Today, Tuesday 20th April at 10 am we occupied PASOK offices at Chania, Crete, in order to declare our objection on the one hand to the criminalization of the anarchist/ anti authoritarian movement effected by the recent arrests of the 6 fighters, and, on the other, to the targeting of many more and, thus, to state’s attempt to hold back any feelings of rebellion that develop among broader parts of society.

Neither the forced accusations issued by minister Chrisochoidis nor the spectacle of terror constructed by journalists under the dictates of the anti terrorism state office can erase the poverty, unemployment, firing and annulment of salaries and pensions, the wealth of the few against the welfare of the many and the debts that they cynically cast upon us, or even the suffocating control and inspection of every single aspect of our lives.

On the contrary, this performance presenting the assuming ‘unmasking of terrorism’ serves for the state and the capital as an ideal platform on which they both materialize their sophisticated attack against society, an attack that is becoming all the more barbaric as it is realized with the contribution of their ‘international’ partners and the monetary fund. And all that so as to shut people’s mouths, so as to achieve their consent in their even harsher exploitation.

However, criminals and society’s enemies are to be found in parliament, in luxurious villas and administrative bureaus, in banks and bourses, in media news and in the uniformed man hunters. As to those who are fighting for freedom, these are the 6 persons under arrest, who have been marching along our side towards social class struggles for years and, thus, in public. We will be next to them every single moment offering our solidarity, our self organised and uncompromising action so as to prevent their physical and political annihilation.

We are calling every repressed man/ woman to offer zero tolerance against this novel orgy of lies and suppression.

Counter Attack from the masses and from below!

Freedom to the arrested fighters!

Solidarity is our weapon!

The bold words read:

Democracy terrorizes, murders, represses

It shall not win

In an effort to regain control and its prestige after the great shock of December 2008, and amidst a deep structural crisis and circumstances of social plundering, the state: reinforces its juridical “arsenal” (e.g. hoodie law), encamps in Exarcheia, floods the city with cops of all kinds, attempts to incriminate the anarchist/ anti-authoritarian movement, invades open social centers (e.g. Resalto in the neighborhood of Keratsini and the Self-managed Social Center in the city of Ioannina), “protects” the university asylum (cordoning off Propylaia on 7-8/12/09 and breaching the law on 20/2 in the Polytechnic School Campus), applies the zero tolerance doctrine (by beating up demonstrators and capturing fighters, as was the case in the demos in the neighborhood of Nikaia in response to the assassination of the migrant Mohamed Kamran Atif at the local police station, in the neighborhood of Vironas in response to the police murder of Nikola Todi, and in the strike demos) and executes in cold blood social fighters, as was the case of the recent murder of the anarchist Lampros Fountas in the neighbourhood of Dafni.

Against the charge of power, solidarity among the oppressed builds embankments. Resistance and the means of fighting are defined by those who have chosen to turn their back on the world of exploitation. The cracks in the body of social consensus remain intact and talk of uprisings to come.

On 23 September 2009 an apartment in the neighborhood of Halandri is raided by the police, and almost directly afterwards Haris Hatzimikelakis, Panayiotis Massouras, Manos G. and Myrto P. are arrested on the charge of being members of the organization “Conspiracy of Cells of Fire”. The apartment is named by the security police “terrorist haunt”, thus incriminating anyone that had been inside. The first three of the aforementioned are held in pretrial detention, while a series of other arrests and warrants are issued based on ridiculous and baseless charges. This story about the apartment in Halandri is like a test-tube; what is attempted is to incriminate bonds of friendship/ comradeship, to hold radical persons hostages and to act as a constant threat for potential arrests, prosecutions and incarcerations.

Freedom to the imprisoned in relation to the case of Halandri

Immediate drop of charges

Patission 61 & Skaramaga squat

A few minutes ago, the building of the state-run Public Power Corporation in Kolonos, Athens came under attack by a group of approximately 25 people, according to corporate media reports. They trashed the glass facade of the building, threw paint and left leaflets behind, reading:

“The Public Power Corporation is responsible for the further leeching and devaluation of our lives, for the tens of murdered and hundreds of butchered workers, for the pillage and destruction of the environment.

Lambros Foundas is alive and stands next to us in struggle. For communism, for anarchy.”

Meanwhile: fascists, neo-nazis, ultra-conservative christians and their like have gone a step too far, it seems, by calling for a demonstration at the Propylea building of the university of Athens this coming Saturday (6.2). University spaces have been a no-go zone for fascists in the country – what with the academic asylum preventing the police from coming close to them and offering any of their usual protection. However, in response to the government’s new migration bill (in theory offering the opportunity to many migrants to claim greek nationality for the first time), the far-right has seen some mobilisation of rare intensity. Last Saturday (30.1), 1-2,000 marched behind the banner of the neo-fascist group Golden Dawn. They are hoping, it seems, to reproduce this chilling image outside the Propylea building, traditionally a starting point for the marches of the anarchists and the left. The provocation could not go unanswered and an anti-fascist demo has already been called for by anarchists outside Propylea at 11am on Saturday (four hours before the fascist gathering). The poster bellow reads:

“No authority is our friend, no repressed is our enemy. On Saturday, February 6 the fascists are calling for a gathering at Propylea, to spit out their racist and nationalistic poison. Not only do they oppose an already racist law (that concerning citizenship) but they also demand the physical extermination of the migrants. Academic asylum does not belong to the fascists, nor the police. The asylum belongs to the people in struggle, to the world of liberty. War against the state and the bosses. Solidarity to all migrants. Saturday, February 6: Anti-fascist gathering, 11am, Propylea.

- Anarchists, anti-authoritarians, anti-fascists.”

(This blog will be providing updates on the day)

A translation or summary will come, if possible…

According to Mimis Androulaki’s bio: …he took part in the antidictatorial struggle and was prosecuted by the junta. He was a member of the Coordination Committee during the November 1973 student uprising in the Polytechnic School. Leading figure of the Left for over 20 years. In 1993 he left the political scene after publishing a book with propositions on how to restructure the center-left political forces. He was elected MP of the PASOK socialist party (currently in power) in 2004 and has written many books…

“Now let’s go back to our main topic; the “sensitive intellectual people” should stop pretending they are surprised and cease uttering humanitarian excerpts from prayer books on the non-use of violence. [The history] of revolution was written and shall be rewritten with conscience and blood, texts and bullets, bombs and imprisonments, struggles and disappointments, noble thoughts and rude actions. Those who speak of unjustifiable revolutionary violence are those who justify the violence in detention centers, prisons, jobs, schools and the army. They are those who explicitly declare every time that “things used to be different in the past”… The ease that left-wing intellectuals talk about the old “fair” violence during the period of Resistance [WW II] and the antidictatorial struggle is due to the fact that only they have the privilege of democracy to have their voices heard. The reason is simple. They are the same people that renounce all kinds of revolutionary violence today, while they have the profile of a fake “militant” past.”

[...]

“Lastly we want to clarify something and emphasize something else. Often, in fact in almost all our communiqués, not only do we criticize strongly the institutional and social police, but also the anarchist-antiauthoritarian scene. We have our origins from and (most of us) were active in it; we met friends and enemies there, we organized ourselves and discovered the lack of organization, we laughed and were let down, a scene we never betrayed, although many a time some from its clergy and their supporters “betrayed” us; it is a scene that gave birth to the new urban guerrilla. This is not a hostile statement against anarchy as a whole; in contrary it is a critique of the anarchist ideology, a breach with the slowdown of the alternative-anarchist lifestyle; in a few words: a revolution within the revolution… this is our contribution to the formation of new perspectives and practices, which aims at “hosting” all the comrades that do not fit in the official anarchist ideologies; all those deniers that cannot find their place in the orthodox social behavior, the traditions and the cliques of the anarchist-antiauthoritarian scene. Finally, we want to point out that from now on we will engage intensively in expanding the urban guerrilla tendency. Within this framework we inaugurate the collaboration of our teams: From now on the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire and the Guerrilla Group of Terrorists will form an alliance in order to promote social challenge. Some Cells will continue collaborating with the Nihilist Faction. We both know that our appeal is addressed to the minority, but it is very substantial. Our priority is to widen our tendency within the radical part of the antiauthoritarian sphere and the “healthy” cycles of law-breakers. The attacks and the fire signals coming from Crete to Thessaloniki, fill us with strength and confirm our conviction that “If not now, then when? If not us, then who?”

Preparations seem to be building up, from both sides: the PASOK government was quick to dispatch police near and around the main university campuses in Athens, to prevent them from being occupied ahead of November 17th. Perhaps the most important university campus is the Polytechnic itself, on Patision Ave; its administration has promised to keep access to the campus unrestricted and some anarchist groups are already there (photo; the banner reads the title of this post).

Meanwhile, late on Friday night a 22-year old girl was arrested on Patision Ave, in relation to the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire case. There had been no warrant issued against her, which makes it possible for secret warrants to have been issued for the case. From the information available so far, 15 people are suspects in the case. The 22-year old girl appears in court today – an update will follow.

Shortly after noon today, around ten people arrived outside the headquarters of “Espresso”. Armed with pots, hammers, crowbars and sticks they smashed the glass facade of the building and trashed some of the cars parked right outside, while writing slogans in solidarity with the accused for the “conspiracy cells” case.

Pictures on Athens IMC

Meanwhile, in the police-occupied neighbourhood of Exarcheia, the residents have started taking things in their own hands. Seeing that the police are trying to build a heavier permanent presence in the area, an impromptu daily meeting has been called for 7.30pm every evening at the neighbourhood’s square, with only one immediate demand: Cops out of Exarcheia!

Some photos from corporate news agencies, more photos here