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military junta of the early 1970s and the dissident∕anarchist action of the 1980s. Experts
of all description claimed that the combination of economic stress, decades of failed
social policy, broad dissatisfaction with the government and anger towards the police
were bringing about the conditions for a sustained public backlash. Yet, questions
remained as to the significance of the event: did the death of Alexis Grigoropoulos mark
some socio-political watershed moment for Greece and perhaps Europe, or could the civil
unrest be written off as a momentary flash of youth anger? People argued with each
other in private and in public places across the country - what it meant to be a citizen
seemed to be completely open for debate.
In an attempt to better understand how the events unfolded I contacted several of
my consultants, including some anarchists. Even my most seasoned anarchist contact
was surprised by the sustained intensity of the December 2008 events. In our interviews
he described the opening days of the violence as the most exhilarating time of his life: a
moment when he thought anarchy might finally be realized in Greece - and it is easy to
see why. Following the shooting of Alexis Grigoropoulos, the youth of Athens came
together in staggering numbers. According to my interviews, the protest started as small
independent gatherings of enraged youth at universities near the shooting, which then
grew to larger mobs and moved out of the universities and into the Exarchia
neighborhood, eventually swelling to enormous numbers and spreading to the center of
Athens. Participants with whom I spoke reported joining the action after receiving phone
calls and texts from friends saying they were going downtown to protest the murder. It is
unclear whether anarchist organizers were involved in the distribution of calls to protest
that traveled virally over peer-to-peer social networks; but whatever the case, paréa after