Tommy Trenchard
Al Jazeera
03 Dec 2015
On a warm evening in August this year, in the quiet residential neighbourhood of Kesariani, in the Greek capital, Athens, several hundred young people gathered in front of a stage as a band fine-tuned their instruments. At first glance, there was little unusual about the scene, but this was not an ordinary concert.
Above the drinks stand, where 20-somethings wearing black waited for their beers, the flag of the anarchist movement swung between two pine trees. Behind the stage, a banner urged the audience, in bold letters, to take up arms against the state.
"When confronted by tyranny," it read, "people choose between chains and guns."
The atmosphere hovered somewhere between festive and threatening.
"Don't take photographs of anyone's faces," warned one bystander. "They do not like the press."
"Our passion for freedom is stronger than any prison bars," chanted the crowd, as the band screamed heavy metal rage into the night air. This is the message of a new generation of Greek anarchists who, after years of recession and austerity, have lost all faith in the government, and even in the state itself.