Greece has for much of the last 200 years been a rather ethnically and culturally homogeneous society. This is beginning to change with evidence of migration from Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and from China and the Philippines. Yesterday I wandered with friends through the new migrant areas of Athens.

Tagging before Digg

We started at Keramikos metro station, which abuts an old gas storage facility. The area used to house light industrial businesses, and the evidence of the decline in these businesses (at least in this area) abundant.

The gas storage tanks and other buildings have been converted to galleries and exhibition sites. Around the new metro station the bars and restaurants are in abundance and the area has developed a reputation as an interesting and artistically edgy place to visit for food, drink, music and art.

Gentrification

Walking toward the centre of Athens we pass through some of the new migrant areas, again showing the transition from decay to revival. Old, decrepit buildings are intertwined with newly refurbished ones.

A grand old building waiting for renovation

There are a couple of short stretches where the signs on the buildings show evidence of Chinese and Indian entrepreneurial migrants. There work seems to be clustered around trade in textiles and clothing, including footwear, manufactured goods and cosmetics. And, of course, stores to support the new migrants.

Pyjamas and nightwear

I would be interested to know more about the patterns of migration. There seems to be clustering of activities. My guess is that the Chinese migrants are likely to be from the Wenzhou area in Zhejiang, which has a very strong traditional of outward entrepreneurial migration and a strong manufacturing base in textiles, clothing and footwear. I suspect that some of the Chinese in Athens are the extended family distribution arms for some of these businesses.

More Import-Export

The Africans, so prominent on Ermou Street, selling leather goods, seem to be more salesmen than distributors. They play a game of cat and mouse with the police, who I guess are seeking more to control the sale of counterfeit goods than unregulated street retail per se. I don’t know whether they get their bags from North African manufacturers, or from Chinese ones. The difference could be quite important for making guesses about economic and social mobility.

Indian Supermarket

Interestingly, Greece is now experiencing inward migration, the same way that other countries, such as Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States experienced inward migration from Greece. One hopes that those coming to Athens meet with the same opportunities and, if the world has at all progressed, more openness still.