Forms of Social Exclusion in Western Thessaloniki

GEORGIOS TSIAKALOS

POVERTY 3 project presentation at Strasbourg 22-3-1993

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The program I am going to report about is called a “model action for the economic and social integration of the least privileged groups in the area of Eleftherio/Kordelio-Evosmos-Menemeni (E./K.E.M.)” and aims at showing that an effective fight against poverty and social exclusion is possible—even under contemporary conditions in Europe, namely mass-migration, economic shortages in the fields of social welfare and declining tendency for solidarity with the poor and socially excluded. And it also aims at showing, how it is possible to do that.

But let me say at the very beginning: speaking about attempts to challenge marginalization and poverty we aren’t allowed to forget the greatest and always present enemy of every anti-poverty program: its own rhetoric; created by the desire of all associated with it to believe that it is more than it is, and thus in turn to promise too much. An anti-poverty program has only a small part of the responsibility for dealing with an immense problem that crisscrosses european, state, and local responsibility and bridges both public and voluntary responsibility. So, keep it in mind when listening to my statement.

But now, let me say who are the poor and socially excluded who have to be integrated, which are the environment and the conditions which have to be changed by E./K.E.M. and, finally, which are the strategies, objectives and activities.

The area of E./K.E.M.

The western part of Greater Thessaloniki is a highly polluted, poorly serviced area with a population of 60,000 inhabitants—most of them with a much lower average income than people in other parts of Greece. But even a poor area like this is not homogeneous in the distribution of wealth and poverty. There are parts with relative dynamics and you can feel that, especially in the increasing self-confidence of the local authorities. But there are also enclaves of enormous poverty, where the word “hope” sounds strange or even unknown. These are enclaves in a geographical or/and in a social sense. Let me show some of them:

(Slides 1-4) This is Agia Varvara (“Santa Barbara”). An enclave surrounded by petrochemical industries. The most polluted area in Europe. To the South and to the West in a distance of a few hundred meters you can see some refineries. In equal distance to the East one of the greatest chemical factories. To the North the highway. Agia Varvara was abandonned by those inhabitants who were able to leave it. But there are many who can not afford it, and others—poor immigrants—who came recently. None of them believes in the promises of politicians for a transfer to new houses outside of this area and nobody believes in his or her own ability to achieve that by himself or by herself. E./K.E.M. is engaged in this area.

(Slides 5-8) This is Dendropotamos. A damp, often flooded, overcrowded, poorly serviced, highly polluted area, laying between two highways, a rubbish dump, and a “river” with waste water. About 40% of the population are Rom (Gypsies); the others internal migrants of the 1960’s and new migrants from the USSR who came during the last two years. A slum. But always, when I am there, I wonder about the most beautiful roses you can see anywhere—reminding that aesthetics is a human property, which can be destroyed by bad conditions; but that is still alive in Dendropotamos. Some in Dendropotamos think that their problems come from “the Gypsies”. Most of the Gypsies think that their problems come from “the Fitziria,” a Gypsy-clan, resident in the southern part of Dendropotamos. The Fitziria think that their problems come from “the travellers”, who live in tents outside of Dendropotamos. Finally, travellers say, that their families have always come to this area—long before internal migrants and resident Gypsies settled here. E./K.E.M. is engaged in this area.

(Slide 9) This is an area outside of Evosmos. Many Rom live here, although they don’t like this. There are many bombs and a lot of ammunition under the surface, left by the German army after the World War II. Five children were hurt by an explosion last year. Of course, there is no school here. E./K.E.M. is engaged in this area.

(Slide 10) These are statistics about single-parent families in Western Thessaloniki.

You see, people needn’t live in a geographical enclave in order to be isolated and they needn’t live in a slum or be members of a minority group to slide into poverty—it is sufficient to become the head or a member of a single-parent family. E./K.E.M. is engaged in this field.

(Slide 11) More statistics. A disabled or a handicapped person in the family means in the most cases to be socially excluded and/or poor. E./K.E.M. is engaged in this field.

Let me sum up: There are many poor and socially excluded people amongst the 60,000 inhabitants in our district. Almost all of them (more than 80%) belong to the following four groups: single-parent families, Rom (Gypsies), families with disabled or handicapped members, and Pontians (people of greek origin who came recently from the USSR). And most people who belong to these groups are poor and/or socially excluded.

E./K.E.M.’S ACTIVITIES

There is a lot to do, if someone is willing to face poverty and social exclusion. The greatest opponent is time. Establishing and running such a program means competing against time. It is difficult to integrate young Rom-children who have already started to sniff or who are already school drop-outs; and it is difficult to come out of poverty if the initial event that dropped them into poverty and social exclusion happened a long time ago. For this reason we started activities soon after completing basic research.

Here are some of E./K.E.M.’s new established institutions and some of the activities.

(Slide 12) This is the Centre for Single-Parent Families. It is a base and a starting place for staff and volunteers working all-over the district and it is also a place where a lot of activities happen. For example:

1. Tutoring for school-aged children, professional orientation for teenagers, art and craft classes, babysitting e.t.c. They liberate parents providing them with time and opportunities to tend to various tasks, including job-hunting.

2. Workshops and discussions on problems arising from single-parenthood, on ways of developing working skills and also the skills needed for job-hunting. They make single parents self-confident, more competent and more efficient.

On the right one of the Centres of Information. They provide information on different subjects related to health, welfare, education, jobs, insurance and social services, confronting the phenomena of ignorance and passivity which characterize marginalised minority groups.

(Slide 13-15) This is the beginning of “schooling” for old and young travellers, who had never attended a school before. Provided with the necessary material, they built their own school -a school like their homes.

(Slide 16) This is a school for the children and the grown-ups of the Fitziria-group. Drop-outs and children who had never attended a school before -sometimes their enrolment was refused by schoolmasters only because they hadn’t had the necessary vaccinations. The school: a house among their houses.

Both schools don’t exist this year. But about twenty traveller and Fitziria children have been registered at the regular school and they also attend afternoon, compensatory classes established by the program. And many grown-ups visit alphabetization courses offered by volunteers of the Department of Education.

(Slide 17-18) This is one of more than ten language courses for adult Pontians aiming at making them competent for greek labour-market. In co-operation with employers of the district and the Union of Industrialists of Northern Greece, an attempt is being made to find employment for Pontians in professions that correspond to the professional training they received in the USSR. There is also a cooperation with the University regarding the employment of scientists.

(Slide 19) These are members of “ROM - Cultural and Athletic Association of the Roma of Dendropotamos”. A club, that has been formed by E./K.E.M. together with Roma and is receiving enthusiastic support. The coach of the greek national basketball-team is a volunteer of E./K.E.M. and comes to basketball training. His demand on all players to know how to read and write the official game rules provided the E./K.E.M. teachers with well-accepted teaching material and some hardworking students.

It exists a FORUM -a regular meeting with representatives of relevant authorities and Roma, established by E./K.E.M. It has been constituted for decreasing and eliminating prejudice by authorities, in an effort to assist small vendors in acquiring and renewing necessary permits.

There is also another -nationwide- FORUM, established by E./K.E.M., as support for single-parent families.

INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

People engaged in anti-poverty programs must have already recognised the various strategies we employ in E./K.E.M. Anyway, let me describe them now in a more technical way.

Like most programs for reducing poverty E./K.E.M. falls under the following major headings: amenities, investing in human capital, participation, and economic measures.

What is the meaning of these headings?

Amenities are concerned with supplying services that strengthen and enrich the quality of life by directly modifying the environment of the poor. They serve as increments to personal and family welfare, whether they are household help, child-care facilities or information centers. In the philosophy of E./K.E.M. they serve as a “vehicle” on the road to participation and to rehabilitation.

Investments in “human capital” constitute resources, such as schooling, job-training, health care, and various techniques of fitting the poor into the job market, in an attempt to make the poor more self-sufficient and productive .Our experience with subsidized projects shows that investments in human capital often don’t reach the poor and the socially excluded. E./K.E.M. tries to make those investments more effective for the poor -either by improving their abilities to participate at adequate projects or by suggesting a change of those projects so that they serve the needs of the poor.

Participation includes those activities that aim at overcoming many of the psychological and social effects of poverty, which tend to reproduce poverty. Many people say that poverty in Europe, even if it involves considerable physical hardship, is primarily “social poverty”. It isolates the individual from the social mainstream, denies him/her the respect and status of the “respectable” members of the society, and excludes him/her from mobility opportunities into positions of social worth.

Economic Measures are necessary because some poor, like the disabled, need a “boosting” into the economic mainstream by programs designed directly for their benefit , for instance by creating adequate jobs, which is often possible only with special inducements to employers.

To sum up: our intervention strategies can be conceived of as attempts to change environment; to change occupational chances; to change the pattern of claims on income and the distribution of power; and, finally, to change the performance of the economic system.

Outlook

At the end let me ask my every day question: what can the future hold for the poor and socially excluded in Western Thessaloniki and what will be E./K.E.M.’s contribution to this future? My answer is: I really don’t know; but I know very well that poverty and social exclusion don’t have any place in my vision of the world of tomorrow. And I mean that our knowledge in social affairs is so huge that is only a question of will to find and adopt the best strategies for facing poverty and social exclusion.

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