As Greece has yet again become the epicentre of the European debt crisis, with collective negotiations for a fairer deal culminating before the end of February, its plight for survival has reached a new sense of moral urgency about the future of democracy in Europe. It would seem that a fresh air of political creativity may be blowing from Greece

Alevizou, Giota

LSE Research Online

Graffiti #Athens #Greece #Metaxourgeio #crisis #graffiti by@jorjito73 on instagramEurocrisis in thePress2/23/2015Modalities of solidarity in Greece: a civil society at thecross-roadsblogs.lse.ac.uk /eurocrisispress/2015/02/23/modalities-of-solidarity-in-greece-a-civil-society-at-the-cross-roads/By Giota AlevizouAs Greece has yet again become the epicentre of the European debt crisis, with collective negotiations for a fairerdeal culminating before the end of February, its plight for survival has reached a new sense of moral urgency aboutthe future of democracy in Europe. It would seem that a fresh air of political creativity may be blowing from Greece.Certainly statistics about rising unemployment, falling GDP,and the corrosion of the social state and democratic practiceswhich have plighted Greece over the last years, neithercapture people’s experiences of contemporary realities nor thepsychological pressures that had been exerted by elitepoliticians and mainstream media domestically and abroad,competing to dictate the urgency of austerity measures. Whathas been less reported, until more recently, is that these verymeasures have also ushered new ecologies of (alternative)political creativity and civic agency. These have beenchannelled by larger, but also smaller-scale mobilisations,local assemblies as well as grass-roots and solidarityinitiatives, nurturing a culture that desires social change.Many have attempted to map these initiatives: Synathina, adigital platform that is instigated by the vice mayor for CivilSociety in Athens, seeks to represent small scale networkedaction and to network participants in local, cultural initiativesand to open up possibilities for new relationships amongcitizens, and between citizens and public institutions. Others,like the Solidarity for all Network (supported by the recentlyelected Syriza), have documented solidarity initiatives across Greece and seek to provide networking tools fordecentralized organizing practices, and the development of solidarity among participants in these initiatives, as wellas set up a new agenda for collective action. Others like Omikron Project, started by Mehran Khalili, (a British-Iranian political communications specialist who lives in Athens) and a group of Greek journalists, designers and film-makers, as an ad campaign. They created short films to counter the image of Greeks as lazy victims of theeconomic crisis and to challenge stereotypes, questioning the ways the crisis is portrayed in the international media.More so, they documented the rise of the grassroots groups in Greece and produced an annual list andinfographic.As a media scholar I am intrigued about the tensions embedded in the way that crisis in Greece hasbeen represented by the media, but also how communication practices shape the nature and character of civicactions and initiatives. Much of the recent coverage in the mainstream press in Europe (and in Greece) over-emphasises the idea of populism as the driving force behind the anti-austerity projects in Southern Europe. Itundermines the legitimacy of a new breed of political culture suggesting that it is driven by “one-off antagonisticspheres” emerging from the squares, or from “unrealistic” and “utopian” proposals, and fail to represent how theseemerging movements of citizen participation arose as a genuinely alternative response to Europe’s fiscal Odyssey.I spoke to Omikron and members from several other solidarity initiatives and grassroots groups, mainly in Athens,back in September and October last year when I was there, with a larger team, as part of a project that exploresapproaches to civil society and methods around the cultivation of civic capacities in community actions.1/5Here I draw on some of these discussions, research and media coverage to offer my take (rather than a completelist) on civil society initiatives, addressing some aspects of solidarity, direct democracy, autonomous action andprecarious creativity.  Solidarity initiatives: from social surgeries to alternative education hubsThe idea of solidarity has emerged from the need to address practical necessities and rising problems (e.g.unemployment, poverty, protection of labour rights and social security, food and health provision, the rise of fascism,lack of adequate provision for migrant rights, the dangers of social disintegration, etc.). Many initiatives have startedby responding to social needs within a specified field (health, food, human rights). Some then gradually extendedtheir activities to other sectors, coming to redefine, often, the meaning of property, expertise and sharing, and givingnew meaning to processes of resistance or unruly action (squatting, cleaning up or reclaiming unused publicspaces, putting pressure for accessibility and accountability) as well as to notions of self-organisation and structuresof cooperation (e.g. time-banking, ad hoc volunteering and so on). The aim often is to create a space for meeting upand communication, but also conditions of re-socialisation through informal learning, participatory arts, andalternative entertainment.Social pharmacies, and social surgeries, like the Peristeri Health Centre, have sought to offer a solution to thecollapse of public health care and more than 40 initiatives of this kind have sprung across Greece since 2011. Otherinitiatives like collective, social kitchens (e.g. o Allos Anthropos  – The Other Human) emerged from thephenomenon of people rummaging through rubbish in food markets.There are around 15-20 similar initiatives across Greece, operating from 1-3 times a week, and as blurring ofboundaries between volunteers and those in need, many of which are striving (like the Participatory Table) to createconditions for involvement so that both food collection and cooking are followed by chatter and entertainment too.Many such initiatives aim to foster relationships of equality that are set against structures of charity and philanthropyor dubious government support programmes. I met people from several such initiatives likeSteki Metanaston(Migrants’ Meeting Point) and Dromoi Zois (Pathways to Life) – both of which have been operating for several yearshelping refugees and migrants with basic legal support, tackling racism, addressing refugee child labour &discrimination by bringing together volunteers and citizen groups to provide language lessons, teaching assistance,other basic training as well as social and psychological support. For some, there is a conscious political agenda inthese actions: “solidarity is a political struggle, yet one that gives more reasons for extroversion and a space to openup more pathways to expression”.Local people’s assemblies & experiments to direct democracySeveral local or neighbourhood assemblies have emerged in response to their need to take some sort of control oftheir lives, striving to have what starts as a personal sense of responsibly culminate to the collective effort needed tosolve problems through direct autonomous action. “We wanted to shake people up, to get them out of their flats, tostop them being couch potatoes”, Andreas and Alkis, who participate in several collectivities around Plato Academy(e.g. Steki, Solidarity Network Plato Academy) – a deprived area of Athens, next to a historical landmark. The areahas witnessed a fresh approach to solidarity and self-organisation with local assemblies, cooperative cafes, andalternative cultural & education clubs. There’s one thing to take part in a mass protest in the square and another toinstil political consciousness – beyond party politics and partisanship’ – through meaningful action at the local level:‘While on the one hand, the country has fallen back several decades on many fronts, the crisis, as the media call it,has created lots of opportunities to re-instate networks of collectivities and small local assemblies and escape fromthe lifestyle of consumerism and individualism of the late 1990s-early 2000s. And that’s positive, to get to know eachother, sit on the same table and have some idea about direct interventions.’ Andreas says.Assemblies often emerge as a form for a) acting pressure to local authorities (e.g. reclaiming public spaces, orresisting commercial exploitation of such spaces); b) seeking space for low level resistance to national politics of2/5austerity and lack of transparency; and c) space for socialisation, communication and the solving of immediateproblems. Some resort to unruly action and precarious methods (occupations, squatting, blockages) for resistanceand social mobilization, instead of taking more bureaucratic routes for voicing concerns. Others strive to instil amore direct political ethos in actions, and a culture of direct democracy regardless of influence. There are more than70 local assemblies with more than half of them in Athens alone; although it is difficult to generalise the style andcontent of direct democracy from the few assemblies I talked to, there’s a sense that self-organization and self-governance adheres to a constitution of rules that are open to debate; as participation is also fluid, tensions emergeand decisions about course of actions are often open to negotiated and not necessarily dictated upon specificmethodologies of social change.Some initiatives like Politeia 2.0 and VouliWatch attempt to participatory planning, the re-writing of the constitutionand the processes of political accountability.Alternative economies of sharingThere has been a rise in city gardening, food sharing networks (e.g. ToMyrmigi/the Ant; Market without Middlemen Initiative), a series of cooperatives(from coffee shops and taverns, like the Synargitiko Kafeneio of AdademyPlatonos), alternative means for distributing natural resources (e.g. Spithari),open source hardware and software, design and architecture projects (e.g.Traces of Commerce) – with several initiatives taking a political stance indemonstrating how natural resources can be managed and alternativeeconomies can be sustainable. Some of these initiatives are examples ofactivities that have collective benefit or serve interests of particular socialgroups. Social and cooperative enterprises, service exchange networks (timebanks) are often managed by unemployed youth with the aim to regenerateunused spaces and promote fair trade. There also an online economy thatpromotes the use of alternative local currencies, and networks where peoplecan exchange goods for services. Precarious action is often throughexperimentation constituted by the creation of direct relationships, theexchange of know-how and practices. Many such practices stumble acrossarcane constitutional frameworks and dubious competition laws (e.g. for fleamarkets), but they form a system of economic and political creativity in termsof the ways in which production and consumption can be managed and sustained.Arts, Culture and precarious Creativity: a diverse ecology of actions and trendsThere are numerous and diverse arts, design and culture initiatives from Collectives making street art, to othersorganising free cultural events, many documenting monuments through historical walks, recycling and revivingabandoned parks and unloved spaces (e.g. Atenistas, Alternative tours of Athens , Embros Theatre). Alongside themare projects documenting oral histories through audio and film (e.g. OPIK, City of Errors) and local culture clubsorganizing screenings and festivals in neighbourhoods. Some aim to re-instil a new sense of pride and resilience toracism and economic repression. Other initiatives take the ‘right to the city’ as an opportunity for collectiveimagination (Imagine the City) and seek to influence decision making and instil new institutional frameworks for cityplanning, by employing creative dialogue and participatory methods. As Aggeliki from the Kaliga Square CivicUnion, notes: “Culture can often act as a backdrop for experimenting how to formulate political action; we strive toact as the mediators for petitions, organize meetings and challenge the institutional frameworks for more directinfluence”3/5A new alternative?Talking with people from many of the groups and initiatives mentioned above, and others, it has become clear that inorder to make the most of their efforts, it is important to collect, publicise and promote the productive use of theaccumulated know-how, as well as their material and immaterial assets. Some of them are made available onwebsites or end up circulating in social media. Most stay within the confine of the groups who generate them.Solidarity4All, Synathina and others have created platforms and means to bring together such resources, but thelines of communication are not always open.Certainly citizen-led initiatives are facing severe challenges. Some have argued that new opportunities are openingup for civil societies that have historically been co-opted and pacified by governments in Greece and across Europe.In addition to the funding crisis, many established civil society organisations also experience a crisis of relevance.Many activists have criticized established philanthropic and non-government organizations being unsupportive ofcitizen-led movements seeking social and political change, and of being undemocratic and unaccountable, irrelevantand even complicit to established status quo. The tensions that often emerge then address the need to support asystem that doesn’t just provide symptomatic relief to social problems, but also challenges real power imbalances;indeed the development of such a system can address real reforms through structures of participation andaccountability that can build, and sustain, capacities from bottom up besides tackling corruption tax evasion andaddressing public sector reform.As others have noted recently (Pratt and Pooplewell, 2013), these challenges raise questions about the ability ofestablished institutions in Greece and in Europe to respond in progressive and innovative ways. A new wave ofactions takes place which nurtures solidarity activism across Europe. It carries with it a new moral imperative tosupport a commitment to a broader, socially just and stronger reform process aimed at durably improving growthprojects.This is why it is important to mobilise the resources and assets that emerge from these movements and to unleashthe creative energy and power of the grassroots groups. There is certainly a renewal of citizen participation inGreece, a new breed of civic culture from below, that strives not just to survive, but also to foster financial growthand political reform.A short documentary discussing some aspects of this project as well as offering a snapshot from groups, ideas anddebate captured in a networking workshop in Athens is here.4/5Note: This article gives the views of the authors, and not the position of the Euro Crisis in the Press blog, nor of theLondon School of Economics.Dr Giota Alevizou  is a research fellow in digital cultures and connected communities at the Open University, UK.She has published work in the cultural politics of technology in education, community media and onlineencyclopaedias. Her current research explores the intersections of media, civic culture and urban politics. She leadsan AHRC-funded project (Asset Mapping: Comparative Approaches ) exploring approaches to, and methods for,public engagement and community capacity building. Related articles on LSE Euro Crisis in the Press:After the crisis: the sharing economy our saviour ?The Euro Crisis in online media: civic resilience and social innovation in Sweden  5/5

Modalities of solidarity in Greece: a civil society at the cross-roads

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