A recent article of the French News Agency (AFP) states that the financial crisis has generated better solidarity among Greek citizens.
The article states that during the “Great Depression”, solidarity networks, cooperatives and exchange of products doubled as the Greeks have realized the significance of social cooperation.
According to the article, such initiatives in the fields of health, education and labor that started in 2011 with the indignant citizens movement, were trying to address the lack of public funds and the impoverishment caused by the austerity policy implemented at the request of the country’s creditors (the IMF, EU, ECB Troika) in exchange for the 240 billion euros loaned to Greece.
AFP referred to some of the collective practices in Greece such as the Pagaki cooperative in Athens. Pagaki is a coffee shop operated by unemployed citizens who aim to create a collective model of employment based on the principles of solidarity.
The article also referred to “FreeandReal”, a cooperative launched in 2010 in the island of Euboea. Its founders aim to create an eco-village in the country’s second biggest island.
The article mentions a number of other initiatives from municipalities, citizens and businesses responsible for the concentration of drugs, clothes, books etc. Gabriel Colletis, Professor of Economics at the University of Toulouse, told AFP that the crisis made Greek society understand its mistakes, such as individualism, neglect of common good and nature’s protection.
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