Why we, as internationalists, support the defense of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika
Collective statement by 80 collectives and organizations
IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR COMRADE ARISTOTELIS CHANTZIS, MEMBER AND RESIDENT OF THE COMMUNITY OF SQUATTED ROSFYGIKA, WHO IS IN HUNGER STRIKE UNTIL DEATH IN DEFENSE OF LIVE
In response to the imminent threat of attacks and eviction, we express our solidarity with the Community of Squatted Prosfygika in Athens and our support for its defense.
In times of global war and increasing repression against societies all over the world, Prosfygika found and created a piece of truth; that community, commitment and collectivization are the foundation of everything that we can build against the destructive forces of capitalist modernity. It is a place where the struggle for communal life and emancipation has been fought in recent years, and wholeheartedly- out of a deep, true, and determined dedication. Out of a commitment to seek and find ways of living collectively, outside of the capitalist and oppressive framework that governments offer.
For 16 years, the Community of Squatted Prosfygika has existed as a unique self-administered an liberated neighborhood in Europe. In its 8 building blocks in the heart of Athens, 400 inhabitants from 27 different countries, speaking 20 different languages, with different religions, ideologies, ages, and backgrounds, not only live but struggle and organize together. It is a politically united neighborhood with a large number of occupied apartments and communal structures responding to the needs of its residents and beyond. At the same time, it not only answers the needs of a limited number of people but creates a practical proposal for the whole society. In the past years, over 22 structures based on the needs of the people have been built up, for example an autonomous womens structure, a bakery, and a health structure.
The state is currently preparing a major attack and the eviction of the community. In summer 2025, the local government secretly initiated a contract for the plan of eviction and renovation of four buildings of the community, driving forward the gentrification of the area; the eviction supposedly starting in July 2026. These plans are based on hypocrisy and cheap lies: the state claims to upgrade the area, with false hopes for “social housing” and hosting for patients and relatives of the adjacent cancer hospital “Agios Savvas”.
The reality is that the community is already providing a much bigger and holistic form of “social housing”, which is actually based on the collective self-determination of its members. For years, this community has also been hosting patients and their relatives from the cancer hospital and has even created a hosting structure for them – in cooperation with the workers’ union of Agios Savvas. Meanwhile, thousands of apartments in the area and the whole of Athens, often in the property of the Municipality or the church, remain unused and are left to decay. The same state that wants to throw even more people onto the streets will not address social problems; the community, however, has already been responding for 16 years.
Over the last decade, this is the fourth time that the state and the government have attempted to evict and plunder Prosfygika. This time appears to be the most serious and is about to be implemented immediately.
This time, too, the state will remain unsuccessful!
Aristotelis Chantzis, a member and resident of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika, has started a hunger strike to the point of death on February 5, 2026, as a means of collective struggle for the preservation and defense of Prosfygika.
The demands of this hunger strike are:
- Immediate cancellation of the contract by the region of Attica (local government)
- All residents of Prosfygika to remain in their homes, in the place and area where they live and have established social, cultural, and organical ties.
Concrete guarantees for the restoration of Prosfygika to be given to the recently constituted non profit legal entity “Residents and Friends of Prosfygika L. Alexandras” with its own self-financing! – no public funds for the “redevelopment” of Prosfygika
With his initiative, our comrade Aristotelis symbolizes the whole meaning of the fight for Prosfygika. Prosfygika means surviving, resisting, living. An eviction of the community means death.
We support the defense of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika because we see this squatted neighborhood as a glimpse of hope, a vibrant flame of resistance and communality in the heart of the metropolis of Athens. In the Community of Squatted Prosfygika, comradeship, communal property, solidarity, mutual aid, and horizontality are not just empty words but a lived practice in everyday reality.
It is not an abstract struggle, but one that is fought in every single moment.
Prosfygika is a striking example of a place, where the universal struggle for justice, dignity and self-determination has materialized. As internationalists, we understand the importance and necessity of such grounds, wether we travel to physically join the struggle or find inspiration and strength in knowing the collective heartbeat of resistance is alive.
It is our revolutionary duty to create and defend communities against the violence of state and capital whereever we are. Be it in Prosfygika, in Rojava, in Palestine, in Chiapas, such struggles can teach us how to survive communally.
Remembering our history shows us, that the power of the state has made it increasingly difficult to liberate grounds, be it physically or ideologically. The downfall of the squatting movement in Europe, the repression against revolutionary organizations worldwide, every lense that we view through shows that we are attacked in a very existential way. We will not submit to their violence. We will not let nation state borders, threats or false promises limit our solidarity. As people from below we are united in our struggles and we will win!
The community of Squatted Prosfygika has decided to defend it’s social proposal, it’s people, it’s structures, and it’s historical memory to the end. It is willing to defend itself on all levels – and thus to fight for its own existence and liberation.
In this mentality we call on all internationalists to participate and support in the defense of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika.
There are countless ways to participate in and to support this defense:
By signing and spreading this statement, as well as other statements of Prosfygika and of the internationalist #saveprosfygika campaign, by coming to Athens, or through expressions of solidarity or financial support.Spread expressions of solidarity, such as statements, articles, solidarity pictures, etc.
Support financially! Donate to the Firefund campaign (https://www.firefund.net/saveprosfygika ) or organize a solidarity event.
Currently there is a call for solidarity and support in the renovation of the wooden elements in the neighborhood such as windows and doors (https://saveprosfygika.gr/index.php/en/materials/ )
Come to Athens, visit and help in the restoration and the defense of the community. The community is always in need of internationalist guests to participate in the different works.
This statement was signed by the following collectives and organizations:
Action Network for Housing, the Public Space, and the City – Solidarity for All (Cyprus)
Abolish Frontex
ADA Puławska, Warsaw, Poland
Anarchist Black Cross Wrocław, Poland.
Anarchist Black Cross Wrocław, Poland
Antifa Sofia, Bulgaria
Ararat Kollektiv, Berlin, Germany
Antifa Tirana, Tirana, Albania
Antifaschistischer Aufbau, Vienna, Austria
Antyfaszystowski Kraków, Krakow, Poland
Auswärts Solidarity Group, Berlin, Germany
Borderless Collective, Berlin, Germany
Bez Collective, Poland
Berlin assembly in memory of Kyriakos X. and in solidarity with the persecuted comrades in theAmpelokipoi-case, Berlin, German
Brussels Borderless Zone, Brussels, Belgium
Cabinet partout, Brussels, Belgium
Centrum Aktywizmu Klimatycznego I Społecznego Gołębnik, Kraków, Poland
Congreso de los pueblos (CDP), Columbia
Cooperazione Rebelde Napoli – Italia
Decay & Rebuilding – Internationalist Educational Collective (Mannheim Ger, Paris Fr,Birmingham UK, Sofia Bu)
Die Ganze Bäckerei, Augsburg, Germany
Diggers, Poland
Federacja Anarchistyczna Wrocław, Poland
FAU-Dresden, Germany
Fédération Droit Au Logement , France
Feminist Collective Bojka, Poznań Poland
Food not Bombs Kraków, Poland
Front Solidarité Migrant.es, Brussels, Belgium
Frankfurt International, Germany
Gemeinsam Kämpfen – Für Selbstbestimmung und Autonomie, Germany
Initiative Western AlpsIniradar, Berlin, Germany
Interventionistische Linke (iL*), Germany
KAF-Kollektiv für einen queeren Anarchafeminismus, Berlin, Germany
KTS Freiburg, Germany
Kolektyw Zoria, Poland
Lotta, Basel, Switzerland
Ministry of Space, Belgrade, Serbia
Migrantifa Berlin, Germany
Migrant Solidarity Bulgaria
München International, Munich, Germany
Mujeres contra la guerra, Mexico
Netz der Rebellion, Germany
No Borders Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Nodo solidale, Italy
Nodo Solidale, MexicoOAV Freiburg, Germany
ÖMMVR e.V. Altmark, Germany
Peoples Plattform Europe
Perspektive Selbstverwaltung, Berlin, Germany
Quarticciolo Ribelle, Italy
RAIZ, Columbia
RAIZ International, Columbia
Radlager, Freiburg, Germany
Ramona Collective, Cyprus
Rigaer94 Collective, Berlin, German
Rise for Climate Luxembourg
Riseup Wien, Vienna, Austria
Ronahî – Youth Center for Public Relations
Rojava committees from Sweden
Rosa Liege, Belgium
Scherer 8, Berlin, Germany
Solidaritätskreis zapatistas, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Serhildan Belgium network, Belgium
Stowarzyszenie MULTIFORM, Olsztyn, Poland
Students for Justice in Palestine, Poznań Poland
Students for Palestine Bonn, Germany
Unbounded Solidaristi, Altmark/Germany
Villa Mina Collective, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wilda Panny, Poznań Poland
Wolna Biblioteka, Wrocław, Poland
Ya Basta Netz, GermanyYa Basta Rhein Main/ Frankfurt, Germany
Yuna Demokratische Jugend, Germany
Young Struggle Europe
Zaczyn Collective, Warsaw, Poland
Zone Neutre, Brussels, Belgium
ZORA – European Organisation for Young Women
LONG LIVE INTERNATIONALIST SOLIDARITY!
OUR COMMON LANGUAGE IS RESISTANCE!
WE WILL WIN OR WE WILL WIN!