Education for Citizenship: the Uses of Antigone

Abstract

t is generally agreed that today in Greece there is a crisis of citizenship. The financial crash has pushed this crisis of citizenship to the front of everyone’s attention. I do not want to speak about this topic as though from a position of cultural superiority, because British politicians speak constantly about a ‘broken Britain’ and a crisis in the family, which relates to problems of drugs, alcoholism, and mental health that are far less acute in Greece. In Greece the institution of the family is very strong, and that strength is related to the weakness of citizenship. Corrupt politicians may be men determined to do what matters most to them ethically, which is to help their families. A sense of citizenship is not the same as a sense of nation. Greece is more patriotic than Britain, and at the time of the Olympics the Greeks came together as a single family to ensure that, despite institutional failures, the event would be a success, and the great Greek extended family would offer appropriate hospitality to its thousands of international guests. So what is this crisis of citizenship? Most obviously, it is mistrust of government, at both the national and civic level. The individual does not feel that he or she is any part of that abstract and oppressive thing called ‘the state’. The mistrust of politicians is a circular, self-perpetuating process. If people are not trusted, then they do not risk betraying expectations, and idealists refuse to enter politics because they know they will never be trusted and supported. The failure of politicians is not just the failure of ‘them’, it is the failure of a system that involves everyone.