Κυπριακό Κινηματικό Αρχείο
Cyprus Movements Archive
Kıbrıs Sosyal Hareket Arşivi

(A simple and boring explanation for those who do not understand the self-evident).

APHRODITE HAS DIVORCED ARES AND CANNOT STAND ZEUS… ALL COUNTRIES AND ARMIES OUT OF CYPRUS Ⓐ

From an anti-authoritarian point of view, the central problem is not the preservation of “national identity” or the “non-shrinkage of Hellenism” and similar nonsense. The issue is the IMMEDIATE and EXISTING oppression and authority – the green line, the presence of occupying armies (Turkish, Greek, English, Cypriot etc.) the danger of a new round of racist massacres (like those of '58, '63, '67, '74), of wars, of refugees etc. And since the problem is not merely the result of foreign interventions, conspiracies, etc. but also of the contradictions of this society (from which, after all, Georgatzis, Sampson, EOKA B and TMT came out), the struggle against the authority of the invaders and of states cannot be separated from the struggle internal to our society, against our own authority.

There are, of course, the voices of realistic logic: “through the national (problem) we will also solve social problems”. But if the national problem was born from this society, how will it be solved without addressing the roots of the phenomenon? A signature from politicians will not erase the 30 years of mistrust, economic inequality, chauvinism and blood that separate the two communities. Nor will it limit the expansionism of the Greek and Turkish states. Unless, of course, some people dream of a solution where one of the two communities disappears… These people exist too… Let them take become refugees on their own initiative, there is no need to repeat '23 and '74 because some people want to play the role of the “nation's heroes”. The other view, that national mobilization will solve social problems is, at the very least, ridiculous, historically speaking. The experience of the Third World movements of the 1960s is recent… No “national struggle” has solved the internal problems of a society regarding authority – not even the socialist ones… On the contrary, national struggles, when taken as fundamental, primarily strengthen the state, oppress minorities, create a militarist fanaticism within society… Maoists (current and former), look at your accomplishments… What other than dictatorships and Khomeini did the famous “national liberation” movements leave in the Third World?

But we do not have to look much further… Look at how the ideology of the national problem as the fundamental issue, has worked in Cyprus… For “anti-imperialist unity” AKEL has become the firefighter of social movements, EDEK has become a chauvinist party, and a pro-Enosis Marxist once said the infamous “if you don’t take a stand on the national issue, you have no reason to exist”, to an initiative for the formation of a women’s group.

THE CYPRUS PROBLEM IS WILL TAKE YEARS CHILDREN… AND TO ESCAPE FROM TODAY’S DILEMMA BETWEEN A WAR OR A “SOLUTION” WHICH WILL CREATE THE SAME SHIT IN FIVE-TEN YEARS, IT IS NECESSARY TO ARTICULATE AN ALTERNATIVE DISCOURSE WHICH, THROUGH ITS ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN PRACTICE, WILL PUT THE PROBLEM IN A NEW FRAMEWORK.

• An intensification of social conflicts, of questioning, of non-inclusion to the “national unity” promoted by the state and the nationalists; and since we are (at least geographically) a bridge between Europe and the Middle East, but also culturally between Greece and Turkey, a search for the commonalities of this geographical-cultural space, within its anti-authoritarian roots and practices. What is needed is again an interpretation or a history, the type which the Greco-Christians are trying to erase with the dogma “We are Greeks, period”. This is not Crete, this is where Christians and Muslims (before they were made to wear the hats of “national identity”) had joint uprisings against the church and the Muftis, there were people which resisted nationalism since the '20s… There were class conflicts, with extensions towards anti-colonial struggles… And now, perhaps, Greeks, Turks and Cypriot rockers, feminists, homosexuals, etc. may find much more in common among themselves in their Eastern mentality, or in their postmodern culture, than with the “proper, law abiding family men” who spit on them on the street every day.

• A struggle for AUTONOMY/SELF-MANAGEMENT against states, based on the right (the human right, not the national) to free settlement and free movement wherever anyone wants, without green lines, “opposing military watch-posts” etc. But at the same time, the historical right of political minorities to have an equal say in matters concerning their existence must also be recognised. Because anyone who talks only about the massacres of '74 and forgets what the Turkish Cypriots went through in '63 and '67 either turns a blind eye, or is a conscious liar.

• A struggle against nationalism and the prospect of war. There is no immediate threat of war, despite what professional scaremongers want to believe. But since nationalist hysteria is ever present in our neighbourhoods, it is necessary to form a common understanding for joint struggles and resistances by individuals and groups located in Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey, whose key concern is not how their state will win a war, BUT how to stop the prospect of a conflict. Because the only winners of a war are the arms manufacturers, the nationalists through the “blood of the enemies” and the states that confirm the need for their existence… and these statements are history, not dogmas.

THROUGH the present apathy a much more horrifying nationalism from that of the past (which will repeat itself in all its tragic-comic dimensions) will emerge, or a TRANSCENDENCE/OVERCOMING of the past and the present… THE FINAL INDIGESTION WILL BE YOURS… SO BEWARE FROM NOW HOW MUCH SALT YOU PUT.

Anarchist group "Anafentos"

KAVAZOGLOU MISIAOULIS MURDERED BY T.M.T.… GEORGATZIS, THEY WERE AHEAD OF YOU.

“I DO NOT CARE IF ON THIS EARTH LIVE TURKS OR GREEKS. WHAT HAS VALUE IS THAT THOSE WHO LIVE ON IT WATER IT WITH THEIR SWEAT AND WALK ON IT FREE…” KYRIAKOS MATSIS