Antiracist 2 day event in Rethymno, Crete 14-15 Nov.

AT THE HOUSE OF CULTURE, OLD TOWN, RETHYMNO GREECE

DISCUSSIONS + VIDEO PROJECTIONS

Demonstration for Mohammed Kamran Atif’s death

Thersitis call for the demo

assembly of rebels from Salamina, Perama, Keratsini, Drapetsona, Nikaia & Resalto

Demo for Mohammed Kamran Atif’s death, Davaki sq. Perivolaki, Nikaia, Athens, Sat. 17 Oct. 12.00

http://thersitis.gr/

http://anarxiko-resalto.blogspot.com/

TEXT BY INITIATIVE OF IMMIGRANTS, REFUGEES, AND PEOPLE IN SOLIDARITY

KAMRAN Mohamed ATIF

25 YEARS OLD IMMIGRANT FROM PAKISTAN

MURDERED IN NIKAIA’S POLICE DEPARTMENT AFTER TORTURES, ELECTROSHOCK…

September 26, 1:30 am, 15 cops invaded at the house of Pakistani workers in street Heliopolis 82, Nikaia (area of Pireas). Mohammed Atif Kamran and his relatives and roommates were beaten up by the caps and afterwards Mohammed Atif Kamran was led to the police department of Nikaia as a suspect of beating an underage person. There (at the police station) the savage beating continued. Tied his hands and hit with truncheon. They did electroshock at his knees and hands…

The complainant did not recognize him and withdraw the complaint and finally cops released him after they forced his brother to sign that he received Mohamment without any single bruise.

On October 9, Mohammed Kamran died because of the special police “care” which had “accepted” few days ago.

The democratic hilarity of “human rights” can not conceal that Life in capitalism doesn’t worth the same for everyone. Modern “fugitives” (immigrants, refugees) considered as expendable for this intensive exploitation and bloody repression.

Every Mohammed is an everyday target. At the borders, in minefields, at sea, in the concentration camps, in queues for an asylum claim, to police “cleaning” operations, to racist pogroms, in fascist attacks, at the extreme-right rhetorics, in media…

The system rhetoric about “isolated incidents” and “unfortunate incidents” can not convince anyone anymore, not even the most naive. Especially after last year’s murder of 15 year-old Alexander Grigoropoulos. Democracy murders. Police brutality is only the expression of the repressive state-capitalist barbarism: oppression, exploitation, subjugation and death. And all these do not change with government changes but only with social revolution and the advent of a free world without any power.

INSIDE THE CELLS OF DEMOCRACY, POLICE MURDERS

What’s happening in Calais and ways to help

source: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/435418.html

If you are coming to Calais to show solidarity and want information call (from UK) 00 33 6 34 81 07 10 from France 06 34 81 07 10

Latest information from activists on the ground in Calais

*Friday 31st July (3.30pm)

PATROLS
We have been continuing with the patrols early morning and at night.
We do not have news yet on the 2 migrants who were attacked
yesterday. Generally everything seems quite calm. Today we saw a CRS
(riot police) van with 6-7 Afghans but the police had not been to
the ‘jungle’ so they must have picked them up elsewhere.
The patrols are essential, but time consuming so we are also trying
to find residents near the jungles who will help us monitor

SCABIES/MEDICS
We have been doing some basic first aid and taking maalox. If anyone
is coming from England alcohol gel which doesn’t require water is
cheaper there so please bring some for us to distribute!
Medecins du monde has called for all NGO’s to work together to take
action on scabies between 17-21 August. The operation will take place
across Calais.
Treatment of scabies, Hygiene kit, Shower, Medical consultation,
Clean clothes, ‘Coverage’
MDM and MSF will provide most of the materials and do lobbying.
People are trying to find out where the NGO’s are meeting to get
more info(we haven’t been invited!) will send more info soon

CONCERNS
-are the migrants being cleaned up ahead of being put on charter
flights and deported?
-need to mobilize to make sure activist’s in the area at this time
even if deportations do not take place the migrants will be very
vulnerable if their homes etc are being ‘cleaned’
-how will it be organized?
-how will it be maintained?
(stopped from coming back if still no water?)

OFFICE SPACE

We really need one! People looking this afternoon at apartments.
Funding is still an issue;

JOBS THAT CAN BE DONE FROM OUTSIDE CALAIS

Please help with these if you can and email to confirm they are
happening
-fundraising
Needed desperately!
-design a window display/flag
We talked about making something really simple (using barbed wire to
birds logo maybe) that local supporters could display in their
windows (and could be given out or even sold at the market)
-leaflets and letters to residents
About Calais that can be given out at events in town and door to door
-improve the business card for migrants
At the moment we have a card in English only with the emergency phone
number on it 0650734104. We have been giving it out, so far not many
people have been using it but trying to improve this. Would be good
to have it in as many languages as possible, small business card
size that just says ‘in case of raids call 0650734104′ and that we
are from no borders/Calais migrant solidarity.
-UK arrivals leaflet
Being distributed in farsi and Arabic needs better translation into
pashtun. Needs a contact number for people who make it to England to
call. Please send a comment to this blog if you can help with any
of this.

calais update
Homepage: http://www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com

Update on the continuing tension in Greece

source

Double fascist attack against squats in Salonica in midst of continuing tension

by  taxikipali at libcom.org

Fascists attack two Salonica squats while struggle against anti-immigration policies intensifies

During the past week both Radio Revolt, a pirate anarchist radio station housed in an abandoned train wagon within premises of the Aristotelian University of Salonica, and Europe’s largest squat, Fabrica Yfanet, came under fascist arson attack.
The train wagon of Radio Revolt, was attacked with three Molotov cocktails in the night of Tuesday 21/07 by parastate fascist elements publicly condoned by the Ministry of Public Order currently run by an ex-junta persecutor. Radio Revolt continued to broadcast with only 3 hours stoppage. On Saturday 25/07 Fabrica Yfanet’s main gate was attacked by a gas-canister device. The fire was extinguished by member soft hw squat as well as neighbours, while police forces that unusually arrived to the scene only minutes after the attack engaged squatters and neighbours in fascist verbal abuse clearly sympathising with the attack. Fabrica Yfanet is a centre of manifold political activities and receives widespread support amongst the city’s youth and progressives.

Meanwhile in Athens, on the early morning of Tuesday 28/7, a squad of Golden Dawn members marched from the offices of the neonazi party near Omonoia square down Menandrou street in military formation, attacked black men and women uninhibited by the strong police presence in the area. The nazi scum chanted “today niggers die” while returning to their Agios Panteleimonas lair.

Arson attacks against anarchist antiauthoritarian and libertarian squats have been a repeated pattern in the last year, and is considered to be part of the Greek state’s massive counterinsurgency efforts to quench the rising social movement against the more and more dictatorial rule of the government which has been manning its civil service with ever more junta-related individuals. Parastate elements’ anti-squat activity has repeatedly led to massive solidarity marches, rendering the strategy rather counterintuitive, proving once again the readiness of the Greek state to exercise brute force, and its inability to reason even to its own interest.

Characteristic of the new blind fascism of the Greek state is the unprecedented act of censorship exercised against a short animated film by the well known leftist director Costa-Gavras, who is a nail in the eye of the Greek PM for having filmed “Z”, the story of the assassination of left-wing MP Grigoris Lambrakis by parastate thugs under orders of the PM’s uncle in the mid 1960s. Gavras’ animation commissioned by the Ministry of Culture was meant to play at the new Acropolis museum, until the Ministry obliged to curtail scenes portraying Greek Orthodox priests vandalising the Parthenon after orders by the Church. Costa-Gavras has condemned the act as a return to the darkest days of the country. The Greek Orthodox Church remains the largest land-owner in the country and an integral part of the State mechanism, waging considerable control in many policies, particularly relating to education.

Despite the rising white-terror and the mid-summer vacations, the social antagonistic movement is stepping up its response to the state-fascist collaboration and racist bigotry.

Since Friday 24/07/09 a series of blockades of boats transferring immigrants to detention camps in the Greek province of Macedonia have erupted in battles between antiracist protesters and the police.

On Friday 24/07 at midnight protesters cancelled the transfer of 60 so-called illegal immigrants on the boat Theofilos from the port of Mytilini, Lesbos Island, to the mainland city of Kavala. The protesters occupied the main entrance of the ferry boat refusing to allow the police to load the arrested immigrants of Pakistani Afghan and Somalian descent. An unverified number of detained immigrants at the Panagi camp of Lasbos have started a hunger strike against the transfers, demanding their immediate release.

On Sunday 26/07 protesters of PAME, the umbrella union controlled by the Communist Party (KKE), and of the Chios Immigrant Solidarity Committee clashed with the police and fascist civilian auxiliaries at the port of Chios Island when they tried to blockade the entry of two busloads of detained immigrants on the aforementioned boat bound for Thessaloniki. After the police beat the protesters back with use of brutal force, a member of the KKE partaking in the blockade fell into to sea between the pier and the ferry, disallowing the departure of the boat for another hour. The involvement of the KKE in the protests marks an interesting if controversial shift in its long-standing policy of verbalism and practical apathy to the plight of immigrant workers. During the clashes many protesters were injured, while according to the Solidarity Committee, the criminal and dehumanising attitude of the Chios authorities towards immigrants reached its apex in the separation of a 15 year old boy from Somalia from his mother who remains detained in the island. The detained immigrants were transferred to the mainland chained and locked in the boat’s basement inside the buses, thus directly endangering their lives.

The authorities claim the reason for the transfers is the overpopulation of the islands’ camps. In Chios, the Mersinidi camp has a capacity of 120 while detaining 220, whereas the Panagi camp in Lesbos has a capacity of 250 persons while detaining 400. Protesters however argue that the transfers are a first step of “pushing” immigrants illegally though the minefields of Evros River towards Turkey. Claiming that the camps are dehumanising and that the transfers comprise punishing measures for people who have never been convicted for anything other than not having papers, the protesters demand that the detainees are held in hotels, after releasing all underage individuals.

In the diffuse-guerrilla front, a bomb device targeting the Chilean Consulate was dismantled last week by the police, while Tuesday night saw within 30 minutes a barrage of low intensity attacks on State targets, with some 7 local offices of anti-immigration parliamentary parties (New Democracy, PASOK, and LAOS) bombed with gas-canister devices across Athens. Responsibility for the attacks has been claimed by the Shining Paths of Solidarity in response to the “nazification” of the State and nazi-police collaboration. The offices of a LAOS MP were also attacked, causing no human injuries.

Mytilini, Lesvos: Solidarity gathering blocks and prevents the deportation of 62 migrants

source: http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog

The following news comes from Mytilini, where a NoBorders Camp is set to take place on August 25-31. In the bosses’ world, we are all foreigners.

A participant’s account, from Athens IMC

At the Thursday’s dawn, at around 2am, the ferry from Mytilini to Kavala had been planned to deport 62 migrants-refugees from the Detention Centre in Pagani. Their destination was other detention centres in

mainland Northern Greece with their likely immediate deportation from there to their countries of origin, countries at war and with non-existent respect of elementary, given for us, human rights. The transfer was attempted with a municipal bus, in which the migrants were “loaded up” handcuffed, accompanied by police cars and undercover cops.

As soon as embarkation started, the guards created a cordon around the migrants and started to lead them on foot toward the catapult of the boat. The sixty of us who were there jumped in front of them, blocking with banners and with our bodies their entrance to the boat. At the same time, we shouted slogans and handed out texts to the people that continued entering and exiting the boat. Following an initial surprise, the return of the migrants back to the bus that transferred them was decided. We held our positions exchanging slogans with the migrants who slowly started to realise what was going on and in turn started to shout and to wave.

After an hour or so and while all vehicles carrying passengers had entered the boat, it was announced to the migrants that their transfer was canceled. With chants and clapping on both sides and under the slogan “solidarity is the weapon of the people, war to the bosses’ war”, the bus left the area of the port to an unknown direction.  The same did not happen however with the boat, that stayed there with one of its catapults open. At some point around 20 men of the Special Task Force (which we rarely see on the island) appeared and sat at some distance from us. The boat turned off its engine and the situation remained stable. After some negotiations the STF retreated and at around 4 a.m. the boat finally embarked, without taking the migrants with it. We also left, in a group.

Today’s deportation event was canceled. In the next ones that they will try, with all the powers that we’ve got, we’ll be there. We all know, as it has been repeatedly declared -as a main target of the national and

international policies- that the influx of migration needs to be “controlled” and “dealt with”. The mass operations and police pogroms in city centres are accompanied by “de-congestion” operations in the concentration camps in the islands with the migrants being sent to similar concentration camps being set up across the country. What is not controlled and settled ever, of course, is the reason of migration itself. This world, in other words, of exploitation, inequality, injustice: The world of the bosses, the world in which we were and remain foreigners.

comradely,

and with the bitter taste in the mouth of cheering for the return of some people back to their horrific prison…

Fascists attack squat in Athens with Minister of Public Order supervision

One more article on the issue at Fascists attack Villa Amalia squat in Athens, Greece

Some weeks ago we had posted the following (translating a newspaper article):

[M]arkoyannakis said the police faces two major challenges: illegal immigration and the action of anarchists. He added that the police will leave aside the issue of anarchists for now to tackle the illegal immigrants issue first.  For the latter, concentration camps are ready and waiting (source).  His plans for cleansing down town Athens from immigrants will be concluded in one month or so from now.

see this post: Public Order Ministry’s agenda translates into everyday anti-immigrant terror…

Markoyannakis directing police and "indignant citizens" on the spot

source: libcom.org article.

Submitted by taxikipali on Jul 10 2009

Nazi scum organised by the police in vigilante groups in Agios Panteleimonas attacked one of the oldest anarchist squats, Villa Amalias, 20 minutes after meeting with the Minister of Public Order.

On Thursday 9/7 the second mass protest march in a week took to the streets of Athens against State sponsored racism and police collaboration with fascist groups in the area of Agios Panteleimonas. The march which was organised by the left and numbered 5,000 protesters took to the Parliament.

Before the march protesters attacked a group of fascist parastate elements who have been trying to expand the apartheid imposed in Agios Panteleimonas to the near by Attiki square. After the successful ambush against the nazis, the Minister of Public Order, Mr Markoyannakis, infamous for his involvement in the huge Seimens scandal and for his pro-nazi views, visited Attiki square and then Agios Panteleimonas to hold common meeting with the fascist vigilante committee, led by Mr Pipikios, an officer of the Army renowned for his junta nostalgia and love for armed blackshirt formations. 20 minutes after the meeting of the State and parastate scum, a group of nazis left Agios Panteleimonas and attacked Villa Amalias, the 19 year old anarchist squat, with molotov cocktails and projectiles. Fascists had managed to set fire to the squat last year leading to extended damage to the historic building. This time the fascist attack was successfully repelled with fascists running for their lives behind police lines which came to their help.

The new incident of police-nazi cooperation brings the counterinsurgency strategy of the State into new perspective. It is the first time since the junta that a Minister meets with fascist combat groups. The policy of open State support of such murderous elements was commonplace even before the junta, under the government of K. Karamanlis (uncle of today’s PM) who actively supported EKOF, a prastate group designed to break up protest marches and terrorise the left.

Mr Markoyannakis first entered public office as a public persecutor of the colonels’ junta.

The bourgeois media have imposed an information black-out on the incident.

When the Minister met the Fascists (and OK’d them to attack an anarchist squat, it seems)

from “AFTER THE GREEK RIOTS” – occupied London blog

Christos Markoyannakis (pictured, centre) is a vice-minister for the Greek government. Mr Markoyanakis is head of the Vice-Ministry of Public Order – and he certainly does not lack the experience to fill the position. He launched his pubic sector career being appointed in the position of attorney general during the dictatorship (1967-1974). Old habits die hard: In the picture below, Mr Markoyanakis is chatting to the so-called “residents’ initiative” of the Ayios Panteleimonas neighbourhood in Athens. The front group for the neo-fascists of the Golden Dawn (Chrysi Augi), have imposed an Apartheid-style rule in the neighbourhood: Locking up the local playground “because it was used by migrants’ children” they chase away migrants from the area. Mr Markoyanakis visited yesterday (9 July) to offer his support to the “residents’ initiative”. Apparently one of the questions he was asked during this meeting was “how come he hasn’t yet evicted the Villa Amalias squat”. Villa Amalias is one of Athens’ longest-standing squats. Only minutes after Markoyanakis visited, a group of fascists tried to attack Villa Amalias with molotov cocktails. They were pushed back by anarchists defending the occupation. Even being backed up by the cops (Riot police and the newly-introduced “Delta” motorcycle force) the fascists failed in their attack.

To sum up: A junta-appointed attorney general and present government minister meets with a “residents’” group widely known to be a fascist front. Minutes after the meeting, fascists attempt to attack the local anarchist squat, backed by police force. Sometimes, the line between fascism and democracy is much, much thinner than we’d ever think.

Athens and Thessaloniki marches briefing – Immigrants are not alone!

photo of the march in Athens by uk indymedia

photoof the march in Athens by athens indymedia

ATHENS

source: exceprts from  uk indymedia article with modifications and in – text link by clandestinenglish.

[...] The march began at 20.00 o’clock in Omonoia Square, downtown Athens, the capital city of Greece.

Hundreds of counter-information flyers were distributed and a speech was made. The march (as shown in the photos) had about 2500 comrades, and this made the cops to keep themselves at safe distance.

During the march various texts were distributed, anarchist graffiti was drawn, security cameras were destroyed, as well as bank ATMs. The march proceeded towards Aghios Panteleimonas and when the head of the march was about to enter the district the cops immediately fired tear gas and shock grenades, with the comrades replying with stones and flare bombs.

The march had good defence and moved towards ASOEE (a public university in Athens specializing in economics; comrades in Greece take advantage of a sanctuary’s law, called asylum, that disallows the cops to enter university premises). There was somewhat of a chaos there for a while, as some comrades where entering the university campus while others were leaving to go fight the cops in the nearby Patision street. The whole Patision street was in fire.

Barricades built with trashbins set on fire were keeping the cops away and after the usual (for Greece) violent fighting between anarchist comrades and the cops (and the huge amount of chemicals released by them) the cops came under a well-organized attack that forced them to take cover in the 3rd September street, while the whole Patision street was again set on fire.

Many immigrants were participating in the march and they attacked Delta guards (Deltades) in Victoria Square (Deltades are stupid thugs the state uses as light-cops until real cops can arrive): when comrades informed the immigrants that real cops were coming to Victoria Square (so that those with no passports could leave in time to avoid arrest and forced repatriation), the immigrants, disregarding their own individual self-interest, attacked the Deltades thugs, who took cover at the nearby OTE bulding (OTE is the Greek National Telecommunications Company, recently privatized and sold to German T-Telekom).

After the march, the Aghios Panteleimonas district was full of immigrants and clear of fascist scum or cops. The fascists supported the cops in their attempt to drive the march out of Saint Pandeleimonas.

A fascist accidentaly set himself on fire while trying to use the anarchists’ weapons against them, a sport the fascists aren’t good at [clandestinenglish note: as many athens indymedia commentators note, throwing molotovs to unprotected people is definitely NOT a practice of anarchists in Greece].

an Eleftherotypia newspaper photo reproduced at Athens Indymedia, showing some fascist attempting to throw a molotov from within the riot police ranks at Aghios Panteleimonas

The anarchists carried multilingual banners in Greek, English, French, Arabic, Albanian, and other languages known to the immigrants. A banner held by comrades carrying black and red flags, both men and women, read: “war against bosses – solidarity with immigrants”.

THESSALONIKI

photo by yfanet.net

source: athens indymedia

The anarchist bloc, which was at the head of the march, consisted of more than 1000 people . The central banner read “Solidarity with the immigrants. No national unity. War on bosses.”.  There were two more banners on the side: “attack the concentration camps” and “fascists – para-state, back in your holes.   Five more blocs  of left parties and organizations followed, of a total number of ca. 500 people. Cops were following the course from a safe for them distance and did not approach the march.   Bank ATMs and cameras were smashed, much spraying, much leafleting and a very good overall attitude – and many “new” faces…

Videos & photos of Athens at

• http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1054883
• http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1054792
• http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434041.html
• http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1055024

Read  also

Mass antiracist march in Athens ends in serious clashes at libcom.org

Greece: Fascists throw molotov against anarchists, but set themselves on fire!

Anti – racist march in solidarity with immigrants – Thessaloniki, Greece – text & photos by teacher dude

Youth left center attacked by fascists in Salonica before antifascist week across Greece

Source: libcom.org article submitted by the author taxikipali on July 5 2009.

photo: Athens Indymedia article

Sling, a youth center of the left in Salonica fell victim to a parastate-fascist attack in the run-up to a week of antifascist protest marches across Greece

In the early morning of Sunday 5/7 Sling, a youth left center in down town Salonica was attacked by a gas-arson mechanism planted by fascist-parastate elements in the run-up of the coming antifascist week that will see protest marches against the nazi onslaught against immigrants across the country. The attack, which failed to cause injuries and any serious damage, comes as a repetition of last years’ chain of gas-arson attacks against anarchist and left centers in Athens that left several political squats seriously burned. The attack took place in the same day that the official fascist party (LAOS) which holds a few seats in parliament announced its new policy of “patriotic attack”, promising 5-year employment of all unemployed people “of greek blood” in blackshirt paramilitary formations.

What follows is the communique of the Student Struggle Movements:

The Student Struggle Movements are denouncing to the greek people and youth the fascist attack on the morning of Sunday a little later than 3 am against the Youth Center “Sling” on Makriyannis street in down town Salonica with an arson mechanism. The Sling has been functioning only two months now with the the initiative of the Student Struggle Movements, a left struggling student collectivity, and has been set to the service of youth struggles against the system, its politics and “values” that it tries to impose on the youth. The attack is part of a strategy of tension of the capital and imperialism against the achievements of the people and its youth. It is especially part of a climate of terror and intensification of repression of the youth and the people
after the December explosion. Moreover it is part of a climate of xenophobia and racism that the imperialist EU and the parties of the big capital (New Democracy and PASOK) and their lackeys (LAOS) is trying to impose on the suffering workers of the country. The Student Struggle Movements, as part of the struggling youth and following its paradigm in the great struggles of the previous years, will not bow to this terror initiative. Along side the youth and the people we respond to the fascist attacks by intensifying our struggles -

STUDENT STRUGGLE MOVEMENTS

The fascist-parastate act comes as a lone strike after two days of relentless radical attacks against State targets: the Institute of Immigration Policy, the Information Department of the Ministry of Interior, the Center of Strategic Planning, the Army Officer’s Club, and several offices of the governing party were wholly or partially destroyed between Friday and Saturday. The intensification of so-called anarchist ‘diffused guerrilla’ (in opposition to the Marxist armed guerrilla) has publicly ridiculed the Law and Order bragging of the more and more ultra-right government which is under increasing pressure of resigning.

A brief text about “Dromos” and our engagement with immigration issues

This a part of a text we leafletted at the Antiracist Festival and the streets of Thessaloniki.  About “Dromos” see the “about us” page of this blog.

14th Antiracist Festival, 3-4-5 July in Athens

http://www.antiracistfestival.gr