Greece: 'Culture of control' taking over

Apostolis Fotiadis writes in IPS News :

ATHENS, Apr 16 (IPS) - The government of the right-wing New Democracy has announced massive security measures that legal experts warn can corrode social and political rights.

The explosion of politically motivated violence since the riots last December, and an increased criminality mostly provoked by social decline show how the character of Greek society has changed.

As media emphasises increased violence and insecurity, political leaders seem unable to maintain a stable, efficient and liberal system of social control.

Last month deputy interior minister Christos Markoyiannakis, who is responsible for public security, established a special police unit to coordinate anti-crime efforts. The ministry invited experts from the UK's Scotland Yard to advise local police on battling street violence and cracking down on radical leftist groups.

Earlier this month minister for justice Nikos Dendias announced further security measures. These include penalties for insulting state officials on duty, in view of the swearing police have had to put up with during riots. Wearing a hood while breaking the law will now invite increased penalties. The police will now make greater use surveillance equipment.

But some of these moves are being challenged as illegal. "Securing the reputation of authorities at the expense of freedom of expression directly violates Article 14 of the Greek constitution," lawyer Theodoris Simeonidis told IPS. "This is also a symbolically and historically problematic issue since similar suppressive measures were used extensively during the military dictatorship in Greece.

Simeonidis says such measures could curb social movements that confront the state over political issues.

The government has been unable to push through a programme that would involve unpopular financial and social measures. Critics say the government is instead seeking to restrain critical reactions.

Makis Makris, associate professor of social policy and anthropology at Panteion University based in Athens says the measures are toughening an already suppressive arsenal.

"If you accept that when we say political we do not only mean the establishment but also an attitude towards life that under specific conditions can lead you to certain stances, then these measures ought to be understood as an attempt to criminalise, to the extent they are able to, political attitudes that obviously challenge the state and the limits of its law," Makris told IPS.

"I am not afraid we are running a danger of becoming a police state," he said, "but this suppression will turn against specific people and social minorities who are often ignored by mainstream society." Vasilis Karidis, professor of criminology at the University of Peloponnesus in Patra 215 km southwest of Athens says this might be the dawn of a new 'culture of control'.

"The inability of the formal system of control to contain tensions and a widespread feeling of insecurity among the citizens leads to an impression that everything and everyone is threatened," says Karidis. "Under this condition, the establishment of a 'culture of control' in which terrified citizens willingly abandon basic political and social rights, is not that far." (END/2009)