Athens: A few words on the latest solidarity demo to immigrants and refugees

On Saturday, December 3rd, approximately 200 people gathered in Omonia Square to protest ‘against fascism; for the legalization for all immigrants and refugees; for citizenship for all second generation immigrant children’. The demo was called by the Union of Immigrant Workers, the Movement ‘Unite Against Racism and the Fascist Threat’, local communities of immigrants and refugees, student associations and unions, as well as leftist coalitions and parties (such as ANTARSYA and SEK).

Representatives from different immigrant and native communities spoke about the real and daily experiences of racist discrimination and violent persecution in Athens. Many spoke in Greek and also in their native languages. Their messages were heard by the gathering crowd, those passing through and those from the neighbourhood of Omonia. One of the banners of the protest march wrote: ‘Fascists out of the ministries,’ referring to the recent new government that includes four ministers/deputy ministers from the far right-wing party LA.OS., namely Georgiadis, Georgiou, Rodoulis and Voridis who are well known for their history of xenophobic and neo-Nazi actions. After an hour or so of speeches, the rally evolved and expanded into a moving demonstration of nearly 1,500 people, who took to the streets together in a march to Syntagma. The march progressed along Stadiou Street, around Syntagma Square, pausing outside the parliament before returning back to Omonia along Akadimias Street. The path of the demo was sounded out by a mix of political slogans, chants and the rhythm of African drums. One police squad (unit of MAT) made its presence at Syntagma, but cops were otherwise non visible throughout this protest, and no fascists showed their faces.

A Senegalese man carrying a placard reading ‘Against fascism! In solidarity with immigrants!’ said to other protesters he had come to the march to fight for freedom in a city where he had experienced regular police attacks after living here nine months without papers.

If the aim of Saturday’s demo was to generate a greater feeling of solidarity among communities, then it could be considered a successful one. But a demo is also a symbolic act; showing those who don’t participate, who disagree, who hold the Power how much power the people also have. In this dimension, the demo was not successful. Where were the anarchists on Saturday?

Because it seems on that day the reasons not to attend were greater than the reasons to be there. And this seems to be the case more often than not. The complexity of the reality; the confusion of mapping political ideology onto the situation, freezes some people to act despite their desire to do so. Reasons not to participate take on greater importance than the reasons to participate in such demos. Maintaining the practices that derive from anti-authoritarian ideologies seems to become critical in comparison to the reality of the situation. On single issues, this dilemma often exists: between acting to bring about a world we want to see, and dealing with a situation that is created by and within dominant power. On the issue of migration, the dilemma of whether to act seems to go something like this: As a movement that is anti-state, anti-capitalism, how can we really show solidarity with immigrants who, by this mere status, are appealing to the State for their rights, and to the Capital for their place within that system?

If we walk around the centre of Athens right now, we see people searching through the rubbish for scraps to eat or sell. If we walk around Ermou Street, we find street vendors who regularly have all their goods stolen both by police and municipality cops. If we go to the squares where it’s still safe for them to hang out and talk to people, we hear stories of no work, no money, no means of escape despite the plans to leave. No hope. And this is just what we can see. We can’t see into the basements, housing at least five people to a room, into the prisons doing the same, into the squats where people take shelter. And say we go beyond the city and head into the mountains around Igoumenitsa (northwest of Greece). We find people starving and thirsty, because the police refuse to let them enter the city to look through the rubbish for food (and some people have lived that way for years).

In front of all of this, what can we say? That we cannot show solidarity because what they want reinforces the State and Capital? Because the way they struggle is ‘not very anarchist’? Indeed, there is a difference between wants and needs. Ideology cannot feed us. If we want to face the reality, most people who migrate here and then face these forms of violence are ‘not very anarchist’. But the oppressions they face here are very real and very different from our own (despite coming from the same source). But, just like anarchists/anti-authoritarians, they also want freedom.

So, as anarchist/anti-authoritarians, we urge ourselves to fight; against our own oppression, and the oppression of others, under this system. In the first case, we can do it in our way, or in the way of the collectives we choose to participate in. In the second case, we can show solidarity with those who may not feel like they can fight, or who may choose to fight in ways that we might not actually agree with. Here, we try as best as we can to be led by those experiencing the oppression first hand. In both cases, if we are non-prosecuted citizens, our ability to rebel can also be seen as a ‘privilege’ —since having identity cards/passports gives us legal freedom. It gives us the privilege to act upon our political ideologies; to dedicate time to rebel in ways people without papers cannot. We fight against the idea of a passport; we struggle in solidarity with those who don’t obtain one to have the right to a passport, or to be granted political asylum. This massive contradiction is also at the heart of the dilemma of acting to bring about a world we want to see, and dealing with a situation that is created by and within dominant power.

We don’t forget our ideologies, but we combine them with being led by the needs of those facing these oppressions. We contribute to squats and house projects, and help comrades keep squats so that more people have a place to stay. We coordinate our efforts so that we can accurately document fascist and racist violence and police atrocities against people of colour, and we share this information with others who we trust. We take to the streets and show solidarity together, when the people who face this repression feel they can show their self-determination. We create ‘hybrids’ from the connections we make with people who don’t think the same way as us, and new things become possible.

Saturday’s demo was just one event, and certainly not the most exciting of the kind; just one blast of smoke out of the volcano. The reasons not to be there were serious and many (the intentions of leftist political forces; whether immigrants really had any actual say in the event; whether making a demo was the right strategy, etc.). But if we don’t like what we see, particularly if we feel that immigrants/refugees are being manipulated, rather than being heard, then we must make our own things happen. Starting by making connections to those who are experiencing oppression first hand —that we witness with our own eyes, on our own streets every day. Daily experiences of neo-Nazi, racist and structural violence transcend ideology.

Solidarity among the oppressed people in Greece and worldwide