The State's Steel Boot Stamps On Freedom.

 

   

       What is happening today in Exarcheia, in Athens, which is at the present time, under police occupation, is the true face of our so called representative democracy. It has nothing to do with humanity, and all to do with dogmatic ideology. Logically the state should welcome what goes on in that district, locals help refugees to live with some dignity and freedom of movement without any state aid, surely to be applauded by financial pundits in the state apparatus. However. like I said, the state is not about humanity, dignity or freedom, it is all about control and the development of big corporate profits. Self organising people living with the ethos of mutual aid, is an anathema to the state. During the recent election in Greece, the rhetoric from the right-wing party that gained power was that the district was a nest of criminals and they promised to bring it back under the control of the state. What in fact they wish to do is to clear the district that survives more or less outside the state by means of self-help, mutual aid and co-operation, and hand it over to the corporate juggernaug who would start by clearing out the locals and building luxury hotels, expensive restaurants, opulent apartments and shops filled with over price trinkets for the wealthy Greeks and rich tourists.

       The method used by the state in this operation of control and suppression is to bring in an army of armed thugs in uniforms and beat up and intimidate the locals, arresting some of the locals, and all the refugees they can lay their hands on, men, women and children, hoarding them onto buses, taking them for a position of self help and some dignity and locking them up in over crowded concentration camps with appalling conditions. To date approximately 150 refugees have been arrested in the district, and rising. This operation will be carried out with brutality and out without any thought of humanity.

      What is happening in Exarcheia, is just anther step deeper into the fascist state of politics today, and demands our strongest opposition as across the globe states seek ever greater control over the population, all for the benefit of the corporate world of greed and profit. We must continually struggle for a society of mutual aid, self help and co-operation and support all those who walk that road.

 

      Yesterday in Glasgow a group of people took to the street to show their anger at what is brutally being executed in Exarcheia and their support for the people of that district. More of this is required across the globe.

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

Right-wing Greek Government Attack On Liberated Spaces

 

       I have been a frequent visitor to Athens, and have visited the district of Exarchia several times and found its mix of cultures, cafes and squats as well as its activities to be a liberating feeling. It is with a heavy heart that I heard of the latest state attack on this area of free and liberated spaces. There must be an international response and resistance to this clamp down on the liberty of the people to form their own communities. Watching the rise of fascism across Europe and elsewhere and since the rightwing government was voted in at the last Greek election, I always felt that it was inevitable that they would make Exarchia their first battle ground against the left and libertarian section of the Greek communities. For Exarchia to survive as a libertarian centre in an authoritarian regime will require a tremendous and sustained effort from the international left community. Athens today, who's next?

 This from Void:

      EXARCHIA area under police attack by the new right government in Greece
in Global movement
     Exarchia area in Athens Greece under police occupation! Time to show your solidarity!
      The famous rebel and solidarity district of Athens is completely surrounded by huge police forces: many riot police buses (MAT), anti-Terrorism Police (OPKE), motor bike policemen (Dias), members of the secret police as well as a helicopter and several drones. Unique place in Europe for its high concentration of squats and other self-managed spaces, but also for its resistance against repression and solidarity with the precarious and migrants, Exarchia has been in major focus of the right government since its election on July 7th. The new right Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitsotakis had made it a personal matter, especially since he had been mocked in early August for not having achieved his goal of “cleaning Exarchia in a month” as he had announced in great pumps.

      This morning, 4 squats have been evacuated: Spirou Trikoupi 17, Transito, Rosa de fuego and Gare. The offensive is for now the northwest part of the neighborhood, with the remarkable exception of the squat Nottara 26, known to be best kept and very important symbol for the neighborhood as the first historic squat of the “refugee crisis” in the center City of Athens. We are currently counting about a hundred arrest, as well as brutal attacks against people trying to film.
In total, there are 23 squats in Exarchia plus 26 others around the neighborhood, which is a total of 49 focused on a small area. 49 squats to which you need to add other types of self-managed places, some of them for rent (Free Social Space Nosotros, free shop Skoros, etc) as well as dozens of private housing groups of activists, often near the terraces to allow access over the streets. Of the squats that is officially inside Exarchia, 12 are accommodation squats for refugees and migrant and the other 11 are squats of political anarchist, autonomous groups anarchists. Most refugee squats are also of course very political as they are organized through horizontal assemblies where the refugees can take their lives to their own hands and organize their every day decisions equally and in solidarity of each other and every one of them. Nottara 26, 5th High School of Exarchia and Spirou Trikoupi 17 have a lot of links with the rest of the social movement and international solidarity support. In the squats of Spirou Trikoupi 17 and Transito, that the jacks of power now attack and destroy, more than a dozen children have been ripped away from a peaceful and happy existence to be suddenly sent to camps. The sinister and overcrowded camps, where the migrants they are poorly fed and suffer from temperature variations. New Prime Minister of Greece Kiriakos Mitsotakis requires that all refugees will be well closed in concentration camps and completely cut off from the rest of the society. The face of Europe keeps getting hard like what is also happening elsewhere. This ever more authoritarian evolution of capitalism leads to questions about what the current era announces: attacks against the pockets of utopia combined with the confinement of the emissaries reminds of the dark hours of history. The whole world becomes fascist and Greece is, once again, one of the laboratories.

       But nothing is over. August ends. The social movement is gathering and organizing again. Places like the Nottara 26 and the K*VOX ARE UNDER HIGH surveillance. Responses are getting ready, as well as several major mobilizing events. Autumn will be hot in Athens. Resistance!
text: Yannis Youlountas

translated in English by Pia Klemp – edited by Void Network / athens

       PS: PLEASE republish this article. We are counting on your own reports and photos as these news to go international. Please protest infront of the places representing the Greek state in your country in defense of Exarchia. Solidarity is our weapon.
       The response of the movement was immediate with a demo organised spontaneously in the neighborhood. Talks and assemblies are taking place organizing the next steps of resistance. Also 3 days of self-organized concerts in defense of the neighborhood will take place in Exarchia square from 29/8 to 1/9- more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/728132344308674/ 

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

To End Racism, Borders Must Fall.

 

        The translation may not be the best, the phrases at times a little confusing, but what is crystal clear is that this is a cry for help from people who have had their rights removed and are being treated abysmally by the state machine. What is also crystal clear is the blatant cruelty, gross injustice, inhuman treatment of vulnerable people and the open racism by the police and the state apparatus. However this is not unusual, it is standard practice in every state across the planet. Migrants that group of human beings stripped of their rights, set aside because of colour, race or country of origin, the normal routine of state policy no matter where we live. Only when we destroy the state system and remove all borders from every map will we see an end to this  brutal policy of divide and rule for the benefit of the few.

This from The Anarchist Union of Afghanistan and Iran: 

         The terrible situation of immigrants in the ậty̰ḵy̰ police station, Athens
         What I write, the situation of immigrants in the police station is a fire, which is written and published on the request of the immigrants that we were also prisoners.
         As if we don't exist, some of us have been here for three months, the first day when the police arrested and brought here, we were taken from the criminal prints and so that there is no news of them to even ask what the time is.
        Every day, every hour, we ask them to let us sign the refugee sheet but the police don't care and lie that we have called with ptrwrạly̰ (Ậlạdạpwn: main immigration center) right now and this is not our fault but petrov the phone They don't pick up or they're busy and...
        The food here is very very bad and not enough; some of us have committed suicide a few times and some others will do it soon because we are so tired, maybe this is the only way for the police at least Let's get us out of here for a moment.
         We don't have money and contact outside is very expensive, we have to buy a phone card which is also four euro call for four minutes.
Most of us are alone in Greece, but we miss our families, for the light of the sunshine, because there is a building in the only cell window, which can prevent the touch of sun on our skin.
        We need the help of people who are out, we need that they care about us, yes it is true that we do not exist on our paper (mention of not having any legal sheet in proof that they exist) but the truth is that We exist.
       August 13th, when the police moved me to court for the trial, the first thing that came in front of my eyes was a court full of immigrants, when I talked to some of them, I realized that the only reason for their presence here is That their first face does not look like the ạrwpạỷy̰ạn, so the police have stopped them to search because in the racist of the system, your skin bell is enough to be charged with being a criminal; the second they did not have any legal proof to prove exist.
       I read my political statement, in a court where the immigrants were under racist insult of police; I read it, when I was full of armed police police with a gun that killed 15-Year-old teen Alexis Gry̰gwrwpwlws; I read it once. That a few days ago, the same courts released her killer; I read it, when the judges looked into my eyes and lie that how the court and the police deal with the Greek and the immigrants are no different; I read it, When it was very clear that the presence of immigrants in the court was part of the criminal program to show the identity of the immigrant identity; this trial was a good example for ahwazi justice, read injustice.
        (Abtin Parsa's political statement on August 13th: I stopped giving criminal prints to the police, because I do not accept the charge of being a criminal, in fact, the real criminals are the police who are armed in the society and kill people. These were the police who shot 15-Year-old teen Alexis Gry̰gwrwpwlws, it's not us immigrants who are dangerous to the society, but these are the police, the government and police are trying to make us look criminals to be the reason for the presence of all this. Immigrants in the court are the same and racist thoughts of police)

(https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1599482/)

        What I said was not a personal statement, but it was a common pain and problem that has been forced to us by the society's oppression by the authority.

Abtin Parsa August 15, 2019

http://asranarshism.com/1398/05/24/15-august-2019-athens/

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

Squat The World.

 

     Squats are always a symbol of rebellion, an important aspect of taking control by ordinary people, and sometimes a matter of necessity. They are however, detested by the powers that be, as it is a group that is stepping out of the status-quo, a group moving with self determination, a group that is not being subservient to the rules of this exploitative system, a group that refuses to see the sanctity of private property. Squats should always be publicised and supported when and where possible.

      Athens is no stranger to squats and they are always under attack from the authorities who see them as part of the population that has not submitted to its authoritarian and unjust rules, a threat to its total control of the population, a threat that could spread, so must be eliminated.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

         Today 17 July 19, we the self-organized collective of anarchist immigrants together with other self-organized collectives and  individuals in solidarity occupied an abandoned shop at the corner of Tsamadou/Tositsa streets, Exarchia.

Our goals to use this steki as the self-organized collective of anarchist immigrants are:
1- a centre of struggle for anarchist immigrants
2- self-organizing immigrants for common struggle and building relations between the immigrant communities and the movement
3- a collective cafeteria in solidarity with political prisoners
4- education activity
Our opinions on the identity of squat:
A- the squat is not the goal of struggle but is the tool of struggle, which means: the struggle should happen in the street and the squat is a help to organize the social struggles which should happen in the street.
B- the squat should be a social open space, creating open activity for society. For example: open education classes etc…
C- the steki of self-organized anarchist immigrants will not be a housing project. In our opinion: it is not a project to occupy a space for housing. Housing by squatting a place is only a project when the squat is a social political space and is active for struggle in the neighbourhood and other areas.
D- in the squat decisions should be taken in the collective way and the assemblies should be with no authority or hierarchical situation.
In reference to our opinion on squatting, we are struggling to SQUAT THE WORLD.

       Once a place is squatted, it has to be defended, it will always be a point of conflict with the stifling state. Again from Act For Freedom Now:

Photo: The squat patrol in Exarcheia, in front of the memorial for Alexis Grigoropoulos and Michael Kaltezas.

      17.07.19: They think that we will live like slaves. They expect that we will cease to exist, that we will die quietly to perpetuate the world of power. In stubbornness of the times, not only have we not been destroyed, we have strengthened, we have spread everywhere, we have become the hope of the earth. They continue to torture us, preparing prisons and concentration camps for us, sprinkling our streets and our bodies with chemicals and plastic bullets and killing us. Once again they announce that they will take our homes, our squats, our squares, everything.
     We are determined to defend our squats, our neighborhoods and the memory of our struggle. We will fight. The world of freedom, community and solidarity will win.
via: anarchistsworldwide.

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

"Gentrification And Ghettoisation"

       It is a world wide phenomena, changing cities. Cities used to be where ordinary people lived, worked and had their leisure activities, those days have gone. To day cities are being turned in to, "business centres" or "pleasuredromes" for the wealthy, centres for tourists to come and spend their wealth. Expensive luxury apartments, glossy, glitzy restaurants, expensive coffee bars and "high fashion shops. In some areas, the ordinary people of the district are being pushed out to make way for what can only be called university towns, one or more universities surrounded by student accommodation. All this is to make money for the chosen few, the small group of parasites that control our lives by duplicitous financial manipulation. We accept that we should be excluded form our cities and herded on the periphery, or we decide that the cities belong to the people and not the financial Mafia. If we believe we should live in our cities we will have to fight to take them back, they are not going to gifted to us by the invading corporate juggernaut.

     The following article is from Athens, but could be from any city in the developed world. The ordinary people are being herded out to the periphery to be housed in  cheap, shoddy schemes, lacking in amenities. A systematic policy of "gentrification and ghettoisation". Out of sight of the prancing privileged as they enjoy their existence in the consumer illusion of happiness made of bubble and fizz.

This translated version from 325: 
Original source: https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1597841/

         Tourism grows like flowers in the spring, security cameras appear like leaves to protect the peaceful citizens. Everything must be clear, beautiful and in developmental path. The appearance of the city should fit into the list of Aegean Airlines. Tourists do not need a lot, some chain stores and hipster coffeeshops, a good guide to explaining which places to avoid, and something that fits into the “authentic Greek experience”. We look forward to the next group of tourists who will take a selfie around the Acropolis.At the same time, our neighborhood degrades slowly. People who can not respond to the increase of rent price are either forced to find another home to stay or are forced to comply with the new rules. At the same time, investors are exacerbating the situation as they buy old houses, which are being demolished and, in their place, they are building luxurious housing estates. Apartments renovated for short-term rent (AIRBNB) as well as public spaces and parks are privatized reducing free and open spaces. The game is as old as the same city is listening to the name of private property . The rule is also simple: whoever does not own, will pay, whoever does not pay will be expelled. People who are not part of the capitalist machine, little illegal sellers and homeless people, illegal graffiti and political posters, life in general, and things that can not be sold will disappear. We know very well that nothing will be given to us because we do not belong to the owners’ side. We know that we do not even fit into this suffocating capitalist context, nor do we want to keep up with the logic of bosses and investors. That is why we are fighting against their expansionist and developmental plans.On Tuesday 9/04, we visited a boutique (as they call it) of luxury apartments, which is in its final stage of implementation, on Kolokotroni street between Koukaki and Petralona. Kolokotroni Street is a street with several old or abandoned houses, and it seems that the crows of the construction company from Glyfada have put it in the goal. During our visit, we put a banner that read: “RICH PEOPLE GET BACK TO YOUR SUBURBS, HOUSING IS NOR A LIFESTYLE NEITHER A PRODUCT, IT’S A NEED (A)”, we throw paint on the freshly painted walls and advertisements of the company, write slogans and open holes or even completely tear apart interior walls. Nevertheless, investors insist on forcing us to a second visit and today they have put cameras thinking that we will stop.

OUTSIDE THE INVESTORS FROM OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AGAINST AIRBNB AND LUXURY APARTMENTS NO ATTACK TOWARDS OUR LIFE WILL STAY WITHOUT ANSWER IF WE DON’T GET ORGANIZED IN ALL NEIGHBOURHOODS, OUR CITIES WILL BECOME MODERN PRISONS

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

From Desperation To Scapegoat.

          Once again we see another attack on the vulnerable and needy by an EU state, certainly a daily occurrence across Europe. Refugees/immigrants are the people with no basic human rights, scapegoats for the states policy of divide and conquer. Creating the illusion of the foreigner destroying our "way of life", the enemy responsible for all our ills, keeps the population locked in internal squabbles, allowing the state to exert greater authority over the situation.

         The EU has an influx of migrants due to its foreign policy, in conjunction with the US, especially in the middle east and north Africa. Rather than helping these vulnerable and needy people, whose situation they created, it will use this army of desperate and vulnerable people to further its own agenda. People are of no consequence to the powers that be. Civilised Europe, will herd them into unsanitary and over crowded detention centres, by propaganda, lies and misinformation, it will link them to organised crime and violence, feeding the far right with ammunition.

      This is just one recent example of a state's agenda of useing migrants as a tool. This from Athens, Refugee Accommodation and Solidarity Space City Plaza:

          The police operation that took place 2 days ago in Exarchia, against the two refugee squats was not directed against the mafia in the neighbourhood. Despite the propaganda, they did not find anything in the squats to link them with mafia. The goal of the government and the police was a show of power. Refugees have been turned into scapegoats for pre-election purposes. Refugee targeting does not harm mafia, but it strengthens the racist stereotype of identifying “foreigners/refugees” with criminal activity and of course, opens the way to fascist violence.
         We remind them that the squats are the voices against the failed policies of the state on “migration management”. The housing problem is more acute than ever, for both refugees and locals. Instead of finding solutions for the housing problems, government and the oppositions are turning against those who have no shelter and hope. The recipe is classic: Instead of limiting poverty, targeting and criminalising poverty.

Do not let them impose the policy of fear and hatred.

Refugees Accommodation and Solidarity Space City Plaza, April 13, 2019

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

A Squat, Always A Welcome Spark Of Humanity.

       While this capitalist system is hell-bent on power mongering, death, destruction, exploitation and selfish greed, it is always heart warming to see a spark of humanity illuminate some of its dark corners. Like Azadi, a new squat in Exarchia Athens. As they start their journey of co-operation and mutual aid, they are making a call for support to help them on their journey.

      This from Act For Freedom Now:

        Why we call us Azadi? Azadi is meaning freedom in Farsi and Kurdish language. We took this name because the most of our residents are Iranian and Kurdish Families! Freedom of movement- Freedom of ourselves- Freedom of our minds is what we want. so this is why we meant this gonna be a good name for our house!
     We are in the process of reorganizing ourself. We are a selforganized community of international people who opened this house to give a safe shelter for woman and children!
we have some rules in the House:
No Violence
No Sexism
No Racism
No Drugs
      This is the main consensus of the people who are living in this house. This time we are around 50 people living peacefully together. Most of us are woman and children. We are on the way to set up the house in a good living standard for everyone who is having a room in the building. Currently we are not able to take new people in the Squat. But we are able to take care of those who are living inside!
What we need:
Fridge, Blankets, Pillows, Lamps, Food, Cleaning stuff
Find out the news at our blog:
https://azadiathens.noblogs.org/

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Nikos Romanos.

        On the recent post regarding the murder of Alexis Gigoropoulos by a police officer in Athens. It is difficult to assess the impact of such an act of brutal murder of such a young person. Obviously the family and friends have something die inside them after the event, a part that will never live again. We know that the people of Greece felt anger and outrage at this callous murder by a state minion, the weeks of riots and protests that followed are proof of that. However there was one person on who, not unexpectedly, this act treachery had a deeply profound impact. It was his teenage friend who was having coffee with Alexis that evening, Nikos Romanos.  Alexis died in the arms of Nikos on the street where we was shot dead. Think how that must have impacted on his young life, on his thoughts on the police and the system they protect. Nikos went on to become a very active and dedicated anarchist in Greece, and for his dedication to freedom and justice is now locked up in Korydallos prison in Athens. 

Some links regarding Nikos Romanos:

https://www.thepressproject.gr/article/70024/Video-Nikos-Romanos-just-after-the-murder-of-Alexandros-Grigiropoulos

https://greece.greekreporter.com/tag/nikos-romanos/

https://greece.greekreporter.com/?s=Nikos+Romanos

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/06/nikos-romanos-family-fear-martyr-greece-protests-hunger-strike

https://en-contrainfo.espiv.net/2015/12/29/nikos-romanos-requiem/

https://prisonersolidarity.net/prisoner/nikos-romanos

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Plunder And Pillage Of Our Green Spaces.

        Do we slumber as the corporate juggernaut continues its relentless process of gobbling up all public spaces and local communities and transforming them into profitable entities? Local communities are "gentrified", which translates as turning the area into a money spinning project for those with surplus cash and pushing the local community out to the periphery of society. Our green spaces, parks etc. are seen not as places of leisure and pleasure for old and young, but as possible money earners. More and more corporate enterprises occupy our parks and public spaces, turning them into cash machines for the corporate juggernaut. We are told, "it will help the economy", again a euphemism for, filling the coffers of the rich and wealthy. 

      We have to be alive to this plundering of our communities and public spaces or we will end up living in a world of total private property, suitable only for the wealthy, devoid of any public spaces where our kids can run freely and safely, and our local communities are ushered into ghettos on the periphery of our cities.

 My local Springburn Public Park.

 

       Thankfully some people are alive to this pillage and plunder and are organising to do something about this crime, why not join them?

     Two events concerning the commercialisation of green space and What we can do about it.

Discussion.

       Each summer the volume of paid events occupying our parks is expanding.
The disruption to ordinary park users who see the park as an escape from the chaos and consumerism of daily life. These park users see these disruptions to their enjoyment of the park as disturbing.
        We will be discussing these and other park and green space issues that are also enjoyable and could help to stop the use of our parks for commercial profiteering. Speakers to be confirmed.
Workshop.
      The workshop will be around. How to find out things about parks, greens pace, commons and how to use the “Community Empowerment Act”. The general public need to be heard in this conversation in protecting community assets. We will be looking at the various, forums, assemblies and mechanisms, that could help to enable groups as well as individuals to take part in this important dialogue.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION
Thursday 13 December 7:00
Kinning Park Complex. (For food 6:00)

WORKSHOP
Sunday 16 December 3:00 (Soft Drinks)
Kinning Park Complex.
https://inthecommongood.org/2018/11/15/the-life-of-a-park-part-1/

       Of course this is not a Glasgow or UK phenomenon, it is a world wide strategy of the financial Mafia and the corporate juggernaut in conjunction with the various states.  This from Athens.

       Article from Act For Freedom Now:

          On the 10th of December, the final offers for the construction of the METRO line 4 will be submitted. One of the stops of the metro is scheduled to be built on Exarchia square.

        The plateia is the heart of a neighborhood which is a historic and living site of the anti-state movement. This free space has been fought for for decades and maintained through constant struggle. This social movement in Exarchia, as everywhere, has been under constant repression by police and by the forced assimilation into state and capital’s plans for gentrification and pacification.

        It is obvious what this construction will bring with it: surveillance, policing, constant state scrutiny and of course greater commercialization and gentrification of the entire neighborhood. The total occupation of the square by a construction site for many years means from day one the abolition of a public meeting space. The devouring of this public space, will finally result in its replacement with a transit point, to serve the unhindered flow of consumption and production. It is also clear that this is a strategic plan to extinguish all the struggling projects of social self organization from the neighborhood, but also to push out the marginalized who find refuge here. Besides, the Athens METRO is already a site of class exclusion and control, having finally implemented the electronic ticket and barrier system.

        The expansion of the metro comes together with announcements of fancy plans of urban development for the whole of Athens. The story is the same everywhere: violent displacement of the poor and of the struggling subjects that give free public space its true meaning, to make way for commercial exploitation. A prime example is their designs for Prosfygika Alexandras.

     Where the oppressed build communities against state domination, refusing to be subsumed in its institutions, their homes and streets are treated as abandoned sites, as deserts. Even more so, where there is active resistance against state domination, they systematically target such neighborhoods as degenerated hubs of criminality. Their strategy of repression is the cultural desertification of commerce and capital. The plan to build a metro stop right on the square of such a neighborhood is exactly the spearhead of this capitalist colonization. But, life blossoms only through the struggle for freedom and self-determination.

 We call for a discussion about the resistance.

SATURDAY 8th of DECEMBER, at 18.00

EXARCHIA SQUARE

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

International Video Poetry Festival, Athens.

     If in Athens at the end of November this year, you will have the opportunity to visit The International Video Poetry Festival, well worth a visit. You still have time to send in your work to be part of this growing international festival.

 

 

    The yearly International Video Poetry Festival 2018 will be held for seventh time in Athens / Greece. Approximately 1200 people attended the festival last year.
       The 7th International Video Poetry Festival will run for two days in two different zones. The first day will be the Show Room Video Poetry. An unique zone that will include video poems, visual poems, short film poems and cinematic poetry by artists from all over the world (America, Asia, Europe, Africa). The second day will be the Live Improvisation Zone with multimedia poetry reading, concerts with experimental music and performances.
      We are inviting the artists – poets, video artists, performers, directors, producers – who want to visit the festival to present their art project at the Theatre. We can provide to them accommodation for 3 days (one day before the festival, during the festival and one day afterwards).
      The International Video Poetry Festival 2018 attempts to create an open public space for the creative expression of all tendencies and streams of contemporary visual poetry.
       It is very important to notice that this festival is a part of the counter-culture activities of Void Network and + the Institute [for Experimental Arts] and will be non-sponsored, free entrance, non commercial and nonprofit event. The festival will cover the costs (2000 posters, 15.000 flyers, high quality technical equipment) from the incomes of the bar of the festival. All the participating artists and the organizing groups will participate voluntary to the festival.
       The Institute [for Experimental Arts] invites the artists and creators of video poems to participate from their side in our effort to cover the expenses of the festival without private or state sponsorship. For this reason we propose to the artists the suggested donation of 5 euro for the submission of their video poems.
       The participation is free and each artist can send more than one work ( 1 to 3 video poems for free). 

      The International Video Poetry Festival 2018 attempts to create an open public space for the creative expression of all tendencies and streams of contemporary visual poetry.
      Void Network started organizing multi media poetry nights in 1990. Void Network and +the Institute [for Experimental Arts] believe that multi media Poetry Nights and Video Poetry shows can vibrate in the heart of Metropolis, bring new audiences in contact with contemporary poetry and open new creative dimensions for this ancient art. To achieve this, we respect the aspirations and the objectives of the artists, create high quality self organized exhibition areas and show rooms, we work with professional technicians and we offer meeting points and fields of expression for artists and people that tend to stand antagonistically to the mainstream culture.
       We would like to thank Dave Bonta from the influential video art site Moving Poems, a global site with the best video poems in the web that inspired us to create the International Video Poetry Festival in Athens and we cooperate since 2012 to spread out the announcement of the Festival each year so as to gather participations from all over the world.
           DEAD LINE FOR SUBMISSION: no later than November 20, 2018 (date of postmark)
      HOW TO SUBMIT A WORK:
      Click here to download and complete the submission form:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIWEeQd3VUQAF4anMUUobO6bdEYHRS1AwRUtSbz6XTY/edit?usp=sharing
      1. Your participation is FREE. Please you can add the suggested donation of 5 euro (or more) to the following bank account: National Bank of Greece 04664860451 Iban GR2101100460000004664860451 Swift (BIC) ETHNGRAA
       2. Please, send the submission material via email as following:
via email: your video poems in mp4 or mov file, definition (720 x 576, 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080) the submission form and photos in .jpg file (all these in a single wetransfer file) Email: theinstitutecontact [at] gmail.com
*please replace [at] with @ symbol to send email
       You can use wetransfer.com or any other FREE SERVICE to send us big files.
        3. It is very important to name your files (videos and still images, photos) as it is shown below:
       Title of video poem, Artist’s name, Countrry
      4. Be careful, you have to send only one email with the application form, the link to download, the video poems or the video poems archives, the still images of the video poems and any website of your art work projects
      5. We recommend you to add English or Greek subtitles to your video poems even if the spoken language is in English as it will be easier for people outside the English spoken world to understand it.
       We suggest you send your video poems through internet. Otherwise you can also post your DVD file in the following address
INTERNATIONAL VIDEO POETRY FESTIVAL
TASOS SAGRIS
159 KREONTOS
SEPOLIA ATHENS
GREECE 10443
      Please post it not later than November 20, 2018(date of postmark) to the International Film Poetry Festival, Athens. The Institute [for Experimental Arts] will inform you about your participation in early December 2018.
      International Video Poetry Festival photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98573745@N03/albums/72157636930950693
       You can look here for some photos of previous poetry nights organized by Void Network and + the Institute [for Experimental Arts]:
http://voidnetwork.gr/2/5th-international-video-poetry-festival-sat
http://voidnetwork.gr/2015/10/20/speak-no-evil-poetry-even
       for more photos from Void Network art, events and actions :
http://flickr.com/photos/voidnetwork

       The 7th International Video Poetry Festival is dedicated to the Chinese radical poet and photographer Ren Hang, one of the leading lights of the new generation of Chinese photographers. Ren Hang was arrested many times for his sexually explicit, joyously celebratory photography. Although he was globally renowned, he never gained the recognition he deserved in his home country, in part because he was repeatedly denied the opportunity to display his work in Beijing and throughout China.
      Read more about Ren Hang to the following link:
http://artasiapacific.com/News/ObituaryRenHang19872017

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Police Brutality.

       Europe, a supposed leader in democracy, yet in every country in Europe we have police brutality on the streets and in those dark rooms of the "security services". Sometimes it against demonstrators, and other times it is against individuals. Here in the UK, probably the worst in recent times was the savage treatment inflicted on the miners during the 1984 miners' strike. It is still a bleeding wound in the history of working class struggles.

      This case from Act For Freedom Now,  is of a particular vicious attack on an individual, an immigrant, in Athens, by those obedient dogs of the state, the police. Despite all this going on, there are some misguided individuals who seem to be deluded into thinking that "we need more police on the streets". They seem to be under the delusion that the police are there for the benefit of the ordinary people, when they should wake up to that fact the the police are there to keep control of the ordinary people, and protect the power, wealth and privileges of our lords and masters.

 State terrorism: Torture on the back streets of Athens.

         On Thursday 27th of July around 2 in the morning in Athens, on Bouboulinas st. in Exachia neighbourhood, a squadron of greek cops kidnapped and tortured an anarchist immigrant. Straight away they began to torture me with a barrage of kicks, using racist and fascist insults. Meanwhile, the police stated that my offence is that I am an anarchist and belong to a known political group of Exarchia. Then the squadron of riot cops forced me into a dark alley. They laid me on the ground and they tried to break my ribs by kicking; I placed my hand on my ribs to protect them. They took away my hand from my ribs and tried to break my fingers with their shields. In order to protect my fingers, I pulled my hand under my belly. At that moment, they hit my ribs again to break them. This action lasted a long time, until one of the cops proposed to break my wrists. So they placed my hands on the curb stone to break them with batons, but I managed to pull my hands away. This escalated their anger, and by saying fascist and racist insults, they all started to beat me.
          They beat me for more than one and a half hours. All the while they were taking several photos of me getting beaten up, as well as when I was lying semi conscious on the street. When cops realized that my body had been seriously damaged and I was not able to move, they started to play a game with me, telling me “you have ten seconds to leave from here, if we catch you again, we will kill you”, and two cops moved a little bit ahead of me to catch me again. They hit my knee several times with batons to make sure that I can not escape. When one of them turned to look behind him, with all of the pain that I had, I started running. One of the cops tried to catch me again but I could escape by running up Tositsa and seek help at a nearby house of comrades.
          Solidarity paramedics came immediately and after examination, told me I should go to hospital. There they found that aside from severe bruising all over my body and head wounds, I aslo had a fructured spinal joint.
       Exarchia, as an area with self-organized projects and revolutionary struggle, is under constant attack from the state because it is part of international social struggle against capitalism, mafia, terrorism and generally the system. Exarchia is a zone of defence where different groups exist together to fight for freedom and equality against the oppression of the system. By mutual cooperation we can meet the needs of each other without any authority. For this struggle the state beats us.
          The state by placing permanent police forces in the perimeter of Exarchia has made a kind of border between us and the rest of Athens, so it is as if they put us in a kind of prison. At the moment we have no other way to resist this prison except riots against the military check points. One of the reasons that the cops wanted to break my wrists is because as they said, I am one of those who participate in the riots. Many persons usually participate in these clashes with the police forces, because they do not want to be in prison, because they do not want control from any authority.
         As an immigrant anarchist I understand that the struggle for freedom is common between locals and migrants. For this reason I work towards unity and making collective body between locals and migrants. We will not fight only for immigrants but for everyone, because we understand that our pain, our problems are the same.
         Immigrants are under constant attack from the state and facists and it does not matter what kind of government is in power, whether it is ultra-right or leftist government. SYRIZA present themselves as supporters of immigrants but the reality is they imprison migrants on mass scale, every day they deport and kill people at the borders. We know that all authority is our enemy.
         In Exarchia today immigrants are under increasing threat of repression. Recently they began to make police sweep operations on the square arresting any migrant that is there. At the same time there are groups in Exarchia who act like police, using the same tactics, like pogroms on the square against migrants. Such as a group known as security team, military part of the political group “Anti-authoritarian Movement” (AK), who have relation with the government and present themselves as supporters of immigrants, but instead they use immigrants as a cover for their mafia business. As an immigrant I have to say to such groups: stop using our name for your dirty business.
          It is clear that cops and mafia work together for the same purpose: control and the crushing of resistance.
          The message of this violent attack by the pigs was: to terrorize immigrants, anarchists and those who actively resist and fight the police. We shall not kneel down. The state’s violence make it more clear that our struggle is just.

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Today's Scapegoats, The Migrant.

           More on the state's brutal savagery in seeking total control, pick a country, and there will be state repression either on its own citizens or as is common place now, the modern scapegoat, migrants. This example is from Athens, but, today, it could be any city in Europe.

This from Act For Fredom Now:

   Freedom For All Migrants.

          Hicham, is a North African-born migrant, living in Athens for the past 10 months. He is a member of our squat community of Exarchia, and an active participant in the free public bath initiative. Hischam was arrested in June this year on Kallidromiou st. in a police control check.
He has been held in the dungeon cells of Kallidromiou police station ever since. Hicham, who is a Europe-wide organizer of unions and activists of unregistered refugees, was held completely incognito for the first ten days, and denied any contact with the outside world, including his Belgian wife and child. Like so many migrants he gets no regular access to visitors, no legal advice, no translation, no information about his case and future. Instead he gets constant humiliation, violence and psychological torture from the repressive, racist organs of the state. Conditions in these police cells are inhuman, more like lightless, airless underground pits, conditions that are designed to crush the prisoner, leading to severe depression and mental illness.
        Combined with denying them any information about the length of detention, this amounts to torture. Though Hicham has legal papers in Belgium, he is caught in the trap of the state judicial system. Indefinite detention means what it says – indefinite.
         The state’s fascist politics unfolds in its full magnitude in its treatment of migrants. They are the scapegoats, stripped of all dignity. The scope is international, the borders of Europe now an untold war. Daily killings, torture, mass imprisonment and abducted deportations have all become commonplace. New concentration camps are planned outside of Europe, without regard for the humanity of their inmates.
        Hicham’s case is only one example of thousands of migrants and refugees imprisoned in administrative detention around the country. The only reason, not having the right papers! This is the fascist nature of the system which categorizes and criminalizes people in order to exploit them. Only solidarity can make these people visible, and their cases known. This occurs in Exarchia at a time when the state is implementing a plan for total control and subjugation of this neighborhood, because it is a neighborhood of resistance!
         Renewed police sweep operations have become a weekly routine, and many refugees and members from our squat communities have been controlled, beaten and detained. Exarchia is and should remain a place of direct political action, of self organization of the oppressed, a site of diversity and freedom. Militants, migrants and prisoners alike, we can only defend our community through unified action against the state. Solidarity is our weapon, and our key.

And much nearer home, Glasgow.
        Sorry a bit late with this for the protest, but you can still take action and join one of the support groups, links below.

Protest - Stop The Mass Eviction of Refugees Tonight 6:00 Buchanan Street.

      PROTEST: Glasgow stands with 300 refugees facing mass eviction from
their homes over the next week.

        The mass eviction of 300 refugees is set to take place across Glasgow
city over the next week. Serco who are the private housing firm who deal with accommodation for refugees have deployed beyond disgusting tactics to displace people from their homes. Serco will issue "lock change" notices on Monday giving residents a week to get out with nowhere else to go.
       With the night shelter and housing schemes already massively stretched, hundreds of people in Glasgow will be facing street homelessness and will be extremely vulnerable.

        "This is, ultimately, a brutal consequence of Home Office using deliberate destitution and homelessness as a key immigration enforcement policy. Alongside the use of private asylum accommodation providers" - Stuart McDonald, MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East

This display of a brutality is not the values of the citizens of Glasgow and we are urging people to join our protest against this mass eviction. Speakers on the day to be announced. We also recommend writing to your elected representatives urging them to take action and sharing this with friends and family. If you want to learn more about organisations working on these issues or find out more about what it's like to go through the asylum process - here are some useful links:

Refugee Survival Trust - http://www.rst.org.uk/

Glasgow Night Shelter - https://glasgownightshelter.org/

Glasgow Asylum Destitute Action Network -

https://destitutionaction.wordpress.com/

Positive Action in Housing - http://www.paih.org/

Scottish Refugee Council - http://www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/

Govan Community Project - http://www.govancommunityproject.org.uk/

Unity Centre - https://unitycentreglasgow.org/

Ubuntu Women's Shelter - http://ubuntu-glasgow.org.uk/

Scottish Detainee Visitors - http://sdv.org.uk/

Maryhill Integration Network - http://www.maryhillintegration.org.uk/

Refuweegee - https://refuweegee.co.uk/

Maslow's Community Shop Govan -

https://www.facebook.com/maslowsgovan/?hc_location=ufi

Scottish Afghan Society - http://www.scottishafghansociety.org.uk/Home.aspx

Right To Remain Toolkit - https://righttoremain.org.uk/toolkit/

Report on Asylum Destitution in Scotland:

https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/Committees/Report/EHRiC/2017/5/22/Hidden-Lives---New-Beginnings--Destitution--asylum-and-insecure-immigration-status-in-Scotland

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk