The General Strikes in Greece

[Jurhael]

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Europe/G...ike_Greece.html (http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Europe/General_Strike_Greece.html)


Yup. The Left may finally be uniting in Greece. And they have POWERFUL labor movements. It also confirms my suspicions that PASOK really is not much different than ND. No wonder PASOK is spit on.

But I think the mudslinging on Left may finally be abating enough for them to prevent ND from gaining any more power than it already has...

[DaNatural]

intereting jurhael, im from greece originally but now live in canada, im interested in its politics and if you know of any links that talk about its left wing ideas id be interested to read it, thanks.

[Jurhael]

Try this:

http://www.hri.org/nodes/grpol.html

And I HOPE you can read Greek cause I sure can't. Heeheh:
http://www.ekloges.gr/

But do you notice just HOW many left-wing parties exist there?? That's interesting. Heh

[very]

this is a bit off topic, but is aimed more at DaNatural; have you noticed the drop off and decline of left-wing parties in canadian politics. it seems as if support is growing, but members elected to parliament seems to be declining.

[Michael]

Well,Pasok and Nd are clearly the same thing.Like Bukowski wrote,choosing one of them is like choosing today's shit from yesterday's shit..I don't think that leftists are going to be ONE in Greece.I don't know where do you live Jurhael but I think KKE seems to have a very opportunist way of seeing things..There are people in KKE that are right on right..I think yo know that.Nice talkin' about Greece though.

[Jurhael]

Well, the Greek left had better be ONE somehow unless they want every single thing they've been trying to hold onto and build be ruined by neoliberal politics and conservatism.

The problem with ND is that they simply don't have enough people. If the KKE and CLP combined with PASOK, the left would have a rather good sized majority although not overwhelming. See, voting is compulsory in Greece and unless people are invalidating ballots, most people are either voting slightly left or lefter than that.

Don't get me wrong though, there's some right-winged parties but they don't have the same numbers as the left.

There's 4 parties that have seats in the Greek Parliament. PASOK has the most, ND is in second, but the KKE has 11 seats and the CLP has 4. That kind of says something there.

KKE opportunist? Well, that article certainly proved it. Thing is, the Greek left(Including PASOK) has taken ALOT of shit from right-wingers, so while opportunism sucks ass, I'm not sure I blame them.

I don't understand what you mean by "right on right". You mean they're right-wingers? That would be very odd in a party that's splintered in itself...course that explains why it has a "Marxist-Leninist" wing. Still kind of thrown off by "Stalinst" though because Stalin never supported the Greek communists and I'd consider then "Euro"-Communists rather than Stalinst. Ah well...I'd just consider it about the same as having Jerry Falwell being part of the Christian right. Not that I'm apologizing for them...

I live in NW Florida currently, but my mommy is Greek and she is from Piereus, which seems to be capital of the KKE. They've always scared the shit out of me and yet fascinated me at the same time...

(Edited by Jurhael at 6:06 am on Oct. 16, 2001)

[Michael]

Well,I live in Greece and let me tell you that there's no way that PASOK may combine with the leftists.See PASOK as I said is the same with ND.They're on the right!!
About KKE,there are people inside that party who come from the right wing.Jurnalists,writers,etc.I don' t want to write down who they are but believe me,some people are really opportunists.I think the left wing in Greece is outside the parliament,and outside we are ONE!

[Jurhael]

PASOK is right-winged? Great! Just like the center-right democrats in the US. *sarc...

No wonder people hate them so damned much...

Hmmm...so the KKE has either been infiltrated in order to try to disrupt the left or the right-wingers may have changed their mind(I was a right-winger), but since I'm paranoid, I'd go with the former.

Hmmm...well there's the CLP but yea, you're probably right. It's unfortunate though. Problem is, if there were a real leftist takeover of parliament, they'd be considered "communist" by the US and likely be punished for it. :(

[Guest]

Hey guys I live in Greece (now study in Canada). I think that ND and PASOK are the same while being in goverment. In PASOK there are quite a few left people. The problem is that the top members are all center-right. KKE now is a party that is stuck to the past with no new suggestions unfortunatelly. When all left parties(real left) united in 1989 they got 13.5% and 30 members in the parliament. Then KKE was not agreeing with many progressive ideas of CPL and left the coalition:( Anyways, I don't see any future in left parties in Greece as long as the elections system remains the same. That is because the first party will always be able to make a goverment. So people who are potential left wing voters usually don't want ND on power so they vote for PASOK even if it's not their first choice!!Long live duopoly of parties:((
Nikos

[Michael]

The duopoly of parties.That's right.It only has to do with the likes and dislikes of the moneyed class.In fact they have their servants and give them power whenever they want.The last few years we see PASOK as a government and the only think they care about is how to grow stronger in the E.C.They care for numbers and they don't respect the people.They follow the US no matter how paranoid their demands are.
Reality is that Greece is just another part of the US empire(talkin'about the authorities),but one thing that makes me feel good is that a lot of people see things a little different now,even people who used to vote for ND or PASOK.
Most people refuse to stand for the US in their war against "terrorism"..."I think they've heard a shot".

[Jurhael]

Does anyone ever stop to think that if PASOK were to be every bit as left-winged as they're SUPPOSED to be, the US would fund ANOTHER coup and Greece would end up with another Papadopalous?

I say that PASOK has it's hands tied and ND is just kissing US ass.

And while there's "economic growth" in Greece, it wouldn't surprise me if it became like Chile. :(