The name is absent

59

introduced myself to the man already sitting in one of two seats away from the windows.
He smiled and motioned for me to come in. Striking two matches simultaneously he lit a
hand-rolled cigarette, then tossed them still burning into a crumbling fireplace nearby.
One bounced off the mantel and began to scorch the old wooden floor, but I did not react.
His movements were bold and hasty, but confident and assuring. The air on this floor
was sweetened with the fragrance of freshly boiled Greek coffee, some of which I
accepted in a small chipped cup. As my senses adjusted to the new surroundings I began
to notice random pieces of broken antique furniture near the walls, ornate yet crumbling
plaster details in the ceiling, and three other doors blocking off adjoining rooms.
However, my attention remained squarely on the man sitting across from me: one of
Greece’s most formidable public disturbers. A self-professed “freedom fighter and
educator of the public”, this man’s fame for using any means necessary to achieve his
goals preceded him, and I was nervous. Across from me sat one of Greece’s most
aggressive anarchists.

Having once been involved in more closely organized anarchist groups in Athens
and Peloponnesus, my contact, who I’ll call Nikos, was now independent but well
connected in the political world (official and unofficial) and among Athens’s thugs,
criminals, youth, and idealists. I gained access to him over a period of a month which I
spent hanging out at Platia Exarchion (∏λατεiα Eξapχεiov, Exarchia Square) and
attending several protests - some violent⁵⁷ and some peaceful - where I made it known to
as many participants as I could that I was interested in meeting their organizer. I gave my
phone number out to over fifty people during protests and in the darker streets of Athens
after they ended. Eventually I found myself meeting with one of Nikos’s close friends.
⁵⁷ Among the many things I learned in Greece is an appreciation for the sting of teargas!

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