The "Rethink! Ideas Forum - A green compass for Greece: society, economy, ecology", on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Thessaloniki office, was held on June 29, 2022, on the premises of the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, M2 building. At this international conference, people from Greece and from dozens of cities around the world responded to our invitation to meet in Thessaloniki, to discuss ideas, proposals and practices from a green perspective, and to "rethink" together a number of crucial topics that define our lives: the new political possibilities opened up by the radical municipalism movement, the urban-rural divide, energy democracy, social inclusion and participatory planning.

Twenty-one people were on the panels of the conference, providing interesting insights, original perspectives and useful experiences. Furthermore, our event serves as an example of gender democracy, as 13 of these 21 people were women and 8 men, i.e. 62% and 38% respectively! Among the women of the conference were keynote speaker Laura Roth and the coordinator of all the sessions, journalist Alexia Kalaitzi.

The keynote session was entitled "Opening new paths in politics: radical municipalism in Barcelona and beyond" and looked at why people in a number of cities around the world have chosen a different role for local government and a different way of taking part in decision-making processes. Academic researcher and activist Laura Roth, member of Barcelona en Comú, shared the particular vibe that existed in Barcelona during the early period of the radical municipalism movement. As she pointed out, central governments, whether in their populist or technocratic versions, can no longer address people’s needs. Instead, local governments can do this better, because there citizens are able to participate directly and actively. Thus, the role of cities is constantly increasing, while the role of states is constantly shrinking. She emphasised both the local dimension and the feminist character of radical municipalism, as well as the balance that needs to be struck between grassroots movements on the one hand and institutional structures (e.g. political parties) on the other. The first discussant was Vedran Horvat, Head of the Institute for Political Ecology (IPE). He referred to the experience of Zagreb, where the movement stands indeed between radical municipalism and a more "traditional" type of green political agenda. Moreover, he raised the question of what happens when a grassroots movement has a political success and is finally able to participate in the administration: unfortunately, he said, it has to face enormous difficulties from the opposing interests, while the people, who expected a lot, end up disappointed by the low rate of implementation of promises. The second discussant, Elita Fasoula, from the Fridays for Future Thessaloniki movement, underlined the often-understandable suspicion that exists among the grassroots movements towards the political parties, especially in Greece. As she explained, this makes it difficult for both parts to cooperate, which would enable them to be the wheels of the same vehicle.

The first panel session, entitled "Dealing with the urban-rural divide", actually introduced a new topic into the public debate: the oftentimes-chaotic differences between Greek cities and the countryside, which set the future perspectives of Greek rural areas at risk. Byron Kotzamanis, Professor of Demography at the University of Thessaly (academic retiree) - Department of Planning and Regional Development, and scientific responsible of the research project "Demographic Imperatives in Research and Practices in Greece", contributed some disturbing insights. He clarified that the two extremes of the gap are not the cities and the villages in general, but rather the two major urban centres of Greece (Athens and Thessaloniki), on the one hand, and the rest of the country, on the other. As he pointed out, 50% of the population in Greece lives on just 3% of the country’s surface! He stressed that the Greek rural areas have no vital forces but an increasingly ageing population instead, and said he is pessimistic that there could be a reversal of this phenomenon. For her part, Carolina Perpiñá Castillo, Territorial and Geospatial Analyst at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, introduced official EU data on the rural-urban divide, which has been approached from many different angles. Important indicators, she explained, are demographic shifts, the distance of the inhabitants from health and education services, and access to broadband internet. In most of these, Greece is unfortunately below the European average... Transferring good practices to an institutional level, Sevdalina Nenkova, Director of Education and Social Activities of Gabrovo, Bulgaria, spoke about various projects and achievements of the municipality’s administration, thanks to which this city of about 60,000 inhabitants was awarded in 2021 with the prestigious EU Green Leaf Award. Another good practice, but on a different path, was shared by Alexandros Pazaitis, Researcher at Tallinn Polytechnic University and member of the P2P Lab. Alexandros is part of a team that applies open technologies (patent-less free software, knowledge sharing, etc.) to fabricate agricultural tools in a laboratory in Tzoumerka mountains, tailored to the specific needs of the region.

The thorny topic of energy was discussed from a social perspective in the second panel session entitled "Paving the way for energy democracy". Alice Corovessi, Managing Director of INZEB, spoke about the multifaceted phenomenon of energy poverty, which puts potentially everyone at risk. As she said, climate neutrality, which is the EU’s goal for 2050, must be accompanied by energy democracy, i.e. the eradication of energy poverty and the active participation of citizens in energy production. This can happen in several ways. For example, Ioanna Theodosiou, Policy Associate at The Green Tank, raised the issue of the dynamic introduction of Renewable Energy Sources into the energy system. Speaking in particular about the effort to reduce dependence on natural gas - especially after the war in Ukraine -, she made clear through official data that renewables are more cost-effective than a return to lignite and underlined that there are a lot of financial resources that remain untapped. Dimitris Kitsikopoulos, Vice President of Electra Energy, referred in particular to energy communities, noting that for some years now there has been a legal framework for their operation. He estimated that when a number of energy communities are dispersed within the energy system, it could become more democratic overall. Finally, Irene HongPing Shen, from the Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED), conveyed a great deal of international experience, insisting that energy should be owned or at least controlled by the public sector. Only through public ownership of energy, she said, we can reach the goals of climate neutrality, approach energy democracy, integrate perspectives such as feminism, and make proper transition planning in order to avoid energy chaos.

"Empowering open, inclusive communities" was the title of the third and final panel session, regarding the challenges of supporting minorities, the role of local authorities and communities, but also the management of the new social dynamics that have been emerging in recent years and invite us to reconsider the way we live together. In particular, the inclusion of women in urban planning and the integration of refugees were discussed. Eva Grigoriadou, architect from the Urbana group, demonstrated through her professional experience the need for urban design to be participatory and inclusive, and to incorporate a gender perspective, noting that gender equality must be implemented in all areas of life. Eleni Mougiakou, from the Commonspace coop, stressed that the people who will be affected by a project should be involved in its design from the very beginning, as this is their right but also produces better results. Shedding light to another aspect of inclusion, Simos Daniilidis, Mayor of Neapoli-Sykies and Chairman of the Social Policy Committee of KEDE (Central Union of Municipalities of Greece), gave specific data on the hosting and integration of refugees in his city, especially in terms of housing and children’s education. He particularly insisted on the positive economic impact that all these actions have for the local communities. Finally, the director of the Greek Council for Refugees, Lefteris Papagiannakis, described the poor situation in Greece in terms of human rights and concluded that the basic thing that is needed is to create an institutional framework that can function under any political circumstances, regardless of the willingness or the unwillingness of the leaders or local authorities.

Each session was accompanied by a fruitful discussion between the speakers, the moderator and the audience, who intervened with insightful questions and comments, further promoting the debate. The conference also made use of the Mentimeter application, which allowed the audience to participate in real time by answering Alexia Kalaitzi’s pertinent questions.

Nevertheless, the Ideas Forum was not only restricted to these four sessions. During the breaks, four speed-dating rounds were held in the foyer, where our strategic partners could meet the participants and shortly present projects that the Foundation has supported in recent years. Specifically, Vangelis Kosmatos (G-All - Gender Alliance Initiative) presented the campaign "Deconstructing gender stereotypes"; Vicky Tzega (EKPOIZO) discussed the major initiative "Clean energy bills"; Georgia Bekridaki (Dock - Cooperative Space for Social Solidarity Economy) spoke about the publication "Participatory Municipal Budget"; and Naya Kalfeli (School of Journalism and Mass Communications - AUTH) explained the key points of the research "More (about) Borders, less (about) Humans: Media Coverage of Migration and Asylum Seeking in Greece", which deals with the way the media cover the refugee issue. The presentations were met with the keen interest of the conference audience, who in several cases gave up... coffee in order to attend them, to get a brief taste of the projects and to obtain books and flyers with useful information.

At the closing of the conference, Michalis Goudis, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Thessaloniki office, shared with the moderator and the audience his impressions, thoughts and conclusions from this inspiring day. As he pointed out, many different things from many different perspectives were heard, as most of the topics are still untouched and neglected in the Greek public debate, in which they are only now being introduced. Therefore, he concluded, our Foundation’s important contribution to this dialogue should continue through further meetings and actions.