The insurrectionary strands of Greece – and beyond – unravelled

Greece is undergoing a revolution. It’s not the sort of revolution that is about one side against another. It’s a messy revolution. It’s a revolution that has many hidden aspects. In previous articles we have referred to the fight back against austerity at community (‘parallel economy’) and street level (see video above of events in Athens during Wednesday’s general strike). We have also seen hundreds of thousands take part in demonstrations and of clashes with the police and fascists. Less well known are what can only be characterised as the insurrectionary undercurrent, which has its own dynamic. Here we present a summary of this undercurrent, which is largely but not solely assigned to the CCF (Conspiracy of Cells of Fire). We also examine some of the activities of the FAI (Federazione Anarchica Informale), to which the CCF is linked.

CCF

The Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF) launched their first wave of attacks on January 21st, 2008 to show unity with imprisoned anarchists. Members of the CCF detonated gas-canister bombs across the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. Luxury-car dealerships had their expensive showrooms blown to bits and banks were completely gutted.

The CCF didn’t stop there. They then proceeded to:

* detonate bombs outside of police stations in the middle of the Greek riots,
* set fire to the top floors of the Rabobank building in Utrecht,
* bomb the Athens law court,
* bomb the homes of anti-immigration politicians
* blow up the HQ of the neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn
* send explosives in the post to Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi and other European heads of state.

Message from CCF re the four Greek anarchists recently arrested/beaten for armed bank robberies:

“If we speak, we speak because we do not abandon the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire in the cesspool of state propaganda. For the robbery in Kozani, the exclusivity is held by the arrestees themselves, who are not members of the Conspiracy. Besides, the conspiracy was not “hit” by these arrests and our perceptions as well as our cells remain unscathed… However, because the state mechanism of propaganda is constantly referring to the Conspiracy, we clarify our position. Anarchist urban guerrillas are not “good kids”, neither do have the need to be defended by the hypocrites of humanism and the contractors of leftist sensitivity. Anarchist urban guerrillas abandon the role of the victim in order to take positions as offenders against this passive silence of society. We know that anarchist violence against the regime is the only way to liberation. Those who hesitate to arm themselves, will be proven too cowardly to live with dignity. Far from the humanistic rhetoric and crocodile tears over the beaten faces of the arrestees, specific choices were hit. The choice of robbing a bank aiming at the support of illegal a formalistic anarchist cells was, is and will be an anarchist practice. In the war against the state and its society you do not ask for mercy from the enemy. Anarchists of praxis do not respect any bourgeois legality. The matter is not for someone to speak of police arbitrariness, but to attack first, here and now. Besides, life will always belong to one kind of people, the people of action. Strength to the 4 anarchist hostages who are persecuted for the robbery in Kozani. We support those who support their choices and remain unrepentant. WE CREATE AND ORGANIZE 10, 100, 1000 CELLS OF THE CONSPIRACY… LONG LIVE THE INFORMAL ANARCHIST.” You can download a document with more messages of solidarity here .

(More on CCF actions here .)

Here you can download a document by the CCF, which incorporates a proposal for a Black International, signed from inside prison by Panayiotis Argyrou, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Gerasimos Tsakalos, Christos Tsakalos, Giorgos Polydoras, Damiano Bolano, Haris Hatzimichelakis, and Olga Economidou. The document includes letters of support and communiques from revolutionaries in Chile, Spain, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia, Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria, etc.

See also: https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1129729

The FAI connection

The FAI has no leaders and is an informal network of similar-minded activists. Groups or individuals associated with the FAI are spread across the world. As to their politics, it is largely anarchist, though some have described them as nihilist-anarchists. Their attacks range from conventional insurrectionist, to the symbolic. The FAI have also been compared to the International Revolutionary Solidarity Movement (which was active in the late 60s and early 70s, mainly in Europe and mostly against Francoist targets), or to the Angry Brigade (similar time frame to the IRSM, but UK based and a variety of targets), or to the Internationalist Groups of Revolutionary Action – GARI (1980s, mostly Spain, but also France), or to the 2nd June Movement (West Germany, 1980s), or to the Movimiento Iberico de Liberacion (Spain and Portugal, 1980s), or to Action Directe (France, 1980s), or to the Marxist Red Army Faction or Red Brigades (the latter two, West Germany and Italy, respectively, in 1970s/80s).

The CCF joined forces with the FAI in 2011 after a trial involving some of their members. After the union it was estimated activists tripled in number. In response, in Italy the authorities went on the offensive and launched Operation Ardire, which saw raids on the houses of suspected anarchists and arrests. Bloggers reporting these raids have also been targeted.

Groups and individuals associated with the FAI have carried out numerous attacks, not just in Europe. We provide a few examples…

Although officially founded as a movement in Italy in 2003, in fact the FAI’s first acknowledged attack was in 1999, when they sent explosive devices to the Greek embassy, to an office of tourism in Madrid, and to a branch of Citibank in Barcelona. This was in solidarity with Nikos Maziotis, who was arrested for putting a bomb in the Greek Ministry of Industry and Development on December 12th, 1997. Cells associated with the FAI also sent parcel bombs to the Carabinieri in Genoa and wounded one of the policemen.

Then there were the actions relating to the FIES (Ficheros de Internos de Especial Seguimiento), which are isolation units, or Spain’s Guantanamo Bay. Anarchists who have been sent to them have reported torture. The FIES isolation units have been described as jails within jails. One anarchist, Gabriel Pombo DaSilva managed to escape from a FIES unit in February 2004, before providing details of the torture he went through. Four months later, his comrade Jose Antonio Cano, killed himself at one of the FIES blocks in Barcelona after being imprisoned and reportedly tortured there for 12 years. Another prisoner, Xosé Tarrío González, died in a FIES isolation unit in Coruna in 2005 under similar circumstances. Members of the FAI decided to do something about these units and sent explosive devices to various organizations and journalists as a warning.

Now, skip forward to May 7th, 2012… Two masked gunmen crept up on the CEO of the nuclear engineering firm, Ansaldo Nucleare, outside his home in Italy. As their target – 56-year-old Roberto AdinolfI – emerged from his house, the gunmen fired three shots at him. One shattered Adinolfi’s right kneecap. This is probably the FAI’s most infamous act and news of it was reported around the world. Note…Alfredo Cospito was arrested following the investigation on the wounding of Ansaldo Nucleare manager Roberto Adinolfi, which occurred in May 2012 in Genoa. Sergio Maria Stefani was arrested in June following operation ‘Ardire’. Both are on hunger strike, demanding visits from their respective partners. (Recently Cospito cane off hunger strike as he was allowed visits.)

Note, the Federazione Anarchica Informale has no connection with the Football Association of Ireland or FAI insurance Australia, or the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, or Federazione Anarchica Italiana.

Insurrectionary undercurrent, or distraction?

The inevitable questions tend to be asked…

Do these insurrectionist attacks serve as a distraction to the wider revolution? In Spain, for example, the mass demonstrations and strikes in recent months have been impressive, as also the moves there to expand their own ‘parallel economy’. In Mexico, the Zapatistas demonstrated their version of a ‘quiet revolution’, leaving the authorities perplexed and even disarmed as to how to deal with such a movement.

Or, on the contrary, do these attacks by the CCF and the FAI and similar groups provide much needed support against the violent repression of the state and so are a necessary part of the wider revolution?

Your thoughts…

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