new news from Greece, repressive measures announced - and noting the efforts of a few

The news does keep rolling in from Greece, via various sources and connections. One recent piece from libcom.org is similar to a lot of anarchist/radical-left coverage in that it lists a great variety of activity in Greece (cast as part of a 'social antagonist movement'), including pensioners marching in protest of their nest-eggs evaporating and a demo targeting Athens' mayor as a "mass-murderer of trees' for his involvement with projects that have redeveloped urban green spaces. Also noted is a string of firebomb attacks on Orthodox churches, also noted in a Social War in Greece post (which re-disseminates an AP article) and, the 'lead' - results of a closed-door security meeting, the announcement of:


"the introduction of 1.300 cameras in the capital, the training of a special forces corps of 2.500 ex-underwater destruction and mountain combat units of the Army, to change the legislation concerning academic asylum, to implement severe measures against mask and hood wearing, and to launch a law and order campaign against crime and indiscipline. The issue was the topic of a day-long Parliamentary session two days later, where the government was heckled by the opposition as parochial and a danger to civil rights. The Fascist Party (LAOS) expressed its content stating that the PM speech was in effect a bricolage of its own communiqués of the last few months."

The poster of the original Libcom.org piece appears to be rather prolific in updating interested English-language online types - and provides a great deal of background and commentary. Clearly, a definite familiarity with Greek history, and almost certainly the Greek language, makes it possible to make the kind of detailed posts I often see on Libcom (which in turn parallels some of the other more interesting sources that have been posting on this context, such as the On the Greek Riots blog and the now-inactive Tapes Gone Loose blog).

The relative expertise and raw labour (in researching and writing a large number of detailed english-language updates w/commentary and background) of this particular poster has not gone unrecognized elsewhere - note this post from the .urbandissent blog on the torching of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn headquarters a month ago, which acknowledges this gift (while also noting some reservations about the poster's stance on guerilla violence). More an more, as I get a feel for what's out there on the 'anarchist web' and nearby concerning the Greek unrest and the situation there at present, this point (and the one made by .urbandissent) continues to jump out. Particularly after the initial wave of street actions, the most interesting and informative content tends to be produced by a very small number of individuals with a relatively high level of knowledge and commitment. Indeed, this is also somthing I've noticed on at least one major anarchist message board, where the major body of information being conveyed came from one Greek ex-pat in an English-speaking country who gave rich historic and contemporary detail of the political situation and supplemented this with personal experience (at points, some threads looked like question-and-answer sessions). This may seem like an obvious point in some ways (that a few dedicated and knowledgeable individuals keep things going and keep the rest in the loopl), but it does stress a certain tension with the 'early' Greek story of 'snap mobs' and 'many-to-many' communication...