Society and economy. Politics and communication. Parties and elections. Cultures and ideology. The conference “Half a century of democracy“, co-organized by Panteion University and the National Center for Social Research with the participation of more than 130 scientists between October 16 and 19aspires to be a hub of total recruitment of the period 1974-2024 based on the findings of modern research. Shortly before its start, we met with the historian and rector of Panteion University Christina Koulouri and we discussed the multiple dimensions of Postcolonialism.
“The most obvious: the accession of Greece to the European Union is a real intersection”
Echoing Chu En-Lai’s famous distaste for the French Revolution in 1972, although he was actually referring to the events of May ’68, is it still too early to judge the Post-Revolution, fifty years later?
“It is a question that I had also asked regarding the Greek Revolution. It took about 100 years, essentially the advent of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, in 1922, firstly, to consider 1821 as complete, as until then it was considered incomplete due to the desired territorial expansion, and, secondly, for memory and appreciation to be processed of the event from future generations. Ah, perhaps another 50 years will be required for the definitive evaluation of the Post-colonialism!”.
“Moment”, “state”, “transition”, “continuity”, “curve”, “spiral”. The path of Postcolonization is described in a variety of terms. Is it an indication of the multidimensionality of her experience?
“We have to distinguish two levels. On the one hand, how we experience each moment or slice of time of Postcolonialism. On the other hand, the gaze of political scientists, historians, sociologists who have a long-term perspective, facing fifty years with the analytical tools of science.
“Transition” fits more into the first category, “spiral”, which I use, into the second. Moreover, we should not see Postcolonialism in self-referential terms. In Greece we have a tendency of historical introversion. However, what has been happening outside the Greek borders all these years constitutes a real cosmogony on a global level. Therefore, many times phenomena that we consider Greek are not. After all, we don’t live in a test tube.
And Postcolonization, in a sense, cannot be considered as an exclusively Greek period. The most obvious: the accession of Greece to the European Union is a real intersection”.
Are we passing today from the “hyper-politicization” of the first years after 1974, with the high electoral participation and the strong percentage factions, to a synchronization with common European data in terms of political attitudes, to a way of “normalization”?
“Personally, I don’t think the low turnout in the elections is something to be happy about. I wouldn’t use the term “normalization”. If we do, it’s like normalizing abstinence. I agree with you, there was enthusiasm after the fall of the junta because there was a thirst for participation – participation in politics. However, many were disillusioned with the politics – that is, the politicians.
It is a phenomenon that is growing and mainly concerns young people. If the new generations do not find a vision and refuge in politics, if they consider that politics does not concern them or believe that they can participate in the elections, but the result does not give them hope, this constitutes a failure of the Third Hellenic Republic. The fact that something similar is happening in Europe I would not interpret as an alignment with international developments, but a simple correspondence because the European Union at the moment also seems politically weak and failed.
In the countries with which we can compare, because as a closer example the term of comparison it is the EU, cannot be other regimes, but neither can the USA, a corresponding disappointment is reflected, not a normality”.
“The Postcolonial period, in a sense, cannot be considered as an exclusively Greek period”
In a recent discussion about Post-colonization, you placed special emphasis on the “acceptance” and “readiness” of Greek society in relation to political initiatives from above. Politically, what is Greek society ready to accept today?
“We should not underestimate Greek society – and that was the point of my remark. What is done from below lasts, nothing can be imposed from above without the participation of society.
We are in a moment where we have it behind us crisisbut we are surrounded by too many judgments. As historians you know how cautious we are about the future. But I think that today we are really facing something that we expect to happen.”
But we are still, if not in the shadow, to borrow a term from astronomy, in the shadow, in the gray part of the eclipse.
“We are still there because beyond the economic, political, social data, we ourselves are the ones who come out into this gray and have the shadow within us. The shadow is not in front of us, we are the shadow».
Is the Postcolonization the most recent stage in the succession of ruptures and continuations of the Greek state?
“Surely we can recognize such stations, alternations of intersection and continuity. The key element is change – that’s what History is all about, after all! I remember a nice metaphor used by K. Th. Dimaras for historical change. He said: “You have a glass of blue water. You instill drops of red liquid. It doesn’t change immediately, but after a while the color in the glass will become completely different.”
The conference “Half a century of democracy. Continuities, crises, challenges” is co-organized by the Department of Political Science and History of Panteion University and the National Center for Social Research (Panteion University, October 16-19, 2024).
A plural conference
Society, economy, communication, public history, collective memory, cultures, education, electoral attitudes, constitution, justice, rights, ideology, the themes of the conference “Half a century of democracy” are numerous. Is it designed as a node of total intake of the period 1974-2024?
“At this conference, modern research is presented in a number of fields, interdisciplinary, from the side of political sciences, social sciences, economics, so we can talk about a first assessment. In our reasoning, the key word was “democracy”. Many central concepts can be taken from Postcolonialism, but it was our choice to emphasize it.
But in the conference there are also references to the end of the Cold War, sections on globalization, the digital revolution, mass media. These are phenomena that come to the Greek environment and trigger Greek developments. Because let’s not forget that the term “Revolution” is used for the entire fifty years, regardless of its dating, regardless of whether we consider it to be over or not. It is a term that has been established to describe what we would call a ‘total historical event’.
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