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6 The anarchist and anti-authoritarian space: tensions and tendencies ‘Don’t smash the ATM … here’ There are flickers of antagonism that often precede that combustive moment when a protest march turns into a violent street-protest. These can take the form of catalysts like a chunk of marble crashing through a window here or a trunk of wood shattering an ATM (bank machine) screen there. For one particular protest, the explosion had to wait a minute, interrupted by a middle-aged woman calling from a balcony as the march passed by. ‘Oχι εδώ’ [Not here], she
8 Radical isomorphism and the anti-authoritarian diffusion of leaderless organizations Once you begin to look at human society from an anarchist point of view you discover that the alternatives are already there, in the interstices of the dominant power structure. If you want to build a free society, the parts are all at hand. (Colin Ward) Nothing better than a good idea Anarchists are commonly depicted as selfish iconoclasts who could not cooperate with others even if their lives depended on it. Owing to this perception, the idea of an anarchist movement, which
sketching the origins of this crisis as they specifically relate to Greece. This construct forms a backdrop to my discussion of the Athenian anarchist and anti-authoritarian movement. In 2001, Greece entered the eurozone, but on the basis of economic modelling and data that were deliberately misleading (BBC News, 2004). Entry into one of the world’s richest clubs opened up tremendous new economic possibilities for Greece, though ones that would in the longer term come at a high cost. In particular, membership of the European Union along with the new currency enabled the
stations and around squares, while Helena relentlessly pursued her objective: a comprehensive discussion and tour of the city’s considerable political graffiti. Tactical and artistic outlets for political expression since the Nazi occupation, painted slogans, stencils, posters and murals (and football taunts), continue to adorn walls –a living outdoor political art gallery in the heart of Athens. We passed by hundreds of circle-As and anti-authoritarian motifs, alongside wall after wall of painted rallying cries such as Μπατσοι, Γουρουνια, Δολοφονοι (Cops, Pigs
streets. In short, political polarisation in Greece has accompanied economic polarisation and dislocation. Away from the parliamentary battles over votes and seats, graffiti heralding the resurgence of another actor in the drama of Greek politics similarly express political polarisation: ‘Fuck May 68’, the walls scream, ‘Fight Now!’ Discussed in detail in later chapters, this is a call to arms from the world’s most militant anarchist and anti-authoritarian movement. This book is centrally concerned with this movement and its contemporary form, dynamics and internal
Conclusion: imagining and fighting for alternative realities I began this book by locating Athenian anarchists and anti-authoritarians within Greece’s contemporary economic, social and political crisis. I noted that neo-liberal economic policies have led to mass unemployment and declines in health and educational services, which in turn produced a climate of deep political volatility. As a result of imposed austerity and unemployment, more than a fifth of the Greek population live below the poverty line. The nation’s small birth rate has fallen by 15 per cent
The Athenian anarchist and anti-authoritarian movement has been reinvigorated in recent years. Its public protests and battles against the Greek state, police and other capitalist institutions are prolific and highly visible, replete with rioting, barricades and Molotov cocktails. This book is concerned not so much with anarchist theory, as with examining the forces that give the Athenian anarchist and anti-authoritarian movement its specific shape. The author draws on Alberto Melucci's (1995a) work on collective identity, while offering a first-hand, ethnographic account of Athenian anarchists and anti-authoritarians in action, based on his time there in 2011 and 2013, living, squatting and protesting within this milieu. In the course of the chapters of the book, the author argues that varying shades of anarchic tendencies, and ensuing ideological and practical disagreements, are overcome for the most part in (often violent) street-protests. Athenian anarchists and antiauthoritarians are a pertinent area of research because of both their politics and their geographical location. There is the whole 'rise of anarchism throughout the activist world' phenomenon, visible from Seattle to Genoa, Quebec City to São Paulo. Anarchist and anti-authoritarian social movements are prominent actors in resistance to the current phase of capitalism in multiple, global locations. Throughout Europe, North and Latin America, Asia and the Antipodes, radical resistance to neo-liberalism often has an anarchist and/ or anti-authoritarian cast.
7 Street-protests and emotions: a temporary unity ‘When a debate ends we meet in the streets’ As we headed towards the march, I was warned, ‘you’ll be crying from the start’. True to form, the tear gas onslaught began in earnest. Instinctively, I wanted to run to escape from the fast-forming plumes, but as the tear gas canisters hit the pavement, a paradoxical calm breezed through the anarchists and anti-authoritarians around me. As veteran activists, they mechanically covered their faces for protection and lit small fires to counter the noxious gas. Betrayed
, political contention and metamorphosis has been a constant in Greece’s history. The region’s fertile anarchist and anti-authoritarian history shares this constant contention and metamorphosis in its own evolution, albeit while spurning the clamour for state power. Greece’s anarchism has shifted between currents since surfacing as a social movement in the 1860s.1 The focus of this chapter is on the period between the 1860s and World War II, which was dominated by social anarchist currents including anarcho- collectivism, anarcho- communism and anarcho- syndicalism
). Reading Mead’s insights and feeling nervous about the challenges of my own fieldwork, I went about fastidiously preparing in order to avoid her latter point, a data-less yield. I began like an addicted hoarder, stockpiling meticulous day plans with scheduled visits to known squats, social centres, suburbs, squares and meeting places. Through contacts in Australia, North America and Europe, I compiled lists of names, emails and phone numbers of Greek anarchists and anti-authoritarians. I wanted to avoid using these contact lists (for reasons discussed later in this