Τhe Ιncident Dissolved

Don't forget, commemorate our poet

Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Forty six years ago he left away from us

How Mayakovsky is related?

In the factory, an old comrade from Macedonia used to talk about him

Sometimes on Sundays, as we were drinking raki from homeland 

and singing songs about migration and resistance

He had lived i Russia for many years

And he used to take the book with Vladimir's poems

As he was calling him

And he was reading to us

And he was bringing in mind the other Vladimir

And he was in tears sometimes

But i think i said enough

Farewell once again

(The October's poem, Y. Ritsos, 1976)

Vladimir V. Mayakovsky. July 19, 1893 - April 14, 1930 

On 14th of April 1930, at the age of 36, Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky 

committed suicide by shooting himself through the heart. In his death note we can read among other:

And so they say - "the incident dissolved"

 the love boat smashed up 

on the dreary routine.

I'm through with life 

and [we] should absolve

 from mutual hurts, afflictions and spleen.

The Spacewalk

Drawing inspired by Alexey's Leonov spacewalk

On the morning of 18 March 1965, the cosmonauts were woken up for their flight. They were given a medical and then observed several traditions that had developed in the years since Gagarin’s launch. Yuri opened a bottle of champagne and poured it into glasses for the cosmonauts to sip. Then they signed the bottle, making a pledge to drink the rest on their return from space. Afterwards, they urinated on one of the wheels of the bus used to transport them to the launch pad at Baikonur. At 07.00 GMT, the R-7 rocket’s engines ignited and propelled the two cosmonauts into the sky. 

Upon reaching orbit, Belyayev deployed the airlock while Leonov strapped on his life support system. Then, with a slap on the back from Belyayev to see him off, Leonov crawled into the airlock and closed the hatch behind him. Leonov waited patiently while Belyayev equalized the pressure in the airlock with the zero pressure in space. This would help purge nitrogen gas from Leonov’s body, protecting him against decompression sickness, also known as “the bends”. Eventually, the all-clear was given to open the external hatch. As Leonov looked out at the Earth, night was turning to day, and Africa filled his field of view...

We established contact over the Black Sea. Yuri Gagarin was on the other end.
"Almaz, you can step out, we see you well". And i jumped.
Alexey Leonov's walk lasted for 12 minutes and 9 seconds.

“As soon as we were in orbit the command was given to open the airlock. I went out the airlock and the hatch was closed behind me. It's hard to imagine what it is like. My feeling was that i was a grain of sand. Only out there can you feel the greatness and enormity of all that's around us. On Earth you just don't get a sense of it... The silence struck me. I could hear my heart beating so clearly..." 

...It was then that things began to go wrong. I felt my spacesuit losing it's shape. My fingers had slipped out of the gloves and my feet from the boots. The suit felt loose around my body. So i had to do something. I couldn't reel myself in on the cord. It was impossible in these gloves. And if i stayed like this i just wouldn't fit back through the airlock. But worst of all, five minutes more and i would be in the Earth's shadow and i wouldn't be able to see anything at all. Silently, without reporting to ground control i decided to halve the pressure in my suit..."

Pavel Belyayev and Alexey Leonov during the Voskhod 2 mission.

Pavel Belyayev and Alexey Leonov back on Earth

Yesterday (18.3.2015) marks exactly half a century since mankind took a daredevil leap into open space... The Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov performed the first extravehicular activity in human history, as a part of the Voskhod 2 Soviet manned space mission, adding another milestone in the exploration of space! The two cosmonauts returned safe to earth the other day, March 19, 1965, 09:02:17 UTC.

Alexey Leonov on 1965 USSR 10 kopek stamp. 

The Guide...

Άμα σώπασε ο Οδηγητής, όλες οι άλλες φωνές και ψυχές 

ενωθήκανε σε μία και λένε το ακόλουθο τραγούδι.

             

     

               Δεν είμαι εγώ σπορά της Τύχης               

ο πλαστουργός της νιας ζωής

Εγώ είμαι τέκνο της ανάγκης

κι ώριμο τέκνο της Οργής.

Δεν κατεβαίνω από τα νέφη

γιατί δε μ’ έστειλε κανείς

Πατέρας, τάχα παρηγόρια

για σένα, σκλάβε, που πονείς.

Ουράνιες δύναμες, αγγέλοι, 

κρίνα, πουλιά κι ψαλμουδές 

τίποτα! Εμένα παραστέκουν

οι θυμωμένες σας καρδιές.

Εγώ του καραβιού γοργόνα

στ’ ορθόπλωρο καράβι μπρος.

Απάνω μου σπάνε φορτούνες

κι άγριος ενάντιά μου καιρός.

Μέσα στο νου και στην καρδιά μου

αιώνων φουντώσανε ντροπές

και την παλάμη μου αρματώνουν

με φλογισμένες αστραπές.

Ένας δεν είμαι, μα χιλιάδες!

Όχι μονάχα οι ζωντανοί 

κι οι πεθαμένοι μ’ ακλουθάνε

σε μια αράδα σκοτεινή.

Μα κι όσοι αγέννητοι, χιλιάδες

άπλαστοι ακόμη με βλογούν

κι όλοι ακουμπάνε τα σπαθιά τους

απάνω μου και τα λυγούν.

Δε δίνω λέξεις παρηγόρια

δίνω μαχαίρι σ’ ολουνούς

καθώς το μπήγω μες το χώμα

γίνεται φως, γίνεται νους.

Άκου, πως παίρνουν οι αγέρες

χιλιάδων χρόνων τη φωνή!

Μέσα στο λόγο το δικό μου

όλ’ η ανθρωπότητα πονεί.

Ω! πως τον παίρνουν οι αγέρες

και πως φωνάζυμε μετά

άβυσσοι μάβροι, τάφοι μάβροι

ποτάμια γαίματα πηχτά!

Όθε περνά, γκρεμίζει κάτου

σαν το βοριά, σαν το νοτιά

όλα τα φονικά ρηγάτα

θεμελιωμένα στην ψευτιά.

Κ’ ένα στηλώνει κι ανασταίνει

το `να βασίλειο της Δουλειάς

(Ειρήνη! Ειρήνη!) το βασίλειο

της Πανανθρώπινης Φιλιάς.

Κώστας Βάρναλης, "Το Φώς που καίει", 1922

I was not born out of chance

Not the creation of those who are young

I'm but the child of your needs

and the mature state of your rage.

I'm not descending from the heavens

for no one sent me out of nowhere.

I am the father, nay, the comfort

for you, slaves, who feel my pain

Heavenly forces, angels

lilies, birds and psalms -

it all means nothing! For my ally

are your own enraged hearts

I am a vessel's wooden mermaid

nailed on the bow of a seaworthy ship.

Meant to rise up to the toughest tides

the fiercest weather that opposes you.

Inside my mind and in my heart

centuries of disgrace have broken out 

and they are arming my hands

with lighting bolts fiery proud.

There's more than one, there are thousands!

And not just the ones still alive -

our proud dead follow in my footsteps

in a dark never-ending line.

But even thousands still unborn

people still not of this world.

They bless me, raise their swords

and rest their faith unto me.

But I'm not here to give no comfort

I'm showing everyone the sword

and as I force it to the ground

it turns to mind it turns to gold.

Listen how the winds swept away

words told for hundreds of years!

In the words I want tell you

you'll find all of humanity's grief.

Oh! how the winds swept it away

but still years after it's still said

About black abysses, darkened moats.

About rivers running red with blood. 

Here it comes and crushes down,

like the strongest north or south wind

all the murderous forces

founded on lying and deceit.

And only one thing can come from it

the one and only kingdom of Workers

(Peace! Peace!) this is the kingdom

of solidarity for the whole world.

Kostas Varnalis, "The Burning Light",1922

In memory of  the great Greek communist poet, Kostas Varnalis 

14.2.1884 - 16.12.1974

The Great December...

"When people stand upon the danger of tyranny 

chooses either the chains or the arms"

Athens, Syntagma Square, 4.12.1944

It was a Sunday exactly 70 years ago when a peaceful protest of EAM (National Liberation Front) was turned into a massacre. It was the beginning of the, 33 day long battle, of Athens. It was the day that the people of Athens chose again to pay the big price of blood in order to preserve its dignity and freedom. Freedom that had been won with countless sacrifices during the Nazi occupation that lasted more than 3 years (21.4.1941 - 12.10.1944). This time an "ally" was about to be the enemy... 60.000 British troops provided the best support to the Greek bourgeoisie class in order to achieve its goal. To come back to power no matter if this was fully against people's will! Greece became the only land in post war Europe (together with West Germany) that the ex - collaborators of the Nazis not only didn't get punished for their crimes against the people but also became an organic part of the postwar state.

Athens, Corner of Panepistimiou & Vas. Georgiou, 3.12.1944 (28 armless protesters murdered on that day)

The funeral of the 28 protesters of the 3rd of December. Athens, Singrou Ave. 4.12.1944

"Nothing can yield Athens"

Upon the danger of a new Tyranny people of Athens chose the arms and not the chains. For 33 days gave a heroic and unequal battle. But it didn't win. It didn't win only in military terms. It was the moral and ideological winner of this battle. Today the peoples all around the world seems that have chosen the chains. The only thing is that a minor part can feel these chains as it moves and tries to break them! Using a Rosa's Luxembourg quote "Those who do not move, do not notice their chains".

Syntagma Square in Athens, as seen from the rooftop of Grate Britain hotel, during the battles of  December 1944

«Αστραποβολά ο λαός μέσα στις συνοικίες.

Με μια ψυχή πέτρες λοστούς και σίδερα κινεί.

Για πολεμίστρες στους εχθρούς πυργώνει τις γωνίες.

Κι από τα οδοφράγματα η Λευτεριά θ' αρθεί».

The Trumpet

Vasilis Douridas, "Atilio", 1942 - 1994

I never learned his name. I didn't know anything about him. How old was he, if he was married or had children, where and how he lived. I never heard his voice. We had never talked. But we were together for more than 20 years. We were seeing each other every Sunday or Wednesday sometimes, no matter how the weather and the situation was. His trumpet was like the "The Magic Flute" in the fairy tales. When he was starting, thousands of voices were becoming as one, the torches were firing and the hearts were beating faster. A distant but lonely journey started for thousands, a breakout, a denial for everything was concerning us that moment.

Day by day, this music, the trumpet's march moved me more and more. As a child, later as teenager, when i was serving my duty, when i was on the road or at work, something was changing within me as i was listening this tune from the radio. Now the trumpet silenced. Our orchestra became poor. This note is a goodbye to Atilio, the musician of the stadiums, the man who put music in every cry for "GOAL". And if someone say that this is an exaggeration to write an article for Atilio, for Gate 7, for football it's better not to think of hooligans and violence, of fixed matches and bad referees. He can think of the kids, the teenagers but as well as the grown ups who love the beauty of sports, the ones who live in the bright side of the moon , who can make this lonely journey even if they are surrounded by thousands others in the same stand. They will always hear, from somewhere far away, the sound of Atilio's trumpet.  

Article of  M. Vintiadis at newspaper "Τα Νέα", 12.11.1994

Every time that Atilio was blowing his trumpet,
everything were stopping and the hands were rising!
The trumpet was resounding throughout the stadium.
And still does...

The trumpet of Vasilis Douridas (aka Atilio) silenced on a day like this 20 years ago. He will always be remembered as the best example of love and dedication for his beloved team, as a symbol of an era that's no longer exist... 

The Revolt.

...But he who has seen the slain

Writhing in final pain

Under the blood-drenched sword.

He knows of better realms...

Saturday, 7th October 1944, Auschwitz camp was upset. The silence of the sunny autumn day was interrupted by sudden gunshots and the siren's howling, which this time was not a warning for another air raid, as usual. A column of fire and smoke was coming out from the building of crematorium no. 4. Terrific news were spreading across the whole camp: The Sonderkommando prisoners mutinied! They rebelled with guns in their arms and they fight against the SS.

Cremation of bodies by the Sonderkommando,
Auschwitz - Birkenau, August 1944.
 (Photo taken secretly by the camp's resistance network) 

The revolt was preparing for a long time before October 7th. Already since summer of 1944 member of Sonderkommando were gathering tools, ammunition, grenades and light weapons for a possible future assault against the SS. The leader of this first attempt for organizing, a Lithuanian prisoner (who was serving as a Kapo) called Kaminsky, had been betrayed and executed by the Nazis. The operation had been postponed for a few weeks but it continued after a while when the circumstances allowed it. As the Soviet Army was advancing towards Krakow the, almost 800, prisoners working in Sonderkommando were a serious threat for the administration of the camp. These prisoners were the only (not Nazi) eyewitnesses of the extermination process which was taking place in Auschwitz - Birkenau. They couldn't work anywhere else inside the camp and no one should be stay alive. The SS were saying ironically that they have secured a ticket to paradise! 

The underground resistance movement which was active in the Auschwitz complex was planning a general uprising involving every part of the camp. The Sonderkommando prisoners, as they had nothing to loose, were the chosen ones to light the fire of this uprising, but they had to wait few more days before all the necessary preparations were completed. 

The exterminate fury of the Nazis changed the plan of the resistance's organisation. Sonderkommando had to act immediately as it was facing its total extinction! Already 300 prisoners had been secretly exterminated on September 29th and the same fate was waiting the rest of them few days later... The morning of 7.10.1944 the resistance group had a secret meeting about the last details of the revolt. A Kapo wearing a green armband (stands for native Germans, common criminals) comes accidentally into the room. That was! Some prisoners threw him alive into the oven as others took out the hidden weapons and got defensive positions in the small forest behind the building. Crematorium no.4 had already been in flames! 

The revolt had begun! Prisoners from Crematorium no.2 got into the fight too. For the rest hours few hundred prisoners were facing heroically almost 3000 SS units. 200 hundreds prisoners will fall in that battle for freedom and only few will manage to escape the camp...

The next days a true witch-hunt will take place in Auschwitz. The SS wanted to find out any possible information related with the organisation of the revolt. They failed completely... Noteworthy was the attitude of four female prisoners working in the nearby "Union" factory (owned by the Krupp family). They were accused for smuggling gunpowder to the resistance members. Despite months of beatings and rape and electric shocks to their genitals, the only names given up by the women are those of already dead Sonderkommando. On January 5, 1945, the four brave women are hanged in front of the assembled women’s camp. One of them, Roza Robota shouts “Be strong and be brave” as the trapdoor drops.

Women being taken to the gas chamber,
Auschwitz - Birkenau, August 1944.
(Photo taken secretly by the camp's resistance network) 

The revolt in the Birkenau crematoriums was the only armed conflict took place in Auschwitz and one of the few known acts of resistance that happened in the huge network of the Nazis concentration camps. The political and moral impact of this action was enormous. It raised the spirit of the inmates and made them to trust their own powers. Their belief to victory became stronger. The revolt showed that even a small group of prisoners, despite their condition, can face thousands fully armed SS. As the Nazis couldn't reinforce the SS guard of the camp, they forced to abandoned their primary plan for the massive extermination of the prisoners and they evacuated the camp instead.We can claim, even if it can not been proved, that the revolt of Sonderkommando put a premature end to the extermination process of this death factory, saving thousands of lives.  

... And yet i 'd rather die,

Your spittle in my eye,

Rather die as a coward,

Than have blood on my hands...

Black Dawn...

«Απ’ τα τσακάλια δε γλιτώνεις με εύχες ή παρακάλια».

K. Βάρναλης

Congress of the German Antifascist Action, Berlin 10.7.1932

"Fascism is a historic phase of capitalism; in this sense it is something new and at the same time old.

In Fascist countries capitalism continues to exist, but only in the form of Fascism; and Fascism can be combated as capitalism alone, as the nakedest, most shameless, most oppressive, and most treacherous form of capitalism.

But how can anyone tell the truth about Fascism, unless he is willing to speak out against capitalism,which brings it forth? What will be the practical results of such truth? Those who are against Fascism without being against capitalism, who lament over the barbarism that comes out of barbarism, are like people who wish to eat their veal without slaughtering the calf.

They are willing to eat the calf, but they dislike the sight of blood. They are easily satisfied if the butcher washes his hands before weighing the meat. They are not against the property relations which engender barbarism; they are only against barbarism itself. They raise their voices against barbarism, and they do so in countries where precisely the same property relations prevail, but where the butchers wash their hands before weighing the meat."

(Bertolt Brecht - Writing the Truth: Five Difficulties, 1935)

Graffiti in Barcelona. In memory of Pavlos Fissas


Το φασισμό πάτα στο λαιμό...

Για τον Παύλο (10.4.1979 - 18.9.2013)

The "Neo-Hellenic" Dream!

Date: 13.08.2004

Time: 21.00

Place: Athens Olympic Stadium 

Phevos & Athena (Mascots of the 2004 games) 

It was exactly 10 years ago, in a full of 72.000 spectators, Olympic Stadium in Athens when a female announcer was "welcoming the citizens of the world in the fest of Athens". The 28th Olympiad was about to begin. It was the day that the "Neo-hellenic" dream reached its highest peak! It was the day that the "average" Greek citizen was "filed up with National Pride" for the achievements of his "strong" country. (Ισχυρή Ελλάδα / Ischiri Ellada, that's how the ones who were in power back in the days used to call the land). Few years ago the country had became a member of a Euro-zone, the statistics and the indicators were clear: everything was going up. His beloved homeland was the strongest in the area, even his national team was on top of the European Football. He had no doubt: the future belonged to him and nothing could stop it...

G.A.Daskalakis (President of the organizing committee) with J. Rogge (president of the International Olympic committee) during the games

Increasing of the repression in the name of security (involving even NATO), austerity measures, economical scandals (officially the cost of the games estimated up to 8.5 billions Euro when the real cost is still unknown) everything was acceptable in the name of our "National Challenge". Just few years after the same "average citizen" was trying to figure out what went wrong and the things end up the way they were. It was the period that he experienced the best possible way how "expensive" was his old dream seeking  the answers by yelling about thieves and traitors, complaining for corruption and immigrants and voting for Neonazis... He knows he was / is also guilty of all the things are still going on in Greece nowadays but he never was brave enough to admit it! For him the "We all together..." become the alibi he was looking for in order to make peace with his consciousness... 

The day the war will be declared inside him the hope for a real change will rise again! Til then we have to make clear that the dreams were / are NOT the same for everyone of us... 

Protest organized by trade unions in memory of the dead workers of the Olympiad, Athens 10.08.2004

In memory of the 13 dead workers (Greek and Immigrants) who helped the "dream" come true... 

Christos Miamis (62)

Kotsi Astrit (35)

Vangelis Meri (45)

Manea Marinel (32)

Alexis Batsi (32)

Thanassis Papagiorgis (45) 

Krekou Yianni (29)

Michalis Evangelou (46) 

Elias Mauropoulos (48) 

L. Marinakis (29)

Panagiotis Mpolanis (58)

Ntoka Ntalip (51)

Sotiris Sekas (51) 

Artemis.

Τίποτα δε μ’ απόμεινε

Στον κόσμο για να κάνω
Αφού η πρέζα μ’ έκανε
Στους δρόμους ν’ αποθάνω...

Anestis Delias, 1912 - 1944

Anestis Delias (Ανέστης Δελιάς, aka Artemis / Αρτέμης) was one of the most iconic, as well as tragic, figures of Rempetiko culture. He was born in Smyrna, Minor Asia in 1912. He was coming from a family of musicians as his father, grandfather and uncle were talented popular musicians. After the catastrophe of Smyrna in 1922, his family moved to Drapetsona neighborhood of Piraeus. There, he soon connected with other Rempetiko musicians as Markos Vamvakaris and Stratos Pagioumtzis among others. Anestis was a talented musician himself. He was playing the bouzouki and baglamas but he was also a singer and composer. He composed only 13 songs -diadems of the Rempetiko genre- during his life, all of them during the period 1935-1938. In the late 30s he started to get addicted in heroin and beside the efforts of his friends to help him quit the junk, he never overcame this problem. According the most accurate sources Anestis died of heroin overdose on the 31st of July 1944. He was only 32 years old!

Panorama of Piraeus port, March 1909

"Anestis Delias was a good Bouzouki player, he was singing too, he was a cool guy. He had a steady, who was prostitute, in Vourla. She was a junkie but he had no idea about it! They were living together in a small booth in Chiotika, in Agios Dionisis. As Anestis was sleeping -she was liking him of course- she wanted to make him hers. She made him a "Yioux", (we take a paper and we roll it like a cone as we do with cigarettes). As he was sleeping she was watching how he was breathing... That's how he was taking heroin! In the beginning he hadn't understood it. The fourth time, he got up, he was feeling cold, his stomach was hurting. -He told me himself- He said to her "Koula something going on, i don't know what. Give me some clothes" - " Don't worry, you are fine. I will give you a powder which will make the cold go away!" As he took it he felt so much better in a short time. Next day he was feeling seek again. He thought lets take this again to see if i will feel better. That's it... One, two, three she turned him into a junkie..." 

(Stelios Kiromitis, interview to Lefteris Papadopoulos) 

The famous Rebetiko Quartet of Piraeus.
From left to right S. Pagioumtzis, M. Vamvakaris, G. Batis, A. Delias

"Back in the days we were playing together with Delias, Stratos and others in the basement of "Vlachos" in the corner of Zinonos & Deligiorgi streets, in Athens. Almost every day he was taking heroin. We couldn't catch him! That night he went in "Ntanakoulis" Teke in Metaxourgio neighborhoud of Athens, where he used to hung out. Late at night, as he was about to leave he was looking like a wreck. He stayed there, just outside of the Teke. Next morning he was found dead by the police's cart operators. He was holding his bouzouki in his hands..." 

(Michalis Genitsaris talking about the last days of Delias)

A Song to Hall up High...

It's being already 10 years since, one of the most  influential and iconic figures of the Heavy Metal universe, left this world... It was 3.6. 2004 when Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg found dead, by heart failure, in his apartment. What he left behind...it will never be forgotten!

Quorthon 27.3.1966 - 3.6.2004

It's a yellow goat printed as a cover for a LP that released back in 1984. It's Lucifer himself  laughing in a middle of a song composed in 1985. It's the sound that accompanied those who were meant to be cursed in eternity in their journey to the other side, recorded in 1986. It's the time before warrior's last battle written in 1988. It's the untold Sagas of the Vikings which came into flesh during the 90's... It's inspiration and devotion. It's a Song to Hall up High... It's the Legend of Bathory and it is Eternal!

I know you watch over me

Father of all the past

And all that will ever be

You are the first and the last

The watcher of all that lives

The guardian of all that died

The one-eyed God way up high

Who rules my world and the sky

Northern wind take my song up high

To the Hall of glory in the sky

So its gates shall greet me open wide

When my time has come to die