Sunday, November 26, 2006

Greece: "State Terrorism" Provokes "Resistance Marches"

You don't find the phrase "state terrorism" in the news very often these days.

Instead you find nonsense phrases like "islamofascist terrorism" (Islam and fascism being two very different things, of course, and terrorism yet a third).

You also find more nonsense, like "war against terrorism" (erroneously assuming one can fight a war against a tactic).

But hardly anyone dares to call unprovoked violence by the forces of a state against its own citizens "terrorism", even though, by any sane definition of "terrorism", that's clearly what it is. So when the phrase "state terrorism" appears on Google News, it catches my eye.

This time, it appears it came from Greece, from the Anti-Authoritarian Movement. And it's part of what appears to be a "news release" which runs like this:

Greece: Resistance Marches against Police Violence and State Terrorism

by: Anonymous | under: Europe | from Infoshop News | November 26, 2006

link to original text | slightly edited

"Zero Tolerance" In Action
On Friday 17th of November, before the march, during the march and even after the march the police brutality and terrorism exceeded any limit. Preemptive arrests, brutal beating of protestors, general use of chemical gases, hundreds of abductions, denial of contact with lawyers and many more such incidents are establishing in practice the dogma of the “zero tolerance”.
The Government Is Choosing To Oppress All Who Resist
The government is carrying out its antisocial policies by choosing to oppress all the people who resist: students, teachers, academics, contract workers, deck workers (are few of the most recent victims of state terrorism)… And of course the police assault in many blocs of the last march of 17th of November and the unthought-of violent encirclement and break apart of the Antiauthoritarian Movement (A.K.) bloc. Such tactic constitutes a “test drive” of the repression mechanisms that go hand by hand with the general state authoritarianism.
Having To Face This Situation, We Assume The Initiative
Having to face this situation, we -- workers' unions, student unions, groups who activate in working and educational spaces, political parties, political organisations, and political groups -- assume the initiative for the realisation of mass demonstration of resistance against the state repression on Tuesday 28th of November in Athens.
State Repression Resistance Initiative
Initiative of Resistance to the State Repression

On Tuesday 28/11/06 [November 28, 2006] there will be mass marches in many Greek cities about the same issue:

Athens: 18:00 from Propylaia
Thessaloniki: 17:00 from Kamara
Komotini: 13:00 from the central square
Ksanthi: 18:00 from the central square
Patra: 18:00 from Olgas square
See also:
Police assault in the march in Athens | Photos from Thessaloniki march and the brutal beating of a student by civil cops | Video of the civil cops beating the student