Tut – Tut. Fighting For The People, Or Out Of Control?

At the risk of repeating what has already been said, Athens is fucked. The whole world knows that Greece is fucked, and yesterday’s incidents will serve as a nice media distraction and something juicy for news corporations to get their teeth into. But what has happened has had a profound effect on everyone, even people that have been fighting for a long time.
Massive questions are obviously and rightfully being asked by, and of, very many people. In regards to the deaths of the bank workers, the first thing everyone asked was why the hell they were in work on a day of general strike, and in a bank on the main avenue leading to parliament. A statement released by the union representing bank workers here in Greece has said that they were told to turn up to work or they would be fired (no pun intended), they were told that they would be provided with police security whilst they were at work (they had no protection whatsoever). I mean the banks massive front door was locked and could not be opened. The bank itself had never had any fire drills or even been inspected by the fire service because certificates had been obtained under the table.

I am not for one single moment defending the actions of a group of people who, it seems, knowingly petrol bombed a building with people inside. I saw these same people smash the front of a bookstore. A BOOKSTORE! And they have the audacity to call themselves anarchists. I am not an anarchist, neither am I a communist or any other ‘ist’ box that people like to put themselves in. But I have a brain and a conscience, and when I see people who purport to be fighting for the greater good of a struggling working class smashing book shops, shoe shops and ripping up plants you can’t help but wonder who these people really are. According to the owner of the bookstore, they smashed the windows, threw petrol on books and a person inside and threatened to torch the lot if they didn’t leave.

The KKE party here have said that they were agent provocateurs who were trying to insight the violence and destruction, but what I saw was a small pocket of people who were barely into their teens and unable to take responsibility or even grasp the enormity of what they were getting themselves in to. The damage that has been done transcends the burned out building, and even the deaths themselves. At a time when all eyes were watching, and when what the country needed most was unity and collective response to so many years of deceit and robbery, they were let down by the very people who were meant to be fighting against the killing and degradation of a nation. The mood now is on the edge of plummeting into obscurity. Ironic considering so many people around the world were holding the Greek resistance movement as a beacon of radical social change from the bottom up. The damage is untold.
The whole incident is like a microcosm of the broader situation.
All of a sudden the police can now use this as an excuse to raid immigrant centres and attack cafes and bars on the street to make arbitrary arrests and release some testosterone via there carbon fibre, gloved knuckles and knees. Social centres and squats have been forcefully emptied. The politicians and their enforcers must be rubbing their hands together. They have been dealt an opportunity to deal with resistance in absolutely any way they see fit, and no one can say shit to them.

I feel a lot of resignation among people. Anger. Bemusement. The worst might have just got a little worse. And its not stopping. Yesterday a mass protest was held outside of parliament in Syntagma Square, and just as the protest was coming to a close riot cops charged to clear the area. Everyone who could be reached was arrested or beaten. And this came after a peaceful demonstration in which everyone stood, held candles and done a bit of shouting. Interestingly enough though is the theory of some kind of corroboration between the communist party and the police force. Immediately after the bank attacks, the KKE wanted to show how much they’re supporters weren’t to blame. So on their very own separate demonstration, on which they flatly refused welcoming efforts from other left wing groups who wanted to join forces in front of parliament, they marched there own route to join the main demonstration in Syntagma. Upon arrival, they shunned the rest of those present and left after ten minutes. Not half an hour later, mayhem broke again and people were left to scamper for their own protection from the police.
A well-known Greek musician living in Exarchia had the cheek to come out to his own balcony and shout to the riot police to stop throwing tear gas in his street. Undercovers proceeded to smash their way through his home beat and arrest him and break his wife’s arm. These actions are unprecedented.
Outside the bank today the pile of floral tributes and burning candles continues to grow, as does the anger and, conversely, the apathy. The resistance movement may now be stunted, definitely set back. And whilst the other anarchist and activists groups around the world look to their counterparts in Greece for inspiration and a ray of hope for social justice, no person should be regarded as collateral in any fight, and the only lesson learnt from this should be how not to conduct yourself when attempting to bring about the revolution.

But another thing to remember is that 300,000 people all over Greece took to the streets to demonstrate. People shouted and fought and are 100% committed to justice and fairness. People who have drive, direction and organisation. These are the people who everyone should try to emulate. Old and young and everyone in between played their part in the demonstrations.

The mass media and politicians have jumped on the deaths, immediately calling everyone to parliament, berating the ‘blood thirsty murders’ and the anarchists. They gave their deepest condolences to the bereaved families and held a minute’s silence, yet since their enforcers murdered Alexis, the country still awaits an apology and a minute’s silence. This will be spun every which way to benefit them and their regime.

The effects of the failing system in Greece are already shockingly real. A friend’s dad who worked for 55 years before retirement has lost every last penny of his pension. Every day brings another announcement or twists that further angers the public and further deepens the divide between the political tribes and the masses.
The general feeling is that this is only the start and things are only going to get worse for Greeks and Greece.

Demonstration tomorrow.

New post and pictures coming…….