A view from Exarchia as the showdown looms. Interview with an anarchist in Athens about current situation.
he neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens, Greece is known worldwide as an epicenter of combative anarchism. For many years, anarchists and refugees have worked together to occupy buildings, establishing housing collectives and social centers that provide a variety of services outside the control of the state. Starting in August, the new government has carried out a series of massive raids targeting immigrants, anarchists, and other rebels, while revoking the autonomy previously granted to universities and introducing a wide range of new repressive measures and technologies. Now the government has given all the remaining occupations in Greece two weeks to conclude lease agreements with the owners or face the same fate. This deadline coincides with December 6, a day that anarchists have observed for ten years as the anniversary of the police murder of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos and the uprising that followed it.
The new governing party of Greece, aptly named New Democracy, is described by some media outlets as “center right,” in contrast to outright fascist parties like Golden Dawn; in fact, New Democracy has adopted much of its repressive and xenophobic agenda directly from the fascist right, while pursuing a neoliberal agenda in service of international finance capital. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mytsotakis, a hereditary representative of the capitalist class whose father was also prime minister, exemplifies the political caste that seeks to destroy the last safeguards protecting workers and poor people while scapegoating those who resist. [Read More]
On August 3rd 2017, cops raided several houses and occupied spaces in Florence (eviction of Riottosa squat), Rome and Lecce, aiming at the arrest of 8 comrades from Florence. This specific operation concerns 2 attacks. The first concerns the placing of an explosive device at a fascist bookstore that has connections with Casapound, on new years day last year, resulting in the injury of the bomb disposal cop (who lost an arm and eye). The second attack was with molotov cocktails against police facilities on April 4th 2016. The 2 attacks took place in Florence. Cops claim that they identified people through phone taps, surveillance, and identification of dna samples.
