25.11.15: Members of Anarchist Collective Rouvikonas broke into the grounds of the German ambassador’s home in Halandri, northern Athens in solidarity with refugees.
Collective members scaled a fence that surrounds the property and scattered fliers containing slogans in support of refugees. They also raised a banner calling for solidarity with refugees and condemning EU leader’s response to the so-called ‘crisis’ and denouncing the use of Orwellian propaganda terms such as ‘hotspots’ and ‘reception centers’ when describing the refugee situation.
Seven of the comrades were arrested.
Greece: Announcement from Anarchist Collective Rouvikonos
English translation of the announcement from Anarchist Collective Rouvikonas explaining the reasons behind their action at the residence of the German Ambassador in Halandri, Athens on 25.11.15. Translation by BlackCat.
Europe’s crocodile tear for refugees…
In the last few days we witnessed incidents and events that would have been literally hilarious had they not involved human lives. We saw statements made by E.U. officials, ministers and prime ministers telling us how much they care and how much empathy they have for these people’s tragedy.
We saw an Orwellian propaganda of ”hotpots” and ”hospitality centres” meaning concentration camps. We saw extensive reports in mainstream media aiming to whitewash the Coastguard and present their supposedly heroic efforts to save refugees from drowning, reports which refer to the same coastguard that for years has been responsible for many push backs and piercings of dinghies carrying migrants and inflicting all kinds of torture and humiliation on people running away from a hell brought to their countries by the ”civilized west”. We saw prime minister A.Tsipras, the ”heroic negotiator” , along with the Speaker of E.U. parliament M.Schultz making tearful statements about the issue of refugees.
Also, besides householders demanding safety behind fences and every kind of repression, we saw the proliferation of hideous articles and statements regarding the ”separation of refugees and migrants- with the deportation of the latter of course” by various venal journalists and the ridiculousness of ”barbarian jihadists have arrived en masse on the islands of the Aegean disguised as refugees”. Does anyone really think that the groups that carried out the terrorist attacks in the heart of major western cities don’t have a better way to enter a country like Greece? Or is anyone delusional enough to believe that the Evros fence or the coastguard will provide any protection if Greece ever becomes the target of islamists?
To all the above, we have to say that their salaries are well deserved because they managed to keep a large part of society brutalized. But they should know that the rest, all those fighting for decency and freedom, all those standing by the oppressed and against injustice, feel a growing rage against them.
….but not a word for the fences
The Evros fence is the main cause of death for the thousands of people who drowned in the mediterannean, but not the only one. It’s just the first that people come across along their journey. During the last few months, many countries in central and western Europe, one after the other, started to raise fences and act as the pawns of Germany. The German state, as a leading power in the E.U. is to blame the most for the creation of the issue of refugees. Now that the consequences of its interventions in the Middle East (whether in the context of NATO, or in the context of the E.U.) reached its door, the way Germany chose to manage these consequences illustrates all the expected cynicism and vulgarity: during the first two years of the Syrian civil war, the problem of refugee influx was ostentatiously ignored. Then, when the situation intensified, with the required media propaganda, it attempted to adopt the profile of the ”good and hospitable” super power that welcomes refugees with all the pomp and circumstance. So, after having welcomed as many refugees as were needed for its own interests ( as cheap labour, paying 1 euro per hour at the German railways), it decided that there is no space for more and closed its borders. Immediately after, fences started to appear one after the other, while at the same time Europe is financing FRONTEX with an extra 500 million.
As a culmination point, on Sunday November the 9th, we heard Mr Shoeble stating shamelessly that we are spoiling refugees and we saw him pointing his finger at those over-doing with solidarity because we are ”sending the wrong message”.
Of course, it was not the first time something like that happened. For those having a minimum required historical knowledge, the parallelism with the past is powerful: Smyrne 1922, Palestine 1992, Rwanda 1994, Aegean 2015. The list is unfortunately much longer while the differences in every case are only superficial. In all the above cases, as in so many others in the past, the motif was always the same: the so called ”Great powers” messed up entire countries or areas on the planet and when social collapse and waves of refugees occurred as a result of those interventions, they washed their hands as Pontius Pilate.
Against all these criminals and hypocrites, are all those deserving to still be called human. All those that have been doing everything humanly possible to dress, feed and shelter people, like in the summer 2015 when hundreds of families were crammed in Pedion Areos park in Athens, when the official state machine was off for swimming and the Syriza government slept the sleep of the just. Of course we don’t mean the dependent-on-state-budget NGOS that rushed to help out while they were really after E.U. funding which ends in the pockets of various people, or those bastards who profiteer by selling a small bottle of water for 3 euro, cellphone charging for 5 euro, a bad quality blanket for 30 euro, etc, but all those people who, even now in the winter, have left their comfort and are now in Lesbos, Leros and Kalymnos, along with the locals who opened their homes, shared their meals and kept their ears shut to the nazi profanities attempting to present ruined people as the supreme evil.
We find ourselves among them, against criminals and hypocrites. As we wanted to pinpoint the criminal responsibilities of the E.U. and more specifically Germany, today we did our share of direct action : we intruded in the house of the German ambassador.
IMMEDIATE DEMOLITION OF THE FENCE OF SHAME IN EVROS
FREE MOVEMENT OF REFUGEES TO THE COUNTRIES OF THEIR CHOICE
Anarchist Collective Rouvikonas
(via Athens Indymedia)