Updates from the Greek Insurrection: Occupation of the city hall of Sykies, Thessaloniki

There is a pandemic of occupations of city halls, following the occupation of the city hall at Ag. Dimitrios. Saturday the old city hall of Halandri was occupied and today the city hall of Sykies, a suburb of Thessaloniki. Three people arrested and then released during this occupation. I will provide more news and translated statements as they become available.

There have also been several takeovers of radio stations and other facilities. I am compiling a list.

One worrisome aspect from the US and European anarchist and left comrades. There is continuous reference to the greek "riots" (a term NEVER used by my greek comrades to refer to their actions or the situation, who call it explicitly a popular insurrection, but a term used all the time by the police and the mass media) and on the most spectacular attacks and property destruction, while virtually ignoring the insurrection and the grassroots organizing that is going on, such as the occupations of the public buildings, which are more popular in their compositions vs. the occupations of the universities which are student focused (and are protected by university asylum laws).

There is no split between those who are in the streets, those who occupy the universities and those who are taking over public buildings like the city halls. But to continue to refer to the "riots" is to completely, in my opinion, demean and ignore the true popular nature of the insurrection and to buy into the message of the spectacle that the state and the mass media are selling us. I beseech you to stop referring to the insurrection as riots and to help shift the rhetoric. Let us honor the nature of the insurrection by calling it what it is and by striving to understand its complexities and its intricacies, and not focus only on its more spectacular moments.

Words have meaning, and words like "known unknowns" "hooded ones" "self-styled anarchists" "looters" and "riots" are designed to disinform and disorient. Let us not become a party to that.