europe.pgaconference.org

We would like to announce an issue for the next PGA conference about antinationalism and antifascism especially in a region (Balkans) with a critical situation and really strong nationalism influence into the population of our countries! Greece is a country with close borders for immigrants and refuges. Greece is also the southern border of the European Union. Especially now that Greek state is planning to block the name of Macedonia and the new situation between kosovo and Serbia. This topic is an emergent one in our days. In the rest of Europe the situation is not the best aether .. Sarkosi is the power in France and conservative parties are taking the power all around. The attacks of Nazis and the antifascist resistance is also part of this issue .. we would like to invite collectives and activists in order the continuity of our antinationalist work all around Europe

Nationalism in Greece and Macedonia ..

The stupidity of the nationalism

Well to start off a simple view on nationalism. Nationalism is a
believe that people who speak one language, share one culture and traditions
should be in one place marked with borders which will separate them from the
other humans that speak different languages, have different cultures and
traditions. Most of the people, with the help of the mainstream media, can't
tell the difference between the state, the country, the land and the people
which reside at a certain geographical space. That is the ground where the
so-called patriots plant their nationalism, with the help of the
politicians. Nationalism is a tool, a tool that is used by governments to
manipulate the masses, in order to create tensions and instability as well
as fear among people of different nations. The best way to show my point of
view on nationalism is by example, an example from the real world, an
example from the Balkans. That is the issues between Macedonians and Greeks,
or to be more precise between the governments of the states of Macedonia and
Greece.

When historians are asked about a certain nation and its roots, the
historian will take you back say few hundreds, maybe even few thousand
years, in order to tell you from what tribe or tribes the nation has been
created. But the real question is: What about the time before that? And the
historian will probably answer that there were no nations before that, and
not just that, there were probably no races based on the color of the skin,
there were just people, just human beings, who like the rest of the beings
on this planet were surviving and living their life. So yes we are all human
beings!

Well let's look at the example. There were many tribes and "nations" which
were born and died and some are still alive in the Balkans. But we know form
history as a fact that tribes migrated a lot. So the Balkan Peninsula with
its neat geographical space was one of the places of the earth where people
settled, moved, traveled through, not just today but many years back. As
such region, there was mix of cultures, mix of tribes, mix of traditions,
mix of religions, mix of languages, etc. So how can we speak about nations
with all the mixing that happened throughout history? Nevertheless at this
present day there are "nations" and there are states, which keep people
separated, such is the case with Macedonia and Greece, instead of
interchanging and sharing among the people who consider themselves
Macedonians and Greeks, we see only cooperation between businesses from both
of the states. Instead of learning from the history, states push us the
common people against each other using the history as an excuse. The common
people, what an interesting phrase. The sad part of it all is that most of
these common people are easily fueled with anger against some imaginary
enemies created by the governments. That is so, until the common people have
greater concerns like having jobs, or having land or having the conditions
to exist. When one of those issues is endangered then people really don't
care about the nations or the history or whatever, they care about their
existence in this world, they care about now. But why is all this noise and
fuss about some stupid name issues, or history? Well the simplest answer I
can provide is: Because of the plans that governments try to apply and
escaping of the everyday problems of the people, while entertaining the
people with other "really important" questions. What plans? Well, NATO, the
European Union, the laws that are changing every day towards more repression
and control, while we are busy working, and concerning about our future.
What everyday problems? - The strikes in Greece and Macedonia, the social
issues, the real life where there is so much to be done, the pollution of
this world, the homeless and the hungry, the common people, the cheap labor
force for the multinational companies. So you see by the power of the
mainstream media governments are trying to divide us the people using some
fictional excuses, which are not of real importance like some other issues
who are deliberately avoided.

In Macedonia, there is certain rise of nationalism supported by the current
government; they want people to feel proud that are Macedonians. But what is
pride for, when one lives as a slave? So all they sell is an illusion, to
make the common people feel good about something well as I stated before,
something imaginary. So you see the curve there, instead of the governments
to provide us a better life, well that's what they always say they are there
for, they are bombarding us with unnecessary information, such as the
bilateral relations between Macedonia and Greece(the States, not the people
which live there).

We do not need states, the states need us!

-Anarchist