GLOSSARY
would receive an enhanced sentence. The introduction of the law has been directly linked to the aftermaths of December’s revolt. METAPOLITEFSI (LIT. POLITICAL TRANSITION): The term used to describe
the historical period of modern Greek history that follows the end of the colonels’ dictatorship (1974). Many believe the revolt of December 2008 to signify the end of Metapolitefsi. POLYKATOIKIA (LIT. MANY RESIDENCIES): The most common type of housing
building in Athens. These are multi-storey buildings made mainly out of concrete. Their mass construction started after WWII and boomed during the 1960s and 1970s. They were promoted by the authorities through antiparochi (see above). With the vertical segregation of its residents (higher classes living in upper floors) and their mixed use (commercial and housing), the polykatoikia played a key role in shaping the character of contemporary Greek cities. POLYTECHNIC UPRISING: The anti-junta protest of university students that started
on 14 November 1973 and which escalated into a popular uprising and an occupation of the Athens Polytechnic by students and other protesters, lasting for three days. Thousands joined the protests, but in the early morning of 17 November 1973 an army tank crashed the front gate of the Polytechnic, followed by a full-scale attack by police and the army resulting in the deaths of at least forty protesters. REVOLTED (EKSEGERMENOI [PL]): The term has been used widely within the
antagonist social movement in Greece to describe participants in the 2008 revolt. The use of the term—otherwise uncommon in English—has been deemed necessary in order to describe the composition of the revolt’s participants: neither exactly insurgents (which would imply more war-like characteristics) nor simply protesters. STEKI [SNGLR], STEKIA [PLRL] (LIT. “HANGOUT,” WHERE PEOPLE HANG AROUND OFTEN): In the Greek social antagonist movement, the term steki has been
used to describe spaces—rented or occupied, in universities or other urban areas—used by a single group or by groups in close affinity with each other. While most stekia are open to the public, they are distinctively different to social centres in that they are most often associated with a much tighter group or politics. SYNASPISMOS: The Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology, a parliamentary
party which originates from KKE (int) [see acronyms]. In late 1980s was an electoral coalition of both KKE and KKE (int), but soon became a new party mostly identified with KKE (int.) agenda. Today is the largest party of SYRIZA [see acronyms].
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