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Repression Greece in Context
The evictions of three Squats in Thessaloniki, one in Athens and on the Island of Lesbos are a part of a row of repressive measures by the state/police. Latest Sunday morning at 9 o'clock, 31.7.2016 24 comrades were detained while handing out leaflets inside of Mitropoli, the main church of Thessaloniki and northern Greece, and owner of Orfanotrofio, one of the evicted squats.

It is important to see these incidents not as isolated or nonpolitical events, but in context with the bigger political crisis we are currently facing. A solely humanitarian approach lacks oversight of the wider political situation; it stabilises the system which is creating the crisis by filling in its gaps and consequently, shifts the responsibility away from the policies accountable.

So what do the evictions of places like Orfanotrofio imply? They were places where people were living autonomously and self-organising as an alternative to being controlled by state/millitary/ police.

As was shown with the eviction of Idomeni, also a symbolic place of struggle, where people were organising protests and riots against the borders of Europe, the state reacted by moving people to military camps, structures they could more easily control. Spaces that practice free organisation and autonomy pose a threat to the state, as they prove more difficult to control or exert power over, and ultimately also question the status-quo.

It is in the state’s interest to hide the struggle away from the public-eye. By shunning people into militarised camps, it decentralises the problem away from the borders and consequently minimises the pressure on EU policies to take responsibility. Out of sight, out of mind. To argue that the evictions took place in oder to allocate the squat-inhabitants into more “humane” and “safe” living facilities is ridiculous. As a matter of fact, following the day of the squat-evictions a young woman died in the military-camp Softex, due to lack of medical support within the camp. Destroying self organised spaces is part of the structural violence Greece and Europe implement with the aim of keeping people in uncertainty and under threat, breaking will and solidarity. A tactic used to create stronger dependencies on state controlled structures eg. military camps.

Furthermore, states’ interest to control people isn’t just to sustain the status-quo, since it also entails beneficial aspects for the EU. Having control to stem and influence the migration flow allows european powers to handpick the “highest qualified refugees” to fulfil their need of cheap labour-forces within Europe.

Whilst intentionally and systematically keeping people in the dark, causing uncertainty and tension amongst various groups, the bigger European NGOs and companies seem to be the only profiteers of the immense cashflow the EU claim to be dedicating to “solving this crisis”. Far from investing the money in accelerating or improving the procedures for people on the move or bettering the shithole conditions in camp, it is used to speedup deportations and hire private companies to sustain the indefinite isolation and detainment of migrants. All the while, the western world continues to follow its self-interest, profiting from a crisis they also helped to create.

As is seen when looking at the enormous profits made by European arm-trade enterprises, which continue to sell weapons to also the eastern powers, fuelling the war and provoking the forced migration of thousands of people. The EU are responsible for death and suffering around the world and now also at it’s own borders.
The EU is not interested in solving the crisis for all, but in finding a solution solely for the EU-states; one that further sustains the wealth and security of Europe, whilst totally disregarding the lives and “futures” of thousands.
Modern politics follow the logics of the exception; states decide which situations are deemed exceptional and are in need of otherwise outrageous and hardcore measures to bring back “law&order”.

Exceptional measures such as the EU Turkey deal or the closing of the borders were legitimised because, through populist propaganda and fear mongering, a climate of emergency has been created and widespread. Under the pretence of security, states have been imposing brutal laws which increase the control and power of the state whilst limiting peoples freedoms. Over time these laws passed during a state of emergency, subtly become the status-quo.

There are many ways the state has created divisions between groups, be it by class, nationality, gender etc. The state uses laws and policies to strengthen this divide, creating an “us and them”, a difference between the “european citizens” and the “migrants” , the “war-refugee” and the “economic-refugee, the “Syrian” and the “Afghani”, the “protected” and the “threat”. Thereby creating an imaginary enemy we can unite against, directing peoples anger and fear towards an “outside group”, instead of towards the state itself.

Repression comes in many forms and shapes but it always aims to make one conform to the rules and spread fear among those who wish to pursue ways of life free from (state) controlled structures. Repression works to produce a particular identity by constraining the range of possible action of humanbeans and fixating imposed categories that remind people of their “proper place” in society. States have always worked to systematically limit the freedom of individuals preventing people from growing out of their assigned boxes, creating a norm against which people are compared to, and which marginalises the outlaws.

In the last few days the people resisting, struggling, fighting and denouncing the existing inequalities produced by capitalism, have been a constant target for structural state repression. In the face of this repression, giving us the choice to “adapt or die” we have only one response. We will not bend our backs, we will not stay silent, we will not be pacified. We will resist, rebel, struggle and set in [sic] all on fire. People DIY!

Also see https://www.indymedia.nl/node/34713