February 28th marks two years since the deadly crime of Tempi. Two years later and the causes of the collision between a Hellenic Train passenger train and a commercial train remain unclear. Unclear precisely because the main perpetrators of this crime are the capitalist policies of the state and its capital.
57 people died and how many others were seriously injured, with the government trying to cover up the causes of the tragedy, defending once again the private capital of the big bourgeoisie. The latest developments that have come to light leave no room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Whether it is fuel smuggling or the transport of any flammable materials, Hellenic Train, New Democracy and capital are covering up their crime.
A cover-up that began to develop from the very first minutes of the crash, with the unprecedented mobilization of the New Democracy’s executive state, which ran to cover up in mafioso terms the permanent complex relationship of bourgeois power with parasitic capital and its interests.
The state administration, with particular zeal, took care to distort the site of the crash, moving and patching up the materials and the site itself, in an attempt to conceal key evidence that could prove what the freight train was actually carrying, the real circumstances of the crash and the real perpetrators of the crash.
Political orders given by “known-unknowns”, political and operational officials who were “absentees”, videos that disappeared or were tampered with, a political power system and a prime minister who “didn’t know, didn’t see, wasn’t informed”. A minister who resigned by immediately standing again and a communication campaign based on human error, dressed up with the audacity of political actors who used a fake 41% as an alibi, mocking the whole of society and the struggles of the victims’ relatives who are seeking justice. At the same time, Hellenic Train, which bought the railway network for a piece of bread, is lying about the contents of the train, blaming its workers.
Nevertheless, the essence of the Tempi crime was and remains one.
Against their profits are our lives. But against the violence of capital lies the violence of our class. This was shown then by the huge and historic rallies of the working class and the people, and it is shown now by last Sunday’s overwhelming rally in the Syntagma. The squares of all the cities were flooded with demonstrators while the devastating last words of the passengers, “I have no oxygen”, became the motto of hundreds of thousands of people.
The social anger that overwhelms the social majority was expressed in a powerful way that Sunday, disarming the state and capitalist mechanisms for good, reminding them that nothing will be forgotten.
Tasks which are none other than the continuation of the struggle against the capitalist system and profit.
The attack on the Hellenic Train headquarters on Friday night, 31 January, is part of our overall struggle. It is a symbolic counter-attack against the makers of capitalist crime and a gesture of honour to those who lost their lives. An overall reminder that we will continue to fight for decent living conditions, for public and free social goods, for our own lives.
The developments of the coming period will find us at the point where the heart of our class beats. Where everything is decided, in the streets of struggle. Where the social, popular, class forces will meet to declare and ensure that the state-capitalist crime in the Tempi will not be completed.
28 FEBRUARY EVERYONE IN THE STREETS
proletarian militants
Source: Blessed is the Flame