Kerem Öktem
This week’s seminar came in two instalments: It began with a roundtable meeting with Dimitris Sotiropoulos, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens, on the crisis in Greece. A couple of hours later, it was complemented by the seminar with the same speaker and Dimitrios Gkintidis, this time on the social dimensions of the crisis in Southeast Europe. Both events were intellectually truly stimulating, despite the rather sombre topic.
This week’s seminar came in two instalments: It began with a roundtable meeting with Dimitris Sotiropoulos, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens, on the crisis in Greece. A couple of hours later, it was complemented by the seminar with the same speaker and Dimitrios Gkintidis, this time on the social dimensions of the crisis in Southeast Europe. Both events were intellectually truly stimulating, despite the rather sombre topic.
Prof. Sotiropoulos painted what
can only be called a disheartening image of the social and political impacts of
the crisis in Greece, which has witnessed negative GDP growth since 2008 and a
rise in relative poverty to above 25 per cent. Unemployment has risen from
around 8 per cent in 2008 to a staggering 26 per cent today, with more than 55
per cent of young people out of work. For those with jobs, real wages have
contracted considerably. A university professor, for instance, earns around 40
per cent less than in 2010. There is little doubt that the lack of perspective
and hope for self-realization especially among young people comes with a number
of social consequences, most of them less than desirable. They range from
emigration particularly of the more educated strata to widespread political
apathy, radicalisation and xenophobia.
