State Repression and Resistance.

        The state repression being visited on the district of Exarcheia in Athens against autonomous spaces, anarchists and migrants, continues  however, so does the resistance.

This from Enough is Enough:

        4 days after the evacuation of two squats (1) a few hundred meters west of Exarcheia, the Greek state continues its strategy of encirclement and penetration of the neighborhood.
        Originally published by Blog YY. Written by Yannis Youlountas. Translated by Autonomies.
       The vice is tightening around the rebel and solidarity district of Athens:

EVACUATION IN PROGRESS OF THE SQUAT “FIFTH SCHOOL” NEXT TO EXARCHEIA
         4 days after the evacuation of two squats (1) a few hundred meters west of Exarcheia, the Greek state continues its strategy of encirclement and penetration of the neighborhood.
        This time, it is on the other side, the south-east of Exarcheia, a large squat is being evacuated, in the precincts of a former high school abandoned.
        For now, Mitsotakis does not yet dare to attack the main historic squats of the heart of Exarcheia, especially Notara 26 and the K * Vox, but his desire to “clean up Exarcheia” persists, the desire have disappear a unique political and social experience that disturbs power in Europe.
        Once again, the State shows its true face: a hyperstructure aiming to control everything, not in the service of the large number but of the power that claims to govern us and forbid us to live otherwise.
        However, we showed Friday evening, by symbolically taking over the squat Spirou Trikoupi 17, evacuated at the end of August, a time of festivity over these last three years, that nothing is over and that we will not let matters stand.
         We are seeds. Seeds of utopias. We are not afraid of wind, rain or autumn. Not even of winter.

Yannis Youlountas, September 23, 2019

This from Ekathimerini 31st., August, 2019.

    Tensions simmered in the downtown Athens district of Exarchia over the weekend with several skirmishes between police and self-styled anarchists in the wake of a crackdown on squats and the Vox cafe, a hangout for members of the Rouvikonas anarchist group.
        On Saturday afternoon a group of around 40 people lobbed homemade firebombs and stones at a riot police unit on Tositsa Street, just hours after a smaller group attacked another police unit on Harilaou Trikoupi Street.
         No injuries were reported in either incident but police are on standby for possible revenge attacks by anarchists for evictions from four squats last week and the Vox raid which, Rouvikonas claims, caused injuries.

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The Relentless March Of The Financial Mafia.

 

       It is relentless, it is gaining in pace, it will continue as such, unless we stand up and resist. I'm talking about the march of privatisation, gentrification and corporatism, the commandeering of public spaces, a process that can by any rational thought, be called the culling of the poor. Excluding them to the margins of this new society, built for profit only. The ordinary will be dumped in poverty camps on the periphery, there to be called upon when needed to serve the new society built to the god Mammon. Obviously autonomous spaces are a threat to this financial Mafia dream, so must be rooted out, by rigged laws or brute force. Argument and dialogue will have no more than a delaying effect, they have the wealth, and the power of the state behind them, they know their goal. Do we the ordinary people, know ours?

This from Autonomies

         Anarchist social centres constitute fragile points of passage for anti-capitalist archipelagos of resistance.  There fragility is born of the (ever increasing) restrictions of private property and State opposition.  Yet they are often the only link to rebellious pasts and radical presents: they are the vehicles of radical thought and practices, the precious islands of different futures struggling against and creating beyond the violence of the present.
      The Centro de Cultura Libertária of Cacilhas-Almada, Portugal is the oldest anarchist cultural centre in Iberia; a centre whose space is now threatened by rampant real-estate speculation.  From the CCL, we share their urgent call for solidarity.

The CCL needs your support!
       The Centro de Cultura Libertária, an anarchist association with 44 years of activity in Cacilhas-Almada, Portugal, is again threatened. The continued pressure of the real estate business, the change in the rental law and the gentrification that forces the departure of residents from the central spaces of cities, the destruction of non-profit spaces or the closure of neighborhood stores, now also touches the CCL.
What is happening?
       This is not the first time that the CCL’s permanence in its historic headquarters has been called into question.
Between 2009 and 2011 the Centro de Cultura Libertária resisted an eviction procedure initiated by the landlord. Only the solidarity of many collectives and individuals here and beyond allowed us to face the costs of the judicial process, which led to two trials and one appeal. In the end, we reached a rent increase agreement that allowed us to continue in the space without changes in the duration of the contract.
      However, in 2014, as a result of the changes in the rent law in favor of property owners’ interests, the CCL contract duration was set at five years. At the end of 2018, we have reached the point where, as has happened to thousands of tenants, the continuation of the rent of our space will be at the mercy of the owner’s will and the conditions that he wants to impose on us.
Why support the CCL?
      The CCL is an anarchist cultural centre founded in 1974 by old libertarian militants who resisted the dictatorship, occupying since then the space rented at number 121 Rua Candido dos Reis, in Cacilhas-Almada. The Center has a unique library and archive in Portugal, with documents produced over the last hundred years, as well as a bookshop promoting libertarian culture. It has been a fundamental space for anarchism in Portugal, welcoming successive generations of libertarians. During its existence, the Center hosted numerous activities, such as debates, meetings, reading circles, video sessions, workshops, dinners and various learning workshops, and served as home to many libertarian groups and collectives. Different publications came out of the space, such as the Voz Anarquista in the 1970s, Antithesis in the 1980s, the Anarchist Information Bulletin in the 1990s, and Húmus magazine in the first decade of this century.
As an anarchist association, the functioning of the CCL’s internal organisation is horizontal and is based on the assembly of its members, where decisions are made and the tasks inherent to the life of the association are distributed. Participation in the CCL is always voluntary, unpaid and non-profit. The only sources of funding are membership fees, the bookstore, dinners and solidarity donations.
What future for the CCL?
       We do not want the Centro de Cultura Libertária to end! We want it to continue to exist as an active libertarian association for many years!
       But at the moment the future of the CCL is open: it can remain in the same space, paying a much higher rent, or move to a new space, where we would try to have better conditions for our activities, but where expenses will also be higher.
       In both cases, and given the conditions imposed by the current housing market bubble, we know that we will need financial means that we do not have. For this reason, we will start a fundraising campaign, which will include crowdfunding, concerts, dinners and other initiatives.
      We count on your solidarity support so that together we can guarantee a future for the CCL.
Center for Libertarian Culture
October 2018
C.C.L. bank account details for donations
Holder: CENTRO DE CULTURA LIBERTÁRIA
IBAN: PT50003501790000215493029
(Bank: Caixa Geral de Depósitos)
Contacts
E-mail: ateneu2000@gmail.com
Mail: Apartado 40 / 2800-801 Almada – Portugal
http://culturalibertaria.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/CulturaLibertariaCentro
The website for the crowdfunding effort can be found here. 

        For the Centre’s blog, click here.
       Original Portuguese language statement from CCL, HERE

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International Video Poetry Festival, Athens.

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

 

 

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

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

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

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The State Will Not Tolerate Self Organising By The People.

 A refugee inside the detention centre with a message concerning his detention.

This from Act For freedom Now: 

 The Refugee Accommodation Space, City Plaza’s statement:

            Repression will not put an end to the squat movement
The evacuation of Villa Zografou and the Alkiviadou squat by police is an act of extreme state authoritarianism. The SYRIZA-ANEL government quickly aligned itself with far-right voices screaming for more repression. While refugees are crammed inside terrible camps, while enormous sums of money are being wasted, while the city is suffocating from the lack of free, non-commercial spaces, the government is opting for a policy of police violence and social suffocation.
          Yet they are mistaken if they believe they can crush the squat movement with riot police and district attorneys. The struggle for solidarity and dignity will continue unabated. It is a Social need, it is a political choice.

            Syriza, in Greece, is living proof that "left-wing" governments are no less authoritarian than any other form of government. As the people of Greece struggle with day to day problems of survival in a capitalist created nightmare, this "left-wing" government vomits out repression over any attempt by ordinary people to self organise for the improvement of their lives. Squats are part of the social struggle of people attempting to create living spaces of community, self help in time of need, a helping hand to others in need, but to any state, this is unacceptable. Syriza, like all governments in the developed world is all about control of the civil population, and obedience to their masters the financial Mafia. All spaces must be under state control or in the hands of their festering bed fellow, corporate capitalism. To this end they will bring down the full force of their brutal enforcement apparatus.
        So be warned all you who run to the ballot box the next time a new "left-wing" messiah steps up to take the reins of some "radical left-wing " political party. Once in power, they will, like obedient slaves, follow the dictate of their masters, the financial Mafia.

 

Self-Organized occupied space of refugees in Alkiviadou and Acharnon

 

Statement from Void Network:

         Two Social Centers In Athens Under Attack / Solidarity Announcement
       The repression of social liberation movement and the destruction of the occupied spaces of refugees and immigrants will not be left unanswered. The Greek Left government chose at the dawn of 13/03/2017 to listen to the commands of the conservative right and the neo-liberal Media of Mass Manipulation and attack two occupations of the broader social movement in Athens, Greece. Police raids are an ideal example of the policy imposed by the domination during our era: when we sleep the State continues working against all of us.
       The occupation at the beginning of Acharnon Street, very near to the old Villa Amalias squat in the center of Athens was – with the joys and sorrows of the past year-, a real school for all the local solidarity activists that took part in the titanic struggle offering assistance to refugees outside the mechanisms of the regime, as humans to humans over the last years. The occupation of Acharnon was the first example of direct, autonomous and unmediated self-organization of refugees without the presence and participation of local activists. It was a self-organized space of immigrants and refugees by themselves for themselves and this is why it was hit directly by the state.
        The occupied park and castle of Villa Zografou in the Zografou area was an important social center of the neighborhood and with a very strong involvement in the uprising of 2008 and the movements that followed until the final uprising of February 12, 2012. At a time of recession for the movements and of the general inaction of society, the State comes to get back every corner conquered by the social movements at a time when they tried to give answers to the capitalist, predatory raids misleadingly named by our oppressors as “CRISIS”.
        The fraud of the representation of popular interests in parliament by ridiculous politicians and sold out parties already ended at Syntagma Square in the summer of 2011. The massive illusion of the desperate majority that Syriza wouls “save us” has ended long ago. This attack on the social centers is yet more proof that the left government is nothing more than another form of antisocial “social democracy” in front of us. Syriza is a zombie of PASOK, and while it is dying it continues to grasp at the defense of its own power, and every minute that passes the future of this society is mortgaged away.
        The parliament stinks of the plague and those who want to support it with their backs and to irrigate it with their blood have to know that they live at the expense of their children and that they CHILDREN WILL GIVE THEIR ANSWERS. The Future will defend its rights and THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING.
        Re-occupation of all occupations hit by the State – Create squats and social centers across the country in all possible and unlikely places – Liberation of everyday life from all stupid social responsibilities and conventions – Refuse the dominant culture – Recruitment towards the social movements of our time – Support of the movement’s for the spaces with our daily participation

SYMBIOSIS / EQUALITY / TOTAL FREEDOM

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