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This is a commentary regarding the role new technologies may have to play in the mobilization of civil society in Greece; it discusses two street protests against the wildfires that consumed large parts of the country during the summer of 2007, which were initiated via online technologies. It concludes that, despite the recent mobilization of large parts of Greek society in December 2008, also accelerated via the use of new media, the Greek citizenry has yet to prove that it can effectively and consistently over time remain motivated about the environment. In that respect, the street protests under consideration may be seen as nothing more than activist pyrotechnics, facilitated and sexed-up by new ICTs. Therefore, new technologies, on their own, have a limited scope for political mobilization unless there is a supporting and contextual environment that promotes and sustains their impact.

This article is part of a wider research into the role of Greek television in the articulation of national identity. Its aim is to examine and illuminate ways in which broadcast television, and in particular Greek broadcast television, constructs an `imagined community' (Anderson, 1983). Firstly, it offers a discussion of the BBC's portrayal of the British Royal Family in a consciously orchestrated attempt to build up national unity. Secondly, this is compared and contrasted to the appropriateness and ability of the royal institution to become a forger of national identity in Greece. Finally, the individual case studies are discussed as alternative markers of nation-building: the big military (and student) annual parade in Athens on 25 March (together with another in Thessalonica on 28 October and bearing equally significant connotations) along with the mass that precedes it, broadcast on state television, and Melina Mercouri's funeral, broadcast on state television and on major private channels.