Athens,Taking responsibility on 2/9/22

In recent years we have been experiencing a generalised attack on the neighbourhood of Exarcheia, with squat evictions, clearing operations and the attempt to impose a regime of police occupation on the neighbourhood.At the present time this attack is intensifying, with the assistance of Attiko Metro and the attempt to build a metro station in the square. The choice of the square for the construction of the station is a political and ideological choice of the municipal authority and the state, part of the broader strategy that has been expressed explicitly in recent years in the state’s counterattack against Exarcheia, a neighbourhood where resistance and struggle against exploitation and oppression has been territorialized both symbolically and practically.

The choice of the metro station in Exarcheia square is not based on the needs of the inhabitants for their movements – it could not be, as under the condition of class domination our movements are defined and organised in the metropolis by the state as the transport of the commodity work force. The choice of the station in the square is not based on the neighbourhood’s desires for the use of public/open space, but against them, seen as another opportunity to deploy hundreds of cops in the neighbourhood with the intention of destroying its only square, meeting place and political activity and handing it over to the interests of capital.

At the same time, the musealization of the Polytechnic is taking place with the conversion of the Gini building into a museum/events space in an attempt to completely eradicate militant memory and practice in the neighbourhood, while the “redevelopment” of Strefi Hill by Prodea is pending. Together with the square these are the only green lungs in the neighbourhood, which the metro and the proposed redevelopment by the municipal government and contractors intend to cement over. The goal is to invade the neighbourhood, and sweep it up for the benefit of private interests in the interests of tourism and privatization and turn Exarcheia into a non-place by evicting residents, cutting down trees and imposing complete control of the area.

For our part, against the logic of an alternative theme park we will fight for Exarcheia to remain a refuge for the oppressed and a base for political action. The municipal authorities, the state and capital that have ambitions for our neighbourhood must know that these will come at a cost. In this cost, apart from the salaries of the occupying army guarding the construction site from the anger of the residents and the struggling parts of society that are rallying in Exarcheia, let’s count for starters the damage done on Friday 2/9 at Kerameikos metro station, to ticket validation machines, bars, ticket offices and ATMs.

FREE MOVEMENT BASED ON OUR NEEDS AND NOT ON STATE/CAPITAL’S INTERESTS
THE SQUARE – THE STREET – THE POLYTECHNIC – EXARCHIA DOESN’T FREQUENT MUSEUMS
REGENERATION MEANS DISPLACED POOR PEOPLE
EXARCHIA WILL ALWAYS BE HERE – FIRE TO THE ATTIKO METRO CONSTRUCTION SITES
COPS – CONTRACTORS – CITY HALL – ALL BASTARDS WORKING TOGETHER

humble and rebellious

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https://athens.indymediaTranslated by Act for freedom now!