On
Thursday, September 22, three days of cultural, environmental and
social events took place at the
historic
city park of Agrinio. The central concept of the celebration in this
city park, named after the donor family of Papastratos, was the re
appropriation of public space and its revival as a common good.
A
three-day meeting full of creativity was held at the park's abandoned
cafeteria, organized by solidary people with the struggle for the
protection and revitalization of this park and the free, social
occupation of Apertus. In the clearing next to pines, oaks,
grevileas, eucalyptus and many other shrubs, evergreens and
deciduous, that have been evolving for many years within the local
ecosystem.
These
three days of autumn proceeded
with cleaning work, landscaping, concerts, a photo exhibition of the
park's remodeling, graffiti, cooking exquisite dishes, drinking at
the open bar and lots of music; International bands like Sergi
Botswanas of Barcelona and Krav Boca of Toulouse participated as
well. We enjoyed two nights under the stars with sounds and music of
the streets of the Catalan capital and the French city, and of
course, Ioannina and Agrinio. On Friday, Sergi brought us the Spanish
music scene with his
rumba-rock-ska, after
the rhythms of punk band "Syraxi" and an anonymous group.
On
Saturday night, the explosive Greek-French band Krav Boca was
definitely the protagonist. The "Satraps" of Ioannina,
Sarantapente and Promitheftis from
the community
hip-hop
of
Agrinio
harmoniously completed this Mediterranean mosaic of concerts.
These
three days of events in the park were very important. The last
self-organized cultural event in this degraded area was held in May
of 2014. At the time, only a few days before the local elections,
this celebration was an important thrust and promoted change in the
political landscape of the municipality of Agrinio. The case of this
park is a typical modern greek
phenomenon of public mismanagement of European funds. On behalf of
this eu funded project the destruction of this historic park was
attempted against best practices
of art and technology management applied throughout the world in such
spaces.[1]
After
some time, these recent activities of public space re-appropriation
have succeeded in distinguishing the park as a core of artistic
experimentation and social solidarity, activating its role as an
essential public good for the whole city. Basically the park is
functioning as a springboard for improving the quality of life,
integrating social relations and encouraging contact with nature.
This infrastructure promotes the education and recreation of its'
users with emphasis on art, culture, sports and environmental
protection. It functions as a social factory for land management,
rural leisure and culture.
The revival of the outer space of the park's cafe, despite its piecemeal nature and fixed-term purpose, is a cultural event that aims to establish a periodic and self-organized festival in the park of Agrinio.
Using
the appropriate documentation it has been demonstrated in practice
that the city park could become an international point of reference
for the whole region, an active cultural cell that attracts people
and offers them a participatory tool at the Community level.
In
short, placing the issue in a broader context, its three years since
the beginning of the park's reconstruction. Since then (the
end
of the summer
of 2013) in response to the rapid and tragic developments in the
historic Agrinio's park, we established an open assembly for citizens
to coordinate the struggle for a sustainable park. We have been
demonstrating the need to devise different structures and conditions
that could make our lives better. We declare our resolve to put in
use our proactive and creative mindsets, and be part of both
processes
of decision making and the implementation of these decisions since
these concern our lives. Our guiding principles are self
organization, participation and solidarity.
In other words, we gave life to the question posed correctly Eduardo Galeano in his book "A world upside down":
The village, attends the party or play it?
In a democracy, when it is true, does the place of the village is not on the court? Will democracy is exercised only on the day that the vote is deposited in the ballot box every four, five or six years, or exercised every day of every year?
One of the Latin American experiences of everyday democracy is developing in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. There, neighbors discuss and decide the fate of the municipal funds available for each neighborhood, and approve, disapprove correct and projects generated by the local government.
Agrinio's
park is an important historical garden, considering the term
"historic garden" as equally applicable to gardens and
large and small parks, either formal or landscape structure, as
mentioned in Article 7 of the Treaty Florence Charter (1982).[2]
The
horticultural landscape composition and its architectural synthesis,
clearly interests the community for its environmental and artistic
features, and provides the necessary conditions for the Park of
Agrinio to be considered one of the most important historical gardens
in Western Greece and as such, we advocate that it must be declared a
protected area. Our argument for this declaration is not based solely
on the agronomic,
forestry or the legal dimensions. Society itself, has every right to
define and articulate the history of this place, as a "historic
park" that contains memories of social struggles, archaeological
as well as a natural wealth for environmental education.
Certainly
these three days of discovery of the reciprocal relationship
established between the environment, music and human beings, have led
to the activation of an alternative proposal for the Park of Agrinio,
realised through projects with processes of self-organizing and
horizontal dynamics. That is the prospect that the city's social
forces put forward in opposition to the prevailing submissive
culture of inertia. By
fostering active participation and self-determination it is possible
to rejuvenate the park of Agrinio beyond its modern history of
stagnation and decadence and activate a more suitable role: the park
as a jewel, a ''lung'' and reference point for the entire
geographical region.
If
you like to see more photos and read the text in other language you
can follow the links:
-
in greek, enterioni.blogspot.gr/2016/10/blog-post.html
Sources:
1.
You
can read in
Greek,
the corresponding reference:
https://parkoagriniou.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/ceadcebaceb8ceb5cf83ceb7-cebaceb1cf84ceb1ceb3ceb3ceb5cebbceafceb1cf82.pdf
Text and photos by ©Dimitris V. Geronikos.
The
photos are taken in the ecosystem of the municipal park of Agrinio
(donated by
Papastratou’s family).
I
would like to thank George Karakostas for the corrections that has
made in English translation of the text.
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