Author: klaricid

WE ARE HERE

JANUARY 18th, 2015 – RE-OCCUPATION OF ANTIVIOSI* SQUAT

Ever since man started using the land for personal gain and profit and not for the collective coverage of his needs, the concept of ownership begins to form, which later expands not only on the land, but also on common goods, buildings, means of production, animals, even people. It is delimited by conceived or existent boundaries and those who possess it will defend it with violence in any form. Ownership is the means that makes wealth and power accumulation possible, a society based on inequalities and divided in classes, those of the powerful and the powerless, of the oppressors and the oppressed, of the privileged and the non-privileged. In that way, the concept of ownership is the foundation of the capitalist system.

In order to protect that wealth and power accumulation, the state operates with mechanisms that disarm the thinking and acting of society. Mainly through education, religion, the army and the constant propaganda by the
mass media, it attempts to create disciplined and obedient people that won’t stray from the nationalistic, militaristic, racist, religious, gender-related and sexist ideals, with the ultimate goal of them meeting the dominant expectations, acting individualistically, being productive and not going against their master, not questioning this system of prioritisation of human lives. For those who won’t settle for this model of life and who react, for those who want to be neither oppressors nor oppressed and who fight against this capitalistic form of society, there is the most vengeful mechanism of the state: cops and judges, prisons, “regular” or maximum security ones.

Us, since we see ourselves as fighting parts of society against all of those things, we can only question the concept of ownership in practice. This is why we chose to squat, so we can house our needs and desires on a daily basis, opposing the capitalist treaty, needs such as that of the accommodation of people as well as collectives or groups that will speak up, that will hold events and carry out actions hostile to the existent structure of society and the state. For us the existence of a meeting place for all those who are affected and at the same time fight against the system and every form of exploitation and authority is imperative. Therefore, we don’t want this squat to be used as an artificial island of freedom, meant for internal consumption for the people that will be actively involved in it, but as a center of struggle that will have day-to-day interaction with the neighborhood and the local community, with a view to the personal and social emancipation.

By squatting, we propose living in a spirit of collectivity and comradeship away from the cage-like apartment blocks that keep us apart, of solidarity among the oppressed against individualism and of self-organisation of our own processes and struggles, without hierarchy, against the logic of assigning and without any kind of mediators. We want to level against commercial relationships and the logic of profit that alienate our day to day lives. We don’t want human beings to be assessed according to origin, gender, appearance, sexuality, education or skill and that is why any racist, authoritative or sexist behavior has no place in this squat.

In an attempt to reappropriate the lost space and time that our comrades have struggled to win, we chose to re-occupy the building of the old Chatzikosta hospital, which was Antiviosi* squat for about five years, until August 29th, 2013 when it was evacuated against the background of suppression of squats all over Greece, which were targeted as houses of lawlessness. Although the evacuations resulted in ruined buildings, they didn’t manage to “evacuate” the meaning of the social relations established inside them, which are a starting point for new projects. We are not concerned with the various declarations about the exploitation of the buildings of the old Chatzikosta hospital as a health center, a kindergarten or local Administration offices, nor with the gesture politic games, either by right-wing or by left-wing arguments. Especially today, under these circumstances, we don’t care who has the power in their hands. We stand opposed to the state, the capitalists and their lackeys and we continue to fight against them.

ANTIVIOSI* WILL REMAIN A SQUAT
corner of belogianni & papandreou str.

Antiviosi* Squat, Jan. 18, 2015

*Antiviosi =literally means antibiotic but as a pun means against vested life