Group says it was behind Greek firebombings
The Associated Press
February 15, 2009
ATHENS, Greece: A small anarchist group has claimed responsibility for 17 firebombings carried out last week and threatened further attacks.
All but one of the attacks with makeshift bombs were carried out in Athens on Wednesday and Thursday, and they targeted people such as a top anti-terrorism prosecutor, a prominent politician and a judge.
No injuries or serious damage resulted, but the firebombings were carried out during the day, making them very unusual for arsonists’ attacks in Greece.
“Our attacks are not symbolic, they are acts of war. … We will be back soon,” Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, a self-described “urban guerrilla” group, said in a statement published on a leftist Web site Saturday.
It said it dedicated its attacks to “authentic revolutionary” Dimitris Koufodinas, a prominent member of the terrorist organization November 17, who was arrested in 2002 and is serving multiple life sentences.
The little-known Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei group only surfaced last year, and police have said they know little about it but take its threats of sustained urban guerrilla action seriously.
“This is a new development,” Deputy Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis told Greek media Sunday, referring to the claim of responsibility. “We must be vigilant.”
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Odd that an anarchist group should dedicate its actions to a Marxist nicknamed Poison Hand…
- Revolutionary Organization 17 November (Greek: Επαναστατική Οργάνωση 17 Νοέμβρη, Epanastatiki Organosi dekaefta Noemvri), (also known as 17N or N17) apparently murdered two dozen or so people during the course of its Reign of Terror, the first being CIA station chief Richard Welch on December 23, 1975.
The beginning of the end for 17N/N17 was June 2002, when Greek police arrested Savas Xiros. Remarkably, he was the first member of the group ever detained by police. The following months brought further arrests, including that of Dimitris Koufodinas, who surrendered to police after having spent weeks on the run. Despite his denials of any involvement, ‘for the investigating officers, [French-born academic Alexandros Giotopoulos] matched the profile of the brain behind the group, the “ideological instructor of the organisation and the writer of its proclamations”. Giotopoulos is the son of Dimitris Giotopoulos, a well-known 1930s Greek Communist and follower of Leon Trotsky. He is believed to have been active in the Paris-based student opposition to the military dictatorship which ruled Greece between 1967 and 1974.’
In December 2003, Giotopoulos, Koufodinas and 13 others were found guilty of various crimes (in “Greece’s first terrorism trial”), and received multiple life terms (although “The maximum amount of time any of them will spend behind bars… is 25 years”, supposedly).
Dimitris was known as “Poison Hand” for his skills with a pistol, and got 15 life sentences at trial.
In January 2007, the US Embassy in Athens was attacked, and the blame attributed to a group called ‘Revolutionary Struggle’; “Greek authorities have said they view Revolutionary Struggle as a successor to the November 17 group”.
Van guard anarchism?
Pros – Entertaining
Cons – Probably ineffective
‘…Odd that an anarchist group should dedicate its actions to a Marxist nicknamed Poison Hand…’
Not in the context of Spain where the local Trots ignored Trotsky and fought alongside anarchs. And some of them were of acceptable quality as revolutionists. Orwell risked his life trying to save one. ( sear Homage to Catalonia )
Re the comment ‘ Run…’
It is odd to me that any activism these days is being called ‘vanguardist’. But I certainly agree that sitting around critiquing activism is ineffective.
Trying to blow up judges isn’t activism – it’s terrorism and it fucking stinks of vanguard Marxist bullshit – if you think this will bring about a workers’ paradise then you are a fucking nutcase or an idiot, albeit an entertaining one until you start killing innocent people.
Could this be a resurgence of the ELA or Revolutionary Nuclei in a new adapted form? Any evidence of this?
Dunno. As I don’t speak Greek, I’m at a bit of a disadvantage.
go ahead evil western pigs and intellectualize your stupid little leftist-right[i]st struggle. the mighty fighters of jihad in the name of GOD are [coming] for you. you and all your people will either [submit] to the will of the prophet of ISLAM, or be [burned] alive by the cleansing fire. WE COME FOR YOU. ALLAH AKBAR.
Gosh!
Just give the fash a chance, Andy.
i think it’s political double standard bullshit that when a marxist revolts it’s labeled as terrorism, but when a capitalist revolts it’s labeled as vigilance. the world would have the problems it has today if rich people didn’t hire hitmen to kill Vladmir Lenin, Trotsky, and Mendeleev nearly a century ago.
typo. the world would NOT have the problems it has today if rich people didn’t hire hitmen to kill.
Maybe. But I dunno which rich person hired hitmen to kill Vlad the Impaler, Trotsky was the victim of a Stalinist agent, and according to the BBC “Dmitri Mendeleev survived many bouts of tuberculosis in his younger years, and died peacefully during a reading of Jules Verne’s Journey to the North Pole aged 73”.