News & Last Entries
Agenda
3 DAYS OF RESISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY
1st Day: High security prisons (Prisons type C), counter-terrorism legislation, the struggles against them and movement’s goals today. 2nd day: Event about counter-terrorism laws and special detention regimes in Europe. Detainees struggle and the solidarity movement. 3nd day: Solidarity demonstration to the political prisoners and against special detention regimes.
Nowadays, we face many singularities. We could claim that we live in o historical moment – milestone not only for the struggle but also for the society. This historical moment is characterized by general volatility: politically, financially, socially. The main reason for these variations is the capitalistic systems' crisis, its effects in every social activity and the regimes' efforts to address them.
Greece is under troika's domination (IMF, the European Commission and the Central European Bank), which in accordance to all Greek governments, have imposed the memorandum, as the only solution to Greek deficit problem and to Greek’s economy collapsing. Uncountable neoliberal measures have been adopted and are increasing the gap among classes and the gap among the distribution of social welfare. Current social conditions in Greece are the hardest of the past decades.
Workers exploitation, rapid increase of the unemployed, increase of poverty rates are reflecting the social deterioration in every domain.
All the above mentioned conditions have compromised systems' reliability. This recognition by the regime itself has led to more totalitarian policies. Attacks to those who struggles, suppression and incarcerations. A new totalitarianism has been formed.
The regime has no longer to deal with a weak “internal enemy”, in an environment of capitalistic growth, easy profit-making and consumerism bliss.
Today the threat is direct and visible. The regime doesn't forget neither December's 2008 uprising nor the dynamic resistance of tens of thousands protesters on February of 2012. At the same time it faces the fear of revolutionary armed organizations, even now that the social struggles are in recess and the society seems defeated and surrendered at electional delusions. These delusions have been clarified during the recent elections, which resulted in the alliance among Syriza and the nationalists (patriots) of ANEL to form a counter-memorandum government.
This government from the beginning has retreated to the majority of its proclamations, such as the abolition of the memorandum has become renegotiation, the cancellation of privatization has become compliance to the existed contracts, and the promise for increasing the lowest wage has been postponed to the future. The majority of the campaign announcements have become gradually more realistic and adjusted to the new demands. The new government speaks and contradicts. We don't get illusions that the existed system can become humanized and we have already answer to the historical dilemma “capitalism or revolution”.
The regime recognizes that the “uprising objective conditions” remain and intensify the systemic instability and the social fluidity. For this, in the recent years, the civil state has tighten the penal-penitentiary confrontation of its political opponents. The counter-terrorist laws have succeeded one another, clearly targeting to the political opponents of the regime, who threat the establishment of “law and order” doctrine, which becomes more necessary in times of financial and social crisis. Moreover, the silence of the government for the counter-terrorists laws, declares clearly its intentions on how is going to confront the armed revolutionary struggle.
All cases of armed revolutionary struggle are trialed in special courts, by special laws, and under special conditions during trial. That proves that civil justice is not blind and serves the system. On one hand, authorities accept that there is a 'special' accused group that is treated in “special” ways, because this serves the 'common good', meaning fighting terrorism. On the other hand the state doesn't recognize them as political opponents, as combatants who dispute the nature and the structure of the regime. So the state projects the iron grip of a regime of emergency condition, who wants to crass the values of resistant solidarity and self-organization.
Repression in conditions of deep state crisis becomes the central political choice of the government, that aims to discipline the society and protects the interest of the capital and the ruling class. The restructuring of prisons is not a fragmentary movement of the Greek state, is a movement fully aligned with the commands of the EU. As part of the general reform plans of both the capital and the social relations, it constitutes another piece of the modern emergency regime. The result of this restructuring is the creation of high security prisons. Even though the new government has announced their abolition under the pressure of the struggle of prisoners and of the solidarity movement, they are still a reality. We continue the struggle until the abolition of the law for prisons type C.
More precisely, the law for prisons type C of the ex-minister of justice Athanasiou, provides for the creation of three types of escalating repression prisons. The law’s target is anarchists and communists imprisoned for their political action, the undisciplined internees, who resist the cruel reality of imprisonment and the accused of the so called organized crime. The detainees in the C type prisons will experience a prison within prison, with a total deprivation of the permits and the conquered rights, like the day work, which reduces the serving time, a hardening of the release terms, 4 years as a minimum of serving sentence in prison type C, and the creation of total visual control. Arbitrary acts are now institutionalized through directors with excess authority and charging Special Forces of the police to guard the prison. That’s how also the conquests gained after years of struggle-through riots, but also through torture, humiliation, and disciplinary prosecutions- are now attempted to be cancelled, in a rushed manner.
As a reaction to the government schemes towards type C prisons, detainees have struggled for its abolition. A milestone of these mobilizations was the massive hunger strike of 4500 of detainees in prisons all over Greece. Despite this, the law has been voted during summer 2014 and the first transfers of prisoners have started.
Our proposal is to organize a 3 days event at 26th, 27th and 28th of March in Athens.
On the first day there will be a presentation-discussion about prisons type C, counter-terrorism legislation, struggles who have been developed and the aims of the movement today.
On the second day, there will be a discussion about counter-terrorism laws and special detention regimes in Europe. Detainees struggle and the solidarity movement
On the third day will take place a solidarity demonstration to the political prisoners.
The fact that led us to that proposal is a discussion that we have started on how solidarity could become more effective, always of course in cooperation with comrades who are in jail. Furthermore, during this discussion another parameter came up, the exchange of thoughts and experiences with militants from the rest of Europe. Militants that have been in special detention regime and have participated over the past decades until today to the struggles developed inside and outside of the prison in many countries, based on that thought we want to have speakers from Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey. Also political prisoners held in Greek prisons will intervene and comrades from Europe that are still in prison or are having restraining orders, since they cannot participate in their presence, can intervene with their letters.
Our main goal from this discussion is to answer questions and discuss the following issues:
Special detention regimes and the “counter-terrorism” legislation.
What were the conditions in prisons during the past decades in Europe and in Greece. Examine what changes have taken place in all these years and what are the conditions today.
Specific clues and struggles’ experience against “special types” of prisons (different means of struggle, requests, conquests etc.)
The connection among detainees’ struggle not only to the solidarity movement, but also to the movement. The significance of the international solidarity.
In the current conditions which must be the goals of the movement?
We will try to approach, through this event-discussion, the struggle’s experiences of the past decades and we hope to discover the contact point of past experiences and of the current struggle.
Nowdays is more than ever imperative the need to see solidarity not from the view of our defence against the state's attack but as our fightback which aims to intensify the struggle for social liberation by connecting each “specific” matter with the “general” matter in issue of the liberating operation.
Solidarity Assembly to political detainees, prisoners and persecuted militants