Greece – Athens -Direct action against means of public transport (eastern districts of Athens)

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From the beginning of 2016, dozens of ticket machines have been removed
from buses in our neighbourhoods. With simply means, by unscrewing 4
screws and cutting one wire, ticket validation machines were removed
from the buses of the local routes (250, 732, 203, 054), securing free
transport for everyone even if just for a bit. Commuting with public
transport is not strolling in the city. Commuting is a necessity which
is directly related with the search for work as well as with us getting
there on time. It is commuting for us, “those below”, the workers, the
unemployed and the immigrants who serve the profits of the bosses.

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That is why the ticket prices are increasing, that is why controls intensify,
and that is why they establish special transport cops, leading to the
enforcing of completely controlled zones on public transport and the
increase of the cost of our lives. For us, therefore, transport is a
blackmailing social necessity and we will not tolerate it being
transformed into a daily stress about where we will bump into an
inspector, or whether or not the money is enough for a ticket.
We will not tolerate our total exclusion from something that essentially
belongs to us. This is why we factually resist and sabotage the control
systems on public transport: on the ones that already exist (such as the
pilot system of turnstiles on buses –i.e. bus 224- which were removed
as soon as they appeared) as well those to come (electronic tickets,
CCTV, cops, price increases) disrupting thus the technical possibility
of our bosses to impose on us whatever suits them. We are not the state.
We are against it, and  its left wing, which shares out crumbs for
“free commute” and presents the flexible workers, the part-timers and
the workers of 300, 400 and 500 euro as privileged, while it
simultaneously promotes class exclusion for all the weak and grabs more
from their wage: with taxes, social security, illegal and unpaid labour.
Against the state which calls us to consent and abide to its strategies
for more profit and more discipline, we propose the resistance to
control, sabotaging of surveillance mechanisms, refusing to pay as well
as the factual solidarity amongst locals and immigrants, those who
resist, amongst all us who have nothing to gain from state policies.
And we call all those who want to and possibly fear, to do their part:
factually refuse the controls and prices in our daily commutes, sabotage
control systems on public transport in every way and everywhere,
individually and collectively defend their free commuting. Because our
attitude against public transport represents our overall attitude in
society and against the structure of the state. And all of this is an
inseparable piece of the struggles we fight against the misery and
devaluation of our lives, against the employer arbitrariness and
oppression, for the defence of social reproduction and social goods.
AGAINST COMMODITIES AND SELF-ORGANIZED,
WE ARE TAKING OUR LIVES INTO OUR OWN HANDS.
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source
Translated by Act for freedom now!

 

One thought on “Greece – Athens -Direct action against means of public transport (eastern districts of Athens)”

  1. Very informative post. I’ll travel to Athens soon and I learned a lot I may need to know once I get there. Thanks for sharing.

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