The names of the three bank workers who died in the Marfin bank branch that was set alight have been announced. They are Paraskeui Zoulia, 35; Aggeliki Papathanasopoulou, 32 and Epameinondas Tsakalis, 36.
We are all very shocked and saddened by their tragic deaths and it is extremely hard to keep on reporting from here in Athens. However, the events unfolding are so crucial that it is important to do so. In brief:
- First of all, a short disclaimer. No anarchists would ever purposefully endanger other peoples’ lives. Bank branches have been a regular target for protestors in the streets of Athens for years; for this reason, banks are boarded up on demonstration days. To lock up employees in a bank branch lying on the route of the biggest demonstration the country has seen in its post-dictatorial era is murderous negliance.
- In the video below, Mr. Vgenopoulos, the owner of Marfin Bank arrives at the branch only moments after the deaths of his employees have been confirmed. The gathered crowd shouts “murderer” at him repeatedly. Around 43 seconds into the video one of the gathered people shouts: “how many yachts do you own?”, at which point Vgenopoulos signals with his fingers: “three”.
- Today is the day that the austerity measures are to be voted in parliament. Union umbrella GSEE has called for a demonstration today at 6pm; PAME, the union umbrella close to the Communist Party has called for a night-long blocking off the parliament.
- Yesterday in Exarcheia, the riot police launched more unprecedented attacks: the left-wing “Haunt of Migrants” was raided without any provocations; the riot police stormed in, smashing doors, beating people, chanting “Tonight, we’ll fuck you”. Photos from the raid (more here):
- A few moments later, the anarchist squat on Zaimi Street was raided by the police – eye-witnesses report that the police shot bullets and threw hand-grenades inside the building. All the people inside were arrested. In total, 70 people were detained and 25 face charges. A solidarity gathering is underway outside the courthouse in Athens.
- Moments before this raid, the riot police attacked the cafe on the corner of Stournari street and Tsamadou Str, by Exarcheia square. In the video below, they are shown smashing the facade of the cafe even though there are people inside. In the last few seconds of the video, the following dialogue takes place:
[riot police man] Erase it now, right now. Why are you filming? Who gave you permission?
[camera person] Why?
[riot police man] Because I fucking say so.
19 Comments
I just have heared of the terrible events and am shocked. I think it is very good that occupied london honours the three dead and published the disclaimer.
For all people, especially the ones commenting here, who use the death of three human beings to post their hatespeeches against anarchists, ask youself this: have you ever reacted that way when yet another immigrant was beaten or/and even murdered by Athens police? have you ever reacted that way, when yet another ten or hundred or thousand civilians died in Iraq or Afghanistan or somewere else in this world? Do you post hatefull comments on mainstream media pages every day, for the tens of thousands of people who are structurarely killed by an unreasonable global economical power system on a daily basis? No? Then you should maybe just shut up and start thinking…unless you actually like the state of the world, cause it provides you with a colour tv, a car, a house of your own and cheap bananas. And all that just for the price of having to look at all human beings as competitors and potential threats!
To all anarchist and leftradical comrades:
While we do not know who threw the molotov and should definately fight back against the political and medial campaign that points the finger at the people fighting against their misery, we should also be brave enough to admit that it is possible it was “one of us”.
Everyone who has been involved in mass militant fighting knows that there is always the potential of such a tragedy happening. Since we are not a party or any other kind of institution – and a peoples’ revolt will never be – we can never entirely control the situation.
Anyone could cause this kind of harm within a violent demo: agents provocateurs of the cops, fascists, hooligans, angry citizens or anarchist hotheads.
Even if it was done by agents of the state or the upper classes, WE as Anarchists provided the necessary sourroundings! Let’s not deny this. Exactly because we learn while fighting, exactly because we do not want to be like a party, like the state and the ruling classes, like the fascists, we have to be honest, humane, self-critical and yet determined.
So it is time to think about what we can do to minimalise the risk and prevent the harming or even, as now tragically happened, killing of uninvolved people.
While it is fine for me to use molotovs against police or in planned actions, there should be a consensus not to use them against buildings in which
a) there might be people and
b) the fire could spread to other, noninvolved buildings, i.e. residential houses. And we all know that stores with flats above them are attacked on demos in Greece time and again.
Attacking a bank, a store of a big company etc. is always a symbolic act and should be treated as such.
Use stones, use paint, get inside and destroy everything if there is the possibility. If we use fire, we can not control the outcome, media and politics will be happy to be able to portray us as psychopath hooligans, and the symbolism is the same anyway.
Just to add the powerfull picture of flames to it is not worth risking the health of human beings.
That said all my solidarity goes to the anarchist and leftradical friends and comrades in Greece and all people anywere fighting for a world free of capitalism and full of mutual cooperation, in which individual an collective freedom are one and a descent, fullfilled life for everyone is the goal of society!
Photos from the raid (more here):
dear comrades,
the link in “here” doesn’t work.
Solidarity from Italy
Solidarity from New York.
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/is-firebombing-a-bank-an-acceptable-tactic/
Are there any protests taking place tomorrow or this weekend?
pl everyone how wants to write just “long” comments… is it possible to point that out? so that we can use it here for UPDATES!…
As i know OL is a serious source but: is it the truth with “shot bullets and throw handgrenades” ?
and do you know about the army in Attica (yesterday) being on stand by and that some 2000 MAT were only stand by and stayed in their holes?
can someone pl translate:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1164604
I am not an anarchist. Whether anarchy is a viable social philosophy cannot be answered by abstract arguments only by life. Can its adherents act as catalysts for the overthrow of Capitalism? I don’t know. Are anarchists responsible for the act of every person who claims to be an anarchist? Definitely not. Every revolutionary movement figures as the Villain of Bourgeois peace. Today the Anarchist is the enemy. Tomorrow its the Communists. The day after the Marxists.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8664161.stm
sorry crossposting just to save a scary kind of censorship on indyger posted at 9:45 p.m. german time, hidden by indyger with wrong time: 8:40 pm
wenn schon denn schon wie indy athen!
updaterin 06.05.2010 – 20:40
auf indy athen kann man einfach anklinken, ob kommentare erwünscht sind oder nicht, alles ganz einfach, aber meistens ist es garnicht nötig, weil die leute einfach nicht soviel zu sabbeln haben!
daß indy athen “down” ist – manchmal – hat nicht nur mit gehacke von LAOS oda staat zu tun, sondern ist einfach überlastung.
miltärische granaten blabla ja ständig, is aba nich militärisch, sondern “normal” da!
gestern ham die bullen in dem squat, den se gerazzt ham, geschossen und handgranaten geworfen (lt. OL), das andere haus ist die “Steki”,das haus der “albanischen” “migranten”, die sehr gute papiere schreiben und die letztes jahr von parastaatlichen mit ner handgranate angegriffen worden sind.
fällt euch eigentlich auf, daß bisher kaum “randale” nachts abgeht? kann es sein, daß die leute bisher nur reagieren!? sie agieren wie früher zu hafenstrassenzeiten, wir nannten das “politische demos” in ketten, mit seilen und ausrüstung und erst dann, wenn für den “bürger” eindeutig erkennbar war, wer angefangen hat, gab’s zunder!
regarding TAZ: wir haben denen in ihre leserbriefspalte die ORF sendung reingesetzt, aba wurde nicht angenommen! erwarten wir auch nicht: taz lügt immernoch!
könnt ihr uns mal updaten über die soliaktionen in deutschland und anderswo? wir wissen, daß new york ne demo machen wollte und in berlin und köln war was. was in berlin? ist die demo am 10. verifiziert und können andere städte dann auch?
vorschlag für berlin: alex-friedrich176-leipzigerplatz8-wittenbergplatz-steglitz/griechische kirche (es muss nich alles zu fuss sein, aber WICHTIG ist uns mit die gr. community zu konfrontieren! -yamas! katalipsi! eleftheria!
http://blog.occupiedlondon.org/2010/05/06/281-names-of-the-dead-announced-bank-workers-strike-today-in-memory-police-launch-unprecedented-attacks-in-athens/#comments
http://www.anarchypress.gr/
read between the lines:
http://www.neoskosmos.com/news/en/Riots-Athens-Three-dead
http://www.neoskosmos.com/news/en/Riots-Athens-Three-dead?page=2
FREE THE ATHENS 7
epanastatikos agonas
BEWEGUNG 17.NOVEMBER (kommando conny wessmann)
RAF (revolutionäre alternative folgt)
Well, I was there when the events happened. I want to believe that a true anarchist never will endager others live on purpose… yes, a true one…. but really I´ve seen a lot of people here claiming that they are anarchists with no real idea of anarchism.
When you ask the people, the want a change… some of theme say they want the comunism… and again, they don´t know really about it. They want justice, equality, respect… all this values are beyond any political ideas, this is not communism or socialism, left or right…this are human basic rights. And when you ask, ehat have your done for your people, for your country, to make it a better place: “I don´t steal”… again… this is not the question I ask what have you DONE not what you HAVEN´T DONE.
What is a real shame for me, as a latin american, is this is a so-called first world city with high quality in education, with high-quality of life and respect to the basic human right. Yea right! c´mon. Where is all this education? Where is the solutions?Stones and fire… do you know where you really want to go? To destroy capitalism by destroying banks? You can say the capitalistic heads, the owners of the banks are laughing at this, maybe in a mansion in one of this greek islands.
Sorry but even when I consider as someones here, the paintings, the stones a symbolic act… using fire is a real danger. You don´t have to be greek to supose that, for sure, the capitalistic boss inside the banks is not going to permit their workers to live… even if there´s a huge demonstration like this. So why to throw a bunch of molotovs where there is people, normal people? You know that before you can set in fire anything…
And I don´t want to say anything else about the respect to the enviroment… all this thrash containers… this black fog… I couldn´t breath because of the tear gas or the fuck smoke.
I cannot see really beyond this fog, I just see anger and no objective. Is really sad.
An act does not cease to be justified because it might cause unpredictable, unexpected harm. Everyone who drives a car, takes the risk of killing someone because they make a mistake. There is the same risk in firebombing a building. If, logically, this means one should never firebomb buildings, it also means logically, that one should never drive cars.
The deaths are a matter of grief for politicians, media, bosses, only because they were an unintended consequence of something these people think is wrong anyway – even though it does nothing to prove it to be more wrong.
They are playing on a distinction between protected and unprotected bodies. The workers who died are deemed protected bodies even though they are not owed the real protections of unlocked doors, fire procedures or a day off work. The media and the bosses are manipulating public opinion by tugging on heartstrings. It is cynical and sick. Read Paul Treanor’s “How Many People Did Thatcher Kill?” to be clear on how insignificant this incident really is next to the lives at risk from neoliberal reforms.
It is a tragic accident, nothing more. Any attempt to use it to alter demonstrations, change tactics or repress dissent is a sick corruption of priorities.
Initially, I hear of the deaths and I feel shock. Then I hear of the police raids on social centres and the shock evaporates – what is an accident next to the pure evil of the state? I will not be shocked out of principles by tragedy or by the stupidity of those who fail to keep things in focus.
Solidarity from Berkeley, California, and thanks to the comrade who chose the strange handle, FUCK PIGFUCKERS, for writing the best concise argument in response to the agent-pacifiers (a much more dangerous group than agent-provocateurs) of the soft (as in soft-headed) left.
Attacking stores or big companies is not a symbolic act, at least not always. The harm and problems that capitalist institutions cause is often material instead of symbolic. So, the solutions, traditionally have also been material, for example sabotage.
so, first a comment to the report; if there are mentioned “bullets and Grenades”, then this is an inaccurate expression; if there would have been sharp ammunition and exploding grenades, the police would have not been able to arrest so., but to put them into bags, after they found the pieces…
Although this “bullets and Grenades” sounds much more martial, and police actions have to be shown as martial as possible for some people, i would prefer the more exact “Rubber Bullets” and “smoke/flash grenades” (Don’t know what they exactly used, but no “killing ammunition”). This IS a difference and thank nonexisting god the police makes a difference between the types of grenades, too.
To some commenters: Call me a “soft-headed left”, but killing or defending the killing of people hasn’t anything in common with left-wing ideas. Pacifism is radical left-wing, yes, but not murderer. Murder is always fascist (sic!) in my opinion, no matter, if the murderer calls himself left or anarchist or anything else.
And the most stupid argument to defend the murderers is the comparison between car driving and throwing molotov cocktails… If you drive a car you don’t INTEND to kill people, even if it happens accidentially. If you throw a molotov cocktail, i impute at least a cynical shrugging “so what”, if not the intention to kill people.
Perhaps the bank owner is responsible for the riots, but he didn’t threw the molotovs…
At the end i quote the first comment just to underline a very important point:
“Attacking a bank, a store of a big company etc. is always a symbolic act and should be treated as such.
Use stones, use paint, get inside and destroy everything if there is the possibility. If we use fire, we can not control the outcome, media and politics will be happy to be able to portray us as psychopath hooligans, and the symbolism is the same anyway.
Just to add the powerfull picture of flames to it is not worth risking the health of human beings.”
so long, have fun with sticks and stones, but don’t play with fire, at the end it will burn you…
@15 SO. wrote:
>> To some commenters: Call me a “soft-headed left”, but killing or defending the killing of people hasn’t anything in common with left-wing ideas. Pacifism is radical left-wing, yes, but not murderer. Murder is always fascist (sic!) in my opinion, no matter, if the murderer calls himself left or anarchist or anything else. <> And the most stupid argument to defend the murderers is the comparison between car driving and throwing molotov cocktails… If you drive a car you don’t INTEND to kill people, even if it happens accidentially. If you throw a molotov cocktail, i impute at least a cynical shrugging “so what”, if not the intention to kill people. <> Perhaps the bank owner is responsible for the riots, but he didn’t threw the molotovs… <<
The bank owner may certainly have a share in the responsibility for the capitalist attack on the working people of Greece that provoked the riots, but that is not the reason he is responsible for the deaths of those workers. Rather, he used intimidation to get the workers to work that day and then had them locked them a building that was a firetrap and that any thinking person there knew would be a likely target for firebombs. It is the crime of this owner, and of his police collaborators, that leftists should be denouncing far and wide, not the anarchists who throw firebombs at banks.
My post above, except for the last paragraph, got messed up because I tries to use left and right arrows as quote marks, and they got interpreted as HTML instead. Here’s what I wrote, using double plus signs (++) to quote the words of “@51. SO”:
++ To some commenters: Call me a “soft-headed left”, but killing or defending the killing of people hasn’t anything in common with left-wing ideas. Pacifism is radical left-wing, yes, but not murderer. Murder is always fascist (sic!) in my opinion, no matter, if the murderer calls himself left or anarchist or anything else. ++
Apparently, “SO” is eliding the distinction between “killing” and “murder”. If this is what (s)he is saying, then (s)he is presuming to decree that the overwhelming majority of the people who call themselves “leftist” and who support killing in some circumstances are not leftists but “fascist”! (Presumably, the overwhelming majority of those who DO NOT call themselves “leftist” and who support killing in some circumstances are also “fascist”?!)
++ And the most stupid argument to defend the murderers is the comparison between car driving and throwing molotov cocktails… If you drive a car you don’t INTEND to kill people, even if it happens accidentially. If you throw a molotov cocktail, i impute at least a cynical shrugging “so what”, if not the intention to kill people. ++
What “murderers” are being defended? Killing is “murder” only if it is both intentional, or at least the result of an action that the perpetrator should have known would likely result in death, and unjustified. In this case, the person who threw the molotov, unless he was an agent working in collaboration with the owner of the bank who had caused the workers to be locked in, was engaging in an act of property destruction that is customarily engaged in by demonstrators in Greece.
++ Perhaps the bank owner is responsible for the riots, but he didn’t threw the molotovs… ++
The bank owner may certainly have a share in the responsibility for the capitalist attack on the working people of Greece that provoked the riots, but that is not the reason he is responsible for the deaths of those workers. Rather, he used intimidation to get the workers to work that day and then had them locked them a building that was a firetrap and that any thinking person there knew would be a likely target for firebombs. It is the crime of this owner, and of his police collaborators, that leftists should be denouncing far and wide, not the anarchists who throw firebombs at banks.
This post as well as some others from Libcom and Occupied London about the current class struggles in Greece are reproduced on our own Blog of Information on Class Struggles (http://gcinfos.canalblog.com/).
We also published a new review in Greek:
ΚΟΜΜΟΥΝΙΣΜΟΣ Νο3 (Απριλιοσ 2010) – Κεντρικό Όργανο στα ελληνικά της ΔΚΟ
http://gci-icg.org/greek/kommounismos3.pdf
Η ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΣΕ ΚΡΙΣΗ. ΑΣ ΤΗΝ ΑΠΟΤΕΛΕΙΩΣΟΥΜΕ!!
Σχόλια ενάντια στη δικτατορία της οικονομίας
Για την λατρεια τησ εργασιασ
Αξιοποίηση/Αποαξιοποίηση
http://buyworkerscomp.org/
Almost every business in the United States that has employees has to handle the problem of workers’ compensation. Most states (with a few important exceptions) essentially require employers to purchase an insurance policy to handle their statutory obligations to workers who are injured or made ill due to a workplace exposure. Whether your business is small or large, handling the expense and effort of meeting those statutory obligations is an ever-present challenge.
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