The anarchist movement in Greece has always been inspiring for us. In the past,
we commemorated the struggle of the Greek comrades not only through directactions, but also through conversation. We are now reprinting a review of thebook from the Anarchoctenár blog. ---- Buying books on the Internet is convenientand necessary if you are looking for foreign-language books about anarchism, butit also has its pitfalls, which became apparent when I took the booklet Greeceand the black flag out of the cover. , which was published last year by FreedomPress. I knew it wasn't going to be anything big, but the AF paperback-likeformat was quite a disappointment. My mistake, next time I must not only look atthe number of pages, but also at the dimensions when buying.The book, or rather the booklet, tries to cover the entire history of Greekanarchism, and given that it covers a period of approximately 160 years, it isclear that no great detailing is possible. The author himself, Rob Ray, speaks inthe preface of a "high-speed ride" through two major stages of anarchistactivity. In particular, the first stage, called "Before the Junta", is reallycovered in flight. Thanks to Italian propagandists and political refugees,anarchism reached Greece relatively soon after its inception (about thirty yearsbefore Marxism). Ray mentions several groups and publications from the late 19thcentury, which were often short-lived due to state repression, efforts byanarchists to spread their ideas to the countryside (especially among rebelliousgrape growers), the involvement of Italian anarchists in Greek struggles againstthe Ottoman Empire, and examples of propaganda by action , mainly the so-calledferrymen from Thessaloniki, who fought against the Turkish rule over the citywith a series of bombings. However, similar to our country, in Greece after theFirst World War Bolshevism began to dominate the labor movement, and after theSecond World War the anarchist movement almost completely disappeared.Paradoxically, the situation changed only under the rule of the ultra-rightmilitary dictatorship, which seized power in 1967. At that time, disillusionmentwith the repressive nature of the USSR was manifested among the youth, and newinfluences seeped into Greece - situationism, the events of Paris 68, operaism,urban guerillas of the type RAF and this mix helped inspire a new wave ofanarchism. It was then that the second stage of Greek anarchism began, whichcontinues to this day. Most of the brochure is devoted to it, and the descriptionis fortunately a bit more detailed. We read, for example, about the protestsagainst the military junta of 1973, which started at the Polytechnic Universityand which were bloodily suppressed on November 17 (the anniversary of this eventis commemorated by Greek anarchists every year with demonstrations). We continuethrough the eighties, when the Greek movement developed its potential and took onits characteristic features (black bloc, squats, loose organization built onsmall cells). Although the 1990s brought a slight slowdown at first, with theglobal spread of horizontal alter-globalization movements, there is furtherstormy development, Greek militants participate in demonstrations across Europe(among other things, protests against the IMF in Prague) and then use theacquired experience during the EU summit in Thessaloniki in in 2003, the sameyear the well-known guerilla Revolutionary Struggle was also born. Protests werealso accompanied by the Olympic Games in Athens, and already ongoing fightsagainst budget cuts intensified after the start of the economic crisis in 2007,which hit Greece particularly hard.The police murder of the young anarchist Alexis Grigoropoulos on December 6, 2008and the subsequent boom in riots are still vividly in the memory of many of us.December 6 has since become, along with November 17, the day when the movement'sprotests and militant activities reach their peak every year. In the next twoyears after this murder, a number of new guerilla organizations appear (forexample, the well-known Conspiracy Cells of Fire), bombings and arson attacksmultiply. There are also a lot of protests and strikes due to the economic crisisand cutbacks. The bombings stopped for a time after 2010 when there were twounfortunate incidents, one in which a bomb killed an Afghan boy and the other inwhich 3 employees burned to death in a bank that was set on fire. All the while,less militant activities are also in full swing - food banks, solidarity withrefugees, etc.In addition to unrelenting fights against cuts, resistance to the growing fascistmovement became an important theme in the following years, in 2012 the fascistGolden Dawn party (popular mainly among the police) even succeeded in theelections. The Nacks often cooperated quietly with the police in attacks onanarchists and immigrants, in 2013 they even killed the musician Pavlos Fyssas.Of course, the anarchists were not left behind and struck back (from the attackson the Golden Dawn offices to the shooting of two Nazis). Another importantmilestone was the year 2015, when Greece was hit by a massive wave of migration.Anarchists organized many solidarity actions, including the occupation of manyhouses, in which thousands of refugees were subsequently accommodated. Livingconditions in these anarchist self-governing spaces were much more pleasant thanin facilities run by the state or non-government organizations, in which peoplecould only stand passively for days in queues for meager rations. At the sametime, the radical left-wing Syriza party won the elections, but under pressurefrom the EU and the IMF, it had no choice but to continue its policy of cuts. Theelectoral success and the subsequent government fiasco of Syriza led to thedemobilization of a large part of the people who had previously participated inthe protests (even so in Greece in 2021 there were on average 3 or 4 majorstrikes per month). In addition, 2018 saw a large-scale wave of arrests, 45people were jailed, which led to the paralyzing of guerrilla activities. Fascistand police attacks on squats also continued. In 2019, the conservative NewDemocracy party returned to power, aiming to destroy resistance strongholds,further intensifying repression of anarchists, and seeking to gentrify theExarchy. The covid pandemic also helped her in this, serving as a pretext forfurther prohibitions. It is at this unhappy time that the narrative ends. Even ifit doesn't exactly end well and the current situation of Greek anarchists isquite difficult, according to the author's final words, "Greece remains the mostrebellious spark of European anarchism".The book closes with a letter from the imprisoned anarchist bank robber GiannisDimitrakis, who reflects on the nature of capitalism and the criminal role of banks.It is precisely because Greece is that "most rebellious spark" that it is greatthat this summary of the history of the movement there has appeared. Of course,it would be even better if the narration was more detailed, if, in addition tothe list of large demonstrations and the number of arrests, we learned more aboutthe mindset and visions of Greek anarchists, or about the situation of imprisonedactivists, etc. At least partially, this wish could perhaps be fulfilled by thebook A normal life , which it was published by Freedom Press together with Roy'slittle book. These are the memoirs of the Greek bank robber and "modern-day RobinHood" Vassilis Palaiokostas, who came into the public consciousness, for example,thanks to two daring escapes from prison (I have already purchased the book andwill try to prepare a journal entry from it at some point in the future).One of the main purposes with which I founded the Cernorudý reader's diary was tobring brief summaries of books that are not available in Czech. The alreadyfairly condensed narrative that Greece and the Black Flag represents, but afterthe even greater abridgment I have just demonstrated, it feels like nothing morethan a dry recap of events. In this case, I therefore decided to translate anexcerpt without shortening it, at least as an example. I have chosen a passagedescribing the situation in the eighties, that is, shortly after the overthrow ofthe junta, when the newly revived movement developed and took on the characterand some typical features that we associate with Greek anarchism. So here's alittle taster.The rise of the black bloc and mass squattingThe anarchist scene in Athens entered the new decade with great energy as a newgeneration came to the fore, again often centered around the Exarchy and thePolytechnic University on its western border. For the previous four years, in aneffort to keep this rebellious neighborhood under control, it had bannedparliamentary groups including the Stalinist KKE from marches commemorating theNovember 17th anniversary of the Polytechnic University occupation from ending atthe nearby US embassy.In 1980, however, a large number of protesters ignored this political decree andsimply walked, igniting major clashes with the police, during which two youngmen, Stamatina Kanelopoulou and Iakovos Koumis, were beaten to death by fizlamfrom the hated MAT (riot suppression unit), Iakovos Koumis was killed whilesitting in a cafe.During the ensuing parliamentary debate, the blame was placed on the victims andnone of the police officers were tried. Newly appointed Prime Minister GeorgeRallis said infamously about the incident: "The Archangel Michael holds a swordin his hands to defend himself against demons. She doesn't hold flowers.'In this era, when anarchism was still somewhat overshadowed by Leninism, thisincident did much to undermine faith in parliamentary tactics, and sometimearound this period the first large-scale occupation of houses began in ValtetsiouStreet in Exarchia, in the Patisia district of Athens, in Thessaloniki, and inHeraklion on Crete. Thessaloniki in the north and Patras in the south againbecame centers of activity. In 1984, with social democracy in power for the firsttime since the fall of the Junta, the growing anarchist movement took a leapforward when it confronted Jean-Marie Le Pen and the National Front at a meetingof the extreme right at the Caravel Hotel in Athens. This December confrontation,which took place amid related anti-gentrification struggles in the Exarchia, sawthe first appearance of the black bloc that has become an iconic symbol ofresistance, and 170 people were arrested in the ensuing police crackdown.A year later, the movement shifted into high gear and riots swept across thecountry. During the shootout with activist Christos Tsoutsouvis, three policemenwere killed, but Christos was also shot. The PASOK (Social Democracy) governmentfound itself under dual pressure from both the right and the Communist Partyopposing budget cuts, and around 100,000 people marched through the streets ofthe capital when the time came for the annual November march to commemorate thefall of the Junta. As the march drew to a close, the volume of clashes increaseduntil Molotov cocktails started flying at the lines of policemen and shots werefired in response. When the smoke cleared, a young man lay dead in the street.The police shooting of 15-year-old Michalis Kaltezas sparked an escalating seriesof actions by the angry anarchist scene, including a new mass occupation of thePolytechnic and violent street riots over the following year. After that, aseries of meetings took place and squatting quickly began to flourish throughoutthe city, Lelas Karagianni, Villa Amalias, Scaramanga squats and many others wereformed, some of them lasted for decades. The period 1985-87 is generallyconsidered to be the moment when the Greek anarchist movement reached itsmaturity, establishing itself as a mix of cell-based semi-organized defiantstructures with its own ecosystem of social centers in squats, gardens and parks,cafes and dwellings. Until the 1990s, this base represented a springboard fromwhich grew a wide network of occupied buildings on the one hand and a stronginfluence of insurgent thinking on the other.Inflation, unemployment and general economic difficulties helped the electoralvictory of New Democracy, ending a decade of PASOK rule, during which theanarchist movement had grown considerably and now began to expand its scope,especially focusing on anti-racism, solidarity with migrants and patriarchy. Therise to power of Konstantinos Mitsotakis (Thatcher's would-be Greek counterpart)was also a significant mobilizing force when his unpopular privatization policiesprovoked considerable opposition, as did the rise of the far-right opposition inthe form of the Political Spring party, which took advantage of the name disputewith neighboring Macedonia (now North Macedonia). Leftist and anarchist studentsplayed a prominent role in opposing the measures, university occupations andstreet riots became common and this helped to avert many of Mitsotakis' plannedreforms. In his book Anarchy in Athens, the ethnographer Apophis claims that itwas during this period:"anti-authoritarian and anarchist politics really matured (...) They used tolearn from Italian, French and German anti-state radicals, but now the Atheniananarchist and anti-authoritarian scene was mature and treading its own path. Bythe early 1990s it had developed its own traditions of direct action with its ownmartyrs, rituals, successes and failures."https://oafed.noblogs.org/post/2023/03/30/recko-a-cerna-vlajka/#more-1124_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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