Our latest action, on February 4

This is a video of our latest action, in the pedestrianized Aiolou street:

Reports, photos and comments of those who participated can be found at the Cyclists' site, at the blog of SOS-Road Crimes (here and here) as well as in the blog of Moms in the Street (here, here and here).
The number of Greeks worried about quality of life and mobility issues is increasing. On the same day, students of the German School of Athens organised a similar event in the suburb of Maroussi. For more information, see here.
Unfortunately, all posts are in Greek, but the photos give a good idea of what happened and are not subject to the abuse of automatic translators.

Pedestrian streets - an invitation for action

Pedestrian streets are for pedestrians, right?
Well, not in Greece. They are for scooter riders who want to bypass the clogged streets, for car drivers who know that no policeman or traffic warden is going to materialize with a ticket in hand.

And what about pedestrians?

Well, they'd better learn to get out of the way fast. If not - well, it's their life.

The above scene is from Aiolou, one of the busiest shopping streets in Athens. The next one is from Themistokleous, a smaller street, but no less busy. In fourty seconds I counted 4 vehicles. How many does that make per hour? Per day?

Amazingly, there are some people who are not happy with the status quo. They get angry with passing vehicles instead of meekly moving aside. They have decided to do something to protest the situation. I'm one of those people.

Our meeting is at noon, on Saturday, February 4th, at the corner of Stadiou and Aiolou streets, in Athens (near Omonoia Metro station). There will be canvas, colors and brushes for the children to paint a better city, as well as jugglers and clowns to entertain us. There will also be a gaggle of like-minded people who are going to stop scooters and cars from entering the street. Everyone's invited. We'd be delighted if you would join us.

The streets my love walks in

I have two children. My youngest has just left the stroller to explore the world on his own.

This is the world we've made for him to explore: ugly, dirty, full of garbage.

I'm ashamed to have brought him and his older brother to live in Athens, a city so deprived of nature and beauty.
Besides a few well-known spots (and a few less known ones) everyday life is defined by the same dreary rows of blocks of flats, and noisy streets full of cars and their exhaust fumes, with nothing pretty for the eye to see.
Instead, everywhere one turns one sees neglect and piles of garbage.
Greeks don't seem to care for their surroundings, the "outside", the land of strangers. Instead, they turn their attention inwards, at home, the place where they receive their friends and relatives. Their streets and neighbors are like a no man's land which one simply has to cross on the way to work or for any other reason. It is not a place to care for or try to improve, being no indicator of one's status as a breadwinner or a homemaker. Therefore, no attention is paid to it, as if it were not a part of our everyday lives.
Literally -and I've noticed this time and again- people are practically blind to their surroundings.
However, these surroundings affect them more than they themselves realize.
Besides the dangers inherent in the smog-filled atmosphere, the garbage-filled streets and impassable sidewalks, this environment of ugliness all around us affects the young who come to regard it as natural so much that they perpetuate it without seeing it for what it really is.
Will my children grow up to be part of the problem, at the same time their mother is striving for a solution?
And if so, will that be so bad, after all?
Which is better? Swimming like a fish in the water (however murky), or trying to reverse the tide?