Athens: new text from the occupied polytechnic

The following is my interpretation of revolutionary class-struggle anarchism put forth as basis for an online debate/exploration with Michael Albert, an advocate of Participatory Economics. While I am not an official spokesperson for anyone, this interpretation, I believe, is broadly consistent with the views of my organization, the Northeastern Federation of Anarchist-Communists (NEFAC); with my international tendency, as expressed on the site www.Anakismo.net; and with the historical trend of pro-organizational anarchist-communism (Platformism and especifismo).These views also overlap with antistatist Marxism. My opinions are more fully expressed in the book, The Abolition of the State: Anarchist and Marxist Perspectives (2007; Bloomington IN: AuthorHouse). In broad outlines, I will sketch in my version of anarchism, what it is, and what strategies are necessary to reach it.

The Utopian Vision

Anarchism is the end of all forms of domination, hierarchy, and oppression. It opposes capitalism, white supremacy, male supremacy, homophobia, imperialism, militarism, environmental destruction, and so on. Anarchism is the most extreme form of democracy, freedom, and self-management, applied throughout society. Time and again, revolutions have resulted in popular assemblies, neighborhood gatherings, workplace committees, etc. These have sent elected individuals to associated councils, individuals who were immediately recallable and controllable by the grassroots assemblies. These decentralized assemblies expressed the need of human beings for face-to-face association, going back to the small "tribes" and villages in which humanity lived for most of its existence. They appeared in the directly democratic eclessia of ancient Athens, in the town councils of New England, in the 1871 Paris Commune, in the original soviets of the Russian Revolution, in the workers' councils of Hungary 1956, in the Argentinian horizontalized neighborhood gatherings and workplace occupations, and in many other revolutionary situations.

In place of the capitalist economy, with its markets and centralized, stratified, planning, anarchism would institute classless socialism. Production would be collective and cooperative, not privatized or competitive. Production would be for use, not for profit. It would be coordinated by democratic planning-from-below. The "economy" might be thought of as a federation of producers' cooperatives, consumers' cooperatives, and collectivized communes. The workplace and the community would be self-managing through their assemblies and coordinated through a decentralized federalism.

Regions and even communities would try to produce as much as possible of what they need on a local level, but total self-sufficiency is impossible and undesirable. Decentralization makes face-to-face democracy possible, benefits ecological balance, and makes it easier to have bottom-up democratic economic planning.

One of the first things the workers would do right after a revolution would be to begin to transform the technology inherited from capitalism. Technology would be revamped in order to create an ecologically sustainable society. Technology, and production in general, would also be reorganized to abolish the division between order-givers and order-takers, bosses and bossed, those who use mental labor and those who perform manual labor. This is essential if we are to avoid the creation of a new, state capitalist, ruling class.

The state would be abolished, defining "state" to mean a specialized, bureaucratized, socially-alienated, institution above the rest of society. In its place would be the association of assemblies and councils. When everyone is involved in governing, then there is no (distinct) government. The layers of specialized police and military would be replaced by the armed people, a popular militia—so long as it is still needed--under the civilian control of the councils.

The Anarchist Method

Right now it is only possible to draw up broad principles, and to speculate how these would be applied by future generations. One thing we may postulate is that a post-revolutionary society will be flexible, regional, pluralistic, and above all, experimental (this was called the "anarchist method" by Errico Maletesta and by Paul Goodman). So long as there is no revival of capitalist exploitation, such pluralistic experimentation should be expected, since there are distinct differences in the history, geography, and cultures of the regions of North America, not to say of the world. No one has all the answers about how a postcapitalist society might work.

Different regions may experiment with various plans for democratic economic planning, such as Parecon, or the ideas of Pat Devine or the "Inclusive Democracy" of Takis Fotopoulos. Furthermore, one region may chose to immediately try full communism, with people being given what they need and working only for social motives. Another region might insist on incentives, with workers being paid (in vouchers, say) for the effort they put out. This may or may not be combined with a communist sector of society (free health care, minimum food, clothing, and shelter), which some regions may chose to expand over decades or generations, until they have full communism (similar to Marx's approach).

ome regions may try to coordinate society through a federation of workers' councils, while others may try federations of community assemblies. Within the limits of a democratic federalism, some regions might be relatively more centralized and others relatively more decentralized. Different local methods would be tried for settling disputes or for protecting people from antisocial actors, so long as they exist. Regions would learn from each other, rejecting failures and copying successes.

While there would be as much decentralization as is practically possible and advantageous, continental and international federations would also be necessary, to deal with practical issues of trade and other matters. For example, so long as there are some imperialist states, then the free societies would have to be prepared to defend themselves—with mutual coordination of militia-based armed forces.

Nonclass issues, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and nationality, would also be addressed using the same "anarchist method" of decentralization, self-organization, and experimentation. Women would be no longer dependent on men, economically or otherwise, even for childcare, which would be a responsibility of society. Women will be free to organize themselves separately or together with men, in order to fight against male supremacy and to develop their full potentialities. How would people develop romantic and sexual relationships? How will people develop their sexual and other identities? How will society raise children? Such things cannot be predicted, but only developed by the people involved.

People of Color will also be able to organize themselves, separately or together with white people, in various forms of association. There will no longer be a capitalist system which benefits from racism, but that does not mean that all racism will automatically disappear. People of Color will be able to organize and fight for their interests. They can decide whether to separate out or to assimilate with white people, or to create whatever interracial relationship they find most comfortable—through self-organization and experimentation.

Revolutionary Strategy

Revolutionary anarchism is consistent in its means and its ends. It advocates a movement which is built on self-organization and self-determination, in order to achieve a society of self-organization and self-determination. It supports struggles for reforms, for improvements in the living conditions of the people: the formation of unions, higher wages and shorter hours, antidiscrimination laws for women and People of Color, universal health care, ending whatever imperialist wars are going on at the time, defense of civil liberties from the state and from fascists, defense of the ecology, etc. We must support these demands because they are just, because people have the right to chose what they will fight for, and because we are for whatever gets people in motion against the rulers. Wherever possible, we should seek to expand these issues by linking them with other issues, by generalizing them into class-wide demands on the whole capitalist class and its state, and by proposing the most militant methods of mobilization.

But we must always tell the truth to the working people: this system cannot achieve consistently decent standards of living or democratic rights. Instead, it is presently attacking these standards, as it must, due to its fundamental economic crisis. We must warn that the rulers will not allow the working class and oppressed to gradually organize and take over society. At some point, they will come down hard on us. When they feel it necessary, they will jettison elections and civil liberties, mobilize the military and police as well as fascist bands, whip up racial and sexual hysteria, and establish totalitarianism. If they can.

Working people will need to forestall this by winning over the ranks of the military, and eventually smashing the state, dismantling capitalism and all forms of oppression, and establishing a federation of popular councils—that is, to take power (but not "take state power," not create a new state). In other words, make a revolution. Today we are far from the point of a clash between revolution and counterrevolution, yet, but this needs to be a long term guiding strategy. Even now, reforms are best won when the people are most militant, self-reliant, and threatening to the ruling class, that is, when most nearly revolutionary.

And even now revolutionaries should prepare the workers by advocating mass strikes which are ready to defend themselves from scabs, vigilantes, and illegal police actions. We need to organize people to fight back against fascists in our neighborhoods. We should oppose "gun control" laws.

The Revolutionary Agent

Who will make the revolution? It will not be an elite vanguard party acting for the people, which hopes to take state power by riding a revolution, nor an elite electoral party which plans to get elected into state power. It will be the big majority of people, all those who have been oppressed and exploited. All forms of oppression overlap and intertwine with each other, mutually maintaining all oppressions, including that of women, of Queers, of People of Color, of the Disabled, etc. It is these who will rise up, and are struggling even now, and will eventually make the revolution.

Class struggle anarchists see a central role for the working class, blue collar and white collar—and "pink collar"--the majority of the population, which includes all other oppressed groups, as well as non-waged members of the class such as the unemployed, workers' children, and homemakers. Workers are not more morally oppressed than anyone else (such as the Deaf). But, strategically, workers have an enormous potential power. With our hands on the means of production, transportation, communication, and social services, our class could stop society in its tracks. We could start it up again on a new and better basis.

The most potentially revolutionary are in the overlapping sectors of the oppressed and exploited. Black workers, women workers (or Black women workers), and other such groupings, are among the most oppressed sections of the working class, those without corrupting privileges, those who have "nothing to lose but their chains." Although a minority, such groupings are likely to be in the very forefront of the struggle. When they rise up, all of society is heaved into the air and all issues become open.

Anarchist Revolutionary Organization

Anarchists have played important roles in many revolutions, but have invariably been defeated. One reason for this history of defeat is the failure of the anarchist revolutionary minority to organize itself into a distinct political organization. A democratic federation could develop a coherent analysis and program, could coordinate the activities of members, and could spread its ideas through its literature. It would not include all anarchists, but only those who agreed with its program. It would not be a "party", since it does not aim at ruling a state. This approach has been called Platformism or especificismo.

The anarchist organization would work into broader mass organizations, such as unions, community groups, and associations of specifically oppressed groups. It would fight for these to rely on themselves and not on bosses, always encouraging rank-and-file democracy and militancy. It would fight against elitist organizations, such as liberals, Marxist-Leninists, or fascists. But it would seek to cooperate with other groupings wherever possible, on the grounds that no one organization has all the good ideas or all the best militants. It would not dissolve itself into broader popular organization, as opportunists do, nor would it only look inward, seeking the perfect theory, as sectarians do. Instead it would be part of a constant dialogue between the most radicalized layer and the as yet more conservative majority, whereby each learns from the other.

Building a revolutionary organization is not counterposed to the self-organization of the working class and the oppressed. Rather it is an integral part of that self-organization. There is never one moment when all the oppressed suddenly see the light and become socialist anarchists. Rather people come to political awareness by layers. In conservative times, it is by ones and twos. In radicalizing periods, clusters of people become radicals. These band together in order to win over other people, Only in immediately revolutionary periods are large majorities ready for a democratic uprising (which is what defines a revolutionary period).

Our Response to the Crisis

We are in a period of crisis. Since the end of the post-World War II boom in the late 60s, there have been ups and downs, but the overall direction of the economy has been downhill. In our deindustrialized economy, with its shrunken unions, the workers' incomes are plummeting. As the economy worsens, big business has worked to lower the workers' standard of living, to cut social services for the poor, and cut taxes on the rich, in order to raise their profits. Meanwhile people have become aware of the threat posed by worldwide ecological catastrophe, as well as the evils of international wars (including the spread of nuclear bombs). Official politics has swung far to the right, with extreme reactionaries taking over the Republicans, and the Democrats staying just a bit to their left.

Working people and oppressed people are getting fed up. There is a "danger" (for the capitalists) of an explosion. So the most farsighted U.S. capitalists have once again, as they have many times before, set up a (mildly) progressive Democratic candidate to channel discontent into safer directions. The Democratic Party served as the death trap for the Populists of the 19th century, the labor unions of the 30s, the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 60s. Now led by a charismatic Black politician, it gets the support of those who are desperate for a change from the disasters and incompetence of the vile George W. Bush. If elected, Barak Obama will lead the way in forcing austerity on the working population and reorganizing the U.S.'s imperialist wars, so as to downplay Iraq and increase the invasion of Afghanistan. If he loses, it will be used to demoralize his followers.

In this context, it is hard for a revolutionary minority to go against the stream, to oppose the Democrats and to tell the truth about the party and its candidates. We must explain, respectfully and patiently, that unions and communities of the oppressed should break from the Democratic Party and from the passivity of all electoralism. Instead we need to talk up independent mass action: demonstrations, civil disobedience, strikes, and especially the general strike.

Most union and oppressed activists are liberals or reform socialists; they support capitalism or at least do not believe in revolution. So it is understandable that they should support a capitalist party. It is different with those who call themselves revolutionaries, socialists, or anarchists. They should know better. Rather than capitulating to the present-day liberal consciousness of the majority, we should be preparing ourselves for the coming mass radicalization, when people get fed up with both Republicans and Democrats.

Radicals should reject the often-made distinction between a utopian vision and a scientific analysis and strategy. Both are needed, together. Humanity is faced with the threats of economic collapse, fascism, wars, and destruction through nuclear war or environmental catastrophe. A socialist anarchist revolution is not only something which would be good. It is necessary for the survival of humanity.

As always, to understand what is going on today (Dec.13, '08) in Greece (or any place) one has to go back in time a few decades. Let us make the effort.

A few weeks after the "departure", in 1974, of the US-supported dictatorship in Greece, I was in the luxurious ground floor of the Bank of Greece where I was filling some forms to secure the necessary exchange for the purchase of a book from a US publisher. I was sitting at a long heavy table. It was early in the day, there were not many people in the huge ground floor and the two security policemen there came and sat at the other end of the table and started chatting. I was wearing a US-made sport jacket. They took me for a foreigner and started talking freely. The older (fat) one says: "So, Karamanlis came from Paris [after the dictatorship] and instead of giving us money, the asshole bought helmets and riot gear for us". That, Karamanlis, was the uncle of the (rather rotund) present Karamanlis, the Prime Minister of Greece. Karamanlis, the uncle, is referred to as the "Ethnarch" [the "father" of the nation]. Actually, he was a US-chosen rightist proxy to administer Greece on behalf of the US in the early 1950s. He died a few years ago and he demanded that his corpse be buried in a private lot on which a memorial building was erected mimicking the building of the usual "presidential library" of the US Presidents. The burial in a private space is illegal in Greece.

Six years after the above dialogue, between the two policemen, in November 1980, the riot police attack the demonstrators that were marching towards the US Embassy during the yearly march commemorating the 1973 uprising of the students against the dictatorship. The Karamanlis [uncle] police kill 26-year-old Iakovos Koumis and Stamatina Kanellopoulou, a young worker, by crushing their skulls.

In 1981 the "socialists" (PASOK) win the elections. Andreas Papandreou, the US educated professor of economics at Berkley, becomes Prime Minister. His first act: he DOUBLES the salaries of the policemen! Four years later, in 1985, the Papandreou police kill 15-year-old Michael Kaltezas by shooting him in the back of his head, again during the yearly demonstration of the uprising. The killer is acquitted. That same year, Catharine John Bool [spelling?], a 22-year-old American is killed by the Greek police, for refusing to have her car searched by them. Around that period a young Turkish man is beaten to death in an Athens police station. The Greek press never includes his name in the usual list of persons killed by the Greek police. This list consists of the names of about one hundred persons killed by the "socialist" or the rightist police, from 1974 to this day. Not a single policeman was ever convicted. The latest murder is that of the 15-year-old Alexis Gregoropoulos, son of an upper middle class family, six days ago in Athens.

The Greek people, early on, had adopt the "battle-cry": "Coppers Pigs Murderers!"

For 34 years, from 1974 to 2008, the Greek politicians, both "socialists" and rightists, as expected, have stolen millions of dollars from the money of the state [that is of the Greek taxpayers]. The latest scandal, in the tune of tens of millions of Euros, involves the government of Karamanlis [nephew] and the pious monks of a monastery on the "Sacred Mount of Athos". It is quite interesting [or quite amusing] how the "professional" Christians bestow sacredness to all kinds of material entities. For example, the above monks, besides living on a sacred mountain, they claim to have the "Sacred Belt" that belonged to the Virgin Mary mother of Jesus, the son of God.

Today these Greek politicians, mostly US-educated and some of them from Harvard or the London School of Economics, have managed to bring the young Greeks who have a university degree in engineering, or in medicine, or in law, etc to the point of a yearly income of about US $ 12,000, if they are lucky to have a job. While life in Greece is as expensive, if not more expensive, than life in Berlin or Paris.

Inevitably, the killing of the teenager was apt to cause an "explosion". The important new development, compared to previous "explosions", was that it spread as a revolt all over Greece. Usually, in the past, the violent demonstrations took place in Athens and Salonica.

Here is a very brief recording of what happened after the killing of the 15-year-old Alexis:

- On Thursday, Dec. 4, there are country-wide demonstrations by students protesting the attempt of the rightist government to downgrade the state-supported public universities. The police, in Athens, beat severely a student who is hospitalized with heavy injuries. On the same day, 3,500 farmers of central Greece block with their cars and their trucks the main North-South highway of Greece, cutting the country in two, protesting the policies of the government that have turned them into heavily debt-ridden paupers.

- On Saturday, Dec. 6, Alexis is killed 25 minutes after 9 p.m., in cold blood, according to half a dozen eye witnesses. One hour later a violent reaction by the direct-action faction of Greek anarchists is initiated in Athens and eight more cities in Greece. The fight against the police goes on all night long.

- On Sunday, Dec. 7, around midday a crowd assembles in front of the Athens National Archaeological Museum [a building visited by millions of US citizens during the last 50 years]. The call to assemble was done through the Internet and SMSs. The crowd starts marching peacefully. After a little they clash with the police and the crowd starts burning mostly banks, car dealerships and big businesses. This goes on all night.

- On Monday, Dec. 8, around 6 p.m.a huge crowd of thousands of people gather at the central building of the University of Athens. Even before the crowd starts to march there are violent contacts with the police. Burning and breaking of shop windows goes on all night long. The same happens in 19 more cities and towns of the country.

- On Tuesday, Dec. 9, around 12 noon a huge crowd of pupils, students, high school teachers, university professors start to demonstrate. There are clashes with the police. Later in the afternoon the funeral of Alexis is attended by about 4,000 people. The police attacks them. Riots go on all through the night. Looting starts, mostly by immigrants, who do not take part in the riots, and by some Greeks. The same holds for most Greek cities and towns.

- On Wednesday, Dec. 10, there is a General Strike all over the country. The rioters this time are mostly pupils and students. They attack mostly police stations hurtling, eggs, tomatoes, bitter oranges [also known as Seville oranges], and stones.

- Today, Staurday, Dec. 13, it is mostly pupils and students (14 to 17-year-olds, boys and girls) attacking police stations again with the above mentioned missiles. A few blocks from my place at Halandri, in Athens, the police station is being attacked by high school kids Also, today, there is a tally of the damage done during the riots. Around 565 shops were damaged or completely destroyed, hundreds arrested (half of them looting immigrants), an estimated US $ 1 billion plus in damages, and (most important) 4,200 units of police chemicals spent indiscriminately against Greek citizens, raising the need to buy more chemicals from...Israel!

Now let us try to find out the meaning of this revolt:

But first an important parenthesis:

[Parenthesis: In the central hall of the police station of the Athens neighborhood that I was raised, there is a huge slab of white marble fixed on one of the walls with about a dozen names engraved on it. The names belonged to policemen who were executed in the police station the very first day of the December 1944 uprising of what is known as the "Greek Civil War" after the end of the Nazi occupation of Greece. The executed policemen were anti-communist Nazi collaborators and brutal torturers of members of the anti-Nazi Resistance, mostly communists.

To try to persuade people about the existence of police brutality is rather redundant. Recent cases as the sodomizing of the young black in a Manhattan subway station, or the revelations about the master-torturer police officer in Chicago are a minuscule recording of what is going on in police stations all over the face of the earth. So, no wonder that the first people to be punished during an uprising are the brutal policemen. The above marble slab is just a simple example.]

The groups that took part in the uprising after the murder of the 15-year-old kid are the following:

- A minuscule part of direct-action anarchists.

- A group of non-violent anarchists spread all over Greece, numbering in the hundreds.

- The usual police "plants" in the anarchist groups.

- A very dangerous group of police officers, of the Blackwater-type of individuals [assisted by neo-Nazis], masquerading as anarchists. [See below].

- The "KKE" (Communist Party of Greece), "traditional" communists, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

- The "Coalition of the Radical Left" ("Coalition" from now on). A formerly Eurocommunist split from KKE, numbering, now, in the hundreds of thousands.

- The "Greens", numbering in the thousands

- University students, numbering in the tens of thousands.

- High school kids, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

[The numbering refers to the power of each group in general and does not refer to the number of persons that took part in the uprising.]

The burning and breaking was done by the direct-action anarchists, the Blackwater-type pigs [assisted by the neo-Nazis], and some students and pupils.

The KKE masses demonstrated in the traditional way of marching in extreme discipline and departed. They carried the usual red flags, however the flagpoles were of the size and strength of baseball bats. This was a warning to the pigs and their political choreographers, that they meant business. The pigs got the message.

The Coalition people and the Greens demonstrated in the traditional way but they were there to assist the up-risen youths.

The uprising was carried out by the students and the teenagers, especially the teenagers!

What is of paramount importance is not the journalistic reporting or the burning, the looting, etc, but the incidents, events, and statements that show what is happening in the Greek society now. Here are some of these events:

- The head of the National Federation of Traders, Demitris Armenakis, representing the owners of the shops that were destroyed said: "No (material) damage can be compared to the life of a young man". This moral statement, coming from a person that suffered material damage, has impressed most Greeks.

- From some police stations the information leaked out that some of the policemen demanded and succeeded to take the guns out of the hands of their violent-prone colleagues.

- At some point ordinary citizens of all ages who usually are fence-sitters were so angry with the behavior of the police during the demonstrations by the young that they tried to intervene and protect the kids. Some of the parents of the younger kids did the same, placing their bodies between their kids and the clubs of the pigs.

- Today, a deputy of the Greek parliament, belonging to the Coalition, walking with two friends on a side-street of the area of the riots spotted two muscular men wearing hoods who were holding stones and carrying sticks. The deputy asked them if they were policemen. They answered angrily that they were policemen, so what. The deputy and his friends chased them, but their age did not allow them to catch the young braves. This was described, publicly, in the evening news.

- In a very unfortunate moment, the General Secretary of KKE accused the Coalition that they "caress the ears " of the hooded persons that burn and destroy. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the KKE and the Coalition leaderships have a decades long enmity that is based partly in personal antipathies.

- The usual 1/3 of a any given population, that consider themselves conservative, that is crypto-fascist, still consider the up-risen kids and the murdered child as "punks", "brats", "dirty bastards", and regard the murderer policeman as a hero.

- Two well known lawyers initially accepted the defense of the murderer, but after talking to him they declined to represent him. Eventually, a lawyer, by the name of Alexis Kougias, who has been in the forefront of the news for various reasons for almost a decade, accepted the job. Kougias stated publicly that the death of the kid was a "misinterpretation", that the death was the "will of God", and it is the job of the court to decide "if the death should have happened". We think that the case of Kougias is of great interest not only for the Greek society but also for the international community of intellectuals, university students, and ordinary people. We suggest that the Kougias case should be followed closely by all.

The conclusion drawn from the incidents of these six days in Greece : The uprising was in reality the uprising of the Greek teenagers. It was a Greek "intifada". The "weapons" used by the teenagers in this "intifada" were their burning anger, their maturity, and predominately... Seville oranges, the traditional Greek student weapon against the police. Their targets were the police stations. The police stations, whose historical meaning was touched briefly in the above parenthesis.

What might one expect after the "intifada" of the Greek teenagers? The rightist government of Karamanlis (the nephew) is mortally wounded. The "socialists" have been so corrupt during their two decades-long governing of the country that the young Greeks are repelled by them. What the kids are looking towards, are: the anarchists, the Coalition, and the KKE. Also, to a lesser degree towards the Greens.

A year ago the Coalition's voting power was a little above 3%. A few months ago it rose to almost 16%. Now it is back at about 9%. The KKE for years was constantly around 5%. Now it is close to 7%. The Greens seem to reach close to 3%. It is reasonable to expect that in the next elections the Left (Coalition, KKE, Greens) could achieve a total voting power of around 20% and even much more.

If the above estimates are correct, then the "intifada" of the Greek teenagers will give a hard time to the CIA analysts in Langley. These analysts initiated the 1967 dictatorship of the colonels. The result was that in 1974 the Communist Party was legal after decades of being outlawed. The murder of Alexis by a "copy" of a US "Rambo"-policeman that initiated the "intifada" of the Greek teenagers, could give birth to a new Left in Greece. Also, this is a very good opportunity for the Parecon vision to be promoted among the Greek teens. It seems that the Coalition has an affinity to the Parecon vision.

Results of the Forensic says murder !

Read

Meanwhile the results of forensic tests indicate that the bullet that killed
15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, and sparked this week’s rioting, appears to have
entered the youth’s body directly. This casts doubt on claims by the 37-year-old policeman
charged with the boy’s murder that the bullet had been fired as a warning and ricocheted.

According to sources, the results of a ballistics test revealed an as yet unidentified substance on the bullet, as well as marks, but experts ruled out the
possibility of the bullet having hit a metal or concrete surface before striking the youth,
fueling speculation that the marks on the bullet had been caused by contact with the victim’s bone. The forensic and ballistic tests will have to be matched before any final
conclusions can be drawn. The Athens Bar Association (ABA) condemned Alexis Kougias, the
policeman’s lawyer, for “desecrating the dead” by asserting that the 15-year-old had been
a troublemaker. The claims “constitute a moral murder which fuels tensions,” the ABA said.

International Solidarity Actions of today, the 12th decembre:

chronolgie in french
chronolgie in english

- Santa Cruz : 3 banks got attacked in solidarity.

- Viennes : 150 anarchisten demonstrieren in solidarity.


- Grenoble :
rally of solidarity for the Greek insurgent-es, in front of the Greek Consulate, in the
rue de la Liberté. Two large banners, a black and red flag and many visible signs of the
reasons of the gathering. The gathering brought together a hundred people and was leading
into a wild (not autorised ) demonstration while three large bulbs of paint were thrown at the Greek Consulate. Blocking tram. Firecrackers and rockets were launched here
and there, the demonstrators were almost always masked. Other large bulbs paint were thrown, including on a bank.

indy Grenoble

- Turin : the consulate of greece has been occupied for one hour, a banner has been unfalted out of the window, in solidarity.
/01_stato_assassino._dal_balcone_del_consolato.jpg>

- Paris :
between 300 and 400 people were gathering in front of the street towards the embassade of greece, the police wouldn't let them approach the building. the protesters went
then on the street and started a spontanous demonstration direction Place Charles de Gaulles, Etoile/Arc de triomphe. just before the police blocked the street with riot cops
and vans, reaction was to build barricades. The police started to charge to take people
away from the streets, but at this point the demonstration decided to head towards the
Champs Elysée, paris' most known and expensive shopping street. basically, because all the
other roads where blocked, in any direction, just not in the direction to the C.E. !
there people blocked the traffic and built up barricades in no time. it took about 15 minutes
untill the riot cops came. not very much things have been broken, street signs and lights, but no shop has been atatcked. the cops charged from the middle of the avenue and ran towards the groups, not really reagarding the massive ammount of "civil people" which were standind in the middle of the scene. loud shouting different
phrases like: "one ball, one cop, justice social", "polizia assasini", police partout,
justice nulle part" ( cops all over, justive no where )and much more. the cops charged
the, by this moment, not so big group of mostly students, strongly so the dissolved in
many directions and public transports. at on point a police car got smashed down, cops inside.
6 comrades have been arrested, a young couplehas been put ashore by 12 police,
the girl had dared to write the symbol of "peace and love" with a marker on a wall ...
Hopefully the police will not come up with false witness as they have done in Vichy and as they are increasingly doing to justify their ineffectiveness ...

Pictures of the two recent demonstrations, the 9th and the 12th decembre:

Pictures

- Olympia, USA :some hundred protesters. some banks fucked up.


- Frankfurt : about 200 protesters where blocking close the the greece embassade.
Three cops cars have been damaged, aswell the wall of the Police Station.
8 protesters have been stopped, one arrested.

- Wellington : a solidarity gathering in front of the greece embassade.


- Pérouse, Italy : demonstratin in front of the consulate.



someone knows more of this day ?


here the coming Protests of solidarity :



See you on the barricades !!!

Results of the Forensic says murder !

 http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100002_12/12/2008_102967

"Meanwhile the results of forensic tests indicate that the bullet that killed
15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, and sparked this week’s rioting, appears to have
entered the youth’s body directly. This casts doubt on claims by the 37-year-old policeman
charged with the boy’s murder that the bullet had been fired as a warning and ricocheted.

According to sources, the results of a ballistics test revealed an as yet unidentified substance on the bullet, as well as marks, but experts ruled out the
possibility of the bullet having hit a metal or concrete surface before striking the youth,
fueling speculation that the marks on the bullet had been caused by contact with the victim’s bone. The forensic and ballistic tests will have to be matched before any final
conclusions can be drawn. The Athens Bar Association (ABA) condemned Alexis Kougias, the
policeman’s lawyer, for “desecrating the dead” by asserting that the 15-year-old had been
a troublemaker. The claims “constitute a moral murder which fuels tensions,” the ABA said."

International Solidarity Actions of today, the 12th decembre:

 http://www.non-fides.fr/spip.php?article132
 http://bombsandshields.blogspot.com/

- Santa Cruz : 3 banks got attacked in solidarity.

- Viennes : 150 anarchisten demonstrieren in solidarity.


- Grenoble :
rally of solidarity for the Greek insurgent-es, in front of the Greek Consulate, in the
rue de la Liberté. Two large banners, a black and red flag and many visible signs of the
reasons of the gathering. The gathering brought together a hundred people and was leading
into a wild (not autorised ) demonstration while three large bulbs of paint were thrown at the Greek Consulate. Blocking tram. Firecrackers and rockets were launched here
and there, the demonstrators were almost always masked. Other large bulbs paint were thrown, including on a bank.



- Turin : the consulate of greece has been occupied for one hour, a banner has been unfalted out of the window, in solidarity.
/01_stato_assassino._dal_balcone_del_consolato.jpg>

- Paris :
between 300 and 400 people were gathering in front of the street towards the embassade of greece, the police wouldn't let them approach the building. the protesters went
then on the street and started a spontanous demonstration direction Place Charles de Gaulles, Etoile/Arc de triomphe. just before the police blocked the street with riot cops
and vans, reaction was to build barricades. The police started to charge to take people
away from the streets, but at this point the demonstration decided to head towards the
Champs Elysée, paris' most known and expensive shopping street. basically, because all the
other roads where blocked, in any direction, just not in the direction to the C.E. !
there people blocked the traffic and built up barricades in no time. it took about 15 minutes
untill the riot cops came. not very much things have been broken, street signs and lights, but no shop has been atatcked. the cops charged from the middle of the avenue and ran towards the groups, not really reagarding the massive ammount of "civil people" which were standind in the middle of the scene. loud shouting different
phrases like: "one ball, one cop, justice social", "polizia assasini", police partout,
justice nulle part" ( cops all over, justive no where )and much more. the cops charged
the, by this moment, not so big group of mostly students, strongly so the dissolved in
many directions and public transports. at on point a police car got smashed down, cops inside.
6 comrades have been arrested, a young couplehas been put ashore by 12 police,
the girl had dared to write the symbol of "peace and love" with a marker on a wall ...
Hopefully the police will not come up with false witness as they have done in Vichy and as they are increasingly doing to justify their ineffectiveness ...

Pictures of the two recent demonstrations, the 9th and the 12th decembre:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/33331193 @N06/sets/72157611120046651/

- Olympia, USA : some hundred protesters. some banks fucked up.


- Frankfurt : about 200 protesters where blocking close the the greece embassade.
Three cops cars have been damaged, aswell the wall of the Police Station.
8 protesters have been stopped, one arrested.

- Wellington : a solidarity gathering in front of the greece embassade.


- Pérouse, Italy : demonstratin in front of the consulate.



someone knows more of this day ?


here the coming Protests of solidarity :

 http://flywitness.com/news/2008/get-off-the-internet-greece-solidarity-demos/

See you on the barricades !!!

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:33

The following statement was issued by a group of Greek anarchists and
anti-authoritarians in the southern suburbs of Athens. This is in the area (Ag.
Dimitrios) where there has been a takeover of the local City Hall. The takeover,
now in its second day, has received significant local support. Last night, a
popular assembly was attended by over 300 people. The takeover has also been
supported by a statement from the Association of Employees of the City Hall of
Ag. Dimitrios and many of these employees are helping to guard the building from
a police attack. ---- The translation of the statement was done very quickly and
I take responsibility for any mistakes. I have added some notes to explain some
references. I am attaching the translation as a Word file and also attaching the
original statement (as a pdf, in Greek), which was distributed to the neighborhood.

THE STATE MURDERS

The evening of Saturday December 6, 2008, a murderer pulled out his gun and
executed in cold blood a citizen, Alexandros. What is most tragic about this
murder is that the murderer, police office by profession, killed a 16-year-old kid.

The incident occurred at Exarhia, at the intersection of Tzavella and Mesologgi
Streets. At a place where any one of us could have been. At a place that could
have been at any neighborhood. The eyewitnesses of the incident state that the
murder was precedent by a simple verbal incident. But the Macho Greek Murderer
could not stand the insult and pulled the gun. And he executed. In cold blood.

This murder is neither an accident nor an isolated incident. It is one more link
in a endless series of murderous attacks of the various departments of the
police. Let us not forget the murder of the Pakistani immigrant at Petrou Ralli
Street(1), while he was waiting in line to apply for asylum (in a line that the
state itself had told him to wait). Let us not forget that recently a woman was
murdered in Leukimmi(2), from actions of the MAT(3) against the XYTA(4)
establishment in their area. The list, unfortunately, is endless. Let us not
forget the torture by police officers in police stations and prisons. Let us not
forget the in effect murderous behavior of the instruments of order, with
infinite chemicals [tear gas, etc.], flash and stun grenades, shootings,
beatings, in every instance when people get out in the streets, during strikes,
during student and local actions (it has not been very long since the police
drowned the entire area around the KYT(5) of Argiroupoli and beat up mercilessly
neighbors of ours). This is their function. Let us not delude ourselves. To beat
up and murder so that their message gets through "we and the bosses are the the
law, whoever resist will be beat up mercilessly, and then some."

And who are their bosses? Is it maybe the stockholders of the banks? Is it maybe
the stockholders of the chain stores? Is it the president of EBEA(6)? Is it
maybe all those who demand more work from us, for less money and less security?
Is it maybe all those who get rich charging interest while thousands despair? Is
it maybe those who profiteer, both against us and the producers, with the prices
they set in the supermarkets for basic goods? Is it maybe those who during the
periods of fat cows make huge profits and when things get rough they lay off
workers and cut wages? Well then, it is logical for the popular rage to be
directed at them. They talk of material damages while there is one more death.
If private property is the only thing that interests them, then those who rebel
are justified. We must comprehend than when the horror doesn't wake up
consciences, then unfortunately the smell of the burnt is necessary.

In the midst of all this and the developing uprising, is it possible to not take
a stand? Can we stand with those who always ask for "order and calm"? Who even
during the [Nazi] occupation and the junta the only thing they wanted to do was
to "mind their own business and live their lives"? Who always see "provocation"
and "known unknowns"(7)? Who see conspiracies behind every social movement they
don't control, accustomed to being "leaders" behind closed doors? Let us not be
deceived that every time the events concern the "strikers", the "students", the
"youth". These days it is the people who are in the streets, without "central
administrations", "instructors" or "enlightened vanguards". The means used are
decided freely by each participant in the insurrection. This concerns us as much
as the residents of Exarhia, who faced with the so called "cat and mouse
vendetta between anarchists and police", took a stand. Over the weekend they
were throwing flower pots from their balconies and demanded the removal of the
MAT squads and the cessation of the use of chemicals [i.e. tear-gas]. They took
a stand, they didn't look the other way. They took a stand against state
repression. All of us therefore must take a stand. We must counterpose in action
our refusal to the imposition of the regime of terror and the police state.

NO STATE MURDER LEFT UNANSWERED
FREEDOM TO ALL THOSE ARRESTED
SILENCE IS COMPLICITY

Initiative of anarchists and anti-authoritarians from the southern suburbs

1. At an Immigration Office. Police attacked immigrants standing in line under
the pretext of "maintaining order." A 24-year old Pakistani was fatally injured.
At least 14 others were injured.
2. During a demonstration against the local landfill police clubbed a16-year old
who was driving his motorcycle. He crashed into a 43-year old pregnant woman who
died days later of head injuries.
3. Μονάδες Αποκαταστασης Ταξης , literally Units for the Restoration of Order.
They are the Greek Police's riot units
4. Χώροι Υγειονομικής Ταφής, literally Places for Sanitary Burial, aka the landfill.
5. Κέντρο Υπερυψηλής Τάσης, Super High Voltage Station
6. Εμπορικό και Βιομηχανικό Επιμελητήριο Αθηνών, Athens Chamber of Commerce and
Industry
7. "γνωστοί άγνωστοι" Media, state and police reference to anarchists and other
militant protesters. Implying that they are known to the police but are not
arrested for unknown reasons. Similar to the phrase "usual suspects" but it
refers specifically, and conspiratorially, to anarchists.

 http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos11701.html

Wir vergessen nicht! Wir verzeihen nicht!
Internationaler Aktionstag des Widerstands gegen staatliche morde!
20/12/08

aus indymedia athens

Samstag den 20 Dezember 2008,Aufruf für ein Europa weiten und Welt weiten Aktions Tag
Der Proteste in Erinnerung an alle jugendliche ,Flüchtlinge und politische Kämpfer die von Staatsterroristen ermordet würden.

Heute im der General Versammlung der besetzen Polytechnikums in Athen,würde beschlossen das am Samstag den 20.12.08 zur eine internationalen Aktiontag aufgerufen wird in Erinnerung an alle jugendliche ,Flüchtlinge und politische Kämpfer die von staatsmörder getötet würden.
Carlo Juliani und die jugendliche in den banlieus , Alexis Grigoropoulos und die unzählige andere in alle ecken diese erde.
Unsere leben gehören nicht den Staaten und deren mörderbanden.
Die Erinnerung an unsere ermordete Brüder Schwestern Freunden und Genossen lebt in unsere kämpfe weiter.
Wir vergessen nicht unsere Bruder und schwersten und wir verzeihen nicht ihre Mörder.
Übersetzt diesen Aufruf so das ein gemeinsame Aktionstag in so viele Städte der Welt stattfinden kann.

Http://katalipsipolythechniou.blogspot.com

live feed from people gathering in front parliament, athens
vh - 13.12.2008 17:26

syntagma square athens,there are more and more people gathering in front of parliament, on this cam you can see only a few, but live, and the place and the surrounding streets are full with people just hangig around, like waiting what to come


 http://mfile.akamai.com/61609/live/reflector:50061.asx?prop=e

 http://mfile.akamai.com/61609/live/reflector:50061.asx?prop=e


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