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ckaihatsu
13th July 2015, 23:09
Tomorrow: Stand With Greece - NO to Austerity!

Chicago Protest in Solidarity with Greece

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Wed., July 14, 7:30 pm
Greek Town (Halsted and Van Buren)
Facebook Event (http://answerchicago.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fevents%2F9974 44733607440%2F&e=a848ef455e23b28b6da327e31ded573f&utm_source=answerchicago&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=greece_7_14&n=2) - Join and Invite People Now!
ANSWER Chicago: 773-463-0311

The people of Greece have risen up and said No to Europe's criminal austerity in the streets and at the ballot box. In response, Germany has demanded even harsher austerity measures. The current Greek government, against the will of the people, has signed on to the war-like financial measures of the EU. Many of those measures are set to be voted on in the Greek parliament in the next couple of days. Mass mobilization and strikes are planned in Greece to resist the aggression of Germany and the big banks.

The people of Greece need our immediate support. It's time to hit the streets and resist the rule of the banks over society: No to Austerity! No to German and EU aggression against Greece! From Illinois to Puerto Rico to Greece, Stop the Budget Cuts! Stop the War on Workers, Youth and the Poor!

German imperialism's Greek coup
From PSLweb.org

There is a reason the hashtag #thisisacoup became an overnight sensation. German imperialism, using its power within the EU, has essentially taken control over the Greek government. Greece’s sovereignty was placed against the wall by German bankers as they seek to take control of and manage Greece’s economy.

In the early hours of July 13, a new, imperialist-imposed agreement was reached between the Greek government and the German-led European bloc. Details are still coming to light, but the terms are nothing short of astonishing. Not only will the cuts and other anti-worker measures be deepened, but a trust fund of sorts managed by an outside entity will be established in which Greece will deposit tens of billions of Euros worth of state assets, serving as both a staging ground for sweeping privatization and to strip the Greek government of sovereignty over its own property. Greece is to become even more of a German neo-colony.

The German ruling class’ shockingly hard line is aimed at sending a message: opposition of any type to its brutal austerity doctrine in the less powerful periphery will not be tolerated. They have made the calculation that the SYRIZA government must fall or move sharply to the right by dumping its radical wing for Germany’s stranglehold on Europe to continue.

Germany, which has is the dominant imperialist power in Europe, faces growing opposition not just in Greece, but throughout the periphery of the Eurozone. New left-wing parties have attracted a great deal of popular support. In Spain, which will hold a general election later this year, the anti-austerity party Podemos stands a serious chance of winning. Sinn Fein in Ireland, another country that was forced into a cash-for-austerity bailout agreement, has been on top of some opinion polls.

Just days ago it appeared that everything was falling in line – the SYRIZA-led government seemed to turn its back on its own referendum which allowed the Greek people to overwhelmingly vote NO to the austerity package. Syriza’s leadership acquiesced to the Troika’s demands, the parliament approved, and the offer for a third bailout program received positive early reviews from European officials. As finance ministers met last weekend to prepare for the now-cancelled heads of state and government meeting on Sunday, the Eurozone crisis took yet another unexpected turn – Germany rejected the Greek proposal.

At first glance, German imperialism’s brinkmanship may seem to be highly irrational. After all, the Greek government’s initial post-referendum offer gave the Troika basically everything it had been asking for.

Although SYRIZA does not intend to lead a revolutionary break with capitalism and squandered the momentum of the referendum victory, it is also worth noting that the Greek working class has not yet been politically prepared for the extreme hardship associated with the overthrow of the ruling class – an enterprise that historically includes warfare of both the military and economic variety. Even an exit from the Eurozone and the re-creation of a Greek currency will lead to harsh economic suffering in the short term. The Communist Party of Greece, which does advocate the socialist transformation of society, has throughout this process unfortunately followed a sectarian strategy that has not allowed it to be a major factor in changing the relationship of forces.

Germany did not reject the Greek offer simply because it did not include enough cutbacks, privatizations and anti-worker “reforms” – they had signed off on effectively the same deal just two weeks earlier. By drawing out the negotiating process so extensively, the SYRIZA government has shown more defiance than the German ruling class is willing to tolerate, and it appears intent on making an example out of Greece. German imperialism’s aim is no less than the overthrow of SYRIZA or the expulsion from its ranks of the more left wing forces and the utter humiliation of the Greek masses.

The latest deal struck between Greece and the Eurozone appears to be advancing the latter aim. There must be yet another parliamentary vote on these even harsher terms, which will likely see a further rebellion of left-wing SYRIZA members. Labor Minister Panos Skourletis has already publicly questioned the new agreement.

ANSWER Chicago · United States

ckaihatsu
15th July 2015, 20:45
End Austerity for Greece...and Illinois - Labor Beat on YouTube




End Austerity for Greece...and Illinois

On YouTube at:
um7AEJHxxZs

Also archived at:
laborbeat.org

An assembly of Greek-American activists and movement activists gathered under the Athena monument at the south end of Chicago's Greektown on July 14, 2015. This was on the eve of the Greek Parliament's vote on whether to implement another austerity plan.

The press conference and rally focused on three areas: 1) The recent proposal cooked up between Greece's Syriza government and the German bankers was a kind of coup d'etat against that nation's recent democratic vote on July 5 rejecting capitulation to more austerity; 2) Chicago workers stand in solidarity with the Greek people in their resistance to carrying out austerity plans; 3) The Greek people's fight against austerity there is the same as the fight of the working class in Illinois against Governor Rauner's and Mayor Emanuel's austerity schemes, orchestrated by banks and financial institutions here.

Chris Geovanis, of Hammer Hard Media Collective, capsulized the situation this way: "These manoeuvers...have basically been a power grab...by loan sharks led by the Germans and, frankly, co-signed by the financial elites of Europe. It's no different that the loan sharks like Goldman Sachs, Countrywide and Chase and City that is basically been relying on public dollars to bail them out of their own financial atrocities and misdeeds...And [they] are the same bloodsuckers, vultures and loan sharks that are effectively trying to do the same thing with our public pensions, our social security, our education funding, our social safety net, our economic safety net that our tax dollars go to bankroll right here in the United States, in the State of Illinois, in the City of Chicago."

Other speakers appearing are: Joy, Rising Tide Chicago; Kimberly Goldbaum, Chicago public school teacher and member of C.O.R.E.; Aris F. Yanibas, Greek-American attorney; John Beacham, Answer Coalition; Trish Kahle, ISO; Stavroula Harissis. Length - 10:10.


http://s18.postimg.org/f5a218evt/150714_Protestors_Chicago_Greektown_Labor_Beat.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
Protesters under Athena monument in Chicago's Greektown, July 14, 2015. Photo: Labor Beat

http://s18.postimg.org/8u4uktdnd/150714_Kimberly_Goldbaum_CORE_Labor_Beat.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
Kimberly Goldbaum, Chicago public schools teacher, C.O.R.E. member. Photo: Labor Beat

http://s18.postimg.org/sapk7c8rd/150714_Chris_Geovanis_Labor_Beat.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
Christ Geovanis addresses the media. Photo: Labor Beat

Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: [email protected], www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit YouTube and search "Labor Beat". Labor Beat is on as a cable-tv series in six U.S. cities; check our website for more info.

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BUY DVD - CLICK HERE (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9872013)

(Put title of DVD, "End Austerity in Greece...and Illinois" in Description box. Put $15 in Unit Price box. $20 for Canada, and $25 for other countries outside the U.S. NTSC format only.)

ckaihatsu
2nd August 2015, 19:07
Illinois governor out to destroy unions

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By Richard Berg

Chicago, IL -They started filing into work between 7:00 and 8:30 in the morning. After years of schooling they landed a job with the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS). The job can be mentally draining. Conditions are bad. Today the temperature is supposed approach 90 degrees. The air conditioning hasn’t worked for more than two years. Bed bugs have again been reported as being in the building. The bathrooms are unsanitary and the drinking water has both color and odor.

Today was different. As the nearly 400 workers came through the revolving door, June 10, virtually all of them were wearing the green t-shirt of their union, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). During the lunch break their frustration with newly elected Governor Bruce Rauner exploded. Loud chants of “Get up. Get Down. Chicago is a union town!” and “Tax, tax, tax, the rich!” filled the streets outside the DHS office located on Chicago’s Northside, where they were joined by community activists.

Being a Human Service Case Worker (HSC) is an important job for low-income people in Illinois just as it is in every state. “As an HSC I make sure people that need food, health care and other means of survival get it,” said AFSCME Local 2858 Executive Board Member Bunnie Johnson.

Billionaire Governor Rauner is one of the richest men in the world. He has declared war on workers such as Johnson. He doesn’t like the fact that Johnson is a union member. That he and more than 75,000 other AFSCME members in Illinois have used their collective power to speak up on behalf of themselves, on behalf of veterans, the elderly, the disabled, children who are abused, the poor and the 99% in Illinois is a great thing.

Rauner, an extreme right-wing libertarian, thinks government’s only legitimate role is to give incentives to business. By allowing some income taxes in Illinois to sunset he personally saves $750,000 per year. As a ‘true believer’ in an extreme right-wing version of libertarianism, the new governor unilaterally suspended funding for programs addressing domestic violence, homeless youth, autism and immigrant integration. He has also proposed $4.1 billion in budget cuts affecting higher education, Medicaid, state employee pensions, Chicagoland public transit and local government support.

“This guy has declared a war on the working class. His attacks have created a unity across unions that did not exist before. We are going to join together, we are going to fight and become the voice that allows working people to be heard over the ‘ka-ching ka-ching’ of the moneyed few,” said Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 union steward Cathleen Jensen. Jensen was key to organizing a union of Professional Employees at the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital. “Unions are the organizations of working people, our voice and our power. That’s why Rauner hates us,” Jensen added.

Rauner is using a real financial crisis in Illinois to try to bust our unions. The crisis was created when politicians of both parties borrowed money from state workers’ pensions to balance the state budget. The amount due is high. The state’s unfunded liability is around $100 billion. AFSCME Council 31’s Roberta Lynch writes in her Executive Director’s Report, “Despite Illinois’ budget challenges, Rauner has devoted much of his time to bopping around the state on his disinformation mission, pushing for support for his ‘turnaround agenda’- right to work zones, cutting benefits to injured workers, eliminating the prevailing wage for construction workers and taking away bargaining rights from public employees.”

Rauner has been traveling across the state visiting local governments, using his substantial wealth to try to pass resolutions supporting his ‘turnaround agenda.’ Workers have turned out in mass at village council and county board meetings across Illinois to protest Rauner’s agenda. “Our efforts are working,” said AFSCME Local 448 President Kathy Lane in Dixon, Illinois, “Rauner’s resolutions are failing because these local politicians live in our communities. We are united, so they know if they sell us out they will still have to attend our churches, send their kids to our schools, eat in our restaurants and drink in our taverns.”

AFSCME Council 31’s publication On the Move writes that Rauner has decided to start his attack with AFSCME and the union’s 38,000 state workers, but for him this is just the start. “’Bruce Rauner has launched an all out assault on the very existence of labor unions in Illinois - he has made state workers his No. 1 target,’ Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. ‘As their employer - and party to their collective bargaining agreement - he is clearly trying to make them the testing ground for his program to eliminate all union members in the state.’”

His proposals to AFSCME at contract negotiations are designed to provoke a strike. He wants to eliminate virtually all union rights to communication, representation and assembly. He has also demanded draconian economic concessions and the virtually unlimited ability to subcontract out union jobs.

AFSCME members have been organizing rallies, informational picket lines and other activities like the one on Chicago’s Northside across the state. “We are working with other unions, with the community, with people of conscious to get the word out, to get organized. Rauner is a threat to all workers,” said AFSCME Local 2858 Executive Board Member Darla Scott.

AFSCME caught the governor by surprise when the union introduced legislation in the Illinois General Assembly to allow for ‘interest arbitration.’ If either the state or the union requests an outside arbitrator to settle their dispute, the bill bans the use of a strike or lockout once the hearing starts. Further, the arbitrator’s ruling is binding on both the union and the state. The law would sunset in four years, not coincidentally, around the same time as the governor’s term of office.

The vote passed overwhelmingly in both houses along mainly partisan lines. One union official noted, “It was surprising to hear so many Republican politicians argue for public workers right to strike.” The governor is likely to veto the bill. He may play with the timeline to try to continue to provoke a strike with the intent of busting the union.

Rauner is a representative of the most aggressive anti-worker section of the 1%. He has drawn a line in the sand with this battle in Illinois. Workers’ standard of living and workers’ rights have been in a free fall for decades. The battle to preserve trade union rights has moved from Wisconsin to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri and now Illinois. It is time that we organize to put an end to these attacks. Right here. Right now. Solidarity Forever!

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]