On the eve of the May 12 demonstrations in spain (and elsewhere), which will mark the anniversary of the May 15 movement in the country, the greek elections of last weekend invite comment and comparison with spain. The text below was posted on the Occupied London: From the Greek Streets web site on May 7 and points to an immediate fundamental concern for greek anarchists before the political polarization of society, namely, the need to occupy the spaces left bare by the disintegrating welfare state. Failure to do so will allow more violent forms of capitalist authoritarianism to fill the voids. This is not however just a preoccupation for greek anarchists, as it extends to the whole of europe’s post WWII political-economic order. Greece is but the laboratory, the first among the victims, for unrestrained class war and the appropriation of public wealth in europe, a europe that possesses the world’s largest concentration of public wealth. However necessary it is to criticize the limits of this “public” and its control, its existence is a consequence of the history of struggles against capital, and to steal it, destroy it, for the purpose of clearing private bank debts is unacceptable. …
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The not-so irresistible rise of Nazism in Greece (but where the hell are we, the anarchists?)
The future historian will easily draw a line at the end of the Greek Metapolitefsi (the post-dictatorial regime) somewhere between May5th, 2010 and yesterday — the date of the first elections in this new era. Nothing resembles what we used to live a few years ago. As anarchists, anti-authoritarians, people opposed to any form of representation, the electoral process does not concern us. And yet, it is crucial in tracing societal changes — and what is happening in Greece at the moment is immense. For the first time since the Nazi occupation, an openly Nazi party has officially entered the echelons of political power. While the Left celebrates a “victory” it will be unable to capitalise on in any tangible way, few seem to be reading through this temporary, murky shift-around of the mainstream political balance of power.
Society in the greek territory is polarising rapidly. The one pole, the pole of the far-right, the misanthropic facade of the current system of capitalist exploitation, is forming quickly. The crucial task ahead is for our pole to form faster even; for us to understand that the times (not so far) ahead will involve a fight to shift society as a whole in an emancipatory direction. A struggle to keep our cities, our streets, our spaces clean from misanthropic nazi scum. But also, and most importantly, a struggle and a race to occupy the space left behind by a crumbling, retreating system of order; we’d better get going.
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The strength and lucidity of 15 May has much to do with its ability to occupy these spaces, beginning with the space of the imagination. (Hakim Bey, The Temporary Autonomous Zone: “The TAZ is like an uprising which does not engage directly with the State, a guerilla operation which librates an area (of land, of time, of imagination)”). “15M has given us a language and experiences that reinforce a way of being in the world based on collaboration and not on competition.” (http://diagonalperiodico.net/El-15M-proporciona-una-forma-de.html) 15M is not a structured organization, but an archipelago of affinity groups and neighborhood assemblies that have developed an enormous array of initiatives (e.g. proposals of economic and political reforms, media, time banks, barter exchange networks, cooperatives, occupations, defense of immigrants), initiatives that have, taken together, generated a parallel ethical and political reality. It moves us beyond the tyranny of the petit-bourgeoisie and its individual solutions to collective problems (e.g. home ownership, private health insurance and pension plans, etc.) The revolution continues to the extent that new forms of life flourish beyond capitalism …
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With the anniversary of 15M, the spanish press and the alternative press has been generous in discussion and reflection on the movement.
El Pais …
http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2012/05/05/actualidad/1336234920_810740.html
Periódico Diagonal …
http://diagonalperiodico.net/El-15M-proporciona-una-forma-de.html
http://diagonalperiodico.net/Un-ano-de-pequenos-y-grandes.html
http://diagonalperiodico.net/Preguntas-abiertas-sobre-el-12M15M.html
http://www.diagonalperiodico.net/La-Republica-del-99.html
Madrilonia …
http://madrilonia.org/2012/05/a-un-ano-del-15-de-mayo-mas-ilusionados/
http://madrilonia.org/2012/05/15m-el-futuro-no-esta-escrito/