear is justified when certain demands are radicalized and therefore unwilling to accept any compromise, but which is the daily task of politicians. Here the poetess Katerina Anghelaki Rooke posed already in 2011 the interesting question when is a compromise morally justifiable? It is without question quite different to be in the opposition when compared with being in a position of responsibility and having to govern millions of people all with different interests and needs, while not all resources needed to satisfy them are available at any given moment in time. Dislocation in time becomes the opposite to timing - a skill needed by politicians along with knowing when things are possible, not impossible.

Most harmful to society and the future of the youth are the measures the elites have cultivated to protect and to enhance their privileges. In Greece, power is perpetuated through certain families as if having a name in society counts more than any substantial contribution someone else could make. To make things worse, viewpoints are blostered by attitudes which lead them to believe that they can never make a mistake.

Silence is another method to weather. For instance, former Prime Minister Kostas Karamelis has never said anything in public about the financial decisions his government made when in power from 2004 until 2009. It was the time period during which Greece piled up debt after debt.

By not admitting that mistakes have been made, a learning process is prevented almost by definition. It leaves the entire society exposed to still further manoevers to cover up everything. It includes falsifying the statistics so that no one could really know the extent of the state deficit. In retrospect, it serves the purpose of argueing in all innocence never to had full knowledge of the extent of the deficit. To this has to be added that countless records were falsified while repeatedly archives are destroyed whenever a new party takes over power. It makes reconstruction of governmental actions and decisions nearly impossible. 

All that became self evident in how the crisis was handled. Since no practical consequences could be drawn out of mistakes made in the past, there was no open reckoning with what had brought about the crisis in the first place. When problems are not clearly defined, likewise no real solutions or reforms can be proposed. What happened instead was a false interpretation of the demands made by the Troika since the politicians on the Greek side transformed them into crude measures. This served several purposes: to the Troika they wished to demonstrate compliance, while internally speaking, they were not really serious with most of the reform intentions as promised. It reduced most measures to a kind of cosmetic fix. They were introduced with the full intention to fix the problem while in reality the burdens of the bailout were unevenly distributed. It hit the most vulnerable ones while those with money took the amount of 32.5 Billion out of the country. (1)

Repeatedly earnest reforms have never been implemented even before the crisis hit the country. For example, the land registrary has yet to be completed despite having received twice funds from the EU to install it. Also an old concept of politics is being practiced. Usually endless negotiations have the say of the day but then nothing clear to the general public has been decided. It seems as if all wish to follow the example of Odyssey who managed to talk himself out of any trouble. Yet it is something else once the commitments which have been made, are not kept. Linked to that is the huge problem called a lack of 'morality of payment'. Not only private businesses delay often payments to their workers. Likewise the state or at lower level municipal or regional authorities defer payments as they wait for opportunities when another cash flow comes and only then they will pay those who made sufficient noise or trouble to be paid. Still, people could not find plausible explanations how the Greek state could have piled up such a huge debt. They wondered to where or rather to whom alone all the EU funds had gone to. The word 'corruption' made the round but that was not sufficient to tackle the deeper problem of accountability and transparency.

After that short phase of public debate lasting on Syntagma Square only from 2010 until July 2011, the second thing which entered collective self consciousness was the need to find another concept of survival. Once the informal political activities of the protesters were sidelined, and Syntagma Square given back to the pigeons and tourists, or shoppers, more and more people decided to leave the city. If they did not immigrate to other countries like Germany, they went back to the countryside and turned, for instance, to alternative farming. Many young couples started to work on fields their grandparents had abandoned when moving to the city in the thought of finding there a better life. Even Lagarde from IMF recommended the best thing to do in a crisis is to start growing your own vegetables in the backyard.

Along with these tendencies, there started as well a social experimentation in sharing food to doing work within a local economy which no longer depended upon money. The currency was replaced by a credit system of services everyone can provide or give. It included medical services as well as therapeutic sessions on how to deal with rage. Multiple activities based on reciprocity unfolded as if the economist Polanyi would have drawn the blue print for such practices. 

Since then Athens and Greece went through the elections in 2012 while the austerity policy made itself felt. As demanded by the Troika and agreed upon by the government in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding, still more discrepancies in commitments to resolve the crisis became apparent. Call it negotiation tactics or failure to keep original commitments, it amounted in the end to the adoption of merely crude measures even though knowledgeable advisors suggests a fine financial engineering was needed if to get out of all kinds of debts. Beside the state, cities, regions, hospitals, universities and businesses all proved to have neglected common sense business practices. Too many resources were wasted or services had been over paid as if no one had a sense of limitations as far as spending of money was concerned. To back petall is not easy, to economize and advance at the same time in a collective manner even more difficult. Basically many jobs were wiped out and nothing has come to replace them. It is as if the society has been hollowed out, internally speaking, or else the internal bleeding has not stopped because no one seems to see it. 

At times things threatened to turn really ugly. During one violent demonstration three bank employees, among them one pregnant women, died after the bank building had been set ablaze and they found no escape since the owner had locked the security doors at the back. In another horrific incidence acid was splashed into the face of a Bulgarian woman. She headed the cleaning crews of the Metro who protested against being forced to sign contracts stating different amounts than what they were finally paid out. Still far worse was something having to do with xenophobic forces adopting a more militant stance on how to respond to the crisis.

While street violence was linked at first to the Anarchist movement, after the elections in May and June 2012 an escalation of violence by Chrysi Avgi members became a threat to the entire system. Above all they pretended to be better than the police force itself and started to attack migrants, including those selling things in street markets. It reached a high point when a rap singer was stabbed to death. Finally the society revolted and demanded that the state no longer turns a blind eye to this development towards Neo-Fascism. Not perceived but definitely a threat of quite another dimension included what their eighteen members in Parliament and followers tried to instigate, namely a 'language of hatred'.

It may be difficult at times to describe this slipping into a crisis mode. It is a special mental state. People try to cope as best as they can but noticeable are the real loss of quality of life especially at informal level. For instance, when small shops on the platia close, then no one keeps anymore a watchful eye on the children walking to and back from school. Security cannot be provided solely by the police. It is this informal side with people supporting each other that makes a neighborhood be alive or not. Unfortunately the value of informal security is largely disregarded by modern development. Once one storey houses are replaced by high rise apartments with drive in garages, the new inhabitants shall never get the chance to see and to chat with their neighbors. Instead they feel insecure, install alarm systems which wake up everyone at night and turn out to be 99% a technical defect which caused yet another false alarm. It is a peculiar form of urban alienation which set in already prior to the crisis, but which has only been intensified by the crisis. Everywhere can be felt the loss of informal security and safety only to be found in neighborhoods which are alive and people coming together to be informed as to what is going on.  

Something else could be noticed in retrospect. Whenever demonstrations still took place on a large scale to protest against a new wave of austerity measures being decided upon in Parliament at the dictate of the Troika, street demonstrators would shout slogans which connected to former times. They demanded 'freedom, bread and education'. It did not matter to them whether these slogans were shouted already before, during or after the Military dictaturship gripped the country from 1967 to 1974. People felt threatened in their way of life.

Most important is to see how the disenchantment of the youth has started to transform society. Being without a job, they depend for a livelihood upon their parents and more specifically grandparents who have at least some pensions as an income. What will happen when these elderly people die and no one there to sustain the life of the youth? While they have been pronounced in the crisis as the lost generation, the question is really what will happen to them in near future?  With the loss of continuity and sustainability, goes still another a loss: the one of dreams. Especially young people have no longer a normal sense of growing up with a future ahead of them. When a man working as clerk for OTE despite having a degree in Engineering stated that his dreams had vanished, he was no longer an exception but the rule.

Once the crisis started to grip various structures, dire conditions started to prevail almost everywhere in the streets of Athens. While shops closed to leave shopping malls or passages become silent corridors, everywhere could be seen signs for apartments being put up for rent or sale. Above all the numbers of the homeless and those begging for food or some money increased. Others are getting by thanks to soup kitchens and other forms of sharing food. Some of them are run by the Municipality, others by political assemblies which exist in almost every distict of Athens.

 

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