Rural Europe on the move English_E_version_all | Page 29

Crisis and the social solidarity economy
Assembling
diversity
The memory of the last evening
goodbye feast of Forum Synergies,
group instead of just visiting tourists. one another. It was peppered with
They showed concern about the pockets for informal exchanges in the
issues raised, and they attended cosy setting of this remote mountain
some of our excursions and sessions. community. Here in Karditsa we gave
birth to new projects and networks,
Forum Synergies had made a
with the European buffet and music, in particular effort to gather a diverse our Forum Synergies ‘babies’. For
a village near the lake, will linger long. range of rural development example, after meeting initially
We were part of the place and its stakeholders: from individual farmers, in Karditsa, my own organisation,
spirit, because we had not gathered agricultural cooperatives and Agroecopolis teamed up with the
in a conference centre. Instead, we agronomists to activists, researchers, Transnational Institute (TNI) to write
stayed in small guest houses, we ate academics, farmland trusts, seed a report on the impact of austerity
in local taverns and we visited local savers, health and cultural NGOs, and memoranda on the human right
farms. the energy co-op, rural tourism to food in Greece. I thank Forum
businesses, small enterprises, and Synergies for this initial connection
people from the bank. and wonder about all the other Forum
Owners and workers alike knew
what our meeting was about and
often had engaging conversations
with us, making us feel part of the
The programme was designed to
help this mixed crowd get to know
Synergies babies spread across the
continent.
OPPOSITE
8. 9. The energy cooperative and its production of pellets
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10. International Buffet at ERSG2017
11. Feast and songs
12. Our guest house hosts participated in the exchanges
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