Tempi. Train Tragedy. Twisted Politics.

On 28th of February 2023, a head-on collision occurred between two trains in the Thessaly region of Greece, killing 57 people and injuring close to 200 more. This made it the deadliest rail disaster in Greek history.

The reaction on the side of society was immediate – already on 1st of March 2023 protests took place in Athens and Thessaloniki, the two largest cities of Greece. In the following days protests and clashes with the police followed and expanded beyond the two major cities, engulfing all of Greece. Solidarity protests were organized also in European cities like Berlin and Copenhagen. The climax of this first wave of protests took place on 8th of March 2023, when a 24hour strike coincided with the feminist demonstrations on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, with both putting. In Athens alone over 100,000 people gathered in the center of Athens on that day – the largest demonstration since the Movement of the Squares of 2010-2012.

Protest demonstrations, big and small, continued to take place throughout 2023 and 2024, but nothing could have prepared the government and the general public for the scale of the demos that took place in the first months of 2025, with most notable being the two-year anniversary of the collision (28 of February, 2025), when hundreds of thousands filled the streets of the city center of Athens - with a general consensus that it was the biggest protest in the country to date - while huge demos were simultaneously taking place in over 262 cities and villages throughout Greece. The State forces responded with police batons and tear gas, but the multitude refused to leave the area surrounding the parliament. Thus, until late that day Athens’s city center was dotted with different smaller clashes between protesters and police forces, with large crowds gathering in front of the parliament again and again.

The response of the Greek State to the ongoing popular mobilizations was as it could be expected - the ruling party and its media lackeys did their best to put the blame solely on individual employees or on bad chance, rather than on the fact that the railroad system, along with other crucial public services, has been severely crippled by corruption, as well as by years of crushing austerity, enforced by EU technocrats, the IMF, and the Greek political elites (including the New Democracy party that is currently in power). Contrary to what the government and its media lackeys would like the public to think, there are several significant systemic components that led to this disaster, rather than given individual mistake at a bad moment. On the one hand, there was the partial privatization of Greek railroads by the private operator Hellenic Train. On the other, there was the corruption and sluggishness of the Greek state bureaucracy that, even after said privatization, retained management of the infrastructure through the state-owned OSE. These factors led to years of decay of the infrastructure and decrease in employees (which in turn led to increase in workhours for remaining workers, overburdening them with exhausting shifts). It was later discovered that the railroad did not had (and still does not have till the moment of writing of these lines) of telecontrol safety system that could have automatically prevented two trains from moving toward each other on the same tracks.

It is important to mention that the unions of railroad workers for years have been signaling for the bad condition of the system and the looming danger of a deadly incident. They have been taking different actions to prevent the forthcoming tragedy, such as going on strike to demand safety improvements. But to no avail, as the management was not prone to listen, as it had only one thing in mind - making profit.

Furthermore, people were further enraged by the actions undertaken by the authorities immediately after the collision. All protocols for such scale of disaster were violated. The scene of the collision, rather than left intact for investigation, was rushed by trucks, sent by the authorities, to gather the debis and transfer them to another place. Moreover, the area was covered in gravel and concrete (or mpazoma), so as to completely alter the scene, leaving very strong suspicions that the government was in such a rush in order to cover something up.

All these elements have led the general population to refer to the Tempi tragedy as a State crime. It was a disaster that could have been prevented: the danger was known for a long time in advance but those with power had other priorities. And this is the main problem of all spheres of modern life – they are structured in such a way that decision-making power is transferred away from those directly concerned and affected, on both a social and ecological level, to small managerial elites that only care for making a profit and maintaining their privileged position. If anything, this case of the railway collision shows us that if the workers could take and implement decisions – without the approval of managerial bureaucrats or private investors – then the tragedy was most probably going to be avoided.

This is what frustrates the Greek society and has been taking hundreds of thousands of people to the streets all over the country for the last two year. They have come to see the State as a predator, an entity that seeks to extract power and wealth from the commoners, without providing even basic services and safety. This is one of the reasons that one sees so few Greek flags in Tempi-related demonstrarions, as opposed to the large demonstrations a decade ago against the austerity measures. Back then, the enforcement of harsh austerity measures by EU technocrats and the IMF awakened memories of the Nazi occupation during the WWII in Greek society, and there was a general feeling of reliving a struggle for National Liberation. This time however, there is not an external enemy. Instead, it is the very Greek State that is recognized as the one responsible for society’s suffering. There is a generalized feeling of insecurity, in the sense that public services are run down and unsafe, while the ruling class appears untouchable.

At this moment, there is a break within the popular imaginary with the illusion that identifies the State with society. There is now a clear demarcation line between the two and a general feeling that there is a clash between the two. The question is what can move this justified rage against the powerful and wealthy.

One place protesters can look for alternatives is the ongoing demonstrations in Serbia, against their government. There too last November in the city of Novi Sad a deadly railway-related incident took place, when a canopy of a railway station collapsed over the heads of waiting passengers, taking the lives of 15 people and severely injured 2 more last November in the city of Novi Sad. Since then the country has been engulfed by mass demonstrations demanding justice from a system that puts profits over lives. Amidst these demonstrations a hopeful dynamic emerged among the student movement, with students organizing themselves on the basis of plenums, where people can directly participate in the organizational process and demands to be raised. It was the students that have been articulating their direct-democratic method of operation as a potential alternative to replace the rotten system in the country.

This could be a source for inspiration for the ongoing demos in Greece as well, since no justice can come from a system that prioritizes the interests of a narrow elite over the lives of everyone else. No party can radically alter the situation, and people seem aware of this as no oppositional force has seen its electoral percentages exceed those of the ruling party. This is so because it is not just specific individuals that are guilty of the current state of society - as the guilt for this lays in the hands of the current government, as well as the preceding ones - but the very system that vests small cliques with unchecked power. And electoral processes have proven as too insufficient tools for keeping those in power in check. The only realistic solution is that power is radically decentralized among all the population, so that people can take care of their communities and public services. It is the only way fo a just society to be set forth. And it is in the hands of all those who participate in the mass demos for Tempi to manage to loudly and clearly articulate the need to replace the Capital-Nation-State complex with a system of multi-layered direct democracy. And who knows, with movements like the one that has currently occupied the streets of Serbia and demands that all citizens form popular plenums, we can even see the seeds of a Balkan Federation of Communes being planted. But the arm ourselves with patience, be present at the demos and not be afraid to point at the systemic features that inevitably lead to injustice.

Yavor Tarinski