according to tourism bibliography).

In this campaign the main concept that

connects the text withthe image is the photograph of a landscape and
thereflection of the landscape in an eye on the upper frame of the picture.
The intervention of the artist is that in themiddle of the picture we can
see a riot police officer aggressively raising his stick as he is attacking
the viewerand the reflection in the eye is a photograph of the
protests,where you can see riot police attacking the protesters andflames.
As Van Leeuwen states, Images have for the most part been studied as
representations rather than asinteractions. With interaction he
specifically refers to thegaze of a person represented in an image which
demandsthat the viewer enters into some kind of imaginary relation with
him or her (Van Leeuwen,2005, p.120). Therefore, here the artist tries
to create a connection withthe viewer with what is presented in the image;
by imaginary relating him/her with the sense and the reality of the
protests.This image is a photograph (a representation of the reality, in
other words) but the message of the image is highly connected with the
interpretation of the text.During the protests the Christmas tree that was
situated inSynatgma square which is one the biggest and central squares
of Athens, opposite to the Greek parliament, became the place of fierce
battles with riot police. The tree was set on fire, an actionthat spread
moral panic in Greek society and it was regarded asan act of desecration
of a symbol by mass media. After thisaction, the Greek government
decided to guard the tree 24/7.The tree became a central sign for the
protesters and a typicalslogan was Christmas is postponed! We have a
revolution.The traditional signification of a Christmas tree is clearly that it
symbolizes Christmas and ideaslike world peace, love and happiness. At
the time of the demonstrations, for the protesters the particular tree
symbolized the government and the means of suppression that it used.
Theincidents between the protesters and the police that took place in
Synatgma square were citedfrom the mass media as The battle of the
tree. The action of burning the tree resembles the
5

burning of a flag. As (Welch, 2000, p.4) states, Flag burning, is a potent

symbolic gestureconveying sharp criticism of the state.In the same
context, the demonstrators are not burningthe flag as a symbol of the
state but they criticize what this symbol represents in this specificsocial
and political situation. The image has the aesthetic of a postcard but the
element that altersthe meaning of the image is the anagrammatism of the
word Christmas. The creator of the image purposely chose to write
Christmat, where the three last letters of the word are the initials of
Greek riot police (MAT). In this way the word gains a new meaning and
signifies not Christmasin general, but the specific period of Christmas and
the specific social situation that is presentedin the image. Therefore, the
word gains an immediate connection with the particular photographand it
can only be understood in association with the image.These images are a
new form of political statement and they can only be viewed as the
productof a society that tries to raise the level of political awareness
between its members and conveythe essence of a particular sociopolitical
situation that can be decoded only inside its owncontext. A common
element of these images is that the text is written in English. This
componentalong with the use of the Internet as the medium of
transmitting these images reveals theecumenical character of this social
uprising and the efforts of the creators to convey the messageworldwide.
Acts of political disobedience are signs of a society that has not yet lost
its politicaland social reflexives to depression and social inequality.
Contemporary social movements try toutilize new mediums of conveying
their ideological identity and political argumentsto thesociety. Through a
process of re-signification the creators of these images cauterize
thesociopolitical reality and redefine the meaning of established symbols.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Van Leeuwen, T. (2005):
Introducing Social Semiotics
. RoutledgeLemke, L. J. (1995):
Textual Politics: Discourse and social dynamics
. Taylor &FrancisSebeok, A. T. (1994):
An Introduction to Semiotics.
Pinter Publishers. London
Fairclough, N. (1998):
Political discourse in the media
in Bell & Garrett
Approaches to mediadiscourse.
Oxford: Blackwell, pp 142-162.
6

Cover, R. (2002): Some Cunts: Graffiti, Globalisation, Injurious Speech and

OwningSignification. Social Semiotics, 12: 3, 269- 290Welch, M. (2000).
Flag burning: Moral panic and the criminalization of protest
. New York Greek Ministry of Tourism: http://www.gnto.gr/, accessed on
09/02/2009