L'amour et la révolution (2018) - full transcript
Ten years after the first riots the media no longer speak of the Greek crisis. Everything suggests that the austerity cure has succeeded and that calm has returned. This film proves the ...
Let me through!
No, you need to wait here
for the riots to stop!
There are no riots for me!
They exist only for you!
I can deal with my own security.
Please, make room!
So, I will pass from here.
Don’t push me.
Don’t push!
Don’t push!
I don’t!
It’s just this fantastic bike!
He hit me!
What? Did I?
Poor sweetie!
He says
I hit him!
Jerking off is healthy,
makes life more beautiful!
You get more muscles,
a cleaner face and it is free!
Now that’s enough!
You playmobils, get out of here!
None of us is for violence.
What is violence?
Poverty is violence.
Hunger is violence.
For many,
unemployment is violence.
The memorandum are violence,
as well as the « crisis » that rises up 9 years now.
and has almost crushed the greek landscape
and not only.
When somebody manifests,
he manifests against something he has been dealt with,
against the violence he’s been victim of.
But he is facing an army, armed with clubs,
chemicals, guns, bullets and shields,
which is not hesitating to use them
as instructed against the enemy, the people.
They use it in order to cause injuries,
to make suffocate,
to wound the ones in front of them,
those fighting for their rights.
MASKS! MASKS!
MASKS! MASKS!
No one, when going on the street,
plays with their lives, their freedom and their health,
just because he enjoys violence.
No, we react to something.
We want to protest!
Let us protest!
Stop hitting us!
We only have our hands left!
Nothing else!
NOTHING ELSE!
WE CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!
LEAVE US!
LEAVE US!!!!!
SHAME! SHAME ON YOU!
SHAME! SHAME!
SHAME! SHAME ON YOU!
LEAVE HIM! YOU BASTARDS!
Hold on!
Hold on!
Please, I am a doctor,
there is an injured and I am waiting for the ambulance.
Stop gazing us!
That’s up there that we should
hang them, those fuckers!
You’re the one protecting their power,
idiots! You are guilty!
WATCH OUT!
NO, LET US GO!
LEAVE THEM!
This is not right!
You are playing with people’s distress!
RELEASE OUR CHILD!
LET HIM GO!
HE'S BLEEDING!
LET HIM GO TO THE HOSPITAL!
WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?
DON'T YOU HAVE A FAMILY?
A MOTHER? A FATHER?
A PENSION?
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?
WHAT'S ALL OF THIS??
WE'RE DEFENDING OUR LIVES DOWN HERE!
WHY DID YOU EVER COME HERE!
THEY'RE FASCISTS!
YOU'RE HARASSING US WHILE WE'RE ONLY
DEFENDING OUR RIGHTS! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?
THEY'RE FASCISTS!
To us, talking about violence isn't the problem.
The violence that we produce is only a small response
to all the suffering we had to endure,
while fighting for our stolen rights.
SOLIDARITY IS PEOPLE'S WEAPON!
FIGHT BACK LEADER'S WAR!
To fight is like falling in love.
You lose all control.
You do not know what
will happen the next day.
You leave behind any fear you might have.
Fear vanishes when fighting or loving.
"LOVE AND REVOLUTION"
SOCIAL KITCHEN, “THE OTHER HUMAN”
FREE FOOD FOR ALL
Here we are, Yannis.
4 years later.
Our priority is, more than ever,
to cover life needs
in order to focus on different needs
like building a better world.
May it be possible
to have some caviar?
Sure, of course.
But I don’t have any
bread to spread it on.
Here you are!
Perfect! That will be great
with my caviar!
Kostas!
What’s up? Hey, how are you?
Here boy, take some!
Yannis, come on, eat something.
Enjoy your meal!
I was working in a transportation company,
which went bankrupt.
This meant I could no longer
pay for electricity and water.
I had to live with my mother-in-law.
If it wasn’t for her,
my 3 kids, my wife and I,
would live here in the streets
like many others.
I am homeless for 3 years now.
I go to a centre for the homeless where I take a shower.
And I come here to Kostas and the social kitchen.
I try to help as I can to prepare the meal.
I collect scrap metal from the garbage
and make some money for myself in order to survive.
Do you live alone right now?
Yes.
Do you have any kids?
No.
Certainly not! I better die than
bringing a child into this misery.
How do you see the future?
Nothingness.
Last years,
the situation got worse and worse.
Even at our scale,
we can see it.
For instance, in 2012,
we cooked for 100-150 person a day,
and now we cook for
1500-2000 person a day.
Hence, the situation is
indeed worse everywhere.
Also, back then there was only
one social kitchen in Athens,
now there are 15 all over Greece.
Once again, we voluntarily chose to
cook just in front Siriza's office.
And we will always be just across
from any political office.
These people have to realize we have to
take our lives into our hands.
We don’t support to
live like slaves anymore.
This needs to stop!
We need to be aware of it!
If I don’t liberate myself first,
I would not be able to liberate anyone else.
That’s the point of the social kitchen :
to help each other and to emancipate together.
I am free and I try to liberate all people,
no matter their origins. So that they feel free.
THEY TALK ONLY ABOUT
PROFIT AND LOSS!
WE'RE STANDING
FOR THE VALUE OF LIFE!
GOVERNMENT, EUROPEAN UNION,
GREEDY BANKERS…
THE BASTARDS WANT TO TAKE OVER
THE HOUSES OF THE PEOPLE.
NOT EVEN ONE HOUSE
FOR THE BANKERS!
We are the coordination
of the collectives of Thessaloniki
and we are at the city’s district court
so as to stop banks and government
from snatching people’s houses and property,
who are going to be sold
for the benefit of banks and the state.
They are attempting to snatch
people’s property in the limits of a politic
that have already deprived people of their salaries,
jobs and every social right
and now want to take possession
of suffering people's houses.
Every Wednesday,
hundreds of citizens come here
to claim for a booming NO!
WE'LL ALWAYS FIGHT
POVERTY AND FASCISM!
We were a handful of people
when we began entering the district courts
where bankers and notaries
would point fingers at us
and cops would kick us out...
And finally this handful of people,
after a lot of struggles,
became a wave of rage,
that took over the courts.
We finally succeed to reverse the role
between the perpetrators and the victims.
We succeed to impose our rights
and to fight back against all those attacks.
We find hope in our struggle and
it's on this path that we found happiness.
We are the generation
of the economic crisis.
The doomed generation.
To not attempt to change things
would be like digging our own grave.
If there is a personal reason
why I am part of this movement
is because I know what it’s like
losing your home at an auction.
I know what it’s like watching your parents stressed
over how to provide for the family,
what’s like to lose your neighborhood,
to change schools
and to feel lost and
find myself in complete distress.
My name is Daouda.
I am 16 and a half.
I came to Greece when
I was 15 years old.
I come from Ivory coast-Burkina Faso.
I had to leave my country
after my parents were murdered
by the army, during the civil war.
Before arriving to Greece,
I traveled through Lebanon,
Syria, Turkey.
I've been through a lot of violence during that period.
For instance,
at the borders between Syria and Turkey,
I was chased
and robbed of all my stuff.
While running,
my leg got trapped into bared-wire.
Not only did it hurt,
but I was also stuck.
Fortunately I succeeded in
freeing myself and escaping.
One day, I made it
to the Aegean Sea.
In front of me, I could see Greece.
Europe!
The only thing left for me to do
was to find a boat.
Before reaching the shore, the boat sank
and I did not know how to swim.
Fortunately,
I was wearing a lifejacket
and the comrades at the beach of Chios saved us!
It was people from Exarcheia, from everywhere,
taking us out of the water
and into safety.
Some days later,
I came to Athens
where I was told to
go to Exarcheia.
There are a lot of solidarity squats here
and many antifascists comrades.
We feel supported and safe.
“We wear hood to look ourselves in the eyes”
I had been living in the squat
Notara 26 for 6 months.
After a neo-Nazi attack
I had to move elsewhere.
I met a lot of people who helped me out,
who I now consider family.
Truly, they offered me the courage
to continue on my path.
Without solidarity,
« LOVE »
I don’t know where
I would have been today.
I don’t even know if I would be alive.
"PAPERS FOR MIGRANTS"
Exarcheia (center of Athens)
ALEXANDROS GRIGOROPOULOS STREET
MURDERED BY A POLICEMAN AT FIFTEEN YEARS OLD
ANTISEXIST PARTY
ON EXARCHEIA SQUARE
BETTER BE UNEMPLOYED
THAN A COP
During the summer of 2015
many refugees were coming to Greece,
so on the 25 of September
of the same year,
we decided to occupy a building
of the Ministry of Employment,
for refugees and immigrants to live in.
Since then we have accommodated
more than 6000 people,
from nearly 16 different countries.
For our squat, Notara 26,
there have been two different periods.
The first one lasted till March 2016
and the agreement between the EU and Turkey,
The refugees and the immigrants were coming
to Notara so as to rest for some days
and then move on towards the borders,
towards another European country.
The second period
was after the agreement.
For instance, right now, there are families
who have been living over a year at Notara 26.
Hello, I am from
Afghanistan.
It’s been 9 years
since I left the country.
I run away from the war.
Afghanistan is a very dangerous country.
My father fought the Taliban
under terrifying conditions.
I also had to leave because I am a member
of the persecuted tribe, Hazara.
In addition,
I am obviously a woman!
In Afghanistan, they torture us:
they oppress us, beat us and rape us!
For those reasons it was impossible for me to stay there.
So I left Afghanistan behind me.
At first I made it to Iran.
I stayed there for 8 years.
I married and had two children.
But, with no papers, I could not pursuit any studies
and my kids could not go to school.
Once again forced to leave,
I chose to resort to Europe.
Having two kids with me,
it was complicated.
We crossed the Aegean Sea
under very difficult conditions.
I was terrified!
When we arrived in Greece, we were sent to
a refugee camp. It was horrifying!
We were left with simple tents,
in the cold and rain, and no other help.
But we finally found shelter here,
at Notara 26!
It is a wonderful place
that we love a lot.
Can I leave now?
The basic principles
of Notara 26 are solidarity,
self-organization and direct democracy.
We hold a meeting once a week
and all the residents participate.
I say residents and not refugees
because they prefer that term.
The residents and the solidarian,
all together, make the decisions.
Being a living body,
sometimes,
there are disputes
but we come to a consensus.
Notara’s meeting starts around past half eight
or nine till and lasts up to midnight
and sometimes up to one or two
in the morning.
The first part of the meeting
is about general information,
while the second part is about our projects,
the squat’s operation
and the various problems that exist.
For instance, we often discuss issues
like the safety of our squat,
cleaning, cooking,
the kids’ education,
our collaborations with other squats
for migrants refugees
and also political questions
like whether or not we should participate
in demonstartions, projects and political actions.
We discuss solidarity proposals
from Greece and elsewhere,
solidarity convoys,
ways we can help as solidarian
and not philanthropists.
When it comes to the resident's participation
to everything that happens at Notara 26,
the participation to the meetings,
the participation to work teams,
those people who left war zones or dictatorships,
came here and help around.
Some don’t want to.
It’s like the Greeks, the French,
the Spanish, the Americans...
There’s no discrimination between people
and their different cultures.
There are many Greeks who just sit around
on their couches, doing nothing.
It’s like that.
On the 24th of August of 2016,
fascists attacked Notara.
It was an arson;
they really wanted to burn
dozens of kids,
dozens of kids
and their families,
We were lucky there
were no victims.
We were quick to evacuate the building,
there were 100 people living here then.
With people’s solidarity,
in only 15 days,
we were successfully
operating again!
The fascists attacked Notara 26
during the night,
in the darkness.
They couldn’t act during
the light of day.
This is the real face of fascism
which wears various masks!
Fascism is hatred,
death, slavery,
humanity’s biggest folly!
To you, the child saved from the waters
Or born here into the stream
Among the traded humans
On a wounded planet
The old world is falling apart
Everything that lives
is in danger
The plundering ideology
Led us to this sinking
Yet the rebels help each other for
Newborn utopias
Which colors will bloom tomorrow?
It's up to you, to everyone!
Which world for tomorrow?
Which world for tomorrow?
Which world for tomorrow?
Notara is a big family!
I wish you a long life
To harmoniously blossom
To gather your talents
Naturally free among equals
With rainbow smiles
and with honey-flavored kisses
without hate and fear,
No gods or masters
I simply wish you… to be.
Which world for tomorrow?
Which world for tomorrow?
Which world for tomorrow?
I... write.
You... write.
Where do I write it?
Write it here.
Wait!
I am 16 years old. I am in highschool.
My name is Christina and…
I felt the need to help
because of the Other Human.
During a summer in Chios,
Kostas was there to cook for the refugees…
and all the other people there
of course!
This was my first experience
in which
I felt I was leaving
my own little world.
Giving courses to migrants children,
I have the feeling to help them to express themselves.
An independence which is growing
lessons after lessons.
My objective is to let those who can't express
being able to finally find their voice.
I help around in two spaces
where they tell me
they are surprised
I do this at such a young age.
But...
I don’t believe age matters.
What matters is empathy
and the need to...
help and participate !
When you feel this way,
you simply come to help!
Being an adolescent,
I feel that this made me
more mature, more grown up.
I believe more kids my age
should come and help here.
Growing up mean taking yourself out of your bubble and use that energy to try to make the world of others better.
Like many in France, these last years
I followed the social movement in Greece.
The manifestations, the strikes, the riots...
While at the same time thousands of refugees
were coming to the shores of the Greek islands.
I had to go!
I had never come to Greece but...
I had to come!
Since the September of 2015,
I have been to Greece four times.
I take a leave of absence
anytime I can to do so.
I still haven’t been to Acropolis or to beautiful the beaches,
or any close islands,
simply because solidarity
is what motivates me.
I often meet Natalia in Greece,
at various places
and different times,
and I thought she lived here.
I just found out today
that she lives in France,
comes here because
she loves us a lot
and participates in lots of our actions.
I participate in various
initiatives of solidarity,
in various self-organised spaces like here,
the social kitchen network.
Why do I do this?
Because I cannot stand the world as is.
I need to do something,
to try even if it doesn’t
make any big difference.
Come on! Let's go!
We ought to help these people
because we understand them.
Some say we help around
only the refugees;
those who say such things
help nobody anyway!
We help the refugees
land the Greeks alike!
We help ALL Humans,
we don’t distinguish them.
A man is a man! Period.
We can’t put him in boxes!
Is he a refugee? Greek?
Christian or Muslim?
WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS!
Whether it’s a Muslim who bleeds or I,
we all have the same red blood in our veins!
I help humans.
“Exarcheia's star” is a very old
and historical team.
Its function is based on
self- organisation, solidarity, freedom.
Self-organisation to us mean that
we don't care about championships or winning
and that we don't have any president.
We act with solidarity towards all,
whether they are refugees, immigrants, poor…
Here is our principles
and they're revolutionary!
It doesn’t matter to be the champ!
Champion of what? Of a championship?
No! Champion of life!
Love, solidarity, revolution...
Right Daouda?
Thanks!
We are at the square of Aghios Panteleimonas,
3-4 kilometres from Exarcheia,
in a neighbourhood
which was claimed by fascists 4 years ago.
In addition to the self-organised
structure of Exarcheia,
we created a team of healthcare
and came here
to reclaim the neighborhood and offer
medical services to everybody:
Greeks, refugees and immigrants.
The premises of Distomo started functioning
during November 2014.
Aghios Panteleimonas square was, for years,
a field of gathering and organisation for fascist gangs of Athens.
We came here with the logic of
radical antifascism to reverse this situation and create a zone of freedom...
a zone where kids of all colours,
race or origins can play together with a smile on their face.
These last three years,
we led dozen of actions :
Action against the main
premises of Golden dawn...
GET THE FUCK OUT YOU NAZIS!
NOT DOING THE BIG BOYS NOW
LIKE WITH THE REFUGEES!
OPEN UP, OPEN UP PALS!
GET OUT! GET OUT! WHERE'S
THE SUPERIOR RACE NOW? SHOW YOURSELF!
GET OUT!
(Neo-nazis won't come out)
We intervened at the square of Aghios Panteleimonas
by reopening the playground
while also making sure
the fascists stay away...
We manifested with motorcycles,
we participated in demonstrations
for the trial of Golden Dawn
and for other neighborhoods who are struggling in poverty.
And one of our most meaningful victory
of the last 6 month,
has been the attack of the premises of the new
fascist Greek party “LEPEN” that caused their total closing.
Our new place is at the same street
where the fascists had once opened their offices.
The antifascist and antiauthoritarian
place Distomo bears its name from the village Distomo,
which was slaughtered by Nazi Germans
during WWII.
The past, the present and
the future are linked together
and interact within our daily reflexions
and daily choices.
We are at the heart of Crete,
at one of the few valleys of the island,
under the mountain Dikti where,
according to Mythology, Zeus was born.
In this beautiful valley, they have planned
to construct an airport without any valid reasons.
The decision for the construction of this airport was taken
in order to face the problems
of the airport
Nikos Kazantzakis at Heraklion :
its proximity with the city, and its difficulties
to cope with transatlantic flights,
especially during the summer,
when there are lots of tourists.
A measured extension of the actual airport of
Nikos Kazantzakis would be much cheaper,
and could easily improve
Heraklion's situation,
while conserving the proximity
with the harbor and the actual road network.
Regardless that the expansion project
was done and ready,
suddenly a political decision was taken and swept
all of the technical and scientific conclusions,
by ordering the construction of a new airport,
into the countryside, 40 km away from the city.
The beginning of construction of the new great project
of the national airport of Kastelli has entered the final strait.
The new airport of Kastelli
is expected to occupy 6000 acres.
The overwhelming majority of the media
use stereotypical slogans about development,
advertises this project as the
o called major developmental project of Crete
without justifying the use of the word “development”.
Development for whom?
A project that of course
all Crete cannot wait for!
I believe it’s going to be
warmly accepted, unless…
They chose the most
wasteful solution.
An economical and ecological catastrophe
with huge social consequences.
This project is going to cost 5 times more
than expanding the existing airport.
A financial delirium in a period where most Greeks
try to survive the continuous policies of austerity.
In addition, a great part of flora and fauna will be wiped out.
Mountains of 11 million cubic meters are going to collapse.
Building that new airport means necessarily
to cut down 200 000 olive trees,
that are the jewels of life
and production across the island.
That olive tree has been planted by the grandfather
of my great-grandfather.
It's 200 years old.
That's 20 time my own age.
I will let no one
cut it down!
It will put to waste a land of high production value
and of course our water.
The aquifer of the area is important not only
to the nearby villages but also Heraklion.
The inhabitants of the nearby settlements are going to find themselves
only a few hundred meters away from that new airport.
They will have to move because of the conditions,
the air, water and noise pollution,
and of course their loss of agricultural income
or because of strict expulsion.
I feel lucky
to be born on this land.
Later, I chose to stay rather than
serving a boss somewhere else.
Today, I find myself, like everyone else,
facing that catastrophic project.
This will mean the destruction of our area
and I will not let them do it! Nobody will!
We stroll about
from all Zone to Defend
with the energy of movement
Creating on our way meeting
and mobilization spaces
As numerous inhabitants and farmers
We want to participate
into a take over
By struggling populations and movements
of the future of the planet.
No to an airport at Kastelli!
NO
TO THE AIRPORT!
The crowd : SHAME!
SHAME ON YOU!
Again : SERIOUSLY?
- The objectors will talk!
- Please wait!
Concerning the noises pollution…
The crowd : WHAT THE FUCK
ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
Please! Please! Please!
Please! Please!
We need to rise against the crime
they are prepared to commit to our home!
Once again, Rouvikonas records
their raid at the Spanish Embassy!
Members of the anarchist collective Rouvikonas
have climbed the stairs of the parliament and blocked it!
How did the anarchists
got through security?
Nikos, hold on, a moment please! Rouvikonas emerged at the Hilton
where discussions with Troika take place.
They entered the most secured
place of the country :
the Ministry of National Defence!
They entered the Pentagon!
Will they ever catch them?
Who is Rouvikonas?
We are from Rouvikonas!
Please stay calm.
Using this phrase, the members of the anarchist collective
introduced themselves while raiding the bank of Greece.
Rouvikonas is an anarchist
political organisation
which wants and tries to be in the front line
of social and class fights in Greece.
It’s a means of street opposition
to the regime and the government.
In its 3 years of presence,
it has carried out hundreds of actions:
Poster sticking, distributing of texts,
meetings, manifestations,
opening of social spaces,
occupations, interventions…
We use all means of fighting.
In our agenda of actions, Rouvikonas is aiming
for the most hideous infamy of the power,
but we also deal with daily problems
that touch directly the workers.
It could appear secondary but not to us.
We use our own video so firstly
they can’t change the meaning of our actions
and secondly they can’t hide what happened.
The most part of our actions
are already impossible to hide.
It’s difficult to hide a raid on the parliament
or on the palace of the prime minister.
Therefore, we have the capacity
to break through the misinformation and media omerta.
Since we have our own video footage,
we can control the image of our actions
and they cannot be defined
by the interest of others.
Our image,
our propaganda!
ROUVIKONAS
STRIKES AGAIN IN LARISSA
Total surprise at the National Electricity Company :
Rouvikonas called out to the director.
You should be ashamed to disconnect
the electricity supply of people! Especially in winter!
While some firms owe you
thousands and thousands of euros!
They entered everywhere,
threw these papers writing :
“ELECTRICITY IS A SOCIAL GOOD!
NO HOME WITHOUT ELECTRICITY OR WATER!“
We don’t want anybody to define our future.
We want to define our future.
We have no other goal but to turn
this world into a new one.
This is our job, what we're trying to do.
Tiresias offices is the black list of Greek banks
where people who owe money are listed.
We destroyed the place.
This way, we show that
with a little organization people can intervene,
fight back, and show that the enemy,
even powerful, is not invincible.
They enter OUR parliament!
OUR courts and protest!
Seeing all the damages…
Is everything out of hand?
Exarcheia is a symbol of resistance
for the social movement in general,
but also for the government who can be afraid of it.
Many men of power are thinking
of a plan to evacuate the quarter by force.
while others wish to do so with development,
metro stations and other projects.
The plan is to destroy the symbol
that is Exarcheia
and the annihilation of the people
that act and create at Exarcheia.
The minister of Interior : Does Exarcheia need to become
like the other neighborhoods of Athens? Of course!
The police never come here!
I’ve had a car accident at the street
Spirou Trikoupi and Stournari, at the square of Exarcheia.
You are at the square of Exarcheia?
Yes.
Can you go somewhere else?
We cannot come there!
Where is the State?
The only reaction you get is: Miss,
we can't do anything, move out of Exarcheia!
All supermarket chains
have left!
The nearest bank is one and a half
kilometer away!
The National Electricity company
has already left, so did the dominant telecommunications provider!
The State subsides more and more!
They have raised their black flags, showing off
who controls the area.
Everybody does whatever they want,
whenever they want it!
The leader of right opposition promises :
I will finish with Exarcheia during my first month!
Immediately mocked by the social movement :
"What do you mean Exarcheia is still unfinished?"
"Beware!! I'll make
Exarcheia vanish!"
"I’ll finish my espresso first
and then Exarcheia."
"What's up? Have you finished
with Exarcheia?"
Since there is power,
Humans have always made fun of it.
From ancient Greek texts to satirical comics
and memes on the internet about
Kiriakos Mitsotakis and Tsipras.
As we say it here:
“A laughter will bury you.”
"KOULIS,
THE NINJA OF EXARCHEIA!”
“We're coming!!!”
“ROBOCOULIS : CAN CUT SPAGHETTI
WITH A SINGLE HAND!”
“HOW I DESPISE YOU EXARCHEIA'S BUGS, I'LL TERMINATE YOU IN A MONTH!”
Here! Here! Come here!
They ask people to offer
shelter to the rioters
and to throw flower pots
to the police from their balconies.
“THE AUNT OF EXARCHEIA”
Come on, let’s drink the bottle
and make it into a molotov and if the cops come, they are doomed!
Don’t worry we’ll do as the anarchists instructed :
I will throw flower pots, you’ll throw Molotov and wildfire!
Aim for the head on this one!
There! Go away!
Let’s give the kids Maalox,
they’ve been hit by tear gass!
THEY ARE HERE!
QUICK! COME!
PISS OFF!
I am Perseus.
I am Kinimatini.
We are taking care of the
YouTube channel Perseus999.
It’s a channel that upload images and news of actions
of resistance and manifestations from Greece.
We have around 10M views.
On our channel, we have
uploaded 293 videos.
Most of them are correspondence from actions and manifestations
of the antifascist and antiauthoritarian movements of Athens, but not only.
The reason why we hide our faces
is mainly because of repression.
During the past years, we have been
hit, imprisoned, tear gassed...
Generally, the camera annoys the cops
especially when it shows their wrongdoings.
Don’t! Don’t! This is repressing the Press!
It’s censorship!
Perseus and I met when we were both arrested.
We were both at an antifascist action
and suddenly we were encased
and then arrested by the cops.
We noticed that both of us used
video cameras to record the events...
Here we should thank the Greek police
for bringing us together
and being the reason we do what we do today!
Thank you!
Thank you very much pals!
The mass medias always used
the same method to shoot the events :
Even the photographer reporters
are always behind the cops, showing the rioters from this angle!
That choice lead the viewers to look at
the rioters through cops point of view :
As the enemy!
We wanted to do the exact opposite
and show people the point of view of the protester.
To show that the protestor is only reacting.
He’s not the one who makes the first move.
He goes in the streets because
he reacts to something, defending himself.
Because sometimes the media
remains silent to some actions or reactions,
we show that something actually happened,
how many people were there since the media
often shorten the numbers of the participants,
so we show that something occurred,
and because often these things end up in violent episodes, we show who started it.
We feel it’s not enough
to see something recorded by someone else.
The final goal, what really matters
is to inspire people, so they also go in the streets.
It's an invitation to not remain
into voyeurism and passivity of TV.
We are in an open war
with the systematic media.
We choose not to use them,
to have nothing to do with them.
But we have forced them
with our own actions and productions to present our videos themselves.
Another action from Rouvikonas,
this time at the court of the city!
this time at the court of the city!
in the center of Larissa!
Here are their images!
The way mainstream media
use editing to misinform is scary.
More than 60 anarchists from various countries
came driving to Exarcheia so as to support the migrants!
They used images of the convoy
when it arrived at Exarcheia.
They edited together with some
old images from our channel,
some images from 6th of december riots, I guess.
They mixed everything up,
editing it to tell that the convoy was bringing war weapons!
Some others news broadcasts said
that the convoy was here to only help refugees.
A convoy of 28 vehicles came to deliver
food and supplies for refugees only!
A demonstration of international power
from the anarchists who came to defend the squats!
They tried to create a climate
of major terror concerning the convoy and why it was here!
Many of the vehicles had foreign plates ;
the police and intelligence agents
try to find their owners so as to see what they carry and where they come from.
It was a great action of solidarity
that terrified the media!
Our answer was a picture
that was made public through alternative media.
A picture of masked men
carrying stocks of milk and diapers.
Those are the weapons of solidarity.
You don’t have to fear us!
The mass media use of fear
as a technic is not something new.
We, on the other hand,
we use solidarity against fear.
That’s what terrifies the mainstream media,
that’s why they target our solidarity!
There is powder and tension in the air,
with the antiauthoritarian convoy that arrived yesterday : people are alerted!
What troubles the police is that they arrived
a few days before the 17th of november anniversary!
Greeks anarchists occupying Polytechnical School
are receiving anarchists from Europe in reinforcement.
At Exarcheia, the haunt of Rouvikonas,
entered Katernina with the camera of Star News!
Their actions is escalating,
their first target: the Council of State!
But they need however, weapons !
The time of tracts and tags is done!
Time is for helmets,
iron sticks and hammers!
They were given by anarchists from France
who entered Exarcheia in trucks!
We have been seeing trucks with foreign plates
unloading stuff at various places!
The leader of Rouvikonas
openly invites those who want to join their ranks!
Exarcheia is filled with menacing slogans on the walls,
even Kalashnikovs!
You walk on the street and suddenly
you can be facing a Molotov!
What was that?
Rouvikonas ?
No, it was the nature.
Of course, it is not funny when you’re raided by Rouvikonas!
Anyway, I was saying...
I’m sorry, I’m sorry!
NO
No to Kastelli airport
SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON
The continuous attacks of the anarchist group
electrify the political confrontation!
The leader of right opposition :
You're the one responsible
for the rise of those savages!
Tsipras answer :
We need to condemn in the most exemplary way,
the unacceptable threats
of someone who calls himself an anarchist
and member of Rouvikonas.
The government decided to accumulate
all the cases concerning Rouvikonas into one big trial,
with the aim of labeling us
as a criminal organization.
We’ll be there in any trial, we’ll win!
Rouvikonas does not fear anyone
and anything. We’ll take no step backwards!
Greece, the renaissance
Alexis Tsipras: “Nobody could believe it”
Did you hear the last joke?
They say the Greek crisis is over!
These people are mad!
“The Greek crisis ends tonight!”, that’s what the Commissioner
for Economic and Financial affairs, Pierre Moscovici, announced.
The beginning of a new story for Greece!
It is an exceptional
and historical moment!
The Greek crisis ends here,
in Luxemburg, tonight!
This is the best joke
I’ve ever heard!
My mother was taking 300 euros of retirement pension
and now she’ll be taking 250 euros a month!
But the Greek crisis is over!
The Greeks finally get by!
They are not even close
to pay their debts!
There was unbelievable work done for 8 years,
it is a positive example of the help that was given.
After years of crisis,
there is finally optimism.
The Greek crisis is not over.
The Greek crisis is not over
because it never began.
Greece was barely an experiment
in the laboratory of economic globalization.
The capitalists reduced in half
both salaries and pensions,
they want to buy everything cheap.
No, nothing is over in Greece.
The fight is ongoing.
What crisis?
The crisis hasn’t end
because it is not just economic :
It’s a war!
a fight that was put in place by the banks,
the Capital whose only goal
is to make more money
and make slaves out of most people...
Greece is an example of that.
Banking interests, companies, they come here
and evacuate areas that they buy almost for free,
humiliating people in the process.
They buy life!
That's exactly it :
They buy us!
Do we want to be sold?
Of course not! We’ll be there,
on the streets, as long as it takes!
In the streets, telling the truth,
fighting for our lives,
showing ourselves that
we won't live like slaves!
Money will never win over life,
regardless of its power,
Because there will always be people
fighting against it!
The question is not why
someone belongs to the movement,
but why he doesn’t.
Why doesn’t he fight
so that his neighbor doesn’t lose his house?
Why doesn’t he fight
so that a child can be able to sleep in its own bed every night?
Why doesn’t he fight
so that water is a public good?
Today the neighbor’s house
may be at risk,
tomorrow it might be ours.
Tomorrow they will cut off our power and water supply.
All the people who believe nothing can change,
they cannot tell us which victory they got by giving up!
We, however, can tell them
what we conquered with our actions.
All together, we will continue to resist!
I'm sure that more people
will be on our side, against this airport!
Cheers and no to the new airport!
Cheers!
We don’t have much hope for what we do.
We don’t expect major results.
What matters to us is that
every day we wake up motivated
and able to look at ourselves in the mirror.
I don’t think I’ll stop what I am doing.
It’s not about doing things
in order to fill up you time,
it’s about feeling the need to participate.
We prepared the things.
We loaded the cars and we go straight ahead.
The gang is big. There is me, Antonis, Wilson,
Yannis, the other Yannis and his friend, Vassilis…
We arrived to the meeting
and we cooked the peppers pasta.
We discussed about our political prisoners
with a testimony and a call for solidarity.
Konstantina joined us with a cake,
followed by Mitsos and Dimitra :
awesome moments!
Finally came, Konstantinos,
Elena and Michalis.
I, I talked about you,
the one always in my heart…
Food is not the essential.
It is the Trojan horse!
The Trojan horse so that people come together!
Even those who came in hunger,
it's not especially the food that brought them here!
The food is just a means to come over
and exchange some words!
That's it!
A way to chase indifference!
There is a lack of love in this society,
that's true.
Terrible difficulties!
Terrible bureaucracy!
Above all, thirdly...
a tremendous fear
of love and revolution!
I mean the revolution
as a synonym of love, bearing that love.
The word solidarity is also relevant.
What does that word mean?
To me, solidarity is love,
respect, human contact.
It is not philanthropy. It is not
feeling pity for others. It’s respecting them.
It is not about helping him
because I can,
it’s helping him even poor, with conviction,
helping from the bottom of my heart.
That’s it, solidarity.
The difference between solidarity and philanthropy,
is that charity is vertical : to help with pity,
when solidarity is horizontal :
to help each other as equals.
Not only I give what I don't need,
but I also give what I need the less than others.
Let's not forget that all that
is based upon love.
If there is no love,
none of this can exist.
Without love, no revolution
and no solidarity.
Yes, it’s both love and revolution :
love meaning passion here!
The fight, the everyday presence in the streets
is a passionate love.
A love for life.
That's what we wish
for our society.
That's the unstoppable love
of life and of dignity,
that is pushing us to fight
and never give up,
with no expectations in return,
endlessly,
hoping and waiting
for better tomorrows.
Notara 26 is both a space
of love and revolution.
Love for what we do every day,
taking our lives into our own hands.
Revolution because we put utopia in action.
We have a slogan that says:
“PASSIONATE LOVE OR NOTHING.”
It can be also translated as :
“ALL OR NOTHING.”
I like the first one better though
because there is a push in it,
there is this urge in love.
The word love makes you blush,
but it hides urgency in it.
Think how it feels to be in love.
You give your whole self.
Think now how it is to be in love with life.
With a beautiful life.
I believe revolution is the movement
that bring us to this beautiful life.
Like a poet once said:
“When we don’t die for each other,
we are already dead.”
Love is stronger than the
borders that incarcerate us.
Here, in Exarcheia, there are no borders.
We live together, we fight together.
Actions defeat fear, apathy,
paralysis and open roads.
The worse is not a bad or small action
but no action at all.
We ought to do something every day.
An action with whatever means...
This is our simple message:
Let's act or let's shut up!
We should self-organize!
That's it! And it's so easy!
So easy!
We are thousands, millions!