On July 5, 2023, the Greek government evicted a Kurdish refugee camp in Lavrio, Greece. The camp had existed for many decades, serving as an important center of organizing in southeastern Europe. Turkeys war on Kurdish people, the Greek governments war on autonomous spaces, and the European Unions war on migrants all intersected in this operation. In the following analysis, Beja Protner shows the connections between the various forms of systematic oppression involved here. For more information about ways to support movements for Kurdish liberation, you could consult Rise Up 4 Rojava and the Emergency Committee For Rojava.

On July 5, 2023, between 3 and 6 am, Greek state forces raided and violently evicted the self-organized Kurdish refugee camp in Lavrio, Greece. Located about 60 kilometers from Athens, the camp had been home to political refugees from Turkey and Kurdistan for decades. Without notice, more than 250 police officers, riot police (MAT), and heavily armed special police forces (EKAM) sent by the Ministry of Asylum and Migration evicted the residents of the campless than 60 people, a third of whom were young children. The refugees were forcefully transferred to the Oinofyta Refugee Camp, located in an abandoned factory in a deserted area far from any kind of urban settlement.

The eviction, which Greek officials called a humanitarian intervention, looked to the Kurdish and left-wing political refugees from Turkey and Kurdistan more like the sort of dawn raids that had forced many of them to flee from their homelands and seek refuge in Greece in the first place. The Greek forces broke the gate of the camp, stormed into peoples homes, pointed laser-sighted rifles at the peopleincluding families and childrenand dragged them outside.

Even in Turkey [the state forces] dont use that much technology in house raids, commented Welat, a young political refugee from North Kurdistan (Turkey), who had lived in the Lavrio camp for five years after escaping persecution in Turkey. As Leyla, who had lived in the camp with her husband and three small children recounted, the residents were given only half an hour to collect their essential belongings before police forces occupied the camp and forbade entry. Some of those who resisted the eviction were violently restrained with their hands handcuffed behind their backs. Leyla tried to calm down her daughter by telling her it was toy guns being pointed at them. But the child knew what they were, from back in Turkey, Leyla said. My children hav...

<p>Mohammad Zein is a diving instructor and a civil defense volunteer who wants to break the longest scuba dive world record. The Lebanese record was 12 hours but Zein managed to break it last month with a 48h dive. Nevertheless, hes still aiming for the world record of 142 hours, 42 minutes & 42 seconds which is still far-fetched but not impossible to achieve.

I am curious to know how does one eat while scuba diving as Im sure he didnt spend 48 hours without eating or drinking. I thought it would be some tube system that feeds the diver liquids but the world record holder was apparently having <a href= "https://www.aa.com.tr/en/life/turkish-daredevil-diver-s-3-days-underwater/22999" rel="noopener" target="_blank">meat balls</a> while diving <img alt="" class="wp-smiley" src= "https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f644.png" style= "height: 1em;">.</p> <p>Best of luck to Mohammad! I hope he breaks that record one day.</p> <p><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-69367" height= "1218" src= "https://blogbaladi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Civil-Defense1-1.jpg" width="1392"></p>