Occupation of the Villa Zografou
The Villa Zografou ( Greek Βίλα Ζωγράφου ) is a three-storey building built in the 19th century in the Athens district of Zografos , which is organized as a self-organized social space after squatting .
The approximately 5.7 hectare fenced property is one of the few free spaces in one of the most densely populated areas in Europe. In the early 2000s, it was intended as a communal green space that was not to be built on. The owners objected to the building of a shopping center on the property, whereupon the municipality of Zografos bought half of it in 2006 in order to increase the municipality's influence on further use. The then mayor of Zografos, Giannis Kazakos, took out a million dollar loan from the Austrian bank Kommunalkredit International , the legality of which was later highly controversial. The fact that Prime Minister Giorgos Andrea Papandreou had to settle part of this debt in 2011 in order to receive further payments from the International Monetary Fund led to extensive reports in the Greek press. Activists have called for the disclosure and review of Greece's national debt .
The villa was occupied by a gathering of Zografos residents in October 2011. Most of these occupiers came from the anarchist or radical left, which led to conflicts with the city administration. The occupiers transformed the building into a cultural center, with concerts, cinema, workshops, political events, daycare and vegetable gardens. This made Villa Zografou famous beyond the borders of Zografou, and several hundred visitors from all parts of Athens regularly came on weekends.
No agreement could be reached between the occupiers and the city administration about a use, whereupon the city had the building forcibly cleared by the police on March 13, 2017 and the entire area cordoned off. Since this happened under the newly elected left-wing SYRIZA government, the eviction caused international attention and irritation among many voters. The following night, a demonstration with over 3,000 participants passed through Zografou and caused considerable property damage in the main shopping street. In the months that followed, the Villa Zografou became quiet and the city announced that it wanted to create a “cultural center for all citizens”. Contrary to promises, however, not much has happened to this day, only in the summer months the city organizes a few concerts, which are mostly attended by middle-class audiences. After the eviction, the lack of a self-managed room for young people worsened the image of Zografou as a place to live and in the streets around the villa some bars and cafes had to close due to a lack of customers.
Web links
- Website (greek)
Individual evidence
- ^ Aditya Chakrabortty: Greece in crisis: House of the rising repayments. An abandoned 19th-century villa has become a symbol in bricks and mortar of dubious public-private deals. In: The Guardian , August 1, 2011, accessed June 13, 2014.
- ↑ Villa Zografou, a self-organized social space in Athens on contra.info (November 4, 2011), accessed on June 12, 2014.
Coordinates: 37 ° 58 ′ 32.4 " N , 23 ° 46 ′ 23.6" E