- No! No! No!
- Well done!
And there will come a time of pale, flaccid years preserved in gauze
And to everyone, a few crumbs of happiness
And inside everything, there will be nought but exquisite ruins
From Profitikon ("Prophetic") by Odysseas Elytis
Battles lost, yes, of course, there've been many
And many are the men with their heads bowed low
And some, of course, prefer to idly stand by
And watch those who need defending be defeated
But beneath the ashes the embers are burning still
So, why wait, now that winter is dead?
But beneath the ashes the embers are burning still
So, why wait, now that winter is dead?
Everything, of course, can be bought or sold
And there are tides that nothing more can stop
The sparkle, of course, is gone from people's eyes
And in the lake of lost reflections lies
But beneath the ashes the embers are burning still
So, why wait, now that winter is dead?
But beneath the ashes the embers are burning still
So, why wait, now that winter is dead?
"CONTRARY TO THE GENERAL BELIEF, HOPE EQUALS RESIGNATION. AND TO LIVE IS NOT TO RESIGN ONESELF"
Albert Camus Noces, 1939
The people, united, shall never be defeated!
In a straight line 2 587 km west of Greece
Here we are at the most southerly point in Europe
in the province of Cadiz, in the Strait of Gibraltar
across the water from Morocco.
At the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
The wind is blowing from the south.
For Sale
Today in Spain, many people don't have anywhere to live
or work, or money to buy food.
CORRALA ALCOBA: OCCUPIED BY FAMILIES...
...DEMANDING DECENT HOUSING CONDITIONS!
There are 150 families who occupy this place
out of necessity, having nowhere else to go.
Because we were kicked out of other places,
for not being able to pay our debts or the rent.
This house was empty for seven years
and we put a lot of effort into restoring it, bit by bit.
Come in and see the poverty in which we live.
We haven't been able to get any employment
and so, now, we're poor.
There are thousands of other Spaniards like us.
Here are the young children's and babies' clothes.
Here, we have clothes for the older children and adults.
And over here, food for the poorest people who come
when they have nothing to eat.
Occupying is important, but solidarity more so.
I am not a lawyer, but I practice this profession.
What I mean is that I don't recognize bourgeois law
or deal with the bourgeois right to own property, or defend bourgeois institutions...
which contradict the basic and fundamental rights necessary
for the advancement of the people.
Oh my god! All this because of this house!
Because of the f***ing mortgage. Because of the f***ing mortgage!
Shame on you! Shame on you!
How many more deaths do you need to see? How many?
Anyone else want to chain themselves?
RESISTANCE! RESISTANCE! RESISTANCE!
I act within the contradictions of an iniquitous system which passes laws
in complete disregard for the freedoms, lives and needs of the people
and specifically, here, today, in the context of housing
in other words, the right to have a decent place to live
to be creative and bring up one's children
and the right to not be evicted, to not be kicked out on to the street
without protection, while being treated with total indifference by the public and media.
- How many people are there, here?
- Why do you obey such orders?
- Is the only thing she has...
- Get out your identity cards! Identity card, identity card, identity card, identity card…
- All this for a f***ing rotten house!
- Murderers! Murderers!
No! There are solutions!
Stop the evictions. No more suicides.
"THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE YOURSELF IS TO ENDEAVOUR TO SAVE THE OTHERS"
Nikos Kazantzakis, Alexis Zorba, 1946
The fundamental truth about life is that it's a fight.
To live... is to fight
No to institutional violence!
The fact that in Greece they have had so many general strikes and demonstrations in the street
has encouraged many other workers in Europe to follow the same path
THE PASSIONATE LOVE FOR LIBERTY IS STRONGER THAN ALL THEIR CHAINS !
Your attention, your attention! This is the police!
The manifestation must go back down the avenue!
NEWS: A battle in the streets of Barcelona.
Resistance, resistance, resistance!
BANK EXPROPRIATED
You pick up a stone that no one has ever touched...
Can you imagine that?
A virginal stone just for you until the end of time!
Adulterous relationships with stones you've just married
well, that's rare, yes, that's very, very rare indeed.
A stone will stick to you, the way stars do.
Have you ever seen any of your stars running off with somebody else
to a galaxy that just happens to be passing by?
You watch a heather cock strutting along and it scares you
because the noise a heather cock makes
when you're holding a stone untouched by human hand
well, the noise is just fantastic!
It goes "Foooh, floooh!"
Like Czerny. Listen. "Bang, bang, bang, bang!"
What a rotten swine!
Suddenly, you see a spring not far from a glacier, and wild flowers.
It really makes you wonder... Harlem?
You talk and talk? Oh, do you think so?
The black flowers of debauchery and anarchy.
No, the black flowers of the Love-stone!
And the method?
Learn everything off by heart, especially people's mugs.
And then, forget everything, immediately, like at school.
- Did you learn your grammar-mug lesson today?
- Yep!
- So?
- Oh, it's an old-looking mug.
- How does it go?
- I love you. You love me. I love. I love. I love.
Crete has a history of resisting all of its oppressors.
The Cretan people have fought for their freedom
against anyone trying to conquer their land.
This should be remembered once and for all !
Under thick snow, the seeds are buried
At the edge of the courtyard, the ill wind stops blowing
And if we are left naked and surrounded by wolves
Our decision to fight perseveres.
The tree burns.
And if the tree burns...
"FOR RENT"
RETHYMNON COUNTY COUNCIL, CRETE
DON'T MAKE ANY PLANS. THEY'LL ONLY STAY ON PAPER.
THE CRETANS HAVE WOKEN UP: TREMBLE YOU MULTINATIONALS!
They are taking over our land and water.
They arrest our children and handcuff the old folk.
They shoot wild birds, in particular the golden eagles.
We are in Palaia Roumata, a village in the region of Chania in Crete.
This is the library.
It was created by the villagers themselves in 1944.
Whether a forest is destroyed in the Amazon, or in France at Sivens…
or Nantes, or in Italy at Val de Suza
or in Chalcidiki, or here in Crete at Apopigadi
well, trees produce oxygen for everyone. They're gifts for all humanity.
So, we should cherish all this, the trees, the mountains and the water.
Hundreds of sites have been opened in the mountains of Crete
to produce 6 times more energy than the people of the island actually need.
Giant Wind Turbine Sites in Western Crete
Giant Wind Turbine Sites in West Central Crete
Giant Wind Turbine Sites in North Central Crete
Giant Wind Turbine Sites in South Central Crete
Giant Wind Turbine Sites in East Central Crete
Giant Wind Turbine Sites in the East of Crete
They are destroying large tracts of flowers and other plants…
…necessary for bees to survive and produce honey.
At this rate, beekeeping and breeding will be plagued by catastrophe.
We won't be able to water our crops, for instance our chestnut trees, because what they're after is our water.
The water in Apopigadi is for everyone.
We use it to water the village's chestnut trees and produce these chestnuts.
As you can see behind me, this water is for everyone, free of charge.
People use it to water the trees.
Now, come and taste this water.
We believe that green development is one of humanity's as well as nature's worst enemies…
because it comes down to the privatization of nature
while posing as its protector.
These companies tend to spread death with their radioactive waste in third world countries.
They invest in giant wind turbines with public money.
Each turbine costs €1million.
In addition, electricity is sold back to us at twice its original price.
Yet, we can be autonomous when it comes to electricity.
Anyone here can have an autonomous system to live on.
70 years after the Nazi occupation, this French company has come to take our water and our land.
They evict us from our own land.
For instance, here, on our mountain, in Spina, a hamlet of just two people,
200 police officers were sent to arrest and handcuff a 90 year-old man!
In just one night they intruded and took over the land
that was passed down to me by my father as it was passed down to him by his own father and so on.
Our children were on an excursion up the mountain when police officers were sent to stop them.
They told the children: "You are not allowed up there. It is a restricted area belonging to the company".
Yannis, we may not be rich but we have brave hearts!
These gentlemen that have come here in a most insidious and malevolent fashion
ought to understand that their plans won't succeed.
They will not win just like the Ottomans, the Nazis and every other oppressor failed to take over Crete.
Today's oppressors who come here with their "Trojan Horse" of green development shall not succeed.
When the time comes they won't know how to get out fast enough!
For how long will our children die because of lies?
For how long will their dreams be wiped out?
For how long will this life of brutality continue?
For how long will this era of State terrorism go on?
Enough! Enough!
This is the last straw!
Grapes from Apopigadi! Here, have a taste before we make raki out of them.
Cheers! Down with "Green Development"!
Cheers! We won't give up the fight!
We'll fight as long as we have to!
We're here at our village cooperative (Palaia Roumata).
We're trying to improve the quality of our lives without bosses by working cooperatively.
We produce food. The main ingredients are produced in our village like honey, milk and olive oil.
We also create folk art, such as textiles which we try to produce by ourselves.
Life hungers for the fight
Life hungers for the fight and the soul hungers for songs
And the soul hungers for songs
Like the flowers of May which bloom on our lands in the sun.
We are in the south of Crete, in a village called Pirgos where we have to deal with several agricultural problems.
Overdependence on pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals
has poisoned our food, our health, our land and our underground water tables.
Our response is to set a good example.
We cultivate local seeds, seeds that are as free as we are.
They do not need much water and require no fertilizers or pesticides.
We give out these seeds to whoever asks for them.
And when the flower blooms
Its perfume will spread all around
The eagle flies high and cannot be put in a cage
Why buy salt at the supermarket when we are next to the beach
and can collect salt in a natural way?
These seeds were passed on to us by our ancestors from time immemorial.
We can taste the past through them. They are different from new strains.
They have a real aroma and real colours. It's a different quality of life.
We won't allow supermarkets and fast food chains to determine what is going to nourish our body.
This is roquette. It's delicious in salads.
The same freedom we desire for our minds, we should desire for our bodies. Because we are what we eat.
This olive is edible. You can eat it with a little salt and it is really delicious. The olive oil we make from it is extraordinary.
Come on, let's go home and eat! You have to try this olive oil, alright?
Come one and all, in this world, our quest is to find meaning
To find meaning
To open up the horizon and be free
The island of Paros (Cyclades)
NO TO THE PRIVATIZATION OF OUR COASTS!
This beach at Piso Aliki is on sale, though you can see children coming here every day.
If people are excluded from the beach, where will the children and the poor go from now on to swim?
This beach is of vital importance not only for the people here but also for visitors.
This is the coastal area of Agios Nikolaos: more than 66 000 square meters of it on sale!
How much are they going to get? If they sell it at the same price they sold the coasts of Rhodes, they won't even make a million euros!
This situation is catastrophic from every point of view whether it be human, economic, or in terms of Greece's tourism policy
because tourists, the people who come here, what they love is that spontaneity, that wildlife you can still find everywhere
Deep down, I think that's what the Greeks are like, intrinsic and rather libertarian, and people love that.
So, we have to keep on fighting to try and avoid this catastrophe.
"PROMISING WEALTH WHILE PRODUCING POVERY IS ABSURD.
THE OCCIDENTAL DEVELOPING MODEL HAS ARRIVED TO A CRITICAL POINT.
ALL AROUND THE WORLD NEW BLOCKS OF A NEW CREATIVE THINKING APPEAR"
Serge Latouche, Décoloniser l'imaginaire, 2005
Here in Barcelona, a lot of people support the local citizens' initiatives.
The best example today is Can Vies.
Can Vies, in the Sants neighbourhood, has been an occupied for the past 17 years.
Recently, the police tried to pull it down with excavators.
IF CAN VIES COMES DOWN, THERE'LL BE ALL-OUT WAR IN THIS TOWN
The way neighbours here and in other parts of the city reacted was exemplary.
Very young children and senior citizens went to Can Vies
in order to help rebuild it and stop the totally unjustified evictions.
I find it particularly moving that children should have participated in the reconstruction of Can Vies
not only because we're trying to save the world for our children
since they're the ones who'll be taking it over from us
but also because Can Vies is a space specially dedicated to everyone in the neighbourhood
including children and senior citizens.
"REVOLUTION WILL BE THE BLOOM OF HUMANITY AS LOVE WILL BE THE BLOOM OF THE HEART."
Louise Michel Mémoires, 1886
HANDS OFF CAN VIES DEFEND OUR NEIGHBOURHOODS
STOP THE EVICTIONS
HANDS OFF CAN VIES
There are often demonstrations in all parts of Barcelona in support of Can Vies with a lot of people coming along.
And not just in Barcelona, but in other towns, too.
Bank of Catalonia
Incivility will pay your fare!
BEWARE OF BANKER GANGSTERS!
I love walking through the streets of Barcelona.
Looking at all the graffiti, we can see the traces of the people's struggles and the involvement of the citizens.
I like the graffiti a lot and the fact that there is space for all different types of graffiti.
There's a lot of anarchist, communist, environmentalist, feminist, antifascist graffiti
and even political graffiti from parties like Podemos or more revolutionary ones.
Obviously, the Indignants Movement is well represented, as it left an undying mark on the walls of the city.
FASCISM WILL GAIN GROUND IF WE DO NOT FIGHT IT
Not one step back.
NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET
Clement, Sonia, Ruger, Guillem, Yolanda, Pedro, Carlos, Aitor...
States and governments are stepping up the use of repression
against anyone trying to build a different, alternative system.
Anarchists, anarcho-syndicalists and other opponents of the present system
are arrested on suspicion and jailed.
We get fined, and they close down our social centres and premises.
The only answer the police, the states and governments have got is repression.
As opposed to this, what we want is a new society based on construction and freedom.
Jerez de la Frontera (Andalusia, Spain)
Occupation of a Job Centre
Activists put on a show in a bank
dressed as business men with pig snouts swilling up money
with the complicity of the alternative media...
MARCH, MARCH FOR DIGNITY!
March 22nd 2014, the March for Dignity converges on Madrid
Most international press agencies announce the presence of "several thousands demonstrators" when in fact there are two million people in the streets.
At nightfall, police violence flares in an effort to scatter the angry crowds.
Recipe for a “Paving Stone in Your Face”.
Frenetically overfill shelves with essentials that can be replaced tomorrow anyway
Side streets full to the gills of trash cans,
and this desire to find what is truly precious inside ourselves alone
To all of this add a few factories full to the gills of laid-off faces and closures,
plus a few profiteers above the abyss Calculating how much money they'd make
And the need to live together without crushing each other, To love without calculating
And that impetuous need to brandish paving stones
Season the dish with neighbourhoods full to the gills of uninhabited buildings Set aside for business-dealings
Housing estates full to the gills of evicted people, old folks, kids
And the emergency that requires us to think our destinies differently And to live life to the full, finally
And as an absolute matter of urgency, to throw these paving stones
Next, let all this brew interminably until it becomes intolerable Add some lies and a few compromises
Let the pot simmer until it reaches boiling point, If it spills over a little, then,
throw in a few grenades, helmets and shields
Scream “Terrorism!” Shout “Get the scum!” And hold up the banner of Absolute Common Sense
Survival of the fitest and the Danger of Things Getting out of Hand
And then, watch us laughing at this circus
With the sun in our eyes and our paving stones flung at this masquerade
Our emancipation rising up to form barricades
The dazzling flag of fraternity
Long live Life! Long live the Struggle!
We say that it’s not “a crisis”, but a fraud.
First of all, it’s a political fraud.
Democracy, as it exists today,
has been hijacked by a minority,
who control everything and decide things in our place.
The people don’t decide.
It’s also an economic fraud.
In a country where wealth is in the hands of a few,
the majority are living in conditions approaching poverty.
It’s also a social fraud.
We live in a society which is constantly more reppressive,
where the police,
those watchdogs of the state and the establishment,
repress us continuously.
It’s also an ecological fraud
in which industrial complexes and hotels have been created.
This is how with every new day
we are losing the chance to enjoy the natural beauty which we have here in the south of Spain.
"THE INCORRUPTIBLE SOLUTIONS ARE NEIGHT. THE HEAVENS BUILT UPON HELLS ARE TOTTERING.
IT'S THE PEOPLE COMING, I TELL YOU, IT'S MANKIND RISING."
Victor Hugo The man who laughs, 1869
Good friends, can you hear all the vultures feasting on our world?
Can you hear, good friends, the cities answering back one by one?
Hey, mankind, let’s join hearts and hands now, the alarm is ringing!
Soon their arrogance will know our resistance and it's doom
[bis]
One memory that seriously upset me
was an article in a Greek newspaper
entitled “I won’t be coming back for Ana’.
It was about a little 5-year-old girl
who was waiting for her mother,
but the mother wouldn’t be coming back.
The little girl took a paper out of her pocket and showed it to the childcare workers.
On this paper, her mother had written:
“I won’t be coming back for Ana.
I can’t afford to raise her. Forgive me.”
The little girl was then taken to the SOS Children’s Village in Athens.
This type of minor incident happens a lot in Greece.
We hear about children fainting from hunger in schools,
sure enough, but this is tragic...
...a mother putting a note in her daughter’s pocket, which says:
“I won’t be coming back for Ana. I can’t afford to raise her.”
Athens, Greece What’s going to happen to us now?
What else could happen in this circle of hell we have to share?
It could happen tomorrow. What else could come after?
Let’s follow our dreams and never sink down.
Oh, Freedom! Freedom divine!
I want to get out, but no one will open the door for me.
Oh, Freedom! Freedom divine!
I want to leave, but the door won’t open.
My NO vote, as well as that of my friends
is a NO to the policies
of Merkel, Christine Lagarde, Schäuble.
NO to all of their policies.
I am given the opportunity,
so I say NO, because I can no longer bear this situation.
It does not mean I’m giving my support to anything or anyone else.
It’s just my NO, NO to the this situation.
If the planet were a bank, they’d have saved it.
THERE IS NO € IN FREEDOM
We are going to take a rigorous
close look at the debts that today,
Greece is being forced to pay back.
Let’s make things perfectly clear.
All the debts that the European Troika
demand to be paid back are illegitimate,
illegal, unbearable and despicable.
I’m not talking about a part of the debts: I’m talking about all of them.
Because all of the European Troika’s loans
were granted under conditions
which represent more than 80% of the Greek government’s debts, were granted under conditions
that explicitly violate
a whole series of international conventions
designed to protect the people’s rights.
So, we cannot say
that a debt is only half illegitimate
if in fact it is wholly illegitimate.
The debt is not half illegal.
It is illegal, period.
We cannot say of a crime
that it is a half crime.
A crime has been committed here,
in violation of fundamental Human Rights
and it follows that this crime
must be severely punished.
We have to turn the situation by throwing
the boomerang of debt back at the heads
of the criminal creditors.
"RESOLVE TO SERVE NO MORE, AND YOU ARE AT ONCE FREED."
Etienne de la Boétie The Politics of Obedience, 1548
Fight capital with a SOCIAL WAR
The road to Utopia: Marinaleda
Here we are in Marinaleda,
a village built out of our struggle
and land occupations.
Here, as you can see, we are very peaceful,
there’s no police.
The village is legendary
for its struggle and its achievements.
There can be no country without farm workers
Today, at 5:30pm, General Assembly
at the Union headquarters!
We’ve been having assemblies in Marinaleda
for the past 30 years.
Part of our struggle here,
is to take all sorts of decisions together…
...whether they be about working at Humoso,
our co-operative, or about the union,
about the struggles to be fought in the village
or about whatever it is we need. We discuss everything.
People come to give their opinion.
If a decision has to be made, we vote
and so, it’s a majority decision.
Today, at 5:30pm, General Assembly
at the Union Headquarters!
A UTOPIA
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE
I FIGHT THEREFORE I AM
SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF IERISSOS
I think that there are a lot of similarities
between what is happening in Greece and here,
from many points of view…
…because here, like there
we have a neo-liberal conservative system
that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.
It also affects the middle classes.
All the protests in Greece,
some of which I had the opportunity to attend,
are on the same lines as the protests here.
We are in Seville at the premises of PUMA, a local exchange trade system. This is where our various collectives meet.
Amongst them, the PUMA Social Money Collective. Today, we have our monthly market.
We have exchanges between those who use the PUMA money. Visitors can also buy things using our money.
In this PUMA market, any user of the social money can sell their wares.
They can set up a stall to display what they have: second-hand stuff, fruit and vegetables, homemade soaps; you name it.
Any product can be sold at the PUMA market.
For us, this social money is a creative way to change both the economy and the system we live in.
It’s a living laboratory to change the economic bonds between people.
Values are different, here. We value people more than money.
We are at la Reverde, here, an agricultural and ecological cooperative situated in Jerez de la Frontera, in southern Spain, in the region of Cadiz.
This project was started in 2010 by a group of 30 people who were wondering about the control that exists over food and the ecology.
We wanted to produce our own food and so, we started this cooperative.
Today, there are more than 120 members.
Every week everyone gets their crate of seasonal vegetables.
Crates can be bought too, if you have soquitos, the local money of the village.
And the project is gaining ground.
We’ve come to serve as a reference for the region of Cadiz.
Many of the people coming here ask a lot of questions because they want to copy our way of working and start their own cooperatives.
When you learn how to love your reflection in the mirror of the world
And chase away your shadow and its vile teeth
When you kiss the lips of life
When the fever of desire rises everywhere
For people to be generous, open-hearted and debonair
Good-natured companions with their fellow women and men
When the broth you make in winter is shared with everyone
And when your glass in summer is filled with the colour of sun
That wine of friendship which makes us all tipsy
At home with no keys or locks in summer-happy quarters
When your useless weapon has been broken into pieces and buried
To serve as fertilizer or cradle seed
Then the time will have come to live happily, free and frugally
In a Utopia not in books with everybody equal
Living without being confined by any known frontier
Living without gods or masters on every square inch of the Earth
The time will have come to live free as a rebel
I fight, I am and fighting, am You-topia
When gold is just an ordinary metal
And silver-coin’s outdated like a pawn in checkers
A home-made game of no particular interest apart from bringing us together for inspirational play
I fight because I believe that humanity is capable of much more.
I believe that being human means we’re worthy of having love and sharing love.
And that’s the motor: love. Love of the world and love of life.
I’m fighting for a form of collective intelligence.
We have to put an end to the models of political leaders who offer us their solutions.
By working together, we ourselves can find solutions for a better world.
The land for the land workers!
Then the time will have come to live happily, free and frugally [LAND AND FREEDOM]
In a Utopia not in books witheverybody equal [THIS IS THE PEOPLE’S LAND]
Living without being confined by any known frontier [LAND BELONGS TO LAND WORKERS]
Living without gods or masters on every square inch of the Earth
The time will have come to live free as a rebel
I fight, I am and fighting, am You-topia
The time will have come to live free as a rebel
I fight, I am and fighting, am You-topia
"BREAK. WE WANT TO BREAK.
WE WANT TO CREATE A DIFFERENT WORLD. NOW.
NOTHING MORE SIMPLE. NOTHING MORE DIFFICULT".
John Holloway, Crack capitalism, 2010
I have a funny story from my neighbourhood in Jerez
All the men are watching a football game on the TV, drinking beer.
And then the village idiot comes by and throws a rock at the TV, and shouts: “Go to hell!”
Then he says to the men, who are in shock: “Don’t be watching the TV! Take to the street! Fight for your rights! Fight on the streets!”
So, it turns out that in fact, it was the crazy guy who was sane, and lucid.
Because we all spend a huge amount of time in front of TV instead of going out onto the street to fight for our rights or getting a job.
One of the problems we have at the moment is that 50% of young people are unemployed. Those who can, emigrate abroad. There’s no future here.
Salaries aren’t paid regularly or are constantly going down.
So, we need less TV, and more fighting for our rights on the streets!
We’re not so crazy that we don’t know what we want.
TURN OFF THE TV. TURN ON YOUR MIND.
In 2008, an anti-television movement was born in Exarcheia, a neighbourhood in Athens.
We started throwing away our televisions, throwing them off the balcony, abandoning them on the pavement…
…transforming them into aquariums, libraries, even planting flowers inside them.
The new model of development is not about consuming more useless products, such as gadgets that with a few more commercials, people might use more often.
What do people need today? What do the Greek people need?
They need to eat, to have better quality food. What do people need today? What do the Greek people need?
They need to eat, to have better quality food.
They need to be healthy and educated.
They need transport. All of these are vital needs.
A new model of development should satisfy these needs and most certainly not push people to consume for the sake of consuming.
I participate in the Apatris project which is a street journal aka “free press”.
15 000 copies with 28 pages each are circulating right now for free.
We manage to cover the cost of publication with contributions, support parties, bar sales...
Although it started out locally in Heraklion, Greece, it is now a nationwide project with 7 decentralized assemblies which together create the journal.
This journal tries to operate as the mirror of the social movement.
That is why we give voice to self-managed projects such as self-managed social dispensaries, exchange networks without middlemen…
…and to other projects in the movement.
We also support the struggle of political prisoners, as well as the struggle of those who wish to change the present situation.
We want readers to judge for themselves, and choose what interests them and what is right for them.
"THE POSSIBILITY OF RADICAL CHANGE ARISES AGAIN. IN THIS WAY THE REVOLUTIONARY AND THE POETIC CONVERGE."
Jean-François Brient, On modern servitude, 2007
X-pressed was born out of our need to create a space of expression and action around the European crisis and its movements.
It’s an open, horizontal, self-run and self-financed project.
The articles are published at the same time in several languages…
…in an effort to overcome the language barrier which often complicates communication between movements going on in different countries.
Most of our co-workers live in these countries.
Our objective is to create a solid network of correspondents, translators and editorialists…
...to increase counter-information on the impact of the crisis and to help the development of resistance movements.
Our aim is to bring down borders and destroy language barriers.
We’re creating a common space, a common vision and perspective.
Our only weapon is solidarity.
Here we are at the headquarters of the Migrants’ Forum of Crete…
…a collective founded in 2007 by Greeks and migrants who are fighting the same fight.
I am Moroccan, he is Tunisian and your man over there is Algerian.
There are other nationalities in the collective such as Albanians and Syrians.
Our goal is to unite migrants and laborers in the class struggle in order to give life to our slogan: "Greeks and foreigners, united workers."
In my opinion, there can be no such thing as a foreigner on this Earth of ours.
By living together fraternally...
...we will make this world better, a world that is more open, independent and free.
We at the Migrants’ Forum of Crete have been fighting tooth and nail for migrants’ rights.
Right here, a hunger strike took place.
15 migrants, after 26 days, managed to get their papers and their residence permits.
This paved the way for legalization that benefitted dozens of other migrants.
Sometime later, the radical right-wing party Golden Dawn opened its offices in the same street.
Yet this did not stop us from fighting for our cause.
We won’t stop fighting Golden Dawn, or tagging slogans and drawing graffiti below their offices…
…and even on their balcony, to voice our resistance to fascism and reminding them that we will never stop the fight for Human Rights.
The Migrants’ Forum of Crete also has a soccer team which is active here, in Chania.
We won this cup at the Hasta La Victoria Siempre Tournament against the previous national Greek football team.
Having our own team makes us feel really happy.
Keratsini (suburb of Piraeus) September 18, 2013
The anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas has just been murdered by neo-Nazis.
Arrest of the leaders of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
He was stabbed in the presence of police officers.
The police were there.
Eye witnesses of the encounter testify that Pavlos Fyssas was stabbed right in front of police officers.
A neighbour also claims that the murderer was chatting with police officers moments before the fatal incident.
This is the shop where it all started, and ended, with the murder of Pavlos on September 18, 2013.
A hundred metres to the right, you can see where the crime was committed…
…and where later, a memorial statue was erected.
And there, two metres behind is where he collapsed.
Here, you can see part of one of Pavlos Fyssas' songs called Struggles that goes like this:
It's a nice day to die in beauty
Standing in public view
My name is Pavlos Fyssas from Pireus
I’m Greek
Whatever that means, but surely it’s not a flag.
We had formed a band called E13.
Pavlos as an artist became famous after his death.
We were more underground than the underground!
We held concerts at extremely small locations with small audiences.
We always did exactly what we wanted, no matter the price!
We were forced to play in the worst basements of Athens, but we were happy to do it, even if there were only 10 or 15 people listening!
He was essentially an active antifascist but at the same time he was kind.
Ladies and gentlemen, Killah P is in the studio.
“I am not here to promote the festival but to say that, this year…
…a support group has emerged to help two children who are victims of serious accidents and need surgery.
One of them is in emergency while the other has to leave the country.”
He used to organize clothes and food donations for the homeless.
Here is the court where we used to play basketball with Pavlos!
We used to go crazy at basketball.
Let's go and see.
In this building, on the second floor, was where Pavlos lived.
We used to write a lot of songs up there.
This is where we wrote Triplopenia which since, has become an important song.
It was a tribute to the Rebetiko culture of Pireus.
Fascism has gained ground in Piraeus.
It has become a political trend.
Recently, there have been terrible attacks on migrants, union members and also, they murdered Pavlos.
They give us trouble every day.
They chase us out of our homes with knives. What can we do?
They had chains in their hands and vicious dogs.
They hit me in the eye, which is now damaged.
They were dressed in black and sporting GOLDEN DAWN T-shirts.
Get out of her! Murderers! Cowards!
January 25 2014: 80 neo-Nazis desecrate the memorial to Pavlos Fyssas, and then attack the Resalto Self-Managed Social Centre.
Simply by knowing some basic stuff, we can say that fascism in Greece as well as elsewhere qualifies as the ultimate capitalistic device.
ANTIFASCIST PAVLOS FYSSAS STREET
GOLDEN DAWN
FASCISM KILLS, WAKE UP
RACISM
NO TO RACISM
PAVLOS IS ALIVE
CRUSH THE FASCISTS
GOLDEN DAWNS = MURDERERS
PAVLOS IS ALIVE
I believe the slogan I FIGHT THEREFORE I AM sums up the quintessence of Pavlos…
…his whole being, from the start to the end of his life.
He set an example for every human being.
Athens, Greece, April 21 1967
The chronic incompetence of the politicians running this country…
…in spite of the encouragement of our Commander in Chief,
has driven us to an dead end.
During the dictatorship,
I sang songs which were rather risky.
You have to take risks.
Life itself is risky.
I am the doctor, children! (one of the dictator Papadopulous’s nicknames)
So, you're asking me if I was afraid.
I was not afraid.
Why was I not afraid? I don't know.
Afraid of what?
What can they do to you?
Beat you up? Kill you?
And if they kill you?
End of problems!
Why weren't we afraid?
On the contrary, we were afraid!
However we overcame fear by sharing it.
We were united in songs, laughter,
solidarity and demonstrations.
We ran the risk of losing our lives,
yet we were living life to the full…
…and could even stare death in the eye.
I don't tell anyone what they should do.
Everything is politics if you look closely enough, even love.
From the very moment you leave your home and slippers behind…
…with not a care in the world…
…you instantly feel pressured to promote yourself in some way.
And that alone is politics of a sort.
Kids today cannot believe what happened back then.
They think it occurred to extraordinary people, heroes.
We were placed on a pedestal.
But it wasn't like that!
We were youngsters, like the ones today.
My love for poets and music
is connected to my memories of the Greek military junta of April 21, 1967.
We were woken up that day by military marches.
A few days later,
I see my mother...
...the woman who opened the world of poetry and music to me...
...I see her on the terrace of our house burning books
of supposedly left-wing poets...
...who had obviously been banned by the Dictatorship.
I see her burning these books.
At the same time, the army banned
long hair, mini-skirts, Sophocles, Tolstoy, Euripides,
smashing glasses like Russians, going on strike, Aristophanes, Ionesco...
Like a lot of people in Greece,
there's a family story behind my political commitment.
Indeed, I had to get out of Greece with my parents in 1969 when I was 4...
...because the police were looking for my father.
He was in a resistance network against the Dictatorship of the Colonels.
We had to get out of the country fast.
The following year, he was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment.
So, he couldn't possibly return.
I had to start school in Switzerland as the son of a political exile.
So, I understood at a very early age how individual destinies...
...can be irrevocably marked by great events outside our control...
...which we simply call History.
Greece, November 1973
Ladies and gentlemen, all around the Polytechnic Higher Education College
within a radius of 500 meters, there is a huge crowd
of high school and university students, citizens, activists and workers
who have assembled to express their support for the new movement.
DOWN WITH THE DICTATORSHIP!
FREEDOM!
GENERAL STRIKE!
"THOSE WHO TALK ABOUT ALTERNATIVES
FORGETTING REAL STRUGGLE AND SOLIDARITY,
DON'T KNOW HISTORY OR PRETEND NOT TO KNOW IT".
Manolis Glézos, figure of resistance against nazism, Dictatorship of the Colonels, and Troïka
People of Greece…
…being fully aware of my responsibilities… …towards the Nation and its History…
…and in the wake of yesterday's anarchistic provocations…
…initiated by an organized minority…
…I have decided to declare martial law and thereby restore law and order.
What happened at the Polytechnic
wasn't a simple occupation.
It was the proof that we could make our dreams become reality,
become Utopia even, if you believed in it strongly enough.
Youth, love, songs, joy, laughter,
sharing everything we had and did not have.
With our pirate radio station, we won people over and got them out of their houses.
After listening to one program, they came out, 60 000 to 70 000 people, and gathered all around here!
Many people were killed or injured, but that didn't stop them. They came to protect us!
You're listening to the Polytechnic! This is the Polytechnic!
Your Free Radio for free workers and free students is broadcasting directly to you!
Our first step was a success.
And even if we were arrested… …our next step would also have succeeded.
There was no room for dictatorship. It collapsed the next year.
Down with the junta! Down with the Dictatorship!
On the night of November 17, 1973, army tanks smashed into the Polytechnic and crushed the insurrection.
The police and army chased the rebels who had taken cover in the Exarcheia neighbourhood.
However, what had seemed to be a defeat turned out to be a victory.
The military junta finally collapsed.
And today again, the Exarcheia neighbourhood is the heart and soul of Greek resistance...
Here, at Nosotros, like other free social spaces...
...we are in a neighbourhood which we really love: Exarcheia.
Exarcheia is in the heart of Athens, yet it's very different to other neighbourhoods.
Even if it's not completely outside the world of capitalism...
...Exarcheia is a zone of transition dedicated to action and creation...
...between their world and ours.
There are no banks in Exarcheia.
The only bank I can remember at all was this empty store, here...
...empty because, since December 2008, it was set on fire quite a lot...
...at least four times, if my memory serves me.
BURN THE BANKS
Today, once more, Exarcheia is in under military seige.
The government has taken away all the public trash bins so we cannot put up barricades.
There are police checkpoints at all the entries to Exarcheia.
They hauled away all the vehicles, so nobody parks here.
We are just waiting, now, for the war to begin.
Even if we don’t always agree on certain subjects,
we do agree on one thing:
Nobody is going to push us around. Nobody is going to walk over us.
In a nutshell, that’s what Exarcheia is all about.
It’s an unconquered neighbourhood, a rebel neighbourhood.
Exarcheia is composed of rebellious citizens and rebellious youth.
Our rebellious youth. And we’re proud of them.
What characterizes Exarcheia is its self-managed initiatives and structures…
…its collectives, its squats, all of which are very important.
I believe it is the place where you can find the highest concentration of utopias in Europe.
However, if we had to sum up Exarcheia in one word…
…that word would be Solidarity.
Solidarity was needed in order to give birth to all the rest.
Without it, none of this would exist.
Solidarity is what allows people to survive, sharing joy and happiness…
…even during this crisis, here and everywhere.
It allows our collectives and our political groups to mutually support each other…
…without necessarily being on the same wavelength politically.
Solidarity is an umbrella above all the rest.
It's both fundamental and a vital part of social cohesion…
…allowing for the exchange of ideas, dialogue and common initiatives.
Here we are at Exarcheia’s Medical Center.
It was created by an assembly of residents with the representatives of social-spaces and neighbourhood collectives.
Our assembly is completely independent of political parties and institutions.
There are more and more people coming to us who suffer from a lot of problems.
As a psychologist, I am a member of Exarcheia’s self-managed Health Center.
Because of the crisis, the other health structures have been destroyed...
....so, a lot of people are coming to us for help, for psychological support or for therapy.
There are even teachers coming to see us, as they have lost 50% of their salary...
...and work in extremely difficult conditions.
Actually, workers from every walk of life have been affected by the present catastrophe...
...either directly or indirectly...
...when for example their family and friends can’t afford to pay for lawyers.
People can’t afford lawyers anymore.
"LOVE, IN ITS FIST, CONTAINS THE WHOLE UNIVERSE".
Yannis Ritsos Symphony of Spring, 1938
The revolution I dream of is a revolution of love.
Love for Humanity and Life.
A revolution of love against the existing regime which is based on fear, violence and hate.
In Exarcheia and elsewhere in Greece, at schools in the heart of Athens, and on the islands too,
a new form of resistance is spreading its wings despite the weight of institutions…
I am a teacher at the primary school in Exarcheia.
We have been using the methods of Célestin Freinet since 2008.
And our work is aimed at the learning community.
"IT'S THE CHILD WHO HAS TO MASTER HIMSELF, TO RAISE WITH THE HELP OF ADULTS.
WE MOVE THE EDUCATIONAL ACT: THE CENTER OF THE SCHOOL IS NOT THE SCHOOLMASTER ANYMORE, BUT THE CHILD."
Célestin Freinet, Naissance d'une pédagogie populaire
Our wish is for children to be citizens, poets and writers…
…to be little philosophers, little protagonists of their own vision within their city.
We have created a school magazine, for example. We also go on excursions in order to discover the history and life of the neighborhood.
This movement, this capacity of combining the mind and body…
…comes from our struggle and desire to change the world…
…and in particular, from the children's own desire to participate in these changes.
Their bodies have to stop being inactive, and once this change is made…
…priority has to be given to the free development of their subjectivity towards the big universal questions.
Playing is the new way for children to discover their world.
Fourfouras Primary School (located in the mountains of Crete)
"I am, you are, he-she-it is"
"We are all leaves on the same tree."
In recent years, we have been trying to create the school of our dreams.
A school where every child can find her or his place and where they can express themselves freely…
…and learn how to become an active member of a fraternal, democratic and altruistic society.
The most important aspect for me is the weekly assemblies.
The children discuss topics they’ve been thinking about.
Teachers participate in the same way as children do, by raising their hands. Voting too is egalitarian.
Assembly Report…
For us parents, the Friday assemblies during which the children discuss their problems, is very important.
They discuss points of divergence, which fosters a democratic atmosphere of equality and synergy.
The crisis has been very violent in Greece and has affected us all, parents, teachers and children.
In other places children sometimes faint from hunger.
But here our teachers came up with the Breakfast Cooperative which is a magnificent solution.
The children’s assemblies, too.
All of this makes for a great way of dealing with the crisis in our country.
Nectaria, Yannis, Constantina, Love.
LOVE !
Fighting is a movement towards Utopia.
There’s no shortage of difficulties along this path.
However, difficulties are stimulating.
They increase our desire to move even further along the path to Utopia.
I fight therefore I am.
"YOU ARE LOST IF YOU FORGET THAT THE FRUITS ARE EVERYONE'S AND THE EARTH, NO ONE'S"
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men, 1755
He who awaits liberation will remain a slave all his life.
People wait for help from the person in front of them…
…just as that person is waiting for help from them.
As a result, a gulf opens up between them in which everyone will end up.
So, once and for all, waiting is like digging your own grave before you fall into it.
I fight therefore I am.
It’s not possible to live freely...
...nor is it possible to enjoy our basic rights…
…without permanently fighting for them…
…without fighting to obtain them and to keep them,
because they are constantly under threat.
I fight, therefore I am.
My Mummy, well, she encourages us to resist.
We go to demonstrations, and we sing.
I fight, therefore I am.
I fight and I will always fight.
I will never become anyone's slave.
I choose freedom or death, rather than slavery.
For me, fighting is an absolute necessity!
It gives me strength. And I fight day after day.
In order to feel hope, you first need to fight.
Fighting leads to hope.
I fight therefore I’ll never give up.
I don’t run away from reality or problems.
I pull my weight with others, collectively, for the Common Good.
To live your life, to be somebody in the deepest sense of the term...
...you have to act in order for things to change, so, you have to fight.
Fighting is part of human nature.
We’ve always fought, because society is constantly evolving.
We have to push forward for changes to become reality.
Where would we be today without 1968, without sexual emancipation or divorce or the right to have an abortion?
The world wouldn’t be at all the same today.
I fight therefore I am means constantly combining body and spirit, moving towards the transformation of my desires into reality.
Our actions must complete our desire to change the world.
Sartre said that people who reject the idea of commitment...
...are actually already committed to the preservation of the status quo...
...except that they don’t even realize it.
Struggle doesn't need hope.
Because hope creates fiction.
It creates an award in some end.
The fight is long
and need open eyes.
To exist is a personal matter
but to fight is a collective matter.
If we want to be ourselves and participate to social mouvements
We have to pass from "I" to "we".
The world in which one they would like us to live,
homogeneity is often presented like the condition of efficiency
I precisely think the opposite idea.
It's the diversity of social movements, the diversity of ways to get involved,
which is synonym of life.
People must take their own things in charge in a different way,
each person according to his own sensitivity,
To build the world with all the colors we need today.
The struggle goes on in France, in Greece, in Spain, everywhere.
I fight therefore I am.
I fight therefore I am, but without a TV!
For us, fighting is a way of life, that's what matters.
It's moving forward. And I fight by rebelling.
I fight creatively. I fight like every living thing.
I fight because I am committed to life. I fight therefore I am.
“I fight therefore I am.” I fight therefore I am!
When will there be a general strike?
This moment in which everything is alive, being said, thought, read, written, danced
This moment outside time that are setting the streets on fire
And setting our souls free and our asses, too!
This blue period as a bright sun lighting up the future with its flames
These minutes stolen from the sad hourglass of time
Belonging to the monopolisers of destinies
When is there going to be a General Strike?
And a World Strike, too?
This moment of utopia swinging in joyous rhythm with our unanimous hearts
This instant of generosity like a cease-fire in the trenches of our egotism
This black period as an act that saves lives in the apocalyptic darkness
These seconds stolen from the sad hourglass of time
When is there going to be a General Strike?
And a World Strike, too?
This tender moment for exchanging caresses in which love spreads and gushes
This thought-out instant in which every ounce of life
Is treated without the slightest contempt
This moment, black and red, as a moving world governing a universal right
Making sure that humanity has a common baggage
With essentials being guaranteed
When is there going to be a General Strike?
And a World Strike, too?
In advance I can hear compassionate fools expressing disappointment at how naive I can be
Hopelessly clinging to their poor powers as a drowning man clutches at straws
Already, I can sense the conquistadores stumbling forward like fools
With their fatal speeches about order and morality
That they’ve been dishing us up for too long
But you who are numerous, you who are not at all like them
You who move forward and who still have hope
Sing now with me, please, this joyful chorus that announces a golden age
When is there going to be a General Strike?
And a World Strike, too?
The Fourfouras Primary School Children’s Assembly
The General assembly of Marinaleda