All the statements in Python are associated with keywords, except for assignment, which is simple and extremely common. I don't think the block statement is simple enough or common enough for that; its semantics are much too significant to be flagged only by a little punctuation mark like a colon.
Don't forget the 'as' clause.
I can empathize with wanting to avoid a keyword in order to avoid an endless debate about what the keyword will be. But that debate can't be avoided anyway -- we still have to agree on what to call this thing when talking about it and teaching it.
A "template invocation", perhaps, for the statement, and a "templated block" for the actual block. The expression part of the statement would be the "template expression" which must result in a "template iterator".
The keyword gives us a name, a conceptual tag from which to hang our knowledge and discussions. Once we have a keyword, there can be no confusion about what to call the construct. And if there is a distinctive keyword, a Python programmer who comes across this unfamiliar construct will be able to ask someone "What does this 'spam' keyword mean?" or can search on Google for "Python spam" to find out what it means. Without a keyword, they're out of luck. Names are power.
help(synchronized) or help(retry) would doubtless display useful information. Conversely, try Googling for Python's "for" or "if" keywords, and see if you get anything useful -- I didn't.
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