I visited Athens recently as part of a solidarity delegation from the British party Left Unity. On January 25, the day before radical left party SYRIZA’s election victory, two of us were fortunate enough to take part in a tour of some of the self-organising structures in Athens supported by the Solidarity for All network.
Our first stop was the “Solidarity Train” in Agii Anagyroi, so called for the northern Athens suburb's location next to a railway. Founded by a group of local women in 2012, the Solidarity Train began by setting up a stall next to a local supermarket, asking customers to donate food to be distributed locally.
Agii Anagyroi is an area suffering de-industrialisation, high unemployment and debt. Despite this, the food collection was initially successful, with large quantities donated.
However, as the crisis deepened after the second “memorandum” signed by the Greek government with the “troika” of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, which imposed new, harsh austerity measures, donations started to become scarce.
It was at this point the group began receiving extra help from Solidarity for All.
Solidarity for All is an umbrella network for a wide range of self-organising structures. It was formed in 2012 when SYRIZA created a “solidarity fund” out of the salaries of its newly elected MPs.
However, Solidarity for All is not merely a solidarity fund, nor is it led or controlled by SYRIZA. It largely exists to support and coordinate the more than 400 solidarity structures that have emerged in Greece during the crisis.
The structures grew out of the “movement of the squares” (the greek version of Occupy) in 2011 and have retained their culture of decision-making by popular assembly.
There are solidarity initiatives organising around health, education, food, cultural activities and legal support. It includes networks “without middlemen” that create direct links between agricultural producers and urban consumers, and workers co-operatives such as the VIO.ME factory in Thessaloniki.
In the two years since its foundation, the Solidarity Train has increased its provision of food to the community and expanded into other areas. It now organises cultural activities such as lessons in dance and music, as well as English and French.
Solidarity Train volunteers are keen to address the psychological and physical effects of the memorandum on the local population. They organise group therapy to counteract mental health problems such as depression, which have become increasingly widespread.
The volunteers we spoke to were keen to emphasise the political character of their work. Their leaflet describes them as “volunteers who have decided to do something about the crisis”, and names the memorandum as the ultimate cause of the crisis they seek to address.
They encourage centre users to think of themselves not as passive recipients of a service, but as active members with a stake in its activities and decision making.
Most of those who collect food and take part in classes at the Solidarity Train become actively involved in its running. Decisions are made by regular democratic assemblies involving volunteers and service users.
After warm goodbyes from the Solidarity Train, we headed to a social clinic in Nea Filadelfeia, also in Athens’ northern suburbs.
The clinic was founded last September by a small group of volunteer doctors, but its roots lay in a local assembly structure that emerged during the 2011 movement of resistance to the second memorandum.
Aris Kaikis, a 30-year-old medical graduate who volunteers at the clinic, outlined the context in which the initiative began.
Much of Greece’s primary care provision has been privatised and the remaining state services are chronically underfunded. Combined with the decline in living standards produced by austerity, this has created a shocking health crisis.
Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, which were long extinct, have made a return. An estimated 1.5 million Greek citizens, as well as all migrants without citizenship, have no health insurance.
The social clinic treats 15 people a day, providing a variety of primary care services. It is entirely volunteer run; the building itself was built by volunteers and all the furniture is donated.
Like the Solidarity Train, it is controlled democratically by regular assemblies in which both volunteers and service users participate.
Dimitrios Matthaiou explained that meeting the immediate medical needs of the community is just one aspect of the clinic’s work; the other equally important component is consciousness-raising. Those who visit the clinic are encouraged to become active participants in the social movements.
Among the activists we spoke to, there were different views on the January 25 elections, which were still to come. All were left-wing and anti-memoranda, but political affiliation and support was varied.
However, there was uniform agreement that, whatever the result of the election, the solidarity movement must continue addressing the humanitarian crisis and building a grassroots movement opposed to austerity.
Chrisoula Roussaki, an activist from the Solidarity Train, summed up the prevailing sentiment at the centre: “We accept the risks, we are prepared for the worst scenarios but we will continue until the end.”
[Reprinted from Left Unity. Liam Cooper is a member of the Lambeth branch of Left Unity.]