Other Press
|
Recent articles by OAE-Greece (Press Office)
Turkish police killed one Kurd injured dozens Mar 22 12 Entrevista a José Antonio Gutiérrez de la Agencia Informativa Kurda Ro... Jan 31 12 Interview with José Antonio Gutiérrez by the Kurdish News Agency Rojhe... Jan 31 12 On the rocket attack on the USA embassy in Athnes Ελλάδα / Τουρκία / Κύπρος |
Ιμπεριαλισμός / Πόλεμος |
Ανακοίνωση Τύπου
 Wednesday January 31, 2007 09:41 by OAE-Greece (Press Office) - OAE outetheos at yahoo dot com dot au
 Statement of Press Office of OAE Statement of Press Office of Federation of Anarchists of Greece (OAE) about the firing of a rocket at the USA embassy in Athens In a period that the USA government sends a little bit more than twenty thousands soldiers in the already possessed Irak, in the 12/1/2007 in Athens, a rocket by some unknown people breaks a few glasses above the escutcheon on the American embassy building. We believe that the terrorist and fickle policy by the sovereign class of USA is extremely dangerous for the world humanity and for this reason it should be confronted by the class struggle, both inside and outside of USA. We do not believe that the governmental policy of USA supported by big parts of the ruling classes of other countries can be confronted only by words. The violent revolutionary struggle is necessary for the confrontation of the international state owned terrorism of USA and their allies. However, it should become effective and not strengthening the enemy against whom it supposedly addressed. We remind here that the “terrorism” case constitutes a mean of the control on the populations by the USA and their allies. Even if the various “terrorist” groups did not exist, the bosses of the world order would create them, since their various “revolutionary” activities help so much effectively their projects. Even under the simple threat of the publication of a travelling directive, the military-economic cliques can elicit favourable for their interests decisions by the “local” governments! For 2007, has been scheduled by the Greek government, the application of an enormous program of obtaining lots of military equipment. One does not need divinatory capabilities to forecast the country of origin of the new martial aeroplanes that will supply the Greek state wasting the money of the people and serving the aims of NATO and no of course some “national safety”. LET’S NOT BE NAIVE! This certain rocket was so much “revolutionary” that the bosses of Fantom, rub from now their bloodstained hands for the ensured profits! Also, we believe that in Greece no-one of the sovereign cliques has been socked by the rocket of the unknown. On the contrary, they all snigger behind the artificial panic created by the mass media for they have an interest Athens to become like a small London with cameras and police presence everywhere. We have already seen in the TV channels all of these various white-collar, university professors and councillors of the authorities propagating for the necessity of keeping of a digital record data concerning all citizens. We believe that the class struggle should take also the form of a violent revolutionary struggle. However, this struggle cannot be an affair of some certain unknown, but it should be organised, prepared, and realised by the exploited and oppressed themselves who through their trade unions and local organisations will put an end in the disarray and chaos caused by the states and capitalism. Federation of Anarchists of Greece (OAE) is calling every exploited and oppressed to fight both in the place where lives and also where works against the government owned arbitrariness and terrorism. The case of a freed society is an affair of all exploited and oppressed. Then and only then a rocket against the American embassy will constitute the spark in order to leave us all of these anthropoids that they speak today with arrogance like they were born to dominate the humanity and more generally the nature. The “big ones” are big because we are in our knees! Towards class struggles! OAE –Press Office 30 January 2007 |
 Front pageMéxico: Convocatoria al Encuentro Nacional de Resistencias Autónomas Anticapitalistas En defensa del pensamiento crítico y en solidaridad con el profesor Renán Vega Cantor Venezuela and the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’: Beacon of hope or smoke and mirrors? Chile: Aporte para un balance y proyecciones de la movilización 2012 May 1st: After the Blooms of Spring, a Hot Summer "El movimiento popular vasco es el mayor movimiento contestatario de Europa" La victoire au bout des doigts CGT, CNT y SO llaman a participar en la Huelga General del 29M Για την οργανωση του Αναρχικου Κινηματοσ Randy "Prole Cat" Lowens Obituary Social Anarchism and Organisation Manifest en defensa del català com a llengua vehicular en el sistema educatiu Ne payons pas leur dette, sortons du capitalisme ! Se twòp atò: Nou mande fòk okipasyon militè Nasyonzini an Ayiti a kaba (29 fevriye 2012) Chile: Paro Nacional Portuario, 15 y 16 de febrero Exigimos la presentación con vida de David Venegas Reyes Irã: prenúncio de mais uma invasão imperialista. Perú: Ollanta Humala y el gobierno nacionalista الأناركيون و الإشتراكيون الثوريون في مصر Which way forward for the 99%? Latest NewsΕλλάδα / Τουρκία / Κύπρος | Ιμπεριαλισμός / Πόλεμος | Ανακοίνωση Τύπου | gr Wed 30 May, 15:24
Opinion and Analysis
Press Releases
|
make this your Anarkismo.net front page
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (14 of 14)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14Any NEFAC opinions on this statement? They seem to take a stand that doesn't demonize the actors, while NEFACers have had a much more hostile opinion of the events in Greece.
If our group existed in Greece, organized under Greek social conditions, and were in some way affected by events such as this perhaps we would issue statement. But that is not the case. Attacks against U.S. symbols occur daily across the globe. I think it is a little absurd to expect us to issue a statement every time one takes place, not to mention that it would be completely arrogant on our part to speak to events where we have little understanding or familiarity with the social situation on the ground. Sorry.
I wasn't asking for an official statement. I had originally directed my questions about this situation towards Wayne and he presented a hostile position to the Greek situation.
I do agree with you Mark that Greece is not our situation, but I was actually asking for clarification, if not from Wayne, then from someone like yourself that is willing to reconcile a hostile position with one that isn't dismissive of anarchists in struggle. Other articles by Joe Black and José Antonio Gutiérrez reinforce this hostility.
I'm only wanting clarification, do you agree with your Greek federalist comrades that these other anarchists may deserve solidarity rather than a moralizing fear of their violence?
I can accept your answer that "it would be completely arrogant on our part to speak to events where we have little understanding or familiarity with the social situation on the ground." and probably would've been satisfied had this been the beginning answer. I too am rather ignorant of the situation and I turned here because I know this is an international site with many points of view and perhaps someone had translated more of the Greek situation than at other news sites. Sorry for the good faith.
Forgot to mention that my own personal opinion is that I don't get especially amped about symbolic actions like this. I have no respect for the sanctity of State property or moral hang-ups aboput violence so I personally would not condemn it, but honestly don't find it as significant as you seem to. When it comes down to it I consider this type of action to be about as effective a blow to U.S. global hegamony as I would consider someone spitting at an occupied cop car to be a blow to the internal security apparatus of the State: basically a symbolic demonstration of being pissed off. Not the worst thing in the world, but I wouldn't confuse it for effective praxis.
A warm fuzzy and a gold star for MaRK. Thanks for the response.
HPWombat asks for NEFAC opinions on the statement by these Greek anarchists (platformists?), because, he thinks, "They seem to take a stand that doesn't demonize the actors, while NEFACers have had a much more hostile opinion of the events in Greece." And he asks MaRK, "do you agree with your Greek federalist comrades that these other anarchists may deserve solidarity rather than a moralizing fear of their violence?" He seems to be claiming that the statement by the Greek federation is much more friendly to the Greek anarchists who attack police stations without popular support than I am. I am "hostile" apparently.
Actually what the Greek federation statement says is, "this struggle cannot be an affair of some certain unknown, but it should be organised, prepared, and realised by the exploited and oppressed themselves...through their trade unions and local organisations....Federation of Anarchists of Greece (OAE) is calling every exploited and oppressed to fight both in the place where lives....Then and only then a rocket against the American embassy will constitute the spark in order to leave us all of these anthropoids that they speak today with arrogance like they were born to dominate the humanity and more generally the nature."
That is, the statement says the exact opposite of what HPW thinks it is saying. It condemns the military acts of an isolated minority as arrogant and authoritarian. It calls instead for a mass struggle. It suggests that such actions play into the hands of the government. In fact it sounds pretty much like what I and others have been saying on this list. (It goes without saying that we support the insurrectionist-anarchists against the state and support their struggle, legal and otherwise, to free their comrade.)
I wonder what else HPW misreads?
Hey Wayne,
I'm glad you are willing to give solidarity to the ia political prisoners. I was just making sure y'all weren't leaving the anarchist movement, despite the vast differences between our theories and practice, we are anarchists and if you would condemn these people, I would condemn you as anti-anarchist, which you are pressing rather close to with your technical unities and institutional fetishes.
Given the hate that Anarkismo deals out to nonleft anarchists (you know, radicals), I'm surprised you haven't just made it easier by leaving.
HPW writes (among other things) that he expects me to leave the anarchist movement because I express hate for "nonleft anarchists (you know, radicals)".
Well, it is not so easy to get rid of me. Sorry.
But my real question is, What are nonleft anarchists (radicals)? Who are they? How about a brief, clear statement. (I always thought that we leftists were radicals!)
By nonleftists, do you mean people who reject socialism and communism? Or just those who reject state socialism, and state communism--that is, the authoritarian left? (If the latter, then I can join too.)
Do you mean those who reject the importance of working class struggle? Or, like the majority of the libcom list, do you mean those who are for working class struggle but reject nonworking class struggles (Blacks, women, oppressed nations, Gays, etc.)?
Inquiring minds want to know. I'm serious, I do not understand this "nonleft anarchism" jazz.
What are nonleft anarchists? First, this is not a new trajectory I'm proposing, it was just a series of words thrown together. They are anarchists that have rejected the methods of past anarchists, such as an institutional based strategy of revolt, the continued uncritical acceptance of federalism, the teleological belief in progress which influences our understanding of revolt.
To announce solutions, I can only speak for myself, many may agree with me. Things like spontaneous revolt will result without our attention and that we can in fact play a disempowering role in our organizing of the working and/or poor if we approach it in ways that the left does. We don't control such situations from occuring, but we can be better prepared for when they do occur.
Wayne, we both agree such things occur. We both agree that we can be better prepared for when they do occur, but this is where our similiarities differ. I see this as the self-organization of the people and I assume you see the self-management of the people through an institution prior to a rebelling situation as the method.
What I don't get is why the (neo) platformists don't say that this other method is anarchy too. Sure, I can't say that NEFAC will necessarily help the situation, but when confronted with a situation of revolt, wouldn't NEFAC pull tight and try to offer leadership in such a situation of spontaneous assembly creation? Can't we just disagree in these assemblies and hate each other dogmatically here, rather than now?
Can't you just say "they revolted, but the lack of firm principles compromised the revolt, but I still love my anarchist comrades" or similar statement? I have love for some NEFACers, especially those that went to DC last year, they did a damn fine job in keeping everyone safe despite the police charges. But then I've had some theorectic disagreements with yourself and I've focused attention here because of it.
Is the myth of general strike so absolute that these assemblies have no bearing on your struggle?
I forgot to mention my solutions. As we are in a new era, it is a time of experimentation, a time to learn and a time to find strategies that are directed at the specifics of the people of the America. Perhaps we are to become full individuals ourselves first before we approach society, whatever that may mean. Perhaps saturating specific propaganda based on circumstance can be inspirational. Perhaps engaging your specific community, learn what they feel needs to be responded to and agitate them towards acting on that feeling. Perhaps we are to develop sustainable spaces so that we might better communicate with others that are diseffected or creating a center from which a neighborhood could find itself. Perhaps people can be inspired from graffiti, wheatpaste and vandalism of unpopular locations or unpopular people...or maybe they could be popular but they have a dark side that needs to be exposed because they aren't that great anyway. Perhaps we are to learn how to sustain ourselves in more than urban ways to be prepared for whatever crisises come our way and birth a community that enjoys such endevevors. Or so on.
Wayne I thought it might be helpful to point out that the anti-left 'anarchism' on LibCom is actually quite different to the post-left 'anarchism' found in the US although it does share some common roots.
The LibCom variant stems from the 'council communist' wing of marxism and indeed quite a few of the LibCom posters who have been having a go at you define themselves as marxists rather than anarchists. The strong hostility to anti-imperialism amongst some English anarchists alongside what is almost a rejection of non-economic activiity has created a sort of anti-leftist LibCommunism.
The US variant seems much more of a return to classic militant liberalism of the period before anarchism emerged. Like that liberalism it believes in a form of the social contract being necessary for the existense of mass society / mass organisation but unlike liberalism it therefore rejects mass society / mass organisation. In the historic sense anarchism arose out of overcoming that supposed contradiction (I'm thinking of the circle around Bakunin in the late 1860's) which is why the N. American version is really more pre-anarchist then post-left in its basic ideas. (BTW Wombat by 'liberalism' here I'm referring to the European movements of the 1840's-1860's which were often both clandestine and insurrectionist, US liberals today are rather different in character).
The difference between these two types of anti-leftisim are illustrated in their comparative attitudes to insurrectional struggle. The north Americans worship it from afar even if as here the actual actions have no connection to the anarchist movement. The LibCommunists reject it and are very hostile to those they perceive as being supportive of it. There would be no meeting of minds on that issue.
Finally to Wombat, judging from your rather odd reference to the "myth of general strike" it strikes me that you havn't actually put much work into understanding what NEFAC is advocating but have simply assumed a critic of the IWW or anarcho-syndicalism can be applied to NEFAC. This is pretty careless considering the amount of posts you have put on anarkismo.net
If I'm not mistaken, the Platform suggests union intervention as one point of struggle, to attempt to create an anarchist syndicalism as part of their general strategy and the general strike plays a role in this. Add in Wayne's nonviolence piece that mentions the general strike and you get why I'm asking this.
Wombat from your comments above I took it you thought the general strike was the central strategy for NEFAC in the same sense it is for the IWW. Of course platformists are in general advocates of workplace organisation and of course they would see the general strike as a useful tactic (wouldn't you?).
Thanks to Joe and HPW for responding to my question. I have to admit that I have difficulty understanding HPW's explanation. I wonder whether this unclarity is due to HPW's difficulty in explanation or whether it is due to the confusion in the basic ideas. Since HPW is no dummy I assume it is the theory. Joe gives it a good brief summary, I think.