X Them Out, A Black Map of Athens uses cartoons to mark incidents of racially-motivated abuse and violence in the Greek capital.
A joint effort of HumanRights360 and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation – Greece, the X Them Out, A Black Map of Athens website intends to record the racially-motivated crimes of the Golden Dawn party and its supporters. Cartoons by a wide variety of contributors create a sombre, emotive record of each incident reported.
“The Golden Dawn trial has brought to light dozens of racist crimes, mostly against migrants and refugees. However the full extent of its criminal, racist activity is not adequately known. With this campaign we attempt to establish a topography of racist violence. We seek to make its dark dimensions and its deadly nature more familiar to the general public. To this end we want to create, with the valuable support of 25 visual artists, an antiracist map of our city.
“Racist violence is invisible only when we do not wish to see it, when we avoid confronting it. This year, 2019, is the crucial, final year of the most important and biggest trial of our time. We have tried to visualise just a small part of this topography of violence that has its origins in Golden Dawn and fascism, in order to contribute to acquainting the general public with their crimes and in punishing their murderous activity.”
X Them Out, A Black Map of Athens
As the criminal trial of Golden Dawn’s leadership – precipitated by the murder of rapper Pavlos Fydssas – enters its finals stages the organisers of X Them Out are seeking additional assistance from cartoonists who may be able to create a record of the process. Audio visual recordings of the court proceedings are forbidden, so cartoonists are invited to attend in the public gallery and create work thereafter, similar to the effort in Turkey during the Cumhuriyet trial of 2017. Financial assistance is available to cover travel expenses.
