The Movement and the “Movement” of Syntagma Square

Abstract

The late 1990s and early 2000s was the era of so-called "Strong Greece," or as another governmental slogan put it, the period of "Modernization." Under this banner, a project of neoliberal urban re-development prevailed for a decade or so. This was a period of economic growth powered by the emerging European Monetary Union and the linked neoliberal adjustments, including a rapidly increasing economy of credit and an abundance of inexpensive labor. This labor was mainly offered by migrants who came from collapsing former socialist states, especially Albania, but also by underemployed youth.