On March 23, 2023, the court case for the incident that happened about 4.5 years ago, on December 26, 2018, in Evia, concerning a dispute with a hunter, will be heard at the Single-Member Court of Appeal for Felony Cases in Chalkida. The persons brought on trial are two. For reasons not at hand, however, both this text and the political opening of the case is now being done only by the signator.

What happened in December 2018 was a spontaneous attempt to prevent a hunter from pursuing his killing hobby and kill an animal. After being asked repeatedly to stop to no avail, tension ensued, the result of which was that his shotgun was thrown somewhere in the woods. With the hunter in a furious state the end of the incident came with our departure from the scene. The hunter called the police and as a result we were stopped on the route by a number of their vehicles and arrested us. The charges held against us were robbery (for the shotgun) which is a felony and theft (of a cell phone) which is a misdemeanor. At the same time, a restrictive condition to leave the country was imposed, which is still in force today. More about the incident and the statements, role and attitude of the hunting clubs on the case can be found in the previous text published in english translation here.

These accusations only serve to depoliticise a spontaneous but political action in favour of non-human animals and against killer hunters. Depoliticizing actions that disrupt law and order, jeopardize normality and challenge the power and privilege of some is something that is done overwhelmingly by civil justice. With the law as a tool of civil democracy, power camouflages the characteristics of our actions and judges them on the basis of their inclusion or not in its legal code. Laws, however, are nothing more than the written ratification of vertical and horizontal powers. This is why the war against powers often lies outside the context of a legal life.

Having said this, the conclusion is not that the action in Evia was illegal. It is that actions against authority can often either be illegal or, with the proper management of the criminal code, they can become. In short, this text is not an attempt to prove innocence nor a call to support the signator in the face of two unjust and false charges brought by the state’s judicial system. It is a call for solidarity in the struggle against the authorities.

In this case, power was embodied by an individual who, carrying his privileged position as a member of the human species, went out to have fun by killing free non-human creatures moving in their natural environment. Hunting as a symptom of anthropocentrism and speciesism exists to confirm the latter. Killing at will other sentient beings (whether they move on land, sea or air) on the basis of superiority over them is one piece in the chain of the polymorphous exploitation of non-human animals. Next to this is the snatching and imprisonment of animals in structures of confinement, exploitation, torture and murder. Some examples of these are zoos, marine parks, pet shops, fish farms, factories in the meat, milk, cheese, egg, leather and fur industries.

The same claim to the superiority of the human species arms the hands of science and drives non-human animals into experimental laboratories in the name of finding a cure for human diseases and the cause of financial grants for experiments, promotion and academic advancement through the publication of experimental research and the profitability of pharmaceutical companies from the production and sale of medicines. The life and existence of animals is considered so inferior that experimentation on them for the production of cosmetics, detergents and other grooming and household products does not, for the most part, arouse any social reflex.

On the other hand, the more fortunate of them are legally protected according to the culture and laws of each country, as is the case in Greece mainly with cats and dogs. Even in this case, however, these animals are named as “companion animals” (editor’s note: otherwise called “pets”) since their existence could not fail to serve people in some way. At the same time, the culture of speciesism, embracing eugenics and purity logics, arms the hands of the state and all kinds of ‘animal lovers’ with the tools of sterilisation, chipping and confinement in apartments on the grounds of “saving” non-human animals. But this too is nothing more than a camouflaged mentality of speciesism which again places humans in the position of deciding for non-human animals, this time as their superior protectors. But let these “animal lovers” answer whether they would choose the same for homeless people. Or if they understand the term “aanimal welfarist” in the same way they understand the term “philanthropist”. I assume they wouldn’t neuter, chip and jail a human friend due to weather conditions.

All of these authoritarian practices and the corresponding structures can and do exist only because they serve the construct of anthropocentrism and the culture of speciesism on which the majority of human society is built. The two together strip non-human animals of their characteristics and allow them to be transformed from subjects with intrinsic value in life into profit-making machines, objects of entertainment, consumer products, experimental tools and stuffed teddy bears for humans. And hunting is nothing more than a part of all this.

The president of the local hunting club – of Istriea – said that the whole “hunting family” is being harmed and threatened by the action in Evia. This action, however, carries behind it the opposition not only to this particular hunter, not only to the hunters, but to all those who embody the authority of speciesism. The liberation of non-human animals from the shackles of human domination is the cornerstone of antispeciesism, just as the liberation of all from the shackles of all powers is the core of total iberation.

All forms of power coexist, interact and feed off each other. Patriarchy challenges the equal value of femininities over masculinities just as speciesism challenges the self-worth of non-human animals over human animals. The war against the self-determination of the bodies of human females, their violation and non-consensual treatment as mechanisms of reproduction, means of producing entertainment, pleasure and as tools for the validation of masculine domination stands side by side with the corresponding treatment of the female bodies of non-human animals. Cows in the context of the industry, stacked side by side, imprisoned and immobilized, are subjected to repeated rapes in order to produce babies that will never grow up with their mothers since they will end up in a slaughterhouse to become meat for humans. And their mother’s milk will never end up with them as it will again be turned into a product for humans. Probably the supermarket shelf that will adorn what should be food for their babies will be near a refrigerator that will contain their own butchered bodies packaged and frozen. Women trafficking is not so different from trucking cows to some facility for confinement, oppression, torture and rape.

To conceive of “liberation” as something that only fits the human species is the same as conceiving of “classless society” as a society of white supremacists and dark-skinned slaves. Or as a society where patriarchy will still exist and/or children and the elderly will continue to be oppressed by the “productive” age and people of different abilities and ways of thinking will live in the shadow of the “normal” ones. Such a society cannot be liberating.

To conclude and return, the significance of the forthcoming court does not lie in its legal aspect and verdict and – as far as I am concerned – is not a process directed towards the individual on trial nor a reference – by extension – to the atomocentric view of liberation struggles. It lies in the socio-political promotion of ways of life that stand against oppression and power. And from my perspective, solidarity in this case in particular is understood as solidarity first and foremost with the non-human animals themselves, such as some rabbits that may have been saved that day. With this as a starting point, I invite people who share these issues to express their solidarity in whatever way they wish. For until all are free, none is free.

ANIMALS ARE NOT OBJECTS, THEY HAVE SELF LIFE VALUE

HUNTING IS NOT A HOBBY, IT’S MURDER

Athens, 04/02/2023

Dimitra

19-05-2022
Republished from a counter-information website.

On Wednesday 11 May, a banner of solidarity with comrade Demeter, who is being persecuted for her anti-migrant action, was put up at the Polytechnic.

HUNTING TO HUNTERS

NO INDIVIDUAL ALONE IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE

* here is the comrade’s text on the case

https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1618240/ (editor’s note: you can find it translated inside the blog here)

*we also call to the solidarity microphonic organized by the Initiative Against Hunting on Monday 23/5

https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1618667/ (editor’s note: you can find it translated inside the blog here)

Anarcho-abnormal antispe

[Monday 23/05- 20:00] Microphonic intervention in solidarity with comrade D. who is persecuted for her anti-hunting action

Hunting is not a hobby

It’s murder.

“The liberation of non-human animals from the shackles of human domination is the cornerstone of anti-capitalism, just as the liberation of all from the shackles of all powers is the core of total liberation.” Dimitra

On May 26, 2022, a case is being heard at the Single-Member Court of Appeal of the Criminal Court of Appeal in Chalkida, for which two people are being prosecuted, one of whom is comrade Dimitra, concerning the incident of a conflict with a hunter in Evia in 2018. After a dispute, the disarming of the hunter and the prevention of his murderous activity became possible. The uniformed garbage proceeded to an arrest under the law that defines any act of liberation from the shackles of power, whatever form it takes, as illegal. After 3.5 years, the comrade is on trial for this anti-hunting intervention, which resulted in the loss of the hunter-killer’s shotgun and mobile phone, on the basis of which the charges of robbery and theft were formed.

In the face of the hunters’ lobbies that are standing with announcements, publications and financial support for the hunter-killer and their ‘like-minded’ comrade demanding the conviction of the anti-hunter action, all we can say is that the comrade is not alone. We will continue to oppose all authoritarian and speceisist logic and actions. Despite the war that society, the state and their laws declare against us, our struggle will not stop until total liberation.

Antispeceisist actions oppose death, exploitation and the authoritarian imposition of species upon species. Authority, aided by the laws it enacts, paves the way for this hunt for profit and pleasure derived from suffering and imposition, and formed by a perverse superiority, competition, habit and tolerance.

Protective laws, prizes, bonus cartridges per head, appropriate seasons and species to be hunted, sometimes as dangerous and for the preservation of fauna and sometimes as surplus, objects of research or recreation and sporting activity. We do not understand any legitimacy and of course we cannot accept legal hunting nor the institutionality of the clubs and associations of the murderer-hobbyist-professional hunter of the capitalist western world. No amount of cooperation between animal welfare and environmental organisations, universities and veterinarians will convince us that the normalisation of the killing of living beings is for their well-being.

Guns, upgraded technology, false scents, radars, hunting towers, and even the use of other animals such as dogs signify an unequal battle. We abhor the logic that perceives non-human animals as prey to be eaten, processed and turned into clothes, skinned flesh, relics and jewelry, trophies in photos that smell of death, to adorn chalets and salons, to be served with a smile and devoured with gluttony, or mere carcasses to be discarded lifeless and useless.

The time has come for us to set traps for the hunters, to photograph our trophies that express no superiority and to stand by our comrades, human and non-human, as part of this world and not as its exploiters and managers.

NO INDIVIDUAL ALONE IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE

UNTIL WE ARE ALL FREE

UNTIL ANARCHY

Initiative against hunting

2 days against hunting
on the occasion of anti-hunting brochure publication

20/5
19.00: Presentation of the brochure ANTI-HUNTING
20.00: Seaspiracy documentary screening

21/5
17.00: Antispe gathering (kafeneio)
20.00: The Ivory Game documentary screening

At Zizania squat, Fylis and Feron

 

* sexist, transphobic, homophobic, abusive, racist, speciesist and other oppresive (based on age, ability, etc.) behaviour will not be tolerated

** the consumption of products containing murdered non-human animals and/or their by-products will not be tolerated

PARASITA- Anarchist Collective for the Total Liberation

[email protected]

parasita.espivblogs.net

“About the upcoming trial regarding the incident of 2018 with the hunter in Evia

On May 26, 2022, the court case for the incident that happened about 3.5 years ago, on December 26, 2018, in Evia, concerning a dispute with a hunter, will be heard at the Single-Member Court of Appeal for Felony Cases in Chalkida. The persons brought on trial are two. For reasons not at hand, however, both this text and the political opening of the case is now being done only by the signator.

What happened in December 2018 was a spontaneous attempt to prevent a hunter from pursuing his killing hobby and kill an animal. After being asked repeatedly to stop to no avail, tension ensued, the result of which was that his shotgun was thrown somewhere in the woods. With the hunter in a furious state the end of the incident came with our departure from the scene. The hunter called the police and as a result we were stopped on the route by a number of their vehicles and arrested us. The charges held against us were robbery (for the shotgun) which is a felony and theft (of a cell phone) which is a misdemeanor. At the same time, a restrictive condition to leave the country was imposed, which is still in force today. More about the incident and the statements, role and attitude of the hunting clubs on the case can be found in the previous text published here (editor’s note: this text can be found translated inside the blog here).

These accusations only serve to depoliticise a spontaneous but political action in favour of non-human animals and against killer hunters. Depoliticizing actions that disrupt law and order, jeopardize normality and challenge the power and privilege of some is something that is done overwhelmingly by civil justice. With the law as a tool of civil democracy, power camouflages the characteristics of our actions and judges them on the basis of their inclusion or not in its legal code. Laws, however, are nothing more than the written ratification of vertical and horizontal powers. This is why the war against powers often lies outside the context of a legal life.

Having said this, the conclusion is not that the action in Evia was illegal. It is that actions against authority can often either be illegal or, with the proper management of the criminal code, they can become. In short, this text is not an attempt to prove innocence nor a call to support the signator in the face of two unjust and false charges brought by the state’s judicial system. It is a call for solidarity in the struggle against the authorities.

In this case, power was embodied by an individual who, carrying his privileged position as a member of the human species, went out to have fun by killing free non-human creatures moving in their natural environment. Hunting as a symptom of anthropocentrism and speciesism exists to confirm the latter. Killing at will other sentient beings (whether they move on land, sea or air) on the basis of superiority over them is one piece in the chain of the polymorphous exploitation of non-human animals. Next to this is the snatching and imprisonment of animals in structures of confinement, exploitation, torture and murder. Some examples of these are zoos, marine parks, pet shops, fish farms, factories in the meat, milk, cheese, egg, leather and fur industries.

The same claim to the superiority of the human species arms the hands of science and drives non-human animals into experimental laboratories in the name of finding a cure for human diseases and the cause of financial grants for experiments, promotion and academic advancement through the publication of experimental research and the profitability of pharmaceutical companies from the production and sale of medicines. The life and existence of animals is considered so inferior that experimentation on them for the production of cosmetics, detergents and other grooming and household products does not, for the most part, arouse any social reflex.

On the other hand, the more fortunate of them are legally protected according to the culture and laws of each country, as is the case in Greece mainly with cats and dogs. Even in this case, however, these animals are named as “companion animals” (editor’s note: otherwise called “pets”) since their existence could not fail to serve people in some way. At the same time, the culture of speciesism, embracing eugenics and purity logics, arms the hands of the state and all kinds of ‘animal lovers’ with the tools of sterilisation, chipping and confinement in apartments on the grounds of “saving” non-human animals. But this too is nothing more than a camouflaged mentality of speciesism which again places humans in the position of deciding for non-human animals, this time as their superior protectors. But let these “animal lovers” answer whether they would choose the same for homeless people. Or if they understand the term “aanimal welfarist” in the same way they understand the term “philanthropist”. I assume they wouldn’t neuter, chip and jail a human friend due to weather conditions.

All of these authoritarian practices and the corresponding structures can and do exist only because they serve the construct of anthropocentrism and the culture of speciesism on which the majority of human society is built. The two together strip non-human animals of their characteristics and allow them to be transformed from subjects with intrinsic value in life into profit-making machines, objects of entertainment, consumer products, experimental tools and stuffed teddy bears for humans. And hunting is nothing more than a part of all this.

The president of the local hunting club – of Istriea – said that the whole “hunting family” is being harmed and threatened by the action in Evia. This action, however, carries behind it the opposition not only to this particular hunter, not only to the hunters, but to all those who embody the authority of speciesism. The liberation of non-human animals from the shackles of human domination is the cornerstone of antispeciesism, just as the liberation of all from the shackles of all powers is the core of total iberation.

All forms of power coexist, interact and feed off each other. Patriarchy challenges the equal value of femininities over masculinities just as speciesism challenges the self-worth of non-human animals over human animals. The war against the self-determination of the bodies of human females, their violation and non-consensual treatment as mechanisms of reproduction, means of producing entertainment, pleasure and as tools for the validation of masculine domination stands side by side with the corresponding treatment of the female bodies of non-human animals. Cows in the context of the industry, stacked side by side, imprisoned and immobilized, are subjected to repeated rapes in order to produce babies that will never grow up with their mothers since they will end up in a slaughterhouse to become meat for humans. And their mother’s milk will never end up with them as it will again be turned into a product for humans. Probably the supermarket shelf that will adorn what should be food for their babies will be near a refrigerator that will contain their own butchered bodies packaged and frozen. Women trafficking  is not so different from trucking cows to some facility for confinement, oppression, torture and rape.

To conceive of “liberation” as something that only fits the human species is the same as conceiving of “classless society” as a society of white supremacists and dark-skinned slaves. Or as a society where patriarchy will still exist and/or children and the elderly will continue to be oppressed by the “productive” age and people of different abilities and ways of thinking will live in the shadow of the “normal” ones. Such a society cannot be liberating.

To conclude and return, the significance of the forthcoming court does not lie in its legal aspect and verdict and – as far as I am concerned – is not a process directed towards the individual on trial nor a reference – by extension – to the atomocentric view of liberation struggles. It lies in the socio-political promotion of ways of life that stand against oppression and power. And from my perspective, solidarity in this case in particular is understood as solidarity first and foremost with the non-human animals themselves, such as some rabbits that may have been saved that day. With this as a starting point, I invite people who share these issues to express their solidarity in whatever way they wish. For until all are free, none is free.

 

ANIMALS ARE NOT OBJECTS, THEY HAVE SELF LIFE VALUE

HUNTING IS NOT A HOBBY,  IT’S MURDER

Athens, 23/04/2022

Dimitra”

Repost from counter-information webpage.

“Intervention at hunting associations”

On Monday the 1^st of February we staged an intervention with spray paint, stencils and flyers at the 2nd Hunting Association of Athens in Kipseli and the 2^nd Hunting Association of Kallithea as a gesture of solidarity with D. and Th. that are prosecuted for their anti-hunting action in Evia.

For every, hunter, butcher and fisherman, there will be a knife stuck in their guts.

Nobody left alone at the hands of the state.

Anarchists.

“Banner hung for solidarity with anti-hunting action

We live in a time when wild animals are almost extinct. Hunters-fishermen have fun by torturing and killing the remaining animals, which are treated in a speciesist manner as trophies of each fascist, murderer, macho hunter.

Today, hunting and fishing do not meet subsistence needs, as they did in earlier times or in other cultures, but have been established as a hobby or means of entertainment and amusement. It is a shameful and immoral action, as the fisherman-hunter exhausts the power given to him by using unequal means (rifle, shotgun, dynamite, nets, traps, scattered projectiles, etc.) in relation to the animals, since it is almost impossible for them to escape and usually ends up killing them. Hunting and fishing are not only a method of amusement for the middle and upper classes, but exist in almost all social stratification. Moreover, these actions of murder are directly linked to the patriarchy and its power pattern. It is no coincidence, of course, that the percentage of femicides committed by male hunters is high.

We, as anarchist antispeciesists queer subjects, stand against every authoritarian action towards non-human animals, as well as towards human animals and nature, regardless of if this is called fishing, hunting, food-clothing industry, wind power parks, or Attica zoo.

In the current circumstances, according to a state decision and while hunting has been banned due to covid-19, the hunting of wild boar has been extended in order to combat African swine fever in the regions of Rhodope, Evros and Xanthi, with the right to hunt without restriction. The State, as the dominant form of power, is in fact legitimising the killing of animals, using the risk of African swine fever as a pretext. In other words, anything defined by the state as a public health risk must be exterminated, a plan that fits into the broader model of biopolitics – bio-power, as in the case of the state management of covid-19. There is, therefore, a need to include in our analyses non-human animals, which in very few cases have self-determination of their bodies.

We express our solidarity with D. and T., who are being prosecuted for their anti-hunting activities because they prevented a hunter from killing an animal. As part of solidarity actions for the above, a banner was hung in the F.E.P.A.

Anarcho-queer antispeciesist structure Helona”

30-01-2021
Republished from a counter-information website.

“Banner for D&Th.

A banner of solidarity with the D&Th. persecuted for the anti-hunting action in Evia. The banners were hung in the fertilizer park in Drapetsona and on a bridge on Petrou Ralli road in the area of Renti.”

25-01-2021
Republished from a counter-information website.

” Microphone intervention at ‘Areos pedion’ [Antispeciesist assembly]

In the context of solidarity actions towards D. and Th. who are being persecuted for their anti-hunting action and in view of the trial scheduled for 28/1, we held a microphone intervention at the Areos pedion.

We hung banners, distributed texts and threw flyers for total liberation and against hunting. The microphone was accompanied by comrades and there was no disturbance from cops except for two motorbikes that passed by the spot.

After the end of the microphone intervention, a spontaneous small scale demonstration with banners and slogans took place inside the park, which ended in Protomagias Square. The banner was hung at FEPA on Ulof Palme.

At this link you can find the text which was distributed during the intervention : https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1609742/

SOLIDARITY WITH D. AND TH. PERSECUTED FOR THEIR ANTI-HUNTING ACTION

HUNTING IS NOT A HOBBY, IT IS A MURDER, STRUGGLE FOR LIFE AND FREEDOM

HUNT THE HUNTERS

UNTIL THE TOTAL LIBERATION OF LIFE AND LAND.

Antispeciesist Assembly

[email protected]”

“On 16/03/2019 we destroyed the entire facade of the 3rd Hunting Club of Athens at 19 Ephesou Street in Kaisariani. It was the minimal form of reaction to the violence that is practiced daily against non-human animals.
Hunting is one of the many authoritarian practices that are reproduced within the speciesist culture of domination. This culture is also legally sanctioned by the state and its institutions, expressing its punitive attitude towards those who actively resist it. A typical example is the incident in Evia in which a couple did the obvious by preventing a hunter from killing animals, resulting in their prosecution.
The relationship between the state and speciesism was also illustrated by the vote against the recently proposed constitutionalisation regarding the protection of animals. The influence of the hunting associations on the state institutions played a decisive role in this. Of course, we have no illusions on our part. The state will not provide us with a solution to the problem of speciesism. It will be given to us by self-organized direct actions.

PS: We are looking forward to more joyful news of the type “Tragic end for a hunter” or “SHOCK! Hunter shot hunter”. As for the rest, they will be taken care of by the big powerful one.

Big Powerful Hammerheads.”