RESISTANCE TO THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES OF MINERAL RESOURCES: FIGHT FOR LAND AND FREEDOM FIGHT FOR JUSTICE AND AUTONOMY

Deforestation of ancient forests, extinction of biological diversity and destruction of natural ecosystems… Increase of air pollution and worsening of climate change … Loss of ways and means for sustainable livelihoods (such as the fertile land and organic farming or the coastal forests and ecological tourism) and loss of the quality of life… Marginalization and subordination of ordinary people and exclusion and dislocation of local communities… Privatization of public forests and plundering of natural resources… Exploitation of labour and violation of human rights… The consortium between capital and multinational corporations and the neoliberal and neoconservative governments aims to support the operation of the extractive industries of mineral wealth through the authoritarian policies of a police-state and the oppressive practices of arbitrary violence…

These are some of the worst – but certainly not the only – environmental, social, political and economic impacts of one of the biggest “development projects” [sic] in the history of modern Greece, the Greece of foreign debt and the memorandum agreements. A country characterized by the escalating poverty and the increasing scarcity, the intolerable misery and the untenable oppression of ordinary people and local communities brought by the international financial institutions and the national governing alliances. And of course from the long arms of the capitalist and authoritarian system of exploitation and repression: from statist security forces until parastatist neo-Nazi gangs.

However, as it is always the case in the history of mankind, the dominant story of those who are at the top and within the system is contrasted with the “other” story of those who are at the bottom and outside the established political routines. Alongside the story of obedience and oppression, the history of mobilization and resistance is also written. Simultaneously with the continuous development of exploitation and destruction, there is the story of justice, equality and freedom, solidarity, dignity and autonomy, emerging from the bottom of the social stratification and the margins of the political system.

This “other” story from those who are at the bottom and outside the established political routines might be following an underground route, but it is certainly existent. It might not appear in the coloured front pages of newspapers or the central broadcasting TV news, but it emerges from deep within the earth, where the treadmill of production and consumption is based, disrupting its operation and challenging its hegemony. Within the beheaded mountains and clear-cut forests of the North-eastern Chalkidiki, in the area of Skouries, it is not only the story of the rich, rulers and oppressors that is written, but also that of the poor, the weak and the oppressed.

It is in this “other” story that our own struggles also belong to. Alongside these ordinary people and remote communities we also stand, as a small but active part of the anticapitalist and antiauthoritarian movements across the world, who have chosen to take action today and demonstrate their solidarity with the struggle for the protection of the area of Skouries in Northeast Chalkidiki.

We resist to the extractive industries of mineral resources, be it fossil minerals or fossil fuels. We fight against the developmental plundering of natural resources and the corporate control of our ways and standards of living. We support the right of ordinary people and local communities to protect their land, water, forests, seas, ecosystems and biodiversity. We fight to overthrow the capitalist system and its authoritarian structures, the dominant means of production that lead to the exploitation of people and the hegemonic patterns of consumption that plunder the natural resources. We seek to create alternative and decentralized social and political structures, so that the production of goods meet people’s needs and respect the environment without serving businesses and supporting capital.
We fight for land and freedom; we fight for justice and autonomy.

WHAT SHINES IT’S NOT DEVELOPMENT
AND WHAT DESTROYS IT’S NOT DEGROWTH

Syspeirosi Atakton
Saturday, 9 November 2013

Save Skouries
International Day of Action Against Gold Mines in Chalkidiki

Coup d’etat, War, Refugees, Dead, Occupation: Another “glorious” feat of Cyprus’ nationalists from both sides and their local and international bosses.

There have been 39 years already since the day that the turkish state invaded the cypriot land.

Many years of bicommunal and intra-community conflicts preceded this as the aspirations of the dominant nationalists of both communities were completely opposite. The peak of the conflict within the Greek-Cypriot community between the right wing sides of Makarios and Grivas was the military coup d’etat from the Greek Junta on the 15 of July 1974.  This coup d’etat essentially gave the opportunity to the turkish state to invade under the pretext of protecting the Turkish-Cypriot community. Even at the most conservative discourses of that time, there is no question that the developments in Cyprus were directly linked with the lethal chessboard of the cold war and that the invasion as a “solution” was predetermined, as it would prevent future conflicts amongst NATO allies (Greece and Turkey) and it would negate any possibility of Cyprus being in “red” hands.

“Cyprus is a whore from which both Greece and Turkey could profit from”                 Dictatorship Papadopoulos

Nationalism is a phenomenon which occurs in all class societies. In order to reproduce it needs to continuously re-invent the common interest of the nation. In reality, however, in a class society this is impossible. So what it really does is that is transforming selfish capitalist interests into a common one. Within this context anyone who is a stranger to the national backbone, poses a threat of stealing the joy, to ruin the perspective of the nation towards happiness, prosperity, peace, and the local capitalist appears to have the same interests as those of the oppressed classes.

In this way, nationalism becomes automatically a useful tool for the reproduction of a class society.

In Cyprus we have experienced over the last century this reversal of reality into nationalism, which turned the oppressed against each other and led them into a merciless war of mutual extermination on the basis of national origin. This allowed capitalism to develop rapidly turning the biggest part of the population into paid slaves.

Things could have been different had the disaster of 1974 been a lesson for the Cypriots. Instead what we experienced after the war was of climax of the hatred between the two communities and the submission of the class to “nationalistic interests”. Since the coup d’etat and the war, we witness the same people who dragged us to the catastrophe being on the foreground of the political life, perpetuating the status quo with endless conversations accelerating capitalist accumulation via their tools and the financial and banking pyramid.

The current economic crisis was easily included within the nationalistic discourse as being a threat from the ‘Other’. Firstly, it was the immigrant and the Turkish-Cypriot worker but as the crisis worsened it was the hotel worker, the the civil servant, and then that of the bank…

Let’s stop fooling ourselves whilst waiting for our turn in this slaughterhouse

The economic crisis is the result of contradictory and chaotic nature of a diseased system which cannot survive without a continuous exponential “growth” at the expense of the lower classes and of the planet itself. The crisis allows nationalism and fascism to spread with an even greater audacity its racist poison in the society.

We can and we need to intercept them. We have nothing separating us from the Turkish-Cypriot worker, the immigrant, or the other who is oppressed just like us. We need to self-organize with them in our neighborhoods, our streets, our workplaces, our cities. Together, we must dispel this cancerous nationalism and the barbaric capitalism.

Nicosia, July 2013

Syspirosi Atakton

THE LONGER WE SUCCUMB TO THEIR BULLDOZERS THE MORE WE BECOME PIONS IN THEIR CHESS GAME

 Siakolas, Michaelides, Leptos, Fotiades, Archibishop…

The list of the tycoons who decided to take ownership, privatize and flatten the natural beauty of the Akamas’ penisula, the Laonas’ plateau and the bay of Chrisochous has no end.

We have no personal issues with them. But we have a really big issue with them as a group. And specifically, we have an issue with the capitalistic system that produces them, the neoliberal policies they reproduce them, the neoconservative ideology that sustains them and the “development projects” that strengthen them. With the hierachical, authoritarian and “developmental” connections of power, authority’s and oppression’s who destroy the human, the society, the environment and our lives.

Akamas, Laona, Polis of Chrisochous, Limni is nothing more than additional fractions that this system considers to be a “normal development”, an arbitrary destruction. A system which flattens the perrenial trees and destroys turtles nests… A system that takes everything from us to give us nothing… A system that produces surpluss and wealth for the few and the elite, destorying in process the lives of all of us and the beauties of our island… This is our enemy…

We resist and we fight for a society for us and the rest of the wildlife, the nature and the environment… Without high-rise hotels and the cementation of forests, without golf courses and privatization of our beaches.. For a world of self-organisation, autonomy and freedom.. This is our goal…

WE DO NOT DEMAND THE PARTIAL RESTORATION OF A PROTECTED AREA

WE FIGHT FOR THE COMPLETE TURNOVER OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM

Syspirosi Atakton

Saturday, 15 June 2013

Demonstration against the Cyprus Limni Resorts & Golf Courses PLC

GOLF: WHAT IS DESTRUCTIVE, IS NOT DEVELOPMENT

1. Golf cources and the golf tourism are part of a whole “development” package, that involves huge energy and transport infrastructures (dams and desalinations plants, airports, marinas and harbours, roads and bridges), mass tourism facilities (luxurious villas, entertainment facilities, industrial parks and multidisciplinary tourist zones ), as well as non-native types of agricultural and garden plants (consisting of foreign trees, exotic flowers and enormous areas of lawn).
2. At the heart of the golf industry there is another hundred million euros industry, comprised by both local and multinational companies. It includes land developpers, developing consortia and construction contractors, airlines and shipping companies, chains of five star hotels, advertising and marketing companies, and also financial institutions, mostly banks. In such an industry there is no place for simple people and/or local communities, except at the lowest level, which is no more than the low paid works. In this way, the cogwheels of this machine provide a surpluss for the investors (mainly bosses) and increases their profit. The transformation of the sport into a luxury commodity has driven to excessive profit and destrucive practices, the consequences of which are painfull for both, the local communities and the natural environment. In many countries, big golf cources and luxury tourists resorts are in reality a fatal blow to the local community and the local economy.  The now elitist sport, is considered to be one of the tourism sectors that involves the highest risk of investment, because of the uncontrollable profitability that it entails. The largest part of the foreign currency produced from the golf resorts and golf tourism does not remain within the local economy. The benefits that will remail however are accrued a few businessmen and their political patrons, meaning the economic and political elite.
3.  The “green” package of golf tourism can be compred with that of the “green revolution” in the aquaculture sector, which happened during the 1950s and the 1960s and was exclusively supported by some not-so-green products such as the dangerous toxic chemicals of the agrochemical industry (i.e. industrial production feritilizers, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and defoliants). In reality, golf courses present another form of a monoculture, in which the dominant species are non-native trees, exotic flowers and vast areas of lawn, chemical fertilizers and toxic insecticides, along with intensive machinery which are all imported, replace the local biodiveristy and lead directly to the destruction of the natural ecosystems and the extinction of wild life. This type of an artificial environment leads to intsense pressures and shortages in the local water and irrigation systems, precisely because it is maintained through the supply of immense amounts of water.  It also adds a lot of pressure on the land itself and leads to land degradation, precisely because it occupies vast areas. This artifical environment is also very susceptible to diseases and pests. So, just like the not so “green revolution” in the conventional agriculture, which is supported by the agrochemcal industry and is collapsing one country at a time, the route to “green golf tourism” is also filled with ecological obstacles. Essentially, the supposed “green golf tourism” is nothing but yet another kind of “corporate greenwashing”. The environmental impacts include water depletion and toxic contamination of soil, overexploitation of ground and surface water, the creation of energy-intensive desalination plants and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.  These in turn lead to health problems for local communities, the loss of the quality of life of ordinary people, ecosystem destruction and decrease of biodiversity.
4. Besides the enviromental impact, golf courses and tourist resorts often lead to the grabbing and degradation of agricultural and forest land, therefore the displacement of local communities and destructure of the local society. In many cases, the supporters of such projects turn into devotees of the violation of our rights and freedoms, as with their economical and political power they have the ability to use illegal bullying methods in order to stop any type of resistance that opposes their plans, such as legal action threats and oppresive attempts against any enviromental actions and social struggles.
5. The golf industry is aggresively promoting an elitist model of developement and a luxurious way of life, phenomenons that are not only disconnected to the social and economic realities of the island, but phenomenon that actually abolish the concepts of free, open and public green space. This is moreso the case when we are dealing with nature amd wildlife protection areas, such as our forests and ebaches. The abolition of a libertarian and autonomous lifestyle, such as the free use of a public beach, is another form of exploitation and subordination to the business plans of the big developers and the luxurious lifestyle of wealthy golfers who impose their profiteering and illusions across the whole of the community, both through the supposed “job growth” and the apparent “enjoyment of the sporting spectacle and the tourism product.” Consequently, golf courses and golf tourism do not just violate our social and environmental rights, but are effectively alienating and eliminating our freedoms.
6. In the context of the growing criticism and resistance to the adverse environmental, social, economic and political implications of the construction of golf courses, the golf industry has started to promote concepts such as “pesticide free,” “environmentally friendly” or “sensitive development” golf courses. Concepts that in reality are not only non-existent, but are essentially promoted in order to socially legitimize the profitable plans of the developers.  However these “harmonious and green golf courses” are constructed, they will always include artificial turf ecosystems and will inevitably require the intensive use of hazardous chemicals, privatization of public spaces and overexploitation natural resources.

For all of us, golf courses are nothing more than another development mechanism and the enforcement of the capitalistic system for the creation of profit and enjoyment of services by the few elites, on the detriment of the rights and freedoms of the society. It is yet another form of exploitation of our labor with the simultaneous destruction of wildlife and privatization of our natural wealth. That is precisely the reason you will keep encountering us. In front of your businesses and developments, your customers and your bulldozers.

IN THE TIME OF THE GOLF DEVELOPERS.

“I DON’T KNOW” IS COMPLICITY

Sispirosi Atakton 

Saturday, 15th of June 2013

Day of Action Against Cyprus Limni Resorts & Golf Courses PLC

On the Taksim Square’s uprise

During the past few years, the world is shaked due to the uprisings, both in the cities as well as in the suburbs. These uprisings are a result of the structural crisis of a system of over-accumulation of capital which is being re-distributed for the benefit of the dominant elites.  This inhuman system has reached its limits.

The structural adjustment measures being implemented in Turkey, after the suggestion and with the supervision of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other institutions of global capitalism, are moving towards the same direction.  With the memorandums, austerity measures and other extreme policies whose impacts against the people and the workers are well-known and implemented both in Europe and worldwide. These policies are succeding in the deterioration of the lower and oppressed social classes.

Social Conservatism, Economic Neoliberalism and State Oppression

In Turkey, like elsewhere, these policies are supported and implemented under three different axis:

Social Conservatism, even though an introvert process, is the most important ally of neoliberalism. In Turkey, social conservatism has been expressed during recent years through political Islam, and it moves between urban pseudo-democratization and religious fundamentalism. The main characteristic of this socio-political current with its deeply conservative policies, is the the prioritization of a religous ethic over personal, social and political freedoms and rights. This is expressed through policies which restrict and prohibit the use of alchohol and tobacco, policies that prohibit the use of contraceptive methods and abortions, but also a moral reward of patriarchy.

For the establishment of the free market and the domination of the doctrine of economic neliberalism, a series of policies against workers are being promoted, policies which are in fact renouncing social and political freedoms, as well as labour rights. In the case of Turkey, such measures include the prosecution of leftist organisations, anarchists groups and workers unions, but also the privatisation of the public wealth in favour of the capital, as in the current situation, with an effort to transform a public parc in Taksim square into another shopping mall.

For the establishment and the domination of the conservative ideologies at a societal level and the enforcement of economic neoliberalization policies at an institutional level, the repressive mechanisms of the state are shamelessly used. Ignoring all concepts of freedom and justice, they turn against the working class, against the political dissidents and the oppressed social minorities. This is of course not a particularity of the Turkish state, but a common mean used by all insitutional mechanisms and the states to preserve the interests of the capitalist system and the authorative elite.

Taksim square is just another example in an era where we see a dramatic reduction of social and political freedoms and of raw suppressions against every attempt of social opposition to the systemic options.

Public spaces as benchmarks of an uprising radical social movement, have become a target to be eradicated by the powerful. With the excuse of restoring or developing, public and green areas are being privatized and are becoming lest and less. Keeping in mind what is happening in our own city, we stand with absolute solidarity with the rebels of Taksim square and we will do whatever we can to bring the flame of rebellion in our own place.

For a society of self-organization, equality and freedom.

DEVELOPMENT KILLS

OPPRESSORS, PIGS, MURDERES

Syspeirosi Atakton ★

RESISTANCE TO THE DOMINANCE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY – FIGHT FOR LAND AND FREEDOM

Mass spread of aspartame in the world’s food chain … channelling of the most dangerous toxic substances – known as dioxins – into the international chemicals’ industry … creation of the first atomic bomb during the second World War … production of the deadly defoliant gas “Agent Orange” during the Vietnam War … dominance of the most commercial herbicide of all time, “Roundup”, in agricultural production … promotion of the “Synthetic Bovine Growth Hormone” in the livestock production … tens of labour accidents within the international line of production of chemical substances … toxic contamination of the natural environmental, the local communities and indigenous populations in almost every corner of this planer … These are some of the most important – but certainly not the only ones – environmental, social and military crimes of one of the biggest multinational agrochemical corporations in the world, which was created in 1901 and since then has the U.S. as a base for its economic activities.

Its name: Monsanto.

Since then, Monsanto has managed to expand its corporate activities, with the result that Monsanto is today the biggest biotechnology corporation in the whole world. In only two decades, Monsanto managed to take under its control, 90% of the global production of Genetically Modified Organisms. These GMOs, as they are widely known, contaminate the genetic chain and lead to the diminution of the planet’s biological diversity, the increase in the use of agrochemical substances and harmful toxic substances and put public health at risk. The latest is most prominent for local communities and indigenous populations who border with GMO cultures which tend to be in poorer and more developed countries. GMOs lead to gradual reduction of agricultural production when compared to conventional and organic ones, but it also leads to an increasing cost of production for the farmers and the livestock producers eventually leading to the control of the international food and the aggravation of poverty, the impoverishment and malnutrition of the lower and poorer social classes.

At the same time, Monsanto and the rest of the biotechnology corporations (such as Syngenta, DuPont, Bayer-BASF and Pioneer) are trying to promote and sell their destructive products, with the pretext of improving and increasing the world’s food production, in a supposed attempt to contribute in addressing the worldwide poverty and hunger crisis. Since the aggravation of poverty and lack of nutrition is nothing but the inherent fabrication of global capitalism and particularly of an unequal system of production, distribution and consumption

of basic goods, we are not deceived by any biotechnology tale. GMOs, not only do they not increase access to land, food and income of the poorest and of the lower classes, but on the contrary, they lead to the inevitable and definite subjugation, depriving them from what is most basic for their survival. Their own land and food. GMOs’ produced are not produced from and are not intended for the poor and weak of this planet like they want us to believe. The only ones who are in reality the winners of this kind of worldwide food production and distribution system is the elite of the biotechnology and agrochemical giants.

So, we resist against the biopiracy and the patenting of seeds and other forms of life. We stand for the right of simple people and the indigenous populations to safeguard their seeds, their land, the ecosystems and their biodiversity. We fight to overthrow the worldwide capitalist system, so that the worldwide food production will fulfil the needs of the people and the planet, and not of big corporations and the capital. We fight for land and freedom, for food security and autonomy.

CAPITALISM IS NOT OUR FUTURE

WE WILL BE NOBODY’S SLAVE

Syspeirosi Atakton Saturday,

25 Μay 2013

World Day of Action Against Monsanto

The myth of the European Union

*** The text was given out by activists at the “European Year of Citizens 2013. It concerns you” event @ Faneromeni Square Nicosia ***
The European Union is an international institution of capital, an elite of people (businessmen, politicians, banksters of all nations) whose only interest is to drain out our blood. It is a union of those who take the food from our mouth, those who grab what the workers produced with their work to give us back just the crumbs. Today they are keeping even the crumbs.

The attitude of the EU concerning the crisis has not been due to wrong policies or corruption. The attitude has been a conscious attempt to defend the interests of the capital. Its goal is to make workers pay for the crisis and to let the rich continue undisturbed enjoying the wealth that the workers produce, with their physical and intellectual effort. The few are enjoying their caviar and champagne and the rest of us are paying the bill … This is EU, this is capitalism.

The myths of the European idea, the European vision, the European solidarity and the “Europe of citizens” was the ideological mantle, which they used as a cover up for this foundation. The EU was founded in order to raise the profits of capitalists and to exploit more efficiently the workers. The “European unification” was not made for the interest of the people, but for the improvement of the European capital in the world economy. It has not been made from the bottom-up, on the basis of peoples’solidarity and peoples’struggles, but in a top-down way, on the basis of markets’ competitiveness and transactions’ flow.

The famous “European establishment” has created the fear of unemployment and poverty, it is the salaries of hunger, the middle-age working conditions of the 21st century. The famous “education” which promotes, is the learning of how to use the machine, how to work in an office, which means how to produce profit for the boss and surplus value for the markets.

The infamous “solidarity” of the EU is just the common interest of capitalists and their political representatives against the solidarity and the common fight of workers and whoever does not accept to compromise. Our interests are not the same with the ones of Cypriots, Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians businessmen or bosses but with the Cypriots, Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians workers … because in the world of bosses we are all foreigners. For the bosses of the EU, we are no more than numbers in accounting books and stock monitors, objects in the production of surplus and maximization of profit.

The “European vision” is nothing more than the vision of capitalists. In this vision of Europe, people are transformed into feed for a profit-making machine. In this vision the “citizens” have been turned into expendable paid slaves of a system that favors the economical and political elite sitting at the top of a hierarchical organisation of this authoritarian model and free market system they impose. The European capitalistic establishment is the one we need to overturn if we want to live and not just survive. We have to take our lives in our hands, to create our own vision. Without exploitation and submission, with human dignity and real freedom.

ΟΥΤΕ ΣΥΝΟΡΑ, ΟΥΤΕ ΕΘΝΗ, ΕΝΑΝΤΙΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΥΡΩΠΗ ΤΟΥ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΥ

NO BORDERS, NO NATIONS, AGAINST A EUROPE OF CAPITAL

SINIRSIZ ULUSSUZ, AVRUPA BASKENTINE KARSI

On the expulsion of fascists in Faneromeni

The provocative show which took place two weeks ago, by members of ELAM (who also have a 5-year temporary contract working for the Cypriot national army) wearing Golden Dawn t-shirts in a cafe in Faneromeni square in Nicosia, could only get a dynamic antifascist response. By the time they were spotted in the square, a lot of people isolated them and threw them away shouting antifascist songs and showing them efficiently that there is zero tolerance in neo-nazism expressions. Why did all this happen? Why did a group of people attacked people wearing Golden Dawn t-shirts? Isn’t it a democratic right for anyone to wear anything he wants and to drink his coffee where he wants? Why such a reaction?

Because of a simple reason…

The antifascist fight for us is not a just a call for democratic feelings. It is not the equation of “extremes”, the triumph of bourgeois democracy and the propriety of the society which stands inactive towards the crime besides it.

• For us antifascism means daily fight at work, at school, at neighborhoods against the supports of the nazi horror.
• It means an effort for the society to win their freedom, for a new culture based on solidarity and companionship.
• It means stubbornness for a construction of a society free of the boundaries of hate and fascist elements.
• It means persistence and effort in the public space for a free mind for a humanly socialization in the square, in the road, in the neighbors.

The square of Faneromeni, like every other neighborhood should always isolate and expel those who actually want to destroy that world. Because the inaction and the tolerance leads to the legalization of the actions of the fascists and sooner or later it makes us get used to the “face of the monster”

We are living in a period where the crisis and the first movements of workers describe the tale in Cyprus. At this particular moment the fight against measures, poverty, job dismissals and cuts should only be connected to the culture and the ideologies which describe the society and the humans far away from the distortions caused by nationalism, racism, homophobia, misogyny and militarism.

The capital onslaught in our city reached an unprecedented manifestation and the neighborhoods are the easy terrains for profit by their owners in a collaboration with the local authorities and the businessmen. The square of Faneromeni has been in these plans for a long time. Plans that would thrive in a steriled public space with a lot of consumption and touristic activity along with an increase of land value. In this manner, the dominant political discourse prepares the ground to “clean up” the square from the people who gather, hang out and act there, giving them fringe characteristics. Immigrant neighborhoods, places for political thought and other free places will be next.

The fascist gangs live and breathe from the provocations, the display of power towards the weak and the alliances with the system itself. No Pasaran! As they didn’t have the courage to show up in the latest anti-memorandum movements of the populations they will be defeated again before they get the chance to prepare themselves to an ideological level.

So we don’t  get to live EOKA B (militarity organisation responsible for the coup d’etat in 1974) coups and juntas.

For a society of freedom, social equality and justice

Neither in Faneromeni, nor elsewhere, we crush the fascism everywhere

Antifascists

Syspirosi Atakton

We consider ourselves as a part of the wider movement of the rupture with the current model of organisation of the society. Using our international and local experience we will try to contribute to the discussions and the actions that have as a vision and goal to set up a society of self-organization, self-legislation and solidarity.

Our efforts take serious consideration of the continueous  environmental imbalance caused by humans, and we consider “ecology” a particularly fragile domain of the current reality.

We are going through a crucial conjucture. The dynamics that will arise during this period will decide whether the current system with its military invasions and the repression of social achievements will be extended or whether the resistance that are developping internationnaly will be proven efficient in order to halt and reverse it.

We believe that against this international form of totalitarianism we are up against, the mobilizations should come in many different forms and many different levels, because the capitalistic, patriarchal and hierarchical inter-relationships dominate every aspect of our lives and our spirits.

Our region, due to its natural resources has been for decades in the eye of the storm. Competition for domination in the region has already been the driver of numerous wars and conflicts. The totalitarian post-colonial regimes that were formed do not represent the interests of people. We are in solidarity with every movement who is fighting towards a social liberation and emancipation from local and foreign sovereignity.

Cyprus itself is one of the most militarized areas in the planet. Those of us who live here have been trapped for decades in nationalist conflicts and have allowed the elite to exercice power in order to implement their interests in the area without confronting any serious resistance. It is vital that the hegemony of nationalism breaks and we wil be active and present in any effort to its supression.

At the same time the exploitation of workers from other countries developped a new unfavourable conditions which are against of the workers. During fights for equality in society, there is no place for exclusions based on birth places and other made-up identifications.

Immigrands, as the most oppressed part of our society, are our possible allys. We need to escape from the logic of being charitable against them and quest for new ways towards substantial political and equal collaboration.

The cities as our main field of action is a reflection of what is happening in the wider society. Its demarcation but also the invasion of the capital which threatens to  transform the city to a  window display, “clean” of any “unwanted” elements, and the church who as the large landowners has its own goals of “development”, are only some of the factors that create a field of action which is challenging.  A field of action however, in which we aim to intervene, in order to express and  accomplish our own proposals for societies that are organised away from any hierchical, capitalistic and sexist institutions and logics, and that are based in self-organisation, solidarity, collectivity and liberality.

Syspirosi Atakton | October 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Key points from the conversation between Radio 98FM (Greek alternative radio) and Syspirosi Atakton

Question 1:   How did you see the “No” from the parliament?

We felt that the NO,from politicians, was like a reflex, because as it turned later there was no “Plan B” nor a path for a change so they continued the negotiations hoping for something better.

When the neoliberal president was elected he was expecting that the Plan A would be the same austerity measures applied in the other countries. He was caught off guard and that is mainly why they voted no. They wanted to keep their deposits intact and support for the big capital. All in all the no was not something revolutionary, they were serving their interests and their deposits. All those reports on the heroic NO of the Cypriots was more like a fairytale that was easy to sell.

Question 2:   We want some more details about the society in Cyprus.

The following points were made to explain how an environment was created with which social acceptance for the current system was achieved:- In Cyprus for a number of years all the political parties and syndicates have been working together to gain social acceptance for the current system. There was a stability in employment and some rises on salaries. However, this was nothing compared to the profits made by the banking system and the tourism industry. This led to a general social acceptance of the way the banking system worked.- Since 1974 there was a flow of foreign capital in Cyprus that created the bubble of the banking system. At the beginning it was from Lebanon, then from Yugoslavia and more recently the Russia. The political party of the left were supporting this and therefore there was no critisism of this system from any political parties nor mainstream media. – The social acceptance of the banking system and the events of Mari (a big explosion at a naval base which killed 13 people) after which there seem to be an alliance between the neo-nazi party (ELAM) and the neoliberals (DISI) against the then left government, had a great part in the rise of DISI in the presidential elections but also in generating the opinion that there was only one solution to our problem (the austerity measures and the help from troica ).

Question 3:   What about the archbishop and his offer to the state the belongings of the church.

At first we need to state out that the same person said similar things during the Annan referendum. He said he will give to every refugee, of the war of 1974, a plot of land if they voted no. He never gave anything to anyone!! The truth is that the archbishop is really close to neo nazi and nationalistic views and he is a supporter of the current president. The church has 800m of property of estates. They own hotels, the Hellenic bank in Cyprus and KEO (local beer industry). But at the same time they don’t have the required liquidity to help and we doubt they can sell their property with the economical unbalance in Cyprus.

Question 4:   What about the natural gas?

There is the common belief that the extraction of natural gas will save Cyprus from economic destruction. But until now we have not had any concrete information as to what the actual value of it is or whether we will extract it in 2, 5 or even 10 years. They are using the potential for natural gas in order to try and keep people calm and avoid organised resistance. Another important piece of information on this matter is that the left party AKEL, who was the government for the last 5 years (until the end of February), made agreements and (new) alliances with Israel regarding the natural gas.  As a consequence Cyprus lost alliances with the countries of middle east like Syria and Egypt who were our natural. In the end Israel re-established their connections/alliances with Turkey and now it remains to be seen whether Israel is actually our ally or not.

Question 5:   Our mainstream media were presenting the situation in Cyprus as disastrous. Empty supermarkets, pharmacies out of stock etc. Was it true?

We had these pictures in our mainstream media as well, but as it turned out later those pictures were taken from different situations and potentially in different countries. The media were trying to create a sense of panic and in a way terrorise people, so that they would accept the cuts as the only solution. The truth is that people were calm enough. There was food and medicines and everything was working well except business like petrol stations that required cash to provide for petrol as people were only using their credit cards.

Question 6:   What do you think will happen now? Will people rise up for the situation?

We expect that people will get to the streets. Two years ago unemployment was estimated on 1%. Now it is 14% and we expect it to be double in 6 months. It will be impossible to keep people calm and reassured with rates of unemployment always rising. Let’s take as an example the people working in the banks, which until now that was a really safe and well-paid job. People will get fired and they won’t be able to pay their debts for their car or their house or even their kid’s education. We don’t think the current system will be able to control the anger of these people. Already during this week we have seen different things in the streets. The change is imminent.