Attack at the offices of ANEK Lines at the centre of the city of Heraklion by Anarchists
The tragic events at the “Violanda” factory in Trikala and off the coast of Chios island are, in the harshest possible way, evidence of the bosses’ brutal capitalist exploitation and of the murderous/racist policies of the Greek state at the borders.
In recent years, the Greek state and Greek capitalists have been
pursuing a policy of all-out attack on the country’s social base, with
criminal and deadly consequences. Some of these have shaken it to its core and left a deep scar on its collective consciousness.
The five female workers killed at the Violanta Factory following a
months-long gas leak and an explosion during the night shift. This
employer-perpetrated murder encapsulates and highlights the conditions that the state and bosses have created in the workplace.
No preventive measures to reduce costs and increase profits. Indifference to workers’ reports about the odor in the area and also to interventions regarding working conditions made by the Trikala Labor Center. The New Democracy party, by passing anti-labor bills such as the recent one on the 13-hour workday, is arming the bosses, who are literally and figuratively exploiting their workers in the workplaces. * As of the time this text is being written, “Mr. Violanta” Konstantinos Tziortziotis has given a routine statement and is walking free with his hands stained with the
blood of five female workers.
The tragedy at Tempi, involving the train collision and the deaths of 57 people, remains an open wound for Greek society, laying bare the state and capital, which, in their pursuit of profit, are indifferent to safe transportation, with deadly consequences. To this day, the issue of justice remains at the center of public debate. Since the relevant
political officials (Ministers, the New Democracy government) and the company to which the railway was sold off by the state, Hellenic Train, remain defiantly unpunished by civil justice. Thus revealing to even the last person its class nature and position within the country’s political and social system.
Finally, on September 5, 2023, at the port of Piraeus, Antonis Kargiotis was murdered by the crew of an ANEK Lines ship while attempting to board the vessel. Specifically, as was later proved, while 36-year-old Antonis was trying to board, he was forcibly pushed away by the ship’s first lieutenant and a crew member who were acting in concert with the captain and the deck officer. With tragic results, Antonis Kargiotis fell into the sea and drowned in the wave of the ship’s engine. The cannibalistic manner in which Antonis was murdered showed the whole country that, for the sake of capital and profits, all of us are expendable and superfluous. Yet at the very moment that ANEK Lines (owned by the Attica
Group) brutally murders a man trying to board its ship, it continues
yearly to grow rich from the ever-increasing fares it imposes in
collusion with the government, receiving subsidies and tax exemptions from it, has appalling working conditions on its premises with numerous workplace accidents, even murders, such as the recent death of the 20-year-old sailor, an engine cleaner, after being trapped by the ship’s watertight door. Finally, its role in transporting migrants/refugees and detainees under appalling conditions on board its ships is also well known. In closing, it is important to mention one more thing regarding this tragic incident on September 5 ’23 against government distortions and propaganda lies. The murderers of Antonis Kargiotis were not lower-ranking crew members nor novice workers; they were senior officers
whose role and position require them to carry out the company’s
murderous policies. Policies that are antisocial and class-hostile
toward the working class, with the sole purpose of increasing the
profits of the Attica Group.
For all these reasons, we have not forgotten, and we chose to attack and vandalize the ANEK Lines offices in the early hours of Tuesday, February 10, in the center of Heraklion.
We dedicate this action to Antonis, but also to all those who are lost
or murdered by the clutches of capitalist exploitation.
CONFLICT WITH THE STATE AND BOSSES
TO NOT GET USED OF DYING ON THE ALTAR OF BOSSES’ PROFITS
28/02 ALL ON THE STREETS
Anarchists
Translated by Act for freedom now!