“They’ve done all they could to bury me, yet they forgot I was a seed.”– D. Christianopoulos
On June 9th -at the Thessaloniki Court of Appeal- begins the trial of 21 of
our fellow-strugglers, for the case of arson at the Skouries construction site
on February 17, 2013.
The arson of machinery at the Skouries construction site marked the
beginning of an unprecedented campaign of prosecution against an entire
society. Without pretext, the prosecuting mechanism turned indiscriminately
against all citizens who actively participated in the movement against gold
mining. Arrests, interrogations, detentions, disappearances into police
headquarter basements, illegal DNA sampling and the creation of a database of
personal genetic information, imprisonments in the form of preventive
detention.
In March 2013, an army of fully armed men of the Greek Police invaded
Ierissos, in search of suspects for the arson attack at the construction site
of Skouries. It was obvious -by the scale and brutality of the police
operation- that the entire society was targeted. A resisting society had to be
broken for two reasons: firstly, to enable the uninhibited continuation of the
plans of the multinational mining corporation, and on the other hand, to act as
an exemplary deterrent to any further resistance.
In April 2013, special forces of the Greek police invaded the homes of two
individuals -at dawn and by breaking down the doors- taking them into custody
in front of their children’s eyes. Following a long interrogation process in
Thessaloniki’s Police Headquarters -and not in Polygyros as procedure dictated-
their preventive detention was decided. The state -once again- chose a violent
and extreme strategy with an obvious goal to terrorize the whole of society and
dismantle the social movement. Two more preventive detentions followed.
At that moment, it became obvious that the State acted in service of
colonial multinational corporations and the cost was paid, and is being paid,
by those who resisted and of course by our homeland. And when the State adopts
the doctrine of “investments at any cost”, social struggles are criminalized
and Democracy is directly attacked. The presumption of innocence no longer
applies: whosoever resists “development” and “investments” is guilty.
Evidence-based charges stop being the prerequisite for prosecution, opposition
to extraction practices suffices to find oneself in detention centers, in
hospital, in court or in jail.
This situation is not unnatural for a neoliberal government that
unequivocally states that “investments will be protected at any cost”. On the
contrary, for a political party that is self-defined as radical left, this
situation should be the opposite of everything that constitutes its ideological
existence. A year and a half since SYRIZAS’ assumption of power, the Canadian
mining corporation Eldorado Gold has been granted one permit after the other
and the local community continues to find itself in the position of being held
accountable and prosecuted. The multinational corporation continues to destroy
and the local community remains under a hostageship of prosecution. Let it be
noted that this Canadian corporation has stated that it will attend the June
9th trial as prosecutor. Greatly surprising for a corporation, which makes sure
to stress often that it in no way turns against the local community!
The appeal to legality is simply an evasion. Legitimacy is not a natural
law, it is a human convention and can be changed. Governments change law in
accordance with their ideological orientation: either towards the end of
serving large-scale economic interests and corporations which lobby, extort,
bribe – or towards the end of serving the benefit of society as a whole and
public interest.
The social movement against gold mining in Halkidiki struggles not only
against the destruction of the environment and predatory exploitation of common
resources. It also struggles against all that which puts profit for the few
above life of the many. And in this struggle none will be left alone.
On June 9th, it is not only 21 members of the struggle who are being tried,
we all are. A whole society struggling for its existence is being put on trial.
The support of these people, just as victory, is a one-way street. We will
persevere until the final vindication of a just struggle and the salvation of
our homeland.
On June 8th, we call for a protest-by-night in Aristotle Square,
Thessaloniki
and the next morning we all gather together at the Thessaloniki Court of
Appeal.
Struggle Committees of Halkidiki and Thessaloniki against mining
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