| Location | Athens, Greece |
| Media | Poster |
| Type | Social movements |
| Year accessed | 2023 |
| Status | Recreated |
Translation from Greek:
EXARCHIA 2023 RACE
for the Neighborhood and the Movement
NO METRO IN EXARCHIA SQUARE
NO DESTRUCTION OF STREFI HILL
NO EVICTION – NO TOURISTIFICATION
Exarcheia, a neighborhood in central Athens, is famous for its left-wing ideologies. From the Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 (when Greek military killed 40 civilians) to 2008 Greek riots (which started in Exarcheia), the neighborhood’s “anti-authoritarian culture has earned it a reputation for being a state within a state.” The Athens Polytechnic uprising resulted in the passing of the Academic Asylum Law, which designates university campuses as no-go zone for police and military. The law further contributed to the prevalence of protests within the neighborhood, and the university served as a site of insurgent coordination and a safe haven from police violence. The law would be scrapped by the government in 2019.
In 4:30AM of August 2022, heavily armed units guarded outside the hastily erected metal barricades. Overnight, the once-vibrant Exarcheia square was turned into a no-go zone. The contruction of the metro station started.
Protester said that the public work is in fact a political move. The central-right government has long wanted to cleanup the district. The metro station, together with its destruction of the historical symbol of civil resistance, serves to bury the history of uprising in the face of the government.
Here is the excerpt of the resolution of the movement, translated from Greek:
Residents, employees, students, visitors of Exarchia address this resolution to the Minister of Infrastructure & Transport of Greece, Mr. Costas Ah. Karamanlis.
It was a warm night, before dawn in the center of Athens. The town was quiet and the residents were away on vacation. The shops were closed. At 4:30 am the Greek State launched an unprecedented attack on one of the emblematic places of Athens, Exarchia square. Hundreds of police flooded the streets around the square to enforce the construction of an unwanted metro station and quell public protests against it. They have remained there ever since. So did the people of Exarchia.
On the day of the operation, despite the prospect of a police crackdown, more than a thousand people, residents of the neighborhood and people of the city gathered in the otherwise quiet, summer streets of Athens to protest and show their solidarity with Exarchia. Hundreds attend the open assembly. Local businesses have filed injunctions against the (public) construction company. Dozens meet daily at 6 a.m. in front of heavily armed police forces, and hundreds take part in the afternoon protests. Intellectuals, academics and artists of authoritarian government practices. have come out en masse against the project.
Exarcheion Square is a breathing space for workers, visitors, residents, children, and a small square that breaks the concrete monotony of the center of Athens. It is a space of radical ideas, students. It is the home of revolutionary youth, trios, artists and intellectuals. It is the space that marginilizes no newcomers. There has not been a young person in Athens who has not socialized, flirted or casually chatted over a beer or coffee with his/her peers, a visitor who has not attended cultural activities or who did not find shelter from the hot Athenian sun under the shade of the trees of the square.
Exarchia Square is an international symbol of resistance and political ferment. It is characterized by class solidarity, self-organization, without racial discrimination, coexistence and respect for the diversity of people, guided by the dream of a world of equality and justice. Throughout time, it has been a symbol for LGBTQI+ struggles and a safe space for all oppressed, persecuted or marginalized personalities.
RIGHT NOW ALL OF THESE ARE THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION by the government’s insistence on going ahead with a socially rejected project and using our square, the square of all people, as a trophy and landmark in its exclusive agenda.
The Press Project
You can read the full resolution here (in Greek). Background information is from Wikipedia and Guardian.
Recreated: This poster was recreated in Illustrator, Photoshop and Sketch.
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Download JPG file (full-size): Google Drive |