As cities are getting under pressure by neoliberal governments
within the conditions of state of exception and camp; there are not much of
space left for survival strategies. How to deal with Crisis, how to get
organized, how to sustain our practices of commoning and what are the
alternative ways of solidarity among several back grounded micro alternative
movements?
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| photo by Asli Kıyak İngin |
Athens is one of the "naked (bare)" cities that
everyday life is clearly dealing with constant crisis in every levels of it
that, we, in our own city are not aware of our own constant crisis. "Crisis Regimes and
Emerging Social Movements in Cities of Southern Europe" (www.urbanrise.net) organized by the
Athens based group Encounter Athens (http://encounterathens.wordpress.com).
The meeting was focusing on the alternative urban social movements and their
experience, cases in the South Europe. Several movements or solidarity groups
from Barcelona, Milan, Palermo, Madrid, Lisbon, Torino, Porto, Florence, Rome,
Thessaloniki, Athens attended and presented their
own cases. Beside that, Margit Mayer, Boaventura
de Sousa Santos, David Harvey, Stavros Stavrides, Nikos Belavilas, Costis
Hadjimichalis, Dina Vaiou contributed and lead the discussions.
Several important issues
were raised:
- Different types
of activities for sustaining cultural-social emancipation
Example was given by Athens group about the park that was
created in common in the memory of Alexsis a teenager who was killed by the
police. I was witnessed the first days of the creation of the park in 2008,
which is now a planted green open social meeting space (which is more than a
park).
- Network of Exchange
Service
As the economic crisis is influencing each levels of our life,
free labor exchange or Time - Bank structures are emerging which is an
important DIY structure that is needed. Such alternative economic network also
contributes autonomy of solidarity movement and sustains the social network.
Self-Cafe could be an example which I often saw in Japan social movements; for
example Social
Kitchen&Hanare in Kyoto.
- Cooperative
Neighborhood Structure
Often seen in Cataluña, cooperative neighborhood structure could
be considered part of a practice of radical democracy. The economic change
after 11 June 2011 increased the crisis conditions in Spain. It is suggested
that community movements are organized more in cooperative neighborhood
movement. Local food facilities are the main sustaining format of structuring
the cooperative economy.
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| photo by Asli Kıyak İngin, 2013 |
- Counter Coverage of
Media
M15 group who started to occupy squares in Madrid explained
their activities of observing the urban space and immediately responding
against mainstream media. Counter coverage of media is important in order to
give the right information to the general public of what is really going on in
urban. I experienced that similarly during our Sulukule
Platform activities in İstanbul that we had to create almost
everyday counter-media news in order to undermine the general state discourse
in the news.
- Processing Multiple Activities
M15 pointed and important issue about how to sustain and spread
activities in each level of society; how to include people, public who are not
politicized but aware of the crisis. Multiple tools such as organizing
workshops, including any socio-economic class of people is important to realize
a wider awareness and action in the society in general.
- Protecting
Commons
A neighborhood activist micro movement call themselves Citizens
Committee of Akadimia Platonos (Plato's Academy) came out as a group in order to
protect an archaeological site near Plato's Academy, which was supposed to be transforming
into shopping mall by the government. The movement is important example how a
micro level neighborhood structure can organize themselves via meetings and a
local newspaper and resist to demolish not only for a building or
gentrification but also an historical heritage that needs to be protected
and used by the wider public not for the consumerist means. Often protection of historical heritages are functions as a justification in urban transformation (example: code 5633 came out 2005 in Istanbul that has been used often for that justification of state of exception).
- Urban
Poverty/Unemployment
One of the most important issues that are often not is discussed
in movements meeting was put into attention by the Lisbon based group. A very nice
and realistic presentation was done by putting the question forward of how we
define "unemployment" nowadays. This unemployment movement group
reminded us that we do still use unemployment defined by IMF or neoliberal
governments. How we define unemployment nowadays? It reminded me the recent
book by Lazaratto; indebted man...,
which seems to be related to this question. Unemployment is based on
governmental and IMF definitions as work hours, abilities of being a worker and
the quality of work that leaves you out or in... the meaning is certain
by default. as we understand, unemployment is in the constant experience of indebted man within/against his relation to governmentality.
- Speak for yourself
Intellectual middle class presents local people in the movements
as we see often in cities. They speak for them. Ghetto Platform from Lisbon
reclaimed that they speak for themselves, not the other speak for them. They raised also the transborder migration issue and how migration suffers double from poverty, discrimination in urban segregation. This is
an ethical issue that often representation of others is being dominated by
intellectual class.
- Creative Protest
Group from Palermo pointed out the importance of a creative
protest format. This is often a main issue of to create participatory
discursive open protest event in urban spaces. Occupy movements were the
examples of it that how a protest become a process of sharing and expanding the
knowledge of commoning. Another example in İstanbul the justice movement for workers who died in work
accidents; the protest are organized in the public square of Beyoğlu where were
families, lawyers and journalists meet and set a conversation in public space
that public who are passing and participate and learn/listen the stories.
Several criticisms rose in the end meeting of Saturday; such as
what is to be an activist or an urban researcher. What is the distinction of it?
In my view an activist is already an urban researcher. At the other ı think a
researcher based in an institution such as universities shouldn't be
marginalized as she or he is involved in urban everyday life and activities. I
always claim that this is by default the duty the work of an urban researcher
anyway. At the other hand, transferring the knowledge that has been created in
everyday life in movements to students in teaching is part the radical urban
pedagogy. Other criticism came out from the meeting how to define Europe as the
meeting is about South Europe; some participant claimed that this is a past
definition as movements are global now and Europe's border is not valid in discursive
sense. As I hardly got my shengen visa in order to enter to EU for this meeting
in Athens from Istanbul, I don't have much to say. Furthermore, another topic
was how to continue with our discussion and common share rather than in email
networking or social media, which sprawled in recent years that each discussion
and even activism often happens in digital media rather than real everyday
life. Most participants insisted not to set up an email network.
I think my interest was how we define labor in alternative cultural activism and how it can mobilize, disseminate surplus value ...which are issues more in context of Gibson-Graham. This was not mentioned or any discussed. There very good examples of such autonomous practice in Asia, especially in Japan.
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| me, cooking tarhana soup at Souzy Tros, 2013 |
Some socially engaged art practices are powerful on to intervene and mobilize within artistic and general labor. The dissemination of surplus value becomes the most vital point I think in sharing and distributing commons. Recent example I participated is Souzy Tros, a space initiated by artist Maria Papadimitrou. I space for free food, exchanging sharing sewing workshop, discussion, just coming together from diverse communities.
Athens, January, 2013
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