RE: https://ni.hil.ist/@flowrot/116470662730318767
Feb 5 Collective just compiled this zine of statements by Aristotelis Chantzis & Suzon Doppagne, the hunger strikers unto death of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika. I found Aristos' Newroz message and essay, "FOR THE UNYIELDING CONTINUATION OF THE HUNGER STRIKE UNTIL DEATH IN DEFENSE OF LIFE," extremely moving, and here's a passage from that I'd like to share:
"Beginning this hunger strike, I wrote a short — though I believe concise and comprehensive — letter titled 'Message to society, to my family and to my friends', aiming to help others better understand the hunger strike I began on 5 February 2026. Before moving to the main subject, I must say that from the start of the hunger strike, until the moment these lines are being written, I have been approached by people from all three of the groups that I addressed in my message — and depending on the courage or even the audacity of some, or on the familiarity they have with me, some directly and others indirectly — aiming to persuade me to change my decision.
This was something I was aware of before even beginning the hunger strike: that both I personally and the Community itself —especially its other political members — would face this situation. I also know that as my health deteriorates, the appeals to end the hunger strike will multiply. Up to this point I do not blame those who do so, so long as they do not cross into hostility toward what I represent as a political member of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika — meaning that they do not criticize and badmouth the struggle within close or wider circles, nor attack directly or indirectly the Community or its other members. Anyone who acts in this way, be it due to their inability to control their emotions or impulses, indirectly plays into the hands of state repression — not only against the Community of Squatted Prosfygika, but in general against the world of communities, self-organization, solidarity, social resistance and even against the very method of struggle that is the hunger strike itself.
I must clarify that I am not engaging in conspiracy accusations, nor do I have any intention of accusing anyone who approached me of being 'hostile,' whether toward me, the Community or the broader resistance movement. On the contrary, I understand that this was done with the best of intentions and out of love for my life and my person and all of them stand in solidarity, with some even going beyond their limits in doing so. However, I would like to focus on how repressive mechanisms exploit instincts, emotions and impulses, to such a degree that in some cases they can control not merely individuals or organizations, but entire social groups on a large scale.
[...]
I will not report in general the various methods extensively used by state mechanisms to break hunger strikes of political prisoners in Turkey, Northern Kurdistan, Palestine, the United States and elsewhere. Instead, I will focus mainly on the experience of Northern Ireland with what British officials called 'capitulation'. According to documents released during the previous decade by the National Archives of Northern Ireland, there are references to how one of the methods used to suppress hunger strikes was the 'capitulation' of the striker, by manipulating — or simply exploiting — the anguish of their families, in cooperation with Catholic priests, in order to persuade the striker to end the hunger strike. Although the goal of 'capitulation' was not met in great success except for a few cases, we cannot ignore that the families of the strikers played a significant role in the pressure exerted on the IRA to end the hunger strikes, nor that, with the consent of the families, any striker who fell into a coma would have the hunger strike terminated. Here I am not judging whether that decision was right or wrong; I am simply presenting the historical reality.
[...]
At some point, during the first weeks of the hunger strike, while I was at the tent collecting signatures on Alexandras Avenue, I was approached by a stranger who introduced himself as a healthcare worker employed in the surrounding area and as someone with left-wing beliefs. He began urging me to stop the hunger strike because I would suffer irreversible damage to my health, claiming that it was not worth it to destroy myself while everyone else here was eating well, and pointing to two very young comrades distributing pamphlets, accused them of pretending to be supportive while handing out leaflets on full stomachs. From the moment he approached me until I firmly urged him to continue on his way immediately — given the vulgarity of degrading an entire Community and, even more so, of toying with the emotions of the young comrades who were present — his demeanor carried characteristics intended to instill panic, fear and doubt in the recipients of his words. Although this particular case displayed excessive audacity, I must say that during this period multiple people have approached me questioning whether this hunger strike is worth it. I am certain that some of them had the best intentions, but in any case, my aim here is not to judge intentions. I must also repeat that I am not accusing anyone of being a state security agent, although of course I cannot exclude the possibility that among the dozens of passersby who approached me there may have been some. Regardless of intentions, however, the practice of spreading doubt, suspicion and defamation has historically been used by the forces of counterrevolution in order to divide movements or provoke mutual destruction among cadres within the same organization or between different organizations. The FBI applied these techniques through the method of 'bad-jacketing' in COINTELPRO against the Black Panther Party.
[...]
There is already the collective experience of the slander directed at Panos Routsis during his hunger strike — to mention a recent example outside the classic trope of the imprisoned for 'illicit' acts hunger striker — as well as the smear campaigns of the various trolls on social media. Similarly, in my own case, I have seen many comments discrediting the hunger strike, arbitrarily arguing that I have already surpassed the human starvation endurance limits, citing Bobby Sands as an example, and generally attempting to diminish, belittle, or ridicule the struggle. While major mass media remain silent, and while there is no pushing to raise awareness of the issue to the degree it deserves, propaganda mechanisms are meanwhile already shaping public opinion so that by the time the striker’s health reaches a critical condition, society will already have been conditioned — with the aim of exerting psychological pressure and exhaustion both on the striker and on solidarity movements."
Get the zine here: https://cryptpad.fr/drive/#/2/drive/view/y3g-FeFzH+28wDiCyvr4C7AixR1vJvb5I2lMYjBwkkc/
#saveprosfygika #prosfygika
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