Provoked.

           Usually after a large protest the media report what happened as "violence broke out and x number of police were injured". However, practically everybody that goes on a protest march or rally is aware that in most of the cases, trouble usually starts after police provocation. This pattern is repeated across the globe, all in an attempt to intimidate the protestors and put other people off joining any protest movements with the aim of creating a intimidated and subservient population. Making population control so much easier for the established power structure to get on with plundering the public purse and depleting the Earth's resources, all for the benefit of the privileged few who hold the reins of power.

     The following is from Athens, but can be witnessed in cities, towns and villages across the planet. Anywhere when the people challenge the established power structure.

 
 

          Suddenly 6 police bikes provocatively pass from Exarcheia Square attempting to intimidate and scare those that have already gathered there. Apart from the shouts against them, warning the cops about the response they will receive the next time they may try to provoke the people about to protest the police repression in the neighborhood, there is no aggressive action against the police.
          What do the cops do following that? They leave and return with greater reinforcements, about 15-20 bikes, 2 cops on each bike. The result is what has been recorded in the video.
           Despite the chaos created in the area by the police with asphyxiating gas grenades and flash bang grenades, the protest in Exarchia took place dynamically, with the participation of approximately 1.000 protesters.

The call for the protest follows:

JUNE 25 – DAY OF GREEK AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF EXARCHIA.

      To defend the neighborhood of the world that fits many worlds.

A neighborhood where people of all genders, ages and backgrounds can coexist with respect.

Where the history of yesterday’s struggles meets the resistances of today.

Against gentrification, evictions, political annihilation, State repression.

To fight for the Exarcheia of social self-organization, of class solidarity, of insurrection

– No Metro station in Exarcheia Square

– No to the handing over of Strefi hill to private companies

– The Polytechnic School of Athens should remain a place of meeting and struggle

– Reduction in rental prices

– No evictions

Visit ann arky's home at http://strugglepedia.co.uk  

NO Metro.

          One way for capital to take control of an area is gentrification and one way the state can assist this process is subsides and infrastructure that will encourage developers. For many years the Greek state has tried to turn Exarchia into an up-market developers paradise but so far has failed. Of course they don't give up easily, after a concerted effort from police brutality to change this area, which so far has failed, they continue with the attempt to put in place the infrastructure that will attract developers, a Metro station in the centre of Exarchia Square. This has been met with strong and determined resistance from the locals and their supporters.

      EXARCHIA WILL LIVE ON. OFF WITH THE METRO FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD 

      Today, 5/7 at around 6:00am a surveyors workgroup and a contractor showed up at the square for setting out the works concerning the construction of a metro station in the square.
       Immediately people from the neighbourhood and in solidarity arrived at the square making it clear that the people won’t allow the construction of a metro station in Exarchia, forcing them to leave.
       They also made it clear that, as has happened until now, the next time they show up in the neighbourhood the people will be there to prevent any work.

EXARCHIA WILL LIVE ON

OFF WITH THE METRO FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Individuals from the Exarchia neighbourhood and in solidarity

A small attack against Airbnb in Exarchia

        Some days before we did an action against an apartment that is being rented through the Airbnb platform in Manis street, Exarchia.
        We wrote slogans, painted the key box, we threw leaflets with written on them in English “Housing is not a luxury, stop the evictions and gentrification” and “Immigrants welcome, tourists go to your own homes”. Then we threw paint on the balcony. The Delta cops passed by the point a few minutes before the action and a few minutes after we had finished without understanding anything.

 

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

The Heavy Boot Of Authority Marches On.

      What is happening in Exarchia should not be seen as something in isolation that is happening in a small district in Athens. It must be seen in the context of the continuous move to ever increasing authoritarianism that is gripping Europe and elsewhere in today's world. Far right groups and governments are gaining traction from the complete disillusionment of the people for the existing system. The people are looking for change and the mainstream media is channeling that desire in the direction that suits the power mongers and the corporate world. Exarchia is just one savage attack on the right of people to chose to live their lives in mutual aid, co-operation, self help, and a helping hand to all those in need, away from the shackles of the authoritarian state. The struggle is universal, it is our struggle, and we will in time feel the same savagery as Exarchia if we stray far enough away from the dictates of the system. To govern you need power and control, and they will do what is necessary to achieve these weapons.

The New War on Immigrants and Anarchists in Greece
An Interview with an Anarchist in Exarchia 

This from Crimethinc:

 

 

        Filled with squatted social centers and characterized by a combative anti-authoritarian spirit, the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens, Greece has long been an important reference point for autonomous movements around the world. The new right-wing government that has come to power in Greece has pledged to crush this experiment in inclusivity and self-determination. On August 26, massive police raids evicted four occupations, including some hosting refugee families, many of whom have been sent to concentration camps; at this moment, riot police surround Exarchia, preparing their next attacks. In response, demonstrations have been called for August 31 and September 14. We interviewed a resident of Exarchia about the context of this new chapter of struggle and the prospects ahead for those who seek a world without capitalism or state oppression.
        In January 2015, as the global wave of right-wing electoral victories was picking up momentum, the new left party Syriza won the Greek elections. At the time, this inspired a lot of enthusiasm from leftists and socialists in Greece and elsewhere around the world; yet we argued that Syriza would draw movements out of the streets, re-legitimize the institutions of the state without changing their essentially repressive character, and ultimately fail to address the consequences of capitalism, polarizing Greek voters to the right. As we anticipated, Syriza did not follow through on their promises to defend Greece from the austerity measures demanded by the European Union. Instead, they imposed austerity measures themselves, further polarizing Greece and confirming that there is no viable electoral solution to the crises imposed by capitalism.
          Consequently, in July 2019, the longstanding right-wing party New Democracy won the national elections by a clear majority. Some corporate media journalists celebrated the victory of New Democracy as a return to business as usual, a rejection of the supposed “extremism” of both Syriza and the fascist Golden Dawn party. But the victory of New Democracy is also a victory for the far right, who have seen their racist, nationalist agenda become mainstream. They took office with the intention of scapegoating immigrants and anarchists for the failures of neoliberal capitalism and the betrayals of left politicians. Taking advantage of the summer holidays to strike, they have already begun violently evicting anarchist social centers and self-organized refugee housing in Athens, openly declaring war on all who stand in the way of their oppressive vision of order.

          We conducted the following interview with an anonymous black flag anarchist resident of Exarchia three blocks from Exarchia Square following a small riot in the early hours of August 28.
      New Democracy began by declaring war on anarchists, specifically on the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens. We have seen a series of poorly-written articles from the yellow press spreading fear about “anarchist violence” and promising major government crackdowns. Why have they prioritized focusing on anarchists and specifically Exarchia as the chief enemy of the state? How much of the population do you think agrees with this characterization of anarchists?
          New Democracy has shown a sort of delusional obsession with Exarchia. They refer to it as if it were the basis of the crisis here, as if it were the foundation of all of Greece’s problems. As a resident of Exarchia and an active anarchist, I can confirm that the language they use to describe my neighborhood is ridiculously overstated.
        Sure, there are some issues with drug dealing and predatory mafia practices in Exarchia. The mafia recruits refugees, taking advantage of their desperate need for employment, hoping that anarchists who oppose opportunistic attempts to establish a drug market in the police-free zone of Exarchia will hesitate before hitting a refugee. This situation is the result of the poverty refugees face as they wait to receive asylum or struggle to make their home in Athens, trying to avoid harassment from police or fascists.
          This is tragic, but it is nothing compared to a typical ghetto in the United States; it’s the inevitable result of the combination of the economic crisis and the so-called refugee crisis. The image of a refugee dealing drugs in Exarchia is an easy scapegoat for the right, and New Democracy has used this over and over in a cowardly manner to rally reactionary support.
           Most people outside of Greece don’t understand that Exarchia is a very large neighborhood. It is only a five-minute walk from the most expensive part of the city center, Colonaki, a middle-to-upper-class neighborhood comparable to Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The anarchist movement emerged in the early 1970s out of student resistance to the Junta, which was concentrated at the nearby Polytechnio, the architectural university of Athens. Until then, Exarchia was a sort of extension of Colonaki. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has become a gathering place for anarchists and squatters, but also for the theater community, leftists, intellectuals, artists, and the clients of an array of alternative bars. It is known locally as a nightlife destination on the weekends for students and partygoers as much as it is known for riots and squats.
         While all of these elements coexist in a sort of chaotic equilibrium, the old inhabitants of Exarchia still complain. Unless you are one of the lucky few who have found an apartment here owned by an old person unaware of its Airbnb potential and the erupting real estate market in central Athens, or you are living in a squat or in a home owned by family, it is unlikely that a typical working-class Greek person could afford to live here. The wealthy residents of Exarchia complain to the municipal authorities. They have been doing so for years. New Democracy is responding in a way that may go beyond their whining.
        For example, there is famous hill called Streffi where youth and anarchist-friendly folks go to chill with their friends and comrades. It is also a beautiful park that used to house parties and gatherings to celebrate and benefit the punk and hip-hop counter-cultures and anarchist and anti-fascist movements. Because it has a view of the Acropolis and some of the most expensive houses in Exarchia, a brutal initiative began in the summer 2018 to crush the cop-free-zone culture of Streffi. Riot police surrounded the hill before any announced event, and completely demolished the only squat in the area shortly after it declared solidarity with those trying to reclaim Streffi.
          In short, Exarchia is not a beautiful utopia in which anarchists live in harmony together and with other locals. There are snitches and “good citizens” here who applaud the police.
         New Democracy has been in power before; they are not something new. But after five years in exile under Syriza, they are declaring revenge on the left. Unlike Syriza, which has a realistic understanding of Exarchia, New Democracy members have a childish image of it. They mystify it as the enemy of all Greek civility and as the epicenter of all things left or anarchist. - - - - -

 Continue reading the full article HERE

Further Reading
        For perspectives in English from other anarchists organizing in Athens right now, you could begin with these starting places:

No Pasaran! poster

Exarchia: Solidarity to Squats and All Spaces of Struggle—Assembly Announcement

Statement of the Anarchist Political Organization against the Repressive Campaign of the State

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

Again, Migrants At The Harsh End Of The State's Heel.

        Anarchist and migrants seem to be the preferred target of the day for most of the European states at the moment. The Greek state, of late, has been particularly active in attacking migrant squats. As in most cases it is usually the vulnerable that are the first to feel the hard heel of the state in its authoritarian drive for complete control of the its captured population. Such harsh treatment of migrants deserves our full support and solidarity.

This from Enough is Enough, first published in Athens Indymedia:

 https://enoughisenough14.org/2019/04/18/refugeesgr-athens-clandestina-and-cyclopi-squats-evicted/#more-54517

                  CALL for an open assembly tonight at Gkini at 19:30 for the EVACUATION OF 4 MIGRANTS SQUATS and an ANTIAUTHORITARIAN QUEER FEMINIST SQUAT.

       This morning two squats were evacuated. Clandestina, on Mpoumpoulinas street, a building housing migrant families. 68 people were transported to Petrou Ralli. The other squat is Cyclopi, antiauthoritarian queer feminist squat in Zoodochou Pigis. Two comrades were arrested in the second one. The comrades are accused of disturbance of house peace, weapons possession and denial of fingerprints. All these are minor accusations.
      We see a repetition of last week’s evictions of New Babylon squat and Azadi squat, both migrant squats. From these evictions, approximately 70 people were taken to Petrou Ralli and some of them are in the process to get deported. Again, in today’s opperation they didn’t find any drugs in the squat, but in order to link their operation with the anti-drug war, they entered in a private apartment that had weed inside.
       The information about the number of prosecutions and arrests was gathered from mass media.
        Some months ago another eviction of another migrants squat took place, the squat of Single Men in Arachovis 44.
        We see a straightforward stategy of the state to “clean” te neighborhood of Exarcheia, as an anti-drug/anti-mafia operation. However, it is clear that this as a war against squats and the migrant population.

ASSEMBLY FOR SOLIDARITY ACTION THURSDAY 18/4 at 19:30 in GKINI

 

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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

Alexis Grigoropoulos, 10 Years On.

  

      Today, December 6th. marks the tenth anniversary of the murder, by a police officer, in Exachia, Athens, of 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos, a brutal sadistic action that lit the fires of some of the fiercest riots in Greece in recent years. I was in Athens at that time and remember the feeling of outrage and fierce red hot anger that ran through the streets for many weeks after the brutal pointless murder of a youth out on a Saturday evening, having a coffee with friends. It still hasn't subsided, ten years on and the feelings still run high, people find it difficult to forget the murder by a state minion, of an innocent youth, and so they should. His murder is still commemorated, in different ways by different groups.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

           On the evening of 4th December, we made our attack upon the police border control of Exarchia on Voulgaroktonou street. We came with sticks and flaming bottles, and when they saw us they immediately started to panic and run shouting for help. We struck fear into their hearts and sticks onto their heads, fire engulfed at least two policeman and at least one patrol car was burned. We hunted them and made sure it was a night to remember. We also stole some of their equipment (clubs, shields, helmets). When we left, the street had changed its character, transformed from a quiet suburban street with a police checkpoint to a battleground, a site of victory. They also bleed, and we can make them.

         The same night, the state and its mouths reported that there had been a mild and usual attack with no injuries and damages. They hid the action instead of publicizing it for repression propaganda because our action was a success and an example. When we beat them and we win, they have to try their best to hide this as an impossibility, that they are composed of people, that they have weaknesses. They also hide our action because of the anniversary of the assassination of Alexis, as a way of dampening our momentum and isolating our action. If they can’t change the reality of our victory they attempt to change what is spoken. They may believe that they can avoid the fall of their world by silence, but this is an expression of their collapse. We are here to engrave their tombstone.

        The government also accused us of being mafia. This is part of SYRIZA’s program of continuously criminalizing insurrection as an attempt to isolate and mystify our direct response to state and economic warfare. This is also seen inside the movement, by those who collaborate with the state, put rioting on the outside, and call us self-indulgent hooligans.

       The snitches of the movement who attempt to make our passions, desires, and revolutionary strategy alien to us open the back-door to repression. Ten years after the assassination of our comrade and the ensuing revolt, we continue to fight in vengeance and in love, because our struggle creates while it destroys. 2008, our action yesterday, and everything in between was not enough. We gain in these moments of rupture the ecstasy of our collective power, the power to alter our streets, our lives, and our world. Our only regret is that we didn’t do enough. Its these moments that change the world: the planning when our ideas were fluid and fantasy, to the moments just before of anxiety, excitement and boredom, to the calm and beauty of the present of the action, to the reflection and projection afterwards where we felt that our next step would have to be the everything. We must continue until we reach anarchy.

          We are everywhere there is a fight against authority, we are the seed in the burning forest. In our hearts are the insurrections that followed the revolt of Alexis which spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East. These revolts were subdued by dictatorships, theocracy, and the military power of capital, but we still feel their pulse every time we take revolt into our hands. In our hearts are those who fight in the USA, revolting inside and outside of the mass prison system. In our hearts are those who combat the rise of fascism globally (US, Europe, Brazil, etc.). In our hearts are the migrants and solidarians who destroy these recent national lines which attempt to divide our struggle in Greece and everywhere. In our hearts are the anarchists fighting the state in Russia like Mikhail Zhlobitsky who bombed the FSB office in Archangelsk on 31 Octomber. In our hearts are those building and defending the free spaces in France. In our hearts is the Algerian woman murdered in Paris by gas grenade. In our hearts are the indigenous struggles and assassinated comrades in Latin America. Alexis lives in all these struggles, as long as we fight he will never die. We humbly add one more attack to the list.

Death to the bosses, death to the police, death to capital.

Anarchy lives.

-From some of those who participated in the attack.

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

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

A Call For Solidarity.

        A call for solidarity from Athens, as usual the state comes down hard on those who resist the state's attempted hold on the monopoly on violence.  I am sure that within the anarchist movement world wide we can raise the necessary funds for this comrade.

This from Insurrection News:

        On the night of the 6th of December a comrade was arrested during the demo and he is now accused of throwing molotov cocktails at the cops. He is now facing years in prison if he doesn’t pay the 3000 euro fine he got sentenced to by the justice. He doesn’t have the money to pay the 3000 euro bail. So we are gonna throw a solidarity party next weekend to try to raise money for the case but we are scared that there wont be enough money to be able to avoid prison for him. During the court he told the scum of a judge that he was an anarchist and that he was in Exarcheia to defend the neighborhood against the presence of the police who are only serving the interests of the rich capitalists and who are constantly attacking the poor. We need to raise the money before the 24th of December otherwise our comrade will go back to prison. We are people from the squat Rosa de Foc, we are anarchists and we need your help.To find out more information about the squat and our politics visit https://rosadefoc.noblogs.org/about-us/

To join us solidaritygreece6december2017@riseup.net

We created a paypal account so people can support him PayPal.Me/george1312

Fire to the prisons! Long live the international anarchist movement!

Remember Remember!!

        Remember remember the 6th of December. 2008, December 6th, a Saturday evening in Athens, some youths sit in a café in the district of Exarchia, having a night out. There would have been coffee, chat, jokes, laughter, no thought of impending doom. Then in a brief moment young, fifteen year old Alexis Grigoropoulos falls to the street murdered by an on duty police officer. Young Alexis dies on the street in the arms of one of his young friends. That event unleashed years of pent up anger across Greece, in the form of riots for days on end. Every year since, protesters have taken to the streets across Greece, in memory of young Alexis, and to protest at police brutality, a brutality that is  administrated by the institutions of a supposed socialist  government, but is in fact just another authoritarian state machine.

        As I stamp this out on the keyboard there is fierce fighting between protesters and the police in the district of Exarchia, the scene of the murder of young Alexis. So far there has been 28 known arrests. The protests and marches marking the murder of young Alexis started this afternoon, in cities across Greece, and has turned into running battles with the police, continuing into the night. We should never forget how the state tries to monopolise violence as its legitimate tool, to be used as it sees fit on who it deems necessary, with no rebuke.

Exarchia this evening:

        Greece, like the rest of the states in Europe and else where, profess to be democracies, but the reality is very different from the illusion they try to weave. Today Athens was in lock-down, with Metro stations closed and transport disrupted. Thousands of police have been drafted into Athens. Two events today have the establishment on high alert, one is the marking of the police murder of 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos, the other, the visit of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who will arrive with hundreds of his own bodyguards. There are snipers placed at points along his route, this is how European democracy works. It can only carry out its pomp and symbolism under the protection of a ring of armed police and the barrel of the gun.