Abstract:
Scholarly approaches to the Greek crisis usually centered on its political
character, tackle it as “a state of exception” or emphasize its “exceptional”
features. Departing from a discussion on the nature of the crisis, in this article
I examine social reactions to “it,” focusing on grassroots economic activity. I
undertake a case study of a “solidarity economy” movement and from there I
explore the wider political repercussions of this activity that has appeared in
contemporary Greece where grassroots social welfare projects are organized
in order to address hardships in the actors’ livelihoods. In this way, I explore
the meaning of solidarity, a term that has become ubiquitous in the public
discourse of contemporary Greece. Through an ethnographic study of the
activities of a movement that organizes anti-middleman food distributions in
Greece, I argue that such activities not only tackle the immediate effects of the
crisis but also pose a conscious, wider critique to austerity politics. Activists’
appeal to solidarity economies is informed by their aim to formulate more
efficient distribution cooperatives in the future.
