OADE on nationalist parades

greece / turkey / cyprus | imperialism / war | press release Wednesday May 18, 2005 08:24 by dmitri - OADE - Greece

Lets be absent from the parade of 25 March this year!

Leaflet distributed by OADE this 25th of March against the nationalistic ghosts of the Great Greece

In this country we have been grown with the (nationalistic) ghosts of the Great Greece, with our ancient ancestors and the immortal Greek Nation of thousands of years of life. A fairy tale that nourished lots of generations in the school and the army. A monstrous mixture of ancient Greek and Christian beliefs, with the fight by the Church always against every kind of social freedom since 1821 until today.

In fact, we are actually as ancient Greek as our neighbours Turks are, and also the Albanians and the Macedonias. In our veins is rolling the same blood as of every one from the Balkans, the Europe, the Earth!

In the Balkans trilingual or multilingual populations and similar cultural characteristics between them existed. But for a century now they have been bleeding in the name of the national borders and the Great Homelands.

Who can convince us that the army protects the freedom when only its existence removes this freedom away?

The national parades are war anthems. They promote the… tallest, most powerful, first ones. It is an inhuman prelude with a racist behaviour. They are not but anti-social events and we have to think about this!

The poison of nationalism promotes people with pain. The borders and the national armies separate the populations and destroy the communication between them. Greece is characterized by a hard-core nationalism that its deep roots can be found in the Education. This is the first place where the false fabrication of “national conscience” takes a shape.

The Greek State is one of the few ones worldwide which is organising military type school parades as they have been established by the Metaxas fascist dictatorship in 1936.

However, our life is not a military service…

IMMEDIATE ABOLITION OF THE NATIONAL PARADES!

Federation of Anarchists of Western Greece (OADE) March 2005

* Note: The 25th of March marks the anniversary of the revolution of Greeks (and also Turks and other ethnic populations living in the Greek area) against Ottoman Empire in 1821. It is one of the two National Days in Greece (the other one is in 28 October when in 1940 the Mussolini regime attacked Greece). This leaflet, written and produced by the Federation of Anarchists of Western Greece (OADE), will be distributed widely in the cities and towns where OADE has a presence and where on 25 March parades and other similar festivities will take place. Translation in English: James Sotros, International Relations of OADE, email: outetheos@yahoo.com.au