Early this morning the main office of governmental party New Democracy was fired upon with an AK47. This is the latest in a series of attacks on political and media targets in the last few days.
In the early hours of this morning shots were fired at the main office of the government party New Democracy in central Athens. Media reports claim that around 9 shots were fired at the building which was empty at the time. At least one of the shots hit the Prime Minster's office itself. This attack is the latest in a series of incidents which have targeted banks, political offices and members of the media and government in the last few days.
The media have counted a total of 17 incendiary attacks over the weekend with most major political parties targeted. Early on Sunday morning the house of the brother of Simos Kedikoglou a government spokesman was attacked with fire bombs. This followed a series of arson attacks against the homes of members of the media a few days before. Statements on different website have claimed some of the attacks to have been carried by groups called 'Militant Minority' and 'Lovers of Lawlessness'.
The incendiary attacks are normally made with the use of gas canisters or petrol bombs and are fairly common. Such attacks frequently target bank branches and ATMs. What is unusual at the moment is the frequently of the attacks in the last few days. All this adds to the tension in Athens after last weeks raids on squats in the city. None of the recent attacks have caused any injury to people as they have only targeted offices and property.
The attacks have also led to a political row between the government and the left opposition party SYRIZA. The government claims that SYRIZA are supporting a growing trend toward political violence by not fully condemning the attacks. In response SYRIZA have accused the government of trying to create a 'civil war type climate' by trying to increase the divisions between left and right.
Comments
So there's a bit of me that
So there's a bit of me that can't help but see this as a step back for the movement in Greece and makes me think of the turn of the Italian workerist movement's suicidal turn towards armed struggle in the 1970s.. Or like James Carr said: "Guerrilla ideology reduces all revolutionary questions to quantitative problems of military force".. I dunno, maybe I don't know exactly what's going on in Greece at the minute, but I feel like any step towards minority armed actions and away from mass class ones is shift away from the solidarity and workers' control of struggle that we're always banging on about..
Well said Ed! It's a pity not
Well said Ed!
It's a pity not every libcom admin is so clear headed as you, as there exists juvenile adventurist romanticised admiration for the likes of the Bonnot Gang or Angry Brigade - which does much damage to libertarian communism. Libcom should take a stronger stand on this question.
steve y wrote: It's a pity
steve y
Can you link to some examples of this? It seems unlikely to me.
steve y wrote: Well said
steve y
You need to read that back to yourself and realise how ridiculous you sound.
Anarchism is in the doldrums whether Richard Parry's book about the Bonnot Gang is on Libcom or not, calm down.
steve y wrote: Well said
steve y
Well spoken comrade! A strong dismissive stance against irresponsible voluntarism and armed ruffian adventurism will make the masses flock to the grand institutions of anarchism!
Ed wrote: So there's a bit of
Ed
not just a bit of me, but all of me sees it like that!
(Edited to add: just to clarify to Steve that this doesn't mean I'm going to delete the Richard Parry book from the library!)
I don't think anyone in the
I don't think anyone in the libcom admin collective actually endorses the antics of groups like the angry brigade, these histories have to be hosted somewhere for reference and its better hosted here to promote the forums where anyone who starts posting about it can be coaxed away from bombing shit.
Plus sadly people still come to lib communism through that kind of rubbish, and personally i imagine the libcom.org readership is generally formed through showing people that this form of anarchism isn't effective. If they read these articles on libcom, they are more likely to check out the rest of the site.
Harrison wrote: I don't think
Harrison
Not saying this stuff is (or that people engaging in stuff like this think it is), but what form of anarchism is effective? I'd wager history shows us a desert of poverty on that matter.