Private Story
Micropolis Fight Club: When martial arts take on fascism.
The Fight club was founded in 2012 in Thessaloníki. It was two years after Greece had entered the MOU program of austerity and Golden Dawn had already increased its power. In the meantime the members of Micropolis fight club began the struggle against the ideological hegemony that ex-right groups tried to gain within the field of martial arts.
The gym, as a part of the Micropolis social space, was the brainchild of the December 2008 uprising. Because of the fact that in martial arts a mentality of “machoism” has been cultivated for years, they decided to start something different in an antifascist and self-organized way. They give to the antifascism struggle priority in martial arts because they can't underestimate the fact that on the ideological level Neo-Nazis use the adoration of the body and his strength for the purposes of intimidation. They promoted the practice of no mercy which gradually has corrupted the authentic values that martial arts express like no-attack but defense, respect, dignity and friendship between athletes.
Micropolis try to re-establish the essence of public space. Anyone can come and use the gym's utilities for free. The concepts are that martial arts are not connected with the militarization of the body, and that sport can exist without monetary exchange. They believe that martial arts cannot be used as a means to realizing purposes other than those of solidarity and the defense of human rights.
It is impressive that the largest percentage of the members of Micropolis fight club are women. This can be interpreted by the fact that the majority of martial arts gyms in Thessaloníki make it difficult for women to participate, because of the predominating macho logic. Moreover, in Micropolis fight club all the members participate in a political and managerial assembly where they solve all the problems, discuss training progress and its purposes and decide the organization of sport and political events.
Many young people, including refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria are part of the Fight club. Initially there were communication problems, but quickly all the barriers vanished. The refugees slowly fell into step along with the other members of the club developing personal relationships outside the gym and the structures of the NGO`s.
Refugees come to Micropolis, to escape from the everyday routine in the camps, a life stuck on continuous pause. Most of them are unaccompanied minors and they have already become a permanent part of the team. They take part in tournaments, prepare the training hall etc. a few of them have already left Greece to be reunited with their families and finally find a place to settle down.
The fight club was a peaceful stop during their traumatic trip. Coaching is a way to fulfill the slogan "we live together". Refugees in the camps are not visible, they live far from the city. Micropolis is like a small lighthouse. People who are in need for help, a place to sleep and eat, found there people who give almost their whole life to support them in solidarity. In addition to sport, they talk about other issues that every person can face in life.
The battle against racism is an everyday struggle on many levels. The Micropolis Fight club, as a part of the antifascist movement in Greece, is a small but significant paradigm of how solidarity can win even the most difficult fights.
Text: short version and translation (Giovanni Lo Curto) From the article By Stavroula Poulimeni (Alterthess)
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