On 28 July 2010, the radical left wing terrorist organisation Revolutionary Sect claimed responsibility for the murder of Sokratis Giolias, a Greek investigative journalist, who was gunned down outside his home on 19 July 2010. The attack had already widely been attributed to the group, after police forensic terms determined from ballistics tests on bullet casing at the scene had shown that the same guns had been used in previous attacks for which it had claimed responsibility.
This was the second murder in a month attributed to members of the radical left wing in Greece, following the death of a political aide who was killed when he opened a package intended for his boss, and significantly increases the threat level for those operating in the countries. Although acts of politically motivated violence are common, since the disbanding of the November 17 movement prior to the Athens 2004 election, murders perpetrated by its successor groups have been relatively rare. Whilst journalists have been criticised by some quarters for their alleged collaboration with business in failing to uncover and/or report on corruption, it is unusual for them to be attacked. It is particularly odd in this instance as Giolias was known to be working on a story associated with business corruption. It may therefore be the case that the attack on such a well known figure was more symbolic to the his profession as a whole in the country, than it was to punish for any of his perceived individual transgressions. As it became clear who was responsible for the attack, it was also speculated that the killing could be linked to comments posted on his online newsblog Troktiko critical of radical left wing groups operating in Greece, among them Revolutionary Struggle and Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei with the latter being particularly prolific and claiming responsibility for bomb attacks in March 2010 on both a prison (notably in the same Korydallos area that where the police station was attacked in 2009), and on a courthouse in Thessaloniki. Analysts generally consider that these radical left wing groups, which are designated as terrorist organisations by both the EU and USA are closely linked, sharing tactics, funding, and in some cases, membership. In a number of incidents, activists adopt a different nom de guerre depending on the target and the tactic. There has been a notable escalation since the beginning of 2010 in the nature of the attacks being perpetrated.
Revolutionary Sect first emerged in December 2008 in the violence which followed the shooting by police of a fifteen-year old boy in Athens, which may be seen as a watershed moment for the evolution of the anarchist movement in Greece in the aftermath of the downfall of November 17. In February 2009, members of the group were held responsible for a machine-gun attack on a police station in the Athens district of Korydallos and the headquarters of a private television channel in Athens, an attack they followed up with a threat of further attacks on police and journalists (a warning which was recorded onto a CD left on the grave of the dead teenager). In June 2009, the group was held responsible for the murder of an anti-terror police officer. The group were not seen to have participated in any action since that time, but with this claim of responsibility for the murder of Giolias, they also accounted for this period of inactivity, describing it as:
“a stage of preparation for taking its action onto another level, when it would emerge more capable, more meaningful and more dangerous…During this time several of us trained in weapons, learned new techniques, read up on fighting situations, exchanged experiences and thoughts with other fighters and restocked in the supplies/equipment sector.”
They have now promised to turn Greece in to a “war zone”, particularly targeting the police, businessmen, prison staff and journalists. It appears that their intention is to tarnish Greece’s image, thereby deterring tourism.
With a growing number of Greeks now reconciling themselves to the terms of the countries harsh austerity measures, a fact reflected in the diminishing participation in protest action accompanying general strikes, from a height of an estimated 50,000 in May 2010 to less than 10,000 in late June 2010, Revolutionary Sect appear unlikely to gain popular support. Furthermore, a key turning point was the deaths of three bank workers who were killed when anarchist protesters threw a firebomb into the branch of Marfin bank in which they were working on 05 May 2010, after which there was a significant decrease in the scale and nature of the protest action. There appears to be a very strong sense of what constitutes a “legitimate” target, and who is “innocent” in the current situation, and Revolutionary Sect’s campaign appears already to be failing to make this crucial distinction.
Revolutionary Sect’s stated aim is to damage the government by damaging the tourist sector. This tactic is unlikely to garner much popular support or sympathy in Greece – tourism accounts for 17% of the Greek economy and one in five jobs. An attack against the authorities may well garner some sympathy or understanding from the general populace, so too might a campaign against the financial sector, or the “elite”. These targets are perceived as “legitimate”. However with an attack on tourism, beyond the direct impact on the unfortunate victims, those who will suffer the most are ordinary people, “innocents”, whose livelihoods will be jeopardised. All this is to say nothing of the fact that Giolias appears to have been selected more for his celebrity than his “crimes”. Whilst those responsible may argue that the ends (the overthrowing of the current system) justify the means, it is hard to see how many people will be won over by the argument that there is any cause so great that it is worthy of the price of the brutal murder of a man who had made uncovering corruption his life’s work, on the doorstep of his home whilst his infant child and pregnant wife slept upstairs.
