ATHENS – Hundreds of anarchist, revolutionary, communist and socialist groups, including the Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger youth of Greece, with the support of Greek society, organized a demonstration against police attacks on Prosfygika, also called the squats of Athens. The revolutionary youth drew attention to themselves with flags of the PKK and Rêber APOs and commemorated the fascist attacks of the AKP-MHP regime on Rojava with a banner.
The reason for the attacks on Prosfygika is the power of self-government and its democratic achievements
On November 22, police raided the Prosfygika squats in central Athens, home to more than 400 people. They entered Block 7 and arrested Kostas Dimalexis. In the afternoon of the same day, they entered Block 6 and arrested 79 people. The community of 150 adults and 30 children in Prosfygika follows a model of self-government based on equality, freedom, solidarity and social justice and organizes life through processes of direct democracy. They create and operate structures for life, education and the internal economy in the occupied territories. At the same time, they organize the struggles of the oppressed and participate in the struggles that are unfolding outside themselves.
Life in Prosfygika is collective and communal
When it was decided in the late 1990s to demolish Prosfygika to build a shopping center and underground parking, the KED (State Real Estate Company) offered a sum that certainly did not reflect the real value of the property to evict the residents , who would lose their homes if they refused to vacate the house as the state would resort to expropriation. By 2003, the Greek state managed to evict most of the owners under pressure and using all legal options. However, 51 of them refused to submit to this state terror and appealed to the State Council, after which the area was classified as a new historical monument after two court decisions.
Today, most of the neighborhood consists of slums and apartment buildings. In the 11 years of its activity in the neighborhood, the Prosfygika assembly has managed to breathe life into the neighborhood and transform it into the largest community in terms of space and numbers in Greece. Through the work of the Assembly, collective structures for common use have been created and are functioning. The women’s café for the empowerment and solidarity of women in the community, the social center for encounters and events, the diverse mental health encounters, the child protection and education building for the children in the neighborhood, the food logistics building, the distribution of Food from neighboring markets and solidarity movements etc.
