[Peace-discuss] A Greek Political Party

[Paul M. King]

I've been in Europe for a few weeks and am now in Greece for 
a few more. Yesterday I came across a compelling political 
tabling display that I thought folks from AWARE might be 
interested in. There is a political party here in Greece 
called Syn (which means solidarity) that have similar values 
to us and the Greens, it seems.

They were in the park yesterday on account of World 
Environment Day, a U.N. declared holiday. (It seems that the 
rest of the world knows nothing about Earth Day. And I knew 
nothing about World Environment Day. Go figure.) Anyway, I 
was struck by several things.

First, I was immediately captivated by the wonderful graphic 
and stylistic designs of their posters, banners and flyers. 
Very modern, colorful, playful and pretty. It was sort of 
like a very slick, but tasteful, advertising campaign.

Second, I was able to connect with them right away because 
they were giving away attractive little 4x5 flyers that we 
were supposed to put on parked cars. The reason I (and 
almost everyone who walked by) liked the flyer so much is 
because it was explaining to the driver of the parked car 
that I, as a pedestrian, cannot walk on the sidewalk because 
they are in the way. It's a campaign to take back the 
sidewalks. So, they were able to draw me in by connecting to 
a /daily frustration/ that almost all people have and giving 
them an /immediate and easy/ way to help alleviate the 
problem. I've been putting these flyers all over the cars 
here. They are crazy the way they drive all over the public 
squares and sidewalks here!

And third, they were a youth organization, sort of like the 
Young Republicans. They even had a nice little flag waving 
in the middle of their display. So, organziation and early 
indoctrination. 

Anyway, I was inspired and thought others might be 
interested.

By the way, I have a blog with random comments about my 
perceptions of life in Europe. It's not all good and most of 
it is not political, but I think I may have managed to write 
a couple things that someone somewhere may find interesting. 
If anyone is would like to look at it, just point your 
browser to:

<benefaction.blogspot.com>

..:: Paul King