ALEXIS GRIGOROPOULOS  – ONE OF US

 “…A bullet in Alexis’s heart to end the cycle of the state machine’s omnipotence. A smear of blood on the pedestrian street of Messolonghiou to initiate the cycle of uprising that wrecked the legal order and spread chaos and anarchy in all the cities of Greece… Alexis is now an integral part of this history; I don’t know what would have happened if events had happened differently, or furthermore, whether it is more than the inner spirit of the wounded. But I can tell you about what Alexis was before he was dead from the cop’s bullets. In his short but adventurous life he lived authentically, he was a young insurgent fascinated with the idea of anarchy like those who now occupy the city streets hurling Molotov cocktails at cops and burning police cars, he was unruly and stubborn, he was an honest person with a kind soul and selfless motives in everything he did. He was a person who lived his passions and frustrations intensely…”  Nikos Romanos  “Requiem for a Journey of No Return” 29/11/2015

Seventeen years have passed since the murder of the anarchist student Alexis Grigoropoulos in Exarcheia by the cops Korkoneas and Saraliotis, at the intersection of Messologgiou and Tzavella. The location, as well as what happened over the hours and days that followed, was not coincidental. Already before the bloody night of December 6, 2008, Exarcheia was a reference point for all those who wanted to question authority and the apparent omnipotence of the State and capital. The countless clashes with the forces of repression at the Polytechnic, the square, at Messologgiou Square and in every corner of the neighbourhood, the squats, and all the social and class struggles that took place in Exarcheia together composed a mosaic of resistance and social anti-violence against the voracious engine of power that wants to destroy every dream and desire of those below.

Thus, Alexis, a 15-year-old anarchist comrade, from a very young age sought the path of resistance in the narrow streets of Exarcheia, rejecting forever the road of inaction and passivity. Exarcheia generously gave him the stones, the bottles and the tools to play his part in the social and class war and fight alongside the oppressed. And in this role he was murdered, as a fighter who already from his very young years had chosen the side of history that demands a world of equality, solidarity, the realm of social revolution and anarchy.

The State murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos was not a random event. Alexis as a fighter, much more – as a young fighter full of appetite to change the world – was deliberately murdered by the Greek State in an attempt to dismantle social resistance and the world of struggle and to send a punitive message to children, young men and women that the only path they can choose is subjugation. But the tides of history have shown them defeat. The State murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos was not only insufficient to subdue the world of struggle through terror, but was the spark for the flame of the December 2008 uprising, the radicalization of dozens of comrades, who, in front of the bloodstained pedestrian alley of Messologgiou, swore revenge and overturned the normality not only of the metropolitan centre of Athens but also of the normality imposed by the State apparatus.

Even the students, who were targeted by repression and made examples of, not only did not back down but proceeded to occupy their schools – a tradition which continues to this day, every 6th of December – and participated in marches, rallies & attacks on police stations. The relationships forged from then until today, with the shared participation of the people of the Exarcheia neighbourhood in local and social struggles, built relationships of trust and solidarity. There are countless examples of residents of Exarcheia offering their homes as shelters from tear gas and police attacks. Countless are the struggles in which the radical movement have felt at home in Exarcheia and fought for it.

Exarcheia is home for every fighting individual, a meeting point, a place of socialization, organization and a centre of resistance. In the streets of Exarcheia, on the hill, in the square, we collectivize our anxieties and fears, the difficulties of everyday life, our joys and our anger. We find solutions and answers, sometimes spontaneous and sometimes organized, building barricades of class solidarity and social self-organization.

Exarcheia, as a cradle of anti-authoritarian ideas and revolts, but also as a neighbourhood of solidarity and mutual aid, where residents and daily comrades have been building relations of solidarity and challenging power for decades now, is a target of the State and capital. The creation of a metro station in the square, the attempt to turn the Gini building into a roof garden and the sterilization of the Lower Polytechnic, the hundreds of cops camped up on Strefi Hill and in the neighbourhood to guard the desires of capital, all these are political choices that work for the benefit of capital and at the expense of the poorer and social resistance mass . These are leading to a change in the character of Exarcheia, the disappearance of its few public spaces and the displacement of its social base.

The onslaught of capital, through the touristisation with countless shops, AirBnB, and the rapid increase in rents, is displacing the people of the neighbourhood, turning it into a diversion, a sterile tourist resort, where its very political and social character is transformed into commodity and spectacle.

As happened in 2008, so it can happen again. This has been proven in recent years with the State murders of X. Michalopoulos, K. Fragoulis, N. Sambanis, K. Manioudakis, with the near-murderous attack on the antifascist Vasiliki, with the death by torture of Mohamed Kamran in the Agios Panteleimon police station, the State murder of 600 immigrants in Pylos, with the predictable devaluation of public infrastructure and transport that led to Tempe, with countless “industrial accidents” and many other known or unknown State murders in labour camps, hospitals, borders, detention centres, police stations and prisons. The encampment of hundreds of uniformed killers in the neighbourhood, who attack predominantly young people circulating outside a consumer context in Messolonghiou, on Strefi Hill and in the streets of Exarcheia, with daily bullying, “standard” ID checks and arrests, is creating the conditions for a repeat of the cops’ murderousness.

The targeting of youth also takes place inside schools, as happened on November 5 ’25 at Athens High School 46, located in the neighbourhood of Exarcheia, which was being occupied in response to the university teachers’ nationwide call against the degradation of public schools and universities, against the devaluation and repression of students and teachers. The police carried out a brutal surprise operation against the student occupation, resulting in the violent arrest of a 13-year-old student, and his overnight detention at Exarcheia police station. The student was subjected to intimidation, abuse and fingerprinting without the presence of a guardian or lawyer, while his mother was prevented from seeing him and threatened with arrest. It is evident that within the general framework of repression exercised by the State in society, the increasing targeting of students and youth is not accidental but a conscious choice. From the new provisions targeting minors in the New Penal Code to the constant propaganda in the media and repressive practices in public spaces, the aim is to suppress every young voice, to weaken resistance before it even forms, to cut young people off from their desires and experiences and integrate them in an orderly way into the system’s logic. This is because they know that younger generations are the foundation of a society that develops through collective struggle, that can imagine a different world.

For our part, we defend the insurrectionary legacy of December ’08 and the historical thread of resistance in the neighbourhood, and we resist the transformation of Exarcheia into a generic neighbourhood, predominantly populated by tourists, luxury apartments and expensive shops, and patronised by self-centred/self-interested careerist consumers. We advocate a living neighbourhood that is welcoming to immigrants, that takes to the streets in the face of State violence, that opens doors to those who struggle, resist and organize themselves. We call on the people of the neighbourhood & the world of struggle to join the call of Coordinated Action for the Defence of Exarchia to gather at Exarcheia Square in Tsamadou, on Saturday 6 December at 16:30 and head together to the gathering of the march of remembrance for the anarchist student Alexis Grigoropoulos and the 2008 uprising.

– The neighbourhood, armed with solidarity, is taking the streets on December 6. We leave our doors open for the demonstrators.

– We are breaking the ‘red line’ around our neighbourhood – we are leaving no more space for state repression.

– Everyone in the streets – Everyone to Exarcheia.

– Gathering at Exarcheia Square in the pedestrian street of Tsamadou at 16:30 and march to Propylaea at 18:30

IN THESE STREETS, IN THIS SOCIETY, THERE ARE UPRISINGS, NOT UTOPIA

WE WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD — THESE DAYS ARE FOR ALEXIS

KYRIAKOS XYMITIRIS, ONE OF US — COMRADE FOREVER IN THE STREETS OF FIRE

Coordinated action in defence of Exarcheia

via: Athensindymedia

Translated by Act for freedom now!