The “Anarchist Crouch” on Wednesday’s events

The “Anarchist Crouch” (Sispirosi Anarchikon) group issued the following statement only hours after the death of the bank employees on Wednesday in Athens. A rough translation follows, as part of our effort to put together some of the responses by anarchists to that day’s tragic events – OL.


The just uprising of 120,000 demonstrators, the raid on parliament of tens of thousands of enraged people neither has, nor could it have anything to do with the para-statist gang which murdered three people at Marfin bank and attempted to do the same at the Ianos Bookstore.

“In the muds, sky, you are reflected”

First of all we want to make clear that our rage is indescribable; not only for the para-statist gang responsible for the death of three people, two women – one in fact four-months pregnant – and one man, but also for the riff-raff of politicians and journalists who were quick to link the just uprising of hundreds of thousands in Athens and other cities with this heinous murder.

And yet the truth cannot be erased. An enraged river of demonstrators surrounded Parliament and kept trying to invade it for hours, giving tough battles with the forces of repression. This fact cannot be hidden, nor can it be buried under the tons of mud which the panic-ridden state employees try to throw; these sad party-leaders of every colour and the “select” administrators of “journalism”. Even the TV footage, which they were commentating on with near-blanched faces, stand as indisputable witness of all the shocking things that took place for hours – either at the steps leading to the courtyard of the parliament, in front of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, or at Amalias avenue and the wider Sintagma area.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators were attempting to break through the ring of the repression forces, while the demonstration in its entirety was supporting their attempts by refusing to abandon the area which was been flooded with tear-gas. People of all ages with or without their faces covered were shaking the area with the slogan “burn, burn the Parliamentary brothel” – a slogan that a few years ago would only be mouthed by anarchists. As for the anarchists themselves, yes, they were among all those who sent a loud message to the local employees of the IMF and the EU, as well as their notorious bosses.

This is the Balkans and there’s no messing about around here. People over here still know how to struggle, to rise up, to bleed in order to keep even a hope alive for what they believe to be just. The neck of the disobedient of the greek territory has proven to be rather sensitive to the statist yoke; their disobedience grafts every revolt, every social clash.

International media are once again recording an uprising in the greek territory at a crucial “moment” for the bosses of the EU – and beyond. They are afraid that the fiery message which was once again transmitted will pass down the fire to other nuclei, which might slowly turn into blaze. The european south, which is presented as incapable of being “adjusted”, is attempted to be put into “plater”, to be forced to obey by any means possible.

Let us welcome their new plans then. Let’s assure them that the whip will not be enough to turn us passive and incapable of raising our heads. They should have no doubt that their bed-time stories and doctrines of “national survival”, “patriotism”, “national emergency” and the rest have worn off log ago.

As for us, we do not for a moment forget that we have every reason to cut the knife to the bone. To do everything to ensure authority’s wounds stay open. Bankruptcy is all theirs; we don’t have, nor will we ever have anything to share with those who suck the lives of people, the people who now refuse the crumbs they were offered until yesterday. As for those who are still irresolute, those who will pragmatically take a stance because the fate reserved for them by the system of domination and exploitation is now miserable, we can only welcome them.

Finally we will repeat once again that anarchists in struggle have nothing to do with any sad gang. They participate in social struggles premising first and foremost the morality, altruism and self-denial. They do not aim at gaining financial or other benefits. They do not raise the slogan of “steal, break, grab” as their flag. They despise and never crowd with anyone who might want to dominate, by revolutionary or other means. They despise any credentials claimed by the supposedly enlightened avant-guards and they turn their back, without a second thought, to the movements’ majorities, which nevertheless seem so few and tiny…

The 5th of May will undoubtedly be recorded in the most stark of ways into the history of social struggles. We would like to think that the sorrowful event of the assassination of three people will also comprise a “swan song” for all those who attempt to bound social practices – promoting, from the position of the mandate’s recipient, these various para-statist gangs, regardless of the cloaks these might wear.

Of course, none of this will come by itself._

Athens, May 5th 2010

Anarchist Crouch