ΟΙ ΜΥΣΤΙΚΕΣ ΣΥΝΑΝΤΗΣΕΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΤΣΙΠΡΑ ΜΕ ΔΙΑΠΛΕΚΟΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΙΟΥΣ ΟΛΙΓΑΡΧΕΣ

πηγή:

του Κώστα Εφήμερου

Καλέ δεν καπνίζαμε, ναρκωτικά παίρναμε…

Μεγάλη συζήτηση έχει ξεσπάσει μεταξύ κυβέρνησης και αξιωματικής αντιπολίτευσης για το ταξίδι του Αλέξη Τσίπρα στο Παρίσι. Η Νέα Δημοκρατία καταγγέλλει ότι ο Πρωθυπουργός χρησιμοποίησε το πρωθυπουργικό αεροσκάφος για να κάνει διακοπές με την οικογένειά του και το Μαξίμου, με non paper, υποστηρίζει ότι το ταξίδι είχε «επενδυτικό ενδιαφέρον». Όσο διάβαζα τις εκατέρωθεν ανακοινώσεις προσπαθούσα να καταλάβω αν έχουμε χαζέψει όλοι ή μόνο εγώ. Και για αυτό χρειάζομαι τη βοήθειά σας…

Ο Άδωνις ζητάει την λίστα των επιβατών του αεροπλάνου υπονοώντας ότι σε αυτό επέβαινε η οικογένεια του Τσίπρα. Το Μαξίμου απαντάει με μακροσκελές non paper στο οποίο υποστηρίζει ότι το ταξίδι είχε επενδυτικό ενδιαφέρον:

«[...] εκεί είχε συναντήσεις με την Πρόεδρο της L΄Οreal, η οποία προετοιμάζει μεγάλη επένδυση στη χώρα μας, με εκπροσώπους της επενδυτικής Τράπεζας Rothschild, που αποτελεί επίσημο Σύμβουλο του ΟΔΔΗΧ με αντικείμενο την προετοιμασία της εξόδου της χώρας στις αγορές, αλλά και με άλλους επενδυτικούς παράγοντες».

Το διαβάζω αυτό και νιώθω το βολβό του δεξιού μου ματιού να κατρακυλάει στο πάτωμα. Μετά όμως συνεχίζω (με δυσκολία) την ανάγνωση του ρεπορτάζ για να διαπιστώσω ότι η ΝΔ επανέρχεται με ανακοίνωση, σύμφωνα με την οποία, ο Πρωθυπουργός ψεύδεται και αποκρύπτει την αλήθεια, η οποία -κατά τον Άδωνι- είναι ότι απλά έκανε βόλτες στα μαγαζιά του Παρισιού. Κάπου εκεί έχασα και τον βολβό του αριστερού ματιού και ευτυχώς που ξέρω τυφλό σύστημα και μπορώ να σας πω τον πόνο μου.

ΔΕΝ ΕΙΜΑΣΤΕ ΚΑΛΑ! Γράφει το Μαξίμου «όχι καλέ, δεν πήγαμε για ψώνια. Ο Τσίπρας είχε κρυφή συνάντηση με την Πρόεδρο της L’Oreal, αυτή με την κρυφή χρηματοδότηση εκατομμυρίων στον Σαρκοζί για την οποία καταδικάστηκε και με τους εκπροσώπους της Rothchild που επίσης εμπλέκονταν στο σκάνδαλο της κρυφής χρηματοδότησης του πολιτικού συστήματος στη Γαλλία» και η Νέα Δημοκρατία απαντάει «λέτε μαλακίες, ο Αλέξης χάλασε 2.000 ευρώ παραπάνω κηροζίνη για να ψωνίσει κρέπες στην Περιστέρα»…

Δεν μπορεί, κάτι δεν καταλαβαίνω καλά. Έχουμε χάσει την ταμπακιέρα. Τι επενδύσεις μπορεί να κάνει η L’Oreal στην Ελλάδα που πρέπει να τις κανονίσει κρυφά με τον Πρωθυπουργό της χώρας; Γιατί μυστικά; Ποιους άλλους ολιγάρχες βλέπει ο Πρωθυπουργός για το καλό μας; Γιατί να μην κρατάμε πρακτικά από αυτές τις συμφωνίες που θα κάνουν τόσο καλό; Άνθρωποι είμαστε. Μπορεί ο Αλέξης να πάθει κανένα βαρύ κρυολόγημα και να κρεβατωθεί, να μην υπάρχει ένα υπουργείο να ξέρει πώς θα προχωρήσει την τόσο επωφελή επένδυση στη χώρα μας;

Και εκεί στη Νέα Δημοκρατία έχουν πήξει από τη διαπλοκή και δεν υπάρχει κάποιος να τους δώσει μια σφαλιάρα και να τους πει «ρε δεν είναι φυσιολογικό να βλέπει κρυφά τους διαπλεκόμενους ολιγάρχες!» Μα δεν θυμάται κανείς την γάτα Ιμαλαΐων;

Το non paper του Μαξίμου τελειώνει με τον σαρκασμό που συναντάμε συχνά στα δελτία των πολιτικών κομμάτων (γιατί δημοσιογράφοι, πολιτικοί και επικοινωνιολόγοι ζούμε όλοι υπέροχα στα παρασκήνια της σατιρικής καθημερινότητάς μας και αυτό βγαίνει προς τα έξω):

«Σε επόμενη ανακοίνωση μας θα μπορούσαμε να τους ενημερώσουμε και για το καθημερινό διαιτολόγιο του Πρωθυπουργού αλλά και άλλων μελών της Κυβέρνησης»

Δεν ξέρω τι τρώει ο Αλέξης αλλά όλοι οι υπόλοιποι λίγο σανό τον τσιμπάμε καθημερινά.

Υ.Γ. Η είδηση για τις κρέπες της Περιστέρας παίζει εδώ και 6 ώρες. Να χέσω τα αντανακλαστικά του διαδικτύου.

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Κεραμιδόγατος 

ο μαντουμανταδόρος-(Β.Π)

«Europe trashed democracy»

From

by Costas Efimeros

«Europe trashed democracy»

At the press conference following Eurogroup yesterday, Paul Mason from Channel 4 asked Djisselbloem "What do you say to the Greek people, whose democracy you’ve just trashed". Mason, in an apparently well informed live broadcast one hour before the final deal, informed his viewers that Greek banks faced the threat of ATM limits on Tuesday. So what really happened in the last Eurogroup meeting?

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Before the Eurogroup meeting scheduled for Friday evening, a preparatory meeting was held, attended by Lagarde, Moscovici, Dijsselbloem, Draghi, Schaueble and Varoufakis. Although the Greek and German finance ministers did not sit at the same table, both participated in the discussion. The meeting had been called on the understanding that it's purpose was to prepare a consensus text that would be the basis for the discussion in Eurogroup, but we have information that the reality was somewhat different.

According to a Greek official who doesn't want to be named, the Greek delegation were yesterday subject to outright blackmail. Our 'partners' informed us that if Eurogroup doesn't result in an agreement, on Tuesday the Greek government will be forced to implement capital controls. It seemed that they had taken the decision to strangle the Greek economy by cutting off funding to the banks through the ELA system. Furthermore, it seemed that the big Greek banks already knew this. Leaks from the ECB, after all, had suggested that they were preparing for a GREXIT.

Faced with this potential 'Cyprus' scenario, the Greek delegation made the decision to seek an agreement that would buy them some time (which in reality is all that yesterday's agreement got them, since it doesn't actually ensure the necessary cash flow).

Yanis Varoufakis insisted on deleting certain specific terms of the agreement regarding measures to be taken by the government, eventually agreeing that the Greek government would within 48 hours submit a technical report laying out Greece's proposals for zero financial cost reforms. Despite the statements of Dragasaki (the deputy prime minister) and Varoufakis about a list that is 'almost ready', which includes much of SYRIZA's pre existing reform programme, the truth is that  the Troika (although we now call them 'the institutions') expects more concrete measures from Greece than the government is ready to put forward.

Following the marathon governmental ministerial council meeting today, it has become clear that completing this list will be very difficult and painful for the government given that the extension of the loan agreement effectively includes control over the legislative work of the government, raising insurmountable obstacles to the implementation of SYRIZA's reform programme.

Greece is in uncharted waters and the optimism of the finance minister about the 'almost certain yes' that they will receive about their list on Monday night might not be entirely justified. The government is banking on the idea that that the EU, ECB and IMF representatives wouldn't agree to Greece sending in their own proposals were they not willing to approve them, but it's not certain that the government will have enough funds to complete their reform programme. They will also need to find another 300 million euro without any outside assistance to cover their pre-existing commitments over the next 2 months. And all of this while the Bank of Greece informally says that more than 40 billion euros have left the country recently.

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Κεραμιδόγατος

ο μαντουμανταδόρος-(Β.Π)

Syriza’s challenges the day after

From

By Vasiliki Siouti

Syriza’s leadership is certain that the country’s creditors will back down in negotiations with a new leftist government. There are officials, however, that believe there will be an intense reaction if Syriza attempts to get the country out of the jail of austerity and are urging the party to prepare for a ‘battle’

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European officials are discussing an extension of the ‘Greek programme’- the memorandum- but, in reality, its extension or its replacement with a similar programme, was never out of the plans of the country’s creditors and the German government, in particular.

Wolfgang Schauble has referred to ‘its necessity’ on many occasions.

Europe’s conservative leadership has no confidence in the country’s political personnel (not even in their ideological counterparts) and this is another reason why they believe Greece should remain under constant supervision on various pretexts

The discussion among European officials during the present period concerns the extension of the memorandum to six months - it has already received a two-month extension and expires at the end of February, when they plan to replace it with the so-called ‘precautionary credit line’.

But at a meeting of leading Syriza officials with Alexis Tsipras and at the party’s finance committee in early January, both Yiannis Dragasakis and Giorgos Stathakis talked about an extension.

The two economists, who are responsible for the formulation of the government’s programme on the economy, were, until the summer, proposing a six-month extension and also expressed their opposition to unilateral actions.

However, the other party officials at the meeting and Alexis Tsipras did not agree with them and supported the positions outlined in Syriza’s programme.

It is well known that a large number of Syriza officials, and especially those affiliated to the party’s more radical wing, the Left Platform  and the ‘53’ group, view both men, who are considered moderate voices in the party, with reservation.

On the contrary, Dragasakis and Stathakis enjoy the respect of people in the business world with which they talk and who view them as the ‘voice of reason’, which they hope will prevail in Syriza when it governs.

Both men are also holding meetings with representatives of the country’s lenders who have expressed their belief to foreign media that Syriza will be forced to adapt.

In talks with party officials that have protested against the positions of the two men, which, they say, have veered away from the positions agreed at the party congress, Syriza’s leadership has implied that it has sought to reassure them over their concerns, especially over Giorgos Stathakis, who has frequently diverged from the party congress position on the debt haircut and other issues.

Representatives of the business world, the banking system and the creditors that talk with Syriza’s pragmatists, are left with the impression that the party’s radical wing will not have a protagonist’s role in governance. And this reassures them.

But when the time for actions come, it will be difficult to keep both sides (markets and the radical left) satisfied.

Until now, Syriza’s leadership has relied on the assumption that the Europeans will back down once negotiations begin. This optimistic perspective is not shared by everyone in the party, especially the Left Platform headed by Panayiotis Lafazanis.

On the contrary, they believe the German government will not give in and conflict will arise, which, they believe, that, under certain conditions, they can win.

But they are perfectly aware that it won’t be a walk in the park when they will need to go to Brussels and Berlin.

Stathis Kouvelakis, the central committee member and professor of political philosophy in London, has wondered how the party is preparing to react if it cannot persuade the Europeans - after Yiannis Dragasakis admitted in a TV debate .(video link in Greek)   that it may not succeed in doing so.

Kouvelakis also asked what Dragaskais, as the man responsible for the party’s economic programme, has done to prepare.

It’s a fact that Syriza has refused to make any preparations in the case the Europeans don’t back down. And they consider the warning by Europeans that Greece will receive  no financial support if it doesn’t implement the memorandum as a bluff.

On the other hand, many European officials also consider Syriza’s positions on the haircut, on unilateral actions etc  as a bluff which is being used as a ‘threat’ to reach a compromise.

We will know who is bluffing sooner rather than later. Creditors are also pressuring Syriza, after it forms a government, to go for an extension of the memorandum and have made it clear that they are not willing to discuss a haircut but only an extension.


Many party officials have, for some time, talked about the difficulties ahead and the reaction of Greece’s creditors, the markets and Berlin, if Syriza wins the elections and demands an end to austerity and an the erasing of the debt.

European Parliament member of Syriza Giorgos Katroungalos foresees - and he’s not the only one - an intense reaction by the Europeans and that a tough battle will need to be waged, especially in the initial months, in order for the new government to achieve the implementation of its programme.
This, he says, will also need the people’s active  participation.

Sofia Sakorafa also believes that an impasse in the negotiations cannot be ruled out. But this, she says, will pose a greater danger to the eurozone and therefore Syriza should not back down, but insist on the implementation of its programme with the support of the Greek people. 

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Κεραμιδόγατος

ο μαντουμανταδόρος-(Β.Π)

Syriza and other disasters: 10 top scaremongering quotes

from:

4/12/2014

A list of the top 10 scaremongering quotes compiled by The Frog blog about the prospect of leftist anti-bailout party, Syriza, winning the next elections in Greece

10.                  ”...Lending to the country will cease!”

“Markets are reacting to the prospect of a Syriza victory, owing to its lead in the polls. They’re saying ‘guys, if you are going to hold elections in three months and make Syriza the government, we are informing you that we do not want to lend the country any money”.
Health Minister Makis Voridis 

9. “...there won’t be a single euro left in the banks”

“If [Syriza) are ever given the chance [to govern], which they won’t be, then the money will leave the banks, there won’t be a euro left”.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras

8. “...Not one euro will remain in the banks (I, at least, will take my money abroad)”

In imitation of the prime minister, one ‘usual suspect’ took the issue a bit further:
“Syriza’s secret agenda is the drachma. So, if the government falls not one euro will remain in the banks”.
New Democracy lawmaker Adonis Georgiadis

Bonus: He went on to say that he would ‘take out’  his bank deposits before Syriza even forms a government.

“I’m not going to let [Giorgos] Varemenos (Syriza MP and a former journalist) take my money,” he added during a TV debate with the Syriza MP.

After the general outcry that followed, Georgiadis, without taking back what he said about a bank run, admitted that he should have been ‘less raw’ in his remarks, but insisted that it would be like “people were committing suicide” if Syriza won the elections.

7. ”... ATMs would shut down”

“If he [Alexis Tsipras] plays tough guy in Europe, it won’t be long before ATM machines shut down in Greece, just like they did in Cyprus”.
Government spokesperson Sofia Voultepsi

6. “...Pensions will be lost!”

“If [Syriza’s declarations are implemented], I assure Greek pensioners that their worst nightmare will be become a reality when they go to the bank and do not get their pension
Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis

5. “...Mayhem will ensue”

“The markets are doing what they are doing to us because of the hint that Syriza will come. If it comes, then mayhem will ensue”.
Development Minister Nikos Dendias

4. “...We will return to the drachma in one week!”

If [Alexis Tsipras] does what he said at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair, we will be back to the drachma in a week”.
New Democracy lawmaker Adonis Georgiadis (he deserved another mention in the top 10)

3. “...the country will fall apart in 48 hours!”

“If Syriza becomes [the country’s] first party, the country will fall apart, no matter how many hands of elders Mr Tsipras kisses and how many foreigners he hangs out with”.
Former deputy prime minister and prominent Pasok member Theodoros Pangalos

Bonus: Pasok’s historic member voted for New Democracy so that Syriza would not win in the elections.

2. “...Lafazanis' image will adorn the new 1,000 drachma note!”

“ [If Syriza wins the elections], two options are available. The country will either beg its creditors for an even harsher memorandum or it will return to the drachma to the great satisfaction of Mr Lafazanis (a Syriza MP), whose image will most likely adorn the new 1,000 drachma note”.
Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis    

1. “...they will burn and kill!”

“There will be so much hunger and stench that all those jumping up and down about the smiling boy Tsipras, who shakes it up before the Pope, or Dourou, will be on the streets and will burn and will kills”.   
Former deputy prime minister and prominent Pasok member Theodoros Pangalos Deservedly tops the list

Originally appeared in Greek on thefrog.gr . Published with permission.

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Κεραμιδόγατος

ο μαντουμανταδόρος-(Β.Π)

The Murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos

From

6/12/2014


On the 6th December of 2008, 15 year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was gunned down in cold blood by a police officer in the center of Athens. The murder proved to be a spark for a wave of often violent protests that rocked Greek cities for days as popular outrage reached a boiling point. Six years later, Nikos Romanos, his best friend who was with Alexandros when he was shot, is on the 26th day of a prison hunger strike.

On the evening of the 6th of December 2008 in the Athenian neighborhood ofExarcheia, fifteen year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was fatally shot byEpaminondas Korkoneas, a member of the special guard unit of the Greek police. As was eventually proven, the guard raised his gun, pointed it at a group of unarmed teenagers and fired, striking Alexandros in the chest.

Initially the police attempted to give a different account of Alexandros’s murder. Early reports talked of a clash between the police and approximately 30 anarchists. Korkoneas and his colleague Vassilis Saraliotis claimed that they had come under attack and that Korkoneas had fired two warning shots at the air and one at that ground which had ricocheted and struck Grigoropoulos.

Subsequent investigations however proved otherwise. While it was found that the bullet that killed Alexandros had indeed first hit a nearby bollard, this was very close to where Alexandros had been standing. The bullet ricocheted and struck Alexandros directly in the heart killing him almost immediately in front of his horrified friends. In short, Korkoneas aimed at Alexandros, missed, but killed him anyway.

The incident was also captured by an onlooker on a mobile phone camera. A frame by frame analysis of the video was an important piece of evidence used in the trial to refute Korkoneas's version of events. While the video is shaky, the purpose with which the policeman moves and aims his gun before firing is chilling. The disturbing footage is below:

Despite early attempts to play down the incident, social media filled the gap left by the mainstream media’s silence, providing detailed information and evidence about the killing. News of Alexandros’s murder spread around the country like wildfire, triggering a wave of angry protests that same night. The next day saw students occupying junior and high schools - first in Athens and Thessaloniki and subsequently across the entire country. Most universities and technical colleges also remained shut and were the site of student occupations.

On the government’s side, then Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos offered his resignation but it was refused by Prime Minister of the time, Costas Karamanlis. The Education Minister Evripidis Stilianidis declared the 7th of December a day of mourning.

Demonstrations and Rioting

(Click here to see Boston Globe's round-up of images from the protests.)

The news of Grigoropoulos’s murder triggered an unprecedented wave of protests by students and schoolchildren across the entire country even in remote villages. Students were joined in protests the next day by professors and teachers who declared 24hr strikes.

On the 7th of December the demonstrators were mainly school and university students. While on the evening of Alexandros’s murder there were some cases of rocks being thrown at police stations the vast majority of the demonstrations were peaceful with many symbolic acts of protest such as students lying naked on the steps of police headquarters and offering police officers flowers.

Beyond Greece’s borders, demonstrations against police brutality also took place in Cyprus, London, Berlin, Bologna, Venice, New York, Istanbul and several Australian cities.

From the evening of the 7th of December older generations began to join the ranks of the protesters. The next day the political left including leftist parties, organisations and student groups called for demonstrators to assemble outside Athens university and in Omonia square. The subsequent march on the 8th passed in front of the parliament in Syntagma Square before ending in the National Gardens.

After the march, unrest broke out with skirmishes between protesters and police and many stores, banks and hotels being damaged. The unrest spread in the evening to many central Athenian neighborhoods as well as areas of Thessaloniki and other Greek towns. The spread of the unrest led to rumours that the government was considering invoking article 48 of the Constitution and declaring a state of emergency but this was denied by the official government spokesperson that night following an emergency cabinet meeting. The President of the Republic was kept in the presidential mansion for his own safety after his private Athens home came under repeated attack.

On Thursday the 9th of December Alexandros’s Grigoropoulos’s funeral was held in a cemetery in the neighborhood of Paleo Faliro on Athens’s south coast and was attended by thousands. After the funeral further violent incidents broke out in the surrounding area with protesters throwing petrol bombs at riot police who responded with tear gas. Numerous shots were also fired in the air by motorcycle police. The clashes continued into the night in many areas of Athens and Thessaloniki as well as in many other towns and cities across Greece including Patras, Larissa, Kozani, Mytilini and Crete.

During the chaos journalists became the victims of violent ‘hooded’ protesters and police brutality as well. Strong reactions were also provoked by footage and photographs of police officers pointing guns at protesters and even firing shots in the air - actions which led to court investigations over the conduct of at least two officers.

Many questions were also raised about the identities of some of the hooded protesters infiltrating protests and causing damages following the publication of various photographs and videos on the internet. In the Ta Nea newspaper on 11/10/2008 photographs were published showing young men in civilian clothes carrying metal clubs and other crude weapons within police ranks in the center of Athens. The related article included the eyewitness account of Theodoros Margaritis, an official of the Synaspismos party (which later evolved to today’s Syriza party), according to which five hooded protesters carrying rocks attempted to join a rally of GSEE (the General Confederation of Greek Workers) but fled when confronted and asked to show their IDs.

The police denied that undercover police were among the protesters engaged in violence at the demonstrations, saying that such actions are forbidden. The force however acknowledged that plainclothes police forces were present at the demonstrations with the aim of facilitating arrests, and ordered an investigation into the identities of the violent protesters. The mayor of Patras also claimed that demonstrations were being infiltrated by individuals belonging to far-right groups, a claim supported by photographs and other evidence.

Riots, protests and sporadic clashes with the police continued for a period of weeks with 20 youths even setting light to the large Christmas tree in Syntagma square on the 20th of December. 

Video: 

Who was Alexandros Grigoropoulos?

Alexandros was born and raised in the neighborhood of Paleo Psychiko. His family was relatively well-off with his mother owning a jewelry store in downtown Athens and his father a bank manager. He liked basketball and football and listened to hip hop and rock music. He often wore a jacket with blue and black stripes and always carried a hair band even though his hair was not particularly long.
He was a well-behaved teenager who avoided violence and clashes with the police. He was not an anarchist according to his friends and family but a kid who was sensitive and grounded. His mother spoke of him as her ‘valuable diamond,’ her Alexi whose brilliance surpassed that of the brightest gem. He lived in a first-floor apartment with his mother, sister and grandmother and had attended the private Moraitis school until a year before his death. The Grigoropoulos parents then decided to transfer their children to the Othisi school in Stamata. Alexandros remained close with two childhood friends from Moraitis school.

Nikos Romanos

One of Grigoropoulos best friends, Nikos Romanos, who was with Alexandros on the night of his murder, broke down immediately on seeing Alexandros’s killer, Epaminondas Korkoneas and was unable to testify in court. Later on, defying the court's order that summoned him, he refused to testify.

On February of 2013 Romanos was arrested for participation in an armed robbery in the town of Velvento, Kozani , allegedly perpetrated by the “Revolutionary Organization of the Conspiracy of Fire,” although he maintains that he was not part of the group and disagrees with some of their positions. Nikos Romanos has stated that he is an anarchist and anti-establishmentarian and that he does not recognize the legality of the proceedings against him.

Following his arrest it is alleged that Romanos suffered beatings at the hands of police. The police deny this although the photographs of Romanos and other arrestees taken while in police custody were visibly doctored in an apparent attempt to conceal the evidence of police brutality. The police claim the photos were doctored to aid identification of the arrestees by potential witnesses and that any injuries had been suffered during the course of the robbers’ arrests.

The 21-year-old is now serving a 15-year prison sentence for his role in  the  robbery. He was transferred to hospital on November 27, 2014 in frail health as he entered a fourth week of a hunger strike to protest against the decision by authorities not to grant him leave to attend college, after he passed college entrance exams while in prison last summer.

The Sentence

Epaminondas Korkoneas was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of a subsequent reduction, a finding that has significance as the court upgraded the charge to first-degree murder with intent from murder without explicit intent. The second officer, Vasilis Saraliotis was sentenced to ten-year imprisonment without the possibility of reduction but was released just one year after the ruling.

Watch a report of Alexandros's killing and the aftermath that aired on Australia's ABC 1 here:

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Κεραμιδόγατος

ο μαντουμανταδόρος-(Β.Π)

Hunger strike in Greece: for a breath of freedom

From

2/12/2014

Twenty days ago anarchist prisoner Nikos Romanos went on hunger strike to demand his educational furlough. His situation is described as ‘critical’

Nikos Romanos’ name is closely tied to the equally well known Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the 15-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police officer Epaminondas Korkoneas in Athens, on December 6, 2008. Only 15 years of age himself, Romanos witnessed his best friend die in front of his eyes. The murder sparked weeks of nationwide rioting.

Several years later, Romanos was caught together with four of his comrades while trying to flee from a bank robbery in Velvento. Following their arrest they were beaten up under police custody to such extent that the photographs released by the police had to be overtly photoshopped  to hide their injuries.

Nikos Romanos, Andreas-Dimitris Bourzoukos, Giannis Mihailidis and Dimitris Politis openly stated that they are anarchists and revolutionaries. They were subsequently convicted on the charges of armed robbery, while the initial terrorism charges failed to stand in court. Many refer back to the speech delivered by the State Attorney Grigoris Peponis during the trial for the robbery in Velvento: “It is the first time I see a robbery in which they [the perpetrators] set the hostages free, while during the police chase, they did not use the heavy weapons they had, neither did they shoot the policemen, nor did they use the hostage as a human shield in order to escape.”

Last spring, while in prison, Nikos Romanos succeeded in passing the Greek entrance exams for university and was admitted to a faculty in Athens. Since September 2014, the beginning of the academic term, he has been eligible for educational furloughs (exit permits) to regularly attend classes.

The Ministry of Justice and the President of Greece, Karolos Papoulias, wanted to award Romanos and other inmates for their academic success. However, Romanos, being an anarchist, refused to attend the ceremony as this would go against his principles. The rejection of this invitation from the head of state and the refusal to accept the €500 prize money resulted in a clearly vindictive denial, by the prison council, of Romanos’s application for prison furlough to attend classes.
Many believe this is part of a more generalized vengeful tactic of the state to those resisting the new prison system. The type-C prisons  in Greece have some similarities with the F-type prisons in Turkey. They are intended for “dangerous criminals” and the “ideological enemies of the state,” which includes revolutionary, political and rebellious prisoners — as well as those who voice their protest against injustices in jail.

On Monday, November 10, 2014, with anarchy forever in his heart (as he wrote), Nikos Romanos commenced his hunger strike. He thereby reaffirmed his anarchist principles and explained his motivation in a statement that laid claim to his lawful entitlement to educational leave from prison.
In his own words:

In addition to being instruments of control and repression, laws are also used for maintenance of balances or what is otherwise called social contracts; they reflect socio-political correlations and partially form certain positions for the conduct of the social war.
This is why I want to make my choice as clear as possible: I am not defending their legitimacy — on the contrary, I use them as political blackmail to gain breaths of freedom from the devastating condition of incarceration.

On November 24, Romanos was transferred to the Athens General Hospital Gennimatas, where he remains — under strong police surveillance — to this day. His transfer was accompanied by an official document of the prison prosecutor, who audaciously stated that the hospital doctors bear responsibility for whatever happens to him, thus indirectly urging the hospital staff to enforce force-feeding.
Nikos Romanos’s physician, Pantelia (Lina) Vergopoulou, reported on November 28 that he is in critical condition, faced with life-threatening complications. His doctor warns that “it is no longer his health that is in danger, but his life,” given that “from one day to the next he may suffer a kidney or a heart failure.”

According to Romanos’ lawyer, Fragkiskos Ragkousis, Romanos has lost 17 kilos (over 35 pounds) and is now fighting for his life. With a heart rate of 170 bpm, Ragousis said that unless there is a change, cardiac arrest is considered “to be expected.” He also denounced the forced-feeding ordered by the district attorney director of the prison, stating that “this is equal to torture of the prisoner.”

During Romanos’ battle, other prisoners joined him as a sign of support and comradery. On November 17, anarchist prisoner Yannis Michailidis went on hunger strike as a sign of solidarity with the struggle of Nikos Romanos and as of November 28 he in turn also needed to be hospitalized in Piraeus general hospital Tzaneio, after he was diagnosed with bradycardia.

On November 30, Andreas-Dimitris Bourzoukos and Dimitris Politis, anarchist prisoners and comrades of Romanos, released a statement saying that:

As a minimum token of solidarity with Nikos, we will also go on a hunger strike as of Monday December 1 — like comrade Yannis Michailidis, who is conducting a hunger strike since the 17th of November — until his claim is met. Together until the end, together until victory.

With fears that the health of the two initial hunger strikers may be imminently and irreversibly damaged, many solidarity actions have taken place both within Greece and in other parts of the world. Nikos’ comrades declared to stand by his side in his struggle and support every move he desires and must take to accompany his battle, and will support every expression of aggressive solidarity that is needed. Romanos also declared that “solidarity means attack” and added an interesting post scriptum: “To all the armchair ‘fighters’, the professional humanists, the ‘sensitive’ intellectuals and spiritual personages: I say to you good riddance in advance.”

Rather than defend the legitimacy of state laws, Nikos Romanos is using one of the few means of struggle at his disposal in a state of captivity: placing his body as a barricade to get a breath of freedom. All comrades stand firm and continue their hunger strike.

The passion for freedom is stronger than all prisons!

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Κεραμιδόγατος

ο μαντουμανταδόρος-(Β.Π)