per'volarides thessaloniki 18.04.16 in frankfurt/m 19.04 ... · social/solidarity economy (2)...
TRANSCRIPT
„Widerstand und Alltag im Zeichen europäischer Austerität“
Veranstaltungsreihe
mit
Per'volarides Thessaloniki
18.04.16 in Frankfurt/M
19.04.16 in Mainz
20./21.04.16 in Freiburg
22.04.16 in Darmstadt
Veröffentlichung des Vertrages mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Per'volarides Thessaloniki
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Greece: Grassroots movements
and social/solidarity economy
against crisis
Grassroots movements and
social/solidarity economy as carriers of
transition to a new society
Per'volarides Thessaloniki - Vortragsreihe
Facts and figures of crisis in
Greece (1)
• 6 years, 3 Memoranda and keep going…
• 2009: GDP: 237,5 €
• 2016: GDP: 177 €
• 1/5 of the population don’t have access to
health services
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Facts and figures of crisis in
Greece (3)
• Debt:
• 2009: 300 bn €
• 2016: 318 bn €
• 23.1 % in poverty level (2013)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Facts and figures of crisis in
Greece (2)
• Unemployment rate:
• 2009: 9.6 %
• 2016: 25 %
• 1.35 million people off-work
• Unemployment rate in younger ages (>25): 50 %
• Official unemployment rate does not calculate
civil professionals like civil engineers, doctors,
lawyers etc, that are practically unemployed
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Brain drain (1)
• Of a total population of 10 million people,
300.000 people (most of them young and
highly educated) left Greece.
• Many of these immigrants were politically
active during Memoranda years. They
were the fuel that pumped political unrest
and awareness.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Brain drain (2)
• Question: As the immigration tendency
continues, who will stay and fight for a
better future?????????????????????
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Geopolitical factor
• Destruction of the entire territory (North
Africa, Middle East, Balkans, Ukraine)
• Immigrant/refugees fleeing their countries
• More that 1 million people traveled to
Europe through Greece in 2015
• 50.000 immigrants/refugees kept in camps
throughout the country
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Action vs Reaction
• Main points of resistance in the
Memoranda years:
• “Don’t pay movement”
• “Aganaktismenoi” (Indignados) movement
• People’s parade 2011, Thessaloniki
• SYRIZA
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
“Don’t pay” movement (1)
• Took place between 2008-2012. National
movement without central administration
or leadership.
• Actions involved: refuse to pay toll fares,
“solidarity” tax, mass media transportation
fees etc.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
“Don’t pay” movement (2)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
“Indignados-Square movement (1)
• May-September 2011
• Discussion for direct democracy,
transparency in political life
• Massive assemblies in the central squares
• More than 500.000 participated in the
biggest demonstration in Athens
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
“Indignados-Square movement (2)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
People’s parade, 28th of October
2011, Thessaloniki
• A “traditional” military parade that takes place every year got out of State’s control, when thousands of people got into the parade and made their own, demanding democracy and abolition of the corrupted system.
• President of the Republic was forced to leave its seat in the parade, along with the other members of the State.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
People’s parade, 28th of October
2011, Thessaloniki
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Elections of 2012, May-June
• SYRIZA gets 2nd place.
• A delegative logic (assignment) dominated
the public. “When SYRIZA become
government, everything will be solved”.
• This logic was cultivated from large parts
of SYRIZA also.
• Little by little, civil unrest was calming
down.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Grassroots movements (1)
• Hundreds of grassroots movements emerged throughout the country, while State withdraws from its duties.
• Thousands of people support solidarity grassroots.
• Solidarity grassroots are deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of our people, by supporting social networks, offering lessons of solidarity and humanity.
• Solidarity grassroots through their own operation and political perception (direct democracy, mobilization and mutual help between people) pursue their own self-abolition, in a state that regards food, health, learning etc as obvious and free rights.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Grassroots movements (2)
• Solidarity grassroots for:
- Coverage of population needs for food
- Creation/support of public health structures
- Supporting teaching lessons in children
- Greek language learning in immigrants and refugees
- Clothing supply
- Teaching of basic PC operation skills
- Legal aid assistance for Greeks and immigrants/refugees
- Assistance (food, clothing, medical, legal) for the refugees
- Abandoned land cultivation from unemployed people for self-sufficiency
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
If there was fire in your house what
would you do?
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
2 things to do…
• “Firefighting” method, or humanitarian relief projects: Providing food, shelter, health coverage etc to everyone who needs it. Short-term method, for emergency needs.
• Social/solidarity economy: Building the house again: Creation of self-sufficiency in groups of people, then production of a small income. Long term method.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Humanitarian relief projects (1)
• Fish/fruits/vegetables from central
fish/grocery market given for free.
• 2) Packaged food distribution
• 3) Cooked food
• 4) Food/hygienic items for
immigrants/refugees.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Humanitarian relief projects (2)
• Medicines and hygienic materials collection for
social clinics
• Personal hygiene items (soaps, shampoos,
sanitary napkins, diapers)
• Baby and infant food and creams
• Clothes/blankets supply
• Used electronic equipment (PCs, laptops, mobile
phones, digital photographic machines) to cover
the communication gap that crisis has created
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Social/Solidarity Economy projects
• 1) Land cultivation: Abandoned/donated
land cultivation for self-sufficiency.
• 2) Tomato sauce/marmelade preparation
• 3) Bee keeping
• 4) Solidarity olive collection: Unemployed
people collect olives from abandoned or
“donated” olive trees. The same with fruit
trees.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Social/Solidarity economy (1)
• It is all about co-operation and building
relations based on trust and help between
each other, especially giving help to the
weaker members of the group.
• Infant stage in Greece, mainly focused on
new “tools” that State gives in order to
boom start this type of economy.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Social/Solidarity economy (2)
• “Tools” given lack the emotion and the
reliance between each other.
• This is a target to be achieved, and not
always by founding formal “companies”,
but rather informal initiatives that are built
to last and do not depend on marketing
tools but rather on the needs of the people
involved.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Social/Solidarity economy (3)
• Need for co-operation
• Need for taking care of each other
• Need for covering basic needs, food,
health, education, etc
• Need for putting ourselves on the move, to
prove that unemployed people are not
worthless but we can be innovative and
creative if only we are given the chance
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Gardeners (1)
• Self sufficiency-solidarity group located in
Thessaloniki.
• Products: Olive oil, honey, cheese,
yoghurt, seasonal groceries, tomato
sauce, marmalade.
• People involved: Filippos, Maria, Christos
St., Giorgos, Christos K, Diamantis, Aris,
Fenia.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Gardeners (2)
• Through products exchange, we minimize
need for money.
• Work against depression.
• Project to be copied and improved by
other initiatives.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Gardeners (3)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Urban Land cultivation
(1) • Urban land cultivation for self sufficiency
and low-income families.
• We are cultivating seasonal groceries
using local seeds, and manure taken from
sheeps/goats that one of our members
keeps.
• We are making compost from our
household waste.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Urban Land cultivation
(2)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Urban Land cultivation
(3)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Solidarity grassroot (1)
• Land lies next to our basement, where we
keep the required tools and we store food
(rice, beans, pasta, olive oil, flour, tomato
sauce, marmalade etc) for 30 families.
• Land and basement is owned by members
of our initiative.
• Distribution of fish/vegetables/fruits/food
takes place from this basement.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Solidarity grassroot (2)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Solidarity grassroot (3)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Solidarity grassroot (4)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Marmalade/tomato sauce
preparation (1)
• In the basement we keep a gas stove and
pig pots for tomato sauce and marmalade
preparation.
• When we have availability in
fruits/tomatoes/vases we are organizing
marmalade/tomato sauce preparation with
members from the 30 families that we
support being the cookers.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Marmalade/tomato sauce
preparation (2)
• With this action, not only these people
cover their needs in these products, but
also “return” –in social terms- the solidarity
that were provided with: They are
producing for other families also, who can
not afford to buy these products.
• Example: 100 kilos of peach marmalade
were given in the refugees in Idomeni.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Marmalade/tomato sauce
preparation (3)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Bee keeping (1)
• 2 members of the group practice bee
keeping. We wanted to spread the
knowledge to other people also. Members
from the Greek community of Frankfurt
donated us with 300 € to buy protection
equipment for bee keeping. One bee
keeper, member of the “No-Middlemen”
movement provided us with 5 bee hives
with their population.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Bee keeping (2)
• Training and various consumables were
provided for free by us to the new
member.
• As you can see, training has started:
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Bee keeping (3)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Bee keeping (4)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Bee keeping (5)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Sheeps/goats, cheese
making (1) • One member of our group raises
sheep/goats together with his father.
• Next step towards self sufficiency is
cheese/yoghurt making.
• We are starting to train ourselves to
cheese making also.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Sheeps/goats, cheese
making (2)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Sheeps/goats, cheese
making (3)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Olive collection (1)
• Solidarity olive collection takes place every
November-December in the eastern part
of Thessaloniki.
• We collect olives from
abandoned/donated olive trees, then make
them olive oil.
• Thus, we cover the annual needs of about
10 families.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Olive collection (2)
• Plus, we make use of trees that otherwise
would be wasted.
• This is a small step towards country’s
productive reproduction.
• Plus: This is organic olive oil!
• We are trying to “rent” some olive tree
fields to make this action more stable and
productive for the coming years.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Olive collection (3)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Olive collection (4)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Olive collection (5)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Olive collection (6)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Examples on Social/Solidarity
economy: Olive collection (7)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Ways to help (1)
• Top priority: Open the discussion with your
friends, relatives, colleagues etc about
“Greek” crisis! Debate with them, try to
locate differences/similarities between
“German” and “Greek” crisis.
• Ask your people if this is the Europe we
want. What can we do to help each other?
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Ways to help (2)
• The idea behind all this is to engage individuals, solidarity groups, trade unions in the process. Examples:
• A trade union in a factory that makes personal hygiene products can raise a campaign between its members for sending a load of these products in Greece.
• A cultural union can start a campaign raising money, diapers or baby’s food.
• An individual can contribute a certain amount of money once, or in a periodic mode.
• All this should be done after getting contact with us, because, although needs are constant and enormous, we don’t want resources, whether financial or material, to be wasted.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Ways to help (3)
• Financial aid to cover emergency needs
(for example: equipment purchase, paying
of bills like electricity, water etc for social
centers, small farming machinery,
transportation costs for delivery of food,
purchase of food etc).
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Ways to help (4)
• Each one of you can become a “node” for help and support.
• Every help, whether “big” or “small” is invaluable because it adds to the final result which might be new clothes or vaccines for a baby, a new book for someone to read, or psychological help to an unemployed person with suicidal tendencies…
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Ways to help-Supporter (1)
• Supporter on specific projects, like:
• Provide us with bee hives (or money to buy some…)
• Coverage of the transportation costs for food collection/distribution for the months to follow…
• We need 2 big refrigerators for cheese maturation and 1 big deep freezer for storing fishes…
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Ways to help-Supporter (2)
• Money-food-sanitary items to cover
specific needs of the families we support…
• Food-sanitary items-school items-clothes
for the immigrants/refugees in the
relocation camps…
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Refugee/Immigrant crisis (1)
• About 1.500.000 immigrants/refugees,
mostly from Syria and Afghanistan,
Pakistan travelled through Greece to North
Europe.
• Current status: 50.000 people in “camps”
throughout Greece, waiting to be relocated
in the “safe country” of Turkey or united
with their relatives from North Europe.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Refugee/Immigrant crisis (2)
• 1 month ago a treatment between Greece-
Turkey was signed that for each
“newcomer” another one will be relocated
to Turkey.
• Numbers, not people…
• There was a time that in the Greek islands
we had 2-3.000 arrivals/day. Now we have
no more than 200 arrivals/day.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Refugee/Immigrant crisis (3)
• Huge solidarity movement from Greek
people and also from people from abroad.
• State keeps these people in camps with
basic infrastructure, in many cases
supported by the Army for food and
shelter.
• Main job is done by people in solidarity,
social clinics and some NGOs.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Refugee/Immigrant crisis (4)
• Idomeni, North part of Greece: The shame
of Europe.
• 15.000 people, waiting for the borders to
open.
• State provides no shelter, food because
they want to relocate them to the camps.
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Refugee/Immigrant crisis (6)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Refugee/Immigrant crisis (7)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Refugee/Immigrant crisis (8)
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Greece: Society in transition (1)
• Crisis: Economic, political, social, cultural
• Geopolitical factor: Our “neighbourhood” is
destroyed. Our turn comes…when?
• Collapse of the traditional center,
significant reduction of the right wing
• Rise of extreme right
• Massive people’s mobilisation
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Greece: Society in transition (2)
• Rise of the Left (SYRIZA)
• Dominance of the delegate logic
• Government of the Left
• Defeat of the expectations (SYRIZA)
• Disappointment, withdrawal from the
political scene and lack of mobilisation
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Greece: Society in transition (3)
• People come around but don’t expect/fight
for anything
• Silent anger
• Inability to see the future
• Mass mobilisation for the
refugees/immigrants: Not only
leftists/activists, but (mainly) “normal”
people providing food, shelter, clothes
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Greece: Society in transition (4)
• Young people, the “fuel” for change flee
the country
• At the same time: debates on direct
democracy, transparency, lack of trust in
both Right and Left
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe
Epilogue
Please help us maintain the social network
of Greece and build democratic and
participatory peoples’ institutions.
Peoples’ Europe has to prevail against
bankers’ and warlords’ Europe!
Per'volarides Thessaloniki -
Vortragsreihe