Murder.

 

Alexis Grigoropoulos

 

          I was in Athens on December 6th 2008 when 15 year old kid Alexis Grigoropoulos was out for a Saturday night coffee with his friend, Nikos Romanos, in the district of Exarchiea, when laughter turned to tragedy, when a police officer shot young Alexis dead, he died on the street in the arms of his friend Nikos. This brutal state murder brought the people of that country onto the streets in a display of united anger and disgust. I joined some of the protests in Athens during that December, and you could feel the anger. It was awe inspiring to see so many people demonstrating their fury at this callous murder of a youth. Greece was seized by riots for weeks on end.
        Jump forward almost 15 years to the day of that callous brutal act and it seems history repeats itself. In Thessoloniki, on the 5th. of December, this year 2022, a police officer shot a 15 year old youth twice in the head, shot for 20 Euros of petrol. Is there any wonder that the people of that country are angry, furious, disgusted at this repeat of the callous act of 2008. We too should be angry, for it is now common for the police armed like the military parading through our streets, we too have individuals shot and killed on our streets. The state says the police are there to protect us, when in fact they intimidate and terrorise the general public. 

 

Niko Romanos

  The following from Enough is Enough.

           It was during the early hours of Monday 5 December 2022, when a 16 year old kid was shot in the head by a greek police officer of the DIAS motorcycle unit during a car chase in Thessaloniki. He was accused that he filled his pick-up truck with 20 euros worth of petrol and left the petrol station without paying.
           Following the news and his dire physical condition, riots erupted in the city of Thessaloniki, located in the north of Greece, later on the same day. At the same time, in Athens, several different protests were held in the evening of December the 5th. The protest in Exarcheia, held in front of the memorial of Alexis Grigoropoulos, (a 15 year old kid that was shot dead by a cop on 6 December 2008, sparking the events that would lead to massive riots all over Greece, known as the December Revolt) soon turned into a march that led to a riot, as seen in the video.
        It has to be noted, that today 6 December, protests have been planned in dozens of cities and towns all over Greece, in remembrance of the December Revolt and the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the police in Exarcheia 15 years ago to this day.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info 

To The Right!

            As the state here tightens its legislation on protests, trying to make it impossible to protest against any injustice, and demonises those who dare to take strike action in a struggle for a decent life, labelling them enemies of the state, as well as accusing them of playing into the hands of Putin, we must remember, this is not a local problem, it is happening across the world. Here in Europe and in America the various states are marching to the right, as is happening elsewhere. Anarchists always come in for some of the harshest treatment. In Italy a law, 41-bis, brought in to attack the mafia, after a string of assassinations is now being used against anarchists. In Greece it is practically a military operation with guns and all the brutal appendages the authoritarian state can muster to destroy free autonomous spaces and brutalise those who defend those spaces. This is an on going threat that we ignore at our peril. Our limited liberties are being trashed, if this happens, it will be a harder fight to get them back. Much better to defend what you have rather than try to retrieve what you have lost. This fight is of the most urgency, the various state are marching right at an ever increasing pace.

The following extract from Enough is Enough.

Originally published by Communıty of Squatted Prosfygıka.

We are still here … The Community remains strong and united … Prosfygika will win!!!!

            On 22/11/2022, at 5.45 am, all kinds of police forces, riot police MAT, state security, Delta, OPKE and EKAM, invaded the squated neighbourhood of Prosfygika on Alexandra Avenue and more specifically the 7th block, on Tikhonidos Street (behind the Elpis Hospital). They broke through the outer door of the building, breaking it. Then they went up to the second floor where two community companions, the arrested companion and another refugee from Iran live. They kidnapped both of them and proceeded to carry out a thorough search of the building. At the same time, the entire neighborhood was surrounded by the repression forces, not only at the site of the search but in total, attempting to occupy it.
        The operation was spotted by the community’s daily morning patrol who began to inform the neighborhood. Comrades and compañeras took to the rooftops to wake up the rest of us. Not knowing exactly what was happening, we recognized that the operation was limited to a specific building, but we also realized the serious possibility of a general attack. In retrospect, we judge that the invasion that took place was premeditated from the morning. All the time that elapsed until the moment of the invasion was the result of preparation, judgment on costs and gains, as well as a measurement of our determination, by the officials of the GADA and the ministry.
        As time went on, the situation seemed to get more difficult. The comrade remained inside the building, the police forces were not removed and the encirclement remained. The neighbourhood was becoming suffocating with the situation. We attempted to contain the riot police further in from Kuzi Street, that is, the vertical street that centrally separates the refugee blocks, so as to open up vital space for the neighbourhood, without obstructing the investigation, but making our presence felt. This allowed the neighbourhood to slowly leave their homes, some to go to their jobs and others to take their children to school. It also stopped the torture of our comrade, who was under captivity in his house for about 3 hours. At least as he informed us later, then, after the fireworks, they stopped and took him to GADA.
       At the same time we were receiving more and more information and indications of a second operation that had been predecided and which would take place after 3.00 p.m., after the partial eviction of the two hospitals of St. Sava and Elpis. Around 12.00 noon we held a march through the neighbourhood and called an emergency advocacy meeting at the community shelter in the 6th block for 4.00 p.m. At 5.00 p.m., during the open publicly announced meeting, the repression helicopter and drone attack began in the air. The guarding shift resisted as best they could given the circumstances, using every means of non-criminal force, not only to protect against persecution disproportionate to the litigation, but also to protect the entire community, its children and patients, and the wider neighbourhood in general. A wave of terrorism fell upon the 5th and 6th blocks that left children and other people in the neighborhood in panic attacks that continue to this day. The Hellenic Police assassins broke down apartment doors with guns drawn, threatening anyone in sight, and attempted to impose a regime of terrorism. A sick woman in a wheelchair and her daughter, a family holding their children in a panic attack, a mother beaten and thrown to the floor in front of her 12-year-old son after their door was broken, migrants and refugees spilling into their homes and on the stairs, like an invasion of Gaza.

 Continue reading.

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Spaces.

        The following article doesn't just apply to Exarcheia in Athens, what they are facing is happening to every city across the globe. The drive to turn public spaces into profitable entities, not for us all, but for the already very rich and powerful. These decisions are made by bureaucrats and politicians who see only economic growth for profit, although these decisions impact on our quality of life the decisions are made over our heads. It will take  a well organised mass movement to stop this trend of profit before the quality of life of those impacted by these bureaucratic decisions. If we want quality of life over profit, then we will have to take to the streets and force the change, it will not come from the politicians and the bureaucrats who are blinded by the profit motive.

The following from Freedom News.

Exarcheia, the subway station, and public space

 

 

Analysis, Dec 2nd
                First of all it is important to underline that public transport (tram, subway, bus) is immensely important as it allows for ecological and inclusive movement throughout the city. With the usage of all the different types of public transport a vast and comfortable transportation network can be developed to challenge the domination of the private car on our streets – domination that makes urban life worse by air and noise pollution, frequent accidents, and the exclusion of the most marginalised economically.
              For quite some time now, in the historic Exarcheia neighbourhood of Athens, home to countless anti-authoritarian and anarchist collectives, squats, and social centres, there has been a struggle directed against the construction of a metro station on the district’s central square. How does an area with such a libertarian history oppose the expansion of public transport, one might ask; but the truth is that the problem is not the subway as such, but the way the decision to build was made and what will came after it.
             Firstly, many of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, in coordination with architects and urban planners, have proposed another place of the neighbourhood (Archaeological Museum) as a place more suitable and rational for a subway station. The people of Exarcheia understand the ecological and inclusive dimensions of public transport; what they disagree with is the political way through which this, and other, decisions are being made – decisions, made by a handful of politicians and businessmen, that will shape our common ground for generations to come, without the participation of all of us who inhabit it.
            Secondly, the inhabitants are in opposition to the urban vision promoted by those in power: with most striking example being the Kotzias square right in front of the Mayor’s building in Athens. We speak of a place that does not feel nor look like square any more. There are no trees or benches, so one can pass through it on their way to somewhere, but not spend time in it, as there is no protection from summer’s blazing sun or anywhere to sit. This is in line with the project of “touristisation” that the Greek authorities have been implementing for years all around Athens. In this project the pubic spaces are an obstacle to economic growth: tourist shops, restaurants, cafeterias all generate economic revenues from tourists, while squares, with their benches and trees, serve the communal (often non-economic) needs of the inhabitants. This is what the inhabitants of Exarcheia do not want to happen to their square – but what the restructuring of it, due to the subway station, will most probably bring. The vision that local authorities envision will not solve any of the problems of the area, it will simply lay the foundations of yet another urban desert, where there is barely any vegetation and no place where one can sit for free.
             There is also a third dimension of this project. The Greek state, under different governments, has continuously been in opposition to the autonomous movement in all its expressions. As is well known, Exarcheia is both a point of reference and a symbol of this movement. In this line of thought the decision, taken without any sort of public deliberation and despite strong opposition, to place a metro station in an irrational place, is also seen by the authorities as an excuse to militarise the district with heavy police presence and suffocate any effort of self-organization.
              The case of the construction of a subway station at Exarcheia square comes to show that under the conditions of oligarchy and capitalism even sustainable means of transportation can be used to destroy public spaces and gentrify neighbourhoods, just as renewable energy sources are used to destroy mountainous areas in order to generate profits for investors far away. What is crucial to understand is that this is all a question of politics: of who gets to shape our city – a handful of bureaucrats and capitalist investors, or the vast majority of a district’s inhabitants. It is this political question that frames the content and the outlook of urban space.

Yavor Tarinski

Image: Pithari Stories

 

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Alternatives.

 

          How much longer will it take for humanity to permeate its way through our society. We have legislation making it virtually impossible for refugees to seek refuge when fleeing torture/deprivation/persecution/war and all its violent array of consequences. We have prisons that treat those enmeshed in its tentacles as less than human. We have poverty/homelessness/deprivation in the midst of unimaginable wealth, and still we hear the mantra from those with all the wealth, privileges and power, that this is the only way to run our society. Sooner or later we will all have to stand up and say loud and clear, this is a load of bullshit, there are alternatives that can see to the needs of all our people. No prisons, no persecution, no exploitation.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 

         On 24/12, comrade Haris Mantzouridis was discharged from the psychiatric hospital in Dafni and transferred to the Prisoners’ Psychiatric Hospital in Korydallos prison. He was immediately placed in “quarantine”, where he will remain from 4 to 7 days (it is not certain exactly how many).
The conditions there are deplorable, which reflects the general conditions of detention in the prison in the midst of a pandemic. He is kept in a very small room with three other prisoners, and new ones are added every day, which increases the actual chances of catching covid. The window is broken, so it is very cold, the mattresses are ripped, broken glass, blood and excrement on the floor, food is thrown away by all the prisoners, the possibility of communication with his own people is minimal.
         It is obvious that these conditions of detention further aggravate the already shaken mental and physical health of the comrade. We will be back for any further developments.
        No one alone – let there be no one alone in the hands of the State!
Immediate release of comrade Harry Mantzouridis!
Prisoners’ lives matter!
Assembly of Solidarity to the imprisoned, fugitives and persecuted militants
via: athens.indymedia

See also Toby Shone:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

Killer Cops.

      Every state by necessity has its police force, it needs its paid thugs as it tries to control the population and stop them from making changes to society that would benefit all and remove the power and privileges of the parasite class that try to control all aspects of our lives.  They can beat up, kill and maim but are very rarely brought to justice, and if they are held to account by the loaded judiciary, they usually get off very lightly indeed. This case from Greece is replicated in some form or other in states across the globe. Where there is state power, there is no justice, no freedom.

 

           In the early hours of Saturday 23/10/21, 7 bike cops were chasing a car they thought was stolen. In it were three young guys, which the cops recognized as roma. A bit later, there were 38 fire-shots, aimed not at the tires of the car (in their supposed attempt to stop it), but higher; in a clear attempt to injure/murder the passengers of the car. All shots were fired by the cops. The three young guys were unarmed. Nikos Sampanis, the 18-year-old co-driver was instantly killed, as he was hit with 2 bullets on the chest. A 16-year-old is injured and still in hospital and the 14-year-old driver ran away amidst gunfire. The cops were initially arrested and were charged with the felony of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.

         A few minutes after their *arrest*, Spyridon Georgiadis, Minister for Development and Investment, tweeted his congratulations to the murderous cops. The Citizen Protection Minister, Takis Theodorikakos, paid them a visit in jail. For “symbolic reasons” as he stated.
        From the very first moment, mass media in Greece focused on the fact that the murdered young man is a “roma”. Additionally, they falsely reported that he had a heavy criminal record. This was proven to be a blatant lie. In fact, the notorious police reporter Nina Karamitrou posted a photo of a man with dark skin holding a gun, presenting him as the dead Nikos. The photo was fake. The cops’ attorney, A. Kougias, characterized the roma community in Greece “a plague”. Al. Kougias is a well-known lawyer from criminal cases but also a defense lawyer in cases of the Greek mafia. He was also the defense attorney for the cop that murdered 16-year-old A.Grigoropoulos in 2008.
        The greek reality is that the roma community is constantly targetted by the authorities and subjected to racism and discrimination in the greek society. The roma community is a typical case of a marginalized community.
         Yesterday evening the investigator and prosectutor decided to release from custody with no restrictive measures all cops with felony charges. Once again, minutes after the decision, the Citizen Protection Minister, Takis Theodorikakos, expressed his “satisfaction on the decision of the independent judiciary”.
Your democracy is fed on blood – The cops murder – Corrupt Greek Mass Media fabricate news directed by the state and capital – The judiciary harbours and enables
WE DO NOT FORGIVE – WE DO NOT FORGET

 

 Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

Executions.

         How much longer will we tolerate our lives being shackled to the rigid dictates of a state. Dictates formulated by the rich and powerful to protect their wealth and privileges. Dictates enforced by the state's paid thugs, who see killing as part and parcel of their remit, sanctioned by the state and upheld by its hand pick judiciary. Death at the hands of the police is not a rare event but happens in country after country and with a sickening regularity. It is a very rare event if one of these state funded thugs involved in the killing of a citizen is ever brought to face the consequences of their callous savagery.
       Greece like other countries is no stranger to public executions by the police and once again its citizens are witness to another killing on their streets by the paid thugs of the state. 
The following from Enough is Enough:

 

 

NOT ONE MORE STATE MURDER
        In a neighbourhood like Perama, which for decades has known the murder of workers in the sweatshops of the N / E shipowners, state bullets, the killing of an unarmed child, we have brought the war to outside the courtyards of the houses of the Neoktista (Newly built district), a stone’s throw from the cauldrons of death.
       On the night of Friday, October 22, after a chase that started in Thebes and was to end in Perama, the cops killed a 20-year-old Roma man and seriously wounded a 16-year-old boy, after firing shots in bursts. The sheriffs of each Theodorikakos ( minister of citizen protection) did not hesitate to empty their guns among the courtyards and it was purely a matter of luck that the families of the surrounding houses did not receive bullets.
        This cold-blooded execution is not a sudden event, but it is part of a series of escalating incidents of state violence against anyone who does not comply with the dictates of the doctrine that determines who is “delinquent” and who is not. The current line of “zero tolerance” in persecution is not an isolated part of the overall repression by the state, but faces society at a time when everything that goes beyond control and surveillance is declared illegal, from demonstrations and strikes, to movement in public space and the self-determination of our bodies.
       The ever-increasing “criminalization” of our lives and the legitimization of state murders will not stop anywhere but will continue in every aspect of social life, if we do not stop it. Here, we have to say that the prosecution authorities and judicial mechanisms are “notorious”, together with their accomplices of the media who cover up hired killers. A state that launders paedophiles is the same state that kills and eliminates the childhood of life and, ultimately, life itself.
       But life is reborn and finds its way where there is resistance through solidarity and rebellion, whatever shatters the dystopia of state and capital. We oppose our will for struggle and freedom, overcoming all social divisions. We are in conflict with democratic illusions and the murderous state.

LIFE – FREEDOM

ANARCHISTS FROM PERAMA AREA

And from Act For Freedom Now:

         The answer to every state assassination and state repression should be fire.
         As an initial reaction we chose to reflexively attack the peaceful aristocrats of the northern suburbs because the repression is class and so are state assassinations.
ANGER
FIRE
REVENGE
ANARCHISTS
via: athens.indymedia

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Remember.

      Two dates that are enshrined in the minds of the people of Greece, one is the 1973 student uprising that preceded the overthrow of the Greek Military Junta, and the more recent brutal event on December 6th 2008 when 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos while out in Exarcheia having a coffee with with his friend, was shot by a Greek police officer, he died on the street in the arms of his 15 year friend Nikos Ramanos. Both these dates are marked by mass gatherings in Greece. Just prior to these events, the Greek government introduce a ban on gatherings of more than 3 people. The following report, shows some of the response by the people to this dictatorial measure. 

 

15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos, 15 year victim of police murder.

 

Nikos Romanos being arrested some years after the police murder of his friend Alexis.
 

 

 

The following report was lifted from Anarchist-Communism site

Stratos Moraitis shared a link.

[Video] Riot in Athens
        The Orwellian ban on gatherings of more than 3 people leads to riots all over Greece.
       17 November 2020: On the day commemorating the bloodied student revolt against the dictatorship back in 1973, this is how the right-wing government in Greece honored the dead of the fascist regime. By banning all gatherings of more than 3 people, something that has happened in Greece for the first time in its modern history, on the 21 April 1967 when there was a fascist military coup d'état and on 17 November 1973 during a student revolt against the military junta of that same regime.
       The banning of public gatherings of more than 3 people on that particular day, (and on the 6th of December on the day commemorating the revolt that occurred back in 2008 following the murder of a 15 years old by a cop at Exarcheia in Athens), during the 9 months of the pandemic awoke memories of a fascist regime creating an incomprehensible precedent of banning protests. It is obvious to the people that the banning of public gatherings was imposed with one and only aim. To ban protests. While for 9 months since the pandemic other places around the world were preparing for the 2nd more dangerous and lethal wave of the pandemic, by strengthening their public health systems, hiring more doctors and nurses, setting up new hospitals and Intensive Care Units, the neoliberal right-wing government in Greece chose to hire thousands of policemen (true fact) and to provide the Mass Media with free money to promote the government’s propaganda. Hiring cops instead of doctors and nurses during a deadly pandemic! Imagine that!
      Faced with the complete incompetence of the greek government to handle the pandemic and a direct attack on people’s rights, many all over Greece defied the banning of public gatherings and symbolically took to the streets taking all health precautions, to protest, wearing masks and keeping distances (as it can be clearly seen in the video). These people were not anti maskers or anything of that sort. The essence of anarchism and communism is based on the notion that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
      And then the greek government and the police showed their true face. As it can be seen in the video, while all health precautions were being taken by the protesters, scores of policemen ruthlessly launched an attack with batons, flash-bang grenades, asphyxiating gas, water cannons and dozens of police bikers chasing protesters for many kilometres. The idiotic paradox of power. They injured and asphyxiated people to protect their health!
       Similar scenes like in the video above, (shot by @kinimatini on Twitter) took place all over Athens and other greek cities and towns. And yet in an Orwellian new life, as it is now being formulated by those power, people still managed to break the wall of fear being built around their lives, and take back the streets to show that this is going to be a long battle.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Organise.

          In this cesspool of an economic system, organised and managed by corrupt and repressive state apparatus, to cross, uninvited, one of their imaginary lines called borders, places you in the category of a no-human, a being devoid of rights, driven to live in the margins, to be invisible just to survive, or end up in one of the thousands of concentration camps dotted around the world. There you will be brutalised, devoid of basic rights, hygiene and health care, cramped into grossly overcrowded conditions, subject to arbitrary beatings. Because of the human desire for decency and freedom, these conditions inevitably lead to drastic measures by the imprisoned, in an attempt to end their pain and anguish. Hence the burning of the Moria concentration camp on the island of Lesbos, and similar actions in other camps across the globe. Desperate actions to try and alleviate desperate conditions.
      If only we the ordinary people were as well organised as our exploiters and oppressors, you have to hand it to them, they come together, discuss and organise and then ruthlessly carry out their grand plans. You have the World Bank, the IMF, Davos World Economic Forum, Bilderberg Group, then you have their International Arms Fairs where all and sundry of the power club come together to display their latest means of control and domination and offer them to the highest bidder. Then you have these imaginary lines called borders to be taken care of, so the experts on surveillance and border control mechanisms, all come together to discuss how they can tighten the controls of those imaginary lines, this year there will be one of these meetings of authoritarians in Athens, 24th.-26th. November. If we organised as they do, we would win hands down, as there are much more of us than there is of them, we could destroy this brutal insanity of a system and replace it with fairness, justice, freedom and sustainability, freed from the shackles of profit, endless wars, borders and the illusion of perpetual growth creating a structure that sees to the needs of all our people. Let's try.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

PDF

 

Poster spread in Athens in Greek & English

 Camps are for burning…
           Inhabitants of the Moria refugee hell on the Island of Lesbos recently gave the most honest and firm response to the war that is waged against them by the European states. Arson within the camp caused two nights of fires finally leading to its total destruction. Faced with prison conditions some chose for a direct and non-negotiated attack. In Moria a completely unbearable situation was all these years imposed as normality by those in power. Intimidation was part of its management.
         Administrative blackmail was part of its management. Beatings were part of its management. Humiliation was part of its management. Starvation was part of its management. The refugee camp of Moria continuously showed us the uncovered face of the system we are all living in.
       Reminding us in harsh ways that people become dispensable once they are declared enemies by domination, unwanted by the ruling logic.

The merchants of misery work around the corner
        But in this society the loss of one is the other’s gain. Border control is key in the organization of a society which is based on exploitation and oppression. This control needs to be under constant development to retain some effectiveness. But who is doing this, how and where? A good example is an upcoming conference on the 24th till the 26th of November in the Divani Caravel hotel in Athens (www.world-border-congress.com).
         National and international politicians, high placed representatives of different policing institutions, but also business leaders of the security industry come together to discuss the advancement of the border control complex, of identification and registration, imprisonment and deportation. These are the merchants of misery, building their careers on the backs of imprisoned refugees everywhere, of those hunted and shot against the unwanted. Let us sabotage this gathering and those who participate in it, in all the ways and moments we see fit, using our creativity and determination as our compass.
        Because the fires that were lit in Moria light up our spirits and inspire our actions.

… Down with all borders!

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Be Prepared.

       As the covid19 pandemic creates economic hardship for the many, states across the world are tightening their methods of repression and joining forces across borders, they are well aware that with hardship for the many, comes anger. To keep control of their wealth, privileges and power, they will need to crush that anger. The pandemic is an ideal opportunity for them to put on open display, their authoritarian apparatus, engineering consent by fear. Their actions will be given credence by the mouthpiece of the state, the mainstream media. At the forefront of their attack will be all those freethinking individuals, autonomous spaces, self organising groups, migrant support groups and squatted community help centres, anywhere that the people try to organise their lives outside this festering malaise they call capitalism. Of course the word terrorists will be banded about freely by the powers that be. We must be prepared for ever greater brutality and invasive procedures by nervous states, fearful of the strength of angry people united. 

The following article from Enough is Enough:

       On Wednesday, September 16, 2020, several apartments were raided in Berlin and Athens. The accusation of the German Federal General Prosecutor at the Federal Court of Justice is “formation of a criminal organization” according to §129 StGB. In Athens, at 6 a.m. German time – 7 a.m. Greek cops of the anti-terrorism authority (D.A.E.E.B.) and one cop of the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) stormed two apartments to execute search warrants against three accused and at least one other person affected.
The accused, as well as the other persons present in the two apartments, were taken to the headquarters of the cops in Athens by the cops and were brought to the rooms of the (anti)terror cops on the 12th floor.
       After 10 hours of waiting, 2 people were released and the remaining three were officially arrested on the basis of pepper spray that was found in the apartment (violation of the Greek weapons law) and two pocket knives, and were also charged for refusing to give fingerprints. After another 6 hours, the persons were transferred to the prison wing on the 7th floor. The next morning, all three were dressed in a film-like manner with bulletproof vests (typical for a presentation by the anti-terrorism authority), tied up and brought to court by a heavily armed squad. At the end of the production, the court decided to postpone the trial and to release the prisoners.
      As part of the Kafkaesque game, both the German and Greek media fulfill their role as henchmen of the system, as expected. The state’s attacks on the movement have always been accompanied by the mainstream media, so that the sovereignty of information and the definition of the relevance of the situation should lie with the cops and the state. In the proceedings here, the little information the cops released was enriched in populist articles with also false statements and assertions in order to give the desired impression to a wide audience.
     The cooperation between German and Greek authorities is certainly nothing new. Not surprisingly, but still worth mentioning, we find the common organization of the different authorities. They use a single procedure to implement the political interests of the security authorities and the state in both countries.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Democracy?

        What does a thug look like? Does wearing a uniform change them into honourable citizens? Well it seems so in this so called democracy, in this modern supposedly civilised Europe, wear a uniform, get paid by the state, and you can get away with murder. A daily occurrence somewhere in the EU.

The following from Anarchist News:

       15 July 2020, Athens, Greece: This is what democracy looks like. No, really. This is what democracy looks like. These public servants called "officers of the law" are agents of a democratically elected government. Their acts -regardless of the fact that they are dressed, look and act like a criminal gang and regardless of the fact that if these exact same acts were to be committed by citizens, they would be deemed as crimes according to the law- are authorized and take orders by democratically elected governments all over the world, every day, for decades and decades now. Face it. The fact remains, that although many would not characterize this as "democracy", because it so obviously arbitrary and unjust, it is actually Democracy.
       Okay, to exercise this kind of brutal violence on your fellow human beings, as a policeman, (as depicted in the video), you have to have the predisposition in mind and soul to be barbaric, beastly, cruel, brutal, sadistic, savage, violent, vicious, ruthless, monstrous, inhuman, evil, heinous, merciless, remorseless, heartless, cold-blooded, crooked, immoral, foul, wrongful, vile, dishonourable, horrible, corrupt, depraved, malicious, despicable, shocking, atrocious, brutal, murderous, abominable, disgusting, hateful, contemptible, loathsome, repugnant, gruesome, sickening, nauseating, hideous, horrid, gross, appalling, terrible, horrendous, intolerable, shameful, disgraceful, unworthy, immoral, undignified, debasing, indecent, grotesque, horrific, repulsive, repellent, awful, terrible, detestable, malevolent, execrable, teratoid. Nevertheless, these peoplee people are civil servants and they carry out orders of a democratically elected goverment.
      Orders, that in this case, concerned the protection of a racist demonstration in Victoria Square, in the center of Athens, Greece, called by the Golden Dawn neonazi party and several other racist groups, against the refugees forced to stay homeless in that square. The refugees that were thrown in the streets and forced to sleep on the ground due to a recent law by the greek government of “New Democracy”. Eventually, about 20 racists (no kidding) gathered. And all these 20 racists, “cuddled” with an “army” of dozens of armed policemen. And all of them together, on a common front against approximately 400 anti-fascists holding a counter-protest.
        The rally was coming to an end and while the riot policemen were looking ready to attack the antiracists, many people decided to leave in a coordinated manner, in order to disband outside the Athens University of Economics (ASOEE) located a few blocks away. With a defensive stance, as it can be clearly seen in the video. When the anti-fascist bloc was approaching ASOEE, followed by ten police bikes and dozens of riot cops, suddenly the bikers increased speed, ramming people with their motorbikes, chasing and attacking with batons those who began running, and in the midst of suffocation by the asphyxiating gas grenades and the noise from the flash bang grenades, they arrested and savagely beat two protesters.
      The bikes do not start out of the blue to develop speed and ram protesters a few minutes before they disband, without even a teeny-tiny reason. Policemen follow orders. We have a democracy. And this is what democracy looks like.

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A Dying Beast.

      At the present time we are living with a corpse, well at least with a dying beast. The economic system that has dominated our lives for generations is sounding its death rattle. However we should always remember, a dying beast can be very dangerous.The system is creaking at the seams, as the life ebbs out of it, it will lash out in desperation to cling on to life. The pandemic has given it a golden opportunity at a last gasp for survival. The largest bailout in the history of the entire life of the capitalist system is being delivered to the billionaire parasite class, under the cloak of saving jobs during this pandemic. Fear and public caution is being used to introduce draconian measures of control, creating a submissive population. Controls that will be needed to keep civil unrest off the streets when the shit hits the fan. As it will, when the money lenders come round with their repayment deal. You may believe that we have suffered drastic austerity, and the social damage and injustice that it has delivered, but that deliberate ideological assault on the public will fade into insignificance as the dying system dives in ever deeper to plunder the public purse to pay its money lenders and try to survive. The beast will not "go quietly into that dark night" (A wee pitch at Dylan Thomas). There will be savage  lunges at survival, brutal assaults to stay alive, it will unleash its hounds of fascist beasts on to the streets. We have it in our power to put the beast to death and remove its rotting corpse from the shoulders of humanity. It may be a struggle at times on the streets and in the workplaces, but with the strength, solidarity and unity of our communities we can create that better world for all and rid the world of the vicious beast of dying capitalism.  

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 

 

      A Funeral for this Rotting Order, Call to Saturday and Onward in Athens
     The world is moving into economic crisis unlike anything experienced since the early 1900s. States with already unstable foundations are now without money or support. In Greece, just this week the new nazi party polls in the top 3 political forces in the country. A counter to the right wing administrations response to pandemic, 6 percent of the country stating simply, economy is preferred to death.
      The end of austerity economics was always destined for war. War against it’s detractors, not abroad but at home. So these weeks we have experienced;
– Detentions for hanging posters
– Detentions for existing outside a police station
– Detentions for hanging a banner
– Mass arrest of a motorcade
– Victoria mass sweep of migrants to camps
– Victora mass detention of those in solidarity
– Monastiraki demonstration met with small army of police
      The employment of the states direct offensive toward active detractors is no surprise. Lets not forget the political war these weeks have brought;
    The education system further turned into efficient factories to churn out workers
     Workers rights continuing to be obliterated on all fronts
    Passing of anti refugee laws designed to force migration toward central europe
     Health workers continue to be ignored while thousands of security forces are hired
       The worldwide preparation against civil society began before the pandemic with faith in an economy that would never falter. Foolish for them yes, but it’s no matter as the way forward requires a break from the past. Much of this break is already written. We believe that through the coming chaos ways of living will emerge which allow existence to flourish beyond the current limitations of state sanctioned life. In the face of Goliath positivity may seem questionable. We suggest two points of contention;
      Unwavering support for subversive culture in contentious neighborhoods and antagonism against all servants of order in these spaces
     Activity designed to display the economic fragility of the state, with understood instead of unnecessary risk
As anger builds which it is, and the anarchists fight with many, which we will, let us lead by example, a clear break from the past.
       Saturday 6/20 we call to support the multiple events throughout the day in Athens and at night in Exarcheia. No ends just beginnings.
     Onward toward a culture of antagonistic individuals against society, its freedom and faith in order. The attack against it,shines a revolutionary path forward for the lost and dispossessed.
Obsidian
source

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One Race.

      The incident in this post happens day and daily, in different degrees of harassment and intimidation in cities across the world. The nationalist fervour that is prevalent in our cities is a disease that we have to root out. Migrants are the easy scapegoat for nationalist bile, and the states create this by their nationalistic policies, in an attempt to get you all to rally round the flag. The other must be seen as a problem, the enemy, to get you to accept and embrace their policies of control. We are all people, we all have family or did have, we all fall in love, drive buses, fix plumbing, take care of grand parents, who look after grandkids. We can't allow the state to dictate who we like and who we should fear. Nationalism and patriotism are the enemies of unity across those false lines drawn on the map by power mongers. One race, one planet, one home. The following incident was in Athens, but that city is not unique in its treatment of migrants.

Patriotism

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,
if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag
held aloft by some foolish hand
inciting worker and peasant to kill
on some green and wooded hill,
peasant and worker from some other land.
Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag
that brings out fools to stand and brag
of brutal deeds painted grand,
deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still
killed by my brothers' misguided hand.

No allegiance have I for the Nation
this man made autocratic creation
that divides my brothers in a world so small,
binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,
bids us follow its drum, sing its song,
then sheds our blood in some border brawl.
 

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,
have no ear for power oration,
though its iron heel is on my breast,
my back feels its leather thong,
at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

       On 5/4, a friend from Pakistan was walking on Amfipoleos street in Votanikos towards Rouf train station. At the traffic lights, 2 DIAS bikes that were headed to the opposite direction did a U-turn and stopped him. They asked him where he lives and where he’s going, he showed them the handwritten paper that said he was going out for exercise and then they asked him for his residence permit. He showed them the application certificate, because he’s expecting his papers in the next month, they tore it up, shouting that this isn’t valid anywhere, they pushed him against the wall hitting him in the face, one of them pulled his gun, the other two were holding him and the third one was looking around. One spit at him. At that moment the man’s phone was ringing, the cops saw that those were calls from his girlfriend and started mocking him saying: “Do you have a date?” and “Is your girlfriend looking for you?”.
      Then they pulled down his trousers and opened his jacket, they did a body search on him, for drugs as they said, they searched inside his underwear and pulled off his socks and shoes. They started threatening that they were going to lock him up since he has no papers, they told him they were taking him straight to the police station, and when they saw he wasn’t answering them and just asked to call his lawyer, they refused, hitting him, and sarcastically asked if he was going to start crying, too. What’s more, they doubted that the paper of movement was written by him and they were laughing at him, saying there is no way he can write so well, they stated to him that now they’re going to send the photos from his documents everywhere and they’ll be watching him wherever he goes and in the end they told him that they’ll send him back to Pakistan if he wants to walk free in the street or to exercise, because “here, it’s forbidden”. Then they let him go, telling him that they’re doing him a favour by letting him, and only on the condition that he’ll go home.‌
      One more time, the face of democracy and its instruments is made clear. We are reporting this incident not as something new, nor as something shocking. We are aware of the living conditions of migrants in Greece, of the abuses of the state, of their ill treatment by the police and by every fascist scum, and of the suffering they’re put through—if they’re lucky—to get their papers and live with dignity.‌‌
We’ll soon deal with the cannibals of this world.‌‌
NO ONE ALONE AGAINST REPRESSION.
SOLIDARITY TO MIGRANTS.
LET’S BREAK THE FEAR
source

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Concrete Desert.

      Despite the system trying hard to set up a society where everything is controlled, the city offers up many possibilities of claiming free spaces, where we can function freely with our own desires, mutual aid and respect. All it requires is a little bit of organisation, imagination and ingenuity, and I'm sure we the general public have these in abundance, if we care to use them. The publication, "A Sea of Possibilities in the Concrete Desert" is along these lines and worth a read. 

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 

Brochure from squatters and resisting spots in Madrid, Athens and Berlin
      ‘A sea of possibilities in the concrete desert: Territory, city and insurrection’ – Madrid & Berlin
       This publication is a compilation of texts that emerges from the discussions and the work we started in the wake of the event “A sea of possibilities in the concrete desert. Territory, city and insurrection” that happened in Madrid during June 2019 in Local Emboscada and Local Anarquista Motin. Is the product of a joint work of some comrades from Berlin and Madrid, that does not finish with the publication of this pages and pretends to extend the discussion that we have shared.
      What does it mean to take territory against the State and Capitalism? How can we take it through our struggles? How does it work domination in the territories that we inhabit? Does it mean our way of living in a territory a conflict with the system?

https://laemboscada.noblogs.or

Concrete-desert.cleaned

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Fascists And Migrants.

      The situation at the European border in Greece has become a war zone. Turkey, to push for support from NATO and the EU has started to use migrants as bargaining chips to further its land grab into Syria. Migrants in the eyes of the state are not people in desperate need but a thing they see as a problem or a group that can be used to build on their poisonous patriotism.

     Meanwhile as the various states procrastinate on this flow of humanity, vigilante fascist groups do their dirty work for them. Along the Greek/Turkish border these right wing thugs roam the area hunting migrants, terrorising them and subjecting them to brutal beatings, while the authorities turn a blind eye. On the Greek island of Lesbos, these fascists have gather from other countries to to roam freely attacking anybody that's doesn't speak Greek. 

     all this goes on uninterrupted  under the surveillance system of the state. This freedom granted to the fascist groups to use migrants as prey for their demented hunting forays, tells you the true nature of the states that try to control ever aspect of our lives. As long as states exist, freedom will struggle for survival.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

 

      Athens, Greece: On Saturday, March 7, 2020, anarchists and antifascists, anti-authoritarians marched through the downtown of Athens in solidarity with the migrants struggle, against all detention centers, against fences and borders. Against war, nationalism and fascism.

Greek vigilante groups in Evros are roaming freely the borders, terrorising and arresting groups of migrants that manage to find a hole through the fence, while in the greek island of Lesbos vigilante groups act like a mob that has set check points at the edges and the centre of Mytilene town (the capital of Lesbos island), verbally abuse any migrants in dinghies that reach the greek shores, attack and terrorize volunteers or NGO workers aiding migrants, smash their cars or violently beat them. Fascists from several european countries have flown to Lesbos island to take part in the mob that attacks anyone not speaking greek, migrants, NGO workers or tourists.

A school for refugee children has also been burnt to the ground by this right wing racist mob. Tourists, volunteers and NGO workers are fleeing Lesbos island because it’s not safe for anyone not speaking greek, except of foreign fascists and nationalists aiding the vigilante mobs.
        And while you would think that these despicable acts would be condoned by the majority at least of the people, the contrary happens. Racists, nationalists, conservative, neoliberals, right wingers, social democrats, even some self-proclaimed lefties, have united in a front, backing these acts or turning a blind eye on them.
      And when you hear their narrative, that the migrants are invaders and not people and that this is a war on Europe, you can’t help but remember another time when people were treating others like they were inferior, like the enemy and were applauding the attacks on people based on different characteristics and were applauding the burning of the enemy’s schools, shops and books, and they were laughing with the gassing of the “enemy” and were applauding the deaths of the “other” and then you remember this:
“First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me”.
     On Saturday, March 7, 2020, thousands of anarchists, anti-authoritarians, antifascists and people in solidarity in Athens, Greece, did exactly that. They chose to speak out, in defence of humanity against fascism, in defence of a world without borders, in defence of those who don’t have a voice because it has been choked by the teargas, the guns and the barbed wire fences at the edge of “Fortress Europe”.
athens.indymedia

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