Since 2020 there have been 3000 incidents in which people have been found in Turkish waters or shorelines after the Hellenic Coast Guard violently forced them back across the invisible sea border and left them adrift. Until now, more than 90,370 people were exposed to this atrocity.
In less than 4 and a half years the HCG, and their partners, have committed monstrous acts of torture, such as robbery, abductions, manslaughter and rape. It happens every day at the command of the Greek State and the European Union.
We do not believe in any legal system under capitalism and we know that the law is there only to protect those in power, but what now happens at the borders is an escalation on all levels. To be clear:
state actors are involved on a daily basis in actions that are prohibited even by the rules of war.
How can this happen every day right in front of us? How can it continue when it is barely covered up? Mitsotakis, Mitarakis, Kairidis, von der Leyen- all of them expect us to believe the same twisted logic:
“Pushbacks are illegal and therefore we don’t do them, but we must protect our borders by all means necessary and we are more successful now than ever”.
These empty phrases aim to send a message to right-wing voters while, at the same time, attempt to keep their crimes hidden sloppily under the carpet, while the loose ends of their logical inconsistencies poke out from under the rug. There, the crimes are hidden convincingly enough for the pseudo-mechanisms aimed at “defending human rights” to claim to be blind to the problem. Why don’t the people of Europe react? Why don’t they get nervous at all? Because the propaganda machinery works well. People have started to believe that they need the state’s protection from an imaginary invasion, that migration is Europe’s biggest problem, despite the infrastructure collapsing all around them onto their heads.
No longer is it just the brainless Nazi who believes their culture (a culture they don’t even know) is at threat of being extinguished, or that western civilization itself is under threat. Even “Leftists” have fallen for the narrative of the threat of migration, as told by their leaders in a desperate and stupid attempt to fetch voters from the far-right. Instead of solidarity amongst all who suffer from the capitalist system, from a state that is ready and willing to kill whoever gets in its way, we see division and racist bias. If the state is getting away with it this time, it is because it has successfully created the illusion that it acts according to the constitution, which is broken only in extraordinary circumstances (like people crossing borders in small boats). The illusion will fall apart the moment its focus shifts to the next of us.
Let’s stand in solidarity with people on the move, let’s fight the system together!