Solidarity with Villa Amalias Squat – Let us Resist the Social Cannibalism

All of us signing this declaration of solidarity with Villa Amalias Squat are aware of the fierce attack unleashed by the Greek state on free spaces and every other expression of social/political resistance.

Villa Amalias is one of the oldest and most historical squats in Athens/Greece, well known for its multilevel presence within the radical movement, a place of creative fermentations, anti-commercial cultural activities and reference point for the building of relationships based on equality, solidarity and anti-authority.

It is not a coincidence that the Greek state has chosen this period of intensive austerity, political scandals, generalized fear and insecurity to attack those parts of society that resist the social cannibalism intensified by the unbearable economic measures and expressed by the neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn. Villa Amalias has stood for 23 years in a neighbourhood full of natives and immigrants, promoting the values of brotherhood and respect, and at the same time acting as a robust bulwark against the murdering practices of the neo-Nazi gears of Greek neo-liberalism.

On Thursday, 20/12/2012, the police invaded the occupied space of Villa Amalias, arrested 8 people and sealed the building’s two entrances. The squat remained evacuated and guarded by the riot police who continuously entered the place at their own will, with the political coverage and cooperation of the Municipality of Athens, therefore cancelling in practice even the laws of bourgeois democracy. Moreover, the vast majority of the Greek mass media was reproducing false information, fully aligned with the government’s rhetoric.

On Wednesday, 09/01/2013, a group of people managed to enter the place, liberating the historical squat, but within two hours the state acted repressively again, breaking into Villa Amalias with its special forces and arresting the squatters.

We demand and support the immediate release of all those arrested, as well as the withdrawal of the police from the free space of Villa Amalias Squat. We stand in solidarity, side by side, with all those who choose not to kneel before the destructive onslaught of the reactionary/fascist forces that support the policy of the IMF and its allies in Greece, but transvalue their wishes into a paradigmatic and decisive way of living.