Interviews with Alexandra Tsekeri and Dimitris, neighborhood assembly members and political activists in Athens, Greece. Interviews conducted in Athens, Greece on January 12, 2013.
These are the first in an informal series called "History in the Making," which includes interviews with individuals who are engaged in political activism or are otherwise living through events unfolding in East-Central and Southeastern Europe.
Interview Themes
 |
| Alexandra Tsekeri |
On
neighborhood assemblies and their activities (1:30)
The nature of the Pangrati (Παγκράτι) neighborhood of Athens (3:42)
On how politics can be
"read" from someone's appearance (8:45)
What is the "ideal
community" that members of neighborhood assemblies are trying to create?
(11:05)
On Tsekeri's experiences in New York and why she came back to
Greece (19:02)
On events in Athens since
2008 and why she got involved in the neighborhood assembly (25:15)
Tsekeri speaks of her
views on the Occupy movement in New York (30:50)
What was different about
the protests at Syntagma Square 2010/2011 (34:40)
Tsekeri's views on the
state and what it should (or shouldn't) do (41:57)
The differences in the
political climate in different cities in Greece--Athens, Ioannina, Thessaloniki,
Volos (48:58)
Local versus
international influences on Tsekeri's political views and activism (50:54)
What are the functional
alternative models to mainstream politics in Greece and elsewhere? (53:50)
On what the neighborhood
assemblies do (58:25)
What is the goal of
neighborhood assemblies in terms of community involvement? (1:14:05)
To access
the interview, click here: http://hdl.handle.net/1813/33420
 |
| Neighborhood assembly member putting up a poster of solidarity with the Villa Amalias |
PART II-Dimitris (at the clothing exchange)
How the
neighborhood assemblies came into existence in 2008 (0:40)
On the role
of neighborhood assemblies: not charity, not the state (8:50)
Positive
historical and other models for the activism of today (10:38)
How
neighborhood assemblies have evolved since 2008 (13:40)
What
neighborhood assemblies should do in the future (14:42)
On people's
responses to the emergence of neighborhood assemblies (16:08)
Dimitris's
views on the extreme right (Golden Dawn) in Greece and its supporters
(17:29)
How can
politics confront the fear of the people about the future? (20:22)
What kinds
of people are attracted to neighborhood assemblies? (21:41)
On the
rhetoric of "crisis as opportunity" (23:39)
How to
maintain political/organizational energy after Syntagma (25:08)
Dimitris's
views on electoral politics (26:53)
On what it
means to be an anarchist (27:40)
On what it
is that Dimitris is fighting against (30:58)
Benefits to
the individual and to the community of involvement in the movement (32:00)
Could these
initiatives serve as a model for people in other places? (33:40)
On
Dimitris's skepticism vis-a-vis the Occupy movement (34:46)
To access
the interview, click here: http://hdl.handle.net/1813/33420
