ABSTRACT
The Greek December was the product of a sustained resistance by a militant minority of activists who have been fighting against government policies for at least a decade. This chapter argues that, if scholars look beyond the sensationalist images of 'violence and rioting', they will see the December events as but one specific expression of a broader contentious repertoire that spans more than a decade. Almost all the descriptions about the December events and the other social movements of the last decade are based mainly on the author's personal participation as an activist since 1995. The organized Left party's role can be more specifically traced to a layer of militant and radical minorities who sustained activity in successive struggles. The most contradictory element in the course of the struggles in Greece is that, it is obvious that successive waves of neoliberal offensives failed owing to the struggles; though, there was no emergence of a political expression of these struggles.
