Greece: Text released during the December 2008 riots by a female school student

“We walk the path of December again” – banner from the school student demo in the city of Arta, Greece, December 6th, 2012

Communiqué to my parents

I know I owe you a lot. You gave birth to me, you fed and watered me, and you took care of my upbringing. You even loved me, too. Or at least you say you grew to love me. Because things are slightly different.

You brought me out in a world where you were forced to leave me somewhere each day, and run off to do your errands and your job. You gave birth to me, and then you always looked for a place to dumb me. You took me to school, and as if that weren’t enough, you took me to a bunch of tutorials and lessons, and planted in me the anxiety about my uncertain future. Since my future was so uncertain, since you have made even this planet such a dangerous place to be, why did you bring me out in this world then? What exactly is my life? Two hours of television and electronic games a day?

I wanna get to know of the world, to open wings to fly and see everything in just a brief moment. I wanna go out to meet with others, to play and have fun, to feel happy and not care whether tomorrow I’ll go to school without my homework done. I wanna dream of a world where they won’t be looking for a place to park me, where they won’t always have to work, where it won’t feel dangerous to meet other people, and the future will not frighten me, and there will neither be masters nor slaves.

I see your misery but I haven’t gotten used to it, and I don’t wanna get used to it. You will not bow my head just because you have bowed your head. I don’t wanna be the slave or the boss of anybody; I want you to leave me alone.

I’m not afraid of these watchdogs in uniform that you’re scared of. You see some order and security in them. Stop mocking me already, because I know very well that this order is hypocrisy; as for public safety, they themselves are the biggest danger.

They’re symbols of Power; of your own authority, the teachers’ authority, the politicians’ authority, of all the grownups living that way. You are the ones who learned to live like that, not me. If they wanna mess with me, they’ll have a rough time. They stand no chance against me, so they better bear that in mind. I am angry and dangerous. And we are many, we are everywhere, we can even be found in the homes of the murderers. Wherever they stand, they can’t hide from us. In one way or another we are the ones who will remain standing, not them.

Don’t be mad at me, I’m only doing what you taught me. You said that the uprising is bahalo, a mess and destruction. Now that I rise up, mess and destruction is what you’ll get.

I love you. In my own particular way, but I do love you.

However, I have to build my own world in order to live my life free, and to do that I must destroy your world. It’s the most important thing for me. To say it in your own words: this is my job.

December 2008