WORLD WORLDWIDE GREECE News Journal Update - (en) Greece, APO, land & freedom: Political call of the Autonomous Struggle Meeting in Acheloos (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 NO DAMs, MINING AND WIND... FREE RIVERS - FREE MOUNTAINS ---- Political

call of the Autonomous Struggle Meeting in Acheloos (Mesochora Trikala,
August 10-14, 2023) ---- Against "green" capitalist development, dams
and diversion... Acheloos will win, Mesochora will live! ----
"Development was, is and will be first of all an uprooting. Development
is the economic war, with its winners and even more so with its losers,
the unrestrained plundering of nature, the destruction of different
local cultures".
Nowadays, the gigantic aggressive planning of the Greek state for the
plundering of the natural environment and society. in order to serve the
interests of the domestic and multinational political and economic
elites, and the energy needs of the bankrupt state-capitalist way of
organizing society, it brings incalculable destructive consequences to
the natural ecosystems and to the possibilities of decent living of
people in their places.
In addition to the pharaonic projects that are being attempted today,
such as the dams in Acheloos and the open-pit gold mines in Halkidiki, a
series of other destructive projects for nature and local societies are
constantly announced or already implemented: such as the installation of
industrial "wind farms" in Ochi , Agrafa, Vermio, Varnouda, Oiti,
Taygetos, Ziria, Erymanthos and in almost all the mountain complexes and
many islands, the photovoltaic industrial zone programs, the
construction of hundreds of dams on rivers and streams, the delivery of
innumerable of natural habitats in the tourism industry, the plans for
hydrocarbon extraction in marine and terrestrial areas along the country
-from Epirus and the entire Ionian Sea to the marine areas of Crete,
with wider geopolitical dimensions-,the burning of garbage in Volos as
an "alternative" fuel and a way of managing the overaccumulation of
waste and waste that the overconsumer system itself produces, the
usurpation and privatization of water that is already taking place or
underway in a number of areas (such as in the waters of Pelion with a
focus on the Stagiates) ...
These designs come to be added to a more comprehensive and unprecedented
aggression towards nature and society, which has been developing in
recent years in the Greek reality, with the foundation of the
restructuring of the political and economic system in the name of
"development", which in "periods crisis" appears as a matter of
"national" interest and necessity, to cover up the incalculable social
and environmental costs it entails. A restructuring with characteristics
of a generalized business of divesting social needs (education, health,
etc.), public spaces and natural resources to private capital, carried
out by the Greek state under the tutelage of the EU. and evolves
alongside the corresponding modernization of the relevant legal framework.
The recent anti-environmental laws, such as 4685/2020, reflect the
elimination of any meaningful protection of the natural world and its
surrender to the generalized attack of capital, on mountains and
forests, on rivers and waters, on coasts and the bottom of the sea, in
the name of "green" growth and attracting investment to counter the
economic downturn. The foreordained result will be the merciless pillage
and destruction of the remaining natural world from the mountaintops to
the seabeds and the annihilation of the adjacent local societies, at
least as we have known them to date.
As for the so-called "green growth" it is nothing more than an
advertising wrapper to beautify the well-known destructive machine of
capitalism, so that it seems friendlier to the environment, at the same
time as it plunders and destroys it mercilessly sacrificing it on the
altar of profit.
After all, and on a global level, the conditions of wild exploitation of
nature and society bring further degradation of human life and the
natural world, exhausting natural resources and reaching the extreme
limits of jeopardizing survival itself, as indirectly acknowledged by
the same government officials now talking about an irreversible climate
and environmental crisis. From the Amazon to Siberia and from one end of
the earth to the other, the deforestation and forest fires, the
pollution of the seas, the melting of the eternal ice at the poles and
in the high mountains, climate changes, the greenhouse effect, the
shrinking of biodiversity and the disappearance of many animal species
are only some parts of the overall environmental crisis caused by
state-capitalist encroachment.
It is a fact that, in our time, the natural world is under an
unprecedented destructive and predatory attack with disastrous
consequences, in the name of development. This attack does not take
place on a single point of the natural world or on certain elements of
it (mountains, forests or waters) and does not generally and
indefinitely have humans as its bearer. The attack is on the natural
world as a whole and is being done by a hierarchical and exploitative
political-economic system for the benefit of the oligarchy at the top,
at the expense of nature and humanity. Every point where this attack
manifests itself and every element that is used every time for its
exploitation in the name of development, is part of the wider
destruction that the environment is suffering and must be dealt with as
such.
The defense of the natural world and an organization of social life in
harmony with it, as well as the defense of urban public-free spaces, is
an important element of the evolution of social struggles from below, in
the direction of freedom, autonomy, collectivization and creativity.
Today, the struggles to defend the natural world as well as public
spaces, which break out in many places now where their looting and
destruction are planned and even the livelihood of local communities are
affected, are often trapped in the narrow limits of locality, of
institutional protest , delegation, representation and mediation.
However, in many cases they mobilize a large number of the inhabitants
of the affected areas,
Against this condition of generalized attack, looting and destruction, a
broad social awakening and a total social critique of the impasse and
bankrupt system is required, the overcoming of assignment, mediation and
inertia, the strengthening of social-class struggles, the formation of
self-organized, anti-institutional fronts of resistance - with
reciprocity, solidarity and consistency in common agreements - and the
creation of every possible embankment at the points where state and
capitalist aggression manifests itself.
Faced with the dystopian future that the elites of power and wealth have
in store for us, there is the option of collective resistance and
struggle. Let's remind them what can happen when people collectively
take their lives into their own hands and resist their plans in an
organized, massive and militant manner. The social-class resistances are
alive and they can win!
BREAK THE DAM LONG LIVE THE VILLAGE - LET THE WATER RUN FREELY FOREVER!
The imminent imminent destruction of the Achelous River through the
operation of the Y/H factory dam and the artificial reservoir in the
area of Mesochora, as well as its planned partial diversion, in the next
year, towards Thessaly, will bring additional incalculable disasters
both in its mountain valleys, its natural ecosystems and human
settlements by drowning them in mud, and in the vulnerable delta of its
estuary in the Ionian where unique wetlands are formed.
In particular, for the historic village of Mesochora Trikala, the
removal of its inhabitants and its forced expropriation by PPC is
foreseen as a large part of it, like the riverside settlements, will be
flooded by the waters of the artificial reservoir, while the rest will
be threatened by erosion .
Today, this destructive prospect for the region is more visible than at
any other time since the giant dams began to be built in the mid-1980s.
It should be noted that in 1985, agents of the then PASOK government
and PPC visited Mesohora , manipulating the residents with promises that
the project would be for the development of the place and concealing its
true pharaonic dimensions and its disastrous consequences for the
village and the mountainous valley of Acheloos.
After the intense reactions of the residents (when they realized the
destructive consequences of the dam) and the constant appeals to the CoE
the project (which was designed based on political expediency without
technical, environmental and social impact studies) "froze". Until 2006,
when the then Minister and Member of Parliament of Thessaly Souflias
brought it back to the agenda, and since then the long-term struggle of
the people of Mesochora for their land took on broader political and
social dimensions and Mesochora became the focus and point of reference
for many defenders of nature from all over the country .
The SYRIZA/ANEL government, fully aligned with the neoliberal policies
of looting the natural world and the world of work (imposed by all
governments without exception, the EU and the IMF, and which includes
the completion of the U/N projects and the privatization them),
completed the procedures for releasing the Mesochora H/H dam from the
overall project of the diversion, which has been blocked by the S.t.E.,
so that it can operate immediately.
On August 2, 2017, it was signed by the then Deputy Minister of
Environment and Energy, Sokr. Famelo, the AEPO (Environmental Conditions
Approval Decision) of the Mesochora dam. In a press conference given at
the time, the methods of the state officials for the operation of the
dam were presented and according to the timetable set at that time, the
damming of the river should be done no later than July 2019. At the same
time, PPC, which the full
privatization of which is a fixed goal of the state, it then approved,
following the order of the Ministry of Finance, the required budget for
the completion of the dam and the Mesohora H/O factory as well as for
the payment of compensations for the forced expropriations, a process
opposed by many struggling residents.
In other words, it is about the continuation of the state's embezzlement
of huge amounts of public money. social) wealth for the operation of
construction projects that will have disastrous effects on the
environment, local communities and society as a whole, and which will
then be assigned for exploitation and profit to private entrepreneurs
along with the exclusive right to exploit the river water, the produced
energy as well as the adjacent lands.
It is understood that in exactly the same direction as the SYRIZA
government, for the immediate operation of the Mesochora dam, with the
prospect of the partial diversion of the Acheloos always open. the ND
government also moved in the summer of 2019, which found the way wide
open for the destruction of Achelou and the annihilation of Mesochora
with the AEPO of 2017. Indeed, from the first announcements of the new
government during the speech of K. Mitsotakis at the TIF, the September
of 2019, it was the planned damming of the river to fill the artificial
reservoir and the operation of the dam as a Y/O project, while the
regional governor of Thessaly K. Agorastos also clearly raised the issue
of the diversion, saying "give me Acheloos to divert', as if the river
is his small town!
In the same direction, of the continuous and suffocating pressure on the
residents of Mesochora to surrender the place to destruction, on August
13, 2020, an ultimatum from PPC was communicated to the village asking
them, based on the Law on Forced Expropriations, to leave their homes
within 30 days . The negative answer was given by the Flooded
Association after an extraordinary meeting of the residents in the
square of Mesochora, which was also attended by several supporters who
were in Acheloos for the annual events of the Autonomous Struggle Meeting.
On November 26, 2020, the CoE accepted the appeal of the Association of
Flooded Mesochoras for the cancellation of the AEPO of the Syriza
government, and with it all the declarations of the ND government
regarding the operation of the Mesochora dam were cancelled.
In response to the cancellation by the AEPO CoE for the operation of the
dam, Prime Minister Mitsotakis tried to entertain the impressions of the
reversal of his announcements and announced that he will make an
extraordinary visit to Mesochora on January 30, 2021, to announce for
the third time in 1.5 years of operation of the dam. However, citing the
weather conditions, he finally avoided going to the giant Mesochora dam,
which was built without any environmental study and disregarding the
social cost, wasting 500 million euros for the benefit of private
interests, destroying and looting untouched landscapes, ecosystems and
natural resources. He remained in Trikala, where without rebuttal he
made his well-known announcements to the government followers, about the
irrational,
The new updated EIA was done in record time and the new AEPO of the
government of ND was issued on December 22, 2021, with its immediate
implementation and the filling of the artificial reservoir for the
operation of the Y/H plant by the middle of 2024. Two months. later, in
February 2022, the Association of Flood Victims of Mesochora filed a new
appeal to the Supreme Court, the 8th in a row since 1994, which was
heard on 1/3/23 and the decision is awaited.
Let us add that, in addition to these, other harmful plans are being
made for the area, in order to grant permits and grant public lands to
private individuals, for the installation of industrial "wind farms" on
the Aspropotamos mountain ranges that surround the Acheloos valley, as
in the highest mountain of the area, Avgo (2,152 m.) and others.
As well as that, according to the Regional Development Program of
Thessaly 2021-2025, the entire mountainous western Thessaly
(Municipalities of Kalambaka, Pyli, Argithea, Karditsa and Sofadon) is
marked as a zone for industrial wind installations and as a zone for
dams, in addition to those of giant in Mesochora and Sykia of the mega
project of the Achelou diversion.
Referring in particular to the issue of the partial diversion of the
Achelous to Thessaly, a project illegal according to European standards
where the transfer of water from one hydrological basin to another is
prohibited and blocked by a series of decisions of the CoE, continues to
be a central objective of the Greek state, with the continuous financing
for the maintenance of the projects that have already been constructed
(the diversion tunnel, part of the dam in Sykia, etc.) so that it can
proceed in sections.
Here we should underline that the non-functioning of the Mesochora dam
to this day, and therefore the protection of the upper Achelous river
and its mountain valley in Pindos, is primarily due to the long-term
resistance of the Mesochoras themselves, who do not surrender their
houses and they do not leave their village in the plans of the state.
This resistance of Mesochora, which has been held hostage for 35 years
and threatened with annihilation, became the focus of a wider struggle
of solidarity, and the village a meeting point for many people fighting
against the looting and destruction of nature.
*
On our part, as an Autonomous Struggle Meeting, not expecting anything
substantial and useful from the institutions and their mediators - and
being aware of the fact that the logic of delegation and trust in
political mediation leads to disarmament, disillusionment and defeat -
we continue to steadily organize our resistances from below and raise
every possible barrier to the advance of state and capital, with the aim
of thickening the bonds of solidarity and comradeship of the struggling
people and synthesizing their principles and positions in the direction
of a more comprehensive choice to break with power and its antisocial
imperatives.
We support the local resistance initiatives which are essential for the
dynamics and development of the struggle, and we appeal more broadly to
the whole world of social-class struggles believing that the struggle
against the mega-project of the dams and the diversion of the Achelous
is not about a local social/environmental issue, but a central political
issue, the defense of nature and society from state and capital.
Perceiving the river Acheloos as a part of the natural world that is
mercilessly plundered and destroyed, the common belief of those of us
who have been in Mesohora since 2007 was to intervene exactly where the
destructive activities are evolving in order to contribute to the
awakening of consciousness and the revival of the struggle both against
the dams and the diversion of the river, as well as the sandbanks and
the deforestation of the riparian forests, as well as against the
overall assault on the natural world.
Many struggling residents of Mesochora from the mid-1980s until today
have chosen the dignified path of the struggle and it is up to them to
continue it even today, in the face of the powers that are plotting the
village, the interests that are played on their backs for its sake
state, PPC, the construction companies and the future buyers of the dam,
but also beyond institutional, party and factor logics that cultivate
delusions.
For our part, not trusting the institutions that sooner or later align
with the designs of the state and capital, trusting only the movements
of struggling people and seeking the radicalization, generalization and
coordination of social resistance from below, we stand in solidarity
alongside all those who struggle collectively, with strength and dignity
against the plundering and destruction of nature.
And we consider the self-organized competitive presence of the ASA in
the place where the crime of the pharaonic dams on the Acheloos is being
committed and its diversion is planned, necessary and useful for the
awakening of consciences and the development of both the struggle for
the defense of the river and local societies, as well as and for the
defense of the natural world and society as a whole.
*
Let us add finally, that our guest this year at the events in Mesochora
will be Mario Quintero, a member of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples
of the Isthmus of Oaxaca for the Defense of the Land and the Territory
(APIIDTT). who will speak and inform about her struggle in Mexico,
because the struggle for land and freedom has a global dimension.

EXPLOITATION AGAINST NATURE - A FIGHT FOR THE LAND AND FREEDOM!

INDEPENDENT RACE MEETING, August 2023

https://landandfreedom.gr/el/agones/1335-politiko-kalesma-tis-aftonomis-synantisis-agona-ston-axeloo
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