Greece: Upcoming eviction of No Border Social Center Lesvos and Call-Out for activists

nbk_lesvos_greeceNo Border Kitchen Lesvos needs your support! Callout for people in November and December.

We from No Border Kitchen Lesvos (NBK) are going to need people joining us on the island in October, November and December. After holiday season, with the start of the new semester for many people and with the approaching winter we will need helping hands from end of October.

Additionally we got an unpleasant visit from the cops tuesday. According to them our Social Center will be evicted in 5 days. This would make the 4th eviction this year that we have to face.

At the moment we (still) have two main projects. One is cooking for the people who refuse to stay in Moria camp and prefer to sleep rough in the forest instead. The other one is our social center . Everyday a lot of people visit us there to hang out, talk, eat and meet each other. Of course thats not all…we also stand with the people protesting on a weekly basis in Lesvos against the inhuman conditions in Moria camp and for freedom of movement. [Read More]

Agrinio (Greece): Solidarity with the struggle against slavery in US prisons

[Agrinio, Western Greece] Apertus squat: Solidarity with the struggle against slavery in US prisons

The US prison operation relies heavily on the work of the prisoners themselves, while many prisons have now been privatized. Also, prison labor is being exploited by multinational companies (Honda, McDonald’s, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, etc.). Payment that prisoner-workers receive for their labor varies from minimal to nonexistent. Furthermore, surveillance, inhumane conditions of detention, discipline, various methods of torture, etc., are traditionally the first choices for the smooth operation of these prisons.

[Read More]

Athens: Announcement of Squat Notara 26 about the attack of August 24th

20160824_incendiary_attack_Notara_26_Athens_GreeceOn Wednesday August 24th at 3:45 a.m. the Housing Squat for Refugees and Migrants Notara 26 received an incendiary attack. The acting method of the arsonists we consider to be a clear murderous act, organised with the goal to cause – apart from the serious material damage – also loss of human lives. The timing of this cowardly act was chosen during August, when as the arsonists believed the reflexes of the solidarity movement would be sluggish. In vain though…

After the attack with molotov and gas-bottle bombs the safeguard of the refugees and the assistance of the solidarity acted immediately, using the fire extinguishers of the squat. The over 130 lives that where seriously endangered where saved solely by the immediate reaction of the total of the residents, of the solidarity and the neighbours of the squat, as well as with the participation of the fire department – although it derogatively characterised the Notara 26 squat as a storage in its press release, implying that no people where resident at the location.

This particular event is one link in the long chain of attacks against the migrant squats, refugees, as well as the free social spaces, which consists of a cooperation of state and parastate – where the first acts using the law (Orphanage, Nikis squat, Hurriya) and the second with the usual mafia practices (Vancouver, Avtonomo Steki, Zaimi, Analipsi, Kaniggos) – targeting the solidarity movement. [Read More]

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]

Thessaloniki: Orfanotrofio evicted. Black & Red Call for transnational solidarity

20160727_Orfanotrofio_squat_evicted_3Since this morning (27/07) the cops have invaded 3 housing squats, which host refugees and immigrants, these are orfanotrofio, the one on Nikis boulvrd. and the recently squatted on C. Dill str. (Hurriya). 83 people were detained and there is information about over 75 arrests with the accusation of “civil peace disturbance”. The procedure of the demolition of Orfanotrofio has already started, while people who were in the building and were in need of medication were not allowed to take it. —- The refugees and immigrants are transferred to detention centers and the solidaries were dragged into police detention buildings and courts. Some time later comrades have clashed with the cops in front of the entrance of syriza’s office in Thessaloniki and occupied it. The far-right bastards of syriza go smoothly hand in hand with ND (nea dimokratia, right-wing party in power before syriza’s election), anthimos (the metropolit, church’s highest officer in Thessaloniki) and all the rest pile of shit, consisting the long arm of repression. With a non-seen before operation of revenge against no border camp, they attack in the crack of dawn on families of refugees in their own homes and on the solidaries. Power reveal its teeth again and they are completely rotten, as the bankrupt world of state and bosses is. None of us is afraid of them. Our comrades through syriza’s office occupation demand the immediate release of all the arrested locals and migrants, the stoppage of the demolition of Orfanotrofio, cops out of our homes and lives. [Read More]

Thessaloniki: Squats raided and evicted

20160727_Orfanotrofio_squat_evicted_1In a move unprecedented in times of “democracy”, the Greek government raided and evicted today, 27 July in the early morning, three squats in the city of Thessaloniki, which were being used as shelter for refugees.
The message the left wing government wants to transmit is that there is no space for solidarity and self-managed responses to the ordeal of the refugees, only the state’s charity and the confinement, marginalisation and selective deportation carried out by a government that follows to the letter the criminal immigration policies of the EE.
The eviction comes only a couple of days after the end of the No Border Camp in Thessaloniki, which united thousands of activists from throughout the continent to protest these very policies.
One of the squats, Nikis, has been a long standing squat in Thessaloniki, which was opened up to refugee families with the onset of the refugee crisis. Another one, Orfanotrofeio, was (re)occupied last year with the express purpose of giving shelter to immigrant and refugees in a self-managed way. The third one was occupied only a few days ago in the very centre of the city for the same purpose.
Orfanotrofeio was evicted and immediately demolished. Under the rubble were buried tons of medicine, food, clothes and first necessity items that were destined for refugee families, as well as the occupants’ personal belongings. [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]

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]

Greece: Queer feminist squat evicted in Exarcheia

fuckpatriarchy

A privately owned building on Anexartisias street, Exarcheia district, was occupied by a queer feminist group since May 28th until today (16/6/16). The police evacuated the squat and proceeded to the arrest of many activists while supporters held a solidarity rally at the Attica Police Inspectorate. Below is the announcement of the squat as published on Contra Info:

”This morning Women*Squat, a queer feminist squat, which began on May 28th in a privately owned building on 13 Anexartisias street, was evacuated by cops and 6 people were arrested (3 adults and 3 children). The purpose of the squat was to provide a shelter to women with/without papers in a space we would all organize together. Updates will follow.

We call for a solidarity rally at the Attica Police Inspectorate at 13:00.

Immediate release of all the arrested activists

Women*squat”

(via Provo.gr, translated by BlackCat)

https://insurrectionnewsworldwide.com/2016/06/16/greece-queer-feminist-squat-evicted-in-exarcheia/