Urgent call for solidarity action: Anarchist prisoner Giannis Michailidis enters 68th day of hunger strike and is in a dire health condition
Freedom News, Jul 29th
Giannis Michailidis is an anarchist prisoner in Greece who has been on hunger strike since 23rd May. At the time of writing, he is on his 68th day without food and is in a serious condition in a hospital cell in Lamia in central Greece.
Michaildis was sentenced to 20 years in prison for bank robbery, of which he has served 8.5 years. Normally prisoners are eligible for release after serving 3/5 of their sentence, but Giannis has been refused parole on the grounds that he might commit further offences.
Solidarity
In Greece, comrades know full well the significance of a prisoner embarking on a hunger strike. And they know the meaning of solidarity, amplifying his fight by taking it onto the streets and pushing it into the general consciousness.
Since the start of his strike, thousands have marched through the streets, dropped banners, attacked government buildings, protested outside the court, occupied offices, and even forced the media to allow them to transmit a statement on TV. Other anarchist prisoners in Greece have gone on hunger strike in solidarity, while abroad, actions have happened at Greek embassies and consulates (including in London) and more. Comrades in Greece have called for solidarity actions around the world against targets of the Greek state and capital.
Background
The neoliberal New Democracy government under prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has, from day one in office, waged a crusade against anarchists and other freedom fighters. It pushed the long-term revolutionary prisoner and hunger striker Dimitris Koufontinas to near death last year when it refused to meet his demand for transfer to a prison closer to his family and legal team and for an end to his tortuous conditions. He did not eat for 65 days.
The scion of a conservative political dynasty that has long waged war on anarchists, migrants, rebellious students, squatters, and other ‘undesirables’, Mitsotakis and his friends and family in power are pursuing a personal vendetta against anarchist and revolutionary prisoners.
The time is now
Time is quickly running out. The Greek state is murdering a young anarchist through sheer vindictiveness. They dragged out the latest decision on his release so his condition would deteriorate further at a critical stage. Meanwhile, the hollowness of its words are all too obvious when we compare the approach taken to recent high-profile cases.
Perhaps the starkest is the notorious case of the Epstein-like figure Dimitris Lignadis. A former director of the National Theatre and a mate of Prime Minister Mitsotakis, Lignadis was recently convicted of raping two children in 2015. He is now walking free after less than a year and a half in prison – having been originally sentenced to 12 years due to the widespread media coverage and public outrage. One rule for them….
Michailidis’ struggle is not just for his own freedom but for the total liberation of all. The time to be there for him is now.
Immediate freedom for Giannis Michailidis!
Until the destruction of the last cage!
Some writings by Michailidis:
Donate to the campaign for the release of Giannis Michailidis.
UPDATE 5.50pm: Giannis Michailidis has announced that he is suspending (but not terminating) his hunger strike.
Errico Malatesta: Lessons for Anarchists Considering the Ukrainian War
We share below an article by Wayne Price reading the war in Ukraine through the work of Errico Malatesta, published in the last issue of Black Flag Anarchist Review and posted at the Anarchist Library website.
Malatesta on War and National Self-Determination: Lessons for Anarchists Considering the Ukrainian War
Introduction
There is a debate among anarchists in the U.S. and internationally about the proper approach to the Ukrainian war with the Russian state. Some (such as myself) express solidarity with the Ukrainian people against the invasion by the Russian Federation. (The “Ukrainian people” are mostly the working class, lower middle class, farmers, and the poor.) Others reject support for the Ukrainians. Ukraine, they point out, has a capitalist economy, has a state, is a nation, and gets aid from U.S. imperialism and its NATO allies (all of which is true).
Both sides have been known to cite the Italian anarchist, Errico Malatesta (1853-1932). He was a younger friend and comrade of Bakunin and Kropotkin, regarded as “founders” of anarchism. “Malatesta, whose sixty-year career is little known outside of Italy, stands with Michael Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin as one of the great revolutionaries of international anarchism.” (Pernicone 1993; p. 3)
Since the Russian military invaded Ukraine, I have engaged in many Internet debates with opponents of support for the Ukrainian people (not the state but the people). Some arguments have been with state socialists who are essentially on the side of the Russian invaders. Virtually no anarchists, however, have illusions in Putin’s Russia. (Nor do they have illusions in the benevolence of U.S. imperialism, unlike most liberals.) Yet many anarchists reject any support for the Ukrainian people, treating them as no better than the Russian invaders. (For my view, see Price 2022.)
A few writers have posted references to Malatesta’s opposition to World War I, claiming that this shows that a leading anarchist was opposed to “war” as such. During the First World War, most anarchists opposed both sides, but a minority supported the Allies. This minority included Kropotkin, the most respected anarchist thinker of his time! Malatesta wrote rebuttals to these pro-war anarchists. (See “Anarchists Have Forgotten Their Principles,” and “Pro- Government Anarchists,” in Malatesta 2014.)
He wrote, “[Anarchists] have always preached that the workers of all countries are brothers, and that the enemy—the ‘foreigner’—is the exploiter, whether born near us or in a far-off country…..We have always chosen our…companions-in-arms, as well as our enemies, because…of the position they occupy in the social struggle, and never for reasons of race or nationality. We have always fought against patriotism…and we were proud of being internationalists….Now…the most atrocious consequences of capitalist and State domination should indicate, even to the blind, that we were in the right….” (Malatesta 2014; p. 380)
But in the same work, he wrote, “I am not a ‘pacifist.’… The oppressed are always in a state of legitimate self- defense, and have always the right to attack the oppressors….There are wars that are necessary, holy wars, and these are wars of liberation, such as are generally ‘civil wars’—i.e., revolutions.” (same; p. 379)
In other words, all sides of a war among oppressors were to be opposed—such as the First World War between blocs of imperialist states (France-Britain- Russia-and later the U.S. vs. Germany-Austria- Turkey). But wars of the oppressed against oppressors were wars of liberation, to be supported. Nor did Malatesta limit this to class wars, such as revolutions by slaves, peasants, or modern workers. (This is sometimes expressed as “No War but Class War!”) He also included wars by oppressed nations.
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