A Plea For Attack On December 20th

"There must be lots of ways to analyze recent events in Greece. Some ideas are already floating around our internets and potlucks, some will only coalesce as we get more solid reports from those who are there. But two facts, analytically simple, keep staring me in the face. The first: a fifteen-year-old kid got gunned down by the pigs because he was an anarchist. That will never change, no matter how many cops catch fire. I picture my youngest fighting friends, the ones with hope and energy and passion, and in my mind’s eye it’s them bleeding on the pavement while the police car drives away. I don’t care if it was just a drop in the bucket of systemic oppression; this insurrection is premised on a tragedy, and it’s our tragedy, because that kid was one of ours.

The second fact: when Alexi was murdered, his comrades had his back. Whatever the details of that day, we can be certain that a couple hundred people knew exactly what to do – and did it without hesitation. Another couple thousand, perhaps, saw themselves in the flying molotovs, and were there. Again, I picture my friends. How many fires would go up across the U.S. if one of us got shot? How many of us would know just what to do? (It’s happened before.)

What Greece means to me, and what’s all too easy to forget while we jack off to the riot porn, is that we are at war. And war is not titillating or fun. It’s terrifying and tragic. What I want is the collective strength still to desire, still to take joy in the fight, even when this terrible joy is the only one we’ll find. What I want is shared experiences of physical revolt, to engrave in our bodies the same habits of confrontation that let Alexi’s friends attack decisively, without pausing to decide if they would alienate the population or unduly provoke the law – because when I die, I want my death to be a weapon, just like his.

The Greeks knew what to do because they’ve been burning shit for years. They had built the capacity to retaliate. That doesn’t mean they’re better than us or more down. Their world is different, their problems are different from ours. But what it does mean is if we want a movement that can give us courage, we damn well better practice. I take the insurrection in Greece, and the call to join it this Saturday, as a challenge from their anarchy to ours, a dare for us to show what we would do for our friends. They’ve shown us what they’ll do for theirs.

Of course, here it’s only practice – North America will not see an insurrection soon. But Greece gives us a glimpse of what we’re practicing for. Targets are everywhere. Our unruliness is our strength."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News