Once upon a time in Athens, #23

Mesologgiou St.,  19.07.2015, Stencil by Lotek

Once upon a time in Athens, #22

Mpotasi St., 10.09.2015, mural by Sidron - NDA

The uncompromising poetry of Katerina Gogou

Photograph by Dionysis Petroutsopoulos, Patision St., 1978 [Ethnos]

Katerina Gogou

                                   What I fear most

                                   is becoming "a poet"...

                                   Locking myself in the room

                                   gazing at the sea

                                   and forgetting...

                                   I fear that the stitches over my veins might heal

                                   and, instead of having blur memories about TV news,

                                   I take to scribbling papers and selling "my views"...

                                   I fear that those who stepped over us might accept me

                                   so that they can use me.

                                   I fear that my screams might become a murmur

                                   so that to serve putting my people to sleep.

                                   I fear that I might learn to use meter and rhythm

                                   and thus I will be trapped within them

                                   longing for my verses to become popular songs.

                                   I fear that I might buy binoculars in order to bring closer

                                   the sabotage actions in which I won't be participating.

[Excerpt from a poem translated by G. Chalkiadakis | Home page]

[To Periodiko]

But we are reborn a thousand times

Photograph by Burhan Ozbilici/AP [Madison.com]

This is a photograph of Emel Kitapçı and Artun Siyah Kitapçı, the wife and son of Ali Kitapçı who was killed in the bomb attacks against the Labor, Democracy and Peace rally in Ankara. The death toll of these attacks currently stands at 128 while there are more than 500 wounded, many of them in critical condition.

The photograph was taken by Burhan Ozbilici at a commemoration held outside the city's train station, where the attacks took place. Ali Kitapçı was an anarchist railroad worker and the secretary of the United Trade Union of Transport Employees’ Ankara branch. The following text is an excerpt of the speech by Emel Kitapçı at his funeral, as quoted in Bianet:

Biz ‘barış' dedik, onlar ‘ölüm' dedi. Biz katilin kim olduğunu biliyoruz. Ama biz dimdik ayaktayız. Biz vicdanımızla, ahlakımızla ayaktayız, mücadelemiz devam edecek. Bizi bir kez öldürürler ama bin kez doğururlar. 

We said 'peace', they said 'death'. We know who the killer is. But we are standing up. We stand with our conscience, we stand with our ethics, our struggle will continue. They kill us once, but we are reborn a thousand times.

See also:

• Continuing the struggle | Güney Işıkara, Alp Kayserilioğlu and Max Zirngast, Jacobin 
• Stories of those who lost their lives in Ankara | Bianet
• Thousands gather in Ankara to pay respects to activists killed in bombings | Kareem Shaheen, The Guardian 

Many thanks to my dear friend Melek for helping me with the Turkish news sources and the translation - teşekkür ederim.

Beirut, by Ibrahim Maalouf

Photograph by Claire Corrion [Aujourd'hui la Turquie]

Ibrahim Maalouf

The second video is a great performance at Jazz in Marciac, and includes Beirut at 20:00

Living in a panel: Andrea Pazienza

[CASSETTI CONFUSI]

Andrea Pazienza

The text reads as follows:

Dedicated to all those who were twenty years old in '77, and now are eighteen

And it refers to the Movement of 1977

Once upon a time in Athens, #21

In the world of bosses we are all immigrants

Themeli St., 13.09.2015, mural: Jnor - NDA, Lila