Breaking the sword of capital hanging over Exarcheia

From Athens Indymedia

The current situation of inundation, exhaustion & fear

The beginning of any counter insurgency from state and capital includes prolonged low intensity attacks. Exarcheia knows full well what this looks like and has with much success resisted it in the past. At the current moment, with capital in a worldwide state of hyper crisis, this mania throws everything it can towards areas that cannot be managed for profit generation. Our neighborhood is not only one of these areas but also the lighthouse that inspires others to fight for them and seek its refuge.

It only takes a pair of functioning eyes to see less women on the streets of Exarcheia. No theory or explanation necessary, these (disastrous) changes are right in front of us. As foreign people who came to Exarcheia prior to this current crisis many first remark how amazing it is to see so many women out. Where we come from this is never the case. It does not take some mythical "new" man with a clean past unaffected by patriarchal society to see it. It's here and for those that notice it, we are filled with intense anger.

The patriarchal attack comes along with other elemental attacks from emergent conservatism. Whether it includes racism, mafia control or rejection of self organization it is all due to the general inundation and embedded counter insurgency. Exarcheia is not alone, but it may have the best chance to fight and within that fight a victory may be seen by many across the earth as a slice of hope.

Making way for efficiency, the logic of the state

Who can solve the crises of racism, sexism and mafia? We know the creeping answer from the liberal intelligentsia. If you haven't heard that rebellion creates "problems for the oppressed from the privileged,"it's coming. As it always does, the middle class seeking their own comfort use the identity of others to shield themselves. Out of fear or self interest they attack self organization in favor of efficiency. Speaking out in support of the oppressed while whispering to the states henchman that the time for security is now.

How does manic capital squeeze the last drop of profit out of it's own neighborhoods? Efficiency. Turning every slice of public space into potential profit. No matter how small, every thing needs to be commodified. Many anarchists believe this is more of the same, it is in fact new. The state of capitalism itself is in crisis due to an inability to create mass profit. The sword is turned inward at us.

Igniting the Potential Supernova

You cannot have any piece of uncontrollable real estate within a capital efficient city. It all has to be going as planned. Exarcheia is the ignition, in some ways the flame just needs to last till the next economic disaster. In other ways action is needed now to stop serious degradation. But never assume the monolith cannot be slayed. The new 2007 around the corner guarantees it can and if we outlast it, the potential for anarchy is infinite. The stakes are high.

We advocate a declaration of war on their investment. The fight against efficiency is the fight against Airbnb, Mafia Control,Police Encroachment, Liberalism and the general chewing up of public space. For us, we see weakness in foreign investment and destruction of neighborhoods for the "sharing economy." There is not one place on the planet that could cause more problems for these vultures than Exarcheia and Athens. Cause enough problems and the ignition is set.

Against Predictable Revolt

When do the troubles start and end? The question no developer, yuppie, tourist, hipster or exploiter should be able to answer.To safeguard rebellion neighborhoods must become unsafe for law and order as a prerequisite. For this to be realized, not only the henchmen but the charitable representatives must be opposed. The ideals of the state and it's Orwellian repression rides in on the back of the MAT officer as much as the progressive, hip pseudo culture. The neo-hippies. Or rather, the enemy. Law and order is society and vice versa.


Many already face exile or homelessness.

And for some this is the difference between freedom and prison.

For Exarcheia it is a question of existence.


3/22 6 PM Exarcheia Square

3/29 6 PM Exarcheia Square


~ Et & Anonymous International Anarchists

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There are 11 Comments

i wonder how much impetus to eliminate Exarchia comes from the Greek State vs direct or indirect pressure from the E.U. or NATO vs local groups pressuring the state, vs international interests of property owners of real estate corporations etc. i have no idea, i'm not from there and i'm completely ignorant on the details.

Isn't it usually a perfect storm of any combo of those factors? That history of Ungdomshuset that crimethinc did, seemed to suggest that. When the conflict was at its peak, city hall, the police, local far right religious cults AND business interests were all forming unholy pacts against those dirty commie skid punks but also fighting amongst themselves too.

It's all about how much of a lightning rod you make of yourself.

damn...

will read up on that. thanks senileoldtroll, ur much appreciated

I'm about that pattern recognition, you know?

Problematic to conflate "commies" with "skid punks", even as scapegoating rhetoric. The commies in Exarkhia tend to be vehemently anti-anarchist and also aren't very nice to anarcho-punks. I think on the contrary, many of the reactionaries will be fine when the neighborhood becomes controlled by communists, as they are good to manage the milieu, much better than official State organizations or right-wing elements. That's why the biggest threat I've seen in Exarkhia are the commies and their communitarian approach. That, and the usual Erasmus/New York University crowd of summer-school travelers.

Europol and the CIA already knows and may have been using these as assets for intel and maybe internal disruptions.

so zad and exarchia can both be blamed on commies?
sounds too simplistic, although i’m sure they have their share of blame

Exarkhia's got zero to do with the ZAD, and it's still alive, unlike the latter which appears to have imploded. As I said, commies and their politics aren't the only problem with Exarkhia. There's been also some capitalist interests in the place, and yuppie tourists/students attracted by the enthropic appeal. I think it's still wrong to be seeing the neighborhood as a "commune" or a geographical squat, as it clearly is not. In my experience, it's a way more liberated and politicized neighborhood in the middle of the vast shithole that is Athens. This is not the only place in Greece where you'll find anarchistic living, just the more assertive place. But it's still cool, I think, that a neighborhood has become a front for a tendency that lives elsewhere around.

my apologies

fukin weirdos … all I meant was the kids at ungdomshuset were "commies" in the broadest sense of the term because the place had some of those characteristics of being a shared, relatively open, anti-capitalist space. I'm compressing a lot of complexity there but I don't get all wiggy about the word either, UNLIKE SOME OF YOU

My point was the similarities (if any) of open conflict spaces in opposition to the capitalist state.

"I'm compressing a lot of complexity there but I don't get all wiggy about the word either, UNLIKE SOME OF YOU"

And most if not all anarchists in Italy, Spain, Greece, where "communist" has a very clear socio-political meaning, which includes an history of violence, copping and blackmailing against anarchists.

So no, just because you're maintaining an open squat where principles of free sharing are applied, this doesn't make people "commies".

You can dig your heels in all you like but I was never making a serious point in the first place. Read the sentence you're referencing again. "commie skid punks", does it sound like I was making a nuanced point about economic models? NO. You're just fukin triggered and wringing your hands.

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