Support Druck!
Press Collective

Support Druck!
Press Collective

Soutien Druck!
Press Collective

Apoye a Druck!
Press Collective

Druck! Press Collective Unterstützen


For the re-establishment of the offset printing project. For the re-establishment of the offset printing project. Pour le rétablissement du projet d'impression offset Para El restablecimiento del proyecto de imprenta offset Für die Wiedereinführung des offsetdruckprojekts

A few words about
Druck! Press Collective

Druck! Press Collective was formed in 2013 and in July 2014 the machinery was installed in Terra Incognita squat, formally beginning the collective’s operation. The last 7 years, until the eviction of the squat on August 17th, 2020, Druck! Press Collective operated against commercial relations and clientelism, aiming to promote the words and actions of the radical movement, hoping to bridge the gap between the need for printed expression and the political -as well as financial- obstacles that emerge when this need is not fulfilled within the movement itself.

The collective operated an offset press, with printing capabilities of up to 48x65 cm, as well as the necessary support machinery -paper guillotine, folding-stapling machine, etc- allowing us to meet larger printing quotas. That way, we managed to complete over 400 prints -posters, brochures, leaflets, stickers, books, etc.

The collective’s most satisfying accomplishment was being able to provide the possibility to print and spread political discourse to groups and people, who would otherwise not be able to do so. From political prisoners and collectives in rural areas or collectives facing repression, we helped them to retain their public presence. At the same time, we helped set up a similar press collective in the city of Ioannina (Self Organized Press Collective of Ioannina “Titivillus”), gifting them our first offset press, which is still operating today, meeting the needs of northwest greece.

When the eviction of Terra Incognita happened, we found ourselves homeless on the one hand and on the other, troubled about the future of Druck! So, we weighed the difficulties and insecurities and found them less than our desire to print again, less than our need for personal contact and quality time, less than our will to rebuild a place for communication.

Link to Druck! restarts - YouTube Shorts on YouTube.com.

Scripta manent…

Whether it's posters, texts, stickers or brochures and books, discourse in print has always been the means of communication of radical movements.

We understand that digital media are easily winning the race of communication, as well as the reason why that happens -zero cost, speed, range of address. However, there is a reason that “written words remain” and we have always recognised this value -both within the radical communities as well as society- and aimed for its preservation. On the one hand we refuse to give up even a single one of the tools that radical movements have acquired, on the other hand we believe that the seriousness and timelessness of words in print carries a certain weight that corresponds and leads to certain decisions and actions. These days, the necessity to take the streets, put up posters, distribute texts or compose a brochure that will be distributed hand by hand, is bigger than ever. As much as it might take us out of our comfort zone, print has always had the power of bringing people together, keeping the movement alive and even moving it…

Preserving pluralism in the means and media at our disposal, will also contribute to the survival of our radical history.

Radical collectives and self-organization

Radical structures are not just tools of the movement. A radical press collective is not necessary when or because it produces a cheaper or even better product, but because it allows its members to utilize knowledge towards, as well as with, the radical community in which they belong. Simultaneously, we must not forget that the movement’s needs are not the same everywhere and for everyone. In larger cities, printing a poster or even a text might seem self-explanatory, but that is not the case everywhere. Such radical structures exist because we need them, because we support them practically and politically and because we participate in them.

Where are we now

From the day of the eviction up until now, former members together with people who embraced our decision to resume the collective’s operation, we have been in a constant search for the means as well as reasons to re-operate the press collective. Such ventures are demanding, costly and time-consuming procedures and the absence of necessary equipment, along with the psychological wear that the eviction left us with, are factors that did not allow for easy decisions.

The discussion on where we should house the collective is a long one, with arguments for and against every case. We have discussed all of the choices and have prioritized accordingly. Unfortunately, in this particular moment, the situation in the city of Thessaloniki, but mainly the specific standards that a space -squatted or not- has to meet to house a printing project, we concluded that our best option, both regarding the continuance of the collective and the security of the printing equipment, is renting a space that can be formed accordingly.

With these criteria in mind, we finally found the space that could house a press collective and have already started the first restructuring work.

Poster and art image

What we have done so far

The conditions under which Terra Incognita and Druck! were evicted, did not allow us to claim our equipment, since all of the machinery was immediately removed from the building and, to this day, we still do not know what happened to them. However, having decided to restart the press collective, we moved forward trying to raise funds - we created a series of promotional merchandise items (t-shirts, tote bags, pins, our own Druck@ Color Palette) while, later on, we translated and published the brochure “Anarchist printers: material circuits of politics” by Kathy E. Ferguson, which was printed and presented on June 2022 in the self-organized workshop Fahrenheit 451, with the valuable help of Titivillus.

This material, together with donations by comrades and groups, allowed us to respond to our first expenses, as well as buying necessary equipment:

Roland Praktika Offset press, 48x65cm print dimensions 2500 €
Adast Maxima MM80-3 paper guillotine 1500 €
Electrical installations 2000 €
Moving and installing machinery 1500 €
Removing glass panels to allow machinery to enter the space 500 €
Floor support 250 €
Maintenance work 350 €
Rent deposit and first months’ rent 890 €
Promotional stuff

All of the above might seem discouraging at first, but at this point we do not start from zero. As we mentioned earlier, we believe that a radical venture like the press collective is not just the equipment but also the relations, the will, the inventiveness and experience that is created by our constant effort within it. We believe that our previous experience with Druck!, our part in creating the press collective in Ioannina and our constant desire to reinforce Druck! push us to try again!

What is required in the near future for the collective’s optimal performance

For the immediate operating needs of the collective, we need:

Safety roll up to 1500 €
Folding-stapling machine up to 1500 €
Compression press up to 250 €
Plate processor up to 700 €
Plate perforator up to 300 €
Printing consumables (ink, paper, cleaning & maintenance chemicals, etc) up to 500 €
Tables and shelves for storage up to 200 €
Computer with  editing and control capabilities up to 600 €
Fire proofing up to 400 €
Heating up to 1000 €

Our Firefund goals

With everything we mentioned above and having an approximate calculation of our immediate expenses, as well as covering some fixed needs until the collective regains its regular operation, we decided to start this crowdfunding campaign through the Firefund platform. This campaign, depending on which goals it will achieve, will allow the viability of the collective in its first months of operation and, later on, will enable us to faster achieve its full operation, in order to respond to the movement’s needs.

9.000 euros

Viability of the collective for some time until its complete operation: Completion of maintenance work, safety roll installation, purchase of printing consumables required for operation (ink, paper, cleaning & maintenance chemicals, plate perforator, etc), financial assistance for the first period of adjustment and operation of the collective (3 months).

11.000 euros

Purchase of an inverter AC for the space’s heating, purchase of equipment required for book/brochure binding, financial viability of the space for a longer period (6 months).

17.000 euros

Purchase of additional equipment for the expansion of the collective’s abilities, financial viability of the space for a longer period (9 months).

35% of €9000

€ 3200 reached in total

FAILED on 3/31/2023


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