During the last few weeks, Greek prisoner and hitman of the famous revolutionary organisation 17 November Dimitris Koufontinas went on a hunger strike to protest against the conditions the Greek state had him under. This inspired a series of solidarity protests all over the Greek state. These linked up with the increasing number of large protests that were being help to express the Greek people’s anger against the disastrous handling of the pandemic by the government, the increased authoritarianism of the police forces and the state, and the disillusionment with the entire conceit of capitalist democratic rule.
This is currently embodied by the New Democracy Party, which has been making use of the democratic structures and the state of exception during the pandemic to impose the kind of authoritarian measures most people associate with dictatorships. Seeing that the New Democracy party came to power on an extreme right platform and that, despite the Greek junta falling in 1974, many of its members and proponents are still alive and active within the state institutions (especially the police), this association is particularly real in Greece.
We shouldn’t see this as a break with the previous administrations, but rather a continuation and maybe a culmination of processes initiated long before the current government took power. They are the result of dynamics taking place in many other countries as the current world system approaches its end amid economical, social and ecological collapse and the ruling classes try to reconfigure its future. Including the UK under the Tories, who have escalated the level of police repression since the start of the Pandemic to the point where even peaceful protests have been forbidden. Furthermore, they are now seeking to enshrine these powers and authoritarian measures into law in the form of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Continue reading “Action Report: In Solidarity with Dimitris Koufontinas. London Sends its Regards to the New Democracy Party”