Athens, Greece: 19 comrades from anarchist group Rouvikonas arrested during direct action

Nineteen members of the anarchist group Rouvikonas were arrested on Monday following the occupation of the building housing the political office of Independent Greeks, a far-right political party that's part of the current coalition government. According to witnesses, nearby streets were blocked by police vans while riot police guarded all entrances into the building. The arrestees are indicted on misdemeanor charges for disturbing the peace and illegal space occupation, while their reluctance to have their photographs taken could result in charges of disobedience.

Excerpts of the announcement made by the anarchist group follow below:

''The majority, the weak, those who are always paying the price are called once again to contribute to the exit from a crisis created by the segregation of wealth in the hands of a minority. Since 2010 people have endured an unprecedented violation of basic rights won through struggles and sacrifices. The government policies leading to unemployment, starvation salaries, extreme taxation and impoverishment, aim to enforce regulations that will benefit the capital and increase the earnings of a domestic and foreign elite. The government presented these policies as inevitable, necessary and a duty.

We already went through the first memorandum imposed by the PASOK government, by politicians who had publicly stated that ''there is enough money''. Then followed the second memorandum of the coalition government PASOK-New Democracy who had promised a hard negotiation with the loan sharks. Finally, the third memorandum was introduced by the Syriza-Independent Greeks coalition government, despite their promise to ''tear the memorandum''. The president of the Independent Greeks had specifically and emphatically said that he will not tolerate the imposition of new taxes but he obviously changed his mind after the elections.

(...)

The capitalist system will always find new tricks when the old ones are no longer effective for the promotion of its own interests. We witnessed the management of the state authority by different political parties in succession, parties that initially appeared as the saviours of the people but essentially served the interests of the capital. The latest trick is the Syriza-Independent Greeks coalition government that's been branded as pro-grassroots. But its role was always the same: to mitigate social struggles, which could not be done by authority-worn political parties. When the current government fails, the tactic of universal management is to be deployed next. The first signs of universal management are revealed in the votes in favour of the third memorandum by the entire political system and the ongoing pleas of New Democracy towards Syriza to form a coalition government (before the elections).

The hypocrisy is apparent in the position of Independent Greeks as well as Syriza, which for years seemed to be having irreconcilable differences only to forget everything overnight in the prospect of gaining and sharing power.

The role of Independent Greeks in this government is on the one hand to reassure the most conservative segments of society through various communicational absurdities such as the prevention of building a mosque in Eleonas area, the dropping of a flower wreath above Imia and the tragicomic ceremony in Salamis. On the other hand, on the level of geopolitics, Independent Greeks are to reassure the U.S., the E.U. and the N.A.T.O. with positive remarks on the creation of a new N.A.T.O. base in the Aegean and the provision of support to the Ukrainian state via the healthcare treatment of Ukrainian nazi paramilitaries in Greek military hospitals.

At the same time, as the lives of workers are becoming more difficult, so the lives of imprisoned fighters are worsening through the implementation of unprecedented harsh measures that even the military jounta did not implement.

Specifically, the mothers, sisters and wives of fighters are put in jail and even after release they are ostracized in islands -Athena Tsakalou is forced to remain within the limits of Salamina island- or are forced to live within the confines of an imaginary barbed-wire 1km away from their homes- such as the case of Evi Statiri's conditional release.

 It's obvious that these decisions are political in their nature and judicial in their position, which is why we DEMAND the cancellation of the restrictive conditions imposed upon Athena Tsakalou and Evi Statiri and the release of Maria Theofilou, wife of G.Petrakakos. We also DEMAND the immediate release of polytrauma patient Savvas Xiros and the immediate granting of educational furloughs to the student Nikos Romanos.

In today's political circumstances speaking about solutions and finding ways out seems difficult. Whatever course of action is chosen if this deviates from the one determined by the centres of power of the ruling classs, we are to face a ruthless war. We think that in this stage, people and society in general, must fulfill their part in the context of class war, which must be intensified.

On the financial level, refusing to pay and opposing unfair taxes and measures such as the property tax ENFIA, the ''solidarity'' contribution and the house auctions of citizens' first home, is a weapon whose co-ordinated use by large segments of society can destabilize the state and its mechanisms.''

NO NEGOTIATION WITH THE DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL 
RESIST THE NEW MEASURES 
GET OUT ON THE STREETS

(via BlackCat)

Greece: The persecution of the families of political prisoners by the state continues

The following information comes to us via BlackCat; a sociologist, translator and writer from Greece. 

Female relatives and partners of prisoners are still being targeted by the Greek state in an effort to isolate prisoners and repress solidarity movements. Women are seen as an 'easy target' whose repression facilitates the prevalence of a climate of fear impeding the struggles against injustice.

Maria Theofilou, the sister of anarchist communist author and political prisoner Tasos Theofilou was arrested and imprisoned despite the law passed by the so-called 'leftist' Syriza government decriminalizing family relations of political prisoners and despite the recent hunger strike staged by anarchist Evi Statiri. Evi Statiri was arrested and imprisoned under the same conditions as Maria with the excuse of family relations which are supposedly now decriminalized by law.

Maria has been in detention for over a month now because of her relationship with her partner G. Petrakakos and her brother Tasos. Maria was specifically asked about her incarcerated brother during her interrogation by police and then her detention was ordered. 

No matter how cruel the repressive tactics used to create this climate of fear, people will resist as they are left with no other choice.

******

The counter-terrorism unit raided the home of the Theofilou family

The vengeful treatment of prisoners' families and relatives continues and the Theofilou family is at the epicenter of this tactic, despite the law reforms enacted by Minister of Justice Nicos Paraskevopoulos that forbid the criminalization of family relations.

On Monday, 5th of October, around 2pm, 7-8 men of the counter-terrorism unit intruded the residence of the parents of Tassos and Maria Theofilou, while other officers had remained outside.

According to Mrs. Theofilou, the men were conducting a search for four hours and were disrupting and destroying everything inside the rooms. They confiscated the family's personal computer, old mobile phones, keys and irrelevant documents such as addresses and phone numbers of friends of the family, as well as documents regarding the ownership of land and the correspondence between Maria and Tassos.

Because of the unexpected police raid, Mrs. Theofilou was forced to arrange for her two grandchildren (the children of Maria, aged two and four) to remain at a local park for four hours until the search was over.

The counter-terrorism units stated that the search was ordered by the 17th investigator who is in charge of the case of Tassos' sister. Maria was arrested, remanded and faces serious charges for participation in an unknown terrorist organization, without any incriminating evidence at hand, except her relationship to her partner and father of her children G. Petrakakos.

After Maria Theofilou's prosecution, her attorney, Spyros Phytrakis stated that the facts  contained in the case file are not indicative that "we are dealing with a terrorist organization." In reference to the 36 year-old woman, he said:

"None of the added evidence proves that the two guns found in a wardrobe within the house were used by the woman, or that she was aware of them being kept there, or that she committed a delinquent act. Having two children with a man who has engaged in delinquency is not a crime. That was typical of a different time in the past. I hope that the interrogation will not cause problems to the woman and the two underage children."

A similar intrusion of the counter-terrorism unit took place at an empty house owned by the family in the city of Volos.

******

The International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry demands the release of detainee Maria Theofilou

Athens, 7th of October 2015
Dr. Argyris Argyriades

We have systematically clarfied that the penalization of family relations and their use to reinforce an indictment is a constitutional construct that characterizes totalitarian regimes. It constitutes the most barbaric institutional process and practice.

Another typical example is the new ''grand success'' of the police in the arrest and detention of Mrs Maria Theofilou, a young mother of two toddlers (aged two and four) who is indicted on charges of being an accomplice of her partner and father of her children. This is a flagrantly unlawful prosecution of a relative which has taken place despite the law prepared by Minister of Justice Nicos Paraskevopoulos, that forbids this kind of treatment against relatives.

We consider the violent removal of the mother away from her children a psychologically pressurizing event bearing traumatic consequences to the mother as well as the children, since it contributes to separation anxiety. The dependence of toddlers at the age of two and even four on their mother is a very normal response based on the instict of survival. Children internalize  the safety that stems from the mother's love and care, a process that was disrupted abruptly in this case. As the counter-terrorism unit raided the home of Maria's parents, her mother was forced to arrange that the children stayed away at a local park for four hours, which only made the situation worse.

We insist once again that the case against Mrs Maria Theofilou is the practical expression of  institutional retribution of justice. It is obvious that her prosecution and detention resulted from her family relations. According to anthropologists all people are relatives of each other, which is why Maria's case is relevant to all of us.

We demand the immediate release of Maria Theofilou in order for her to reunite with her two children.

******

The Initiative for Prisoners' Rights demands the release of Maria Theofilou

The life choice of a husband or the accidental fact of parental or any kind of relationship to defendants continues to amount to incriminating evidence and has become the focal point for the expression of vengeful and inhumane treatment by the authorities based on a new kind of statutory familial co-responsibility.

The pre-trial detention and ill-treatment of defendants' families is not something new, it's a tactic that has been deployed for years in order to inflict psychological pressure and fear in defendants. The most recent case was that of Evi Statiri who remained in detention for six months until she became released following a geat struggle she carried through hungerstrike. The only incriminating evidence in Evi Statiri's case was the fact that she is the wife of political prisoner and member of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire Gerasimmos Tsakalos.

The case of Maria Theofilou is even more unfair and vengeful on the part of the authorities, since the outcomes  affect both of her children. Maria Theofilou - from the day she was pilloried when her photographs appeared in mass media- was remanded and her relationship to her husband and father of her two under-aged children (2 and 4 years old), G. Petrakakos, was used as ''evidence''.

It is obvious that for the authorities the separation of the two small children from their mother was not enough, despite the fact that at this age separation can be be a cause of trauma. This inhumane treatment goes to extremes when, in complete disregard for the children as well as Maria's parents, the police raided her parent's home resulting in the two toddlers having to stay at a park for four hours, which is how long the raid by the counter-terrorism unit lasted.

The most solid proof of the arbitrariness exhibited by the judicial and investigative authorities is the clear violation of the amendment introduced in the bill for prison reform voted in April 2015, which clarifies that family relations cannot be penalized.

For all these reasons analyzed above, the Initiative for Prisoners' Rights demands:

- that the prosecution and vengeful treatment against prisoners' families must be stopped
- adherence to the amendment of Minister of Justice Paraskevopoulos which de-penalizes family relations 
- the immediate release of Maria Theofilou as a family member of a defendant and as a mother of two under-aged toddlers.

INITIATIVE FOR PRISONERS RIGHTS

******

Maria Theofilou on her pre-trial detention and the effect on her children

Since Tuesday, September 29th, after five days of detention in the Counter-terrorism jail, I have been remanded in the women's section of Korydallos prison. The series of charges I am facing essentially occurred from harbouring my Partner.

Our children 2 and 4,5 years old had to endure the violent moment of their father's arrest but mainly the frightening experience of the attack against them since there were guns pointed at the four of us with excessive violence the moment we got in our car. These events along with the violent separation and weaning as well as the deprivation of both their parents pose a great risk to their mental health.

I would like to clarify that the only incriminating evidence against me, based on which my pre-trial detention was decided,  was my relationship with my brother who is incarcerated in Domokos prison. It's worth noting that the final question I was asked by the interrogator and the prosecutor with a great amount of irony and satisfaction, as if this was proof of my guilt, was whether I have any siblings and where my brother is currently.

Considering that there is no evidence against me, I am asking for my temporary detention to be terminated so that I can return to my children. I am asking for an end to this vengeful prosecution and a treatment based on evidence and not my family relationships.

Maria Theofilou
21/10/2015

******

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH MARIA THEOFILOU!

END THE PERSECUTION OF PRISONER'S FAMILIES & RELATIVES BY THE GREEK STATE!

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH ANARCHIST COMMUNIST PRISONER TASO THEOFILOU AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN GREECE! 

Greece: Interview with anarchist prisoner Nikos Romanos [PDF Book]

PDF booklet of an extensive interview with anarchist prisoner Nikos Romanos put together by Act For Freedom Now website.

Nikos Romanos was a model teenager, a good student from the bourgeoisie, son of a well-known novelist, until on December 6, 2008 he was involved in a traumatic event. His best friend, the young anarchist Alexandros Grigoropoulos (15 years) falls under the bullets of the police in the streets of Athens. Shot in the heart, he dies in his arms. This event leads to some of the most intense urban riots of the early 21st century in the West, and Nikos is already there on the front line that same evening, enraged, dignified in the face of the media (total rejection), and respected by comrades despite his young age.

To the rhythm of the backlash from the Greek anarchist movement, Nikos is forever changed by this experience, immediately throwing himself headlong into the anarchist struggle, until his arrest five years later after a double armed robbery in the Kozani region. He is tortured and accused of belonging to the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (armed anarchist-nihilist organization), which he denies, whereas he takes responsibility for the robberies (and their need in order to spread anarchy). He and his five co-accused Giannis Michailidis, Dimitris Politis, Andreas-Dimitris Bourzoukos, Argyris Dalios and Fivos Charisis, maintain a confrontational attitude towards justice throughout, but Argyris Dalios and Fivos Charisis categorically deny ALL charges in relation to the Velventos case. However, on October 1st 2014, they are all declared guilty of the robberies and each is sentenced to fifteen years’ prison. All six of them were acquitted of alleged involvement in the CCF.

Nikos Romanos has also claimed responsibility for four incendiary actions.

DOWNLOAD LINK 

Greece: Updates from the new trial of Revolutionary Struggle

“Those who live on 300 or 400 euros a month are not terrorised by Revolutionary Struggle, but by you and your regime.”

In a climate of tension, a new trial for Nikos Maziotis unfolded in the specially designed court in the female prison wing of Korydallos. He is now being accused for acts allegedly committed during the period that he was wanted by police. His co-defendants are his fugitive companion, Pola Roupa, the anarchist A. Stamboulou who is denying the charges, and the recently arrested G. Petrakakos.

The defendants are charged with, among other things, the offenses of membership and participation in a terrorist organization of which the leader is claimed to be Maziotis, an accusation of exploding a car bomb at the Bank of Greece on Amerikis Street in April 2014, for which Maziotis has taken political responsibility, and also for supply and possession of explosives, explosions, and two robberies. Moreover, Nikos Maziotis is accused of attempted homicide in the shoot-out with policemen in Monastiraki in the summer of 2014 when he was arrested.

The manifesto and the banks

The request of the lawyers of Nikos Maziotis for the prosecution to produce representatives of the banks which he reportedly robbed, made the presence of the defense strongly felt. The accused took the floor and said the banks were, “predatory organizations, there was no robbery, expropriation is the reality of the event.”

And when asked by the court to speak in his defense, the accused read a text-manifesto with harsh words against the political system and the judges. “Those who live on 300 or 400 euros a month are not terrorised by Revolutionary Struggle, but by you and your regime,” he said addressing the judges. Nikos Maziotis declared himself an “anarchist prisoner of war”. He described the trial as political, claiming it was a title of honor for him to be armed.

The other defendent A. Stamboulou claimed himself an “anarchist prisoner of war” and denied the charges, claiming that they have no relation to reality as there has, “not been found any evidence against him.” And he called his trial “political” and attributed his persecution to the “rage of repressive mechanisms.”

G. Petrakakos, in turn, denied the charges and reserved the right not to speak in his own defense.

‘Evening’ trial

The tone went up further when the presiding judge announced that the court sessions would start at noon and will last until the evening as there is a risk of the expiration of 18 months [of pretrial detention time] for the accused Stamboulou. The legal advocates responded by invoking the “special status” of the trial, accusing the court that it gives priority to the principle of expediency, not of legality.

“Make a trial by yourself, your shame stands revealed!”, cried the packed audience.

“Arrange when we will come not from Pangrati but from the provinces,” complained witnesses.

“We will reach out to the Chief of Appeals, it is humanly impossible to meet,” said the lawyers.

Finally, after these reactions, the President interrupted the schedule for the morning of October 19, clarifying however that the other meetings will be held. . . in the afternoon and then proceeded to call out the the names of witnesses, amid loud protests.

(via The Barbarian Times)

Thessaloniki, Greece: SYRIZA offices vandalized in solidarity with Evi Statiri

At midnight on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015, we attacked the offices of SYRIZA in the neighborhood of Neapoli and vandalized the entrance to the offices of the same party in Aristotelous Square in solidarity with Evi Statiri and in response to the imposition of restrictive measures that accompanied her release.

Nobody can play with the lives of our comrades.

IMMEDIATE LIFTING OF RESTRICTIVE MEASURES AGAINST EVI STATIRI

SOLIDARITY WITH THE IMPRISONED COMRADES

- Solidarity

(via Athens IMC)

*Note: Photograph is from corporate Greek media reporting of the attacks

Thessaloniki, Greece: ATMs sabotaged in solidarity with Evi Statiri

On September 14th, 2015, Evi Statiri began a hunger strike against fear and injustice, demanding an end to her vindictive imprisonment. The SYRIZA government in another attempt to diffuse the situation freed the hunger striker with harsh, restrictive measures:

Prohibited from leaving the territory of the Greek state, report to the local police station 3 times a month, a prohibition on meeting or communicating with the co-accused in the same date including her partner Gerasimos Tsakolos, compulsory residence at her home in the Gyzi neighborhood and limited to movement within a one kilometer radius of her house.

Nobody can play with the lives of our comrades and their families. Retaliation by the state against the urban guerrilla prisoners will not go unanswered.

On October 6th, as a minimum response to the restrictive measures imposed against Evi Statiri, we attacked and trashed 2 ATMs located in front of the University of Macedonia.

IMMEDIATE LIFTING OF THE RESTRICTIVE MEASURES AGAINST EVI STATIRI

SOLIDARITY AND STRENGTH TO THE IMPRISONED COMRADES AND THEIR FAMILIES

- Solidarity

(via Asirmatista)

Greece: Incendiary attack against the office of MP & former Minister of Justice C. Athanasiou

"…modern totalitarianism can be defined as the establishment, by means of the state of exception, of a legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system. … Since then, the voluntary creation of a permanent state of emergency (though perhaps not declared in the technical sense) has become one of the essential practices of contemporary states, including so-called democratic ones."

- Giorgio Agamben (State of Exception: The State of Exception as a Paradigm of Government)

After the discovery of the anarchist organization’s Conspiracy of Cells of Fire escape plan, from Koridallos Prison, at the beginning of the year, the “benevolent” institution of Alexandras avenue and the, several times, corrupted Counter Terrorism Unit (Special Violent Crime Squad) coordinated an unprecedented attack against the organization’s relatives and friendly environment, which was attended by the equivalent propaganda, during the election period. Two months later, after detentions, arrests and calls for interrogation to family and friends, on March 2nd, the crescendo of this media dissonance reached its highest point when the Counter Terrorism Unit puppets landed to Salamina island and arrested the wanted comrade Aggeliki Spiropoulou, who sought refuge to the home of Athena Tsakalou, mother of Christos and Gerasimos Tsakalos, imprisoned C.C.F. members, while, during Aggeliki’s arrest, Gerasimos’ wife, Evi Statiri, was also at home, and was also arrested on charges of harboring a criminal, that was later upgraded to accession and participation in the organization. The two women are transferred like cop’s trophies to GADA, among cameras and crime reporters and are pre-trial detained, under a fast-track procedure. The 60-year-old mother of the Tsakalos brothers, who – unasked – came along to the prosecutor in charge, was also pre-trial detained. The imprisoned members of the organization and A. Spiropoulou declared the beginning of a hunger strike, demanding only the immediate release of their relatives. After 32 days of a hard hunger strike, the comrades’ and the solidarity movement’s struggle is victorious, since a specific amendment is passed in the Parliament, concerning the release of detainees’ relatives. However, despite the release of Ath. Tsakalou under the most serious restrictive conditions, Evi Statiri remains imprisoned, as her successive requests for release, are emotively rejected by the special appellate magistrate Eftihis Nikopoulos and the judicial councils under the presidency of Isidora Poga (she also rejected the request for lifting of the restrictive conditions of A. Tsakalou, on the grounds that there’s no reason for her to visit her children in prison as well as going to the Nikaia General Hospital, to do a necessary medical examination) and Erieta Halevidou.

From the above, we come to the conclusion that the passing of the amendment was a gross persiflage of the hunger strikers – for which the first-time-left SYRIZA government’s Minister of Justice, Nikos Paraskevopoulos, bears personal responsibility – and that the organization members’ relatives’ hostage situation is an insidious emotional blackmail by the law enforcement authorities – whose prestige had been damaged by the discovery of the escape plan – against the imprisoned comrades, who, all these years, remain uncompromising in the cells of Democracy. For those who are aware of the CCF case, it is clear that the prosecution of the organization members’ relatives, was the peak of an escalating treaty, formed in the recent years by the police-judicial complex of the Greek state, which uses the specific case as a tank of prosecutions against anarchist comrades from the whole spectrum of the anarchist milieu and seek to isolate the imprisoned urban guerrillas, establish fear within the insurrectional circles, through making the detainees an example and through their persistent hostage situation of the restrictive conditions imposed, and prevent new comrades from the choices of the anarchist fight and the urban guerrilla warfare, creating this way a permanent state of emergency, in which everyone can be imprisoned, just because they are related to C.C.F. as comrades – friends – relatives.

So, after 6 months of pre-trial detention, on September 14th, 2015, Evi Statiri begins a hunger strike, in order to put an end to her continuing captivity… Within the frame of Evi’s struggle, early morning of Friday, October 2nd, we chose to attack the office of the Member of Parliament and former Minister of Justice, Charalabos Athanasiou, in the center of Mytilene.

Our attack was an act of solidarity, rage and memory. It was a solidarity signal to Evi who, during those days, with her body as a weapon, asserted her freedom, against the criminalization of the family and friendly relationships of the political prisoners. Evi stood up towards the fear of the Authority’s shadow, that wished to wreak its revenge on her companion, Gerasimos Tsakalos, and punish her for the years she has stood by him. Her victorious hunger strike and her release proved that if you choose to face the fear straight in the eyes, fear will be scared and will retreat…

It was an act of rage for the days and the work of Ch. Athanasiou. Athanasiou, as a modern inquisitor, is the head of a judicial clique (among which also is the Advocate of the Supreme Court E. Goutzamani, who  from the same place as Athanasiou) that, through scheming and machinations “set” judicial cases, do favors to their own people, extort in the interests of the conservative oligarchy of the mobsters of Mount Athos (Efraim case) and the loathsome priesthood… In spite of the leaks of the ND (New Democracy) Press Office on his forthcoming dismissal from the ministerial chair, during the government reshuffle of that period, due to his “inexpedient” handling of the Golden Dawn case, the former president of the Union of Magistrates and Prosecutors remained in place as political supervisor of the Greek Justice, in some mysterious way, pertained to the godparenthood of Antonis Samaras’ kinfolk with a local lobby of magnates and personal friends. After covering the accounting scandal in which he played a leading part, through the concealment of his assets, Athanasiou purports to be the chastiser of the dissidents and the political prisoners. He was the Minister of Justice who inaugurated the high-security prisons (type C), in Domokos, for urban guerrillas and “dangerous” convicts serving long sentences. Even after his retirement from the ministry, he attended to let his foster children in the appropriate posts of power, in order for them to complete his work. King of the castle, the special appellate magistrate E. Nikopoulos (planted in this position by Athanasiou and his uncle Vasilis Nikopoulos, former president of the Supreme Court, who is involved in a pedophilia case in Northern Greece, defending an Archimandrite and threatening witnesses). E. Nikopoulos, strictly following the instructions of his mentor Ch. Athanasiou, launches a fierce counter-terrorism campaign. He is responsible for the shut-off of anarchist Nikos Romanos’ educational leaves, as well as initiator of the most fascist persecution of relatives of political prisoners, with the pre-trial detaining of A. Tsakalou and E. Statiri.

It was an act of memory, as the persecution of political prisoners’ relatives, the new places of exile and the murdering restrictive orders (ban on leaving the Salamina island for A. Tsakalou, ban on distancing over 1km away from her home and ban on the communication with her companion G. Tsakalos for E. Statiri) bring back in mind other iron-clad periods. Periods during which thousands of people were transferred to Makronisos island, to Ai Stratis and other places of oblivion, for the regime fear to win. Periods during which the family of Athanasiou worked with the Germans snitching on guerrillas. In fact his father, who was a well-known traitor, when captivated by guerrillas, was spared… It seems that spying was the legacy left by the father to his son, who’s today, in turn, chasing anarchists.

Moreover, we’re sending another message, through our attack: The responsibilities of those who serve the power are neither forgotten nor are retired… Those who play with our comrades’ lives, who built walls and raise bars in order to keep us apart, those who have blood on their gown, should not feel secure, never and nowhere… Our enemy always has a name and an address!

Evi’s victorious struggle is just a snapshot of the overall fight that we want to give… From Mytilene to Agrinio, from Komotini to Crete, messengers of the insurrection and anarchy sabotage the regularity of a life going by so confidently and so painfully, like a well-tuned clock… From the attacks against courts and pre-election political parties’ kiosks to the squat of the TEI of Athens, from the open assemblies to the vandalism of election centers, from the street and squares interventions to the gatherings, from the comrade’s G. Tsakalos hunger strike in solidarity to the attempt of squat of governing party offices (ANEL) in the center of Athens, from the banners, the posters, to the gathering outside the hospital where Evi was hospitalized, this is our world against theirs, against the laws, the judges and their uniforms… We are the provocateurs of their peaceful sleeping, we are the practical theory of the insurrection, we are the first waves before the tsunami that will drown out the authoritarian culture!

"So the bet remains to us, every anarchist cell and individuality that promotes continuous attack and rebellion, to prove that there will be no truce with the enemy neither now nor ever. Particularly in times of repressive operations one does not step back, but instead reignites the attack outbreaks in order to become truly dangerous. To remain a threat as an internal enemy at the heart of the system. Because everything that rolls downhill, stops only when it finds an obstacle in front of it, otherwise it will continue to do so indefinitely by continuously increasing speed, carrying away anything of inferior proportions. It is a live bet, without end, but with continuity, evolution and one direction only… liberation, anarchy."

- Olga Ekonomidou, imprisoned member of C.C.F. – F.A.I.

WHOEVER FORGETS THE PRISONERS OF THE ANARCHIST – REVOLUTIONARY WAR, WILL SOON FORGET THE WAR ITSELF

SOLIDARITY AND STRENGTH TO THE ANARCHISTS OF PRAXIS ALL OVER THE WORLD

FREEDOM TO THE POLITICAL PRISONERS

HONOUR FOR EVER TO SPIROS DRAVILAS


Insurrectionals from the Frontier

PS.1. The rumors that human lives were put in danger are totally untrue, as the only inhabited apartment is on the 5th floor and has immediate access to neighboring rooftop. We suggest your sending the cost of the damage suffered by the communal area of the building and the dentist, to the Charity Shops of the Metropolis of Mytilene, guild of which Athanasiou and Gkoutzamani are founding members. We think that the Metropolitan Jacob and all together with him, will be glad to launder “black” money from their funny businesses, with a donation…

2. Given that, lately, after the transition of dozens of riot police officers, the island has turned into a vast pigsty, which is common knowledge, the local decision makers along with the local lobotomized citizens – who are sometimes being emotively disinterested, sometimes express their xenophobic gregarious instincts and sometimes benefit, through a vulgar toutism, from the refugee crisis, should keep in mind that their disgraces do not go unnoticed, their moves are being noted and, sooner or later, they will face the cost of their choices…

(via Inter Arma)

Athens, Greece: Election kiosks torched & vandalized in solidarity with anarchist prisoners

On Saturday 19/9 at dawn, we tried to disrupt even temporarily the conformism of the petty masses. As the crowd was sharpening its passivity, ready once again to show its complicity by supporting the authoritarian structure, we tried to actively declare our complicity with the anarchist prisoners, who carry out their own fight against the isolation and alienation their are subjected to in the condition of imprisonment.

Evi Statiri, partner of Gerasimos Tsakalos, is on a hunger strike since 14/9 demanding only the termination of her unjustified detention. Evi Satiri, victim of the authority’s generalized power expansion strategy is imprisoned in the cells of democracy since 2/3 when she  was arrested together with Angeliki Spyropoulou and Athena Tsakalou in Salamina and is accused of being member of a terrorist organization without any evidence whatsoever . It is certain that Evi is not held hostage by the state by accident. Authority, beyond the psychological test to which it wishes to put the comrades of CCF in order to avenge them for their consistent and uncompromising aggressive attitude, has a much more dangerous target in its plans. The democratic totalitarianism of order, legality, safety, quietness, commodities, and economic domination wants to eliminate everything that questions the choices which the masses are allowed to consume from its one-dimensional reality of the spectacle.

The total expansion of a reality with predefined movement limits doesn’t allow its questioning, much more the transfer from the abstract space of ideas to the physical armed confrontation with the materializations of institutional power. Those who negate the existent, should firstly be punished and eliminated and secondly, since no punishment can erase events, have their choices isolated, marginalized, ridiculed and communicated in the rational control tanks and their bearers. Anarchists urban guerrillas who attempt a radical deconstruction of modern life, should literally disappear from the social terrain in order for the smooth operation of the system and it is a natural consequence by which no one should be surprised that family members and friends are prosecuted, following their choice to have relationships with people whose history should be deleted from the social memory.

Under these conditions we wanted to disrupt the daily flow of news, information and events of an election campaign, we placed incendiary devices at two election kiosks, one of the Communist Party and one of SYRIZA in Ano Patissia, and vandalized one kiosk of ND (New Democracy) in Kifissia. Although there are many reasons to attack these political parties, the choice was essentially arbitrary, so we will bother explaining any special reasons for these attacks since as anarcho-nihilists we are hostile towards every political structure. The time frame of the attack however was not arbitrary at all. Our choice to attack a day before the elections was aimed to disrupt the democratic spectacular relations where domination demonstrates its ideological omnipotence. Elections also are fully adapted to the existence of the modern slave who was asked to give away a life whose rights have already been taken, to the hands of a specialist. The votes deposited in the ballot box bear the imprints of an abandoned life and a rented consciousness whose every desire is the product of social imperatives, independent only to the extend that it confirms the one-dimensional civilization of the authoritarian world.

It is obvious that the choices and issues of anarchist prisoners have no place within the borders of domination and that is why we as anarchists take up the task of establishing the flow of our own world against those who in the face of the fear of a chaotic life chose to seek refuge in the smoothness of authoritarian realism. In contrast with the procedures for managing the masses, the issues concerning anarchist comrades are directly linked to us and we are prepared to assist them when necessary. Far from reproducing nihilistic intellectualism and the commodified notion of violence for violence, expressed by discontented crowds, let us go on the offensive always according to our desire for action. Let us put an end to the graphic reproduction of phrases spoken too many times and harmless slogans and let us begin to live the war for which so much ink has been spilled.

Immediate release of the hunger striker Evi Statiri, not because her imprisonment is “illegal” or “unjust” but because we demand it.

Immediate granting of educational prison leaves to Nikos Romanos

WAR ON DEMOCRACY

DEATH TO LAW

DEATH TO SOCIETY


Nihilists for the total attack against the existent

(via Inter Arma)

'Our Day Will Come' - The Conspiracy of Cells of Fire Escape Case (PDF Book)

Insurrection News received on 08.10.15:

Attending solidarity call to Evi Statiri we share with you a book which speaks about what triggered after the arrest of the fugitive Christos Xiros, the discovery of an escape plan to escape from Korydallos prison by Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Imprisoned Members Cell; the subsequent manhunt against comrade Aggeliki Spyropoulo and her detention with relatives and friends of CCF comrades, and finally, the hunger strike for over 30 days in which they put their lives at risk.

It also has a prologue by CCF, imprisoned members cell.

We are interested that the experiences of CCF`s escape attempt and subsequent hunger strike could be transmitted as an expression of anarchic ability to build our offense in an autonomous way, as a part of our defense and dissemination of every indomitable and antagonist attitude against Power.

The most of the text were taken from the related anarchic webs.

Also, this book has a Spanish version, with translations made by us and other comrades.

Without another word, we share this book with you.

Sin Banderas Ni Fronteras, anti-authoritarian agitation group.
Chile, 2015.

sinbanderas.nifronteras(at)riseup.net

Download options HERE

Volos, Greece: Courthouse paint-bombed in solidarity with Evi Statiri

At dawn on Monday 14.09.15 we attacked with paint the freshly painted Volos courthouse as a minimum gesture of solidarity with Evi Statiri who was commencing a hunger strike to demand her release. Evi is the life partner of a member of the Revolutionary Organization Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Gerasimos Tsakolos and was detained without any evidence of involvement in the organization in an attempt to criminalize the relatives and personal relationships of political prisoners.

For the same case, exile status was imposed on Athena Tsakalou, mother of Christos and Gerasimos Tsakalos (she has been banned from leaving Salamis).

Freedom to Evi Statiri!

Immediate removal of the restrictive conditions against Athena Tsakalou!

Solidarity Initiative "Echoes of Prison"

(via Imprisoned Fighters Solidarity Network)

Greece: Evi Statiri commences hunger strike in Korydallos Women's Prison

HUNGER STRIKE

Against fear and injustice

From today, September 14, the calendar on my cell wall will not change page. This date will remain stuck there up to the day of freedom.

Today, September 14, I begin a HUNGER STRIKE for my release; against the fear of power, against the lies of journalists, against the apathy, against the silence...

Cops, judges and politicians caged my days within the walls of this prison but they cannot cage my dignity or my desire for freedom...

This is my refusal to accept the the omnipotence of power that crushes our lives by storing them inside folders filled with police records inside investigative offices, this is the legacy of collective history - the struggles of the oppressed who resisted, who revolted, who bled and still seek justice. 

It is the return of the memory of the insurgents, the suppressed and the prisoners who do not forget that freedom is not given away..but won via struggle...

“You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power--he's free again.” - A. Solzenitsin

Evi Statiri
Korydallos Women's Prison
14.09.15.

(via Athens IMC)

Greece: TEI Athens occupied in solidarity with Nikos Romanos, Evi Statiri & Athena Tsakalou

13.09.15: Today anarchists have begun an occupation of the Technological Education Institute of Athens in solidarity with Nikos Romanos, Evi Statiri and Athena Tsakalou. 

The occupiers are demanding that prison authorities grant Nikos Romanos the educational leave that he is entitled to - recall that the comrade was granted educational leave by the Greek government following his 31 day hunger strike in late 2014. Many months later and the prison authorities are still stalling and refusing to grant him the leave.

The occupiers are also demanding the immediate release of Evi Statiri who is still being held hostage by the Greek state for the 'crime' of being the life partner of Conspiracy of Cells of Fire member Gerasimos Tsakolos and for the restrictive conditions imposed against Athena Tsakalou, the mother of CCF members Gerasimos and Christos Tsakolos, to be lifted.

The occupiers released a communique explaining the reasons for their action HERE (Greek language).

Solidarity with the occupiers of TEI Athens!

Direct granting of educational leave for Nikos Romanos!

Immediate release of Evi Statiri!

Immediate lifting of the restrictions against Athena Tsakalou!

Athens, Greece: Incendiary solidarity with Evi Statiri and Athena Tsakalou

At dawn on September 2, 2015 we torched:

- 2 National Bank ATMs in the neighborhood of Galatsi
- 1 ATM of Alpha Bank in Patisia district
- 1 Piraeus Bank ATM in the suburb of Peristeria
- as well as smashing a Piraeus Bank ATM in the district of Galatsi

Our only motivation was our desire to attack. Attacking a prison-society that tries to mold, discriminate and classify our needs, desires and relationships and adapt them to serve it's objectives: the perpetuation of a system of repression and the strategic manipulation of subjectivity and diversity.

The commitment we have to succeed as anarchists is the following one: ensuring that we impose the flow of our world that runs on the rhythms that determine our anarchistic wills away from the lights of the machines of Power; against the social reality of economic, scientific and ideological domination, the morality of commerce and of a world that is classified and commodified to produce questions with ready-made answers.

Against this framework of domination we choose to continue insurrectionist action in the here and now. It is clear that the apparatus of power will do all that it can to repress anything that is opposed to the economizing of life. This has the consequence of it being socially acceptable for power to be applied to the greatest extent in prisons. In the dungeons of democracy there are those who choose to act on the basis of their desires for freedom instead of accepting servitude and nonexistence. The anarchist prisoners are our comrades in the war against the existent and we are not going to abandon them to their fates between the jaws of the judicial complex of shit. We must not forget our imprisoned comrades but we do not have to idolize them. We would like to make it clear that we do not fear the consequences of our actions nor any questions or doubts about their value. 

The prisoner's positions have remained consistent and unaltered despite the conditions of their confinement. This is why the authorities uses the dirtiest methods to try and break them. The organs of Power with their characteristic vendetta do not hesitate to criminalize solidarity as well as family and personal relationships making it's vindictive mania even more obvious - as in the case of Athena Tsakalou, mother of Gerasimos and Christos Tsakalos and of the life partner of Gerasimos, Evi Statiri.

This first wave of attacks is a response to the vindictive blows of the State, as well as a signal of solidarity with anarchist prisoners worldwide.

FREEDOM FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN THE CELLS

IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF EVI STATIRI

LIFT THE RESTRICTIVE MEASURES AGAINST ATHENA TSAKALOU

- Burning Horizons

(via Contra Info, translated into English by Insurrection News)

Greece: Evi Statiri to commence hunger strike on September 14th, 2015

Evi Statiri, held hostage by the Greek state at Korydallos Prison for no other reason than being the life companion of imprisoned Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF) member Gerasimos Tsakalos, has announced that she will commence a hunger strike on September 14th.

The announcement came not long after Evi's latest appeal to be released was rejected by the judicial council. 

Here are some roughly translated excerpts from a text by Evi announcing her hunger strike that was posted on Athens Indymedia website...

"The latest refusal from the judicial council in consideration of my release has only confirmed what I already knew from the first day that I found myself in the cells of counter-terrorism. My imprisonment is not just a personal matter. My imprisonment is the reflection of an overall repressive strategy aiming to dominate via fear and to satisfy the vengeful fury of law enforcement against political prisoners and all those whose values are not consistent with the culture of power."

"I still find myself in prison for the unique 'incriminating' element that I am the wife of political prisoner and member of the CCF, Gerasimos Tsakalos. I am still in prison because I refused to sign their 'certificate of social conscience' and refuse to disown my partner and our relationship."

"Anybody standing beside political prisoners may find themselves in the adjacent cell...Anybody who refuses to bow their head, silence their voice or lower their gaze towards the idols of power can be dragged in handcuffs and detained by the courts and their investigation offices. But the solidarity actions carried out last week showed that fear can rule, but it cannot reign in the hearts and minds of free men and women. I send a big thank you to all those who by their actions expose the dictatorship of lies and hypocrisy of justice that keeps me locked in it's cells. Now a new battle begins...The dismissive ultimatum of the judges leaves me only one answer - the last resort of the captive human - a hunger strike for my release."

"Monday September 14 I begin a HUNGER STRIKE against fear and injustice."

SOLIDARITY AND STRENGTH TO COMRADE EVI STATIRI!

Greece: New text by imprisoned Revolutionary Struggle member Nikos Maziotis

Concerning the New Memorandum and the Elections of 20 September

The 3rd Memorandum signed by the SYRIZA government marks the complete political bankruptcy of the left regime and the chimerical aspirations for a more “humane” capitalism. After taking office last January, this marks the collapse of the attempted Syriza management of the defeat of the popular social movements from the period 2010-2012. For those who had no illusions, this whole period until the adoption of the 3rd Memorandum represents simply a waiting period for the predicted backtracking, where the campaign promises to repeal or renegotiate the Memorandum and partial cancelling of the debt along with a parallel policy for the relief of the poor was first followed by the agreement of February 20 which extended the second memorandum, and then came (despite the disapproval of 62% of the voters in the referendum of July 5 rejecting the proposals of lenders) the third memorandum which is much worse than the measures rejected in the referendum.

Within a few months, Syriza crossed over its “red lines” in complete retreat and acceptance of the creditors’ demands, towards the acceptance of a Memorandum far more brutal than that which was voted by the previous Samaras government.

“First time left” [note: πρώτε φορά αριστερά- a popular Syriza slogan claiming that they were for the first time a left government in Greece’s history, as if they were somehow different from PASOK] and the total humiliation of the will of the social majority to get rid of Memorandum policies that make them serfs of the markets is unprecedented.

“First time left” and there was a quicker and more resounding denial and betrayal of expectations than all prior governments in political memory.

“First time left” and the Troika, now called “the institutions”, became officially quadripartite, since besides the EU, the ECB and the IMF who are the real masters of the country, now we also have the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) from which the SYRIZA government requested new loan agreements and signed the third memorandum.

“First time left” and the robbery against the people and the poor continues to further reduce wages and pensions, to increase the retirement age, for more savage taxation, and further accepting the privatization of public property. The left regime appropriately continues the politics of societal genocide launched in 2010 by the Papandreou government [the left of PASOK] with the first memorandum and which continued with the Samaras government signing the second memorandum.

The names of Tsipras, Varoufakis, Dragasaki, Skourletis, Pappas, Voutsis, Lafazanis, are added to the list of criminal policians such as Papandreou and Venizelos, Papaconstantinou, Loverdos, Chrisochoïdis, Samara, Mitsotakis, Vroutsi, Georgiadis and others who acted as puppets for the international economic elite.

With the passage of the third memorandum, SYRIZA signed in reality their political bankruptcy and condemnation, because in order to pass the new agreement with the lenders, support was based more on the votes of the opposition pro-European parties ND, Potami, PASOK, which led to the Syriza split which forced them to early elections on 20 September. These developments demonstrate the disgrace of bourgeois parliamentarism and that the political system is more destabilized than ever.

The social majority, the hungry, the poor, the destitute, the unemployed, the homeless, workers and youth have nothing to hope for from these elections as well. As I said before referring to the previous elections of January 2015, the solution is not given by elections, but by the people in arms.

No one has anything to hope from the criminals of political parties, the useful idiots and puppets of the international economic elites and the European Union, the implementers of the memorandum policies. No one has anything to hope from the new “anti-memorandum saviors” that emerged from the breakup of SYRIZA, Popular Unity, the former Left Platform of SYRIZA, supporters of adopting a national currency who present themselves as consistently anti-memorandum.

Popular Unity (LAE) is itself insolvent and unreliable, just as insolvent and unreliable as was Syriza well before taking power- when it appeared with anti-memorandum rhetoric and an unrealistic social-democratic and Keynesian program. These developments of the new “left Memorandum” have justified our prediction as Revolutionary Struggle concerning the transformation of SYRIZA into a neoliberal party, which we made long before they came into power. With almost all the political parties discredited, with PASOK and ANEL not far from inexistence as parties, with SYRIZA bankrupt within seven months and becoming a purely neoliberal party, with ND shrinking because of the second memorandum, with LAE not persuading anyone by adopting the old unworkable social-democrat program of SYRIZA, with a large part of society turning its back on the political system by abstaining from electoral illusions, and without any chance of a majority government, the country is in a status of permanent political instability, which those who want a revolutionary overthrow should exploit.

The bankruptcy of SYRIZA dispelled illusions about solving social problems due to the crisis within the existing system, because saving the system requires the enslavement and destruction of large sections of the population.

The country is a powder keg and needs only a spark or a detonator to blow up capital and the state.

The fact that the 3rd left Memorandum passed amid general social apathy, with only a few people coming to the streets on 15 and 22 July for clashes, is the result of the deadlock of the major social and popular movements of the period of the First Memorandum from 2010-2012 , a deadlock due to the lack of perspective and proposals for the revolutionary overthrow of capital and the state and the lack of an organized political-military force that will attempt to undertake the overthrow, that is to say, a revolutionary movement. But this situation should not disappoint us.

Revolutionaries have never acted by waiting for the masses to rise up spontaneously or get mobilized; rather they made their way by first giving the example of antagonistic action and taking advantage of turmoil at the base of society. There have never been more favorable objective conditions for action, for struggles, for revolution, because of the devaluation and instability of the regime; and there were never worse subjective conditions, apathy, deadlock, and resignation, due to a lack of perspective and hope.

Our duty is to act in order to change the unfavorable conditions, to inspire hope and strength to revolt and overthrow. This action consists in destabilizing and undermining an already unstable system, the sabotage of the ruling policies for the implementation of memoranda and rescue programs, the sabotage of the policy that aims for investments of multinational capital in the country by privatizations and sell-offs of public property, the sabotage of the ongoing social theft and societal genocide.

The adoption of dynamic forms of action, guerrilla war and armed struggle, is a necessary choice for the sabotage of the ruling policies. Bombings or armed action on a massive scale, against offices, facilities, structures or entities of government and of local and international capital could destabilize even more the regime to deter investment and halt the selling off of public property, in making the country unsafe for investors.

Our struggles, besides the adoption of the guerrilla and armed struggle, connect with other forms of action- such as the violent protests of this July 15, with squats or relief actions of the socially weak and vulnerable, these may have social and popular acceptance and so be footholds on the path to revolutionary overthrow. But the overthrow of the capitalist state can only be guaranteed by the recourse to arms, the armed seizure of enemy strongholds, parliament, ministries, banks, the Bank of Greece and the disarming of the police stations.

At a time when all illusions dissolve, armed social revolution is the only way forward, the only way to save ourselves from societal genocide imposed by the international economic elites and the state…

To avoid counting other dead from suicides, diseases, shortages of basic goods.

To prevent children fainting from hunger and malnutrition.
To abolish social classes and the state.
To socialize collective wealth.
To live with dignity and to take our life in our hands.

Let us not delude ourselves that all this can be done without having goals or proposals, or by being unable to popularize our proposals and confined to a sterile insurrectionism or having alternative illusions concerning peripheral self-managed “islands of freedom” and ventures that will surround the state and make the market economy disappear.

Let us not delude ourselves that all this can be done without risking our lives for freedom …For as history has shown, the tree of liberty grows only with blood.

NO ELECTORAL ILLUSIONS
ARMED SOCIAL REVOLUTION

N. Maziotis,

Member of Revolutionary Struggle,

Korydallos Prison

(via The Barbarian Times)