Becoming the City

Becoming the City presents The Syrian and Greek Youth Forum’s work as active citizens in Athens. It showcases perspectives from members of the team, speaking as individuals and as one, across and through multiple languages. The piece centres on citizenship, activism, art, and the political voice: how SGYF uses diversity to create the city, how they remind themselves of shared histories and connected cultures, how they use art to assert their presence in the city and how they work to become Athenians. The narratives stretch across geographies and borders. And from this emerge rebellious methodologies that develop new forms of citizenship.

The Syrian and Greek Youth Forum (SGYF) is an international activism movement in Athens, Greece. SGYF works to support community-building activities, provide pathways to employment, and to research and implement sustainable solutions for an inclusive society. The forum established themselves as a key resource for Syrians in Athens and elsewhere in Greece in 2018, and work in solidarity and collaboration with other migrant and minority organisations and communities to become active citizens in Greek society. They have developed methods of creative activism: using culture as a tool of political participation, of finding connections and shared histories, of belonging and becoming the city. SGYF’s projects remake the city of Athens, and we are all now Athenians as a result.