Before strikes, what?

Strikes are a big thing. So big, indeed, that they become the top news item in the media in all healthy democracies. And the rarer a mass mobilization is, the greater its impact. Strikes, walkouts, marches and other such protests are not just the subject of police bulletins about street closures; they bring the demands that are at stake into the public dialogue.

In Greece, however, strikes have become so ubiquitous that they don’t mean very much anymore. We are not referring to Wednesday’s nationwide strike, but do people know who was on strike the week before and, more importantly, why? The only thing people are really interested in is how a march will affect traffic and public transportation in central Athens. Protest rallies aimed at raising awareness among the Greek public of whatever sector’s “just demands” have become nothing more than ceremonial events for unions and/or political parties. The annual “occupations” of schools are a case in point. Just as we know that Christmas comes every December 25, so we know that when schools start every September student unions will prevent classes from taking place. This kind of regularity has a boomerang effect and most people tend to get angry at the protesters rather than taking their side. The worst thing is that spurious protests end up overshadowing serious ones so that no one – even those who have important, justified demands – can be heard in the din.

Another paradox of Greek protests is that they are not always accompanied by specific demands. Protesters will even occupy public buildings just to vent frustration. The usual pattern in other parts of the world is: dialogue, disagreement, protestation, mobilization. In Greece, we start at the end and then lead up to dialogue. This may be a sign of how highly – or not, as the case may be – dialogue is held in political discourse. The usual steps before mobilization are regarded as superfluous, hence the popular slogans claiming that “rights are won through struggles” and “laws are abolished in the streets.”

On Monday, the communist union PAME accused the TV and radio stations, and state broadcaster ERT among them, of “systematically suppressing… the diverse actions undertaken by unions representing thousands of workers – such as mobilizations, strikes, rallies, work stoppages and other initiatives – and their just demands. This deliberate cover-up is being orchestrated on the orders of the government and employers.”

Even though the issue of how the media operate is a long and painful one, in this case there is no need for orders from the government or employers – the media do just fine on their own.