Anyone been following the news out of Greece these past couple weeks? For those you haven't heard yet, major riots broke out on the night of the 6th of December after a 15 year old kid was shot following some kind of confrontation with police. Students + Anarchists claim the police shot the kid in cold blood. Police say it was an accident and that the officer had fired a warning shot after a group of kids attacked them with firebombs (the latter part has by now been shown to be false I believe). In any case, the riots and protests soon took on a much larger significance, with large numbers of the greek population, discontended with a corrupt government and a failing economy, coming out to support the students. If you're interested in getting more news, http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog features regular updates from people on the ground there. You can also check out http://anarchiststrategy.blogspot.com I also find an interesting article from folks at Crimethinc with an analysis of the situation, which you can check out here: http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2008/12/20/greece-and-the-insurrections-to-come/ As for my personal opinion, although the causes and legitimacy of the riots is still up for debate at this point, I nevertheless think there could be a lot for American and other radicals to learn from, considering that events like these will very much likely begin to occur in the United States in the not so distant future, perhaps even on a much bigger scale. What do you guys think?
I've been interested in the anarchist movement in Greece for a while now, and I've been finding this very, very exciting. Just a few things to top off what Green said: Yes, the authorities have seemed to abandon the story that Alex had thrown a molotov coctail. There are still some stories floating around that some rocks or maybe a bottle had been thrown, but witnesses are steadfast in saying the boy was shot in cold blood. Also, I heard some third hand stories about how the cop was saying afterwords how he was "just sick and tired opf being pushed around by the anarchists in Exarchia" or something like that. Mind you, this is unconfirmed. The latest word from the pigs is that it was a warning shot, which ricochet off of... well, we don't know what, and hit him in the heart. This is a stark contradiction of the initial reports, which stated that he was hit three times, in the leg and torso. Also, the Greek PM has admitted to the police deputizing neo nazis to help put down the uprising- with knives and police issue tear gas, and one more 16 year old boy shot by the way. This may also explain the attacks on small independent shops, which none of the rioters have taken responsibility for. The anarchist movement in Greece is very strong, and things have been building toward this climax for a long time. This is not a "small gang of hooded youth" lashing out in blind anger, as the corporate media is insisting. It is an incredibly diverse and multifaceted uprising. These people are not just those we are conditioned to think of as anarchists- we have students and teachers occupying schools together, workers occupying union halls, ordinary citizens fighting in the streets.... It's all just incredible. And they have been very successful so far. The response by the left wing parties has been what you would expect, but they seem to have been rejected just as the right has been. We'll have to see what happens. I think to a large degree their success or failure will be determined by the success of solidarity actions abroad- what do you think? Also, everyone might want to keep their eyes on this for the next day or so- the senate of the polytechnic university has surrendered control of the uni to the district attorney general- essentially rendering the university sanctuary law moot. A police raid looks to be imminent. Occupiers have decided to stand their ground. Keep watching the blogs Green Revolution posted links for, and also Greek Direct Action News, found here: http://directactiongr.blogspot.com/search/label/english There were no updates for a while after the shooting, and whats there now is still a bit disorganized, but I don't blame them- Who wants to be sitting in front of a computer screen when there's so much fun to be had outside? Between the indigenous uprising in Peru, and their government declairing a state of emergency, and now this, I'd say this hasn't been such a bad year at all!
By the way, thanks for starting this thread. I'd intended to do it myself, but procrastinated. Like I said, I feel like what happens there will be largely dependent on international solidarity, but the mainstream media is just not covering this accurately at all. BBC's doing a little better than others, but over here in north america it's just embarrassing to read the news about this.
Oi... is anyone as interested in this as I am? There's another thread in the Protest forum with a little more commentary as well. I'm really interested in what the rest of you think. Am I alone here, or what?
I think it's all very interesting, but personally I can't see much for people overseas to do at this point. People talk about the riots/revolution spreading across Europe but I don't think that will happen. Conditions just aren't right yet. I would say give it a couple of years for things to get worse. Judging from past movements, I think eventually the energy that's been coming out of Greece will well up and die down, and go back to being under the surface. I don't think this is a necessarily bad thing, nor do I think it will hurt the movement. That is what movements do. They surge, recede, ebb, flow... In between time, we get a chance to analyse our strengths and weaknesses and work out our mistakes. I think the most important work for people overseas to be doing at this point is to start putting in the networks in place so that the next time this kind of spark takes place (and trust me, it will), we're going to be ready. This means contacting the right people (lawyers and medics and such), setting up prisoner support groups, analysing the weaknesses of the local environment, establishing physical spaces (infoshops, libraries, cafés) in which we can assemble, strategise, and connect with one another. Greece is just the beginning. One of the many beginnings. From Paris, to Oaxaca, to Copenhagen, to Athens... Anybody see a pattern? Shit is going to get interesting. But if we want to keep the momentum going, we're going to have to start getting ready now. Btw Crazyhorse, did you see the Fox News video of the police losing control of St. Paul to the anarchists? Check it out here if you haven't already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkZvtGCh5YA
I am following what is going on, igetting regular updates from the local anarchist mail out. ts very interesting to see what will come of it, exciting even.. Green_Revolution I agree very much with what you say about the energy ebbing up and down, I dont think a mass event here in the UK would get us very far right now, we should be using the energy instead to fuel and expand the standing anarchist undercurrent so that we're there and strong when the time is ready... which may end up being sooner than we expect.
That video was hilarious. I also like the one from awhile back, with the fox news reporter walking the opposite way through a crowd of demonstrators, asking "excuse me, do you believe in free speech?" Just fucking hilarious.
