http://kasamaproject.org/
Posted by Mike E on June 28, 2012
A report from Greece by the Winter Has Its Endproject.
by Sopiko Japaridze, Eric Ribellarsi, and Sara Khaled
Sometime around 7 A.M., our group of reporters stumbled back to the apartment we’d been staying at. Making our way through the maze of narrow street corners, we are greeted by the sunrise.
All night, until 8 A.M., Crete’s May Days festival went on, fusing communist politics and local culture.
Together, we‘ve been reflecting back on the last two days of nonstop camaraderie and politics.
The young Greek communists who put together this festival here in Heraklion, Crete (the capitol city of an island south of the Greek mainland) infuse politics with a flourishing radical culture. The organic fusion between people’s enjoyment of music, dance, food and politics has been nothing like the political world we come from.
We’ve come to Crete for the “Delayed Maydays Festival.” It’s situated in the center of a park in the heart of Heraklion, the capital city of Crete. All around, young communist students hang ful banners bearing slogans and art. One slogan reads
“With the people at the front, we can find a way out.”
The Georgiadis park is beautifully shaded by trees cooling everyone under them. Trash bags are taped to the trees to easily collect trash. Chairs and tables brought from homes are placed underneath the shade and throughout open areas. There are vendors selling everything from apricots to jewelry. A table is set up with kegs and kegs of beer and hard alcohol for mixed drinks made to order. Marinated pork souvlaki is cooked on grills, which KOEs members keep going day and night. They use hair dryers to keep the coals going despite the wind.
Reconstruction of society
Back in Athens, we’d heard that the Communist Organization of Greece (KOE) believes that it is very important to “reconstruct” the Greek society “socially, politically, and economically.” This phrase captures the spheres of the society that KOE believes will have to be profoundly transformed to bring about a revolutionary future in Greece.