“Lawlessness”, “trouble makers”, “nights of violence in Exarchia”, “a seed bed of terrorists”, “solidarity is a vitrine for riots”, “vandals”, “criminals”, “it was only by accident that there were no casualties”, “rubbish and dust”, …” A mishmash of politicians, cops and TV narks unleash sewers of slander and misinformation to the people of the movement and all those whose voice cannot be heard to oppose such lies.
But it’s also time for us to speak up.
The strange ones, the weirdos, the oppressed, the students, the unemployed, the poorly paid workers, the immigrants, the homeless, all those who deny this rotten system. The squat Dervenion 56 is a space for all those and aspires to accommodate even more of all that is not fit for this world.
Dervenion 56 was squatted in 2015 to coordinate grassroots actions of solidarity to immigrants. Closing this cycle in 2017, the squat continues to function as a social and political space ever since, addressing both locals and migrants, hosting events, assemblies of groups, a multilingual library and language classes. The different political groups and comrades that take part in the squat’s central assembly operate collectively and anti-hierarchically, without intermediaries and of course without any material benefit.
And shall we also tell you who is them?
They are those who in their race for state power promised “quiet-order-safety” to their bosses and herds, at any cost and by all means. Those who during these last four months attempt to establish an emergency regime by evacuating political spaces, displacing hundreds of migrants to isolated spots far away from their communities and in concentration camps, through violent, racist and homophobic attacks by the police, sexual harassments, virtual rapes, physical and electronic intercepts, beatings, prosecutions, abductions, invasions in universities and homes, proclamations and ultimatums. And all this after five years in power of a government which followed the European politics of repression and assimilation, and engaged in a series of repressive police operations, upgrading the state’s operational tactics and its ability to better understand the “internal enemy”.
They are all the different faces of the state, the zombies of power, the corrupted bribe-takers, the client state, the ruffians, the Nazi-nostalgics, the fascists. Those who appoint all of their family members to high ranking state positions, those who legalize money laundering, those who speak of “illegal settlers” but bow to any dregs rich enough to buy a golden visa. Those who cause and maintain political and financial scandals, those who attack the lower classes, those who throw families on the street. Those who criminalize strikes and unions, those who color “green” a growth based on the unlimited production and resale of energy, those who are responsible for the plundering and destruction of nature.
They are those who terrorize society and steal all that is ours!
Their aim is to create a climate of polarization through a strategy of tension, so that they can intensify the exploitation of those from below even more and proceed with business-as-usual unobstructed. Their aim is to crush any voice that is different – any striker, unemployed, student, anyone who dares to question their domination, anyone who doesn’t fit in the “nation-religion-family-growth” scheme – in order to set an example for any potential dissenters. To terrorize anyone who resists individualization and the wild competition of the free market, anyone who refuses to shut up and sit down on the couch with the remote on their lap, anyone who refuses to simply “mind their own business”, anyone who struggles to take their life in their own hands.
Against this general attack, we will continue to be part of those who take the streets, to take part in every social struggle that will unfold, to stand together with those who resist, to stand in solidarity with those who are hit hard by this system. It doesn’t matter how many blows we take, how many of our spaces we lose – our struggles were never tied to buildings and confined by walls. They are the strikes, the protests, the demonstrations, the attacks. They are the solidarity we practice and the relationships we build, the collective resistances in neighborhoods, the molecular denials at work. They are all those that will change society for ever.
Let’s make it clear one more time. The squares, the streets, the mountains and the canyons are not yours to take. No matter how many arms, how many cops, how much tear gas and how many media you deploy, they are not yours to take. They are all ours and will remain ours.
War against state and capital
Solidarity to the (recaptured) squats
10, 100, 1000 insurrections
Dervenion 56 squat assembly
Athens, 28.11.2019
