Antisemitism in Greece is more common among people who are susceptible
to the lure of conspiracy theories, a new survey has shown.
The study, which was carried out by a group of Greek experts from local
as well as international institutions and unveiled during a recent seminar in
Berlin, was conducted before Israel’s latest Gaza offensive.
“The more a person feels weak
and victimized, the more they participate in the political culture of the underdog,
the more they are to believe in conspiracy theories and hold antisemitic
views,” Giorgos Antoniou, a professor of European history at the International
Hellenic University (IHU) in Thessaloniki, told Kathimerini English Edition.
“The less adequately equipped
someone is to live in today’s quite complex and globalized world, the more
likely they are to look elsewhere for interpretations of the world they live
in,” Antoniou said. “This may even be within the sphere of racism, conspiracy
or antisemitism specifically,” he said.
The research team, which also included Spyros Kosmidis and Elias Dinas
from the University of Oxford and Leon Saltiel from the University of
Macedonia, examined the correlation between people’s leaning toward some of the
most popular conspiracy theories – such as the moon landing hoax, the 9/11
truth movement, and the hidden cancer cure theory – and their degree of
prejudice, hatred or discrimination against Jews. At the same time, the experts
also looked at a wide range of factors such as age, education, ideological and
political alignment, trust in other people or groups of people, and trust in
institutions.
The survey found that almost half (47.3 percent) of those who tend not
to believe in conspiracy theories also disagreed with the assertion that Jews
exploit the Holocaust to gain influence. Specifically, 34 percent of them
strongly disagreed with this statement.
In contrast, 76.3 percent of those with a strong belief in conspiracy
theories agreed that Jews exploit the Holocaust to gain influence. Of that
group, 51 percent strongly agreed with the claim.
Meanwhile, nearly 65 percent of survey respondents said they strongly
agree or agree with the statement that Jews treat Palestinians the exact same
way as Germans treated them during the Second World War. A similar percentage
said they strongly agree or agree with the claim that Jews have exploited the
Holocaust. Also 70 percent said they strongly agree or agree with the statement
that Greeks have suffered worse genocides than the Jews.
Black mark
Following its own recent study, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) defined
69 percent of Greeks as antisemitic, on a par with Saudi Arabia and more so
than Iran.
According to the Greek study, antisemitic views are more intense among
supporters of the neofascist Golden Dawn and right-wing populist Independent
Greeks parties.
“Quite surprisingly however we
found hardly any discrepancy between all other parties, measuring almost equal
levels of antisemitism among supporters of conservative New Democracy, leftist
SYRIZA and the Greek Communist Party (KKE),” said Dinas, a political scientist
at Oxford University. Levels of antisemitism were found to be slightly lower
among voters of socialist coalition partner PASOK and centrist newcomer To
Potami (The River).
The researchers said they have not at this stage tried to interpret the
causes of antisemitism in Greece, but merely to gauge sentiment.
However, Antoniou said, early data suggest that people with a higher
level of education were less likely to hold antisemitic views.
“The lower one’s level of
education, the earlier they have left school, the more likely they are to
believe in conspiracy and antisemitic theories,” Antoniou said. “Meanwhile, the
quality of education here leaves a lot to be desired,” he said.
Despite the fact that antisemitic views are held by a large percentage
of the population, Antoniou said, “instances of antisemitism have been rather
isolated or minor.”
Game changer
The study, published under the title “Exploring Antisemitic Attitudes
among the Greek Public: Evidence from a Representative Survey,” was carried out
between June 23 and 27 on a random sample of 1,045 people.
About half of the telephone interviews were conducted shortly after
Greece’s FIFA World Cup last-gasp win over Ivory Coast on June 24 in Brazil, a
result which put the country’s national team through to the knockout stage of
the tournament. Interestingly, researchers noted that respondents’ ethnocentric
and nationalist sentiments were on average higher after the match, while
indications of antisemitism had declined.
“It seems likely that this
occurred because people’s sense of victimhood also decreased after the game.
Typical ‘underdog’ feelings declined while Greeks’ self-confidence as a nation
increased,” Dinas said.
“As a result, they felt less
inclined to either endorse conspiratorial theories or consider the Greeks as
having suffered more than the Jews,” he said.
Blurred lines
The survey was carried out before Israel launched its offensive on July
8 to stop Hamas rocket fire out of Gaza. More than 750 Palestinians, most of
them civilians, and 32 Israelis, 29 of them soldiers, have died so far in the
conflict.
Experts said that the longstanding unpopularity of Israeli policies in
Greece has forged an unexpected consensus across the political spectrum.
“It often becomes hard to
maintain sensitivity on the Palestinian issue without at the same time taking
on the world’s entire Jewish population,” Antoniou said.
“In this environment, it is
difficult to distinguish between legitimate political opposition to Israeli
actions and antisemitism,” he said.
