After Anarchy
Greece 2018
No Gods
No Masters
In the bottom right corner a molotov cocktail exploding can be seen in the Exarchia neighbourhood of Athens.
“Destroy what destroys you” and “Fuck the Police” are only a couple of slogans you can see on the walls of old and dirty apartments in the neighbourhood of Exarcheia. Exarcheia is a neighbourhood located at the northeast from the Acropolis in Athens. As you enter the neighbourhood you can see police in full riot gear guarding the entrance of this part of town. The police doesn’t enter this part of town anymore as they will get attacked. This free zone started in 1973, when the government decided to send a tank into the university where students were protesting. Since then this zone has become a place to be for everyone who call themselves anarchist, communist or any other extreme left group.
The absence of police in this neighbourhood can be explained in the fact that since 1973 a lot of extreem left groups installed themselves in this neighbourhood. With anarchist having a big presence in there, they started using their ideology to do and organise daily tasks. A parking lot that has been transformed into a public park, squads that are open to everyone, free kitchens all based on the idea of living in a community where everyone is free and where it is trusted that the person can make decisions for themselves.
Red and black flags are hanging on the balconies of a couple of houses where the broken entrance doors are open. These flags, the symbol of anarcho-communism. This flag represents the will to stop any form of a state, to destroy capitalism, wage labour and private property.Part of practicing these ideas was the opening of a free kitchen where people go eat for free, the start of squatting buildings and having a dental office where a dentist volunteered once a week to help people for free. These needs became bigger as the financial crisis of 2008 hit the greek population really hard. The Exarchia neighbourhood became a place where people could live freely, where everyone was equal and where the sense of community was really important. Instead of relying on the state people started to rely on each other.
The first barricades around Exarchia are set a fire as the night falls.
The hate against the state and police was escalated in 2008 on the sixth of December when a police officer shot Alexandros Grigoropoulos. This sparked the anti government even more and sparked riots. People were fed up with the state. Since then the sixth of december became a date for yearly violent riots. Anarchism in the idea itself is against any form of violence. It only believes in the use of violence as only valid method against a power that uses violence to oppress them. The police is the perfect symbolism of a form of violence the state uses to oppress the anarchist groups. Over the years these protests have always been violent, especially in Exarchia. The people prepare barricades in all the neighbour hooding streets to keep the police out. The sky rains with molotov cocktails as they were prepared in forehand. Traps against the police are set up as people wait on the roofs to throw things to the police as they pass by.Propaganda of the deed means doing things that will incite a revolution, often it is associated with act of terrorism. As Anarchist believe they are violently oppressed they believe only with violence a revolution can be done against the oppressors.The hate against the state and police was escalated in 2008 on the sixth of December when a police officer shot Alexandros Grigoropoulos. This sparked the anti government even more and sparked riots. People were fed up with the state. Since then the sixth of december became a date for yearly violent riots.
Anarchism in the idea itself is against any form of violence. It only believes in the use of violence as only valid method against a power that uses violence to oppress them. The police is the perfect symbolism of a form of violence the state uses to oppress the anarchist groups. Over the years these protests have always been violent, especially in Exarchia. The people prepare barricades in all the neighbour hooding streets to keep the police out. The sky rains with molotov cocktails as they were prepared in forehand. Traps against the police are set up as people wait on the roofs to throw things to the police as they pass by.
Barricades
Big part of the protest was the building and placing of barricades at strategic places. Every time there would be a couple of persons waiting at a barricade waiting until the police would show up. When they did the barricades would be lit up to make sure the police men wouldn’t be able to go trough. The materials they used for these barricades consisted out of things they could find in the neighbourhood.
People living in exarchia are done with it as it completely trashes their streets. Fireworks can be seen everywhere. Cars get burned down, the barricades are set a light, the police fires teargas. All the gases are nefast for us. People stayed inside their stores and even inside their cars to make sure no one would set it alight.
Marcel Top