In support and solidarity with the suppressed Athens Indymedia and 98 FM – Radio Band of Subversive Expression.

In Greece, where pauperization, mass unemployment and destitution are on the rise, where many look for food in garbage bins while others are driven to suicide unable to secure shelter and welfare, the dissident media annoy and must close. In the country of violent State repression where the police now openly and shamelessly cooperate with the neo-Nazis against the movement. In the country of blatant racism and misinformation through the media, which have become disseminators of government propaganda, all other media that do not comply with the decisions taken without the majority’s consent must be closed.

While public education is but a memory, and the labor laws that protected basic labor rights were abolished overnight, while predatory laws spring up on a daily basis like rashes of an infectious disease, showing the sadism of the ruling elite and of the tragic and ludicrous governmental personnel; here in Greece that the basic income was annihilated for the benefit of domestic and international capitalism, the markets and the eurocrats, some say that “at least you have freedom of speech” and that “movements are expressed dynamically, opposing voices are heard. ”

The anarchist/anti-authoritarian movement, which is growing stronger every day since the revolt in December 2008, having somehow gained a “hegemonic” word within the resistance movements, apart from the repression it receives on a daily basis, directly and indirectly, and exactly because it is obviously taken into account, is challenged in every aspect. First the squats and the self-organised spaces came under direct attack: the structures that managed to bring closer this political movement to the rest of society, which paralyzed and bewildered by the political agenda and the general collapse, tends to be radicalised. The government and the political parties do what they can to prevent this radicalization, fighting fiercely the anarchist/antiauthoritarian spaces, promoting (with the help of the manipulated mass media) the fascists of Golden Dawn, who are now seated in parliament.

The latest blow was the shutdown of Athens Indymedia and the counter-information radio stations 98FM and Radio Entasi, which since Thursday midday 11 of April have been subject to state repression via backstage pressure, without an actual legal issue in hand. Τhe various pro-EU extremists, supporters of Neoliberal social policies, of the “smooth functioning of institutions”, would say: “in what serious country would a website be allowed to disseminate communiques of terrorists and incite mass destruction of property?” They are right. In no “serious” country, where the freedom of press is supposedly respected a website like Athens Indymedia would be allowed to broadcast for more than five days. They forget, however, that these countries do not owe their prosperity to blind obedience to the laws, suppression and social discipline. Instead, part of the freedoms the citizens (of these countries) enjoy is due to social struggles that took place during the previous century, struggles that managed to dismantle the old order (the fugitive serfs as Marx called them, or the struggles of workers, minorities and women), leading several groups to gain autonomy (let’s not forget that these struggles were initially stigmatized as “outbreaks of lawlessness”, “incitements to violence” or even “terrorism”, such as May Day in Chicago, as thanks to those struggles today the supporters of “law and order” can work 8 hours a day instead of 15, and get annual leave and sickness pay instead of dying outside the factories). On the other hand, the biggest part of the economic prosperity of the “serious” countries is due to domination, to the colonization of the non-Western world and the brutality it left behind. Let’s also not forget that new laws have now been introduced to countries like Britain, the Netherlands and Hungary forcing the unemployed to work for free 30 hours a week. For those that never wondered, this is because our societies have politically paralyzed, and follow faithfully and blindly the laws under the fear of repression, under the impending stigma of “terrorism” and “illegitimate degeneracy” – code-words used to label all those who disagree with the political system. Will such laws be implemented or forced sooner or later in Greece? Who could stop them when there will be no real opposition voice?

The silencing of the 3 specific counter-information media which have an enormous social impact (Indymedia is among the websites with the highest rates of everyday visits) is a clear political choice made by the autocratic Greek government, which desperately tries to annihilate any counter-information network, because this is exactly the way an important part of Greek society chooses to stay informed for what really happens in the country, being radicalised as a consequence. The fact that the Greek government shamelessly despises the civil-’democratic’ Constitution is not a surprise to us. In post-memorandum Greece there is hardly a constitutional provision that has not been out-rightly circumvented or violated. Τhe blatant violation of the constitutional provisions according to which “anyone can express and spread verbally, in writing and via the press their thoughts by respecting the laws of the State” and “the Press is free. Censorship and any other precautionary measure is forbidden.” (article 14, paragraph 1 and 2), is a new qualitative and quantitative characteristic, making clear to all the authoritarian face of the Greek government, within the country and abroad.

Under these circumstances it is very important to re-establish the operation of the 3 counter-information media under the status they existed until today. It is not of concern if -technically speaking- it is possible to run them outside the Polytechnic School. The important thing is that their operation is supported by the students’ unions and their decrees, but mainly that any tactical withdrawal gives the opportunity to the government to utterly, definitely, irrevocably repress any opposing voice. It is absolutely certain that an unscrupulous government will stop before nothing. It is unconditionally crucial that Athens Indymedia, 98FM and Radio Entasi continue to broadcast free, the same way and from the same places they used to before April 11. At the same time, however, websites with articles that call Albanians a ‘dishonored breed”, Jews a “source of all evil” that would soon “be buried in their tomb in the Dead Sea” and Turks the “offspring of the devil”, remain open, stigmatizing people of different orientation, allowing the racist poison to spread in society.

Let us speak clearly. The attack on Athens Indymedia and 98fm is a POLITICAL attack. Yes, the website could be based elsewhere, but this is exactly the point! This would be a defeat for the whole anarchist movement. Those who share this view and rest assured that it can operate outside the university, automatically accept an unprecedented political defeat. All must understand that this is not just a technical issue. All must see the unprecedented denial of freedom of expression for (indirectly or directly) ALL OF US! Because this is what it is: DEPRIVATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. Meanwhile to those who might say that some journalists are also denied the right of freedom of expression due to popular anger and fear of being targeted by armed groups, we answer that these vocationalists who always criticize safely from ‘above’, should know that they applaud violence when they defend the policies that have forced an entire population to poverty. When they justify the violence of the repressive forces and of Golden Dawn, they become terrorists themselves. They undoubtedly have the right to express themselves as they wish. If they are elitists, it is their undeniable right to attempt to demonize poverty by any means possible. However, they should be ready to take responsibility, given that their elitism causes mass reactions against them. Those who supposedly speak in the name of the majority and baptize “populist”, “lawless”, and “terrorist” anyone who disagrees with them should either fear or respect the people about whom they speak. If both are not possible, then they had better be afraid.

At a time when the benchmark of the movements is the media of counter-information and the social structures of resistance, there is no luxury for further losses and/or retractions. This should be understood by those who think they have not been directly influenced by the particular practice of preventive (and vindictive) censorship. The citizens of other countries should realize that not only in Greece the once seemingly unpopular Government reveals day by day its totalitarian face, but that across the globe, political inertia, addiction to political correctness and “legality” has led to a state of absolute subjection, where every voice not in line with the dominant doctrine is considered illegal and therefore should be gagged for the “good of all.” Protection from the danger of “lawlessness” (once expressed as “protection from the threat of communism”), reliance on the work ethic and the instrumental capitalist order, are the factors which during the interwar period in Europe allowed the implementation of the state of exception, leading to the rise of fascism. We should therefore understand that just with the fear of being stigmatised as “terrorists” we are deprived of all freedoms at all levels of social life; that the government should be politically and morally isolated by those who respect themselves and value freedom, equality and solidarity. Finally, the movement itself should and must show its solidarity as in the case of the government’s attacks on political squats and autonomous spaces. If an injury to one is an injury to all, then injuring the heart of the movement is war against all of us.

In hard and ugly times, like those we live in years now, counter-information is one of the most important weapons in our arsenal. It is what keeps us in touch with reality, what WE manage without partisan or monetary support, without interference from third parties, without filters of respectability for the sake of balance, or fear of bullying by rippers and moralist prosecutors. It is by us, for us! And when we say “us” we mean those not on the side of the oppressors, the exploiters and their lackeys. What we must understand is that this time we ourselves must show practical solidarity. Athens Indymedia and 98fm are vibrant parts of the revolutionary movement, and the revolutionary movement is all of us, who do not believe the prefabricated nonsense of the TV channels that support the regime in which we live. We take information in our hands. We choose to live the events and have a personal opinion about them, and not hear them like another TV serial.

We know that freedom of expression, thought and action are obstacles for every government, as we know well that to control the flow of information is one of the strongest weapons in the hands of the oppressors. We therefore think that our response should be solidarity in practice. Athens Indymedia, Radio 98fm, and Radio Entasi are integral parts of our action, bridges among all groups that fight against oppression.

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