Statement by Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis at the Activity «Speech in Memory of Political Prisoners»

Much has been written, by various people, about December 2008. Each one projects his own hermeneutic, as for every event. Even before launching into the opposing narratives, the ruptures of the movement come to light as soon as we try to define the reason for the mobilization. For example, the organizers did not fail to demonize the anniversaries from the very first lines of their text. Those of us who think that the abandonment of anniversaries uproots memory from real time and strips it of its revolutionary constants, what can we do now; I don’t want to say anything about the December 2008 uprising. At a public gathering for a dead comrade, I don’t want to theorize, however much theory is necessary. December has its place in every perspective’s account. Speculation is detrimental.

From my personal December experience, I have nothing noteworthy to share outside of historical research for a specific political purpose. I learned of Alexandros’ assassination when the rallies had already begun. When I went down to the Haftia, around midnight, an arson attack on the Monastiraki market had been completed, which, by signaling the general counterattack, probably had a catalytic contribution in the rapid spread of the uprising. From that night on I participated in the polytechnic commune. It was my neighborhood and the most stable organizational center in Athens. And I have a predisposition to take on easily what is treated as direct action. That’s where two sentences are enough to launch us into the realm of ideological schisms.

Let’s go back to the assassination. A political assassination prepared ideologically and institutionally, premeditated executively and certainly directed. Against the permanent rebellion, against the youth, against the free territory, against Exarchia. An act with which the State hoped to impose an impenetrable imbalance of violence, to overthrow all resistance. The uprising turned the leveling plan upside down.

The State did not abandon its plan. It adapted to the insurrection aggressively. It invested mainly in our political weaknesses. Step by step it proceeded to counterinsurgency, uprooting and universal captivity. After Alexis there were new killings in police stations, Zac was killed, comrade Magos, Nikos Sabanis and hundreds of migrants at the border, many of them were children.

The tragedy is not our necrophiliacs, but the fact that the State has been massacring without encountering resistance to their murderous capacity, at least for the last four years. Their absolute dominance against life gives them the inspiration to curse with unbridled arrogance the murderers and their future victims. It is our fault and ours alone that we continue to escort our own to the ground, unarmed and disorganized. I once wrote the word shame, mainly for myself. To repeat it is hypocritical. I am ashamed to resort to the words again.

I want to see the blood of thousands of «innocents» paint the streets.