#Restart21
2. Kozani- The Liberal Roadtrip
During the Liberal Roadtrip, the team travelled to Kozani. The city impressed us positively with the hospitality, the infrastructures and the meaningful discussions that we had with the local administration and local community, in general. Despite our short stay, the city was fascinating, because it could combine entertainment and knowledge gaining at the same time. Therefore, the Aiani Archeological Museum and the Koventarios Municipal Library were some of the focal points of the city, which provide images and information for the local history of the city and connect the past, the present and the future.
The Liberal Roadtrip in Kozani, 25 May 2021
This connection helped us in order to choose the subject for our evening discussion. In particular, the topic "200 years since the Greek Revolution, 40 years in the European Union", was chosen not only to celebrate the two important anniversaries, that shaped the state and the development of the country, but also to reflect on our past by looking toward the future. Thus, the Greek Revolution functioned as a point of reference to analyze what we learned from the Revolution for the idea of Freedom and how the Greek state was formed 200 years after the Revolution. Moreover, emphasis was given on country’s course within the European Union and the role, which could play in European, regional and Balkan level. Lastly, another issue that has been discussed was the role of local communities and their contribution to the history of the country as a whole.
Mrs Noula Tompoulidou, president of the municipal council has also attended in our event, who gave a welcoming speech and shared with us some insides and thoughts that concern the local population. Mrs Tompoulidou argued how powerful and needed is the message of Restart, which is referred to the needs of the city to recover from the huge health crisis and to deal with the new situation that emerged after the pandemic. It is also worth mentioning that our event was the first in-person event that took place in Kozani after the lockdown.