analysis: Greek workers reject austerity program

[Communist]

==


‘Debt trap’: Greek workers reject austerity program (http://www.workers.org/2010/world/greece_0114/)

By G. Dunkel

Published Jan 7, 2010 4:49 PM

Thousands of Greek workers took to the streets in 63 cities on Dec. 17, called out by unions protesting a government austerity program. The All-Workers Militant Front (http://www.pamehellas.gr/fullstory.php?lang=2&wid=48) (PAME), which is close to the Greek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Greece) Communist (http://inter.kke.gr/) Party, and Syriza (http://syriza.gr/), the Coalition of the Radical Left, supported the action.

This strong workers’ action took place in Greece, but it was provoked by a worldwide attack on the working class. This affects workers especially in the countries hit hardest by the global capitalist economic crisis, including some countries that maintained a veneer of prosperity through borrowing but are now falling into what is called a “debt trap (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_debt-trap).”

This prosperity mainly benefited the wealthy, already prosperous elites that controlled countries like Dubai and Greece. But budget deficits in the world’s industrialized countries have more than tripled since the financial crisis shook the world in 2008.

Economists say that a country is in a “debt trap” when its public debt is greater than what it produces in a year — all the goods and services created in its internal economy, its GDP — and its economy is not growing fast enough to pay the interest on its debt.

Greece’s public debt was 113 percent of its GDP in 2009 and is forecast to be 125 percent of its GDP in 2010. Its economy shrank by 1.1 percent in 2009 and is forecast to decline a bit in 2010. It most definitely is in a debt trap. (Figures from Eurostat.)

The big imperialist banks are only lending to their most affluent and stable customers. Thus, companies and customers have turned to the bond market for the cash they need to operate. Moody’s and S&P, two bond ratings agencies, recently downgraded Greece’s bonds.

Greece’s new Socialist Party (http://www.pasok.gr/portal/) government won the Oct. 4 elections (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_legislative_election,_2009) on a platform to tax the rich and help the poor. When it was faced with an edict from the European Central Bank after its credit rating was cut, Prime Minister George Spandrels didn’t hesitate to announce an austerity program. He planned to cut spending on health by 10 percent, freeze salaries over $3,000 a month and impose a freeze on hiring.

The government also called out 10,000 cops to repress the demonstration in Athens. PAME’s banner on the façade of the Finance Ministry read, “Arise! The government and the plutocracy are dismantling Social Security.” (L’Humanité (http://www.humanite.fr/), Dec. 17)

Greece is not the only country in Western Europe whose economy is weighed down by debt. Italy’s debt at the end of 2008, the last period for which Eurostat has data, was 105 percent of its GDP. Portugal, which has kept its debt within the Eurozone limits, has had no growth. Ireland has seen its economy shrink by 7 to 8 percent since the financial crisis started and the Irish government has committed to $4 billion worth of budget cuts, including slashing salaries for 400,000 public employees.

Spain’s overall unemployment rate is 19.3 percent, with a youth unemployment rate of 39.2 percent. The rates for youth, which include people from the age of 16 up to age 25, range from 18.5 percent in Portugal to 24 to 27 percent in Ireland, Greece and Italy.

None of these five countries has a central bank like the Federal Reserve in the U.S., so none could adopt a stimulus package like the one the U.S. put together to attempt to boost its economy. In order for the local capitalists to get the advantages of participating in the world’s largest market in the Eurozone, they had to give up a major part of their sovereign control of their economies and the ability to serve the needs of their citizens.

Germany and France, the dominant imperialist economic powers in the European Union, have effective control of the European Central Bank.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, representing German bankers, said the following about Greece’s problems: “It would be misplaced solidarity if we were to support Greece with financial help.” (Reuters, Dec. 30)

Of course, this “misplaced solidarity” might keep people from going homeless or hungry, but that is not really the concern of the German ruling class.


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Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/). (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/rk_0114/) Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Communist]

__________________________________

Workers in Europe battle austerity programs (http://www.workers.org/2010/world/europe_0218/)

By G. Dunkel
Published Feb 11, 2010


Contagion and uncertainty worry the capitalists worldwide after the European Commission accepted Greece’s economic recovery plan. Whether this plan will resolve the Greek government’s huge deficit, which is about 12.7 percent of the total production of Greece’s economy, is unclear.

Even if the plan itself works, it is clear that the Greek working population will actively reject it. It is even clearer that Goldman Sachs, the big U.S. bank, will have problems selling 53 billion euros (now $73 billion) in bonds to provide the financing Greece needs by the end of June.

What will happen to Portugal and Spain’s economy if Greece’s goes into a tailspin and Greece defaults on its payments? It always creates a very sticky situation when “sovereign” debt — that is, government debt on bonds issued in a currency that is not the national currency — is involved, and the government cannot pay the debt by simply printing the money, as the U.S. government does. Gretchen Morgenstern, the chief economics columnist for the New York Times, writes that it is unlikely that the economic problems of these countries will remain confined to the euro zone. (Feb. 7)

The Feb. 7 Wall Street Journal, another authoritative organ of the U.S. ruling class, claims that “worries about Greece’s debt woes sparked wild swings in the U.S. stock market last week. Signs that the trouble in the Greek bond market was infecting others in Europe helped send the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a spiral” downward on Feb. 4 and 5.

While the plan Greece submitted to the EC contains a lot of nonsense about transparency, credibility, monitoring and reforming structures, the heart of the plan is cutting employment in the civil service. It demands a hiring freeze in 2010, a rule that only one new worker be hired for every five who retire from 2011 onward, salary cuts of 10 percent, and no increases in wages over 2,000 euros ($2,700) a month.

Greek, Portuguese workers protest cuts

Working people in Greece are already responding with vigorous protests to this “recovery” plan, which is a harsh attack on their wages, pensions and social services.

Greek farmers just wound down a three-week-long tractor “clog-in” where they used their tractors to block many of the main roads leading north to Bulgaria. Tax and custom collectors held a two-day strike Feb. 4 and 5, which meant that imports were held up at the border. Civil servants are striking Feb. 10, and a general strike is planned for the last part of February.

This is the “contagion” that Europe’s capitalist class really fears — militant labor union struggles in the street.

In Lisbon, Portugal, 50,000 civil servants protested Feb. 5 against a freeze on public sector wages, aimed at making the workers pay for the spiraling public deficit. Government workers’ real wages have declined by 6 percent since 2000. The workers demanded a 4.5 percent wage increase.

Portugal’s government had announced it was freezing all public sector wages as part of the 2010 budget, while pursuing a policy of replacing only one of every two government workers who leave.

“This protest is about showing that workers are unhappy. These 50,000 people came to tell the government it has to change its right-wing policies,” said Ana Avoila of the Common Front union movement, which held the protest. (AP, Feb. 5)

“The government doesn’t want to resolve the crisis — it just wants to use it as an excuse to penalize workers,” charged Secretary-General of the Portuguese Communist Party Jeronimo de Sousa, who joined the protest.

Portugal’s deficit hit 9.3 percent last year, its highest since 1974, and this triggered the hedge funds’ and big banks’ concerns that Portugal might follow Greece into default.

After the demonstration in Lisbon, the opposition parties defeated the government’s austerity plan and passed their own bill on Feb. 5 that lets the country’s local regions use deficit spending to stimulate the economy.

The economies of two of the poorest countries in the Euro zone are suffering from their debt load and the world capitalist crisis. But the working class is struggling against the capitalists’ attempt to pay for the crisis by imposing austerity on the workers.
_________________________________

Articles © 1995-2010 Workers (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background) World (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/).
Verbatim copying and distribution of
this entire article is permitted in any
medium without royalty provided this
notice is preserved.

[Communist]

.
Euro-bosses try to make workers pay for Greece’s debt crisis (http://www.workers.org/2010/world/greece_0225/)

By G. Dunkel
Feb 22, 2010

The elected leaders of the 16 countries of the euro zone gathered in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 11 and said they would work to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt. By Feb. 14, they made it clear that their intention is not so much to bail out the Greek government but to pressure it into making a direct attack on the Greek working class.

http://www.workers.org/2010/world/greece_0225.jpg
Banner in Athens reads, ‘We’re not paying’ for the debt.

The European big bourgeoisie gathered in Brussels to prevent any possible collapse of the euro, and to assure that the cost of the debt crisis was placed on the shoulders of the workers — in Greece and in the rest of the euro zone.

European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said, “We call on the Greek government to implement all these [austerity] measures in a rigorous and determined manner to effectively reduce the budgetary deficit by 4 percent in 2010.” (CNN World, Feb. 14)

At a televised cabinet meeting on Feb. 12, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou criticized the plan to “help” Greece as “timid” and late. The plan is supposedly designed to help Greece pay off the big European banks that hold its debt and get new loans. Greece has a debt of 53 billion euros, now equivalent to about $71 billion, coming due this year.

Along with the dominant U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, the euro is one of the world’s major currencies. The euro zone consists of the 16 countries in the EU that use the euro as their currency. The big capitalists and bankers of Western Europe created the EU and the euro zone so they could strengthen the hand of European capital against the European working class and the oppressed nations of their former colonies.

Germany, France, Italy and Spain are the countries in the euro zone with the biggest economies. Greece is also a member, but one of the poorest. Besides Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and even Italy face a sovereign-debt crisis, that is, the inability to pay debt service on their sovereign debt. A sovereign debt is one contracted by selling bonds the government issues, especially in a currency other than the one the government can print, such as a Greek government debt in U.S. dollar- or euro-based bonds.

Shares in euro zone banks had slumped as the sovereign-debt crisis developed, with Greek banks falling by more than 50 percent.

Greek workers refuse to submit

The day before the Feb. 11 Brussels meeting, 500,000 Greek civil servants went out on a one-day strike. In Greece, civil servants include teachers, doctors, air traffic controllers, and many other workers who keep the country running. A major slogan of the workers on strike was, “It’s not us who should have to pay for this crisis.” (l’Humanité, Feb. 10).

Maria Ioakimidou, a middle-aged social worker at an Athens hospital said, “After 20 years on the job I only earn 1,300 euros [a month] and now the government wants to steal from me. The big guys who stole in the past [through corruption] should be paying,” she added, referring to Greece’s rich elite. (Financial Times, Feb. 11)

On Feb. 11, Athens’ taxi drivers — a major part of that capital city’s transportation system — struck for a day over high fuel prices. Meanwhile, Greek farmers strengthened their blockades of roads along the border with Bulgaria to express their continuing outrage at the government. They have been blockading on and off for a month.

Before the Brussels meeting, Papandreou’s government had announced an austerity program that includes freezing civil servants’ salaries and cutting bonuses and stipends. It includes raising the average retirement age by two years to 63 and hiking taxes. For every five civil servants who retire, the government is going to hire only one replacement. This means speedup for the remaining workers.

The Greek workers, with Communist leadership in the PAME labor confederation, have a well-deserved reputation for combative responses to attacks on their living standards. Europe’s big capitalists also fear that a successful mass movement in Greece could inspire similar struggles in Portugal and in Spain, Italy or Ireland, where similar “reforms” are in the works.

Sovereign debt and German tutelage

Since the Greek government no longer controls Greece’s money supply — it uses the euro, not a national currency — it can’t devalue its way out of this economic crisis. Devaluing currency is the traditional cure for a government in financial distress. The Greek regime, however, plans instead to drive living standards for its workers down so far that it creates an “internal devaluation.”

It appears likely that the European Central Bank or EU commissioners, with technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund, will have monitors or examiners in every department and major office of the Greek government to make sure that the budget guidelines that Papandreou’s government promulgated, under intense pressure, are followed.

The ECB is already asking for even more intense austerity. Germany is the dominant financial power in the euro zone and its bankers will have the most influence with the “monitors.”

Athens is on a very short leash, since there is to be a mid-March interim progress report, a further one in mid-May, and quarterly updates thereafter.

Both industrial production and retail sales have been falling since the middle of 2007 (Financial Times, Feb. 6), so it is very unlikely that Greece is going to be able to export its way out of the crisis.


____________




© 1995-2010 Workers (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background) World (http://wwppitt.weebly.com/).
Verbatim copying and distribution
of entire article is permitted in any
medium without royalty provided
this notice is preserved.

[Communist]

.
Mayhem in Athens (http://blogs.aljazeera.net/europe/2010/03/05/mayhem-athens)

By Barnaby Phillips
Europe Blog
Al Jazeera
March 5, 2010


Athens

As the Greek government pushes ahead with its austerity
programme, demonstrations are almost daily affairs.
And, sometimes, they turn ugly.

Our Athens bureau overlooks the Greek parliament. It's
a fantastic location, in the heart of the city, close
to many important offices and government ministries. It
also gives us a grandstand view of the demonstrations
that frequently wind through the city centre, and end
in parliament square.

These days, as the government pushes ahead with its
austerity programme, the demonstrations are almost
daily affairs. And, sometimes, like today, they turn
ugly.

It was mayhem out there for about half an hour, and we
looked down on demonstrators hurling rocks and bottles
at the police, who responded with volleys of tear gas.
There seem to have been a couple of high-profile
injuries. Greek TV showed union leader Yiannis
Pannagopoulos being punched, apparently by another
member of the crowd. And a prominent figure of the
Greek left, Manolis Glezos, was carried away injured,
apparently after being tear-gassed in the face.

Mr Glezos's first, and arguably greatest claim to fame,
came back in 1941, when he and another student scaled
the Acropolis in the middle of the night and tore down
the Swastika flag, symbol of the hated Nazi occupation.
It was an act of incredible courage, that inspired not
only Greeks, but also people across all of occupied
Europe.

There's a certain irony to Mr Glezos being injured
today, with the war of words that has broken out
between the Greek and German press, much of it alluding
to the Nazi-occupation, (see my earlier blog post,
Don't Mention the War), and even some politicians, and
with the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in
Berlin for talks with Angela Merkel about the economic
crisis. A recent piece in the Guardian has a nice
colourful reference to Mr Glezos.

Meanwhile, a couple of important political developments
to watch out for here in Greece; an opinion poll for
the Skai Television Channel suggests, for the first
time, a majority opposed to the new austerity measures.

It's perhaps a little soon to draw any conclusions, but
it's important to watch what "the silent majority" of
Greeks feel. Until now, opinion polls indicated most
Greeks supported the government, and agreed that
drastic measures needed to be taken.

If that is changing, the pressure on the government
will increase. And, another sign that the consensus may
be fraying; the main opposition party, the centre-right
New Democracy, says it does not support the latest
cuts.

The governing PASOK has the numbers in parliament to
push legislation through, (and, indeed, the latest
austerity plan was approved today) but if the cross-
party consensus really is over, then George
Papandreou's position has just become a little bit more
uncomfortable.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/sites/default/files/imagecache/blogpostFeaturedImage/gassing.jpg
Photo from AFP



.

[Dermezel]

They should sell technology to China in exchange for debt relief.

[Black Sheep]

February and March have been so far full of strikes,another one has been called for 11/3, when the sell-out president of the general workers union Panagopoulos got yoghurt'd :D, and Manolis Glezos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manolis_Glezos) got sprayed on the face with teargas and had to go to the hospital due to respiratory problems.

Videos from the last one, 5/3.
the (separate) demos of the communist party's union, and the general workers' union

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_oHZRiPt1g

the students!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fGouQbzRFs&feature=related

photos
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1140004

http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1140023

[cyu]

http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1140004


Thanks. From your link:

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1484785.jpg

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1484866.jpg

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1484813.jpg

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1484870.jpg

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1485044.jpg

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1484915.jpg

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1485068qoacv0.jpg

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/1484920.jpg

[the last donut of the night]

Could any Greek or Greek-speaking comrades tell us what the messages on the banners mean?

[punisa]

This morning I was reading in my local news some rather strange information related to the current situation in Greece.
Apparently "young protesters wearing black scarfs and hoods" are destroying the property and (!?) attacking other protesters ?

Are any of these allegations true? Why would protesters attack other protesters?
It might be just lame journalism.

source (Croatian only): http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/kaos-u-grckoj-mladi-palili-automobile-i-kamenjem-gadjali-prosvjednike-policija-odgovorila-suzavcem-/480369.aspx

[El Rojo]

the attacking other protesters bit could be when militant union members attacked a Union boss, and forced him off a podium into shelter with his PASOK cronies. Although that was textbook attacking of a member of the ruling class (union bosses) by the proles, it could be seen as attacking other protesters by a badly informed news org

[punisa]

the attacking other protesters bit could be when militant union members attacked a Union boss, and forced him off a podium into shelter with his PASOK cronies. Although that was textbook attacking of a member of the ruling class (union bosses) by the proles, it could be seen as attacking other protesters by a badly informed news org

thanks for clarification comrade, I believe this might be the case.

[Tifosi]

Battle Ground Athens: second general strike leads to pitched battles

http://libcom.org/files/images/news/a-demonstrator-wearing-a--002.jpg



More than 150,000 people took to the streets of Athens against the austerity measures in a mass protest marches that have led to extended battles in the greek capital.

On Thursday March 11 all Greece came to a 24h standstill as a result of the second general strike to be called within less than a month (not the third as reported by foreign media, as the first strike in February only concerned the public sector). As a result of the strike called by GSEE (private sector union umbrella) and ADEDY (public sector union umbrella) as well as PAME (the Communist Party union umbrella) no buses, trams, metros, trolley buses or suburban trains exited their stations, while due to air-traffic control workers’ strike no flights are being realised within or in and out of the country. Only the electric train will function for 4h in Athens in order to facilitate people’s participation in the mass demo at noon. In the health sector, all hospitals are functioning with emergency personnel only, as all doctors, ambulance drivers and nurses are striking. All banks are closed to the public, and all public and municipal offices and services have been shut by the strike. The Corinth Canal has also been shut by the workers controling it, allowing no ships to make the vital crossing. All boats have been immobilised in the harbours and no inter-city trains are running. Post offices remain closed, while National Electricity, National Waters and National Telecoms workers are taking part in the strike with all offices and factories of the above industries closed for the day. All schools and universities remain also closed as teachers and academics are partcipating in the strike. Office workers, factory workers and contruction workers are also participating en mass in the strike. Firemen and policemen are also performing walk-outs, with a policemen demo at the National Police HQ planned for the afternoon. Due to the participation of the TV, radio, electronic news websites, and the press in the strike, there are no news broadcasts for 24h. Thus the information gathered here will be completed by means of Comments after the end of the General Strike when more information become available. In total more than 3 million people (out of a total population of 11 million) are expected to having taken part in the general strike today.

Background:
The General Strike comes as a new climax to labour struggle against the new austerity measures the greek government has announced in response to its notorious credit crisis. In the days before the General Strike, stage workers have occupied the Ministry of Labour on Peiraeos street, while the continuing occupation of the General State Accountancy by layed-off Olympic Airways workers has caused the intervention of the state persecutor who has demanded their arrest. No such move of repression has been made yet by the police, and Panepistimiou street remains cut in two by the protesters for more than a week now. In Salonica, the General Industrialists Bureau was occupied yesterday by workers, while radicals from the left dropped a huge banner in the Acropolis reading “take the measures back”. Troughout the week, tax officers performed a 48h strike, school traffic wardens in Northern Greece performed a 3-day strike, while judges and other judicial officers performed 4-h work daily stoppages. No garbage has been collected since last Saturday in Athens, Patras and Salonica as refuse collectors have blockaded the great garbage depot of the three major cities. Finally, in the city of Komitini ENKLO textile workers are mounting an ever more intense labour struggle, with protest marches and strikes: two banks were occupied by the workers last Monday.

The Demos:

The first demo in Athens was performed by PAME, the Communist Party union umbrella, just before noon. PAME allied workers first formed small demos across Athens, then marched to Omonoia square and all together in a 50,000 strong march to the Parliament. At the same time, people started gathering at Patision and Alexandras junction for the demo called by GSEE and ADEDY. The demo which soon gathered over 100,000 people set to march to the Parliament at 12:30 when just outside the Polytechnic riot police forces tried to cut-off a large anarchist block from the march by brutal force. Clashes ensued with extended use of tear gas and molotov cocktails. Despite the air being thick with smoke and CS gas, the march continued its way along Patision avenue and on to Stadiou street where many corporate shops came under attack. After reaching the Parliament, the march turned to Panepistimiou street where renewed clashes erupted at the height of Propylea. With the march coming to its final distination, protesters who continued their way to Omonoia where attacked by Delta team motorised forces. The Delta-team thugs tried to hit the protesters in full speed sparking more pitched battles with police squads encircled and beaten by the angry crowd and several Delta-team motorbikes destroyed. At the time of writing, the battles have moved to Exarcheia where protesters have erected flaming baricades and are confronting riot police and Delta force cops by means of rocks and molotov cocktails. Many protesters have sought refuge at the Polytechnic from which they are confronting police forces on both Patision and Stournari street. During the clashes many protesters have been wounded with one reported to be in intensive care with heavy wounds on the chest. The number of people arrested remains unclear but there are about 16 people detained and 13 cops hospitalised.

In Salonica 6 different marches took place by different unions and umbrella unions. Protesters of the Worker’s Centre march, which numbered 7,000 people in total, attacked corporate and church-owned shops on Egnatia avenue, while two super-markets were looted with the commodities distributed to the people. Despite the police firing tear-gas, the march continued and attacked the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace with paint and rocks before reaching the Worker’s Centre.

In Ioannina despite the pouring rain around 1.500 people marched against the measures with no news of clashes. Similar protest marches took place in Sitia, Naxos, Veroia, Patras and other cities. In Heracleion, Crete, shops that did not allow their workers to strike were blockaded and several banks came under attack by protesters. In Volos, protesters blockaded the gates of the METKA factory not allowing security-staff (i.e. scabs) to enter the premises, with many more corporate chain shops that did not allow their workers to strike blockaded and shut by the protesters. The official union-bosses of Volos were forced to leave the march after mass heckling by the workers.

Despite anti-strike war waged by the bourgeois media, amongst which the more bloodthirty ones like Kathimerini is urging the government to crush the protests “even if some protesters die”, the Athens march is estimated to be the largest in 15 years, and has demonstrated the resolve of the working class to fight back against the capitalist onslaught.

(link) (http://libcom.org/news/battle-ground-athens-second-general-strike-leads-pitched-battles-11032010)

[Black Sheep]

Could any Greek or Greek-speaking comrades tell us what the messages on the banners mean?
http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1691350&postcount=7
In the 3rd pic:
"Shame on you! End this hostage situation, " eeer " employment now "
(It's from the syndicate of high school teachers.In greece, if you want to teach at junior high - high school, after graduating you have to pass some kickass hard tests in order to 'be fit to teach' in these schools - yeah, that's how important our university degrees are.
But even the ones ho pass these examination STILL have to wait years and years to get assigned to a job.)

The other banner to the left says something which i can't make out, about the stability pact. (a.k.a. destruction of every workers' rights,achievements, 'liberation' of workforce,increase in pension age, increase in taxation, a cut in Christmas & Easter bonuses and more)

[Black Sheep]

more photos:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1142722

i'll post the ones that need translation
http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/img_5966.jpg
Front:Struggle for public-free healthcare.NO TO THE REFORM AGAINST THE PEOPLE (union of doctors of athens-pireaus)
Back:Struggle for dignity - freedom. WILD (or ferocious, lol) STRIKE
squat (take for yourself),claim,self-manage!

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/img_5974.jpg
Let's take our life back to our hands.
DIRECT ACTION
anti-authoritarian movement

http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/dsc_0201a.jpg
Let's take the right measurements (= political reforms, in greek, (μετρα)
at the neck!
http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/dsc_0207a.jpg
Our 'reforms' too, will be painful!
(the prime minister said that the reforms will be painful,but necessary)

And time for some Lols:
http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/img_6037.jpg
Back: Mitsotakis, you son of a *****!
Front:
WANTED: That fucker that came accross the prime minister and told him that he's ready and willing to even give his salary, to save his country.
REWARD: 5.000.000 euro
The amount will be payed in interest-free monthly fees.

The prime minsiter in ther ministers' meeting said that 'regular people meet me in the street, grab my shoulder and tell me that for my country, i ll give my salary'.
LOL what a lying fuck.

[Red Commissar]

Wow, doctors wanting healthcare for the people? Certainly not the case here in the States. At least there is solidarity between some of the people.

[Communist]

.
Unionists resist police attacks, fight austerity in Greece (http://www.workers.org/2010/world/greece_0318/)

By G. Dunkel
Mar 14, 2010


The Greek Parliament passed a very stringent set of austerity measures March 5 that will cut public-sector salaries and freeze pensions for both public- and private-sector workers, cut services and raise taxes.

Public service workers will have their salaries cut by almost 15 percent and the retirement age for all workers will go up by two years.

The Communist-affiliated labor confederation PAME (All-Workers Militant Front), to which a number of public service workers belong, called a 24-hour strike on March 5 to protest Parliament passing this attack on workers. PAME held a mass demonstration at Syntagma Square in Athens’ center that morning, with other demonstrations and rallies in more than 62 cities throughout Greece.

Earlier, they had held a massive sit-in at the Ministry of Finance building in Athens and at a number of other government buildings throughout the country. On March 6 PAME members began occupying government printing offices to keep the austerity bill from being printed. (Agence France Presse, March 6).

Combined with the half-day strikes called by the biggest labor union confederation, GSEE, and the civil servants’ union, ADEDY, this action stopped mass transit, closed schools and limited service at hospitals. French television reported that Athens suffered from “a monster traffic jam” all day.

On March 5 in the afternoon there was a police attack on the rally called by the GSEE and ADEDY. The cops were shown on television using batons and tear gas, as well as kicking protesters, who fought back energetically, throwing stones and bottles at the cops. There were at least five arrests and seven cops injured.

Eighty-seven-year-old WWII resistance hero and former MP Manolis Glezos was hospitalized after a cop sprayed him with tear gas.
(www.ekathimerini.com (http://www.ekathimerini.com))

The Greek unions have announced another general strike for March 11.

“It is a tragedy for the people to lose their rights, to see their wages being cut down despite the long lasting struggles in the previous years, despite the sacrifices that led even to bloodshed. But above all it is a disgrace — and we do not believe that this will happen — for these barbarous measures to pass without the people’s resistance, without the people’s counterattack and even more so to give the impression that the people consent to these measures,” stressed Aleka Papariga, the leader of the Communist Party of Greece, at a special press conference. (inter.kke.gr)

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[Communist]

.
Greek Protests Mount
As Budget Cuts Pass (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-05/greek-protests-mount-as-parliament-passes-budget-cuts-correct-.html)

By Maria Petrakis and David Tweed


March 2010 (Bloomberg) -- Striking Greek workers shut
down transport and tried to storm parliament as lawmakers
passed 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in budget cuts,
including wage reductions, needed to trim the region's
biggest budget deficit.

Police with riot shields fired tear gas as
demonstrators wearing biker helmets and ski masks
pelted them with stones outside parliament in Athens
where lawmakers approved the measures. Finance Minister
George Papaconstantinou told parliament the cuts will
show European Union allies and investors that Greece is
making good on its deficit pledges.

"We didn't create this crisis but now we have to pay
for it," said Manthos Adamakis, who was protesting with
other catering workers outside the five-star Grande
Bretagne Hotel on Syntagma Square in downtown Athens.

Tram, rail, subway and bus services shut in Athens and
other cities as employees rallied against cuts to
bonuses and holiday payments. A walk out by air-traffic
controllers forced the cancellation of all 58 flights
to and from Athens International Airport between midday
and 4 p.m. and the rescheduling of another 135,
according to a spokeswoman.

Europe's Turn

Papaconstantinou said European allies should now act to
pledge aid should Greece need help financing its
growing debt. "Obviously, the EU must undertake
responsibility, which it hasn't done yet," he told
lawmakers.

EU nations are working on a contingency rescue plan for
Greece to be funded by European governments, according
to two people briefed yesterday in Berlin by an EU
official.

Yannis Panagopoulos, the head of GSEE, Greece' largest
union, received first aid after being attacked by
protesters at the rally outside parliament. Manolis
Glezos, an 87-year-old World War II resistance fighter
famous for pulling down the Nazi Swastika flag from the
Acropolis in 1941, was also hospitalized after being
affected by tear gas during the scuffles.

Groups of youths caused damage to shops, ministries and
bank branches during the protests, the Attica Police,
the city's police force, said in a statement on its Web
site. Five people were arrested for involvement in the
violence and seven police officers were injured, it
said.

GSEE and civil servants' union ADEDY called a 24-hour
general strike for March 11. ADEDY has already held two
24-hour strikes this year after the government
backtracked on pledges to grant civil servants a wage
increase.

EU Praise

Yesterday, the PAME union, aligned to the Communist
Party of Greece, took over the Finance Ministry
building and the General Accounting Office.

EU officials have praised the budget package announced
this week and Greek bonds gained. German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who is due to meet Prime Minister George
Papandreou in Berlin later today, told reporters in
Munich that the Greek measures are a "courageous step"
that's already yielding results.

"Opinion polls show that a very large majority of
Greeks understand that this in the interest of the
country," European Central Bank President Jean-Claude
Trichet said today in an interview with Belgium's RTBF
radio. "It's normal that there are demonstrations when
decisions are taken. What counts is the main interest
of the country."

Still, most Greeks oppose the plan to cut wages and
increase value-added tax, according to the first
opinion poll published since the austerity moves were
announced on March 3.

Wage Cuts

Seventy-two percent of 530 people surveyed by Public
Issue for Skai Television said they disagreed with a
drop in bonus- vacation payments, while 68 percent
opposed a value-added tax increase. Sixty-two percent
said Greece will see social unrest in the next year,
according to the poll broadcast yesterday.

The additional budget cuts aim to save 1.7 billion
euros through a 30 percent reduction to three bonus-
salary payments to civil servants, a 7 percent overall
decrease in wages at wider public-sector companies and
a pension freeze. The reductions are accompanied by an
increase to 21 percent from 19 percent in the main VAT
tax as well as in alcohol and tobacco duties.

Teachers are also striking, closing some schools, and
workers at the Public Power Corp SA, the country's
biggest electricity company and controlled by the
state, also called a 24-hour strike.

.

[Tifosi]

The 48h strike of the National Electricity workers has seen 7 major power-factories shut their engines, with workers threatening to shut-down more and plunged Greece in black-out.

The National Electricity Company (DEH) workers 48h strike which began today has been decided in demand for a reversal of the austerity measures and of the freezing of 2,000 new positions in the industry. The workers yesterday occupied the Unemployed Office Headquarters in Athens, the Company's offices in Ptolemaida and Megalopolis (both major power producing units) and a production unit in Agios Dimitrios. Since the beginning of the strike in the early hours of the morning today, 7 major power-plants have shut their engines, with the Ministry of Interior claiming that if workers shut down one more unit, as they are threatening, the State will be forced to implement local black-outs so as to avoid a country-wide major black-out. The workers are expected to meet with the Minister of Labour tomorrow for negotiations.

Meanwhile, nurses who have gone on a 24h strike against the austerity measures marched in Athens today. The Minister of Health has promised not to implement the cutting of subsidies and salaries in their sector, to initiate many new working positions and to include nursing within the list of "heavy and unhealthy" jobs, which provides with better pension and salary. At the same time, doctors across greece's public hospitals have began an open-end withdrawal of labour in reaction to the austerity measures. The doctors' labour action is forcing many hospitals to work with emergency personnel.

At the same time workers of WIND formed a demo outside the LAbour Inspection headquarters in Athens in protest to the firing of one worker by the company, while workers of the textile industry ELITE blockaded the entrance of the Ministry of Labour. Meanwhile in the north of the country, textile workers of ENKLO industries occupied two major banks of the city of Komotini, as well as the County headquarters of Imathia.

Tonight ADEDY is organising a central protest march against the measures in Athens. Reactions to the measures are expected to climax as the Minister of Labour has gone public proclaiming the feared reform of the social security system a one-way road.

Moreover, taxi drivers and gas stations have called a 24h strike for Thursday.

It must be noted that from all of the arrested during the protest march of the general strike, all have been released apart from a 28 year old swimming instructor. The man whose photos have been released being brutally pulled by the hair by riot cops, has been charged with possession and use of molotov cocktails, as well as under the anti-hood law. The decision of the court to put the man behind bars in Koridallos prison pending his trial has sparked reactions of outrage even amongst the bourgeois media. The man's bag who the cops claimed contained molotov cocktails only contained his working clothes and tools (shampoos and googles), while in none of the pictures published does the man wear a mask or cloth covering his face. The court has demonstrated utter prejudice by only accepting one defense witness and waving all the others, in a hurry to put the man in remand. His lawyer, Ioanna Kourtovik made the following statement: "Far distanced from society and from legal proofs that apparently leave it cold and indifferent "realy-existing Justice" has put a young man behind bars with the single testimony of a policeman, which is being contradicted most saliently by a series of photographs declared at the interrogation, and by dozens of witnesses present in his arrest, who sponteneously came and demanded to testify. The recent change in the law regarding remand has definitively made the conditions of it more strict, and demands such a decision to be based on "previous condemnations for similar acts" or "special characteristics of the act" from which derives a danger for committing more crimes. How can we console a young man who is goinf to prison, just because he has rasta hair and was carrying a sack with his work's clothes in it?"

Libcom.org

[the last donut of the night]

Just a question to the Greek and more theoretically-knowledgeable comrades here: would you call the situation in Greece a revolutionary one or one of just very high class-consciousness? Or are those the same things?

[FSL]

Just a question to the Greek and more theoretically-knowledgeable comrades here: would you call the situation in Greece a revolutionary one or one of just very high class-consciousness? Or are those the same things?


Since most of us haven't lived in revolutionary times, it's hard to say if this is one such example.

But there is certainly huge dissatisfaction among the common folk, a sense that things need to change and that people who are responsible must be locked away in some prison.
And I'm speaking for the non communist/anarchist people here, the ones that might even be downright conservative.

Now the difficult and tricky part is convincing them that it's not just a matter of lying, corrupted politicians but also of capitalists who pay meager salaries and lay off people at will.
And also that we'd be better off without them, despite being a small country without the most developed economy etc.

Still, sometimes you get the impression that everything's just hanging from a thread. In all honesty, I have no idea where will we be in a couple of years. But this is at least a very good chance to raise class consciousness. I guess we'll see how things go.