This is a CTP of initiative: Shareable‐ShareableAthens (Greece)
This CTP (CTP1) is about the creation of the time bank network “Time Exchange Athens - Sintagma Square” during the social movement of daily peaceful demonstrations on public spaces that was occurring in Greece throughout the summer 2011. The movement consisted of spontaneous daily gatherings at public spaces that went on for almost six months (May - November 2011). For the first time in the contemporary history of Greece the vast majority of people decided to attend the gatherings at least once regardless of their age, political opinions, social status.
At the gatherings at the central square of Athens, in front of the Greek Parliament (the Sintagma Square) a group of active civilians, students and academics met and started discussions focused on the theme of “economy”, and specifically sharing, collaborative and solidarity networks.
After many discussions, the group was sure that they would like to make the first step of initiating a network, and were also certain of the characteristics that it would have: it should be an autonomous, self-financed network, functioning under the main principle of solidarity. It would not be affiliated to any political party, but would be focused on promoting social and economic, practical solutions to real problems of everyday life.
After these main principles had been established, the next step was to decide which tool was the one that they would use. In the wide spectrum of collaborative and sharing economy tools such as food networks, time banks, health support initiatives, the group had to define, which was the one fitting the needs of Athenian society at that time, and that they would be capable of successfully establishing and maintaining, but mainly, the tool through which they could achieve the group’s defined social and economic goals. Through this research, they concluded to the model of the time bank that would function through an online platform. The platform would be funded by parties/events that the network would be organizing for its members and the public.
After long and detailed discussions about the format and the rules of the platform (that were actually also the rules and the basis of the network’s ideology and how it would be practically expressed and implemented), the platform was developed with the collaboration of Hackerspace Athens, which is one of the initiatives that the people of Time Exchange met at Sintagma.
After the daily gatherings were disrupted (by the police) in November 2011, the movement came to an end. The Time Exchange network meetings continued in other locations that were friendly towards the network, its beliefs and goals: politically and socially active, free and “open” spaces such as Nosotros in Exarchia, Athens.
It is worth mentioning that during the same social movement of daily gatherings at public squares many more initiatives like the Time Exchange Athens were formed: “60% of the social, self-organised initiatives that are currently active in Greece have been formed during these gatherings of the summer of 2011”. Therefore, apart from the CTP of the creation of the Time Exchange Athens network, we can argue that the movement of summer 2011 itself was a CTP for social innovation in Greece.
At the gatherings of summer 2011, when daily peaceful demonstrations of social unrest were taking place, people participated in open discussions, fora and collective activities without being related to political parties. All activities were self-organized, usually on the spot, without any prior planning. In this context, the creation of Time Exchange Athens was the result of co-production in multiple levels.
Firstly, it was the result of the coordination and collaboration of a group of people without previous personal relationships, who got involved in discussions regarding economy. The outcome of establishing relationships with people whom you did not previously know and you are not sure you can trust, but you met on a square for a peaceful protest related to political situation of the country. Initially people in the meetings were carefully analyzing every detail before coming to the point of taking any decision, so the meetings were slow in taking important decisions (mainly as they were in a new, unknown situation: they had a lot of questions, they had to speculate a lot, for everything).
This founding group that took all the initial decisions and formed the Time Exchange Athens network consisting of Greeks but also Spanish people, who were living and working or temporarily studying in Athens. Most of the founding members are still very active in the network. In addition, the role of the Hackerspace Athens for the creation of the main space of the Time Exchange Athens initiative, its online platform, has to be highlighted. The developer who supported the process was a person from the USA who happened to be in Athens at that time, and who had some experience with and knowledge of similar platforms.
However, as has been already mentioned, the members of the founding group got introduced to each other during the movement of daily gatherings at Sintagma Square in Athens. The atmosphere of solidarity, change, motivation and optimism during the meetings at this square, and the symbolism of being just outside the parliament building were very important factors for the initiation of discussions, birth of new ideas, meeting new people and opening up on personal and collective levels.
In addition, for the first time in the contemporary history of Greece the vast majority of people all over the country decided to attend the gatherings at least once regardless of their age, political opinions, social status, and went to the squares. This happened in most cities and villages, regardless of their size and population. All this broad social support and participation played a very important role on the creation of many networks, such as the Time Exchange Athens, by indicating that there is an audience that seeks to hear solutions, there are people that are willing to go out of their comfort zone, demand and support social change and new approaches.
External related events were in a broader sense the realization of how serious the social and economic crisis in Greece is, as well as, that this situation would not be solved in the next decades. At that point (summer of 2011) the government had taken decisions to receive financial support from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, in order to pay back the economic debt of the country. The future was unclear, and this was a common, massive perception across Greek society. Moreover, it was becoming clear that the political decisions and agreements were not only related to economic factors but would affect the social conditions in Greece significantly.
For these reasons, a massive and unprecedented social movement was evoked. Thousands of people (many of whom had never participated in a protest before) decided to go out of their comfort zone and join the spontaneous meetings that were taking place at the public spaces of Greece every day. The people attending these meetings represented all ages, income groups, ideologies. But above all they represented a clear and widespread social need to react, in order to protect themselves from an inauspicious future.
During these gatherings, many groups and networks such as the Time Exchange Athens were formed, while the power of collective action was highlighted and many people were motivated to start being socially and politically active. A lot of discussions were initiated, for example on what happened in other countries in the past, what solutions were found there, and many new ideas received publicity in Greece.
Specifically in Athens, at Sintagma square, the people who formed the Time Exchange Athens met also a lot of people who were part of (or later on formed) other networks. Apart from exchanging knowledge and ideas between them, the groups even made partnerships and started to collaborate. As an example, the online platform of the Time Exchange Athens was developed by members of Hackerspace Athens, whom they met during the gatherings at Sintagma square. The two groups are still in good contact and collaborate whenever it is necessary.
Contestation during the first steps of the Time Exchange Athens was there in an acceptable and “healthy” manner, in the form of discussions for different views and ideas, in order to make decisions. There were no strong disputes or conflicts, the members were mainly uniting to achieve the common goal and trying to explore the best way to do it. As they did not know each other before, trust had to be established through this process as well. Their meetings were very democratic, and decisions were taken according to the preferences of the majority, by voting after discussing.
Contestation mainly happened in two points during the process of establishment of the Time Exchange Athens:
1. Deciding on the nature and format of the new network
The group researched and scrutinized various sharing models and networks such as the Local Exchange System (LES), alternative currencies such as the TEM in Greece, they even analyzed the possibility of starting their own, new currency, before concluding to the model of the time bank. Towards the point of taking the final decision they focused the discussion on time banks: was a time bank exactly what they needed?
The contestation in the aforementioned discussions concerned what would be better for the network, what was easy or difficult to achieve, what was functional and efficient -and what not.
Finally, the group concluded that the model of the time bank was a concept that was easy to implement, effective and efficient, as well as promoting solidarity and equity: time is of equal value to everyone, there is no exchange rate, you can’t accumulate it and have more than others.
2. Setting up the rules and regulations for the function of the online platform
The issue of trust was an important point again, but in this case it was the trust between the potential user and the time bank platform, and also between the users on the platform themselves. How could a trustworthy, inspiring and enabling environment be created?
Speculation was mainly focused on the safety of the network and the exchanges, in order to ensure secure use of the time exchange network. It should be constructive and not threaten the personal security of the participants. Also, the possibilities of something going wrong through the transactions had to be limited to the minimum, and users should feel comfortable to enroll and use the platform. Specific details that were discussed included:
The creation of the Time Exchange Athens network was perceived as a Critical Turning Point by its members, at the moment it was happening. It was anticipated, as the members were already keen in getting involved in action to support society and provide solutions. This anticipation was partly the reason (and partly the result) of their decision to repeatedly join the gatherings at Sintagma Square, and try to meet other people who are also motivated to start “something” through which they could help the Athenian society go through the difficult economic situation that has been already there since the previous couple of years.
However, none of the founding members knew exactly the form of the network/group they wanted to create. And even after the group developed and they decided on the model of the time bank, they did not know or anticipate how it would evolve in the future. They did not have big plans, but just aimed at making a start and trying to make it work.
For this reason, namely, the realization of going through a Critical Turning Point, and the anticipation that it would be something important for society, they were very careful with all the initial steps, and allowed a lot of time for this initial stage to evolve and develop correctly. Therefore, the stage of the creation of the network was also the one that was more time consuming. There were a lot of long and slow meetings, a lot of uncertainty, many discussions paying attention to every possible detail, trying to identify, imagine and avoid any possible obstacle/problem that could occur.
After the Time Exchange Athens network was formed, the platform had been developed, and the first members joined, everything went well. Since then, and until now, the platform has been functioning almost on its own, without requiring a lot of monitoring or attention.
Therefore, a main lesson learned is that there was no need to worry and be so careful while setting up the network. Fear and lack of trust for each other but also for external factors made them very suspicious and detailed, without really having to be. Maybe the process would have been easier if the members trusted each other from the beginning, trying to be more open and relaxed.
However, it can be also argued that being strict and taking decisions very carefully to be at “the safe side” at the beginning, may have eventually contributed a lot to the success of the Time Exchange Athens platform. The rules that were established were very clear, and agreements were made on all aspects, even the most controversial ones. Therefore, these preconditions surely helped the platform to function smoothly without major issues, for years, even if they were time-consuming at the first place.
Specifically, regarding the users of the platform, people participating in the bank are solidary, with clear intentions and expectations, and nothing dangerous or “weird” has happened in the network. The only problem that has been observed are some attempts to the use of the platform for selling products, even though this is not allowed, as the network is clearly for time exchange. However the group regularly monitors these activities and is able to stop the ones not complying with the rules of the time exchange network. Finally, nothing has gone wrong regarding the safety and security of the members and the transactions within the network.
Currently, the group has developed trust within the core team and also the users of the platform, as it has been proved that there is no reason to act otherwise. Therefore all processes are easier (and also more established) and the network functions in an easy and constructive way.
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