I have just dug out my old (3 monts) project. Please see it. Perhaps we could form a task team to perform this mission? Some time early spring?
It happened again. Greeks lead the way for all of us, freedom lovers. Here, in Poland, we have been always taught, that the Greeks were forefathers (&mothers) of the whole European civilisation. And it's not only democracy. Philosophy, geometry, mythology, skills and crafts, warrior virtues – Greek Golden Age was (and still is) the benchmark of them all.
Now, there is another skill to learn from the Greeks: the fight and struggle for freedom. As our ancestors were saying, for our freedom and yours. And it’s not just about struggling. And even not about succeeding. It’s also about keeping and caring for the freedom. This is the story we want to bring back for our Polish and European brothers and sisters.
The plan is to spend couple (2-4) weeks in Greece, visit various places and communities that exercise their freedom, beyond governmental or corporate control. We shall form a small team up to 5 people and gather materials for a series of AV and written publications. Publications will come in three flavours:
• For mainstream media, we shall go beyond the stereotypes of street activist with a Molotov in hand, or a ‘noble savage’ living at the seaside, with the grapevine wreath on his or her head. We shall picture – sometimes harsh – reality of living in self-governing, self-organised communities. How they get structured, how and why they develop their own ways to manage the social space – and how it’s going daily.
• For activists’ media we plan to show the life of activist (also non-Greek) in various places and contexts. From dark and burning streets of Athens, through village and small town communities, to secluded intentional communities, doing things they normally never share with strangers.
• For our own (FreeLab) needs we plan to make a series of reports/tutorials, describing technologies used to achieve (and upkeep) various kinds of
independence: food, energy, engineering and social structure. Tips and tricks, practical solutions, proven howtos – FreeLab mission is to gather them all and spread further for the benefit of all people in need.
We plan to finance the project in part from the crowdsourcing, in part from a sponsor/investor. The outcome will only be sold to mainstream recipients, to cover the balance and to accumulate funds for future FreeLab ventures. Activists’ media will receive articles for free – Creative Commons BY-SA
So I sent you the info about the social pharmacy in Kavala, note that it was developed through partnerships between unions, municipality and citizens… and while I only know what I heard from Andrei, apparently it’s going well and there is a sense of citizen empowerment.
Greek language command (at least one person is needed!)
Driving licence
Good networking & negotiations
Photo, audio, video, writing skills
Endurance & dexterity
Openness
Ability to complete the work without pushing. ;-)
We shall need - at least - some resources:
A bus or camper
AV equipment
Funds for the whole mission
Local contacts in various communities
Some pre-orders for publications.
I have preliminary declarations from at least one video/filmmaker. I also have some contacts to Greek activists (through my GreenPeace friend), and possibly some recommendations in hotter zones.
So, if it happen that we gather a group of 5-8 people (including ground support and reserve) fully interested and involved, I guess we can go for it, even including crowdfunding.
Just remembered I recently read a book by a Romanian writer who wanted to travel to Mongolia by motorcycle and to cope with the gas expenses, he raised the money to get there . He needed 2000 eur for 26000 kilometres, and he split these into 500km costing 50 eur each. And people bought kilometres, in 2 weeks he sold them all. As a reward the author dedicated each person a letter + photos of things that he saw or happened during the portion of the trip they bought, published it on his blog (and later in his book), included all their names on a big sticker on his motorcycle and brought them a stone from the parcel.
my name is Chara and this idea of creating videos that show the current fight for freedom of Greeks sounds interesting. Although I think that it would be easier if you choose smaller towns and cities than Athens or Thessaloniki. In Athens I know some neighborhood communities that they try to live independantly and support each other e.g “Polykatoikia” and also I know about some projects the whole neighborhood works on e.g Urban gardening in the center of Athens.
However, I am not quite sure if this is the type of people you need
I would be happy to help with this project anyway, please let me know
I thought it was creative and may inspire us