Arson attacks against the Synagogue in Hania, Crete

This is a translation of a  press release by the Forum of Migrants in Crete.  More about the arson attacks at http://abravanel.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/second-arson-in-hania-synagogue/

Hania, Crete January 18 2010.

Once again racist hate armed the hand of those who target the core of the rights OF US ALL.

The synagogue was for the second time in a few days engulfed in the flames of hatred.

We immigrants of Chania, with different religions, languages, places of origin, condemn all acts of racial hatred and all acts of violence and violation of religious rights. At the same time we fight for those things that are yet to be done  in our area (eg a Muslim cemetery).

Xenophobic, racist messages have been sent throughout Greece recently by both obscure circles and official parliamentary and political spheres, in response to the economic crisis or the new bill on immigration and citizenship; these have become the “official” ideology alibis of the fascist gangs in Chania and all over the country, as well as their political coverage for inciting crimes against immigrants and Greek people who act in solidarity, as well as for attacks on social spaces of resistance, or “different” religions.

They are the same political wings, of course, who despite the ideological alibi they offer for the burning of a Synagogue, they have not a single word to say about the massacre of hundreds of deaths in Gaza, one year ago; not a word for the on-going crime against the people who for so many years are imprisoned and are being murdered in their very homeland due to the criminal aggression of the Israeli ARMY.

We immigrants active in the Forum of Immigrants in Crete, we are determined to stand side by side with every Hania resident who does not want these phenomena to grow roots here; we will struggle to keep our town humane.

Egyptian fishworkers on strike in Nea Michaniona, Northern Greece.

photo from Rizospastis newspaper

solidarity with the struggle of the Egyptian fishworkers - graffiti in Michaniona

UPDATE JAN 16: On Thursday, January 14, the case of the trawlers bosses against the strike was brought to court, and the strike was judged “illegal and abusive” (the strike was under the auspices of the private sector employees union, until the fishworkers validated their own Union during the stike by union elections – the Union was established three years ago but remained unofficial for not having undergone elections).

Despite this court decision, the fishworkers will go on  with their struggle and their Union has decided repeated one-day stikes for the days to come.

On Thursday the protest march called by the fishworkers took place.  It concluded at the Ministry located in Thessaloniki.  PAME (CP’s Union) had a strong presence.  Extra-parliamentary leftists and antiauthoritarians did participate but their numbers were lower than one would expect given the significance of the struggle.

After the demonstration an assembly was held at the Polytechnic University and today a text was leafletted at the city’s fish market, and a poster was billed on the streets calling for an information event at the same place on next Wednesday.

source: athens indymedia article

UPDATE JAN 13 :

the lawsuit the vessel owners lodged against the strike will be brought to court tomorrow, Thursday, at 9.00. There is a call for a demonstration by the strikers and the CP controlled trade union PAME for tomorrow at 6.30, at Aristotelous sq. (Agalma Venizelou). People obviously from the anarchist / antiauthoritarian scene also call through Athens Indymedia (in Greek) for active support to the strike and the demonstration, since on Tuesday (when the case was at first to be judged) the presence of solidarity beyond CP supporters outside the courts was miniscule (a relevant call has been posted at the Thessaloniki University, and there will be a gathering for coordination after the demonstration at the Polytechnic school).

Rizospastis Newspaper reported that yesterday “some vessel owners “kicked the Egyptians out” of the trawlers where they stay at night according to the treaty,and in violation of the latter’s terms manned their trawlers with scabs and sailed, ”.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY 12 JAN.:

Yesterday Jan 11 the trial of the lawsuit the vessel owners lodged against the strike was postponed (it will take place on Thursday). Meanwhile, there have been negotiations. The employers, in cooperation with the Mayor of Michaniona and the Egyptian Embassy, along with creating an atmosphere of threats and bigotry, proposed an outrageous text as a basis for the settlement for workers demands. This text not only failed to satisfy any of the demands, but also included clauses prohibiting union organisation for the Egyptian workers, demanding the dismissal of those “misbehaving” or those “being incosistent with their obligations”. It also included a blacklist of the “troublemakers”, which had been already sent to the Embassy (one can easily understand what kind of treatment these persons – those prominently active in the struggle – will receive if deported, actually, to Egypt). They also tried to fool the Egyptians providing this text in three languages (Greek, Arabic and English) with the condition that the English is to be considered the valid one in case the translations are found not exactly matching – while the Egyptians only understand the Arabic variant. The workers clearly rejected the text.

About 300 Egyptian workers at the fishing boats of Nea Michaniona (a village near Thessaloniki, Northern Greece) blockaded two days ago the small port of the village.

Fasco-thugs hit once more in Chania, Crete.

The fasco-thugs in Chania, Crete made one more hideus, cowardice assault (for the previous ones see this and this).   In the small hours of Dec 27 inside a bar in the city’s Venetian Port area (an area with many bars) they beat with  baseball bats and knuckle dusters two Palestinians and one Moroccan guy, as well as a German woman who was in their company.    They only person in that company they did not beat was a Greek woman.   The “hit squad” of the thugs entered the bar prepared and with the sole purpose of attempting the murderous assault they did attempt, without having been provoked in no way whatsoever.

The male immigrants suffered injuries at their head and face, but were not in immediate need of hospitalisation after receiving first aid treatment.  The German woman is at hospital, with very severe injuries at her head and with face virtually deformed.

source: Forum of Migrants in Crete’s blog.

From Anti-Immigrant Summer to Zero Tolerance on Election Bait

Text in Greek available here.

On the occasion of the International Migrants Day

Just over a month and half ago Prime Minister Papandreou used the Global Forum on Immigration & Development proceedings in Athens to sketch government measures which would stand for a humanitarian turn compared to the policies and situation of the recent months .  He described as necessary

“[T]o stimulate the participation of immigrants in the political life of the country, through the possibility of Greek citizenship acquisition, particularly of course for the so-called ‘second generation’, in which we are suggesting the acquisition of citizenship by birth for the new person born in our territory.”

For people in Greece, though, the announcement of the Secretary for Home Affairs Theodora Tzakri two weeks later, which made clear that Greek citizenship would be granted only to children born to legal immigrants, came as no surprise.

The doctrine of “Zero tolerance to illegal migration” goes hand in hand with this government’s humanitarian turn… As for what this turn is all about, it aims at incorporating immigrants mostly from Albania, after two decades of overexploitation, and in exchange for votes. A phony exchange indeed.

Along with this, the dividing of immigrants into ‘good’ and ‘bad’, ‘useful’ and ‘superfluous’, ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ becomes more intense, and the system of exploitation grows deeper roots .

As we wrote in our above linked text on the Global Forum on Immigration & Development:

“The aim of developmental policy is to control migration flows (through the FRONTEX patrols and detention centres) as well as to regulate them (through 5-year rotating work permits, the annulment of asylum rights), in order to keep a stable proportion of productive inhabitants within the increasingly ageing, unproductive populations of Europe. In other words, recycling the migrants will keep the indexes of development in check, development being the systematic and bloodthirsty pillage of lives and resources, time and space.

According to the “UN Population Division report on replacement migration”, if the Europeans want to keep their ratio of older people to active workers at the 1995 levels, the Union will need 135 million immigrants by 2025.

This demographic issue is only part of the story, and maybe not the most important. Neoliberalization inside Europe has meant a weakened, destabilized labor force. It’s not just that capital wants selected migrants because it needs more workers, it wants migrants because they are powerless, unorganized, low-paid workers for whom there will be no job security, no health care and no pensions.In other words, they are far cheaper and less troublesome workers”.

Illegal immigrants are necessary because through them the rights of the legal ones are suppressed (there is of course rotation of people in these roles). At the same time, illegal immigration helps governments maintain a useful xenophobic atmosphere to impose authoritarian policies. “Migration management” includes both authoritarian hysteria and humanitarian logistics. The two seemingly opposite positions are the two sides of the same coin of subjugation.

So let’s outline against this backdrop the government’s humanitarian turn after the elections of October 2009…

The Doctrine “Insulated Greece”

The new doctrine was introduced by Minister of Citizen Protection (= Public Order) M. Chrisochoïdis on Tuesday, December 15, at his meeting with the FRONTEX Executive Director J.Laitinen.   The construction of the Southeast Mediterranean FRONTEX Headquarters at the U.S. base of Aktion or at Piraeus has been a permanent request of the Greek government, which proudly stated that 75% of illegal entry arrests at the sea borders of EU for this year took place in the Aegean sea.

A few days earlier in the frame of FRONTEX operations (on Saturday, December 12) officers in Samos island, on no notice whatsoever and violently, carried out with utmost secrecy the transfer of over 85 Afghan refugees from the local detention center to the island’s airport at Pythagorio.  There the refugees were boarded on an airplane which departed for an unknown destination.

The slaughter in the Aegean Sea continues

In less than two months, 16 migrants have died in the icy waters of the Aegean. Most of them were children.

• On Tuesday, October 27, 8 immigrants, three adults and five children, drowned in the east part of the Aegean Sea.
• On Saturday, November 7, the lifeless bodies of six children from Palestine, aged 2 to 12 years, washed up on shore near Bodrum (Alikarnasos), Turkey.  The boat in which 19 Palestinians – half of them children – squeezed themselves on an effort to pass from the Turkish town of Turgutreis to Kos island overturned 500 meters from the shore.
• On Friday, December 11, a boat carrying undocumented migrants sank near the island of Leros. Fishermen found 25 migrants perched on a rocky island and two more lifeless bodies in the sea.

Police violence

Incidents of abuse and humiliation by the police amount to dozens, and most of them never reach the public attention. We report the following characteristic cases:

• In the afternoon of October 22, immediately after the visit of Secretary of State Vougias the detention center in Pagani of Mytilene, police officers responsible for guarding the center abused and beat prisoners, including a 17-year boy, who was evacuated to the Vostanio Hospital, where lesions were diagnosed on his head, back, waist and arms. According to the interpreter, the police promised 350 euros to the victim to buy his silence.
• On the 19th of November in the afternoon a 35-year old immigrant was beaten by two officers serving at the infamous Aghios Panteleimonas Police Station in Athens. Her two year old child witnessed the beating and the arrest, and along with her mother remained under custody at the Kypseli Police Station for four hours! The incident became known only because the woman is married to a famous Greek musician.
• On Friday, November 20 , immigrant detainee Mohammed bin Taher collapsed in the courts of Evelpidon street in Athens. His condition was such that he was taken to hospital by ambulance. As reported by the his fellow detainees (and he later confirmed) Mohammed bin Taher had been savagely beaten by police at the Omonoia Police Station.
• On the 9th of October Mohammed Kamran dies after the treatment he received by the policemen who had raided the house where he and fellow Pakistani workers resided in Nikaia, Athens.

Para-state violence

The para-state mechanism was launched last summer against immigrants and since then it has been working relentlessly despite the supposed change of policy.

• The most recent incident was the attack of last Tuesday, December 15, against the Social Haunt – Immigrants Haunt in Chania, Crete (hometown of the former Minister of Public Order Markoyannakis).  In the same city on December 8 there has been a savage criminal attack against two immigrants by unknown perpetrators. The near-killers attacked the immigrant workers in the back with crowbars, and left them with serious head and body injuries.  One of the 2 victims was among the 15 hunger strikers of last year , who shook the island of Crete with their proud struggle. The intensity of the attacks in Chania definitely is related to the dynamic struggles of immigrants in the city.
• In Athens, brutal attacks against Arab shops took place at the Neos Kosmos district on Monday, November 22, when 40 people holding crowbars and molotov cocktails attacked and injured the employees in two mini-markets, destroyed the merchandise and stole the money of the cashier.

Para-state organized violence encourages and feeds the diffuse social one.

• Thus, on November 8, four immigrants who had been working at olive fields in Messolongi, Western Greece, were attacked with crowbars and clubs and beaten savagely by circa 15 people. The immigrants were transferred to the emergency dept. of the Messolongi hospital. The immigrants had been asking their wages from the owner of the fields in which they had been working.  They were ambushed and beaten in an old warehouse, where they had an appointment with their employer to get their money.

Institutional violence

• In late November the trial of 25 immigrants (mainly Arabs and one Afghan) took place; they had been arrested during the events of December 2008 and had been detained ever since.  All this period they were considered missing.  All of them were sentenced to imprisonment from 7 months to 3 years.  It is characteristic for the fairness of the trial that only one interpreter had been assigned , who translated simultaneously for 24 defendants who were divided in three groups in the court’s room.  The Afghan who did not understand Arabic was seated on the last bench of the room…
• On Friday, December 11, in Thessaloniki, a report was issued by the Hellenic League for Human Rights, about the detention centers in Evros and Rodopi.  The survey took place from the 25th to the 29th of November 2009 and states:

In many cases there is inadequate lighting, ventilation and heating (…)  At virtually none of the premises visited have the possibility to go outdoors on some yard. Even in detention centers where there is an adequate yard, the large number of detainees on the one hand and the lack of personnel on the other allows usually only for some prisoners to have outdoor breaks for a minimum period and not on a daily basis (…)  Food in many cases is inadequate, the quantity and quality in general varies (..). The care taken for sanitation and hygiene conditions varies from inexistent to inadequate (…) The availability of medical and nursing staff is poor and at all cases occasional (…) The detainees were in total confusion regarding their rights, the time of their detention and ill-informed as to asylum procedures; interpreters were not available.

December 18, 2009

Clandestina Network

Group of Immigrants and Refugees, Thessaloniki

Fascist attack against the Free Social Space of Western Districts, Thessaloniki

At 19:00 today 6-7 fascists attacked the Free Social Space of Western Districts in Thessaloniki.  They beat 2 people who were there.

source: athens indymedia

collective’s blog: http://dytikessynoikies.wordpress.com/

New assaults by para-state neo-nazis in Chania Crete against social spaces and comrade’s home – Rally and march tomorrow against rising fascist violence.

Immigrant's Haunt, Social Haunt's entrance after the fire.

Police’s pets, right extremists in Chania, Crete, continue with their aggression.  Yesterday evening, unknown perpetrators threw two molotov coctail bombs against the family house of a comrade who is involved in anarchist and antiracist initiatives, while his family (not he himself) was inside (includng his toddler nephew).  Some days ago, he and a friend had been ambushed late at night by a group of ten and severely beaten.  Info by Chaniotika Nea local newpaper.

The last social space hit by the fasco-group(s) in the town of Chania was the Immigrants Haunt – Social Haunt.    In the small hours yesterday night they broke into the building and put a fire on the entrance.   They signed on the walls with swastikas.   Last week they had painted racist graffiti on the outside walls.

AFTER THE RECENT NEO-NAZI-ACTIVITY, AN ANTI-FASCIST RALLY AND MARCH CALL HAS BEEN MADE BY VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS AND COLLECTIVES  FOR TOMORROW, THURSDAY, DEC 17, 19.00, AT AGORA SQ.

BELOW IS THE POSTER CALLING.

Murderous assaults by neo-nazis in Chania, Crete, and impunity for racist murder perpetrators.

TWO NEW PRESS – RELEASES BY THE FORUM OF IMMIGRANTS IN CRETE ON RECENT PROLIFERATION OF NEO-NAZI ACTIVITY IN CHANIA, CRETE; AND THE PROLONGATION OF A HIDEOUS RACIST CRIME BY THE SYSTEM OF “JUSTICE” IN RETHYMNO

Savage Assault against Immigrants in Chania

Τwo immigrants were savagely assaulted by last Tuesday, December 8, in downtown Chania, at10 at night. The unknown perpetrators nearly killed the immigrants who were sitting on a bench in a square of the city centre.  They attacked them with iron crowbars, all of a sudden and from the back, and behind the bench so that not to be noticed and resisted by their victims . They left them with serious head and body injuries.

One of the 2 immigrant workers happened to be one of the 15 hunger strikers who last year surprised the town with their proud struggle. At the hospital he was able to give us a first description of the thugs. Gym freaks with shaved heads. Figures that allow us to suspect with certainty the neo-Nazis, Hitler-nostalgics, para-state that recently have been trying to make their pittiful presence sensed in the town. The scumbags who in large groups ambush and beat individuals simply because they do not like their face of social and political areas because they classify them as enemies of the homeland and their Aryan race. The same people who appear and “provoke” rallies and marches, who flock and flirt in public with the police, who threaten or beat protesters, because they don’t like demonstrations.

They have long been active in our town as well, and elsewhere in the prefectire, as in Kastelli Kissamou. The names of their leaders have been whispered in schools, football stadiums and cafes.  They recruit and trade in the divisive violence among the the youth whose blood is hot with passion and anger. They complete the work begun by “loyal to democracy” right-wing circles and political spaces. They poison the social body with hatred and preposterous lies for ten years now, with the full support of economic and political power blocs. The neo-Nazis are merely the executive arm of the fascist turn in the society .

After the uprising of December, these processes accelerated. Like everywhere in Greece, so in the ‘democratic Chania’ we have been witnessing a proliferation of attacks against immigrants and struggling people. In fact, the perpetrators have been acting scandalously undisturbed. We have no doubt that the society of labor, work, dignity, the democratic society can deal with them. It must stand against to them, because it is itself the target of fascists. This is what fascists hate and want to discipline, just like their ideological ancestors 70 years ago did.

Chania, 10 December 2009

Innocent by-standers of an assassination!!!

At New Year’s Day 2006, a young Albanian was killed with incredible ferocity -17 stabs – in his house, in Old Town, Rethymno.

His fault was that he was Albanian. His name was Edison Jahai.

The System of Justice in 2009 decided to prolong the crime by judging not guilty 3 of the accused perpetrators considering them “mere bystanders in front of the assassination” (!!!)

The questions raised are obvious:

• Is society to be trained to tolerate injustice?
• Is society to be trained to fear the “other” in order to regard him/her as the absolute root of all evil;
• Is society to be trained not to claim its rights – social, economic, political, labor – and be satisfied with what is minimum and be in fear of losing even this?

We think this Court of Appeals’ decision took this direction.  It is unfair and humiliating for both dead Edison and his family.  It is dangerous at a time when atrocities against wage-workers by trained Nazi stabbers prolifarate. The response to all forms of injustice and all forms of rights violations, all racist murderous attack must be the strengthening of the fight for a society with equality and freedom, with essential respect to life and dignity.

For racism does not only affect its victrims, but also those who tolerate it.

CHANIA 10 Dec 2009

Folk singer hospitalised after attack by neo-nazis in Athens

source: taxikipali on Oct 1 2009 at libcom

Submitted by taxikipali on Oct 1 2009 at libcom

Sofia Papazoglou, a popular folk singer was attacked by members of the Golden Dawn neo-nazi party in Athens after throwing election leaflets handed to her in the garbage. The singer remains hospitalised with serious burns from use of unidentified acid spray and with impaired vision.

Sofia Papazoglou, a popular folk singer of the “entehno” genre known for her progressive politics was attacked on Thursday 1st of October outside the metro station of Katehaki, in Athens, by ten members of the neo-nazi party Golden Dawn when she threw election leaflets handed to her by the thugs in the garbage. The Golden Dawn was created in the 1980s by the convicted neo-nazi bomber Mihaloliakos at the orders of the imprisoned head of the military junta of 1967-1974 Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos. Since, the Golden Dawn has been waging a campaign of terror against the left wing and anarchists as well as immigrants, people of color and jews. Nevertheless, as it comes under the explicit protection of EYP, the greek secret services (the daily eleftherotypia has published a pay-sheet of Mihaloliakos by EYP), the neo-nazi group has never been persecuted and is allowed to participate in national elections. As a clear indication of the above patron-client relation with the secret services, the election campaign booth of the neo-nazis was placed this year directly under the headquarters of the EYP, in Katehaki avenue, a few meters away from the main riot police camp of the greek capital. When Ms Papazoglou threw the racist leaflets in the bin, ten thugs attacked her with a still unidentified acid spray in the eyes and then proceeded to beat her up savagely. The police did not intervene and the folk singer was taken to hospital after the intervention of metro workers. Half an hour later the neo-nazis were dispersed by anarchist who arrived at the spot upon hearing the news of the new vicious attack.

Ms Papazoglou remains in hospital with impaired vision and serious burns and bruises on her body. The Golden Dawn denies involvement in the incident, decrying it as “rumors spread by dirty jews and freemasons” and “protectors of ecologists and greens”…

Fascist violence victim snatched from hospital by Greek police

Submitted by taxikipali on Sep 10 2009 at libcom.org

Seriously injured, an immigrant, victim of fascist violence was snatched by police from hospital, and held in parastate-controlled area of Agios Panteleimonas in a new parastate outrage.

The organic cooperation of the police with fascist groups dating back to the nazi occupation has been subject to recent dizzying upgrading to the degree that the ex-chief of EYP, the Greek MI5, and the man responsible for the abduction of dozens of Pakistanis to secret interrogation camps four years ago, was appointed a leading candidate of the fascist Orthodox Alarm (LAOS) party. According to the estimations of many analysts, the intensification and arming of the fascist parastate and its open endorsement by the police are part of a state plan to create an extra-administrative force of repression and terror in the face of the rising social antagonistic movement.

A victim of the continuous parastate operations of fascists and plainclothes policemen in the area of Agios Panteleimonas in Athens was snatched early this week from hospital by police forces violating doctors orders and basic rights to healthcare. The immigrant was attacked last Saturday by the usual 15-strong group of junta-nostalgic vigilantes, and had his chest pierced with an iron rod, receiving serious injuries throughout his body and head.

Instead of even ordering an investigation on the assassination attempt, the greek authorities moved to arrest an eye-witness of the incident and to abduct the unfortunate immigrant from hospital. Both are now held in the notorious police department of Agios Panteleimonas which a few years ago came under protester attack after systematic torture of underage Afghan boys in its basements. The police station is a free-way for neo-nazi scum , which according to human rights groups and lawyers who have pressed charges against the police authorities, are harboured there allowed to roam through files and intervene in procedures. Lawyers have claimed that the injured man is kept in medieval conditions of hygiene and is in risk for his life.

Solidarity with Rosa Nera squat, attacked by fascists on 13th September 2009

On Sunday, 13 September 2009, a cowardly group, armed with helmets and helves, attacked the  Rosa Nera squat in Chania, at a time when almost all comrades were at the local antiracist festival.  At the entrance of the squat they hit a mother, her student son, a friend and an immigrant and then left quickly, within 2-3 minutes, hitting one more elderly person and his son who were at that time returning to the building .  During the last week posters and banners of the festival were torn across the city.

ROSA NERA CALLS FOR AN ANTIFASCIST DEMO ON FRIDAY, SEPT 25, 17.00, AGORA SQUARE, CHANIA, CRETE

SOURCE: http://rosanera.squat.gr/