Greece: Against Prosecutions and Detentions

greece / turkey / cyprus | community struggles | policy statement Tuesday December 16, 2008 22:49 by epoliticus epoliticus at gmail dot com

The following statement was issued in English by the Liberated City Hall of Aghios Dimitrios on Monday (15 December 2008).

Solidarity with all who have been arrested and are prosecuted for their participation in the popular insurrection!

The events that have taken place so far, both inside and outside of Greece, following the murder of 16-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the 'special guard' Epaminondas Korkoneas, show clearly that we are in the midst of a popular insurrection. Ever growing segments of society (e.g. high school and university students, workers, unemployed, immigrants, detainees, the poor, etc.) decide to come out onto the streets and transform their rage for whatever oppresses them in every expression of their lives into action (e.g. dynamic mobilizations during which there are mass clashes with the forces of repression and attacks on government and capitalist targets, occupations of public buildings, open assemblies, counterinformation actions, etc.).

Within the frame of this insurrection, the City Hall of Aghios Dimitrios has been occupied since the morning of Thursday (11 December 2008), so that it may become a place for counterinformation, meeting, and self-organizing of the residents of the wider region and for the collective formation and implementation of actions. A main component of this occupation is the daily popular assembly with the participation of up to 300 people, a process that functions in contrast to the entrusting of the management of our demands as well as of our struggles to whichever "representatives," elected or not. It is a process that tends to be implanted deeply into the consciousness of its participants in their role as political beings.

Without a doubt, this popular insurrection is clearly turning against the very structure of the current regime. Therefore, it follows that the subjects of this insurrection will face the repressive fury of the defenders of the system (e.g. the state, the businesses, the comfortable, etc.). Already there have been about 200 arrests around the country (often accompanied by violence and trumped up charges). Some of the charges, misdemeanors as well as felonies are: resisting arrest, disobedience, disturbing the peace, attempting to free detainees, use and possession of tools and explosives, attempt to inflict serious bodily harm, etc. In some instances, the state has prosecuted minors under anti-terrorist statutes (e.g. in Larissa). Nevertheless, for us it is obvious that all these charges are political in nature. And of course the "not at all" predatory state (in conjunction with the "not at all" profiteering business people) has the audacity to prosecute so-called "looters".

By participating in the popular insurrection both inside and outside of the now liberated City Hall of Aghios Dimitrios, we express - with our deeds - our solidarity with those arrested and prosecuted for their actions in this social struggle. The struggle for their release and the cessation of prosecutions is absolutely connected with the very insurrection and must constitute a main demand.

A few lines above there was a reference to the defenders of the system. Unfortunately this category also includes those segments of society, which, while objectively belong on the side of the oppressed, whether by their opposition to the social struggle or whether by their silence (a result as much of the brainwashing from mass media as from the growing tendency to abandon collective claims and pursue individual solutions) end up playing the game of their oppressors. It is necessary that we realize what is the source of our problems and that all of us "below" are already in the cross-hairs of the system, therefore it is to our advantage to join this insurrection.

Drop all charges for the events of the last several days!

Immediate release of all detainees!

The social struggles are neither legal nor illegal - they are just!

Rally - March on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (16 December 2008) at the liberated City Hall of Aghios Dimitrios!

SOURCE:
Blog of the Liberated City Hall of Aghios Dimitrios.

NOTE:
The text has been slightly modified to improve readability.