Intimacies of anti-globalization : imagining unhappy others as oneself in Greece.

Abstract

This chapter examines an ethnographic paradox. Anti-globalization rhetoric in Greece is predominantly articulated in terms of conspiracy theory, mistrust of other cultures and strong nationalist feelings. The same rhetoric, however, reflects a strong empathy with people and nations that are imagined to be deprived of power, and communicates a global awareness of an imagined community in discontent. In other words, popular anti-globalization in Greece, despite its mistrust of multiculturalism and non-Greek cultural expressions, is paradoxically cosmopolitan with respect to its allegiance to what is perceived to be a community of the non-powerful in the world. To shed some light on this paradox, we look at Greek views of Turks and other ethnic groups as these are negotiated in the critique of globalization and cosmopolitanism. We explore how symbolic enemies (such as the Turks) and other peoples of the Middle East (e.g. the Palestinians) are approached, within the broader context of opposing Western ideological and political authority, with a certain degree of empathy, as fellow victims of the powerful and as disempowered human beings.