On Monday, January 28th, 2013 around 50 people went to the Hellenic Foundation (Jourdain Boulevard, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris) to give a talk at the beginning of an evening dedicated to ‘the destiny of modern Greece.’ They unfurled a banner before the public which read: ‘In Greece like elsewhere, solidarity with squats, down with private property!’ and distributed the text below to everyone.
IN GREECE LIKE ELSEWHERE:
ACTIVE SOLIDARITY WITH SQUATS AND SELF-ORGANIZED SPACES!
Committed to wielding power, money and property, using ever more high-profile and violent means to protect it through the police, army and other control and surveillance apparatuses, the various States play their own unique role all over the world, targeting subversive and revolutionary struggles and resistance where they’re most on the offensive.
It’s not surprising that the Greek anarchist movement is attacked by the State. But the fact that it’s not surprising does not mean that we must sit with our arms crossed to wait for it to pass, or just to give in.
Because of its revolutionary manner, the Greek anarchist movement has a long history of confrontation with the State, which in turn has always tried to hack at the social roots of the struggle, e.g. by attacking places where comrades meet, live and self-organize. And the primary targets are the squats, because these do not respect the sacrosanct idea of private property and allow subversive projects, free and open to all, to take fruition. For this reason, over the years police searches and evictions have become commonplace.
But lately, in these times of economic crisis and the rise of fascism, the ‘democratic’ State has decided to increase its attacks against anarchists. After seeing in Athens cops and fascists of the Golden Dawn jointly attacking squats and migrants (in the so-called ‘operation Xenios Zeus’), there is now a kind of sacred union against the ‘threats’ of mutual support and solidarity (clearly not the greatest allies of capitalism).
The Greek Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection (equivalent to Ministry of the Interior) recently threatened to evict more than forty squats/spaces of political organization across the country. It’s hard to make a clearer declaration of war…
It’s in Athens that the State has decided to start its dirty work of attempting to eradicate squats. On December 20th, the squat Villa Amalias[1], opened for 22 years, was searched and evicted by the police. A few days later, it was the pirate radio station 98FM[2] which was attacked in a squatted space of the University of Economics (known as ASOEE). Material was destroyed and the space was raided.
On January 9th, more than a hundred people reoccupied Villa Amalias, and it was again evicted by the police with full force (including EKAM repressive anti-terrorist forces and MAT anti-riot police). The same day, the squat Skaramaga[3], liberated following the revolt of December 2008, was evicted too.
Three days later, a large demonstration in solidarity with squats and other self-organized spaces gathered over 10,000 people in the streets of Athens, while other demonstrations or rallies were held simultaneously in many Greek cities[4].
This impressive demonstration of solidarity did not prevent the State and its cops to search, on January 15th, the squat Lelas Karagianni 37, opened 24 years ago[5]. But this time the raid did not lead to an eviction, and despite of the fact that all squatters who were present got arrested by cops (as in previous police operations, with several trials to follow), LK37 squat was immediately reoccupied.
The message is clear: the Greek State, launching its offensive against squats and self-organized spaces, tackles head-on the strongest local revolutionary movement that exists (the anarchist one), trying to deny them space to live and fight.
Since the police invasion in Villa Amalias on December 20th, actions and demonstrations of solidarity with the squatters attacked by the Greek State are increasing, not only throughout Greece but also around the world (for example, in India, Australia, Canada, USA, Mexico, UK, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Germany or France…). And it will not stop.
We will continue to piss off authorities until the day of revolution. And after it, too!
Against all authority, from wherever, to whoever.
Long live the revolt! Long live anarchy!
[1] villa-amalias [2] radio98fm [3] pat61.squat [4] fr.squat.net [5] lelas_k
