Following the end of the event “Revolutionary memory and perspective of the struggle” in Mesologgiou street, a crowd of comrades descended to Kolettis and Themistokleous streets to defend the liberation of the building.
The following is the self-introductory communique of the occupation:
The silence of the metropolis weighs like a stone on our shoulders. The streets are filled with worn-out stares, bodies crawling out of habit, out of fear, out of submission. The world moves along predetermined paths, without a second thought, tempering its dreams. Everything is programmed to work exactly as they want: work, consumption, obedience. Yet, always, beneath the surface, something is boiling.
History is not written by the obedient. A few choose to bear the burden of disobedience. To crack the concrete of normality. To confront the invisible hand of power that chokes every aspect of our lives. Refusing to submit is not a mere stance. It is a call to question, to overturn, to take back everything that belongs to us.
We are comrades, anarchists who derive from different political and ideological backgrounds, but we have found ourselves in the very same fires of struggle. It is there, where our common struggles and collective experiences united us, that we recognized the vital need for the creation of a space for meeting, political maturation1, exchange of views and organizational empowerment.
At a time when isolation is imposed and communities of struggle are being dismantled by repression, the formation of such spaces is not only necessary – it is crucial.
The repressive blows of recent years have not come by accident. The authorities are attempting to eliminate any focus of resistance, to crush any form of self-organisation and to extinguish the flame of contestation.
Great achievements have been lost, the movement has been put on the defensive, the recession is now on the horizon. But we know that history is written by those who do not fall back, by those who are not afraid to confront reality.
To remain on the defensive is to accept defeat. And that is not going to happen.
The time is now to turn words into action, to move from defense to attack.
So let’s make it clear that the enemy will not get rid of us so easily.
We must define our own field of struggle, reclaim our space and time.
To liberate territories from domination, to create a vibrant centre of resistance, a radical cell for mobilisation2 both in theory and action.
We perceive the occupation as an integral part of the movement and the movement as an organic element of the occupation.
The existence of territories of struggle is not just a practical question, but a deeply political one.
Squats are not just places to hang out, they are not just places of hospitality.
They are strongholds of resistance, laboratories of radical practices, cracks in the normality they try to impose on us.
And this is a non-negotiable reality.
Every neighbourhood, every street, every square is not a neutral ground. It is a vibrant map of oppositions, conflicts and claims. Cities are built on the basis of discipline, policing and the sterilization of public space. Squares are filled with surveillance cameras, walls are painted grey, buildings become inaccessible bastions for those who cannot afford to pay the price of existence in a world where everything has a tag price.
Dominance is implementing a strategic plan of universal control of the metropolises, crushing any source of resistance.
Armed with black propaganda and ideological warfare, it attempts to shape consciousness, while the deliberate degradation of neighbourhoods through the spread of organised crime and the violent expulsion of the local population is paving the way for its complete absorption by capital. Continue reading “Athens, Greece: Beneath the concrete, something is burning. Statement regarding the occupation of a building and creation of Rasprava Squat”