Emergency for IMC in Athens and Patras (Greece)

Normal
0
21

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

Emergency for IMC in Athens
and Patras (Greece)

A period of State widespread repression and brutality
followed after December 2008 Rebellion. During and after the rebellion, the
political party of extreme right wing LAOS (Popular Orthodox Party Alert) and
the Greek state decided to press the IMC of Athens and Patras, on the grounds
that they were used as centers for the coordination of Rebellion (no rebellions
may, of course, be conducted via the Internet), deliberately ignoring the
contribution of CMI to the counter-information.

Members of fascist parties of the right and the
extreme right of the parliament have launched attacks against the IMC of
Athens. The fascists tried to foist their propaganda about the government right
through their blogs, and they are trying to block access to the site by attacks
made by  hackers. The statements of
politicians at parliament and on television make the IMC as a major enemy of
the state.

The most dangerous movement was the appeal sent to the
Minister of Education by K. Velopoulos, a member of LAOS. He asked the Minister of
Education if the IMC of Athens and Patras were housed in the Athens Polytechnic
University (UPA) and demanded immediate action to stop these  "dangerous" sites from
"supporting terrorism" and so on.

Read More

The Secretary of Education, S. Taliadouros, readily
agreed to Velopoulos that "these sites claim to be a threat to
democracy" and asked the director of the UPA to close it. Ignoring the
status of autonomy of Greek universities, all sorts of political and judicial
pressures were put into practice on the university authorities to remove our IP
address. We are aware that even if the university is up against the decisions
of the ministry there are other ways in which they can close it.

A member of the extreme right party, LAOS, launched a new attack against
the IMC of Athens. He asked a question in parliament saying that the
Polytechnic University of Athens provides access to  Independent Media Athens and that has nothing
to do with research and education.

The former National Hellenic Telecommunications
Organization sent a legal document for the National Network of Research and
Technology, requesting the interruption of access of the Athens IMC in optic
fiber network in five days. The Organization said it will use all legal means
against the National Network of Research and Technology if it does not stop
giving access to IMC of Athens.

The status of social freedoms of all Greek
universities prohibits the entry and police intervention in the university to
prevent the application of State authority and censorship in academic
activities and policies as well as in the ideas that flourish in universities.
The status was claimed and defended for years by the vast majority of people
and the blood of many.

The only law that can be used by the State to break
the civil liberties of the university and close the IMC of Athens is the
anti-terrorism legislation (passed in 2001). Given the fact that young
companions (some of them under age) were accused by the law during the
Rebellion of December 2008 in Larissa (the first time it was applied to the
demonstrators), shows this as a likely scenario.

For all these reasons we ask you if you can host the
Internet sites of the IMC of Athens and Patras on your server. We must preserve
them, especially when they are closed or are near to be closed, and to react
against censorship and promote freedom of information.

The IMC of Athens and Patras (along with other
European and IMC revolutionary Internet sites that are hosted on the same
server) face a serious threat of prosecution. It is the responsibility of the
whole movement and of all of our partners to get support of the world and
protect our voice. We call all the companions of the world to be prepared
because the next period is critical to the existence of the IMC in Greece.

With our warmest greetings of companionship!

IMC of Athens
and Patras