Sarantaporo.gr: A network by the citizens, for the citizens

On Saturday 3 October at 17.00, Aimilia Voulvouli will be presenting her work on Sarantaporo.gr at the tavern “Thronos” in Pithio, which is one of the villages that participate in the network. The presentation, which will be in greek, will be live-streamed on our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn48Vey0gZdmoKNXzHqcmBw

Το Σάββατο 3 Οκτωβρίου στις 5 το απόγευμα, θα πραγματοποιηθεί παρουσίαση της έρευνας της Αιμιλίας Βουλβούλη σχετικά με το Ασύρματο Κοινοτικό Δίκτυο Sarantaporo.gr στην ταβέρνα “Ο Θρόνος” στο Πύθιο Ελασσόνας, ένα από τα χωριά που συμμετέχουν στο δίκτυο. Θα παρέχεται η δυνατότητα livestreaming από το κανάλι των Ετεροπολιτικών στο youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn48Vey0gZdmoKNXzHqcmBw

The Social Sciences Today: Dilemmas and perspectives beyond the crisis

Two members of our research team, Aimilia Voulvouli and Alexandros Kioupkiolis, will be giving a talk on ‘New ecosystems of cooperative politics: the case of Karditsa’ at the Social Sciences Today: Dilemmas and perspectives beyond the crisis conference organized by the School of Social Sciences at the University of the Aegean in Mytilene on June 6-9.  Here’s the full programme of the conference, which includes the abstracts of all talks and presentations.

Heteropolitics at Social & Solidarity Conference in Larissa

Heteropolitics researchers Alexandros Kioupkiolis and Aimilia Voulvouli will be speaking at the Social & Solidarity Economy (SSE) Conference on the “Modern Telecom Infrastructures by Citizens for Citizens” organized by the Greek Open University and Sarantaporo.gr in Larissa on May 11, 2019. Here’s more information (in Greek) about the event: https://www.eap.gr/el/anakoinvseis-ekdilwseis/sunedria-ekdilwseis/ekdiilwseis-tou-eap-fwtografiko-arxeio/7490-imerida-k-al-o-tou-eap-sti-larisa-me-thema-sygxrones-tilepikoinoniakes-ypodomes-apo-polites-gia-polites

Scientific Symposium on Civil Society and Social & Solidarity Economy

Heteropolitics researchers Alexandros Kioupkiolis and Aimilia Voulvouli will be giving a talk tomorrow morning on ‘the new ecosystems of collaborative politics’ at the Scientific Symposium on Civil Society and Social & Solidarity Economy in Athens. And on Thursday, our collaborator Yannis Pechtelidis will be giving a presentation with Stelios Pantazidis on the ‘Educational Commons and Institutional reconfiguration’.

For more information (in Greek) about the symposium: https://www.eps.auth.gr/sites/default/files/Synedrio%20A%CE%A0%CE%98-%CE%95%CE%9A%CE%9A%CE%95.pdf

Interviews of activists from Sarantaporo.gr

From October 2017 to June 2018, in the framework of the Heteropolitics ERC COG (2017-2020) Research Project, we conducted ethnographic research in Elassona, where over the past nine years eleven villages have built, run and maintain a Wireless Community Network (WCN), sarantaporo.gr. The aim of our research is to contribute to the debate on Commons through feedback from the field where such ventures take place. More specifically, the aim of Heteropolitics is to highlight alternative, self-organised communities of Commons. In the case-study of sarantaporo.gr, we have focused on the community created around a Digital Commons and the perceptions emerging from participation in the WCN concerning the infrastructure, which is provided by all participants to all the inhabitants of the villages that belong on the network, either they are participants or not. The following narratives (in Greek) from interviews we held answer questions such as:

  • How do the Commons emerge as everyday politics?
  • How do the Commons differ from bureaucratic state policies?
  • How do the subjectivities of participants emerge and get transformed in the contexts of such endeavours?
  • How do participants understand their role in the endeavour and in the wider society they belong to?

You can read the full interviews (in Greek) here.

First international Heteropolitics workshop in Torino on the commons and alternative politics in Italy, 10-12 July 2018

In 10-12 July 2018, the first scheduled workshop of Heteropolitics took place at the University of Torino, consisting of the main research team of the project (A. Vesco, M. Zechner, A.Voulvouli, A. Kioupkiolis) and six participants, who are researchers, academics and activists.

The workshop discussed mainly contemporary social movements and civic politics in Italy, as well as the relationship between law, politics and the promotion of the commons in the Italian context.

Heteropolitics Seminar program Turin July 2018