DOI: 10.17903/fk2/tvppgy
title: Urban Social Movements in Athens in the 21rst Century

description: The research was based on a record of protests involving the protection and claim of public spaces in 2001-2005 in Attica. The daily press, magazines and websites were used as sources of this recording. The choice of this period was intended to reflect the current state of the city's movements. The five-year timeframe was considered to be the minimum in order to highlight some elements whose investigation requires some time, such as the continuity and duration of the protest. Any action that has any of the following characteristics was considered a protest event: (a)It takes place in the public domain (b) independent of the official state institutions (c) collectively or in the name of collectivity, and (d) has aimed at expressing disagreement and influencing specific decisions, or more generally the social, political and economic conditions, institutions, values, and perceptions that shape those decisions (Rucht and Neidhardt 1999; Rucht and Ohlemacher 1992). The criterion of independence from the state institutions was not strictly adhered to.The peculiarities of the city's movements, as manifested mainly in the regional and small municipalities of Attica, created the need to be included in the recording of protest events, in which local municipalities participated in one way or another. Public space was defined as any area of ​​the city that is accessible to all citizens and is in common use.Specifically, such sites were designated as parks, groves, beaches, forests, greenery, squares, pavements, roads and archaeological sites. The archaeological sites were included in the public category due to the special interest of the citizens of the city, despite the fact that access to them is only periodically free. The newspapers "Eleftherotypia" and "Rizospastis" were selected for filing the protests by the press. The selection of the two specific newspapers came after a preliminary type investigation, which revealed that both specific newspapers have recorded the largest number of protest events. The preliminary investigation in addition to the two aforementioned newspapers included the Afternoon, Kathimerini, Ta Nea, Dawn and Epoch newspapers. From these newspapers the following were selected: "Kathimerini", "Dawn" and "Era", which were used as auxiliary for abstraction additional information, while adding to the record a small number of protest events. In the preliminary investigation, the aforementioned two newspapers included the Afternoon, Kathimerini, Ta Nea, Dawn and Epoch newspapers. From these newspapers the following were selected: "Kathimerini", "Dawn" and "Era", which were used as auxiliary for abstraction additional information, while adding to the record a small number of protest events. In addition to archiving the press, information was collected from magazines to record the events of the protest, websites and archives of neighborhood groups and organizations themselves.Specifically, the Free Spaces magazine, published by the Coordinating Committee of Associations and Movements for the Protection of Free Spaces of Athens, the website of the Observatory of Free Spaces (http://www.asda.gr/elxoroi/ elxoroi.htm) was used. ) and the Athens website Independent Media Center (http://athens.indymedia.org), where mobilization logs are maintained.