Athens: about the repressive operation and the defense of Prosfygika

By: fawda - November 27th, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

We are still here … The Community remains strong and united … Prosfygika will win!!!!

On 22/11/2022, at 5.45 am, all kinds of police forces, riot police MAT, state security, Delta, OPKE and EKAM, invaded the squated neighbourhood of Prosfygika on Alexandra Avenue and more specifically the 7th block, on Tikhonidos Street (behind the Elpis Hospital). They broke through the outer door of the building, breaking it. Then they went up to the second floor where two community companions, the arrested companion and another refugee from Iran live. They kidnapped both of them and proceeded to carry out a thorough search of the building. At the same time, the entire neighborhood was surrounded by the repression forces, not only at the site of the search but in total, attempting to occupy it.

The operation was spotted by the community’s daily morning patrol who began to inform the neighborhood. Comrades and compañeras took to the rooftops to wake up the rest of us. Not knowing exactly what was happening, we recognized that the operation was limited to a specific building, but we also realized the serious possibility of a general attack. In retrospect, we judge that the invasion that took place was premeditated from the morning. All the time that elapsed until the moment of the invasion was the result of preparation, judgment on costs and gains, as well as a measurement of our determination, by the officials of the GADA and the ministry. [Read More]

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Athens (Greece): International day of action in defence of Exarchia neighborhood, 25 June 2022

By: xxx - June 14th, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

25 June / Demonstration in Exarchia Square

The construction of the metro station on Exarchia square and the redevelopment of Strefi Hill are expected to start during the summer months, according to reports in the mainstream media, but also according to notifications by the Municipality of Athens to shops located in the square.

The government’s ultimatum is the final blow to the character of the historic neighborhood of Exarchia. The construction of a Metro stop on the square, the conversion of the Polytechnic school into a museum, the attempted eradication of the monument of Alexandros Grigoropoulos through the construction of luxury apartment buildings on Mesologgiou Street, the surrender of Strefi Hill to private interests (which includes the cementing of the park’s paths, cutting down trees, placing cameras, gates and security posts to control the entrance) are part of the overall designs for the gentrification of the area, the transformation of the neighborhood into a tourist destination, the development of control and repression. [Read More]

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Athens: Call for participation in the defense of the Squatted Community of Prosfygika

By: fawda - December 19th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Hello comrades,

We address this call to collectives and individuals from all around the world to join the combative defense of Prosfygika against the imminent repression. The attempted evacuation of our neighborhood must be turned into a central event of resistance and a victory against political power and the gentrification of our neighborhoods in the metropolis.

WHAT WE INVITE YOU TO DEFEND:

The building complex of Prosfygika was built in 1933 for the refugees coming from Asia minor.

In the conditions of the time, a vibrant working class neighbourhood with communal characteristics emerged. Today,it is one of the biggest building complexes in the center of Athens, which is still not gentrified and exploited by big investors or the state. It is a place of strategic significance, since it is located between the two ‘pillars’ of authority – the Supreme Court on one hand and the Police Headquarters on the other.

Within this socio-spatial frame, some militants, who were already living in the neighborhood as squatters, decided to organize. In 2010 they initiated the Community of Squatted Prosfygika, having as its central decision-making political organ the Assembly of Squatted Prosfygika (SY.KA.PRO.). A communal body for everyday life and political struggle. [Read More]

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Athens: Theater Embros resquatted

By: fawda - May 26th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

A very large and enthusiastic meeting of Embros on Sunday 23 May decided to continue the defense of the Free Self-Managed Theater. The attempt of the police and the Public Property Company to reseal the Embros on the morning of Monday 24 May was met by the lawyers of the movement and the people of the struggle, the united solidarity forces and the works were stopped. We start today Monday 24 May and every day from 5 pm a week of Art and Freedom in front of the building and collective works to repair the damages caused by the eviction.
On Saturday 29 May, we call for a nationwide Day of Action of artists, neighbourhood assemblies and social centers in every corner of the country to defend not only Embros but all liberated spaces. The power of self-organization can stop the destruction of our neighborhoods and nature threatened by the tide of exploitation and the insolence of obscenity.
The weekly program of events starts now! It will be enriched daily with new entries. We invite art groups to present their ideas and work during the day outside the building. [Read More]

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Athens: on the side of the Embros Theatre

By: fawda - May 26th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

The chronicle of a repression announced for 10 years was completed yesterday with the eviction of the Embros theatre. A space that began as a response to the capital’s overthrow of iconic urban landmarks is sealed off to be overpowered.

The occupation of the Embros Theatre was the appropriation of a decaying cultural tool and its true utilization by people of art, politics, and the neighborhood. All these masses of people who passed, the participants and producers of another culture testing its grips, can attest to this but also reflect on what its loss signifies.

In the midst of the pandemic, in the most gentrified area for the capital’s small and large tourist capital, Embros was a thorn, not only for its political flavour but also for constituting an agitated and agressive voice at the centre of the tourist product. Something like a stronghold a few meters from the tables of the occupied city held parties, theatre performances, speeches, events, concerts, seminars, collective kitchens, festivals… For free. Organized horizontally. And without discrimination, neither ethnic, nor racial, nor, unfortunately for gentrification. [Read More]

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Athens: Theater Embros evicted

By: fawda - May 19th, 2021  Filed under: News

Today 19/5, early in the morning, at 7:30, after a prosecutor’s order, an evacuation and sealing operation of the Free Self-Managed Theater EMBROS took place, in the presence of the police and representatives of ETAD (Public Real Estate Company), the company which the historic building of Embros (first printing house in Greece, characterized as a modern monument) belongs to. The operation took place without the permission of the Ministry of Culture which is responsible for these buildings or with its resounding absence and silent complicity.

What problem could the Greek Ministry of Culture have, after all, that a modern monument was cemented since they gave permission to cement the most important of the ancient ones, Acropolis!

What problem could the Greek Ministry of Culture have, after all, that a theater was sealed since throughout this difficult period of the pandemic they devalue Art ​​and insult artists in the worst way, leading them to despair and extinction. [Read More]

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Athens: Zizania, new squatted social center in Victoria

By: fawda - April 6th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Welcome to Zizania, a squatted social center in Victoria, at the corner of Fylis and Feron streets. May it be a neighbourhood space for self-organisation, social interventions, collective resistance and community building. Let’s meet in this space for sharing thoughts, food, coffee, clothes and whatever else we can imagine. For freeshops and free haircuts, for caffeneios and screenings, for learning and reading, for workshops and assemblies. Let’s celebrate it as a step towards the liberation of more public spaces, let’s make the best of this opportunity, as we are the ones who shape and take on our own struggles and shouldn’t rely neither on other people, designated institutions, nor better circumstances to do so.

With Zizania we foremostly aim to create a breathing space from the racist, sexist, capitalistic violence of the state and society. We envision a space of interaction and exchange between people of different backgrounds, origins, identities and ages, who speak different languages and have different opinions. These are conditions we must create and concretise together, through meeting each other, strengthening relationships inside and between our communities and connecting our struggles. For too long we have only been dreaming about something like this – surely we weren’t the only ones – and now we want to take action. In that spirit, we invite you to bring your issues, ideas, initiatives, and struggles to discuss how we can shape this space together. [Read More]

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Greece: New Year’s Notes under Lockdown

By: fawda - January 20th, 2021  Filed under: News

At this time, we are reminded of our comrades through banners and graffiti, through brief encounters under the guise of getting exercise between curfews, and through the courageous actions of those who turn to the night to act as the day becomes too dangerous.
The anarchist movement in Greece is among the largest in the world, proportionate to the population. However, we are now experiencing unprecedented repression as a result of the pandemic and resulting political opportunism. We remain stagnated in lockdown, overwhelmed by the reign of the right and its defenders. Ecocide, social control, new crackdowns on universities, and general repression of those excluded from or deemed enemies of the Greek state continue to expand in the shadow of COVID-19.
We will highlight a few recent incidents of concern relating to the solidarity efforts essential for the global anarchist movement. We sometimes struggle to write these updates, not wishing to simply present a monthly bulletin on depression from Greece. We write from a perspective that many people here share, best summarized by this comment that captures the theme of so many interactions here: “Some days good, some days bad. Just feel stuck, and not even sure what I’m waiting for.”
During this enforced pause in our lives, those who hold power are rushing through policies and automation disguised as pandemic response. This is part of a broader effort to gentrify Greek society. [Read More]

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Athens: Notara 26, five years of solidarity and resistance

By: fawda - September 24th, 2020  Filed under: News

The story has been told many a times now. We have heard, witnessed, and lived it in the past five years. In 2015, with the onset of mass migration and what was called the “refugee crisis” we saw the political, social, and urban landscapes of many places change—including Athens, Greece. The events touched and affected the public and private lives of many. The beginning of Noara26 points to one of those moments. A time when a group of people, with ideals and politics of self-organization, collective action, and solidarity were moved to occupy an empty public building in the city’s downtown and to create a place of shelter and safety for thousands of refugees who were abandoned in the streets of Athens.

This September marks the fifth year of our squat’s existence. It is true that we can mark this date in our calendars and remember it as a day of creation and celebration. But the lessons we have learned, the joyful moments we have created, the memories and lives we have shared, the challenges and struggles we have faced and overcome as community are unmeasurable and exceed the limits of time. [Read More]

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Athens: Call for international solidarity for a trial on September 18

By: fawda - September 16th, 2020  Filed under: Communique

On September 18, the trial against two comrades from Berlin and two comrades from Athens will take place in Evelpidon Court in Athens. On November 26, 2017, the four persons were arrested during the eviction of Gare Squat, in the Athens district of Exarcheia. Among other charges, they are accused of trespassing, attempted serious bodily harm, refusal of forensic identification and possession of explosive materials and explosive bombs. This eviction was the first of three in which the four comrades were detained for 4 days. They were released on conditions or bail and now, almost three years later, have to appear in court. [Read More]

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Athens: 10, 100, thousands of squats. One year of resistance against state terrorism

By: fawda - August 26th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

Today marks one year since the armed hooded men of Chrysochoidis invaded the refugee squat of Spirou Trikoupi 17 and the neighboring Transito squat. It was early in the morning when they forcibly pulled out families with young children from their beds–people who after much hardship and suffering had found a place to grow roots again in these buildings. They took them from their home and distributed them in miserable camps to live in the dirt and with indifference in canvas tents. Since then, a barrage of state terrorist attacks on refugee and political squats has led to evictions, snatching of people, beatings, and arrests. The refugee squats have functioned for many years as unprecedented experiments of practical anti-racism and anti-fascism, self-organization, and solidarity. These spaces have given thousands of people the opportunity to regain their stolen autonomy and the right to define their own lives away from human guards and charity contractors. And almost all of them were evicted. Families with babies, single women, LGBTQI+ people, the sick and disabled, survivors of torture were all brutally detached from their daily lives and relationships and were trapped in nothing but state mercilessness. Political squats that formed cells of social action in neighborhoods, challenging the prevailing ideas of tourism, private property, and commercialization, which turned cities into concrete class pyramids of solitary depravity and social rivalry, were also evicted. [Read More]

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Athens: Solidarity action for Dervenion 56. An international call for solidarity

By: fawda - July 4th, 2020  Filed under: Communique, News

On friday 26 june, in Exarchia, the Greek state evicted and sealed Dervenion 56 and the building at Dervenion 52. An immediate gathering of solidarity was held on Exarcheia square for several hours. In the evening of the same day, a solidarity march was held with the participation of 300 people. The march ended at the Dervenion squat, barricades were set up around the perimeter and then comrades broke the concrete blocks of shame. Police never came and after some hours the protesters left. Riot cops made again an operation the next morning, building again a concrete wall in front of the squat’s door. According to information, in the following days, various solidarity actions followed, a demonstration took place on the main shopping street of Athens, Ermou, where slogans were shouted, and apparently some people attacked multinational clothing companies in Ermou in the occupied -by the police-, center of Athens. Even the rich yuppie nephew of the Prime Minister, the mayor of Athens, Costas Bakogiannis, could not escape the anger caused by the evictions. The pioneer of violent gentrification and his bodyguards were attacked with coffees and other items by dozens of people at a local religious festival. In the following days a march was held again at Exarcheia where comrades demolished the walls of the sealed migrants’ squats at Themistokleous 58 and Spirou Trikoupi 15. All these days, texts of solidarity were written and banners were put in various locations in Greece. [Read More]

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