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*As Chavez attempts to allow indefinite presidential reelections for himself by way of the approval of the Referendum for Constitutional amendment, anarchists publish this declaration, which is also the Editorial of El Libertario #55, January-February 2009 (now on line, in Spanish www.nodo50.org/ellibertario).

During mid-December a large number of people working under temporary contracts in governmental offices lost their jobs due to orders “from above” that mandated a drastic reduction in the inflated state payroll due to the economic crisis. On the other hand a report by the NGO CECODAP counted 174 children dead by gunshots in one year in their neighborhoods, which testifies about the violence we live with in this country, symptom of our social crisis. The lack of decent housing affects 13 million people, after ten consecutive years of the Bolivarian government failing to meet their own goals, which has mobilized the community of the homeless throughout the nation, occupying land under threats of criminalization and police and judicial repression. During 2008 inflation was the highest in Latin America, lowering real wages as the cost of food and services rose, and this situation is not going to improve in 2009. Besides, the state’s income and expenses will drop considerably due to falling oil prices, our main export. The condition of health care, personal security, of people deprived of freedom, the degradation of the police forces and the murder of labor activists do not pass scrutiny either, despite al the government propaganda in the media.

Statements from the assembly of the Thessaloniki trade union centre, which was occupied in solidarity with attacked cleaning worker Konstantina Kuneva.

Occupation of the Thessaloniki Trade Unions Center for Konstantina Kuneva - text of Dec.30 assembly

“We occupy today the Thessaloniki Trade Unions Center to resist state oppression manifested in murders and terrorism against working people. We occupy the Trade Unions Center and obstruct its administration; we do not obstruct the workings of 1st degree unions; far from it, we appeal to them and to working people to join this common struggle”

The occupation of the Trade Unions Center of Thessaloniki continues.

Short info about second day of the anti fur demonstration in Krakow, Poland: In the dead of winter almost 30 people are protesting against killing animals for furs. Today was a second of the 3-day anti fur protest, part of campaign against Simple Cruelty Products. One of the activists - vegan, animal liberation activist - is on hunger strike from the beginning of the anti fur demonstration. Police bastards, after many calls received from Simple Cruelty Products manager, are trying to uncover front of fur shop. Fur is murder!

29.12 link: first day/pierwszy dzień protestu
http://lifevegwait.blogspot.com/2008/12/pl-zacza-si-3-dniowa-demonstracj...

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Despite escalating psychological warfare waged against the insurgency, protesters are keeping the struggle warm across Greece during the season holidays

The week following the 15 day insurrection in Greece saw the development of psychological warfare counterinsurgency techniques by state that began with the shooting of a school pupil in Peristeri (West Athens) on the 18/12.

Even during the height of the insurrection, in its effort to create a climate of terror and uncertainty, the state had been spreading rumours about busloads of anarchist or immigrants travelling to provincial towns with the intention to burn their commercial centres down.

Such rumours in connection with efforts to mobilise conservative elements of society in Patras and Larissa led to clashes of protesters with neonazi and pro-junta elements organised by the police on 10/12.

ARRESTS (from 06/12/08 to 21/12/08)

Arrests: 246 - detained/ pretrial custody: 66

ATHENS: 50 immigrants arrested in the first three days of the uprising sentenced to 18-month imprisonment in trials without interpreters and may be deportated, (every other day arrests are occuring, the picture is still blurry). Also on 7/12, 7 arrests were made for misdemeanors [one minor will be judged on 29/01 and 6 adults on the 26/06] on the 9/12 2 arrests were made and a regular trial date was set, on 11/12 5 people were imprisoned [ 3 Greek citizens and 2 immigrants] and 15/12 they imprisoned another 4 people (according to the blog for the ASOEE squat). On 18/12 they arrested 8 persons accused of crimes (according to word from comrades).

* In the difficult times being experienced by the Venezuelan labour movement, perhaps the most dramatic issue have been the criminal acts that kills tens of trade unionists to the passivity of the pseudo-revolutionary government and the silence of his admirers from outside the country. It speaks about it this text of El Libertario # 55, January-February 2009.

“In revolution, trade unions must disappear ... trade unions were born with the same poison of the autonomy. The trade unions can not be independent, we should finish with that”.
Hugo Chávez speech at the launch act of the PSUV. Caracas, 24-March-2007.

The coward execution of 3 worker leaders of Aragua state, which occurred on 27/Nov/2008, requires paying attention to the criminal practices that in recent years have become customary within the remainder of the prostrate trade union movement. As has happened elsewhere in the world, a sign of low times in labour militancy is the growing presence of gangster procedures of all kinds, which begin to be a fatal routine that further aggravated the decline of workers struggle.

On 6 December, at nine in the evening, a man of the special police force
stopped, took aim and shot dead a fifteen-year old kid in the
neighbourhood of Exarchia, Athens. This murder is not a singular event of
police violence. The morning of the same day, immigrants waiting to apply
for asylum at the police station of Petrou Ralli avenue were attacked by
riot police. A Pakistani man suffered traumatic brain injury and has been
struggling for life ever since in the intensive care unit of Evangelismos
hospital. These are just two of the dozens of similar cases over the past
years.

December 27, 2008

A. The state of corporatism that we live in

The planet is under a state of siege from corporations. The people who own them (i.e. this neurotic, criminal minority) use tools such as the States in order to increase their monetary income to the maximum, to meet their desire for total authority and to maintain the postmodern industrial production apparatus called Planet Earth.

There is no doubt that it is the banks controlling the States (and not the other way round) since, as we passively observe at this moment, the masks in the birthplace state of capitalism have fallen: the US government supports the panicked moves of this Corporatist regime and prepares its army for a “possible social unrest in the face of an upcoming crisis”.

In turn, states hold the people in a divided and idle state so that they will compete with one another instead of rising up against the obvious enemy of humanity. Those in authority bring up individuals teaching them their differences to the person next to them; implanting them “values” such as the nation, gender, success, consumption, health, beauty and sanity of mind. These produce behaviours observed globally and are, more or less, known to us all: nationalism, racism, consumerism, sexism, ableism, ageism and lookism.

States would have been unable to mark our bodies with such rotten scars if it wasn’t for the Cops, the Medical Regime, the Educational Regime, the Establishment Media, Religions and Bureaucracy in all its forms.

All opinion polls conducted in the country agree on one topic: the insecurity is the main problem for the citizens. The numbers of homicides and personal injuries place us, at present, as one of the most dangerous countries on the continent. This situation is particularly felt in the popular sectors, where there are areas with "curfews" imposed by the antisocial. Against this, the government response has been inefficient in dealing with the situation, prioritizing the repressive policies that has been amply demonstrated, are as inadequate as counterproductive.

The Occupation of the Polytechnic ended at midnight of the 24th of December – The struggle continues…

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE POLYTECHNIC OCCUPATION

Immediately after the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the special police guard Ep. Korkoneas and the first clashes in the streets of Exarchia, the Polytechnic university was occupied and turned into a focus for the expression of social rage. Being a space historically and symbolically connected in the living memory ofthe rebels and of a big part of society with the struggle against Authority -from the period of dictatorship until today’s modern totalitarian democracy-, the Polytechnic became the place where hundreds of people gathered spontaneously: comrades, youth and workers, jobless, pupils, immigrants, students…

The fights with the forces of repression and the flaming barricades in the surrounding streets became the spark of a revolt that spread with spontaneous demonstrations in the city, the occupation of the Economics University and the Law School, with attacks against state and capitalist targets in the centre and neighborhoods of Athens and in most cities across the country.

An effort to gather information about the total arrests and convictions all over the country from 6/12. Information is by lawyers, comrades, and in some cases the local press/media. Every effort has been taken to include verified information.

ARRESTS SINCE DECEMBER 6th, COUNTRY-WIDE

ATHENS: 50 immigrants are sure to have been put in pre-trial custody for 18 months in trials where there was no translator/interpreter for them and will likely be deported (immigrant arrests are going on every day and the picture isn't clear yet). On December 11 another 5 were held in pre-trial custody [3 greeks and 2 immigrants] and on December 15 another 4 (according to the University of Economics [ASOEE] occupation blog and comrades).

THESSALONIKI: 21 arrests (3 minors will be tried on February 13th 2009 - the rest, mostly immigrants, were tried in flagrante delicto [in a police or Magistrate's court], convicted and likely no-one is in pre-trial custody, maybe the number of arrests in all the days past is greater -according to the ASOEE blog and comrades).

KOZANI: 34 arrests (3 in pre-trial custody at Grevena prisons - 15 of the 34 arrests were not announced by the cops, only verbally! - at keast 7 minors of which two are Albanian immigrants - an arrestee who was released, being seriously wounded in the face by a tear gas cartridge [he was arrested in the hospital, as were 2 others], was transferred to a hospital in Athens - according to lawyers, comrades and the ASOEE blog).

PTOLEMAIDA: 7 arrests (5 minors, the 2 adults were already tried, convicted and released on parole - no-one in pre-trial custody - according to lawyers and comrades).

LARISA: 19 arrests that will be prosecuted according to the counter-terrorism law (9 of which minors - 4 adults in pre-trial custody, in Korydallos and Avlona prisons - according to lawyers and comrades).

PATRAS: 21 arrests (6 and 15 - 9 minors, probably no-one in pre-trial custody - according to comrades).

CHANIA: 7 arrests (6 minors, 1 adult - no-one in pre-trial custody - according to comrades).

HERAKLION: 18 arrests (all released on bail and restrictive conditions - 4 are adults - the rest are minors who were arrested with their parents, the parents were accused of "neglecting a minor"! - according to comrades).

ZAKYNTHOS: 6 arrests (2 minors, 13 and 16 years old, who were released by orders from the DA - the remaining 4 are a young immigrant woman and 3 men, who will be tried March 19, 2009 for 5 misdemeanors - according to comrade and local press).

VOLOS: 6 arrests (5 minors, they were released and will be tried on a date to be set - the one adult was tried and convicted to 2 years and 10 months for 3 misdemeanors - according to local press and ERT).

Unknown as of yet: Kavala

No arrests were made (although in some, people were taken to the police station but not arrested) in the following town and cities, where marches, clashes or simple protests took place:

Serres, Chalkida, Ioannina, Veroia, Xanthi, Komotini, Alexandroupolis [according to comrades from there].

Drama, Trikala, Karditsa, Florina, Chios, Mytilini, Korinthos, Kefallonia, Lamia, Agrinio, Nafpaktos, Rhodos, Syros, Rethymnon, Leros, Kastoria [according to the media].

Excerpts of statements from the cops near the murder and from the radio conversations with central operations contradict the stories of the two cops involved in Alexandros' murder

More of the truth starts to come out about Alexandros' murder, as we hear statements from other police in the area that night.

Excerpt from statements given by some members of the squad of riot police that were guarding the PASOK offices on the night Alexandros was murdered

On Sunday night in Wroclaw there was a demonstration in support if the events happening in Greece organized by local anarchists. About 70 people gathered on the main square. Candles were lit under a portrait of Alexandros.

One of the participants explained the reasons for the protest - police brutality, state repression, media manipulation and the injustice of the capitalist system. "There are people for which money and property are more important than human life and suffering. These are people in high positions who think they are intellectually great but are morally inferior. The revolt in Greece is a revolt against the system that favourizes those people for whom profits and money are more important than human life," she explained.

Then a member of the Union of Polish Syndicalists (ZSP) described the economic background which led to the social explosion in Greece. He stressed that Greece may be the weakest link in the EU right now but the economic crisis that is effecting Greece is global and is also effecting Poland. "Soon in Lower Silesia alone tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs. And just like in Greece, the government will think only of saving banks and corporations, normal people will be left with a mound of debt on their backs. So we ask - will Polish workers and students give up and just shrug their shoulders again, or will they take an example from the Greeks who questioned the political and economic system on the streets. They already know that nobody has to be accountable to a weak society."

Translation of the statement of Nikos R., which describes what happened on the night of December 6 and how the police shot his friend Alexandros Grigoropoulos

I go to the first year of high school at Psychiko Public High School. I knew Alexandros, or Gregory (the pet name we used for him, from his last name) since 4th grade in elementary school. We used to go to the same school. Until the first year of middle school we didn't keep close company. From the first year of middle school however, until yesterday when they killed him, we were close friends.

Yesterday 12-6-2008 were you with Alexandros?

Yesterday around 5:50 p.m. I went with a friend from next door to Larisis Station. Before I went there, however, I had spoken with Alexandros. He told me that he was going to go to a polo match... I told him to call me when the match was over so we could meet at Mesolongi Street, in Exarcheia. He was going to go to the match with his friend Nikos F. and P. Ch. At regular intervals we used to meet there. We planned to go to Faros Psychikou, to find our friends from our old schools and go do something together because yesterday I celebrated my name day.

By Nikos Raptis

As always, to understand what is going on today (Dec.11, '08) in Greece (or any place) one has to go back in time a few decades. Let us make the effort.

A few weeks after the "departure", in 1974, of the US-supported dictatorship in Greece, I was in the luxurious ground floor of the Bank of Greece where I was filling some forms to secure the necessary exchange for the purchase of a book from a US publisher. I was sitting at a long heavy table. It was early in the day, there were not many people in the huge ground floor and the two security policemen there came and sat at the other end of the table and started chatting. I was wearing a US-made sport jacket. They took me for a foreigner and started talking freely. The older (fat) one says: "So, Karamanlis came from Paris [after the dictatorship] and instead of giving us money, the asshole bought helmets and riot gear for us". That, Karamanlis, was the uncle of the (rather rotund) present Karamanlis, the Prime Minister of Greece. Karamanlis, the uncle, is referred to as the "Ethnarch" [the "father" of the nation]. Actually, he was a US-chosen rightist proxy to administer Greece on behalf of the US in the early 1950s. He died a few years ago and he demanded that his corpse be buried in a private lot on which a memorial building was erected mimicking the building of the usual "presidential library" of the US Presidents. The burial in a private space is illegal in Greece.