LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES
The following IS NOT a movie.
The only thing I did was switch my camera to the video mode.
The following is our own TRUTH, inside our hearts, our being, our minds.
In the ruins of a bad dream and in the cradle of another world.
The following is a bottle in the sea. That of the brothers of utopia.
The following is a flaming bottle. From those that are ejected to the stars.
The following is a bottle. Let's drink from it together, remaking the world.
"The driving forces of the world WAKE UP FROM A DEEP SLEEP. Greece is in the centre of this violence which precedes a new world...
...called upon to replace the unreasonable violence of a world fascinated by the progress of self-destruction."
Raoul Vaneigem Direct Democracy Festival Thessaloniki, September 2010
Athens, December 6th 2012
The thing is that the current economic situation doesn't reflect our way of life.
It's not that we are lazy or something. We work a lot.
According to statistics, Greeks work very hard.
However, we are violently becoming poorer and poorer every day.
They're trying to turn us into cheap labour. That's all.
- Cheers! - Cheers!
The Cradle Of Another World presents
a film by Yannis Youlountas
LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES
music by:
english subtitles: www.x-pressed.org
coordination - distribution: Maud Youlountas Loukas Youlountas
Spring 2013
This is a social clinic.
We offer primary healthcare services.
The patients are half locals and half migrants, all of them without any health insurance.
They don't have to pay anything here, neither medication nor medical examinations.
Everybody, including doctors, volunteer so they don't get paid.
I'm a chemistry teacher in a high school...
...and every Monday from 4:00pm to 6:00pm I'm here.
I volunteer because I want to help.
I really think that under these circumstances everybody should offer their services.
Every day people lose their job and social insurance...
...so whoever is able to contribute they have a duty to do so.
I'm a pharmacist.
I've been unemployed for the past three years...
...so I don't have any health insurance since I lost my job...
...and I'm not entitled to unemployment benefits as well.
It's very difficult for me to find a job given the high unemployment rates in Greece.
The number of homeless people has increased a lot.
The image of Athens has changed a lot.
Athens doesn't look like a European city any more.
Yes... I would say that.
I don't really know what I would advise someone from France or from another country to beware.
What I know is that we keep refusing to accept what is coming...
...this new, this hard, "awful thing".
Everybody did that.
Me, my family, friends that lost their jobs, they all did that.
What I mean is that we didn't believe that this would happen to us.
Three years ago we didn't believe that we'd reach a point where there will be students starving...
...families living in warehouses...
...friends that had jobs and now they are unemployed...
...people that had bought houses and now can't pay them off...
...engineers, lawyers, doctors.
It's not just the working class.
So, an advise to a French friend would be...
"Beware... Things can happen suddenly."
"And they can be stormy... like here in Greece."
This isn't just a Greek problem.
"FREE AND PUBLIC EDUCATION"
"VICTORY TO THE TEACHERS"
"WE WON'T ALLOW THE EXPROPIATION OF OUR DREAMS BY MODERN SLAVERY"
We are against these policies that kill people.
There is a lot of unemployment and we know that we won't find a job...
...so many young people are forced to go abroad.
This concerns us a lot.
It frustrates us.
But we are always hoping for the best. We live for today and we fight for tomorrow...
...for a better tomorrow.
Despite the dramatic characteristics of the crisis...
...we can look through the problems that rose up with the crisis.
Some serious problems that were well covered under the cloak of the pre-crisis period.
We are in the era of a new revolution that has already started.
Just like the French couldn't imagine that they'd live without a king on the eve of the French Revolution...
...but the revolutionary plan made that happen.
Neither could they imagine that they would find themselves in a Paris Commune...
...and that also happened with certain planning.
Social liberation is going to happen in the same way, through a certain plan,...
...which we have to elaborate as soon as possible.
"Time was flaming harder than anywhere else. We were feeling that THE EARTH WAS SHAKING."
Guy Debord, In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni, 1978
The problem is that the system is based on violence.
That's the difference between the violence of the people that revolt...
...and the violence of the system that exists simply because it uses violence.
Because by force it will throw you out of your house and make you live in the street.
It will force you out of your job using violence, it will treat you violently in school and in education.
The whole thing is organised and based on violence.
On the other hand, we envisage a future of peace, brotherhood and solidarity.
We would only use violence either as an answer to all that, or in order to change the course of history.
LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES
It happened to be a rainy day and there was a big storm, thunders and lightning.
I know that in France or elsewhere when there's a big storm...
...people switch off the TV and pull the plug.
Here in Greece we do quite the opposite.
Most people stay at home and watch more TV.
So, there is the TV news where...
...people are aware that whatever is broadcasted is in fact a lie.
People have become suspicious and don't believe what they hear on the TV news.
However, due to the constant repetition of the same names and the same news,...
...they are being brainwashed and become subject to propaganda.
So, what remains in their subconscious is what the producer of the program wishes to remain.
"As long as the sheep keep bleating, the wolves will keep howling."
I have a TV, -I admit it- but I don't switch it on...
...and I hope we will break it with a big hummer.
We will record the scene so as to inspire everyone else to do the same.
Switch off the TV or even better break it, destroy it.
It's an addiction!
There is no television here. There is a piano!
BREAK THE TV!
"My brother..."
"...don't shed your tears..."
"...and don't give up your dreams."
"Don't follow their orders..."
"...and don't you ever become a slave."
There is enough money for bullets but not for education and healthcare.
"LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!"
"Let's hold our heads up high!"
"LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!"
"Let's hold our heads up high!"
COPS - PIGS - MURDERERS!
"LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES"
"We are not afraid of ruins because we also know how TO BUILD."
"The bourgeoisie may as well ruin its own world, before it is leaving the stage of history. We carry a new world in our hearts."
Buenaventura Durruti, Madrid front, 1936
We all suffer because we are all part of the society but the question is what do we do.
Do you keep your head down or do you stand up and take the first step?
Perhaps people need a shock in order to look further.
Let's shock them with our manners, by setting an example.
With projects that can make our life simpler, easier and more substantial.
With our actions of solidarity towards other people and within our neighbourhoods.
I think that's the way people can stand up and look further.
Self-organisation is a way of resistance.
We can rebuild the structures that are being destroyed one after the other by the state...
...and get them back again, since everything has been built by us anyway.
So we can rebuild them, like Durruti has said.
We can do self-organised social projects within our neighbourhoods.
These are ways of substantial resistance because it's not only theory, it is real action.
To approach people that are not ideologically close to us, we need action.
These people are tired of just words they want to see real action.
They might then understand and converge ideologically, as it has actually happened.
We are located in Ilioupoli in the north suburbs of Athens,...
...in the free social space "Synergio".
The free social space "Synergio" is a place where free citizens can discuss and cooperate.
We are active within our local society and elsewhere, taking part in every issue that concerns our society.
Apart from that, there are many activities that take place in "Synergio",...
...such as Spanish classes and creative workshops,...
...by which knowledge is spread in a collaborative and collective manner.
This place used to be an auto repair shop (called "synergio" in Greek).
So, we decided to call our free space "Synergio" (literally means "co-work")...
...as a way to express the collective manner in which we operate.
It's important for us to transform social movements into self-organised social projects.
Free spaces like these can evolve into cooperatives and can set new conditions of living...
...so as people who take part in these cooperatives or communities...
...could live their lives under such new conditions.
Not just by substituting the state...
...but by creating autonomous and self-instituted structures in the city.
We get our products from various cooperatives from Greece and abroad.
For example from Zapatistas or from the Brazilian Movement Without Land (Movimento dos Sem Terra)...
...as a way to show them our active support.
At the same time, there are products such as soaps, candles or jewels,...
...that are made and distributed by groups here in "Synergeio"...
...as their first attempt to go into production.
We are both chemists, we took some lessons here and we've learned how to make olive oil soaps.
Our goal is to increase our production so as to create a job for ourselves...
...since our sector faces a lot of unemployment in Greece...
...and distribute our products to collective networks, such as Zapatistas.
The idea is to create a different society in which labour will be important...
...but human beings will be more important.
So that we don't live like slaves.
Some time ago, I remember it was Sunday around 4:00 in the morning,...
...we were attacked by fascists.
You can see the evidence up there in the wall.
Fortunately there was a comrade inside "Synergeio" at that time.
He managed to put the fire out along with the fire brigade...
...and we didn't have further problems.
After a while there was a second attack.
There were fifteen motorbikes with thirty persons on them.
They wanted to intimidate us but there was a direct response...
...from many people who gathered here showing their solidarity.
So we prevented the attack and we headed them off from future attempts.
This is dedicated to the audience of "Radio Entasi"
We're going to listen to a song by "Alpha Bang"...
..."Pira mia mera tis zois mou to dromo" (I took my life's path one day).
R
R E
R E S
R E S I
R E S I S
R E S I S T
R E S I S T A
R E S I S T A N
R E S I S T A N C
R E S I S T A N C E
R E S I S T A N C E .
R E S I S T A N C E . .
R E S I S T A N C E . . .
"SOCIAL KITCHEN - FREE FOOD FOR ALL"
We are the mobile social kitchen "The other human".
Our purpose is to cook every day out in the streets...
...and eat together with our fellow humans.
The meals are free for everybody, whether unemployed or homeless, or even those who are not in need.
"The other human" is all of us.
In every neighbourhood there are people who are hungry.
It's not nice to just give them food and then go...
...because they might be offended and throw it back to you.
You better invite them to eat together.
I came from Germany nine years ago in order to live in Greece.
I first came on holidays, I liked it, so I moved permanently.
It's been five years since I last visited Germany.
I don't really like it there, I'm fine here.
At first it was very nice, but now the crisis has stricken...
...and many Greek people go abroad.
To Germany, France or other countries, where life seams better to them...
...more convenient or wealthier.
They call me crazy because I'm still here...
And it might have been easier for me if I went back home, but I don't want to.
And I refuse to be forced to go away from the place I have chosen to live...
...and where I have the freedom I want.
From the place where I can live the way I want...
...doing exactly what I like and what makes me complete,...
...such as playing the accordion on the street or making jewels.
So I'll stay here for as long as I like.
We are at "Doc4life".
We are a press agency, different from other agencies.
We are a self-organised cooperative.
We are a group of 23 people, photographers, filmmakers, journalists, translators, IT technicians etc.
We are self-organised and independent. In that way, we feel better and we are more productive.
It depends on us exclusively.
Our main concern is to give our clients utmost professional services.
That's what we want to offer.
"We are treated like guinea-pigs. It's a new stage of capitalism that is being tested on us by some 'magicians' before they spread it across the continent."
"They test our ability to survive, increasing the hardships. We must revolt, escape, dream and create alternatives. If they manage to knock us down, YOU WILL BE NEXT."
Leonidas - student (injured from a stun grenade, 2013)
Thessaloniki, May 2013
The privatisation of the water company to the 'Suez' company has started.
This means that the 90% of our body that comprises of water is at stake.
Namely, something that directly concerns our own life will be under the management of speculators.
They want to control our life completely.
We are located in Thessaloniki, northern Greece.
We are the open network of citizens and organisations called "Save Greek Water".
We're trying to save the water of the city, namely keep it under public control...
...because the government has already turned it into a private monopoly.
The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED) has already launched the tender process...
...for the privatisation of the 51% of the Thessaloniki Water Supply & Sewerage SA (EYATH).
It will probably be bought by 'Suez'.
Thousands of households in Greece are left without electricity every month.
When the water is privatised, the same will happen to households, schools and hospitals.
We are determined not to allow this to happen.
VIO.ME. WORKERS' UNION
"WE CAN MANAGE WITHOUT A BOSS" "For the self-management of work and society"
We are located at the factory of VIO.ME.
The factory was abandoned by its owners in July 2011 and left to its fate.
The workers' union took the initiative to operate it under their control...
...and the workers' general assembly adopted the framework of its operation.
We must stress that from the very first moment of the establishment of VIO.ME's solidarity committee...
...many autonomous social spaces and groups offered their assistance.
And without the support of this solidarity committee we wouldn't have found the courage to do anything.
With their support we found the courage to continue.
Up to now they support us by letting us distribute our products inside their spaces.
We mostly exchange our products with other goods under the rules of barter economy...
...and we couldn't have done it without the support of these social spaces and groups.
"To envisage a different economy, different social relations, different modes and means of production and different ways of life, is regarded 'unrealistic', as if a society based on commodities, wages and money were insurmountable."
"In reality, a multitude of convergent sings suggest that the OVERCOMING of that society is ALREADY UNDER WAY."
Andre Gorz, The Exit from Capitalism, 2007
We are located at "Micropratirio Syntrofia", located at the free social space "Micropolis"
"Micropolis" is a free social space in Thessaloniki, northern Greece.
"Syntrofia" is an economic structure of solidarity economy spreading in our country in recent years.
Basically, it's a cooperative involved in food.
One of our main purposes is to establish a direct connection between producers and consumers...
...through which they will develop other relationships.
We operate as a cooperative, i.e. an open assembly makes all the decisions.
The assembly is open to every producer, consumer, or anyone who would like to take part.
There are informal meetings of people working here about the current business of "Syntrofia".
The jobs here are alternate, i.e. every now and then we make an open call to people who'd like to work here.
Local and ecological products, as well as fair working relations, are some of our principles.
This is just one of the five structures of "Micropolis".
There is also a restaurant, a playground, a bookshop, a photocopy shop and a furniture manufacturing team.
All of them operate within the framework of social and solidarity economy.
We're trying to establish fair and equal conditions of living.
"GIVE-AWAY BAZAAR"
We are located at "School of learning freedom"; a free social space.
Our purpose is to show that knowledge should be free and accessible to everyone.
But also, that the way we manage knowledge is of equal importance.
Here, we give free lessons of foreign languages, martial arts as well as art lessons.
It's an example of how our society could be in the future.
You have the opportunity to learn foreign languages, to buy biological products, to get organised.
Here, you can get information about whatever concerns the movement, such as demonstrations or other activities.
You have the chance to discuss these issues or take initiatives, so as to be part of the movement yourself.
The only way for creating a fair, equal and free society is resistance towards the system and solidarity.
I am one of the fifteen antifascists who were arrested during an antifascist demonstration...
...that took place in one of the tougher neighbourhoods in the centre of Athens...
...where the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn has repeatedly attacked migrants.
We deliberately chose to demonstrate in that area, so as to pass the message that they don't own these streets,...
...that we won't tolerate xenophobia and racism in our society...
...and so as to express our solidarity and support to the migrants that live there.
During a clash with Golden Dawn supporters the police came immediately...
...-unlike what happens when migrants are being attacked by fascists-...
...and they arrested fifteen of us.
We almost went to prison, because of the huge bail amounts set by the Greek state.
And we're free thanks to the enormous solidarity movement that emerged across Europe...
...which helped us collect the amount of 45.000 euros for the bail within a month.
"FASCISM WANTS YOU TO BE A SLAVE"
"HUNT DOWN THE FASCISTS"
"FASCISM NEVER AGAIN"
"EXECUTE THE FASCISTS"
KICK THE NEONAZIS OUT"
"SAY NO TO FASCISM"
"KICK FASCISTS OUT OF SCHOOLS"
Europe knows very well what fascism means.
It's not something new and we know what will happen if we are not careful.
Those that now invoke freedom of speech are the ones that were exiling or jailing dissidents.
The ones that deny dialectics and dialogue.
We must stand against these people and stop them.
Here in Exarcheia the fascists don't come, because they'll be recognized and they'll end up naked and beaten.
For example, last summer a fascist came, and while chasing him in order to stop him...
...his clothes were torn and he left naked.
Under these conditions of a deepening crisis and growing inequalities...
...fascism appears as the ideology that can pull people who suffer out of the mire.
It's the easiest thing to say or do, namely to blame the others.
Fascists could easily speak even for direct democracy just because it comes from ancient Greece.
They might even claim that they are anti-capitalists.
They borrow any ideology in order to attract people. Historically, they have always done that.
Metaphorically speaking fascism is like a wolf in sheep's clothing in order to eat them all.
They wear a flag and disguise as patriots, so as to subjugate people under an awful slavery.
Unfortunately, it's rising both in Greece and in France, but it's always the same; a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Fascism wears various masks in Greece, in France or elsewhere.
but its face is the same. Beware!
EXARCHEIA An antifascist area, a nursery of utopias in the heart of Athens.
I'd like to think of Exarcheia as the symbol of resistance across Europe.
I don't know if a utopia has been born here, but if a utopia is to be born this will happen here too.
I came here to Exarcheia. I have problem with my papers sometime now...
...but I'm welcome here.
There is freedom here and community life.
There is no race, colour or nationality discrimination.
In a way, you can feel like home. People will gladly accept you here.
That's what I like here.
The police does not bother you here. They don't check your papers all the time.
In my opinion, it's the best place in Greece.
It's great. Maybe it's a utopia!
Exarcheia is a historic area.
The Greek military junta collapsed after an uprising at the Polytechnic school here in Exarcheia. Many other uprisings have also started here.
There are a lot of leftists and anarchists here that act through various communities and collectives.
That's why Exarcheia is a politically mobilised area.
Most bookshops and publishing houses are here in Exarcheia.
That's because many universities are located nearby and so is knowledge.
We are a self-organised publishing house, involving publication, trading, bookshop etc.
It's a self-organised cooperative, which means that an assembly makes every decision.
Our publishing house and "Babylonia" magazine aims at the preservation of quality in written language...
...and at the diffusion of radical ideas in society.
"Babylonia" magazine in particular, is concerned mainly with the movement...
...and the diffusion of a modern anti-authoritarian speech in the society.
After you cross Solonos street the air changes; there is a breeze of freedom.
That's what we had written once in an article about Exarcheia.
Exarcheia has always been the core of resistance in Greece.
That's why the air changes here.
Fascists and racists don't come to Exarcheia, because they are afraid of anarchists.
"RESISTANCE - SELF-ORGANISATION - SOLIDARITY"
"Nosotros" is a free social space that promotes freedom and self-organisation,...
...both necessary for people in order to move on.
People here help you learn the language. I attend free lessons every day.
They offer us food for free.
I like it here. It's the best place!
"I'm not saying that the constitution of ancient Athens's city-state is a model. That would be madness."
I'm just saying that it's A SEED, from which we can be inspired in order to try to think in a different way our relation with the law, the community, the power."
Cornelius Castoriadis, Interview with Chris Marker, 1989
Here in Exarcheia we have taken the initiative to create an assembly...
...in which the residents, the collectives and the free social spaces of Exarcheia participate.
We discuss and make decisions, using anonymity and unanimity; mainly unanimity.
We use direct democracy if it's necessary.
But it hasn't happened until now; we usually come to an agreement.
Thus, we decided to start the self-organised grocery store "Zikos".
"Zikos" is a structure we started here in Exarcheia.
It's a market without intermediaries, where small producers from all over the country are involved.
Both the producers and the organisers take part in the assemblies.
Namely the structure is horizontal not vertical.
As it should be; We are all equal.
The greatest thing, small producers that didn't know us, came in contact with us and asked for our help...
...in order to show them how they can operate in a horizontal structure without hierarchies.
It's so great that people, who aren't anarchists or anti-authoritarians,...
...realise that these structures are the proper ones.
We have also decided to start a self-organised health structure.
We organised some fundraising festivals.
We placed financial aid kits here in Nosotros, in K-Vox and in other social spaces in Exarcheia.
We are at the occupied social space K-Vox, functioning for 13 months in an old coffee shop.
Anarchists and anti-authoritarians have occupied it.
In the basement, various events take place, such as theatrical performances, meetings etc.
In the ground floor there is a cafeteria and a library.
With the cafeteria's revenues we support the political prisoners and the prosecuted activists in Greece.
Apart from theatrical performances, movie shootings and photo exhibitions take place here as well.
But what's most important for me, as a paediatrician, is the social health centre, which is going to operate here in K-Vox.
The idea of helping people, especially children, regarding their health keeps me here.
"As with the rice so with words, everything is patented. NOTHING IS FOR FREE ANYMORE."
"'For free' is considered scandalous nowadays. It's absolutely illegal, since it's actually subversive."
Sergio Ghirardi "We are not afraid of ruins", 2003
So, this space is called "Skoros" (moth).
The initial idea was that it's better to bring old cloths here, for someone who might need them...
...instead of keeping them in a closet only to be eaten by moths.
That is why we called it "Skoros".
Here at 'Scoros', you can bring anything that you don't use, anything that you don't need...
...you can leave it, and, if you want, you can take things from the shop without money.
The tendency of this space is not charity but the creation of a solidarity way of exchange.
The ideological framework has been that people should extricate themselves from consumerism.
That's why on the store-front we have written "Criticise consumerism".
People have to stop buying new stuff all the time, stuff that will be thrown away -some even with the labels on.
Yes, along with the crisis, in Greece there has also been a crisis in the meaning of things.
People have lost sight of the traditions, of what the standard has been up to today...
...and are trying to add new meaning to their life.
We see more and more people turning towards ways...
...that we have always referred to, but now are becoming mainstream.
People are turning towards horizontal structures; structures and actions of solidarity.
The point is that all this should not be limited only to Exarheia, to the present, to Greece.
In general, whatever does not evolve, ends up dying.
And the goal of such moves is to be preserved even after the crisis -if it actually goes away-...
...and to affect more people so that they realize that they can survive on their own...
...without the stereotypes that, intentionally or not, have been forced on them.
The October Revolution essentially failed because there was no other revolution in Europe.
if an equivalent revolution were to happen somewhere else -because we are hopefully starting a revolution here-
Then, there would be hope.
"Slaves, let us not curse life THE TRUE LIFE IS ABSENT, We are not in this world." Arthur Rimbaud, A Season in Hell, 1873
I don't know what is the true life, but I do know what is not.
Certainly, true life is not spending 10 hours in a factory pushing the same button.
And it's not clubbing til 10 o'clock in the morning.
True life is about something else.
So if we stop doing the things that are not true life, we can come closer to what true life really is about.
We need more self-confidence and compassion which we have totally lost...
...because we have lost our morality, our conscience which is not free anymore.
We shouldn't follow the norms that are being socially constructed for us.
There is a stereotype from school and our studies to work, our relationships...
...that we should be and behave in a certain way.
Everything that we buy brings us more responsibilities that we don't need.
First, we need to free ourselves.
This is the beginning for us to grow within our society and become free.
Everyone should be their own boss, and fight the urge of always wanting more stuff.
You have to spend so many hours working hard in order to buy a nice car...
...that no matter how fast you get to work will not help you win back this time.
So this time is lost anyway.
"Work kills, work pays."
"Time is bought in the supermarket."
"The paid time doesn't come back."
"The youth is dying by the loss of time."
"The eyes made for love..."
"...are the reflection of a material world."
"Without love and reality..."
"...we are condemned to live like images."
"Without love and reality..."
"...we are condemned to live like images."
During slavery, the chains were only for people's ankles.
Whereas today the chains are meant for the mind.
Now we have to realise that we are responsible for ourselves...
...and we need to bear this burden, to become independent, to take our lives in our own hands.
What capitalism presents as freedom has nothing to do with freedom.
Being able to go freely and buy a product is not freedom.
The system is creating needs that imposes on us, and this has nothing to do with freedom.
Freedom is to chose a product myself, make it myself and use it for me and for society.
"THE MODERN SLAVE is convinced that there is no alternative for the organisation of the world and FINDS THIS KIND OF LIFE SUFFICIENT because they think there can be no other..."
"...And here lies the power of today's dominance: the conservation of the misconception that this system that has colonised the whole earth is the end of history."
Jean-Francois Brient, In modern slavery, ch. XIII, 2007
Let's not live like slaves, this is a slogan.
In Greek, the words "work" and "slavery" ("doulia") are distinguished only by the intonation.
All our life, what we do, is a fake freedom that gives the illusion of freedom.
"I buy thus I exist."
But everything is controlled. You will watch an add, you will go shopping.
You will exercise your political rights every 4 years.
There is a very specific structure for what you do.
And if you don't follow it and you do something that is not programmed, then you will face the law.
It might be that you plant a flower where you not supposed to.
You are not truly free. It's just an illusion they have created.
I am a slave to a habit I have which I never break.
I am a slave to the comfort of my life which I never disturb for any reason.
I am a slave to an ideology in which I feel comfortable.
If I manage to change, to free myself from this personal slavery...
...to an ideology, my comfort and my habits...
...then something can change in a collective level.
The slogan "Let's not live like slaves" is exactly what we felt when...
...we started thinking how to operate the factory.
Not to be slaves any more, as the EU and the Troika want us; just to be able to survive.
We chose to be poorer but free to think and act.
That was the framework we formed, talking about survival and dignity...
...being free to think and act.
For me the essence is found in the slogan "let's not live like slaves", the plural.
It's not only about me not living like a slave or having my freedom.
The essence lies in that my freedom is related to all of us being free.
A society of symmetry, collaboration and cohabitation...
...a society that will be organised from the bottom, by all of us and for all of us.
I don't know whether this will be called socialism, anarchism or direct democracy.
All these forces can work together towards this common goal.
The point is for people to stop being products, consumers and victims, and to become independent.
"The light burn in our hearts."
"Hope runs in our veins."
"Are we reborn through a new life?"
"Are we reborn through a fresh start?"
"LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!"
"Let's hold our heads up high!"
The fighter against the regime is like a child.
Always having the hope that things will change and always trying to create.
And no matter how old they get, they keep this characteristic, wishing the change for the better.
And there lies the difference with those that do grow up in their soul and who become robots...
...with a career, to make money and buy houses, have a family -not that family is bad-...
...and live the dream of having it all, when a child is interested in living better.
Of course, a fighter is not a child when it comes to responsibility, opposite to what the others do.
A fighter always holds the responsibility not only for themselves but for those around them as well.
These are the things that characterise a fighter, always looking ahead with hope...
...and with a smile, because if we stop smiling there is no point in it.
FROM THE THEATRE TO THE STREETS: the provenance of a slogan that was spread all over Greece.
With great joy, I heard that you were making a film with the name "Let's not live like slaves".
So I looked for you in order to explain how this phrase and this graffiti came to be.
In the winter of 2010, along with the Void Network and the Institute of Experimental Arts,...
...we decided to present The Maids, the play by Jean Genet.
I was the director and I also translated the text into Greek.
This play is about 2 girls who plot to kill their bosses.
So, in the script there is a phrase that the heroine, suffocated by the conditions of her life...
...turns to the other heroine and says...
"We must do something, so as to not live like this. Let's not live like slaves."
- Come on, get up! Let's leave! Let's take our stuff and just leave...
...by train, by boat, it doesn't matter.
- Leave? Easy to say. Go where? With whom?
- Wherever, Claire, just anywhere! - Where? How will we survive? We have nothing!
- We'll find something. If need be, we'll take from here, money, jewellery, anything!
- Money? - Yes.
- We are not thieves. The Police will be on us right away. Money will betray us.
- Damn! To hell with everything...
We must find a way to escape our life.
Do you get it? We must find a way.
Let's not live like slaves, Claire.
Come on! Get up! Let's go!"
So, we took this phrase out in the streets, we started tagging the walls during protests.
"LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES"
Then in may 2011, the square movement kicked-off like everywhere else in the world.
And we started tagging walls even more with the phrase "LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES".
We understood that this phrase expressed and was embraced by many people.
It can be found in poems, in protest placards, it was written on walls all over the country.
Everyone, anarchists, autonomists, leftists, used the phrase.
That's why we continued tagging walls with it in order to encourage people to revolt...
...so that they don't live like slaves, and to stop the destruction of their lives...
...and to make people understand that, through participation, we can change our life.
Participating, being active and wanting to fight.
But also through friendship with people whom we trust and with whom we can be active.
Contributing to the struggle with them, in our own way resisting and fighting the system.
For us it is a slogan that symbolises the revolt, friendship, love and participation in the struggle.
That's what "Let's not live like slaves" means for us.
And now, dedicated to Sofia, and all the listeners of Radio Entasi:
"Let's not live like slaves" by Limania Xena.
Halkidiki (northern Greece)
"Friend, can you hear the feast of vultures in the world?"
"Friend, can you hear the cities replying?"
"THEY ARE SELLING OFF OUR LAND, RESIST"
We are in Ierissos, Halkidiki, in the north of Greece,...
...where the Canadian company Eldorado Gold wants to build an extremely damaging factory...
...that will destroy our water, our mountains, our nature and our environment.
We are all in the barricades, in solidarity to our two unjustly imprisoned brothers...
...and to the other 18 people who run the risk of being arrested as we speak.
I'd like to add that the way in which the Police invaded the homes of those arrested...
...was totally inappropriate and unacceptable.
They kicked the doors down and arrested them in their pyjamas in front of their under-aged kids.
The kids are under a tremendous psychological violence, a terrifying behaviour inside their own home.
Here in Halkidiki the population has been fighting and resisting for years...
...against the gold mining industry and against Eldorado Gold.
And all of us are revolting. People of all ages, kids, youths and elder people.
We are united in this struggle. I don't know whether we will succeed, but our conscience is clean...
...because we have at least tried, and this for us is very important.
And we will be able to look our kids in the eyes and tell them...
...that we tried to save these mountains we didn't sell them off.
The Police is gone from here some time now,...
...after the riots and the struggle of the people here.
There was an attack against the police station and they decided to close it down.
"Dark storms agitate the air dark clouds prevents us from seeing"
"Even though pain and death awaits us, duty calls us against the enemy."
"The most important thing is freedom. Let's fight for it with faith and bravery."
"Keep high the revolutionary flag that will emancipate people."
"IMBECILES! SHAME IS NOT A JOB.."
"DONT BE SCARED, WE ARE WINNING"
We are determined not to allow them to proceed, we are determined to go all the way.
And no matter how hard they try with their dirty ways, the misinformation, the propaganda...
...that create a totally wrong impression of us, we are determined to go on.
You need to understand that in order to move closer to a utopian society...
...even if we never make it there, you will get your ass burnt.
It cannot be done by sitting on a couch, you have to get up.
I think that the biggest problem is that we fight but we are imprisoned in our own limits.
The time has come to spread our ideas, exchange opinions and actions,...
...to demonstrate together in order to achieve our common goal and take our life into our hands.
"THERE IS NO CONCLUSION, because nothing is finished and everything is starting."
"ONLY AN INVITATION: with the same words, in one language or another, PROMOTE IT HERE AND ELSEWHERE..."
The workers of VIOME have made a decision.
And this decision is: LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!
We invite you to make our common slogan a reality:
LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!
LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES, for everyone's sake.
LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!
"LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!"
"Let's hold our heads up high!"
"LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!"
"Let's hold our heads up high!"
One more time, it has to be perfect: "LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES" (in French)
LET'S NOT LIVE LIKE SLAVES!
"THOSE WHO LIVE ARE THOSE WHO FIGHT, are those whose mind and soul are ingrained with a firm planning. Those for whom..."
"...a steep slope symbolises a big destiny. THOSE WHO WALK CONTEMPLATING A WONDERFUL CAUSE." Victor Hugo, Les Chßtiments, 1853
Alexis (we do not forget, we do not forgive)
non-profit co-production: The Cradle Of Another World Anepos Maud Youlountas Serge Utgi-Royo and 173 supporting subscribers
coordination - distribution: Maud Youlountas Loukas Youlountas
website - IT: Minga, Iric Jousse, Anne Merlieux
english subtitles: www.x-pressed.org
script - production - camerawork - editing: Yannis Youlountas
In memory of: Alexis Grigoropoulos (1993-2008) Climent Miric (1995-2013)