After having reviewed the video evidence below, I’ve sent an urgent msg to you-know-who about you-know-what naming and shaming the dog (1:37) leading the small group of Kiwi rugby fans and English and Swedish football hooligans what are obviously responsible for the troubles in Greece.
On a moar serious note: War-Zone Athens: three people dead, many buildings burning as general strike march turns into a battle, taxikipali, libcom, May 5, 2010.
…the union of bank workers (OTOE) has declared a strike for tomorrow in response to the death of the three bank workers today. The union puts the blame for the deaths on the bank bosses and the police. A video of protesters attacking [Andreas Vgenopoulos] the boss of Marfin visiting the burned bank, calling him a murderer can be seen here… A video of riot police smashing a coffee shop in Exarcheia can be seen here.
See also : Jonathan Rugman’s excitable tweets. Choice quote: “Government says Greeks can take IMF medicine. Anger today might suggest otherwise.” After (sic) the Greek Riots is an xclnt sauce of infos in English.
The dogs of the bosses! They smash the cafes because they know it’s the only thing open on a strike day, the only place you can relax all day and catch up on your reading.
Also, why do people demonstrate and have street battles during general strikes?
I’d much rather sit at home all day, go for a bike ride, get a coffee, and finish up the evening going to an assembly of some kind. If you’ve already shut down production, why bother fighting the cops? I guess it’s just what you gotta do.
Because the situation calls for more than just sitting about at home. Strike, march, organise, occupy space and get on the attack.
Jesus Christ… I’d heard of this blog, but never seen it before today.
You call yourself an anarchist? You’re a bloody disgrace to the movement. In Greece they are showing the real signs of being able to abolish the state and authority and they’re being attacked by the police for doing so. Scabs deserve no mercy, because at the end of the day they are giving extra strength to the enemy when there’s absolutely no excuse for doing so during a general strike.
You should be utterly ashamed of yourself. How DARE you call yourself a comrade of mine!
WTF are you talking about?!?
I thought you were defending the bastard managers who were forcing the workers to lock up the doors. If not, then I apologise. Been pretty stressed today with accusations coming from all sides about this whole bull.
Comrade Hannah get some irony, you’re running low.
Hannah,
OK. I still don’t understand how you got ‘slackbastard defends bastard managers who forced workers to lock doors’ from the above, but whatever: apology accepted.
Cheers,
@ndy.
Glenn Dyer writing in Crikey apparently sheets the blame for the huge Greece debt in equal parts to public sector unions, small business tax cheats and…anarchists!
That’s a candidate for the Agincourt award right there.
Actually, I think Dyer may be on to something. I met a Greek anarchist once, on Sydney Road. She was carrying many large bags, full of gold. When I asked her what she was doing, she cackled loudly and claimed that, with the assistance of a large public sector union, she’d obtained a loan for a small business, then fled the country for Australia.
She now owns a nationwide chain of wheel-balancing centres.
Why is the Left silent about this?
Don’t forget the Ottoman Empire: “How Greece ended up with this state of affairs is a matter of debate here. Some attribute it to Greece’s long history under Turkish occupation, when Greeks got used to seeing the government as an enemy. Others point out that, classical history aside, Greece is actually a relatively young democracy.” And as any Sth Melbourne fan will tell you, they’re also responsible for Greeks not being blonde (all the way down) no more like back in the day…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/may/06/greece-protest?picture=362290874
Sadly, having become a celebrity, Greek police will now undoubtedly kill Kanellos.
How do anarchists defend incinerating members of the proletariat?
Seriously, assuming it wasn’t police provocateurs, how do anarchists defend this monstrous action?
What?
More important than the question ‘how do anarchists defend incinerating members of the proletariat?’ is the question ‘where do anarchists defend incinerating members of the proletariat?’
In critical and suffocating times – TPTG