EVANGELISMOS SQUAT IS THREATENED ONCE AGAIN, WE WILL NOT SURRENDER, WE WILL FIGHT BACK
During the last few days we received information regarding an upcoming eviction of Evangelismos squat, just shortly after the evictions of the Kastelli Hill squats in Chania, in the form of a total attack against squats in Crete. The possibility of a new operation was something that was also indicated by the deal between University of Crete and National Technical University of Athens for a building survey, costing 744.000€. At this point, we have valid and specific information about this upcoming eviction as well, since counting 22 years of struggle, Evangelismos is part of the local society of Heraklion, with deep roots and networks within it, and we are in a position to know anything.
When need turns into history
On our part, we want to make it clear that we are prepared. We will wait, we will resist and we will reply at any attack we may receive. Whoever believes that this is just about a building and it’s residents, does not know the history of the city and it’s people, nor the history of movements and revolts. Evangelismos is not just a house, it is the center of the anarchist/anti-authoritarian movement of Heraklion and, as such, was, is and will be a concrete social barricade against authority and repression, against capitalism and the state. It is the history of the people that were and are hosted here, that were arrested here, that were injured by cops here, that took part in dozens of assemblies and actions that took place here. It is the history of the demonstrations that ended up here, many times with the riot police at the doorstep. It is the 2.500 protesters in Plateia Eleutherias (Central Square) the day of the municipal elections, when the cops understood that we were that many that they could not do anything and Kalokairinos and Karamalakis (both candidates running for Heraklion mayor) were holed up surrounded in their offices afraid to come out. It is the active opposition to the stupid logic of property that wants homeless people, homeless needs and desires in front of empty homes, fortified with steel and concrete. It is the righteous disorder and the chaotic situation in the tourist-filled city center after the eviction of September. It is twenty-two years of social struggle, a single snapshot of the never-ending class war. It is the war against fascism, the reason the neonazi party Golden Dawn never stepped foot in the city center, when the state, the deep state, mass media, the church and the capitalists supported them. It is a wall against touristification and gentrification, and the active support of the local environmental causes. It is the solidarity networks that were housed and will be housed here, and the acts of solidarity to migrants and their struggles. It is the start of the counter-demonstrations against misanthropes, racists and homophobes, that have found us against them no matter how many times they tried to claim space in the city. It is the feminist struggles and the daily battle to stop sex-based discrimination. It is the place where rage becomes a riot when cops kill, when fascists murder, every day that we come to understand again and again that if we do not attack, we will be led to misery, depression and poverty. It is the center of organization and the fight against the attack on all fronts on society. It is the need that turns into history.
Because it is all of the above, Evangelismos Squat is neither legal, nor illegal. It is the living history of the vanguard of the social movement of the city. And this is why it is being targeted once more. As, after all, other struggles that are developing in the streets, in the universities, inside prisons and workplaces are.
For twenty two years now, all kinds of common and celebrity cops, bosses of the city, prosecutors and snitches, people like Kontakis (Dean of the University of Crete) and Kalokairinos (newly elected mayor) have tried many times to attack us. Various shooting stars of authority that will disappear as soon as they appear to be replaced by others. But we will stay here, they won’t get the squat even if they bleed.
We call the struggling local society to embrace the struggle of defending Evangelismos Squat, as it has done in the time after its eviction. At the same time we will together strengthen the local social struggles that take place in different areas, such as that against the very much intentional dissolution of public hospitals.
This text presents, beside everything else, a call to every comrade in Greece to join us in Heraklion and strengthen with whatever power they have the defense of Evangelismos Squat.
EVERYBODY KNOWS IT – EVANGELISMOS DOES NOT SURRENDER, EVANGELISMOS FIGHTS BACK
IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE EVICTED KASTELLI HILL SQUATS
NOT A STEP BACK
Evangelismos Squat