A new campaign to encourage solidarity with Greece is being coordinated by Greek Australian students in Sydney universities.
Called Mazi (Greek for ‘together’), the campaign hopes to raise awareness about the real affects on ordinary people trapped into the debt saga.
Nicholas Conomos, vice president of Sydney University Greek Society, is sure of one thing – to rise from the current crisis only unity can provide a solution.
The Combined University Association is made up of societies from Sydney Universities including USYD, UNSW, UTS and MACU, run by Greek Australian students.
“UTS Hellenic alone is made up of thirty university students of Hellenic heritage,” Stephanie Papaioannou, president of the University of Technology Sydney’s Greek Society, tells Neos Kosmos.
“The movement centres around societies run by spreading little blue stickers around Sydney with the hashtag #mazi written on them.”
Rather than focus on divisive politics or point the finger, the campaign aims to portray Greece’s predicament through togetherness, aside from numbers and statistics.
“Blaming others, squabbling and in-fighting only worsens the conditions at hand; however obvious it may seem, it is often restrained from practice,” Conomos says.
“All hope rests on an agreement between debtor and creditor. Only unity can solve this problem, without political division.”
Mazi aspires to continue its course as an active, cohesive part of multiculturalism in Australia, spreading the movement across suburbs and states.
The campaign encourages people to continue to travel to Greece and to support Greek businesses, involving as many people and associations as possible.
“It is times like these where we Greeks need to stick together,” Papaioannou adds.
Amongst their long-term goals are sparking and launching investment by diasporans, lobbying and even holding fundraising initiatives.
“The more people we can reach the more we can assist those in need,” she explains.
“The aims of the movement develop as the movement grows.”
Conomos feels for the Greek people who have been suffering unknowingly, often without reason given or understood.
He believes Greek Australians should support them in this endeavour to determine their own fate.
“When we think of Greece most of us imagine beaches with crystal clear water, warm undying sunshine, feta cheese and olives, but after five years there exists another side to Greece,” he says.
“Imagine pensioners rummaging through street bins searching for food, the homeless shooting up in broad daylight in the centre of town.
Streets of empty, deserted shops, graffiti covered walls, and beggars the only people present to notice those who pass. Both of these images exist together now.”