There is just no escaping the absolute inadequacy of statism and nationalism for resolving questions of social justice. Here the Anarchist tradition has an old proposal that looks much more promising.
Earlier this week, a train crash in the Greek region of Thessaly killed dozens of people. Before the wreckage had even been cleared, the right-wing government coldly responded by blaming the public sector and pushing for further privatisation. In the days since, thousands of people across the country have rallied in protest and the rail unions have called rolling strikes, against the Greek state's inhuman disregard for people's lives. Here we publish a statement from our sister federation, the Anarchist Political Organisation, who have likewise raised the call for justice.
THIS WAS NO ACCIDENT.
WE HAVE NO ILLUSIONS.
THE STATE AND CAPITAL ARE KILLING US.
On the night of 28 February 2023, a freight and a passenger train carrying hundreds of passengers and dozens of workers collided violently, killing at least 57 people and injuring hundreds. With the carriages in flames, the power cut and the doors impossible to open, people fought to save themselves and their fellow passengers.
The unspeakable tragedy of the train collision in Tempe unfortunately reminds us, in the worst possible way, of how the state and capital perceive human life: as a means of making profit - AND ONLY AS THAT. They don't give a damn about our safety, just as they don't give a damn about our lives. Just last month, announcements by the train drivers' union spoke of the criminal conditions on the railways, stating clearly that it is only a matter of time before something fatal happens.
This is precisely what makes it obvious why we cannot refer to the event as an accident.
With the sale of TRAINOSE to Italian investors and the simultaneous reintroduction of trains that had been withdrawn in Switzerland, the government's dithyrambs about upgrading the railways followed. So this is the upgrade to privatisation: to gamble with the lives of workers and travellers, since no money is to be given for control, prevention or people's safety. So when our lives are counted as just another expense in the budget of the state and capital, we are talking about predetermined murders - neither accidents, nor "human errors", nor "bad timing". The criminals of the Ministry of Transport, the Hellenic Train administration and the entire state apparatus who contributed to this murder will be held accountable by the entire social base, the organised movement and its resistance. The hypocritical mourning declared by the government only provokes our anger. Our struggles for public and decent means of transport, our struggles against the state and capitalism carry the justice we seek.
NEVER FORGET THE STATE-CAPITALIST CRIMES.
CLASS SOLIDARITY - SOCIAL COUNTERATTACK.
Local Coordination of Thessaloniki/ A.P.O.-OS.
There is just no escaping the absolute inadequacy of statism and nationalism for resolving questions of social justice. Here the Anarchist tradition has an old proposal that looks much more promising.
In 2020, a record number of around 100,000 people6 lived in occupations in Belo Horizonte alone and the state of Minas Gerais had the second largest housing deficit in the country, with 500,000 homeless families.
Every genocide in history has had its foreign backers and profiteers. Prince Andrew, BP and the Tories of the APPGA should rightfully be seen no differently than the fascist sympathisers, industrialists and aristocrats that supported the Nazis.
Resistance also occurs in a form that is not at all confrontational, or in a very passive way. This is for example by pretending not to hear calls or orders, or pretending not to see officers present. Prison life is, in places, like a cat and mouse hide and seek.
The police kill and the justice system is complicit. The suburbs are veritable laboratories for state violence and outright racism, where people live under the constant watch of the police, who indulge in the worst acts with complete impunity.
Putin's regime is so repugnant that, on balance, any movement toward change is welcome. But one must realise that many of the possible scenarios are even darker than they are now. And some kind of anarchist scenario would be hypothetically possible only by our efforts. In such cases, the partisan response is to say: “Nobody but us”.