P.J.= President Judge
S.M.= Spyros Mandylas
P.J.: Tell us about those that you are accused of. What do you have to declare?
S.M.: At first, before saying anything else, I want to mention that the girl Ks. K., who has been arrested with me, has nothing to do with the case. For my own choices it’s only me who will take the blame. I met Ks. on my way to Nadir and because the cops wanted to do the invasion when I would have been inside the squat, she was arrested with me. I highlight this, from the beginning, in order to consider it.
As for the accusations. I accept some of them and some not.
But before I start talking about these I would like to say something about Nadir squat. I claim the political responsibility for Nadir from 2004 until today. The political actions of Nadir all these years are many and different. We have done events, discussions, bars, we have organized protests, we were hosting the radio station of radio-revolt, we have done a variety of actions in the city and we have published some books.
The spaces of the squat are the bar, the studio for rehearsals and recordings, the gym, the garden, the library with hundreds titles of books and a very big archive, the computer lab, the kitchen, the garage and the guest room.
You will have noticed that I didn’t bring testifiers to defend me. I don’t think I have to. Also I didn’t come here to show you diplomas, job certificates and ownership certificates. Because I have my political action from 2004 until today as my defense.
P.J.: This is the protocol…We bring documents to show who we are…These are the rules.
S.M.: Here I am being accused of being an anarchist and not of having or not a diploma. If someone has a diploma, does it prove anything, after all? The worst crimes have been committed by people with diplomas…I have brought three folders with the actions of Nadir. The first one contains the texts we have written as Nadir squat. The second one contains some posters of the squat and the third one contains some texts and actions of Nadir which are referred to the invasion of the cops in the squat.
Another issue I want to mention is that the last six years i am being constantly targeted by the state for my political action. After all, I am the main accused in all of the 4 suppressive attacks of the state against Nadir. It’s remarkable the fact that about 3 years ago I have been arrested and accused of committing 4 attacks (of the Phoenix Project) and participating in the CCF. Without any clue. For this case I have been in custody for 18 months in the prisons of “Korydallos”. Now I have been already acquitted for the 3 attacks and in the trial that is going to take place in Athens this period I am going to be fully acquitted. Why am I saying all these? To prove the plots of the state against anarchists.
P.J.: I read, here, an extract of the book of Alfredo Bonanno “The Armed Joy” which has been published by your squat.
“Hurry comrade, shoot the policeman, the judge, the boss. Now, before a new police prevent you…Hurry to play. Hurry to arm yourself.”
Do you agree with this extract?
S.M.: One of the characteristics of anarchy is multiformity. I agree with the armed revolutionary violence.
P.J.: Tell us about the accusations specifically.
S.M.: Let’s see the issue of the criminal organization. More or less the facts known. From 2008 and after dozens of cases with more than two suspects, being accused for outlaw behaviour, have been named by the cops as cases of “criminal organizations”. You are aware of that, you are judges. In Thessaloniki this tactic has been executed by the former commander of Thessaloniki police, Athinagoras Pazarlis and his gang of informants.
As for Nadir, it is not a criminal organisation because if we wanted to set up a criminal organization, we would have simply found out a hideout and an accountant for the money laundering…
But what is Nadir? It’s an “open space”, inside the dormitory of the university students in Thessaloniki. The reason that this place was chosen is very specific. We wanted to be among a large amount of people (young people) in order to succeed, even from there, the best possible “diffusion of anarchy”.
How do we mean the open space? With that we define a space that since it has been liberated from its previous characteristics, it comes backs on the basis of the values of anarchy, self-organization and anti-hierarchy. It’s a space against power like the state and the bosses. In this space can enter everyone except for the enemies of liberty. As enemies of liberty we mean the politicians, the fascists, the cops, the sexists, the judges etc…You for example, you cannot enter in this open space. You send people to prisons…
As we are speaking now about the issue of open spaces – squats, it’s good some more things to be said. The space, that we have occupied, was abandoned space. Obviously, that has to do with the lack of funding to the Greek universities and also with the fact that a building, which is supposed to accommodate 600 university students, is normal to have some unexploited spaces.
However, I want to stand on the importance of the existence of a squat. An anarchist squat owes to exist as long as there are the reasons that led to its creation. As long as there is state and authority.
As for the radio practise of radio-revolt, for which I also claim the political responsibility for the period I was participating to this. The things are the same as these I have already mentioned. We had the need of expression and we started the procedure of setting up an anarchist radio station. We gathered 3.000€ by organizing a 3-days concert and we bought the machines to broadcast as “pirates”. We broadcast as pirates for 2 reasons. The first one is because we don’t recognize any broadcast board (Hellenic Telecommunication and Post Commission) and the second one is because the licence for broadcasting can reach up to 500.000€. I believe that you also know about the whole situation that has been made about the issue of broadcasting rights.
Another accusation I face is the physical damage against the cop, Pantelis Xanthiakos. I really accept that. The incident happened like this; The Nadir was surrounded by a variety of police forces and a group of 30 informants, who were wearing full-faces, helmets, motorcycle jackets, thick sweaters and they were holding axes and sledgehammers, invaded the squat. In the front line of them was the cop Xanthiakos. I grabbed a flag and I started to hit the invaders of my squat.
Another thing that I would like to say is the real reason of the invasion to Nadir. The arsons and the broken guard-posts were just the excuses that the cops used to invade the squat. The real reason is the political action of the squat. The thing that bothers the state is the solidarity we have shown to armed organizations and anarchist prisoners, it’s the fact that with our radio station we disturbed the tranquility of the city and the monologue of the authority.
You consider us as criminals. We support that criminals are the state, the judges, the police. The repression against occupied anarchist practices proves one thing; That squats are dangerous for the authority.
Spyros Mandylas
Member of Nadir Squat
3rd of June, 2016
