We Are an Image from the Future

by Schwarz, A. G.

• ISBN13: 9781849350198
• ISBN10: 1849350191
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-01
• Publisher: A K Pr Distribution

Summary

On December 6, 2008, the city of Athens exploded as people took to the streets to demonstrate their rage over the murder of fifteen-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, bringing business as usual to a screeching, burning halt for three breathtaking weeks. This is the first book to delve into the Greek December and its aftermath, in the words of those who witnessed and participated in it. Interviews and personal reflections run alongside the communiques and texts that circulated through the networks of revolt, shedding much-needed light--and dispelling destructive myths--on the real fabric of the Greek Left that made December possible.

Table of Contents

The Street Has Its Own History	p. 1
Solidarity is a Flame	p. 2
Prologues
Map of Greece	p. 5
Chronology: 19th-20th Century	p. 5
Alkis: December is a result of social and political processes going back many years, Part I	p. 8
Panagiotis Kalamaras: There were many people who felt we had an unfinished revolution	p. 14
23.10: I began to get involved when I was 16	p. 17
And Now One Slogan that Unites Us All: Cops, Pigs, Murderers!
Chronology: September 2000-November 2008	p. 27
Argiris: Exarchia Square and the neighborhood assemblies	p. 29
Inlia: Do you join the Party to fuck or do you fuck to join the Party?	p. 31
J.: The raves and free spaces is where the collective consciousness is coming together	p. 34
Lefteria ston Yiannis Dimitraki	p. 38
The Permanent Crisis in Education-TPTG	p. 41
Nikos: The supermarket expropriations were very successful	p. 52
The Prisoners Hunger Strike	p. 53
N. & Mi: The prisoners gained a new ability to coordinate their actions	p. 55
You Talk About Material Damages, We Speak About Human Life-Panagiotis Papadimitropoulos	p. 56
These Days are for Alexis
Map of Athens	p. 77
Chronology: December 6-25, 2008	p. 77
The World Left Behind	p. 94
Lito: Suddenly I heard a bang	p. 94
23.10: I ran to the Polytechnic	p. 98
Homo Sacer Quartet-Flesh Machine	p. 101
Mrs. S.: I was in the heart of the catastrophe	p. 102
Little John: Okay, now we're going to fuck everything up	p. 105
Andreas: We started with 300 people, and came back with 500	p. 108
Anna: That's how big this thing was	p. 110
Yiannis: In Patras, 1.000 people came out to the demonstrations	p. 111
Vortex: That was the craziest moment of all December for me	p. 112
Pavlos and Irina: This is the spirit of the revolt	p. 116
Their Democracy Murders-the Polytechnic University Occupation	p. 131
Alexander, Thodoris, Vlasis, & Kostas: All the kids felt so much power yelling at the cops	p. 144
A Black Immigrant's Cry of Despair	p. 150
These Days Are Ours, Too-the Haunt of Albanian Immigrants	p. 151
Invitation to the Open Popular Assembly of the Liberated City Hall of Aghios Dimitrios	p. 153
Katerina: I thought the revolution was coming	p. 154
Maria: I want to eliminate everything that represents the alienation of our lives	p. 154
Sofia, Vasilis, Bill, and Irini: Before the revolt, all the Greeks were enslaved	p. 156
Transgressio Legis: One day we jacked a fire engine, got on the CB radio, and said, "tonight, you motherfuckers, we will burn you all"	p. 161
We Are Here, We Are Everywhere, We Are an Image from the Future-Ego Te Provoco	p. 165
Ego Te Provoco: The media worked as part of the counterinsurgency	p. 169
Vortex: The occupation of the national TV	p. 173
Call for a New International	p. 176
Em: In London, the response was immediate	p. 184
Pere: In Barcelona, we quickly organized a solidarity protest	p. 186
Adams: Many foreigners have been killed	p. 187
Open Letter from the Soldiers	p. 189
Eliza: The Treaty of Varkiza is broken	p. 191
The Logic of Not Demanding	p. 192
Not this History But this Rage is Ours-Ankara Anarchy Initiative	p. 194
To those who rise up in Greece-ABC Wellington	p. 196
A Bedouin Anytime! A Citizen Never-Ego Te Provoco	p. 197
Kostas Tsironis: I don't care if I don't take even one more picture, I just want to be okay with myself	p. 199
Journal entry of one of the insurrectionists	p. 205
To all those who did not speak with words	p. 206
Obedience Stopped, Life is Magical
Chronology: December 28-March 4	p. 213
Alexis Grigoropoulos Street	p. 215
Koukouloforos	p. 216
The Spirit of December on a Global Scale	p. 219
Maya: Konstantina was the first to join the union	p. 225
Ego Te Provoco: We need to make it obvious that it is easy to attack	p. 229
Andreas: We finally understood that many people supported us	p. 232
Panagiotis Kalamaras: The myth of Sisyphus	p. 234
Transgressio Legis: When there is strong social conflict, you raise the tension of the attacks	p. 235
Assembly of Media Workers: We want to occupy the media, and use it for the movement	p. 237
December's Riots as Mediated by the Image of Mass Media-Leandros Kyriakopoulos	p. 241
Mi: The new neighborhood assemblies	p. 244
Kill the Sexist In Your Head-the menses flow	p. 247
The Limitations of Anti-Sexism-Sissy Doutsiou	p. 248
Adriani and Flora: Now there are more social centers in Thessaloniki	p. 261
Jana: Many people were saying that they want Bulgarian society to be "like in Greece"	p. 262
Little John: The next step is to create the places where all the people can meet	p. 265
The Rebellion, the Workplaces, and the Rank 'N' File Unions-TPTG	p. 266
Elina: More old people and leftists are coming nearer to the anarchist ideas	p. 269
Lito: Now I really know what terrorism means	p. 271
Breaking New Ground
Chronology: March-October 2009	p. 277
Alexis Grigoropoulos Park	p. 282
Daredevil: We intervene in the daily flow of things to interrupt it	p. 283
The House of Maria Kallas	p. 286
The Assassination of Prisoner Katerina Goulioni	p. 288
Conversation on a park bench in Thessaloniki	p. 289
Sakis and Dina: Now there's no going back	p. 291
Kostas: We decided to occupy the university rectorate	p. 292
Alkis: December is a result of social and political processes going back many years, Part II	p. 294
Kazana Poli: You could see the hatred in their eyes	p. 299
Giorgos Voutsis-Vogiatzis	p. 300
We Are Winning	p. 302
Julia: I feel very lucky to be living in these times	p. 303
The Political Parties After December	p. 305
Claim of responsibility for an arson attack	p. 306
N. & Mi: The prisoners of December	p. 308
Letter from Anarchist A. Kiriakopoulos	p. 310
What the Cops Told Us	p. 311
Specialized Guerrilla, Diffuse Guerrilla	p. 313
A Hot Summer	p. 317
Conversation with the Owner of a Small Hotel on the Train from Athens to Patras	p. 319
Yiannis: Maybe it's gotten worse	p. 321
The Media Try to Kill Memory	p. 322
Alexander, Thodoris, Vlasis, & Kostas: All the people went back to their private lives	p. 326
The Passage to Revolution-Transgressio Legis	p. 327
The Unanimity of the Fearful-Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire	p. 330
December Revisited-Void Network	p. 333
What Greece Means (to me) for Anarchism	p. 351
Nothing Changed, Everything is Different	p. 358
Glossary	p. 368
Photo Credits	p. 371
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