This is the second in a four-part series of articles on austerity in Greece and the response of society. Read part I here.
From crisis to krisis: the emergence of another possible world
Since the
very beginning of Greece’s placement under Troika’s supervision, the Greek
society responded with huge and massive demonstrations in the largest cities of
the country. During the uprising of the so called Indignants (Aganaktismenoi) movement in 2011, the
squares[2]
were the main scene of action where the seeds of radical thinking and civil
disobedience were planted. Social dynamics of preliminary self-management processes
emerged as a spontaneous response to the immediate need of dealing with
organisational and logistical needs on the occupied squares as well as
bypassing extreme state repression. Thus, various working groups such as first
aid, food supply, safety & defence, cleaning, multimedia or infrastructure supply
were set up collectively.
A strong will
to take life into their own hands inspired citizens from different
socioeconomic backgrounds to transform crisis to krisis: through citizen assemblies and working group discussions
they gradually realised that the only way to break away from the crisis was to
trust and develop their own krisis.
Large groups of people, widely questioning the Troika’s authority as well as the
government’s policies, have been launched into primary processes of direct
democracy, horizontality, shared decision making, participatory leadership and
collective intelligence. Forming working groups on different thematic threads
such as education, health, economy, culture or justice, they explored ways to
put their vision into practice. As a result, the massive and collective
reappropriation of public spaces in the biggest cities all over the country
played a catalytic role in the emergence of grassroots initiatives; during the
occupation of Syntagma Square in Athens, collective action gave birth to
alternative initiatives such as the Citizen Debt Audit Campaign, the Athens Time Bank-Syntagma Square, the Exchange Solidarity Bazaar of Syntagma
Square or the Real Democracy Multimedia Team amongst many others.
The hidden
dynamics of the squares unveiled the possibility of the creation of a
potentially massive social movement that could destabilise the decisions
already taken by the ruling elites. Continuous state repression and brutal
police violence were used by Greek governments, with the blessings of Troika,
in order to eradicate such possibility.
From the squares to neighbourhood assemblies and solidarity networks
From the days
of the squares, a long path has been walked.
But “square” times still remain as a reference point to the collective
imaginary, thus defining the transformation process of the so called solidarity
networks. As participants in the uprisings realised that massive central space
occupations and demonstrations were vulnerable to brutal police attacks,
gradually the movement migrated to local neighbourhoods thus expanding all over
the country. Local citizen assemblies emerged simultaneously in every
neighbourhood, where people were striving to find ways to deal with the impacts
of the crisis on a local scale. Neighbourhood assemblies attempted to act
collectively to respond to practical issues, in a way “capitalising” the
previous knowledge and the experiences of the squares. People never involved in
political or collective citizen processes before, were given the opportunity to
speak up, express their views and participate in concrete collective actions.
Furthermore, people previously involved in initiatives set up during the occupation
of the squares are currently active in various projects set up in the aftermath
of the Squares uprising, thus fostering a dynamic evolution to what is called
the solidarity grassroots movement in Greece. This movement covers a large
spectrum of action: struggle against water privatisation, solidarity
initiatives to the anti-gold mining struggle at Skouries[3]
or the self-managed factory of VioMe, alternative and grassroots media, alternative
currencies, exchange networks, eco-communities and self-sufficiency projects,
working collectives and cooperatives, urban gardening, communing and commons
management, social kitchens, social clinics or direct producer-to-consumer
networks, amongst others.
The emergence of such initiatives has
set the basis for an invisible, unregimented, autonomous and progressive
network referred to as the solidarity and
cooperative economy. From 2011 and onwards, solidarity and cooperative
economy initiatives have been flourishing all over the country. Though there
are several grassroots as well as academic groups trying to map all these
different initiatives, secure data are not yet available, mainly because this
transition phase is very dynamic and constantly changing. An interesting attempt though to map these initiatives has
been made by The
Omikron Project, a
small grassroots group. According to their survey entitled “Ouzo-Drinking
Lazy Greeks? Grassroots groups in Greece”
they have mapped a large part of the citizen initiatives on a national level,
organising them around 5 main categories: Information Technology, Collective
Kitchens, Health, Neighbourhood Assemblies and Democracy Projects, Alternative
Economies and Local Exchange Systems, Art and Culture, Environment, Nature and
Ecology, Human Rights, Media and Communications. Next: Part 3, The history, role and objectives of the Festival for Solidarity and Cooperative Economy
References:
[1] Crisis: originates from the Greek noun κρίσις (krisis) - verb κρίνειν (krinein)- meaning decision, judgment.
[2] Citizens have been active in the main squares of big
cities, i.e. Syntagma Square in Athens, Aristotle’s Square in Thessaloniki,
George A’ Square in Patras, Eleftherias Square in Heraklion, amongst many
others.
[3]
More info about the investment plan and the evolution of the anti-mining
struggle at Skouries can be found at the Hellenic Mining Watch
website