"We announce the end of the hunger strike of the Occupied Prosfygika Community, Aristotelis Chantzis, and myself. We have seen that our main demands have been mostly accepted. We know that the struggle does not end here. However, we have won. We thank everyone-the victory is ours, for all of us, for society. We have won!"
With these words, on June 25, Suzanne Doppange declared the end of the hunger strike of the two community activists. Suzanne, after 56 days of strike, was taken to Elpis Hospital for checks, from which she was released on July 1 without further complications. Aristos, after 140 days, is in critical condition at Evangelismo Hospital. As I write, he is hospitalized in intensive care and has been intubated following a severe respiratory crisis. Comrades from the Prosfygika community are permanently stationed outside the hospital.Prosfygika is made up of 400 people who live in eight apartment buildings in central Athens. They form a political community (Sy.ka.pro) founded in 2010, following the mobilizations related to the Troika's financial demands and the killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos by the Athenian police in December 2008.
Having survived 16 years of police raids and attempted evictions, it is now under renewed attack through a redevelopment project that involves the renovation of the buildings to build a social housing complex.
Over the past six months, the Prosfygika community has waged a struggle that extends far beyond its 400 occupants and beyond the city. Through the efforts of residents and supporters, an integrated, grassroots social movement has put pressure on institutions at various levels through horizontal and diverse forms of struggle. A constant presence on the streets of Athens has alternated with the building of international networks, the disruption of municipal and regional events and assemblies, and the revitalization of the community through the creation of new support structures.
June 25, after months of mobilization, marked a victory, albeit a partial one. The Municipality of Athens accepted the community's three main demands: it confirmed its intention to pressure the Attica Region to halt the implementation of the neighborhood's gentrification, declaring that it would not grant the necessary permits for the project; it recognized the Community of Occupied Prosfygika as an autonomous entity and a collective social actor, and as an integral part of any future discussions on the destination of the area where the buildings stand; it recognized the right of all Prosfygika residents to remain in their homes; and it assured that, in the event of renovation work-more necessary than ever-the residents would be relocated within the neighborhood.
At the beginning of July, a further crack appeared in the "redevelopment" project in Brussels. After months of pressure on the European Parliament, on July 2, European Commission Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto responded to a request for information on EU funds allocated for construction work in the Athens neighborhood, debunking weeks of lies from the Greek authorities. The alleged European funds, already allocated and available to begin construction, were not even requested. The government and regional authorities were using the European machine as a tool for propaganda of unstoppable progress, for which the Prosfygika community was nothing more than an obstacle to be overcome. In his response, Fitto also recalled that EU funds cannot "support actions that contribute to the segregation, isolation, or exclusion of vulnerable groups."
As the squatters recall, victory was inevitable, because the only battle lost is the one not fought. And the victory is significant, having led the Municipality to accept the community's demands and marking the end of Aristos' hunger strike, just a hair's breadth from physical collapse. The conditions in Aristos remain critical, a symptom of the physical cost and the stakes behind this struggle. The victory is also partial. The words of the mayor and the Municipality of Athens are, so far, just words. Positions must translate into short-term action, and the role of the Municipality of Athens is far from central to the project to destroy the neighborhood. Acting as a sounding board for the real estate and financial interests behind the bulldozers are representatives of the governing party (Nea Demokratia), at the regional and national levels.
The occupiers are far from confident in the institutions' action, and precedents only confirm this mistrust. The latest is the case of Panos Routsi, father of one of the victims of the Tempi train accident on February 28, 2023. Routsi spent weeks on hunger strike in front of Parliament last fall and managed to force a decision from the authorities to exhume his son's body and conduct tests to detect the presence of chemical elements related to the nature of the substances transported-and undeclared-by one of the trains involved in the accident. Despite this, and nine months after the end of the hunger strike, the government has placed numerous obstacles, and the decision has still not been implemented.
The hunger strike is over, but the struggle continues. Aristos's serious health conditions prevented the victory celebrations at the end of June and have emphasized, even more forcefully, the urgency of continuing the mobilization now that summer will empty the streets of Athens. A delegation of Catalan comrades arrived recently, while a caravan from Austria is on its way. Events and moments of solidarity, protests, and demonstrations continue daily, here and across the rest of Europe.
Giulio
https://umanitanova.org/prosygika-una-vittoria-inevitabile/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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