Greece: Anti-imperialist zines seized during arrest of anti-zionist comrade~ 5 min

By Guilhotina.info

On March 20th, a comrade from the collective Gather 4 Gaza was arrested in Athens, and his house was raided, by the “Hate Crimes” Division of the Greek fascisct police. The seizing of anti-imperialist and anti-zionist literature during the raid sets a worrying precedent in a world that is quickly surpassing the worst nightmares of the likes of Orwell, Huxley and Bradbury. 

It should be noted that Gather 4 Gaza, a collective based in Greece with which we have been collaborating over the past year and a half, has as its main purpose collecting money to support a social kitchen in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip.

The events detailed on the following statement happened just hours before a planned vigil for the victims of the Minab school massacre, perpetrated by the zio-amerikan Empire on the first day of the war of aggression against Iran. The broadening of the war against the resistance forces that confront zionist and western imperialism in West Asia is accompanied by mounting repression in the imperial core – and, in such a moment, it’s paramount that we educate ourselves with the experience and thought of the peoples and organizations successfully resisting Empire. Make sure to check the amazing work of the Kinografiko Media Collective, that regularly publishes in english revolutionary literature from (and about) West Asia.

Statement from Gather 4 Gaza, Kinografiko Media Collective (Free Kino), and Pen & Rifle Graphics Collective (PRGC) on the kidnapping, house raid, and arrest of member and anti-imperialist organizer Comrade E

On Friday, March 20th undercover cops of the “Hate Crimes” division of the Greek police would kidnap Comrade E on his way to print distro material in Exarchia. They would take him to GADA (Attica General Police Directorate) and later to his apartment with a prosecutor to ransack it and under threat of arresting his housemate, a comrade within the same collectives. 

Among the possessions stolen during the raid were anti-zionist material from our fundraising bazaars that provide financial support to social kitchens in Deir al-Balah in Gaza, including zines under the title of:

• Basic Primer on Greece’s Collaboration with the Zionist Entity (in Greek and English)
• Why You Shouldn’t Condemn KHAMAS – Basil Motaz Idris (translated into Greek)
• Escalate for Gaza, Bring the War Home (Statement from Elias Rodriguez, published by UOF)
• Three Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance – Ameed Faleh (translated into Greek)

In response, we will be re-releasing via @kino.grafiko and increasing our circulation of these titles. 

Comrade E would be then arrested under charges of hate crimes against the “israeli community” and spurious charges of weapons possession. He would be placed in custody at GADA for three nights — his glasses confiscated for “safety reasons” — until his release following arraignment on Monday, March 23rd, trial pending in October. This operation should be understood as a deliberate attempt at disrupting the vigil called by our collectives in honor of the martyred schoolgirls of Minab following a prolonged period of surveillance given the speed and deftness of its execution. 

The kidnapping, house raid, and brief imprisonment of Comrade E is not by no means exceptional in the long track record of censorship and attacks by the Greek regime against anti-zionist activists and agitators since October 7th — often using repressive methods tested and long employed against migrant, refugee, and Roma populations in Greece. It is but a single instance part of the larger campaign of repression directed against progressive formations in Greece and the Imperial core — that has escalated in the last months and now growing to a precipice with the start of the unprovoked war on the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 28th. Greece should not be seen as a neutral bystander in this war given its near full-spectrum complicity with US-led imperialism in the East Med, and perpetuation of the Zionist complicity.

In this latest imperialist war on Iran, Greece serves as a critical frontier bastion of Fortress Europe and hosts the HQ for strategic operations at Souda Base in Crete. Likewise, Greek troops are engaged “defensively” against the resistance, manning “PATRIOT” missile systems in Saudi Arabia, participated in the NATO assault on Yemen (Operation Prosperity Guardian), and deployed forces as part of the EU colonial armada currently stationed off of Cyprus.

In our analysis, it is only a matter of time that Greece, as part of NATO, could begin direct offensive operations against the Axis of Resistance in this crusading, imperialist war. In the greatest crises, temporarily rivalries are placed aside and imperialist, white supremacist entities coalesce. Behind enemy lines, escalation of the current counter-revolutionary war on West Asia will be mirrored in increasingly violent and systematic domestic repression — particularly against anti-imperialist formations espousing internationalist solidarity with the Islamic Republic and AoR. In this scenario, charges of “treason” will be mounted against progressive formations in Greece and mass arrests will take place. 

It is becoming increasingly clear that we are in a relative calm before an intensifying storm of repression. Strength lies then in our numbers, our success is unifying as a popular cradle, and the material capacity to mobilize. 

Let us remain steadfast in our agitation, solidify our ranks, identify our weak points, and remain principled in our support of the AoR — those free and valiant defenders of our humanity, our compass paving the road to victory — against the world’s primary contradiction: US-led Imperialism. 

Victory to the Islamic Republic and AoR

Glory to the Martyrs 

Death to Amerikkka and the Zionist Entity