Goodbye my comrade,
“Ashes you will become an old world
You are meant to be crushed
And you can’t bend us
Killing the brothers of battle
and know it
We will emerge victorious
even though they are heavy on us
the sacrifices”
Nazim Hikmet
So, belatedly, I would like to write a few words about my comrade and companion for the last 6 years of my life, K. Xymitiris, who passed away in an apartment on Arcadia Street.
Comrade Kyriakos and I met in the city of Berlin a few years ago. Our shared determination and anxiety for a better world quickly brought us together. With midnight conversations in the bar where he worked, with walks in the narrow streets of the city, we exchanged views, with Kyriakos having the most in-depth views and knowledge on my every concern. Our common vision took root in us at the same time, creating a strong relationship based on understanding, companionship and love.
Together we fought and formed opinions on what troubled us. I grew up with him on a journey in search of my fighting identity. And Kyriakos always by my side, not in front or behind, by my side. Holding my hand, supporting me, with his smile and his insight. To always give the right answers where everyone else minced our words, to clear the landscape where everyone else felt lost. With a developed sense of solidarity, he always stood by anyone in need, indifferent to repression, targeting and tackling. Always first in all struggles: against repression, gentrification, sweatshops, colonialism, patriarchy, prisons. Indispensable as a companion and as a friend, wherever he was with his modesty and fighting spirit he filled the space.
By supporting unity in the struggle for the revolutionary cause, confrontationalism, militancy and counter-attack, always with respect to his neighbor, he gave space where others were suffocating. So he lived, at least beside me, militant and persistent, optimistic and smiling. Ready for anything, taking risks big and small, he gave his daily life to the struggle, without a second thought.
Always by the side
To me, to his friends, to anyone who needed him for the smallest or the biggest.
Always by the side
to take on the most tedious, the riskiest role.
Always by the side
To hold our hand, to accompany us, to pave the way.
Always by the side
to the migrant, the abused woman, the worker, the prisoner.
And always by my side
To support me, to help me, to listen to me, to fight with me, to embrace me by banishing fear, to encourage me by banishing second thoughts, to fill the days and nights with companionship and militancy.
COMRADE KYRIAKOS
No goodbye is enough. No text can describe the pain of your loss. On 31/10 I stayed half on a street where I wanted you next to me. On 31/10 I lost the smile that only you knew how to cause me. On 31/10 I lost the optimism that only you could convey to me. But on 31/10 I also made a promise to you, me, us and so many others not to be forgotten. On 31/10 I stayed behind to talk about you, about the fight you gave and about those you didn’t have time to give. On 31/10 I raised my fist and with my bloody mouth I swore FIGHT. On 31/10 I raised my fist and in the rubble of Arcadia Street I said KYRIAKOS XYMITIRIS PRESENT.
“Our most beautiful days
We haven’t experienced them yet
And what I want to tell you
the most beautiful of all
I haven’t told you yet.”
Nazim Hikmet
With unlimited love
Your companion
Mariana M.