Chapter 16: The Online Communication Strategies of a Small-Scale Social Movement: The Case of the Greek ‘Do Not Pay’ Social Movement

Sociopolitical upheavals and economic insecurity have triggered a series of protests by various social groups over the last 10 years in several European countries. Perhaps, the country wherein the intensity, frequency and size of these protests has been most notable is Greece primarily as a result of the severe economic policies implemented in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, and the ensuing signing of the bailout treaty in May 2010 (Rüdig & Karyotis, 2014). Phenomena related to protests, large-scale demonstrations and occupations have been extensively examined in various fields, for example, sociology, politics, media and communication (Castells, 2015; Della Porta, 2015; Feigenbaum, Frenzel, & McCurdy, 2014; Johnson & Suliman, 2014). Despite this growing body of literature on mass social mobilizations, scant attention has been paid to small scale, everyday forms of grassroots resistance and solidarity initiatives (Rovisco, Veneti, & Poulakidakos, 2018; Vaiou & Kalandides, 2017) as most scholarly attention on small-scale protests has been directed to nonpolitical consumer movements and boycotts (Earl & Kimport, 2009; Kozinets & Handelman, 2004).