Historical GSEE Building in Athens is occupied by workers!

[Leo]

This was posted by a comrade from Greece in Libcom:

"this is very very important

The historical GSEE Building in Athens is occupied. The building is on Patition str. some hundred meters away from the infamous Polytechneion.

GSEE is the national trade union in Greece. It is the "General Confederation of Greek Workers".

The occupiers also sign as "GSEE", General Assembly of Insurgent Workers, in greek it's the same initials.
=================

DECLARATION

We will either determine our history ourselves
or let it be determined without us

We, manual workers, employees, jobless, temporary workers, local or migrants, are not passive tv-viewers. Since the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Saturday night we participate in the demonstrations, the clashes with the police, the occupations of the centre or the neighborhoods. Time and again we had to leave work and our daily obligations to take the streets with the students, the university students and the other proletarians in struggle.

WE DECIDED TO OCCUPY THE BUILDING OF GSEE

-To turn it into a space of free expression and a meeting point of workers.

-To disperse the media-touted myth that the workers were and are absent from the clashes, and that the rage of these days was an affair of some 500 "mask-bearers", "hooligans" or some other fairy tale, while on the tv-screens the workers were presented as victims of the clash, while the capitalist crisis in Greece and Worldwide leads to countless layoffs that the media and their managers deal as a "natural phenomenon".

-To flay and uncover the role of the trade union bureaucracy in the undermining of the insurrection -and not only there. GSEE and the entire trade union mechanism that supports it for decades and decades, undermine the struggles, bargain our labor power for crumblings, perpetuate the system of exploitation and wage slavery. The stance of GSEE last Wednesday is quite telling: GSEE cancelled the programmed strikers' demonstration, stopping short at the organization of a brief gathering in Syntagma Sq., making simultaneously sure that the people will be dispersed in a hurry from the Square, fearing that they might get infected by the virus of insurrection.

-To open up this space for the first time -as a continuation of the social opening created by the insurrection itself-, a space that has been built by our contributions, a space from which we were excluded. For all these years we trusted our fate on saviours of every kind, and we end up losing our dignity. As workers we have to start assuming our responsibilities, and to stop assigning our hopes to wise leaders or "able" representatives. We have to acquire a voice of our own, to meet up, to talk, to decide, and to act. Against the generalized attack we endure. The creation of collective "grassroot" resistances is the only way.

-To propagate the idea of self-organization and solidarity in working places, struggle committees and collective grassroot procedures, abolishing the bureaucrat trade unionists.

All these years we gulp the misery, the pandering, the violence in work. We became accustomed to counting the crippled and our dead - the so-called "labor accidents". We became accustomed to ingore the migrants -our class brothers- getting killed. We are tired living with the anxiety of securing a wage, revenue stamps, and a pension that now feels like a distant dream.

As we struggle not to abandon our life in the hands of the bosses and the trade union representatives, likewise we will not abandon no arrested insurgent in the hands of the state and the juridical mechanism.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF THE DETAINED

NO CHARGE TO THE ARRESTED

SELF-ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKERS
GENERAL STRIKE

WORKERS' ASSEMBLY IN THE "LIBERATED" BUILDING OF GSEE
Wendesday, 17 December 2008, 18:00
General Assembly of Insurgent Workers

================

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/4200/2kldn8lub4.jpg

the big orange banner reads:
From labor "accidents"
to the murders in cold blood
State - Capital kill
No persecution
Immediate release
of the arrested
GENERAL STRIKE
Workers' self-organization
will become the bosses' grave
General Assembly of Insurgent Workers

[Woland]

This is great news!


but damn, where is the communist party this time? :(
I'm kind of losing hope that it will do something and support the workers and the riot....

[Leo]

I think it was about time to lose that hope when they physically tried to prevent student assemblies from taking place, university occupations from happening, and when they helped police chase and attack demonstrators.

I expect the KKE to condemn the occupation.

[Woland]

I doubt it...maybe they will realize it is time to act and support the workers now and change with full force? Its pure opportunism, sure, but then...Yes, I guess im a bit too hopeful...But then just dissapointed...they spend so much time talking and talking and when the opportunity finally arises, they dont do anything...do they think a better one might come?? come on...Communism is asleep and it needs to wake up.

[Leo]

maybe they will realize it is time to act

I think you got the whole thing wrong - they have been acting, against the movement that is.


and support the workers now and change with full force?

Why on earth would they do anything like that?


Communism is asleep and it needs to wake up.

I don't think the KKE has got anything at all to do with communism (except, of course, the name): they are nothing but a party of bourgeois order, the order which they have been defending against this movement.

[Leo]

Athens:Bureaucrats attack the occupation of the workers confederation

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415664.html

Bureaucrats were really scared of the decision from rebel workers to occupy the central offices of the workers confederation.
They said : "These people can not be workers. Workers are at work now..."
Everyones knows their role to suppress the workers movement.
No some workers are not at work... your worst fears are becoming true...

50 bureaucrats came along with some "bodyguards" to re-occupy the confederations building but comrades through them out...

Only when the last bureaucrat...

[Leo]

Bureaucrats attack the occupation of the workers confederation but are driven away (http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2008/12/17/25-1750-bureaucrats-attack-the-occupation-of-the-workers-confederation-but-are-driven-away-rioting-erupts-in-patras/)

Open general assemblies right now at the occupied university of Economics and the occupied building of the general confederation of workers in greece. Things are building up for tomorrow, when the mass student demonstration will take place in Athens…

17:50: 50 bureaucrats came along to the building of the insurgent workers. They came together with some “heavies” but disappeared in the sight of anarchist reinforcements from the Economics university, chanting slogans of solidarity.

[Yehuda Stern]

Is there some sort of internationalist consciousness developing? I know there's a lot of anti-Albanian racism in Greece in recent years and I wonder if that has changed in any way since the riots started.

[bcbm]

I doubt it...maybe they will realize it is time to act and support the workers now and change with full force? Its pure opportunism, sure, but then...Yes, I guess im a bit too hopeful...But then just dissapointed...they spend so much time talking and talking and when the opportunity finally arises, they dont do anything...do they think a better one might come?? come on...Communism is asleep and it needs to wake up.

You think a bunch of opportunistic pigs who've sold out our class at every turn will suddenly come around now that shit is actually kicking off and, worse, you think this would be a good thing? Maybe you should spend some time trying to get reacquainted with reality. :rolleyes:

[Leo]

Is there some sort of internationalist consciousness developing?

There seems to be, yes. There are slogans such as:

National unity?
Class hate

national unity is drenched in blood
justice is with the insurgents

down with national unity
long live class war

in greece, turkey, macedonia
the enemy is in the banks and the ministries


I know there's a lot of anti-Albanian racism in Greece in recent years and I wonder if that has changed in any way since the riots started.

I think immigrant workers are some sort of a part of the movement already. It is very clear from the leaflets etc. produced.

[BIG BROTHER]

Fuck this is really good news, workers doing away with the old bureaucracy and acting on their own.

I'm not surprised by the answer of the bureaucrats but whats the general feeling or mood amongst the rank and file union members, and all other workers about this?

[Enragé]

This is great news!


but damn, where is the communist party this time? :(
I'm kind of losing hope that it will do something and support the workers and the riot....


KKE even condemned the occupation of a tv-station yesterday.




Also, got a question, the white banner on the left reading KATALIPSI.. what does it mean?

Autes i nyhtes ine tu alexi - to kinima tha pi tin eleftea lexi!

[F9]

KKE even condemned the occupation of a tv-station yesterday.




Also, got a question, the white banner on the left reading KATALIPSI.. what does it mean?

Autes i nyhtes ine tu alexi - to kinima tha pi tin eleftea lexi!

yeah, people should loose there "hopes" on KKE, i dont have any "problems" with real communists partys(except from ideological differences of course) but KKE is not one of them!They are just stupid arrogant people thirsty for authority!There biggest idol they have a heroe from the civil war, they betrayed him along with others and they erased him from there memberships(Aris Velouhiotis) along with many others that KKE betrayed!

katalipsi means, occupation!

Fuserg9:star:

[Random Precision]

The KKE is trying to play the role the CPF did in 1968. Just look at what they are saying:


5. Those who grant indulgences to the blind violence of masked and hooded persons, trying to equate it to the spontaneous actions of indignant school students, bear particular responsibility. In addition, those who “caress the ears” of the hooded persons such as SYRIZA along with its allies and propagators in the media, bear outsized political responsibilities. As a matter of fact, the practice of SYRIZA supports forms of action vulnerable to the penetration of the state repression mechanisms and other agencies. The political stance of SYRIZA is characterized by political opportunism. In the perspective of gaining a handful of votes at the parliamentary elections they adulate and provide “umbrella” for the hooded persons, setting their sight on the ballot-box and the post-election developments concerning the formation of the government.

[...]

This situation demands great alertness in view of the possibility of early elections, so that the parties of the bipartisan system suffer a strong blow. At the same time, it is important to reinforce KKE, as it constitutes the resolute factor for the development of the class struggle and of the social-political Front, for the struggle for conquests in the road of rupture and overthrow of the dominant policy. People should give ND and PASOK a good lesson in the following elections. They must condemn, weaken, leave behind the parties of the bipartisan alternation and their allies, all those who degenerate the pure radicalism in order to conserve the rotten, unjust and corrupted system of repression and violence. The first step in this direction is the strengthening and joint action with KKE in all fields. The members of the Party and of KNE must take initiatives, and combine with determination, increased alertness, creativity and preparedness, the massive enlightenment and information of the people about the position of KKE and its posture regarding the current events, with the completion of the pre-congress debate within the Party, in view of the 18th Congress, contributing further to the development of the popular and youth struggles.

http://inter.kke.gr/News/2008news/2008-15-cc-resolution-xrono/

[bcbm]

Fuck the KKE and any other bureaucratic hacks trying to separate themselves from the popular insurgence. People are pissed at the state and they're making apologies and attacking comrades... motherfuckers. I hope they are rightfully ignored and the popular revolt continues until they're made obsolete like the rest of these bastards.

[The Feral Underclass]

This is great news. I'm glad to see workers coming out in support of the demonstrators. It's also refreshing to see that people are learning from historical mistakes.

[bcbm]

This is great news. I'm glad to see workers coming out in support of the demonstrators. It's also refreshing to see that people are learning from historical mistakes.

Indeed. Did you see this (http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1312975&postcount=67)?

[Wanted Man]

The KKE is trying to play the role the CPF did in 1968. Just look at what they are saying:



http://inter.kke.gr/News/2008news/2008-15-cc-resolution-xrono/
So the fact that hooded people were seen collaborating with the police, moving through their lines and attacking KKE actions (which failed, because they have organised and secure demonstrations) has nothing to do with it? :rolleyes: Or that the SYRIZA, who have taken the reformist line for years, are now suddenly supporting the diversion of attacks away from big capital towards less important targets (small shops, etc.)? It's pure opportunism and populism from them, with hopes of getting some more votes to form a 'left' coalition if there are early elections. Outbursts of justified anger is one thing, the manipulation of it by reformists trying to gain seats is another.

Regardless of what you think of the KKE's stance, it is a reaction against the repression apparatus of the state, both open and hidden. It's a theatre show, a masquerade that must be unmasked and laid bare for all to see: the 'hooded persons' (whether they are misdirected angry people, or actual provocateurs) terrorise small shops, the media show only this, the fascists are sent in (transported and supplied by the cops!) to smash up demonstrations, the media claim that they are "angry shopkeepers defending themselves from anarchists"... All the while, the working class movement is systematically ignored. If that is allowed to happen, no youth riots or occupations can maintain themselves forever, no matter how militant. And then they just become an excuse to pass even more draconian "anti-terror laws".

The PCF in 1968 called on the striking workers to go back to their jobs, to abandon the struggle. Of course, it was a fucked-up act by a fucked-up revisionist party. But in the end, the PCF did not somehow have absolute control over the thoughts and actions of the entire French working class. It's just that a proletarian revolution didn't materialise in 1968. The PCF contributed to this negatively, but it's ignorance to ignore the class aspect and just focus on evil bureaucrats manipulating things behind the scenes as the sole cause of the failure.

For sure, the PCF's lesson from 1968 is an important one to keep in mind and not to repeat, but there are some others, too.

[bcbm]

Ah yes, the "hooded people" are all just cops or idiots. That line never gets old, I suppose.

[Wanted Man]

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. Good job reading. :thumbup:

[bcbm]

The KKE are basically saying that people who engage in political violence (hooded people) are just pawns of the state and an enemy of those in real struggle. You're mimicking that line and backing it up with accusations of those people collaborating with police, attacking small shops, etc, ignoring the fact that all oppositional political groups will have police infiltrators and that the primary targets have been multinationals, banks and the like. The struggle has lasted some 13 days now with continuous violence from both sides and doesn't seem to be slowing down; if anything, it is expanding. Clearly the hooded people aren't really doing much damage to the struggle and so to continue demonizing them at this juncture seems pretty asinine.

[Leo]

The KKE are basically saying that people who engage in political violence (hooded people) are just pawns of the state

Oh no, not of the state, they never say they've got something against the state - they say those fellas are pawns of foreign states.

[cyu]

accusations of those people collaborating with police, attacking small shops, etc, ignoring the fact that all oppositional political groups will have police infiltrators


Exactly.



Clearly the hooded people aren't really doing much damage to the struggle and so to continue demonizing them at this juncture seems pretty asinine.


If you want to stop the demonizing of the uprising, the better tactic would be for the people to take back control of the mass media.

[bcbm]

If you want to stop the demonizing of the uprising, the better tactic would be for the people to take back control of the mass media.

I was referring to the demonizing occurring from within "the movement" by political pigs like the KKE.