Murder.

 

Alexis Grigoropoulos

 

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

 

Niko Romanos

  The following from Enough is Enough.

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

 

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

State Thugs.

       States across the world continue their onslaught against any sign of self organising by the people, this is the cardinal sin in the eyes of the state. A subservient and submissive population is the state's objective. So it is no surprise that anarchists and autonomous spaces come in for a direct assault by the state apparatus. 

     The recently elected Greek political party with the misnomer of New Democracy, has declared open war on all autonomous spaces, self organised groups and all anarchists. It is methodically going around its cities unleashing its trained thugs on any such arrangements. It has attempted to close all squats, community centres, and mutual aid groups. It has succeeded in some cases, in other there has been a re-occupying by the people. It is a brutal battle with the state throwing its full repression apparatus at any resistance in its drive for total submission of the people. Some of their actions don't even follow their own rule book of legality, but then, who polices the police?

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 via: mpalothia.net

Announcement by Terra Incognita regarding today’s eviction
This morning (17/8), around 5 am, the uniformed scum of the greek police invaded Terra Incognita in Thessaloniki, which is a building that has been occupied since 2004 and constitutes a landmark of struggle and the anarchist movement in the city.
The cops proceeded to evacuate the building, while technical and material equipment was confiscated and a large part of the resources within the building have been withheld.
More specifically, equipment from the following anarchist infrastructures housed within the squat, was confiscated: the medical -first aid infrastructure, the gym, the library and the printing infrastructure, as well as a large archive of posters and other printed material that date decades.
Since the first moment, the cops were joined by the well-fed lackeys of the media, which, after starting their “ethical” service of reporting fake and unconfirmed details regarding the arrest of one person (which is a lie), eventually took to enacting the smear campaign and “copy-paste” reports which they have the habit of doing during similar operations of repression.
Soon, near the squat, around 100 solidarians gathered and gradually marched toward the building, which was surrounded by cops, and they chanted slogans in support of squats and the anarchist struggle.
When the state signs agreements with large tourist businesses and “ecological development” contractors for the benefit of the capital, when it fights for the interests of energy giants by playing openly with the possibility of armed conflict, when it warehouses helpless people in detention centers for immigrants and forces them to live their daily lives in deplorable conditions, when it shoots people at the border and drowns people at sea, when it violates the right to protest and attempts to smash workers, when it blames people for the spreading of corona virus in order to cover its own crimes against the healthcare system, it also does not tolerate any voice of resistance in its interior.
So, it is not by accident that the state has chosen to proceed to attacking an infrastructure of the anarchist movement which has stood against the state consistently in each and every way the former has mistreated the oppressed.
Our squats and infrastructures are a very important instrument in the struggle for social revolution and anarchism, as well as our daily resistance in the world defined by authority. Definitely, such a move constitutes a significant attack against the movement as a whole.
But buildings can be reoccupied. Infrastructures can be built again. The relationships and processes which take place within them can never be repressed by states, cops or authorities.
What matters is the continuation of the struggle against the state, the capital and every form of authority. The struggle will continue as long as the ideas of liberty and anarchy live in our hearts and minds.
They wanted to bury us deep, they forgot we were a seed
Nothing is over
Terra will forever remain a squat
Get your hands off our squats!
Squat Terra Incognita
source https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1606671/

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

Anarchist Guide.

       There are lots of thoughts, ideas and desires, in the thinking of the coronavirus and the next stage, how to survive this crisis, where do we go from here, what shape do we want the new normal to look like. So some sound advice and fresh ideas are always welcome and as anarchists we should be leading the way in those ideas and actions, pointing to that new normal.

    The following is a short extract from an excellent article from Crimethinc 

Surviving the Virus: An Anarchist Guide
Capitalism in Crisis—Rising Totalitarianism—Strategies of Resistance

     The pandemic is not going to pass in the next few weeks. Even if strict confinement measures succeed in cutting the number of infections down to what it was a month ago, the virus could resume spreading exponentially again as soon as the measures are suspended. The current situation is likely to continue for months—sudden curfews, inconsistent quarantines, increasingly desperate conditions—though it will almost certainly shift form at some point when the tensions within it boil over. To prepare for that moment, let’s protect ourselves and each other from the threat posed by the virus, think through the questions about risk and safety that the pandemic poses, and confront the disastrous consequences of a social order that was never designed to preserve our well-being in the first place.
This text offers medical advice for dealing with the virus; this one addresses the importance of mutual aid. You can find a list of mutual aid initiatives in the US here and in Germany here. Learn more about rent strike initiatives here and here. You can print out a zine version of this text here. For an introduction to anarchism, try this.

Continue reading HERE:
And a message from Thessaloniki: 

 Thessaloniki: Against the authority virus

Here is a translated excerpt :
       Interventions with sprays and pamphlets outside: Agios Dimitrios hospital, the Euromedica clinic on Lambraki str, Bioiatriki on Olympiados str, a medical equipment store on Egnatia street and various pharmacies.

« A cage went in search of a bird »

      So where are we at? We, who compromised by changing at least a little of our lifestyle. Because we got scared, because we found excuses, because maybe we found comfort in this inactivity, because this, that. However the time has come. The time when the numbness goes away and anger overflows. And it is up to us to find paths within this and every other unprecedented condition. So as to break the monotonous sound of the tv news bulletins, the sound of the sirens of the cop vehicles, replacing them with those of running to exhaustion, noises of racing feet, our breaths, our lives.
     The day that is arising is ominous. So, it’s time to discover our capabilities and act, holding our anarchist consciousness as a compass.
    Beyond blind obedience, the State infrastructure, the mechanisms of domination, the permit papers. Carving our own paths, away from the suggestions of the State and the technocratic system.
      Time to remember that the fires that weren’t lit are our fault and that always when silence falls, we must become the flashbang that breaks it.

LET’S FIGHT WITH ALL OUR STRENGTH AGAINST THE AUTHORITY VIRUS

“DISEASE” IS BLIND OBEDIENCE

Anarchist Assembly Against the State Machine

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

The Barbarity Of The State.

          Prison is a form of state torture, from its barbaric past, to which it has held on to as a strategy for repression, solitary confinement is an added savagery to that torture, to which no human should be subjected in a civilised society, but evidence tells us, we obviously do not live in a civilised society. All those subjected to these inhumane state devices of torture and repression, demand our total and unconditional solidarity. Solidarity is one of our best winning weapons, and we should remember it takes many varied forms and is limited only by your imagination.

 Received on 01.03.18, from Insurrection News:

        Comrade Konstantinos Giagtzoglou was transferred to the hospital today after a serious fainting incident he had while resting in his cell. The officials of the Justice Department informed the comrade’s lawyers that the council which is going to decide whether Dinos will be transferred permanently to Korydallos prison or not, will meet on Friday, 4 days after the promised day (Monday). Dinos will be on hunger strike for 9 days and on thirst strike for 5 days on Friday.

The struggle committee of Korydallos prison issued a statement informing the Justice Department that if the council doesn’t meet on Friday, there will be prison rebelions all across the country.

The central building of the National University of Athens remains occupied and another series of actions and attacks have taken place:

• About 250 anarchists marched through the central streets of Athens yesterday in solidarity with Dinos
• A group of anarchists smashed several shop windows on Ermou street (it’s the central comercial street of Athens)
• Α group of anarchists raised barricades in Egnatia avenue in the center of Thessaloniki
• A group of anarchists blocked a central street in Patras
• A group called “Workers of the Night” torched a private security car and a diplomatic vehicle on 21/02 and 25/02 in Thessaloniki
• A group called “Anarchist Fraction for Political Self-defence” smashed the windows of two banks on 27/02 and on 28/02 in Athens.
• A group called “Informal Anarchist Network – Commando Haris Temperekindis” torched a private security car and attacked the central offices of the same private security firm (G4S) with Molotov cocktails on 27/02 in Athens.
• A group called “Anarchist Cells in Solidarity and Conspiracy” torched an ATM, threw 10 Molotov cocktails at a branch of the Agriculture Department, smashed the windows of a super market and torched the personal vehicle of a cop on 28/02 in Patras.
• A group of 40 anarchists occupied the offices of “Avgri (Dawn)” newspaper which is the official newspaper of Syriza, for a couple of hours in Athens.
• A group of anarchists canceled the speech of N.Voutsis, current president of the Greek parliament and one of the most well-known members of Syriza, by blocking the entrance of the hotel where the speech was scheduled to take place.

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

The State Is The Problem.

       A crisis arises, usually the result of state or states actions, the people respond to sort it out, and the state moves in to destroy that effort. The state can never stand by and let the people sort things out, we must always be made to believe that only the state can sort things. When we all know that in fact the state is the problem. Social centres, squats, autonomous centres, usually arise when people attempt to alleviate some problem or other. Even if they do sort the problem, they will not be allowed to survive as they are not making a profit for some organisation, or they are not state controlled. 

       This recent press release from Beyond Europe on the evictions of self-organised projects in Thessaloniki (27th July 2016) is typical of the way the state works, whether it by a right-wing government or a so called socialist government, they must be seen as the answer to our problems, even as their actions create more problems.

 

 - Violent police evictions of social centers and refugee shelters in Thessaloniki shortly after the No Border Camp.
- Greece's left government executes brutal anti-refugee policies of Europe.
- Self-organized spaces are the only secure shelters for refugees.

       Early this morning, 27 July 2016, Greek police simultaneously evicted three self-organised Social Centers and Refugee Shelters:
        1) For many years, Nikis was a well known Social Center directly at the inner-city promenade of Thessaloniki. For us and many of our friends, it has been a place of vivid solidarity in times of a general social crisis. Over the last months, the organizers there were hosting refugees.
       2) Orfanotrofeio was a squat for and with refugees, occupied since December 2015. The activists have always emphasized that such projects are not set up as idealistic symbols, but out of a pressing daily necessity, responding to the catastrophic consequences of Europe's anti-refugee policies.
        3) Hurriya was the new squat for and with refugees that was occupied during this year's No Border Camp at Thessaloniki. For the activists, this occupation was an important response to the humanitarian and political crisis created by European Governments. It showed that refugees and antiracists are able to deliver much needed relief. Hurriya was the place - it was accessible, it was set up well, and the first of twelve refugee families already was starting its new life there. The authorities just destroyed those achievements for the sage of maintaining [a hostile public] order.
        As a response to that destructive eviction, 30 activists have occupied the central offices of Syriza in downtown Thessaloniki and stay there until at least tomorrow noon, when a part of the detained people are being led to the judge. 

Read the full article HERE:

Patriotism

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,

if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag

held aloft by some foolish hand

inciting worker and peasant to kill

on some green and wooded hill,

peasant and worker from some other land.

Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag

that brings out fools to stand and brag

of brutal deeds painted grand,

deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still

killed by my brothers' misguided hand.

No allegiance have I for the Nation

this man made autocratic creation

that divides my brothers in a world so small,

binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,

bids us follow its drum, sing its song,

then sheds our blood in some border brawl.

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,

have no ear for power oration,

though its iron heel is on my breast,

my back feels its leather thong,

at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

 

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

 

Migrants And Self Organisation.

 

       Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, on occasion do carry articles about the "migrants" ( wrong word, people fleeing the result of Western imperialism, would be a more apt description.) entering Europe. On some occasions they focus on the conditions, sometimes the hostility, but never about their fight back and self organisation. What they never want to emphasise is the fact that people will fight back, and will organise themselves, they must always be seen to be standing about waiting for the state and its apparatus stepping to sort things out, waiting for the state to make their lives better. Of course we all should know, the state will never come up with a proper humanitarian answer, on the contrary, their answers will always be laced with racism, patriotism and, economics that suit the corporate greed machine.

Another episode from Anarchist Radio Berlin:

     The following audio is a recording made by activists of the self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofeio in Thessaloniki Greece. This material has been made available to us by our comrades at Crna Luknja, the anarchist radio show at Radio Student in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
        The comrades of Orfanotrofeio tell about the conditions that led to squatting this place in Thessaloniki in the beginning of last December and about their struggle to keep the place despite of all obstacles.
Please send feedback and comments at: aradio-berlin/at/riseup(.)net

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

Riot Police At The Funeral March.

      December 11 saw the funeral of Sara, the young 13 year old girl who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Thessaloniki, after her mother, in desperation to keep herself and her daughter warm, lit a fire in a make-shift stove in their apartment. The young girl and her unemployed mother lived alone and had their power cut off three months earlier. They were doing their best to try and keep warm, as temperatures dropped to near freezing in their part of northern Greece.

Photo from Teacher Dude: 

       In Greece even a funeral march by students, is accompanied by riot police in full riot gear. The march to the funeral by high school students in the Thessaloniki, was also in commemoration of the murder of a 15 year old teenager, Alexis Grigoropoulos, by a Athens police officer in December 2008. An event that set off a wave of protest that engulfed all of Greece in the worst civil violence experienced since the overthrow of the country's military dictatorship in in 1973.

    Sara died because of the Troika and their subservient Greek puppet government. They forced the banksters' policies of “austerity” and “structural adjustments” onto the people of Greece, they are directly responsible for the deaths by suicide, malnutrition and ill-health that must follow in the wake of their social destruction. These events are not accidents, they are the expected consequences of driving people to deprivation.

     Alexis Grigoropoulos was murdered my the state apparatus, likewise, Sara was murdered by that same state apparatus. You can point a gun and shoot, or you can starve and freeze people, the effect is the same, death by a deliberate action. All the poverty and deprivation brought about by the actions of the Troika, (EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) are not accidental events, they are aware that if you slash people's standard of living, they will suffer, the more you cut, the more they suffer, and that suffering can and does end in death. There is nothing accidental in that.

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

Politicians, Energy Companies And Death,

        If you implement policies and the result is death, then you are a murderer. It seems quite simple to me, but these murderers are never brought to justice, but they should. Politicians who blithely force through policies that directly impact on people's lives, creating misery, poverty, deprivation and in some cases death, must be held accountable.

        The recent case of a young 13 yearold girl living in Thessaloniki in Greece, who died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, was not an accident. She was living with her unemployed mother in a city of high unemployment, in a home without electricity or any other form of heating. In Greece, high taxes and high electricity prices and extortionate heating oil prices, puts heating your home beyond the means of thousands of ordinary people.

       Thessaloniki is a cold city in the winter, and left with no other means of heating her, this woman lit a brazier in her home, sadly both she and her 13 year old daughter were over come by the fumes. The woman came round, but sadly her daughter was dead. Greece, a small country, is in the EU, one of the richest economic blocks on the planet, but it kills its citizens by putting heating beyond their means. This is not just abhorrent, it is totally unacceptable, why should people freeze to death or die from carbon monoxide poisoning in the midst of opulence? No doubt in Thessaloniki, like other cities in Europe, there will be large posh homes with heat going through the roof, there will be shopping malls with heat pouring out their doors, but down the road a young girl dies because her mother can't afford to heat their home. The system stinks and has to be demolished and a decent system of humanity created in its place.

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

Spectacle Amidst Austerity.

      The Thessaloniki Annual Trade Fair has come around, this is when the Athens puppets of the Troika put on a show in another city. Teacher Dude gives an excellent review of the coming event.

      In years gone by the political leadership would take the chance to make lavish promises and announce grand public works in the city. Indeed this approach proved so popular that five PMs in a row announced that, unlike their tardy predecessors, they would ensure that Thessaloniki's promised subway would start the following year.
      Despite the fact that the country has yet to reach budget targets and is faced with the prospect of requesting yet more bail out cash, government officials and their friends in the media have once again started making promises that public works project, long stalled for lack of cash will resume, a minimum guaranteed income will be introduced and the country will be flowing with milk and honey before the month is out.
     On the other the list of those unhappy with New Democracy and PASOK's austerity measures continues to grow and after five years of economic contraction, broken promises and despite claims that the worst is over few believe that Athens is in a position to say no to its creditors demands for yet more cuts.
      So the stage is set for a potentially violent showdown on Saturday when the prime minister will give a speech surrounded by anything up to 8,000 police and the streets fill with angry Greeks.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

THE TROIKA WANTS MORE GREEK BLOOD.

       No matter the will of the people, no matter the harsh brutality of their legislation, no matter that deprivation runs rampant through the country, the Greek government, the supposed representatives of the people, will put the stamp of legitimacy on the next batch of "austerity" cuts, in order to placate their overlords the Troika, that gang of three, ECB, (European Corrupt Banksters) IMF, (International Mankind Fuckers) and the EC, (Endemic Corruption).

      The Greek people are not taking this lying down, this week there are numerous industrial actions across the country, but the battle needs the support of all the people of Europe. Only solidarity across the continent can bring down this stinking edifice of greed and corruption.

This from Teacher dude's Grill and BBQ:

 Angry taxi drivers outside the offices of Deputy Prime Minister, Thessaloniki.

     As the Greek government sends its harshest austerity bill yet to parliament, taxi drivers in the city of Thessaloniki kick off a week of widespread protests and strikes that promises to bring the nation to a halt Thessaloniki, Greece.

    Shouting "thieves and traitors" hundreds of Greek taxi drivers marched through the centre of the country's second largest city, kicking off a week of strikes and protests aimed at preventing the passage of the government harshest austerity bill to date.

    The three day strike by taxi drivers is just part of a series of industrial actions planned by workers in both the public and private sector. In particular the transport sector is set to be hit particularly hard as air traffic controllers, ferry crews, public transport drivers and train company employees will be participating in the 48 general strike called for Tuesday and Wednesday.

    Mass protests by trade unions and political parties across the spectrum outside the Greek parliament in central Athens have also been announced to coincide with the vote on Wednesday.

ann arky's home.

AUSTERITY - NO PAY FOR THREE MONTHS!!!

    Not been paid for three months and then being put on part-time 20 hours a week at €200 a month, that's capitalism IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) style for you.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

Unpaid for three months - 

shop assistants in Fokas department store protest

 

       Employees at the Fokas department stores, one of the most well-known retail outlets in Greece taking part in a 24 hour strike over unpaid wages dating back to June. In addition according to Union of Shop Workers, the company is in the process of replacing full time positions with part time ones paying just 200 Euros a month for a 20 hour week.
       (200 euros a month is just enough to cover rent on a modest one room apartment in the poorest parts of Thessaloniki.)

enosiemporiothess@gmail.com

ann arky's home.

WHERE DEMOCRACY WAS BORN, FASCISM FLOURISHES.

       With capitalist poverty doesn't come aid, but repression. As the possibility of anger and unrest simmers among the populace, your elected government turns to fascist policies to keep you in line. Greece today, tomorrow -----??

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

     With August coming to an end and the temperatures dropping from the low 40s C to low 30s C The northern port city of Thessaloniki shakes off of its summer lethargy as people come back from their annual holidays and the town readies itself for the return of its large student population. However, amidst the renewed hustle and bustle some things haven't changed. Many of the businesses in the centre remain shuttered, their store fronts decorated with graffiti and For Rent signs, the cafés while now busier are far fewer in number and the restaurants mostly remain empty except on the weekend. The only new business is a chain of fast food outlets that does a roaring trade in in 70 cent hot dogs and cheap iced coffees.

      On the other hand whether it be in the supermarket lines or in the streets the talk is about how everyone will pay the latest round of bills. The guy pumping petrol complains about the cost of road tax whilst the woman behind me in line frets about how she'll make it through the winter if the government decides to raise the cost of heating oil by 40% as promised. 

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

CONFERENCE TOWARDS DIRECT DEMOCRACY.

       It seems only natural that since Greece, (for the moment, others are to follow.)  is at the sharp end of the financial Mafia's onslaught on the social fabric of that part of society where we the ordinary people live, that they should be calling for a conference/discussion on where to go from here. It is important that we realise that this is not a Greek problem, it is the same ongoing struggle of people verses capital that has been waged since the advent of capitalism. Capital has devastated lives across the globe for centuries, but never on such a wide scale and never with such savage brutality. Today it is determined to install wide spread poverty and deprivation across the continent, in an endeavour to recoup the billions that it gambled and lost. As the  dissatisfaction grows among the ordinary people, so the opportunities arise to change the entire economic system under which we have suffered for centuries.

A call from comrades in Thessaloniki for a festival of direct democracy:

We are standing on a crossroad, where we were led by an on going long procedure during the last three years. The riot of 2008 was followed by an open public discussion in the squares of greek cities, where a huge part of greek society showed an active participation. Before the riot of December 2008 the state devaluated life by murdering a 15 year old boy (Alexandros Grigoropoulos), while during the summer of 2011 life devaluated the state by breathing free and fresh air in the squares, without and against the state’s authority.
The idea of direct democracy came in public discussion and managed to crack once and for all the “wall” of representation. The path is now open, but the question still remains, who is going to walk this path?
The topics of this festival deal with
the update of the meaning of direct democracy he presentation and networking of the new projects of a social and solidarious economy that [...]

Continue READING:

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