Explosive days in Athens

[June Samaras]

Explosive days in Athens

Menace and discontent hang in the air as the anniversary approaches of
the shooting of a 15-year-old in Greece's capital

Helena Smith
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 November 2009 12.30 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/19/athens-greece-anniversary-shooting


Greeks mark their anniversaries with a gravitas rarely seen elsewhere.
Celebrations commemorating the 17 November 1973 Athens Polytechnic
uprising against the Colonels regime – an event that would spark the
collapse of seven years of military rule – are held over three days
and never without the solemnity and panache of a major military
victory.

With rare consensus, Hellenes agree that had it not been for the
revolt – and the unknown number of students who laid down their lives
in the name of democracy – Greece might not have been freed of tyranny
so easily.

This year's anniversary was unlike most others, and not only because
the country is in the grip of unprecedented social malaise. Barely
three weeks before Athenians mark another anniversary – the shooting
last year of a teenage boy by a policeman patrolling the febrile
neighbourhood around Athens Polytechnic – the rage that erupted in the
wake of the killing, snowballing into riots nationwide, has far from
disappeared.

Anti-authoritarian violence, resurgent terrorism and a surge in
militant extremism by youngsters who have come to see themselves as
the "defenders" of the polytechnic spirit, have made Athens an
increasingly explosive place. For some, the anniversary was a dry run
for what lies ahead.

With this in mind, the commemorations, including the traditional march
from the polytechnic to the US embassy – to protest at Washington's
shameful support for the junta – were seen as a crucial public order
test for the newly installed socialist government. With military
precision, 6,000 police were dispatched on to the streets, many in
riot gear.

In the event, the march went off without much incident even if the
rally drew more Greeks (an estimated 12,000 showed up for the
protest), and more teenagers, than in recent years.

But like the unmistakable whiff of discontent that still prevails
among Greek youth, an air of menace hangs in the air. The boulevards
and side streets surrounding the polytechnic are rife with graffiti,
the sort that warns that "Athens will burn", "banks will go up in
flames" and "cops, pigs, murderers, we don't forgive".

Walking the grimy streets of Exarchia, the bohemian district behind
the polytechnic that has come to be associated with leftwing
radicalism, I stumbled across a well-spoken, well-shod 25-year-old
who, describing himself as an anarchist, gave an eloquent explication
as to why young Greeks had to resort to violence to defend their
rights. "Beware, that we will burn what hasn't burned so far," he said
as two young men in jeans and leather jackets, loitering with him,
smiled in agreement. "Violence in our society is systemic, it is
everywhere, in the police, in exploitative labour, in our attitude to
migrants, in our banks. As the uprising showed last year, there are
many of us who think like this, and the beautiful thing is we don't
have demands. Put simply, we just want to say 'we don't like you, we
will fight you, we will destroy you, we will defend our right to
violence'. We don't need an anniversary. It could happen anytime,
anywhere, there is no rendezvous with the police."

Tellingly, many of the youngsters who have emerged as members of the
"guerilla" groups that have attacked government and political targets
in the past year, come from privileged backgrounds, often attending
private schools in Athens' well-heeled northern suburbs.

The spectre of violence has been exacerbated by the disproportionately
high rate of joblessness among the younger generation and worsening
corruption – Greece slipped to last place within the 27-member EU this
year in the league table of "perceived" corrupt states released by
Transparency International.

Though in government for less than two months, George Papandreou's
centre-left Pasok party has also been accused of furthering
disillusionment by forging ahead with unpopular (if much needed)
economic reforms. Among the far left, the sense is growing that the
socialists are bent on pursuing the same policies as their
conservative predecessors. What is sure is that with many clearly
girding for battle, the government is taking no chances and has
announced that security will be stepped up in the coming weeks.

"Remember, remember the 6th of December," read one banner, referring
to the day the privately educated 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos was
shot dead last year. The banner was held aloft by a group of
self-styled "anti-establishment nihilists" chanting "cops, pigs
murderers, we will burn you" as they marched through Athens.

The threat of violence has been met with thinly disguised disdain by
those who fought to overturn a hated regime when they participated in
the polytechnic uprising. "These people undermine democracy, with
their actions they give police every reason to take harsh measures
against the little man in the street," said Evangelos Kouris, one of
the veterans heading the rally to the US embassy. "What we did was
heroic and legitimate. What they are doing is cowardly and criminal
and has no relation whatsoever with the struggle for a better
tomorrow."