Back-to-the-landers networking and advocating for rural revival

It was an inaugural by the premier minister’s staff that had gone mostly unnoticed. In an unannounced lawsuit connected July 16, Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Fourna, a upland village astatine the bluish borderline of Evrytania, where helium met with 7 radical – mostly young – who had near the large cities down to settee successful small upland villages crossed the country. The prime of Fourna was not accidental: In the crisp aerial astatine 840 meters, amid fir trees, a dedicated schoolteacher and an energetic clergyman had moved eden and world to bring families with children to the village so that the section schoolhouse would stay open.

The gathering went surprisingly well, and a fewer months later, astatine the Thessaloniki International Fair, the archetypal results appeared (abolition of spot tax, among others). There, the premier curate announced a bid of tax incentives aimed astatine this emerging radical of restless Greeks who garbage to settee for the often joyless beingness of the metropolis and alternatively question a much human, grounded beingness successful smaller communities.

After the pandemic

The truth is, fewer Athenians person resisted the phantasy – adjacent concisely – of a beingness distant from municipality chaos: adjacent to nature, focused connected prime of life, and enriched by the simplicity of a little analyzable regular routine. Fewer still person explored the thought seriously, and lone a small number person turned it into reality.

But those fewer who did take the leap are present acold much galore than their counterparts successful earlier generations. Demographers, anthropologists, and adjacent the authorities itself person noted the trend: During the Covid pandemic, a existent of tendency emerged for a caller exemplary of life, 1 that prioritizes values antithetic from those of the urbanites of the precocious 20th period – nonrecreational and idiosyncratic accomplishment astatine each costs, vocation obsession, fiscal prosperity. It is simply a exemplary that tin nary longer beryllium sustained successful today’s overcrowded and strained Greek metropolis.

More and much people, therefore, are declaring their willingness to marque a idiosyncratic and household restart distant from Athens. They are networking, becoming a politically applicable force, organizing κοινωνικά cooperatives, and attracting the idiosyncratic attraction of the premier curate and his team. Indeed, a fewer months earlier the gathering successful Fourna, the lawman curate to the premier minister, Thanasis Kontogeorgis, had already held an online treatment with astir 40 young “decentralizers” – arsenic those back-to-the-landers are informally called successful Greece – some to perceive their voices and to amended coordination with cardinal government.

Evgenia Mastoraki and her hubby Vangelis, on with their canine Takeo (whose sanction means ‘brave’ successful Japanese), bask carefree moments successful the serene isolation of Oktonia, Evia.

Aegean view

Evgenia Mastoraki and her hubby are among those who were profoundly shaken by the coronavirus lockdowns. Their household vacation location successful Mourteri, south of Kymi connected the land of Evia, rapidly became some a refuge and a glimpse into different way of life. The children loved it, and the mates began to see it much seriously. When they discovered Oktonia, a small, nearby, picturesque semi-mountain village overlooking the Aegean, their determination was fundamentally made. Only applicable issues remained to beryllium resolved – and yet they were.

Four years later, 37-year-old Mastoraki, erstwhile an enthusiastic supporter of metropolis life, looks backmost with satisfaction. “We had to travel present to understand the changes of the seasons, to link the fruits and crops of the world with those cycles. We are fortunate to person my father-in-law’s land, where we cultivate astir everything. Thankfully, the children person a school, and we recovered radical we link with, pass with, and spend clip with.”

When it comes to economical incentives, she does not disregard their importance, but she believes what is astir lacking is simply a state-appointed “coordinator” to pass residents astir nonrecreational oregon different opportunities successful the region. “We often perceive astir programs, astir important backing tools that support caller ventures, but we person nary thought whether they use to us oregon whether we tin payment from them. We extremity up doing each the probe ourselves – often without being capable to marque consciousness of it.”

The success story

I inquire Dimitris Mastrogiannitis, 1 of the fewer residents of the upland village of Neraida successful the municipality of Lake Plastira, whether “financial incentives” are indispensable for someone to marque the large determination helium made 4 years agone – leaving down a career, a home, and an full big beingness successful Athens.

“It’s a beingness determination that besides requires fiscal incentives,” helium replies. “And not to speak theoretically, I precocious had a treatment with the politician of Lake Plastira, Panagiotis Nanos. The municipality has developed a program to pull radical by offering fiscal incentives, which it calls ‘Return to the Homeland.’”

When I asked him if the program had produced results, I learned that three families person already moved successful (doubling the fig of students astatine the section school) and 12 integer nomads person settled successful the area. “Other families person besides expressed interest, arsenic well arsenic two startup businesses with nary erstwhile ties to the prefecture oregon the region. If they come, it will apt pull adjacent much radical to settee here. Perhaps this accusation answers your question better.”

Better roads, which shorten travel times to large municipality centers, and the caller world of integer work intelligibly play a role. Still, surviving permanently “in the village” tin beryllium a antithetic experience. “Next doorway to me, successful the summer, lives a mates of radiologists who besides collaborate with hospitals abroad. They are forced to spell into the metropolis each time due to the fact that of mediocre nett connection…”

Dimitris Mastrogiannitis takes a stroll done the wood surrounding his location successful Neraida, Karditsa – a mounting that inspired his publication ‘Agrafa Animals,’ published by To Rodakio.

Challenges of nature

Translator and university-textbook exertion Machi Spanou sees two categories of radical present heading for the mountains – conscionable arsenic she and her spouse did successful 2011 when they moved from Pangrati successful Athens to Agios Georgios Nileias, 1 of the highest villages connected Mount Pelion (Pilio). Once location to 3,000 radical earlier the war, the village today has lone 40 residents.

“On the 1 hand, I spot ‘digital nomads,’ radical who work with their laptops. On the other, I spot urbanites who person near down their metropolis professions and taken up working the land.”

With 14 years of voluntary isolation down her, Spanou cautions would-be imitators that “going to unrecorded adjacent to quality sounds nice,” but reminds them that quality tin beryllium unforgiving. “Everyday beingness successful the mountains involves a batch of work – we were near without a telephone for 47 days due to the fact that of a snowstorm that chopped us disconnected for weeks.”

Other “thorns” that are little often discussed see the sometimes hard integration betwixt locals and newcomers from the city. “People are usually polite, but the region often remains, nary substance however overmuch goodwill there is connected some sides.”

An unforgettable New Year for Machi Spanou successful Agios Georgios Nileias: nary energy and 2 meters of snow. She has already spent 14 years successful the idyllic yet challenging ‘exile’ of Mount Pelion.

A caller culture

Alexandra Tragaki, prof of economical demography astatine Harokopio University, welcomes the announcement of measures to promote those who imagination of a antithetic beingness distant from the large cities, particularly Athens. She believes that presenting such measures astatine the highest authoritative level besides carries an acquisition dimension.

As she explains to Kathimerini, for the archetypal clip this prime – until precocious astir marginal – is being placed successful the spotlight. It is steadily gaining crushed and, under the close conditions, could foster a caller demographic culture.

“Obviously, the measures unsocial will ne'er beryllium enough,” she notes. “But the cardinal is that someone who wishes to travel the reverse way of urbanization should not brushwood barriers. These measures, and those that indispensable follow, assistance make a caller corporate outlook and marque the strategic support of decentralization a consistent, semipermanent reality.”

Tragaki adds a elemental truth: “It is not a atrocious happening for radical to unrecorded successful cities…” But, she stresses, it cannot beryllium the lone enactment for those who wish to thrive and make something new.

Permanent residents: Eight

Not acold from Fourna, successful the village of Petrilo successful neighboring Agrafa, astatine an altitude of 1,200 meters, a young woman, Vasiliki Koimtzidou, decided to settee – without immoderate anterior transportation to the area.

“We started with alternate tourism and ecotourism, expanded into cultivation, and combined it with agritourism and a small agritourism lodge. Later, the full assemblage embraced us, and some the municipality and the portion offered support. I had nary fiscal incentives, nary alleviation of immoderate kind, but the hazard I took paid off. It was a imagination travel true – but that doesn’t mean everyone will beryllium arsenic fortunate arsenic I was.”

Among her initiatives is the instauration of Agrafa Heritage, a nonprofit civilian enactment with an exclusively κοινωνικά impact. When Koimtzidou archetypal arrived successful Petrilo, the village had 16 imperishable residents; 5 years later, lone fractional remain.

“If caller radical don’t travel to the village to start families – oregon if families don’t determination present – we are doomed. In the adjacent decade, astatine the adjacent census, we whitethorn person disappeared arsenic a village.”

She welcomes the state’s caller attraction to decentralized communities (“the problems are communal contempt the geographical spread”), but stresses that authorities initiatives indispensable beryllium consistent. “You cannot, connected the 1 hand, beforehand upland beingness and decentralization and, astatine the aforesaid time, program the installation of 600 wind turbines successful Agrafa – a determination that would surely destruct our land.”

After a 20-year vocation astatine a large Greek bank, Philippos Frangoulis made the leap 4 years ago, leaving Athens for his ancestral village, Skamneli, 1 of the 46 villages of Zagori. Sociable and energetic by quality – helium present juggles three nonrecreational roles successful coaching, enforcement training, and sylvotherapy, a signifier of therapy done interaction with the wood – Frangoulis speaks candidly astir his experience:

“In reality, we are connected our own. The government’s support is surely positive, arsenic is our networking.” (Note: a gathering of the “decentralizers” is scheduled successful Vamvakou, Laconia, connected the archetypal weekend of October.)

For him, the archetypal contented the state indispensable code is housing: “Many houses successful the villages could accommodate newcomers, but for various reasons they stay closed.” He besides stresses the value of the superior sector. “Tourism is good, but lone to a point. Here successful Zagori, we person two old, decommissioned dairies and a mill. Why not bring radical successful to run them?”

Philippos Frangoulis is pictured against the backdrop of Skamneli, his family’s ancestral village successful Zagori, Ioannina. Despite the occasional challenges, helium has ne'er regretted his determination for a moment.

The strategy

The questions raised by Frangoulis and his chap pioneers are to beryllium addressed done the National Strategy for Regional and Local Development, arsenic well arsenic the Local Development Plans successful each region. The nationalist strategy is straight linked to discussions successful Brussels connected the caller European budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework, which besides requires adjacent coordination betwixt cardinal authorities and section authorities to guarantee aligned priorities – since the backing excavation is shared.

With the decision of the EU betterment fund, available resources are shrinking. “A cardinal pillar of the National Strategy for Regional and Local Development is the coordination of backing tools, to amended readying and to define, together with section communities, some contiguous and semipermanent priorities while gathering κοινωνικά and governmental consensus,” explains Kontogeorgis, the lawman curate to the premier minister.

The inaugural began successful Evros, where an contiguous subsidy of €10,000 has been offered for relocation to villages successful the bluish portion of the borderline region. “The public’s effect has been tremendous; there are presently 600 eligible applications.”

The lawman curate acknowledges that fiscal incentives unsocial are insufficient. “Issues of acquisition and wellness indispensable besides beryllium addressed, and a functional model indispensable beryllium created to guarantee that section communities tin efficaciously person newcomers.”

On the government’s side, a top precedence has been the improvement of an online networking and accusation platform, designed for some those funny successful moving from a large metropolis to a smaller assemblage – whether connected the mainland oregon an land – and those who person already made the move.

“On this platform, which we purpose to motorboat by the extremity of the year, users will find accusation connected nonrecreational opportunities successful the relocation area, available backing tools, and the accidental to link with different ‘decentralizers’ who already person acquisition and tin assistance usher them done this caller signifier of life.”