Taking Responsibility – Let’s sabotage the war / Let’s light the flame of practical internationalist solidarity
“No; none of the belligerents is entitled to invoke the name of civilization or to declare itself in a state of legitimate defence. The truth is that the cause of wars, of that which at present stains with blood the plains of Europe, as of all wars that have preceded it, rests solely in the existence of the State, which is the political form of privilege.
The role of the Anarchists in the present tragedy, whatever may be the place or the situation in which they find themselves, is to continue to proclaim that there is but one war of liberation: that which in all countries is waged by the oppressed against the oppressors, by the exploited against the exploiters. Our part is to summon the slaves to revolt against their masters.”
International Anarchist Manifesto Against the War, London (February 1915)
On 24 February the Russian State, under the pretext of the violating of the Minsk agreement and the “denazification” of Ukraine, launched an attack on the Ukrainian territories. The bloody military conflict that has been going on for the last few weeks has already cost hundreds of lives, which will increase as the war continues.
The Russian State, an authoritarian regime aimed at savagely serving the interests of Russian oligarchic capital, aims to maintain its territorial and economic influence in Ukraine, in collaboration with part of the local bourgeoisie. The current economic/political regime is the result of a long process beginning with the dissolution of the USSR, the October 1993 crisis, and a series of a dozen wars in the regions of the Russian federation and in neighbouring countries where local capital had direct interests. The result of this process is the absolute domination of oligarchic capital over Russian society, expressed politically by the Putin regime and the “fourth political theory”. On this political basis, the Russian ruling classes have launched a ferocious war against the insurgent sections of the oppressed, either internally with dozens of long-lasting, even pre-emptive sentences of anarchists and antifascists, or in territories that it considers its sphere of influence, such as the brutal repression of anarchists in Belarus and the crushing of antifascist forces in the Donbas DR.
On the opposite side, an extreme neoliberal Ukrainian government, which after the crackdown on the Maidan uprising in 2014, with the support of NATO and the use of Nazi battalions integrated into the State apparatus in the following years, is trying to tie Ukrainian capitalism into the NATO/EU camp, supporting the parts of Ukrainian capital that have their interests there. NATO and the EU have played a central role in preparing for the current conflict, and continue to do so, militarily as member countries send military equipment to the Ukrainian army, economically through sanctions that will further impoverish the oppressed classes on both sides of the conflict, as well as propaganda through a hypocritical humanitarianism, calling for “anti-war” rallies and displaying the Ukrainian flag on monuments, sending hollow words of solidarity to the “suffering Ukrainian people”, while for years it has been massacring millions on the borders and in other parts of the world.
The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that no State conducts wars of liberation, defence or justice. Every State seeks to dominate imperialistically over others, either to attach its interests to another State that can dominate, or it is doomed to disintegrate. Influence, domination and serving the interests of the ruling classes are the sole motives for waging imperialist wars, and the cost will ultimately be paid by the oppressed sections on both sides of the trenches.
We believe that the only liberating perspective is opened by the self-activity of the oppressed themselves. As soon as the insurgent parts of the oppressed fail to territorialize their resistance, to align with one side or the other would automatically mean the incorporation and practical reproduction of the narrative and position of domination. At this particular juncture, we have a duty to construct a discourse and action that transcends the dipole that sovereignty presents as an option. Our war is class war and nothing connects us to the rulers of this world. Equally, an abyss separates us from any liberal/interventionist or myopically anti-imperialist current that supports one side or the other of sovereignty. We must fight to shake from our ranks the notions that propagate that we must side with either side, against the gravediggers of liberationist perspectives, who declare that autonomous, internationalist action by the oppressed is impossible in the present conjuncture.
In every corner of the globe, the self-activity of the oppressed and practical solidarity with those experiencing the horrors of war must highlight that it is we who pay the price of their war, with death and the impoverishment of our lives, as long as our societies are organized on the basis of exploitation and oppression. We therefore call upon to oppose every manifestation of their wars in the here and now, by sabotaging the Greek war machine that is ardently trying to elevate its position in world domination, that is slaughtering thousands of migrants on “European” borders, that is feeding national consciousnesses and patriotic narratives. By sabotaging the parts of capital that collaborate with it, that get rich from repression, death and war. By targeting the Greek State itself for the oppression and repression it sows, for its direct participation in the war in Ukraine and the crocodile tears for Ukrainian migrants, who will soon end up playing the role of cheap labour in the EU, at the same time as it murders and tortures migrants at the borders and in the hinterland.
For these reasons, at dawn on Tuesday 15/3/22, we carried out an incendiary attack on the facade of the company Grivas A.E. at 46 Alexandras Street. Recently, this company declared participation in a tender of the Greek Coast Guard for the supply of a program for monitoring internet accounts, in order to target migrants and parts of the solidarity movement. The program, purchased from a German company (Social Network Harvester – which, the German company, after the attack on the offices, was quick to take down its cooperation with Grivas A.E.), is already used by many law enforcement agencies worldwide, and is designed to store account details, posts, contacts, group members, locations, photos, videos and chats on various networking platforms, with the apparent aim of mapping relationships and networking, which will be used by the Greek authorities to expand and improve the networking possibilities of the Greek authorities. A repression that translates into murders, torture, deportations and imprisonment of thousands of undocumented oppressed people at European borders.
At the same time, for years this company has been offering its services both to Greek State repression by installing and training police and coast guard officers in programs for use in criminal investigations and intelligence analysis, and to the wider State warfare apparatus, as it has installed an advanced CCTV system with facial recognition and surveillance provision in the Ministry of Defence and equipped the site with access control systems. And the list does not end here, as this company is working with NATO itself, Europol and the embassies of England, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
As part of the oppressed, our struggle must be transnational, class and revolutionary. We stand beside the social base of Ukraine that is experiencing the death politics of the rulers, migrating and dying. We stand with the social base of Russia that sees its life impoverished, that is experiencing a barrage of racism from liberal and “peace-loving” European governments, that is imprisoned for protesting and that is dying on the front. As anarchists our struggle is anti-state, anti-fascist, anti-national and anti-militarist. Internationalist solidarity with the combatants in Urkania and Russia, with those who position themselves in the war with class and revolutionary projects and those who experience migration and persecution.
We fight for the destruction of every State, every nationalism and patriotism, every kind of power, exploitation and oppression. Refusing to die for any country, we refuse to serve the interests of any side. We belong to that side of history that fights for a classless society, solidarity and self-organization.
