Galery

4

3

2

1

Anastasia Balezdrova

In the difficult times of continuously deepening recession and minus values of sense of security and optimism, an advertising spot shown on television a few days ago is quite surprisingly calling the Greeks not to surrender to negative feelings but to keep walking.

"When you walk through a storm hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone."

The creators chose the song "You'll never walk alone" as a backing to the advertising spot. It is part of the world famous brands of whiskey the slogan of which "Keep walking" strives to inspire people to combine their personal development with the common progress.

GRReporter contacted one of the directors of the advertising spot, which the majority of Greek society perceives as moral support.

"We decided to make something that has never been made in Greece before. Without setting deadlines, to go out on the street with a camera and a small team and film what is happening there. Of course, since this is not a movie, we had to ask the people we were filming if they agreed to appear in the spot. And we filmed. When we liked something, we asked the permission of the "characters". If they disagreed or we could not find them, we just rejected the material. That is why it took so long. Typically, such work takes three days, and this project took between 20-25 days. We informed about the events in Athens, where and when they took place, etc. I call this project “documercial”, because in practice, it was like filming a documentary the only difference being that every time after the shooting, we had to ask the people whether they would like to be shown," said Harris Patramanis.

"80-90 per cent of the people in the advertising spot were caught by the camera accidentally, and generally, there is nothing staged. The staging was: no staging."

In his opinion, the result has come up to the initial plans. "We were looking for positive people. This is something that is no longer common because of the worsening economic situation. However, we found people who were smiling and optimistic. We have many frames we could not include due to the limited duration of the advertising spot. In practice, we have four times the material used. This means that there are still optimistic people out there and this is very good."

At the same time, on Saturday, the citizens in many European cities and New York are preparing to shout out together "We are all Greeks now" in protest against the economic crisis and the problems it causes Greek society.  

The initiative was launched by French citizens in the social media. They state in their Facebook page, that Greece is being used as a laboratory before spreading these measures across Europe. The Greek people need international solidarity and they are calling for our support. Let us reply to their call. We are all Greeks now."

On a website with a similar name, Europeans are signing a text in support of Greece, saying that they want to obtain Greek citizenship. The initiative began in France, where a group of citizens went to the Greek Embassy with this request and the slogan "I'm Greek too."

Tomorrow at 2 pm, there will be protests in Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium. They will gather in squares and in front of diplomatic missions of Greece. In New York, the meeting in support of Greece will be held in Liberty Park Plaza near the financial centre of Wall Street at 9 pm Greek time. The park is the place where the members of the movement Occupy Wall Street met for many days several months ago.

At a meeting held earlier today in Berlin, protesters raised slogans with which the Greeks apologized for the actions of their government.

Even the mayor of the Italian town of Cava de Rireni became part of the movement in support of Greece. In a letter addressed to the prime ministers of Greece and Italy, Lucas Papademos and Mario Monti, to the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz he said that he will give his salary to support the country financially.

"Europe is under pressure and abandoning Greece at this time will mean a final rejection of the European idea, the only idea that we love and desire," he wrote, adding that his action is symbolic.

Mario Galdi, who urged other European citizens and politicians to follow his example, is a professor of law at the University of Salerno and his salary as a mayor is 1,100 euro.