Friday, 20 June 2014
Central London
In June 2014, the Greek Politics Specialist Group convened a workshop on political violence and extremism in Greece and in Europe.
Through brief presentations, roundtables and interactive sessions, the workshop gave participants the opportunity to present their recent, current and forthcoming research, as well as to identify key patterns, network and share opportunities for collaboration.
The workshop took place at the learning space of the new Canada Water Library in central London.
Virtual Gallery: Workshop Programme & Resources
09:30 Registration / Coffee & Tea
10:00 Welcome & Introduction
10:10 Opening Session:
Jonathan Asser
“A high-status alternative to violence”
A Conversation with Jonathan Asser: the Shame/Violence Intervention (SVI) programme
Plenary Discussion
Resources:
“‘If I move he’ll attack’: mastering rage in prisoners” (The Observer, 9 March 2014)
10:45 Presentation: Drivers of Violent Extremism
Prof. Barry Richards (Bournemouth University)
“On the psychology of violent extremism”
Plenary Discussion
Resources:
“Extreme nationalism and the hatred of the liberal state” (In: Emotions in Politics: The Affect Dimension in Political Tension, ed. N. Demertzis)
“Explosive humiliation and news media” (In: Emotion: New Psychosocial Perspectives, eds. S. Day Sclater, D. W. Jones, H. Price and C. Yates)
11:15 Keynote Session 1
Marley Morris (Counterpoint)
“Europe’s Reluctant Radicals”
Resources:
“The Threats of Populism: Europe’s Reluctant Radicals” (Counterpoint)
“National populism and xenophobia in Greece” (Aristos Doxiadis & Manos Matsaganis, Counterpoint)
11:50 Coffee Break
12:00 Comparative Panel: Extremism and the State
Dr Mette Wiggen (University of Leeds)
“Social Democracy in Crisis? The far right in government in Norway”
Resources:
“Rethinking Anti-Immigration Rhetoric after the Oslo and Utøya Terror Attacks” (New Political Science, 34: 4)
“Asylum, Security and the Extreme Right in Europe: The Case of Scandinavia” (Proceedings of a national workshop held in Leeds on 18th October 2008)
Dr Aaron Winter (University of East London)
Resources:
“My Enemies Must Be Friends: The American Extreme Right, Conspiracy Theory, Islam and the Middle East” (in: Conspiracy Theories in the Middle East and the United States, eds. M. Reinkowski and M. Butter)
“American Terror: From Oklahoma City to 9/11 and After” (in: Discourses and Practices of Terrorism: Interrogating Terror, eds.
B. Brecher, M . Devenney and A. Winter)
“Anti-Abortion Extremism and Violence in the United States“ (in: Extremism in America, ed. G. Michael)
Dr Lena Karamanidou (City University London)
“Violence against migrants, political discourse and the state: looking beyond the Golden Dawn”
Resources:
“The immigration discourse of an extreme right political party in Greece” (62nd PSA Annual Conference)
“‘Based on various mathematical formulas…’: Knowledge and legitimation of claims on immigration in the Greek parliament“ (62nd PSA Annual Conference)
William Allchorn (University of Leeds)
“Political responses to the EDL”
Resources:
“From national ‘clean hands’ to a local ‘engagement’ approach? UK Members of Parliament experiences in countering the British National Party in their constituencies” (Journal of Politics & International Studies, Vol. 8 )
Nefeli Lefkopoulou (College of Europe)
Resources:
“Defending democracy ‘beyond the state’” (Research proposal)
Chair: Dr Jean-Philippe Dedieu (EHESS / Sciences Po)
Plenary Discussion
13:00 Lunch & Networking
13:40 Keynote Session 2
Louis Reynolds (Demos)
“The Voices of Discontent: Understanding Digital Populism”
Q&A
Resources:
The Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (Demos)
“The New Face of Digital Populism” (Demos)
“Inside the EDL: Populist Politics in the Digital Age” (Demos)
Dr Akil Awan (Royal Holloway, University of London)
“Drivers of Radicalisation”
Plenary Discussion
Resources:
“Legitimising Jihadist ideology in the New Media Environment” (In: A. N. Awan et al (2011), Radicalisation and media: connectivity and terrorism in the new media ecology, Routledge)
“The Real vs the Virtual/Media Jihad” (In: A. N. Awan et al (2011), Radicalisation and media: connectivity and terrorism in the new media ecology, Routledge)
“Antecedents of Islamic Political Radicalism Among Muslim Communities in Europe” (PS: Political Science and Politics, 2008)
“Virtual jihadist media: Function, legitimacy and radicalizing efficacy” (European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10:3 )
14:40 Panel: Understanding Terrorism
Dr Roman Gerodimos (Bournemouth University)
“Mapping New Terrorism in Greece”
Resources:
“The Ideology of Far Left Populism in Greece: Blame, Victimhood and Revenge in the Discourse of Greek Anarchists” (Political Studies, 2013)
“Greece: Politics at the Crossroads” (Political Insight, 4:1, 2013)
Sotirios Karampampas (University of Sheffield)
Resources:
“Cycles of Protest and the ‘Rise of the Extremes’: Political Violence in Greece in the Era of the Economic Crisis” (2013 LSE Hellenic Observatory PhD Symposium)
Maria Werdine Norris (London School of Economics)
“Murder or Terrorism? Issues with the definition of terrorism in UK Law”
Resources:
“The Trojan Horse Affair: British Muslims and the Narrative of Belonging” (LSE Blog, 11/06/2014)
Ben Stanford (University of Bedfordshire)
“The Theatricalisation of Terrorism – What, Who and Why?”
Resources:
“Troubled Waters in the Mare Nostrum: Interception and Push-Backs of Migrants in the Mediterranean and the European Convention on Human Rights” (Review of International Law and Politics, Volume 9)
“Runaway Terrorist! – The Return of Burqa Bashing in Britain” (The Judicalis Group, 11/09/2013)
15:20 Coffee & Tea Break
15:40 Keynote Session 3
Dr Ben Gidley (University of Oxford)
“Comparative research on integration, conviviality, intolerance and extremism at neighbourhood level in Europe: exploring some of the methodological, epistemological and policy questions arising”
Q&A
Resources:
“Landscapes of belonging, portraits of life: researching everyday multiculture in an inner city estate” (Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 20:4)
“Community Engagement and Community Cohesion” (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
“Urban Change and Settlement” (COMPAS, University of Oxford)
“Citizenship and Belonging” (COMPAS, University of Oxford)
Dr Roman Gerodimos (Bournemouth University)
Resources:
“Reclaiming the urban landscape, rebuilding the civic culture: Online mobilization, community building and public space in Athens, Greece” (In: M. Shumow (ed), Mediated Communities: Civic Voices, Empowerment and Belonging in the Digital Era, Peter Lang)
“The politics of public space in Athens: Power, conflict and co-existence in the context of the Greek crisis” (64th PSA Annual Conference)
“The Boston Diaries: The Art of Flânerie, The Science of Engagement” (Photo journal)
16:30 Panel: The impact of the Golden Dawn
Presentation:
Lamprini Rori (Paris I University, Panthéon-Sorbonne)
“The electoral rise and the social penetration of Golden Dawn”
Resources:
“From dusk to dawn: Local party organization and party success of right-wing extremism” (Party Politics, 2013)
“The 2012 Greek Parliamentary Elections: Fear and Loathing in the Polls” (West European Politics, 36:1)
Roundtable:
Dr Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos (Brunel Law School)
“The Criminal Prosecution of Golden Dawn: Challenges, Risks and Inconsistencies”
Resources:
“The exclusion of improperly obtained evidence in Greece: putting constitutional rights first” (International Journal of Evidence & Proof, 11:3)
Dr Spyros Kosmidis (University of Oxford)
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“Government Constraints and Accountability: Economic Voting in Greece Before and During the IMF Intervention” (West European Politics, 2014)
“Heterogeneity and the calculus of turnout: Undecided respondents and the campaign dynamics of civic duty” (Electoral Studies, 2014)
Anikó Félix (Maven Seven Network Research Ltd)
“Behind the Sunrise: Golden Dawn and women”
Chair: Chloe Hadjimatheou (BBC World Service News)
Plenary Discussion
17:50 Concluding Remarks
18:00 Post-Event Walk & Drinks: The Old Salt Quay, 163 Rotherhithe St, London SE16 5QU
Workshop Convenor: Dr Roman Gerodimos, GPSG & Bournemouth University
All workshop participants received a copy of Quilliam‘s recently published report on “‘Jihad Trending: A Comprehensive Analysis of Online Extremism and How to Counter it”.
The GPSG workshop was made possible with the support of the Politics & Media Research Group at Bournemouth University
Project Associate: Douglas Tham
Project Assistants: Ana Alania, Auguste Janutaite
On Twitter: #gpsg2014 #extremism
Profile of our Opening Speaker
Jonathan Asser is an award-winning prison therapist, poet and screenwriter of prison crime drama Starred Up. Asser spent 12 years working with some of Britain’s most violent men at HMP Wandsworth, a Category B prison in south London. Shame/Violence Intervention (SVI) is a BACP Innovation Award winning programme developed in prison. For the minority of prisoners who act violently, emphasis is on punishment and separation; SVI intervenes with this excluded client group to develop client shame-awareness to enable clients to make their own interventions to nurture and repair social bonds, reducing their violent enactment across the spectrum of assault, fighting and threatening / abusive / insulting words / behaviour, increasing their ability to integrate.
Counter-terrorism officials have described Jonathan’s sessions as “extremely inspiring”.
Starred Up, which was based on Jonathan’s experiences, was directed by David Mackenzie and has been screened at festivals across the world (Telluride, Toronto, London, Les Arcs, Rotterdam, Tribeca). Jonathan Asser is the winner of the Best British Newcomer award at the 2013 London Film Festival.
Shame/Violence Intervention (Documentary)
Profiles of our Keynote Speakers
Dr Ben Gidley is an Associate Professor at COMPAS, University of Oxford, primarily working on projects in the Citizenship and Belonging, Urban Change and Settlement, and Welfare clusters. He has a PhD in Sociology from the University of London. His research has included ethnographic and policy-focused research on contemporary urban multiculture, and historical research on Jewish migrants in East London. His research interests include the impact of new forms of diversity on local contexts in the UK; both new and old forms of intolerance and conviviality; and the politics of migrant citizenship and belonging, both today and historically.
Marley Morris is a Senior Researcher and consultant at Counterpoint on the Recapturing Europe’s Reluctant Radicals project. Marley focuses on populist parties and movements, political narratives, and the social and cultural determinants of instability in Europe. Marley’s reports include ‘Recapturing the Reluctant Radical: How to win back Europe’s populist vote’, co-written with Catherine Fieschi and Lila Caballero, and ‘Conflicted Politicians: the populist radical right in the European Parliament’. He is also currently managing the ‘Rival Political Narratives’ project and is leading a series of populism ‘self-defence’ workshops on how to counter populist rhetoric in Europe. Prior to his work at Counterpoint, Marley was at the Violence and Extremism programme at Demos, where he contributed to the report ‘The New Face of Digital Populism’ and developed a well-being index for a study on ageing across Europe. Marley has a Masters degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University.
Louis Reynolds is a Research Associate at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos. Louis’ research interests include populism and political engagement in Europe, extremism and online communities. His efforts commonly focus on the social and political aspects of social media and evolving digital technologies. Louis holds a BA in War Studies from the University of Birmingham and an MA in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London.
