…And life became the biggest lie
There is no police brutality
There are only bloodthirsty protesters in a brutal fury
with the breakneck speed of desperation
the com-mat-asfalites1, the chemical tear gas, the shields.
the helmets, the incubating cages
the snake eggs of the fascist crawling society….
George Tsingos and the Black Circles
Watching the domestic news of the last few months, one will see that despite the social reactions that have developed, the isolation and suppression of the antagonistic movement as well as the imposition of unprecedented social control measures remains a key objective of the Greek state. The gentrification of Exarcheia includes the construction of a metro station in the square, the redevelopment-privatisation of the Strefi Hill and the blocking of access to the Polytechnic and aims to uproot the revolutionary tradition of the area. Similarly, the installation of MAT platoons and all kinds of cops inside the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki aims to sterilize the university premises from any voice of opposition to the bosses. But beyond hitting the movements, the hiring of thousands of new cops, the millions given to equip the police and their constant presence in the public arena on every occasion set the tone of the new social contract. And all this at a time when society is being impoverished anew, with precision pushing those from below to the limits of survival. In a nutshell as Petsas arrogantly informed us adaptation (to capitalist and state dictates) or death.
The effort by the current government to restructure the education system and especially the universities begins the very next day after its election with the abolition of the university asylum. Their pretext was to crack down on lawlessness and instil a sense of security. This was followed by the passing of Law 4777 in the midst of quarantine to avoid major social reactions. The response to those that were manifested was a display of fierceness and brutality. Just a few examples:
- the pulling of a gun by a cop at the ΑΣΣΟΕ (Athens School of Economics)
- the two evacuations of the occupied rectorate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the space of one month in 2021
- the evacuation of the steki at the Biologcko
- the hundreds of injuries, beatings and arrests in the last two years in student mobilizations
- the firing of asphyxiant inside the ΣΘΕ (School of Sciences) in broad daylight with hundreds of students and workers trapped inside the building and suffocating
- the hitting and severely injuring of a student with a flashbang grenade fired at point-blank range
- the murderous attack on the crowd attending Thanasis Papakostantinou’s concert during the 3rd Libertarian Festival of Occupied Spaces and Collectives, which almost resulted in people being trampled.
This is the security they preach – beatings, torture, enforcing graveyard silence. The similarities with the seven years 67-74, as disorienting as they may be as to what it would have been like with a left-wing social democratic government, demonstrate that state and capital, regardless of the regime, do not count neither democratic rights nor human lives in the pursuit of power and profit.
For Law 4777. While the philosophy of this law focuses on the sterilization of university campuses, it is not limited there. It establishes a permanent OPPI police force (university cops), provides for the installation of cameras and turnstiles at the entrances of the faculties. It also provides for the introduction of a disciplinary law to facilitate the expulsion of students and permanent expulsion if the number of years of study (n+2) is exceeded. It throws thousands of poor candidates out of higher education through the Minimum Admission Base. It reinforces class barriers and further facilitates the profitability of capital.
But what is the role of universities and why is their restructuring so central to this government’s agenda? In the capitalist division of labour, universities train tomorrow’s skilled workforce of the economy as well as producing the research to be used by the bosses to increase their profitability. The university also trains tomorrow’s bosses or managers. The ideology of social advancement, although it only concerns a small part of the student body, is used to obscure the class interests of the great majority.
In opposition to the capitalist imperatives, the university produces not only research and exploitation but also their contestation. Behind the students’ union demands and the regime’s propaganda about centres of lawlessness lies, in latent form and low intensity, an aspect of the war between exploiters and exploited. This is why in moments of great intensification of the conflict the student struggles are embraced by large sections of the proletarian base. This is why the occupation of November ’73 developed into an uprising that challenged the regime.
Since then the university has been and continues to be a springboard for social – class struggles and resistance. Since then, the Greek state’s counter-insurgency strategy has been aimed at gradually regaining the state monopoly of violence in universities.
The murders of Iakovos Koumis and Stamatina Kanellopoulou in the 1980 Polytechnic march by the riot police, the execution of Michalis Kaltezas in the corresponding march of 1985 and the evacuation of the old Chemistry building the next day, the clashes and the evacuation of the Polytechnic in November 1995 with the 500 arrests of anarchists, the central role of the occupied university buildings in the revolt of December 2008, the choice of the Law School for the hunger strike of 300 immigrants in January 2011, the function of the university buildings in the centre of Athens as centres of struggle in the anti-memorandum rage explosion in February 2012, the breaking of the curfew in February-March 2021 with the occupied – re-tenanted faculties of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki as a base, the thousands of rebellious moments that have been unfolding all these years around the universities are just a few examples of how central the universities are to the territorialization of class antagonism in the Greek metropolises.
It is a central stake and our historical duty as part of the social movement working for human emancipation to connect the struggles of previous generations by defending their gains. Against the unrealistic logic that by struggling we cannot change anything, we can use the memory of struggle as the weapon and inspiration that will reignite the struggles in the here and now.
On the contrary, it is the institutional avenues for social change and the protection of the grassroots against capitalist violence that have proven ineffective time and time again. We could cite hundreds of incidents. We will suffice with the following: SYRIZA’s promises to abolish the memoranda have been translated into new memoranda, death politics on immigration and deepening cooperation with NATO. We have nothing to expect from the establishment left but attempts at integration and camouflaged repression.
As for the independent judiciary, we recall that the child rapist and chosen one of the New Democracy party, Lignadis, was released from prison after a short period of incarceration. The murderers of Zak Kostopoulos are either let off the hook (Hortarias, Athanasopoulos) or acquitted (the cops involved). The accused in the Siemens scandal2 are all innocent after more than ten years. For the underground financing of millions of New Democracy and PASOK, the impartial judiciary has decided that no one is to blame.
Contrary to the above, Giannis Michailidis remains imprisoned indefinitely and has completed the time necessary for conditional release. All we can expect from bourgeois justice is that it will defend the interests of the ruling class to the bitter end.
On 21 October the trial of some of the cops who tortured comrade Vassilis Maggos begins. Having knowledge of the role of bourgeois justice we repeat the comrade’s words “And even if we never win we will always fight”.
The only hope for those from below lies in the unmediated multiform class struggles. Whether in the workplaces, in the universities, or in the neighbourhoods to oppose state violence and capitalist exploitation with class organisation and the right of insurrection. To throw off introversion and overcome the divisions imposed on us. To make fear change sides. For a world of equality, freedom, solidarity. For anarchy.
On 07/10 at noon we returned a small share of the state violence that we receive daily by attacking with Molotov cocktails the riot squad that guards the Steki of Biologica at the University of Thessaloniki. We have taken all necessary measures to avoid endangering passers-by. First we targeted the cops who were standing guard while sleeping and after they made sure to disappear we hit the bus itself.
Power to the captured member of the Anarchist Action organization Thanos Chatziaggelou
Solidarity to Georgia Voulgaris and Panagiotis Kalaitzis who are being prosecuted for the same case
Neither in 34 nor 100 squat, forever Biologica.
Neither disciplinary, nor expulsions, get the cops out of the schools
anarchist students – ACAB
Source: athens.indymedia
DN Notes
1. Communist party of Greece – MAT (riot police) – plainclothes cops. A common phrase used to describe how the KKE – Communist Party of Greece, which is Stalinist, supports the cops and the state. It has actively been against such outbursts of insurrection as in Decemeber 2008 and stood alongside, even been the front line of security in oppressing especially anarchist protests.
2. The Siemens bribery scandal in Greece is a corruption and bribery scandal over deals between Siemens and Greek government officials during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, regarding security systems and purchases by public telecommunications company OTE in the 1990s.