Words by: John Dahlquist
Film Stills by: Markus Bengtsson
It’s late October. The sun still warms Athens with a gentle embrace, the serenity of a lingering summer. For anyone who wants to get away from the city, paradise is only a boat trip away. Islands like Kos, Lesbos and Mykonos, with beautiful beaches and amazing scenery, absorb tourists from all over Europe. But not all boats come from the north visiting for holidays. Amidst this picturesque setting a very different narrative is unfolding. Each day these Mediterranean waters bring boats carrying not just visitors seeking idyllic beaches and breathtaking vistas, but also those in search of refuge on Europe’s shores. For them, the journey is incredibly dangerous and what they’ll find on the other side is far from a warm welcome. Years of economic instability and mass migration have stretched the seams of Greece’s existing welfare system, leaving gaping holes that deepen inequality and prejudice against asylum seekers, especially amongst those already at the margins of society.
Free Movement Skateboarding sets out to make a difference in the community, to share the joy and camaraderie skateboarding can give and to support the youth. It is a non-profit NGO that acts locally but thinks globally, with an aim to help integrate refugee children via skateboarding, which is what brought them to CHPO Brand’s attention. CHPO has a long history of finding people and organisations who use their voice for change, collaborating with groups or individuals every year to design glasses and novelty products. The profit from these ventures goes to the cause of the NGO or person. Over the years SkatePal, Skate Like a Girl and Bryggeriet’s gymnasium have all been benefited, all with a hope to make change and do good.
Today over 120,000 refugees and migrants live in Greece and on the islands. The country is in many ways the gateway to Europe and to the opportunities and better life their home countries couldn’t provide. Many of them would like to travel on into other countries but the rest of Europe holds their borders as shut as possible, making sure the “problem” does not spread more than necessary and creating a catch 22 for both the country and the refugees. In many ways Greece has become the neck of a bottle, with many people stuck in transit. For the ones that stay and even get a permanent residency there is little opportunity in a country with little to no welfare and a political system in which the right-wing winds are blowing strong.
The idea came from William Ascott and Ruby Mateja. After their time volunteering with SkatePal in Palestine Will wanted to do something similar in his new hometown of Athens. The idea was as simple as it was brilliant; get a bunch of boards and get groups of refugee children and teenagers in the aftermath of the so-called refugee crisis in 2015 to skate. The hope was that some of the perks of skateboarding would be shared to a new generation; giving hope, purpose and fun to their lives, just like skateboarding has done for so many people all over the world. The Free Movement Skateboarding manifesto was later pinpointed to three objectives; to promote wellbeing, empowerment and social cohesion.
Integration, Denia Nicolas of FMS explains, is aimed at newcomers adapting to the local culture. Assimilation is taking it one step further, giving up old ways to act, think, eat and sleep in new ways, leaving the old behind. FMS goes above and beyond this, welcoming new input and new cultures to create new ways for everybody, not only for the newcomers.
It is impossible to integrate or even welcome someone to a new setting without representatives from the local scene. Therefore, it has been essential to FMS to root themselves deep in the Athens skate scene. What better ways to do this than to find some of the best skaters and role models in the scene and employ them? Today, alongside Will, Denia Nicols, Denia Kopita, Giannis Katsaounos and social worker Sonia Patrinou all work for the organisation. They are all well connected in the local skate scene, making sure that FMS is locally connected and is there for the long haul. Nothing builds trust in the community more than longevity, Denia explains.
In 2015 Denia Nicolas volunteered on the islands’ camps, providing shelter and help. She worked as long as she could in NGOs but came to the conclusion that many of these exist and act for a system that is broken and cannot be fixed by working from within. The violence, corruption and mistreatment she saw left her with only one option; to leave. But she kept her drive to make a difference. The experience and her formal education in politics and human rights have given her a deep understanding of how the system works. For years she worked in Athenian squats providing for people, helping children find schools and pushing authorities to provide the school placements that they are eligible for according to the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. Denia Nicolas is not one to fuck with when she knows she is right. She coordinates Free Movement’s work but is also always out on the sessions making sure things work smoothly. Next to her is social worker Sonia Patrinous, who does not skate but is a vital part of the sessions. She brings toys for the youngest and talks to the participants and parents, giving guidance and support.
The radical political and intellectual movement has a long tradition in Athens, especially in the neighbourhood of Exarcheia. This is where autonomous groups organised shelter and welcomed refugees when there was no other support. As the welfare system could not provide for the refugees, public buildings such as schools turned into squats and welcomed people, giving them shelter and providing beds, food and even medical care. In times when the system fails, we are left to the good will of others. This is when solidarity is of the essence. In Greek; Allilengyi.
Will had seen in Palestine the difference skateboarding could make in a community and, in Greece, it was obvious that the newcomers needed ways to find not only joy and purpose but also bridges into their new society. William and Ruby started the organisation with the aim of providing boards and places to skate for refugee children. He was naive, young and unaware of the potential consequences of his idea. These qualities played well together and helped him start an endeavour that would be much harder to realise than first met the eye. Luckily for us, he did not know what he was in for.
He and a group of volunteers started sessions in areas of Athens where refugees lived. The project was up and running but, like all skateboard initiatives, they needed a strong connection in the local scene to grow roots. As volunteers came and went, especially international ones, the project was lacking consistency. William worked to connect with the locals and contacted Denia Kopita, a well renowned skater in Athens, as well as other locals. This helped to create consistency, local understanding and longevity, and today the FMS is run by a solid crew that knows the city and its people better than most.
Athen has no good public skateparks and spots in the city are, as most skaters know, shared with dog walkers, homeless people, drug dealers and other aspects of vibrant urban life. Added to that is the fact that the children have a limited capacity to move around to go skate.
The solution? A van with a mobile skatepark, boards and safety gear. Today sessions are held at spots close to where the participants live, mostly in public parks with good, or at least decent, flat ground. Recently the NGO celebrated 1,000 documented sessions.
William, Denia, Denia, Sonia and Giannis, together with their volunteers, work from three simple principles – wellbeing, empowerment and social cohesion. They want skateboarding to enhance the wellbeing of their participants. By having fun, learning together and challenging themselves to new things they hope to create a learning environment where the skaters enjoy themselves. Denia Nicolas has no background in skateboard culture, even if she now is deeply embedded in it; “The biggest thing I have learnt from skateboarding is what a great tool for mental health it is.”
Denia Kopita, being the only skating woman in the core team, can see that her presence can be used to empower the girls on an eye-to-eye level. Today 4 out of 10 participants are girls. Falling and getting up over and over again and getting a new trick in the end can be empowering on a skateboard. Empowerment is the principle, and Denia also hopes that the dynamic can transcend to other walks of life too.
The third principle, social cohesion, is harder. Integration, a sense of belonging and connecting is not done in a day. These things take time and consistency. It is this consistency that is building a bridge between the skaters and the world surrounding them, one session at a time.
The first sessions with FMS were organised in a park next to a squat where many refugees lived. Skateboarding gave the youth a welcome break and somewhere to go. As time went by and the squat was closed by the police, refugees were placed all over Athens. FMS started going around with boards and some ramps to meet with kids in their neighbourhoods. As Will says, on one hand it would be great to have a park, it would show that the organisation was established, but on the other it is hard for the kids to travel over the city and some of them would not be able to come.
There is no lack of support from the culture and industry. Boards are given as support from skateboard companies supporting the cause. Still, Denia says, “All that is needed from the city is a signature on a piece of paper that would grant us a place. It would legitimise us and give us a well needed (and deserved) status.” But legitimising FMS would also be to admit that Greece has a problem with integration, a hot potato that the city does not want to hold.
FMS might be a great example of social work. It can also be seen as political activism and a way to handle and navigate a broken system. It is solidarity in action. It is culture bearers passing the torch to the next generation. It is an invitation into a community where everyone with a board is welcome. FMS can be seen as all this. But for the kids it is something else. When we arrive at a miniramp where the session is about to start a bunch of kids are putting on pads, eager to get a hold of a board. Excitement and sugar-fuelled anticipation is making the air vibrate. Sonia is working hard to get everyone to wait for their turn. We ask Adam, a 12-year old participant, what he wants to add to this story. He says, “I just love skate. Skate is now my life.” Or as Denia concludes, “I can see that our work gives the kids a reason to be. But, at the end of the day, I just teach skateboarding.” Simple as that.
