Guardian
October 20, 2011
There's a lot of citizen activism in Thessaloniki; people using their imaginations to brighten lives in ways the ailing Greek state can't ("It's like a kind of fake state; it's just basically non-existent, fictitious, for all the good it does," was how Thouli Misirloglou, curator of an arts project in a disused city-centre hotel, described it).
One group involved in this is Thessaloniki Otherwise, based on a longstanding and successful free-press magazine called Parallax. "It's about trying to do what we can for quality of life here, and most of all change the way of thinking," said Michalis Goudis, 25, one of its organisers.
Unemployment in the city, whose economy was badly hit by the wars in the former Yugoslavia and has struggled to recover, is touching 20%; salaries in many sectors are depressingly low. Recent graduates, if they can find jobs, are likely to start on as little as €500 (£437) a month; a qualified nurse may earn €750.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment