Greece: Lets destroy them first! Statement after evictions in Thessaloniki

201608_Attack_company_offices_GreeceThis is an individual statement after the trial that followed an action against the Orthodox Church in Thessaloniki. Although this statement doesn’t represent anybody except myself and may include an uncompleted picture, I decided that it should be spread. Never trust the media!

Unsurprisingly, the three evictions in Thessaloniki on 27th of July resulted in furious actions. The squats were evicted by a coordinated police operation to do the Church a favor and satisfy their thirst for revenge. The Church is in this case not only an agitator but also responsible for the eviction and demolition of Orfanotrofio squat (a selforganized space and housing squat for immigrants since December 2015). [Read More]

Greece: Responsibility Claim for decentralized Actions at party local offices as a token of solidarity to the 3 squats in Thessaloniki

20160729_Syriza_minister_residenceOn the morning of July 27th, the so-called left government of Syriza orchestrated an efficient operation of evacuation of all squats in Thessaloniki which housed refugees and immigrants. It seems that the assignee Syriza perfectly functioned as the “middleman” who connected the far right conservative tension with that of the neo-liberal, ‘Potami’-like (social-liberal party) capitalists. Two tensions connected by an undisputed blood bond, capital. It seems that some believe, that all problems that plague society are almost solved and that now the only thing left is its purging from the world of struggle and the refugees of war (military or economic). It fills us with joy however that they practically cancel each other out. The only healthy part of society is the one which resists, the one which supports the immigrants with solidarity. It is fighters, usually unemployed, underpaid, students who dedicate whatever free time they have to create horizontal structures, which self-preserve themselves and do not have the slightest economic or political gain. It is those who give life to the decadent neighborhoods, showing that we do not need dominators to organize our lives. [Read More]

Greece: reprisals after state crackdown on migrant squats

20160729_Syriza_offices_occupied_Thessaloniki_Greece_Last Wednesday (27th July), the Greek state evicted three squats occupied by migrants in the city of Thessaloniki, triggering reprisals by rebels in the city and beyond. This follows the eviction of the camp at Piraeus port, Athens and the expulsion of a new social centre in Lesvos.

Anarchists in Thessaloniki responded by invading a cathedral during mass, and setting fire to the offices of the company carrying out the demolition work. A number of Syriza offices in Greece were occupied, while Minister Alekos Flambouraris’s home was attacked in Athens, reportedly with molotovs. In Turin, Italy, the Greek consulate was graffitied. In Crete, comrades set fire to a church. [Read More]

Greece: Criminalizing solidarity. Syriza’s war on the movements

20160729_occupied_syriza_hq_ThessalonikiThe eviction of three occupied refugee shelters in Thessaloniki marks another episode in the Greek government’s war on grassroots solidarity efforts.

In the early morning of July 27, refugee families and supporters who were sleeping at Thessaloniki’s three occupied refugee shelters — Nikis, Orfanotrofeio and Hurriya — were woken up by police in riot gear. In a well-orchestrated police operation, hundreds of people were detained. Most occupants with refugee status were released, while some were transported to military-run refugee reception centers. The rest of the occupants, 74 people of more than a dozen different nationalities, were taken into police custody.

Immediately after Orfanotrofeio was evacuated, bulldozers marched in and demolished the building, an abandoned orphanage “donated” five years ago to the enterprising Greek Orthodox Church by a previous government. Under the rubble were buried tons of clothes, foodstuffs and medicine collected there by grassroots solidarity structures to be distributed to refugee families in need. Hours later, No Border Kitchen, an autonomous structure providing food to refugees in the island of Lesvos, was also forcefully evicted by the police. [Read More]

Athens: Responsibility claim for the execution of mafioso Habibi in June

201606_Athens_execution_mafioso_HabibiWe take the responsibility for the execution of mafioso Habibi, who for years now was in the forefront of violent incidents towards residents and regulars in the area of Exarhia, culminating in the murderous attack on three comrades of the occupied social centre VOX, last month. The paranoid character of this specific individual and the ruthless violence he inflicted at the slightest provocation, rendered him a potential serial killer, the fear and terror of the area. The bullying, the theft and stabbings that were included in the repertoire of his daily presence in Exarhia square, gave him the space to pretend to be the leader who (allegedly) no one could dispute. With the strength of a herd of cannibals that surrounded him, but also with the backup of the mafia and police, he acted undisturbed selling drugs and terrorizing the neighbourhood, which was defenceless and unable to deal with him, subjugated to his power and silenced. [Read More]

Exarchia, Athens: Statement by Kleous 96

On June 8th 2016, we occupied a building on 96 Themistokleous Street in Exarchia with the aim of building a community based political space. As a diverse group with a variety of backgrounds we were aware that although we had many common goals and the same political strategy, we disagreed on tactics and levels of risks we were willing to take. Our hope was that through working and learning together within our collective and our involvement within the wider community struggle we would overcome these differences.
However very soon we were faced with heavy police oppression, including a forceful eviction which resulted in three arrests. Instinctively we decided to resist this oppression by immediately re-squatting the building and asked for the support of the rest of the community to defend it. Some squats chose to support us and some didn’t.
We recognise that the lack of support was mainly a consequence of our lack of communication and political engagement with the existing assemblies and we are willing to accept that we made a mistake.
After a long discussion within the collective it became apparent that unfortunately the threat of repeated eviction and arrests divided us even more politically than before. So we decided to leave the house and concentrate our efforts on supporting other existing squats. [Read More]

Greece: Refugee-Squats in Athens

201606_protest_athensThe recent developments in Athens are marked by a retreating state, overwhelmed by the task of implementing the EU-Turkey deal as well as the obligatory provision of accommodation and nutrition to ~57,000 ‘persons of care’. In the city of Athens, the everyday subsistence of people, who planned to merely pass through Greece on their way up north, has largely fallen back on self-organised autonomous structures aided by anti-state activists and non-state volunteers. Various squats (occupied empty buildings, most of which are owned publicly) with different organizational features and political aims have popped up on the map. Some serve the need of accommodation as housing squats, others function as social centres, with its activities ranging from the free (re)distribution of goods such as clothing and food items and housing self-organised kitchens-crews to the creation of spaces for political organizing and (legal) info-points. Most of these squats can be found in the neighborhood of Exarchia, with its history of autonomous self-organisation and a strong anarchist movement. But there are exceptions to this rule (e.g. City Plaza Hotel) and the following is an attempted short overview about the numerous squats. Some are well-known, others might be completely unheard of outside of Athens, some have opened up recently in the last few weeks, others have been running for months. It is neither an exhaustive list nor a complete and detailed account of events, but rather an attempt to communicate the very basics about different squats and solidarity-projects and their usefulness vis-à-vis the substandard and insufficient government-run camps. [Read More]

Athens: Kleous 96 squat in Exarchia raided by cops; 3 arrested; house re-squatted

Kleous96_Exarchia_AthensA privately-owned building located on 96, Themistokleous Street in the neighbourhood of Exarchia was squatted just a few days ago. On June 14th 2016, the new Kleous 96 squat was raided by cops. Three squatters were arrested and taken to Athens police headquarters. Later the same day, the building was re-squatted.

Statement by KLEOUS 96 Squat

We are a group of people from around the globe with a variety of different backgrounds. Some of us with papers and some without. But we are joined through our beliefs and a common desire to build a collective based on principals of self-organised assemblies and self-governance, with the long-term goal of expanding this way of life and being part of a global movement that will overthrow this destructive and barbaric system. A system that creates racist borders in order to defend resources and wealth gained through profiteering and warmongering.

We have chosen to occupy an empty building in the neighbourhood of Exarchia in Athens, which has been vacant for some years and is in need of repairs. Together we plan to bring this old building to life and not only live in it but also open it up to the community and make it into a safe space where nation states, borders and documents are not recognised and self-empowerment and self-development can be achieved through education and creativity. [Read More]

Greece: City Plaza Hotel Athens

City_Plaza_AthensA refugee-housing squat as an example of how to fight social struggles together on a daily level and for another tomorrow.

„The City Plaza squat at 78 Acharnon celebrates its first month. The hotel now houses refugee families totalling 385 people, including 180 children. These include 22 single parent families, as well as people with disabilities. The nationalities that make up City Plaza include Afghans, Kurds, Syrians, Palestinians, Iranians, Iraqis and Pakistanis. The families being housed at City Plaza were selected on the basis of their previous “housing” arrangement as well as on the particular problems being faced by each one. Each family lives in a separate room of the hotel, while all inhabitants are provided with breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as with hygiene products and other essentials. Nearly all are covered through solidarity offerings, while the few purchases that need to be made are financed through donations sourced from within Greece and from abroad.

In a framework of self-organization and coexistence, there are teams for cleaning, cooking, security, education and childcare, medical care, communications, reception, as well as regular assemblies of refugees and solidarians. Initiatives such as that of City Plaza, apart from granting obvious rights and needs, also put in practice a conception of everyday life which aims to, through self organization and “bottom up” emancipation, ultimately form a space of freedom and creativity, which will act as living proof of the society which we envision.“ This is how the call for an Open Assembly in the City Plaza Hotel in Athens starts. [Read More]

Greece: Exarchia Calling

This statement is based on our personal and shared collective experience of the current situation of anarchist struggle in Greece, Athens and Exarchia. We did not neither had the time to consult and agree with the older Greek crowd of anarchists and radicals, and is only our sentiment as mostly international people with little experience and limited knowledge of the dynamics within the militant crowds.

We are an ad hoc collective of international squatters in Exarchia who just opened a new occupation in a lofty house at 119 Zoodorou Pigis, three weeks ago, pitted together by the necessity of developing a place where to live and organize, with the desire to spread anarchy against a ruthless State at the very entrance of Fortress Europe, and its armies of civil and uniformed minions. This squat ’til now has been an awesome adventure filled with creative energies and has helped several anarcho street travelers as well as refugees to have a stay, be a stake up against society and in the process build ties with new people, something that had become nearly impossible these days in Athens due to not just State repression but also the internal politics of the well-known squats and the demotivation/demobilization of many anarchists in Exarchia. [Read More]

Athens: Refugee Accommodation Centre City Plaza

2016_Athens_Refugees_Welcome_demoSince the morning of 22/4/2016, the abandoned Hotel “City Plaza” in Athens has been turned into an Accommodation Centre for Refugees. Currently refugee families from different nationalities, together with hundreds of people of solidarityare working collectively for the cleaning, repairing and organization of space, so that it can open soon as a project of self-organization and solidarity, as a center of struggle against racism and exclusion, for the right to free movement, decent living conditions and equal rights.
The Solidarity Itiniative to Economic and Political Refugees invites everyone topractical and material support of the Accommodation Centre “City Plaza”. For the next few days and as long as there are works in progress in the building, it will not be possible to accommodate more refugees.

From the summer 2015 and on, Europe and Greece have been found unable to respond to the issues emerging from the largest refugees’ wave in their territory, since the World War II, in the source of which there can be found the declaration and act of war, on a military as well as an economic level, from the countries of the North to the countries of the South, which has lead their populations to poverty, fear and oppression. [Read More]

Athens: Gesture of solidarity with the squatters in Vancouver Apartman

Late in the evening of March 13th 2016, the Vancouver Apartman building which is squatted for a little over a decade came under attempted arson attack, when a Molotov cocktail landed in front of a door on Mavromataion Street.

At a time when the anarchist squat in Vancouver Apartman building is threatened with eviction, because of reconstruction plans by the Athens University of Economics and – above all – Business, it comes as no surprise that nationalist scum have rushed to assist the institutional repression. [Read More]