Article in:
Journal of Language and Politics: Online-First Articles

‘We need to talk about the hegemony of the left’

The normalisation of extreme right discourse in Greece

| Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences
This article seeks to explore the discursive rediscovery of the left menace and the ideological relevance between the far right and the right wing in Greece in times of political turmoil. Drawing on some historical aspects of modern Greece, first, I intend to explain the resurgence of Greece’s divided past. By emphasising references to Gramsci and the ‘hegemony of the left’, the article investigates the discursive construction of ingroups and outgroups on the basis of haunted memories of modern Greek history. By synthesising the Discourse Historical Approach and the concept of Aristotelian topos, I explicate how Gramsci has been re-utilised in an extreme right context by Greek far-right figures in order to stigmatise their ideological opponents. In a second step, my aim is to study the normalisation of political enmity by highlighting far-right discourses’ resemblance to New Democracy’s members’ rhetoric through references to Greek culture and economic imaginaries.
Keywords: Gramsci, hegemony, Discourse Historical Approach, Aristotle, topos, Greek far right, New Democracy, Syriza
Published online: 16 February 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19053.bou
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