Greek Summer.

      While tourists fly in to Greece and its beautiful beaches and islands, perhaps they should take a moment and have a look at what is happening to the ordinary people who inhabit that little patch of the planet.
        Police violence is not something that is limited to any one patch on this planet, every state has it array of armed thugs, and experience tells us that violence by police is part and parcel of their routine. They must serve their master, the state, obediently and wholeheartedly.

The following extracts are from crimethinc: 

 Summer in Greece: New Democracy Edition.

          In Greece, following the accession of the New Democracy party and a ban on freedom of assembly, the simmering conflict between anarchists and the far right continues, even in the middle of summer. In this report, we cover gentrification, escalating tensions with Turkey, ecological struggles, refugee and prisoner solidarity, the eviction of the historic Terra Incognita squat, and more.
         The Greek government and its bootlickers and beneficiaries are stumbling towards disaster. The economic crisis of 2008 will soon be seen as easier times. While tourists wander Greece dropping coins into the pockets of the bosses, only half of society can afford to take a holiday this year—something considered indispensable in the hot Greek summer. COVID-19 cases are at record highs. The daily infection rates are much higher than they were when the country was in formal lockdown back in March. Yet the state continues cutting hospital budgets in order to redirect funds to police agencies, focusing on its human opponents rather than the virus.
        In Greece, as elsewhere in the world, revolutionaries, the excluded, and the exploited struggle with self-preservation both materially and psychologically in the face of the slow-motion COVID-19 apocalypse and the right-wing police state. While new measures are going into effect and a second lockdown seems likely, we find strength in understanding that both our precarity and the struggle against it are shared globally. The struggle here is rooted deep in the discontent of countless beautiful hearts and a history in the streets: “Even if we never win, we will always fight!” -------

Police Violence:   Rest in Power, Vassilis Maggos 

 

 

     ---------As described in our last report, the anarchist Vassilis Maggos was brutally beaten by police during a demonstration expressing solidarity with those arrested while protesting a cement factory in Volos. He suffered intense psychological trauma while in recovery from the beating. Police seized his body from his family in order for the police to use their own coroner, following a public outcry about the 26-year-old’s death. The police brought in Eleni Kalyva to conduct the autopsy—she is a well-known ally that the police have repeatedly employed to investigate controversial cases in which officers may have been at fault. She is known to have fascist sympathies and a close relationship with the current government.
       Eleni Kalyva’s conclusion was that Vassilis died of acute pulmonary edema. The police claim that this was not due to the beating; however, the full investigation has not been made public, and his family is seeking outside help. Vassilis spent his final weeks of his life recovering from the pain and trauma of being beaten by police. Using a familiar playbook, right-wing social media have cited personal issues such as drug use as a way to suggest that Vassilis was responsible for his own death. Even if drug use had something to do with his passing, the trauma of being beaten and tortured by police was clearly the cause of his tragic death, and drug use or other issues do not diminish the responsibility of the police.
       The police also brought Eleni Kalyva to investigate the murder of a girl in Trikala in late July, when a 16-year-old girl who was known to have a relationship with a police officer was found dead outside of a church. Kalyva was called in to investigate her death after suspicions began to circulate that the girl had been murdered by her police officer boyfriend. Now we are told that the girl climbed to the top of the church and killed herself—which would be a surprising feat, given the details of the situation, but Kalyva confirmed the claims of the police.
      Anarchists and anti-fascist football fans have spread murals, banners, and graffiti across Greece remembering Vassilis Maggos. A Molotov cocktail attack against a government building in Volos took place in this his name, as well as an arson attack on a bank in Marroussi, Athens. He will be remembered.-----

The world-famous Terra Incognita squat before its eviction.

Conclusion 

         It’s August in Greece and most people are away from their homes—or wish they could be. It’s hot and the situation is grim. Yet even amid the harsh summer, there have been demonstrations against the bill described in our previous report banning unpermitted protests. Fresh graffiti all over the country expresses insurrectionary discontent.
      The church and the far right count on the neo-liberal New Democracy administration to coddle them. Greece received some seventy billion euros in COVID-19 relief from the European union, but we know that money will chiefly serve to provide more contracts to the wealthy and to hire more police to protect their power and enforce their laws. Whatever happens in the coming months, we hope the fall will see a new wave of resistance ignite in Greece and around the world.

Read the full article HERE: 

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States And The Misuse Of Language.

         Governments adopt names that belie their intentions and ideology, Greece is no different. The newly elected government of Greece is called "New Democracy", yet its first priority is to attack and close down social spaces that work in a democratic fashion. The recent and ongoing military style attacks on social and autonomous spaces in Exarcheia are just typical examples of this misuse of labels. The poster might say "New Democracy" but the actions say "fascist". There is language in normal use, then there is the distorted language of doublespeak as used by states and their institutions. Below is just another account of this phony democracy at work, attacking those who don't obey their dictates or don't fit the model of big capitalism, all carried out under the false banner of citizen security and safety. Bullshit for the naive and subservient loyal followers.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

 

         Today on Wednesday the 25.09 the State has again attacked. This time to little sellers that used to make a flee market in Victoria, Filis after the laiki agoras. An operation of State-Municipality Police, of the private security of the market and Civilians Cops accompanied with different vehicles like a garbage car, Municipality Police vans and an interrogation van (waiting in the beginning of the market) went through the market harassing the street sellers. The cops start checking people appearing with bags of things to sell. They checked their papers, and threw the bags in the trash. In an arrogant way they were even bullying the ones looking either poor or like Migrants to them even though they just carried bags of fruits bought from the ‘legal’ market.
        It was the second time that we observed this action of the State, so this time some sellers were more careful with their goods. They were waiting in the streets to see if they have a chance to sell some things. Meanwhile the cops got compliments by local assholes telling them that they do a great job! They were walking in different groups, security in the beginning followed by cops that were doing the checks together with Civilian cops looking in the bags. We are not sure if they arrested people today but we observed many identity checks and disgusting behaviour of the cops and their friends.
         This is the continuation of the State’s discrimination of the outcast and the irrational separation of legal and illegal. It’s more obvious than ever that racism and fascism are coming from State Institutions.

         We here in UK should not be complacent we are trundling along the road to fascism at an ever increasing pace, our recent parliamentary fiascos should make that obvious to anyone with half a brain cell. Other states across Europe and elsewhere are further along that road or are catching up. You cannot debate with fascism, you have to fight it head on with no quarter given. 

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

Greek Mainstream Politics, A Quiet Indoor Affair.

       The political scene has changed dramatically in Greece, elections are not what they used to be. Gone are the days when pre-election rallies were held in the open air with thousands gathering to worship their chosen leader. Massive public affairs with the messiahs from the various parties, mainly two, Pasok and New Democracy, openly accepting the adoration of the faithful. Now it is all so different, such is the loathing by the people of Greece for the mainstream parties and their corrupt cohorts, that meetings are indoors, invitation only and surrounded by security. They dare not show their faces to the general public for fear of a verbal and physical assault, in my opinion, a well deserved response.

Teacher Dude describes one such meeting:  

      Actually, I had no intention of attending the event which I assumed would be an invitation only affair in which the media (or, in my case, not-quite-media) would be kept at arms length. However, following the lead of some friends who were there legitimately, I managed to get myself past the metal detectors and security checks, which was lucky as I would have had a hard time explaining the gas mask in my bag. I'm guessing that telling the police my allergies were playing up would not have been terribly convincing.
       However, once inside the venue I decided to exploit my good luck to get into the swing of things taking pictures of the local conservative nomenclature which has ruled Thessaloniki for generations, noting the preparations being made ahead of the main speech. If only New Democracy paid as much attention to economic policy as it did to the placement of flag waving party workers in the bleachers.

Read the full article HERE:

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