“It’s not us that return to the pastBut the past threatens to return.”
Georges Bernanos. “Munich”
Le Chemin de la Croix-des-Ames, 1942

The political staff currently serving the capital by controlling state administration and, in particular, the head of the Ministry of Civil Protection, M. Chrisochoidis tried several days before November 17th to set up a political trap in the rebel movement forces for reasons we will broach below. The objective of this choice was to create a treaty where authority and the government would win in any turn of political developments. The basis of «trapping» was the minister´s announcement ten days before the anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising which declared a total ban of the established demonstrations and protests.

The government’s staff, having lost control at all levels and above all on the pandemic front, is trying to turn loss into profit, permanently advancing the police that is currently its most loyal ally and at the same time a decisive political player in bringing closer the far right-wing section of the ruling party. At the same time, the government is exhausting the potential for repressive intervention, wishing to establish new negative data in its confrontation with all those who are still fighting, exploiting as a pretext the health crisis brought about by the dangerous pandemic and its equally dangerous policy. If the organized revolutionary movement did not raise the gauntlet of confrontation, the government could occupy the entire public space undisturbed with the army of occupation of the repressive forces.

At the same time, they would show around like a trophy the ban on the demonstration (pre-announced by a well-known snitch) in front of the fascists who are seeking a party representation on a central level.At the same time, the planning for the occupation of the cities by the police army is in any case a rehearsal gesture of the strategy for implementing the «preventive insurgency», which is a constant dogma from now on of the state-level power mechanism. The rapid and great weakening of social legitimacy towards the government and, more generally, state arbitrariness and authoritarianism, has created permanent emergency conditions for the oppressors. On the other hand, if the organized anarchist movement and parts of the left dared to break the ban and protest against the state death policy of totalitarian capitalism, then the government’s opportunities would be shifted towards a narrative that would transfer even temporarily its criminal responsibility for the death of hundreds of people on the back of the «irresponsible» protesters, while at the same time, it would be able to take advantage of the situation in order to abuse and arrest them, to drain them financially and to isolate them, disbanding them literally but also -and mainly- politically.

This plan has failed completely. Not one beyond their (ever-decreasing) voters was convinced by this degeneracy. This is due to the exemplary, responsible and competitive attitude of the fighters. The government’s plan was thrown out by the movement’s action. Instead of squeezing those who broke the vulgar and misleading junta ban that was only implemented for four days, from November 15th to November 18th, they came out even stronger, more powerful and more consistent in the eyes of the oppressed and the exploited. Because they were represented by the comrades who came out on the streets on November 17th, because only their opinion count for us – and nobody else’s. The general ban itself may have created a stranglehold for those who wanted to break it, but at the same time it has demonstrated to all progressive people the horrendous instrumentalization of the pandemic by the poor creatures who manage the fortunes and lives of the people of the social base. The arrest of dozens of anarchists who tried to take over the Polytechnic University in Athens, the arrests of leftists and the invitations to account of militants across the territory, the staged public intervention against the unions of doctors and other actions which unleashed the crescendo of repression and which have themselves proved the hypocrisy of state management in anyone who had the slightest intention of perceiving it.

This time they have also shown up the forces of both the parliamentary and the extra-parliamentary Left. In our view, their emergence on the basis of previous experience (e.g. Macedonian rallies on 2018 or even recently at various rallies in Patras) was not self-evident and there were oscillations about their final attitude, which also derive from their timeless legal attitude. But if the left-wing people at the end of the debate weren’t left with any other options, the same would not apply to the Communist Party of Greece. On the one hand, the intensification of the ban by the government and, on the other, the pressure of the revolutionary area and anarchists, who had already expressed their intentions (breaking the ban) and some of their moves (occupation of the Polytechnic School in Athens) played a part in mobilizing the forces of a number of political entities.

The Greek Communist Party, having first dealt with securing its place in the civil arena, has protected its back and avoided isolation by first signing a joint text with the opportunistic bastards of SYRIZA (in the end of October the Communist Party had voted in favor Tsipra’s motion of censure against Stournaras – an incomprehensible act at the time) – while it was awaiting even in his signature by the so-called centrist party, Kin.Al (movement of change) who refused- and could pretend to be the «movement leadership» more comfortable for a day. SYRIZA reiterated in practice its profound civil character, reflecting in its refusal to take part in a demonstration its opinion on who it considers to represent. At the same time, by taking the reverse route from the Greek Communist Party, it took the opportunity presented to it – by co-signing the joint text – to bend the left for a day. While Varoufakis chose the road of the “old” 3% Syriza, a road that fortunately failed. Chrisochoidis’ hazing against a member of an official party, Day25 and the greek parliament, Sakorafa and the conduction of a preliminary examination against party leaders, simply show that they are intemperate bastards.

Across the country, the anarchist movement fought a hard battle and despite the losses that may arise in real conditions of overall confrontation, it won it. Nowhere could there be a single half of a propaganda picture of overcrowding and a lack of measures on the basis of which the magistrates of the powers would try to disorientate the social body. Instead, the role of state management in the spread of the pandemic was highlighted even on this day, with the “gathering” of thousands and thousands of police officers and the suffocation conditions created in many cases after their intervention. Even so, the two-legged dummies of the greek police managed to notice their consumable nature as the goons of their bosses, but their structural stupidity and their non-negotiable fascism allow them to carry out their criminal duties happily and enthusiastically.

Another point that we must raise is the role of anarchists at this crucial juncture of confrontation with the state. It was the forces of anarchists, and to some extent organized, all over Greece, and particularly in the periphery, who raised the glove mainly and defended people and meanings. From Xanthi, Ioannina, Patras, Karditsa to Heraklion, Rethymno and Chania, the anarchist movement played a leading role in organizing disobedience acts. Everywhere with a common interest in seeking better care conditions, securing food and housing for all, while commemorating the dead fighters of the Polytechnic Uprising and the dead of the Post-War era. The role of the movement was extremely important, the moves have found social effects and have first and foremost been a clear political response to modern totalitarianism. Whatever the way it has manifested itself from the morning of November 17 to the late afternoon was in any case a resounding response. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the government’s hits on the anarchist movement, which continue unabated, are not just about some supposed disorientation or ‘changing the agenda’, but because they are really the forces of the anarchist movement that are trying to put a strong stop to the onslaught of capitalist brutality.

Thessaloniki

As local co-ordination of APO in the city of Thessaloniki, we decided unreservedly that our dynamic presence on the street on November 17 is the only way. On 9 November, we published a poster and a text which made our position clear once and for all: “On the day of the Polytechnic Uprising, the anarchists will be present, not because of an ideological whim, but because if we do not ensure today that the oppressed will be able to resist their own hangmen, then we are already dead!”

Our decision was to support the call of Association of the Students who live in the University Dormitories and the at the same time, our organized participation in any central move to break the ban. The exemplary struggle of the students was the only process that was able to put sharp edges into the grim environment of the quarantine and at the same time the only organized and real student mobilization during the days of the Polytechnic Uprising. After several days of occupation of the dormitory building and its transformation into a struggle center, which students defended against police challenges and after symbolically occupying the dean’s building, the fighters succeeded in applying the covid-19 test (in any other obvious way) for free. Even then, however, mockery was the norm, as an inadequate number of tests was sent out. Equally important, however, was the Association’s decision to transform a requesting struggle into a purely political field by calling for a rally on 17 November and breaking the ban. So, the Association of Dormitory Students in Thessaloniki, together with those in solidarity who chose the dormitories as a sign of their disobedience, against countless police forces became the first social body to break the ban across the country. The calm and unshaken attitude of the comrades towards the total stranglehold imposed by the police for 8 hours has helped significantly, among other things, to facilitate the movement of further forces in the center of the city.

The breaking of the ban was manifested by a sudden rally (Tsimiski & Agias Sophias) of forces from the anarchist and left-wing organizations. Our decision to be actively involved in this front too, we think it was appropriate, since it was returning to the state the glove and putting the issue of dealing with an illegal demonstration on its hands. Looking back, and having seen the face of our city early in the morning, when hundreds of policemen were developing everywhere in absence even of ordinary passersby, we really can’t think about what city we would wake up in at 18th if no one came out of their house on the 17th. We judge that after the gatherings in Kamara and Propilaia in January 2018 against the fascist flock of the national body, the November 17th gatherings are another historic stage in the path of our movement, precisely those that turn the so-called ‘space’ into something much more, much bigger, much more dangerous for the authority. During both the quarantine and, in particular, the preparation for 17 November, we reaffirmed the usefulness of the Organization in the struggle process.

During the police intervention to dismantle the rally in the city center, dozens of fines were imposed (fines were imposed on other points as well, as far as we know) and since that morning dozens of prosecutions were also carried out, six of them turned into arrests. The three are close to different Left organizations and the other three are members of APO, while 3 other members of APO were summoned from the same spot and were fined. The three detainees who were also fined $300 were charged with indiscipline and violation of disease prevention measures, and after spending one night in detention, where they were brought to court, through the police procedure, received a postponement and await the definition of their trial.

Resistance, disobedience and counter-attack actions are not just part of the organized forces, but they represent many more at the moment, and having this thought in mind in the next period we will seek the necessary political and financial support from the oppressed, as well as seeking as much interaction as possible with the people who want to participate in the struggle, which continues and will win. Long live anarchy!

SOLIDARITY WITH ALL THOSE ARRESTED, AND THE FIGHTERS WHO BROKE THE STATE BAN

HEALTH-HOUSING-FOOD FOR ALL

STRUGGLES ARE NOT LEGAL OR ILLEGAL, THEY ARE RIGHTEOUS

RESISTANCE TO MODERN TOTALITARIANISM | THE FIGHT WILL BE EITHER ANTI-REGIME OR IT WILL BE NOTHING

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