We Are an Image from the Future

The Greek Revolt of December 2008

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April 19, 2024 | History

We Are an Image from the Future

The Greek Revolt of December 2008

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What causes a city, then a whole country, to explode? How did one neighborhoods outrage over the tragic death of one teenager transform itself into a generalized insurrection against State and capital paralyzing an entire nation for a month?

This is a book about the murder of fifteen-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, killed by the police in the Exarchia neighborhood of Athens on December 6thr 2008, and of the revolution in the streets that followed, bringing business as usual in Greece to a screeching, burning halt for three marvelous weeks, and putting the fear of history back into the bureaucrats of Fortress Europe and beyond.

We Are an Image From the Future delves into the December insurrection and its aftermath through interviews with those who witnessed and participated in it, alongside the communiques and texts that circulated through the networks of revolt. It provides the on-the-ground facts needed to understand these historic events, and also dispels the myths activists outside of Greece have constructed around them. What emerges is not just the intensity of the riots, but the stories of organizing and solidarity, the questions of strategy and tactics: a desperately needed examination of the fabric of the Greek movements that made December possible.

This book is just what Dr. Fucking Anarchy ordered. How to turn insurrection into revolution. The Greek revolt will inspire a generation as Paris '68 did 40 years earlier." — Ian Bone, class warrior and author of Bash the Rich

"If protest is when I say I disagree, and resistance is when I do something about it, then insurrection is when everyone else is on-board too. So it was in December of 2008, when Greece burned… We Are an Image from the Future is a quintessential portrait of revolution in action. The coming global insurrection has already begun." — Ramor Ryan, author of Clandestines

"What the Zapatista uprising of 1994 was to the antiglobalization movement, the Greek uprising of 2008 could be to the demise of capitalism itself." — CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective

"This dazzling collection is not a book about the great insurrection of2008—it is a living piece of it that can become a part of us, and through us, it opens the prospect of a universe we might never otherwise have imagined possible. Future historians may well conclude that the Revolution finally began in 2008. If they do, this book will have played a crucial role in that realization." — David Graeber

Publish Date
Publisher
AK Press
Language
English
Pages
371

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Cover of: We Are an Image from the Future
We Are an Image from the Future: The Greek Revolt of December 2008
2010, AK Press
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Table of Contents

The Street Has Its Own History—Tasos Sagris Page 1 Solidarity is a Flame—A.G. Schwarz Page 2 1. Prologos Page 5 Map of Greece Page 5 Chronology: 19th-20th Century Page 5 Alkis: December is a result of social and political processes going back many years. Part I Page 8 Panagiotis Kalamaras: There were many people who felt we had an unfinished revolution Page 14 23.10: I began to get involved when I was 16 Page 17 2. And Now One Slogan that Unites Us All: Cops, Pigs, Murderers! Page 27 Chronology: September 2000-November 2008 Page 27 Argiris: Exarchia Square and the neighborhood assemblies Page 29 Iulia: Do you join the Party to fuck or do you fuck to join the Party? Page 31 J.: The raves and free spaces is where the collective consciousness is coming together Page 34 Lefteria ston Yiannis Dimitraki Page 38 The Permanent Crisis in Education—TPTG Page 41 Nikos: The supermarket expropriations were very successful Page 52 The Prisoners’ Hunger Strike Page 53 N. & Mi: The prisoners gained a new ability to coordinate their actions Page 55 You Talk About Material Damages, We Speak About Human Life—Panagiotis Papadimitropoulos Page 56 3. These Days are for Alexis Page 77 Map of Athens Page 77 Chronology: December 6–25, 2008 Page 77 The World Left Behind Page 94 Lito: Suddenly I heard a bang Page 94 23.10: I ran to the Polytechnic Page 98 Homo Sacer Quartet—Flesh Machine Page 101 Mrs. S.: I was in the heart of the catastrophe Page 102 Little John: Okay, now we’re going to fuck everything up Page 105 Andreas: We started with three hundred people, and came back with five hundred Page 108 Anna: That’s how big this thing was Page 110 Yiannis: In Patras one thousand people were coming out to the demonstrations Page 111 Vortex: That was the craziest moment of all December for me Page 112 Pavlos and Irina: This is the spirit of the revolt Page 116 Their Democracy Murders—the Polytechnic University Occupation Page 131 Alexander, Thodoris, Vlasis, & Kostas: All the kids felt so much power yelling at the cops Page 144 A Black Immigrant’s Cry of Despair Page 150 These Days Are Ours, Too—the Haunt of Albanian Immigrants Page 151 Invitation to the Open Popular Assembly of the Liberated City Hall of Aghios Dimitrios Page 153 Katerina: I thought the revolution was coming Page 154 Maria: I want to eliminate everything that represents the alienation of our lives Page 154 Sofia, Vasilis, Bill, and Irini: Before the revolt, all the Greeks were enslaved Page 156 Transgressio Legis: One day we jacked a fire engine, got on the CB radio, and said, “tonight, you motherfuckers, we will burn you all” Page 161 We Are Here, We Are Everywhere, We Are an Image from the Future—Ego Te Provoco Page 165 Ego Te Provoco: The media worked as part of the counterinsurgency Page 169 Vortex: The occupation of the national TV Page 173 Call for a New International Page 176 Em: In London the response was immediate Page 184 Pere: In Barcelona, we quickly organized a solidarity protest Page 186 Adams: Many foreigners have been killed Page 187 Open Letter from the Soldiers Page 189 Eliza:The Treaty of Varkiza is broken Page 191 The Logic of Not Demanding—A.G. Schwarz Page 192 Not this History But this Rage is Ours—Ankara Anarchy Initiative Page 194 To those who rise up in Greece—ABC Wellington Page 196 A Bedouin Anytime! A Citizen Never—Ego Te Provoco Page 197 Kostas Tsironis: I don’t care if I don’t take even one more picture, I just want to be okay with myself Page 199 Journal entry of one of the insurrectionists Page 205 To all those who did not speak with words Page 206 4. Obedience Stopped, Life is Magical Page 213 Chronology: December 28–March 4 Page 213 Alexis Grigoropoulos Street Page 215 Koukouloforos Page 216 The Spirit of December on a Global Scale—A.G. Schwarz Page 219 Maya: Konstantina was the first to join the union Page 225 Ego Te Provoco: We need to make it obvious that it is easy to attack Page 229 Andreas: We finally understood that many people supported us Page 232 Panagiotis Kalamaras:The myth of Sisyphus Page 234 Transgressio Legis: When there is strong social conflict, you raise the tension of the attacks Page 235 Assembly of Media Workers: We want to occupy the media, and use it for the movement Page 237 December’s Riots as Mediated by the Image of Mass Media—Leandros Kyriakopoulos Page 241 Mi: The new neighborhood assemblies Page 244 Kill the Sexist In Your Head—the menses flow Page 247 The Limitations of Anti-Sexism—Sissy Doutsiou Page 248 Adriani and Flora: Now there are more social centers in Thessaloniki Page 261 Jana: Many people were saying that they want Bulgarian society to be “like in Greece” Page 262 Little John: The next step is to create the places where all the people can meet Page 265 The Rebellion, the Workplaces, and the Rank’N’File Unions—TPTG Page 266 Elina: More old people and leftists are coming nearer to the anarchist ideas Page 269 Lito: Now I really know what terrorism means Page 271 5. Breaking New Ground Page 277 Chronology: March–October 2009 Page 277 Alexis Grigoropoulos Park Page 282 Daredevil: We intervene in the daily flow of things to interrupt it Page 283 The House of Maria Kallas Page 286 The Assassination of Prisoner Katerina Goulioni Page 288 Conversation on a park bench in Thessaloniki Page 289 Sakis and Dina: Now there’s no going back Page 291 Kostas: We decided to occupy the university rectorate Page 292 Alkis: December is a result of social and political processes going back many years, Part II Page 294 Kazana Poli: You could see the hatred in their eyes Page 299 Giorgos Voutsis-Vogiatzis Page 300 We Are Winning—A.G. Schwarz Page 302 Iulia: I feel very lucky to be living in these times Page 303 The Political Parties After December Page 305 Claim of responsibility for an arson attack Page 306 N. & Mi: The prisoners of December Page 308 Letter from Anarchist A. Kiriakopoulos Page 310 What the Cops Told Us Page 311 Specialized Guerrilla, Diffuse Guerrilla Page 313 A Hot Summer Page 317 Conversation with the Owner of a Small Hotel on the Train from Athens to Patras Page 319 Yiannis: Maybe it’s gotten worse Page 321 The Media Try to Kill Memory—A.G. Schwarz Page 322 Alexander, Thodoris, Vlasis, & Kostas: All the people went back to their private lives Page 326 The Passage to Revolution—Transgressio Legis Page 327 The Unanimity of the Fearful—Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire Page 330 December Revisited—Void Network Page 333 What Greece Means (to me) for Anarchism—A.G. Schwarz Page 351 Nothing Changed, Everything is Different—Tasos Sagris Page 358 Glossary Page 368 Photo Credits Page 371

Edition Notes

Published in
Oakland, USA
Other Titles
Wir sind ein Bild der Zukunft – auf der Straße schreiben wir Geschichte
Copyright Date
2010

Classifications

Library of Congress
HV6485.G74 W4 2010

Contributors

Editor
A. G. Schwarz
Editor
Tasos Sagris
Editor
Void Network
Cover Photographs
Elen Grigoriadou
Cover Photographs
Kostas Tsironis

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Pagination
371p.
Number of pages
371
Dimensions
16 x 23 x 2.5 centimeters
Weight
600 grams

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24604918M
Internet Archive
WeAreAnImageFromTheFutureTheGreekRevoltOf2008
ISBN 10
1849350191
ISBN 13
9781849350198
LCCN
2010921020
OCLC/WorldCat
759726383, 601121186
Google
y1F7RQAACAAJ
Library Thing
9771226
Storygraph
6995188b-764a-4673-8345-c9239a3f80e1
Goodreads
7989445

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History

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April 19, 2024 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten details
April 19, 2024 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten LibraryThing
February 28, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
February 10, 2023 Edited by BWBImportBot Modified local IDs, source records
February 16, 2011 Created by Bryan Endersstocker Added new book.