By Andrew McPake, additional writing by me, blogging fae Athens on today’s demonstrations protesting the Greek parliament’s vote to bring in destructive “austerity measures” in the wake of Greece’s near-financial collapse.
PAME demonstration of around 10,000 in central Athens
Athens is a city that is acquiring a reputation for itself. When a taxi driver asked where we were headed with our suitcases, our response prompted him to ask “Athens? Will you no get caught up in they riots out there?”. It would seem that the combination of constant reporting of Greece as overtaken by bomb-strewn madness and the main Scottish reference point when it comes to riots – the Poll Tax Riots – has given people a distorted view of what’s really going on here. The fact is, the IMF are being sold Greece under the table by the ‘Socialist’ government (Read: Greek version of the Labour Party), and their conditions for giving Greece money to bail out its failed banks is that the Greek government goes about systematically destroying any vestiges of a welfare state. It’s understandable why the people are angry. But they are expressing it in a way that is altogether more concise and class conscious than any pictures of anarchists throwing Molotov cocktails at riot police while stray dogs look on cooly can convey.
What we attended today was not a Poll Tax riot. No banks were burnt down, no statues were defaced. What we attended was an eye opening experience that allowed us to see two things:
The diversity and competence of the Left in Greece
The sheer extent of the unbalanced and jaundiced way in which the international press have reported this situation.
Greek food is tasty, but under workers' control it's DELICIOUS
As Greece continues to face revolt from the working class at the IMF/EU takeover of their country, in the northern city of Thessaloniki, restaurant workers have decided to take things a step further at their work.
The workers at the Barthelonika restaurant were told at the start of last month by the owner that he had decided, due to the poor economic situation, to close the place down over the summer, leaving them without any income, and that he would decide if they were to have a future working for them in September.
The workers responded that the restaurant was making a profit and there was no reason for the closure. The only reason the owner wanted to close the place was that it wasn’t making ENOUGH money – for him.
So, instead, the workers took the place over. Realising that the boss was in fact, like all bosses, just creaming a profit off the top of their labour, they decided they could run the place better themselves. Now the restaurant is working as normal, but with no bosses, no hierarchical relationships and all decisions being made collectively and democratically by the whole workforce. So far it’s been working out great. They’ve even been able to make sure they still get a holiday in August, and this Sunday instead of working in the restaurant they’ll be putting their skills to work feeding participants in an anti-racist festival.
Below is a translation of a text issued by the workers themselves explaining their actions. It’s unlikely that many SSY members will be in Thessaloniki any time soon, but if you are, you know where to get your tea!
“AGAINST THE CLOSURE OF THE RESTAURANT BARTHELONIKA
LET’S SUPPORT THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF THE RESTAURANT BY ITS WORKERS
Since Monday the 7th of June we, the workers at the restaurant Barthelonika, have run the restaurant ourselves and for this reason, ask for the help and the support of all the workers of Thessaloniki.
Two weeks ago the owners of the restaurant announced to us that the establishment was not going well and that it would close down for the three summer months – and further, that it was uncertain whether it would reopen in September and how many of us would work – and under what working conditions. They also announced to us that all the workers at the restaurant would be fired immediately while firing compensations would only start to be paid out in October… that is, of course, if they had any money to pay the compensations out.
As workers in the food industry we know well that a firing in today’s circumstances of deep economic crisis and tough anti-workerist attacks would mean our throwing out in the cold. For this reason we decided as workers at the restaurant not to bow our heads and to take matters in our own hands. We demanded and achieved from the management of the restaurant to pay some expenses for the establishment and our own insurance – and we now have taken on the management of the restaurant for the following two months (June and July) while in August we have achieved to have our holiday as normal.
As workers at the Barthelonika restaurant we are determined not to allow the restaurant where we work to close but also, not to allow any restaurant to close and no co-worker to be fired. For this reason we stand in solidarity with the just struggle of our co-workers at the Banquet restaurant.
The restaurant Barthelonika will be under our control, through our general assembly. Decisions concerning its running will be taken by majority and will be respected by all us co-workers. Whatever remains from profit after expenses will be distributed equally among all co-workers. All of us co-workers will work the same hours, at the same positions where we were before.
We have also decided to offer a 30% reduction to all customers of the restaurant.
We call for all workers, the youth and the people of Thessaloniki to actively support our effort to run the restaurant, in order to save our jobs and not to be thrown out to unemployment and misery.
The restaurant Barthelonika is in the centre of our city, at 3 Venizelou Str in the Rogoti Arcade, 1st floor, tel. 2310 225 242
Yesterday there were general strikes in Greece and the Basque Country. Last week workers in France and Italy walked out as well. Across Europe the working class is waking up to the threat posed by the attacks of European governments, but in the UK the response has still been quite muted.
SSY has been involved in building opposition to the ConDem cuts over recent weeks, with our members taking part in last Saturday’s street rally against the “emergency” budget for instance. But it’s clear that if we really want to stop the neoliberal assault on our rights, we need to learn a thing or two from our friends in Europe.
Yesterday tens of thousands of Greeks were again in the streets in protest at the IMF/EU imposed package of attacks on the working class.
Around 40,000 people demonstrated in Athens as part of another general strike, with thousands more in cities around Greece.
The strike was timed to coincide with the debate in parliament over changes to pensions. These would force people to work over 40 years of their lives, increasing the retirement age for women to 65 and for both men and women to an as yet undetermined level from 2020. At the same time, the amount of money received by pensioners will be reduced. Also, currently there is a list of dangerous and difficult jobs from which workers have certain rights to retire early – this list is to be abolished.
Members of the All Militant Workers’ Front (PAME) occupied the Ministry of Labour in protest, hanging a banner from the window read “Reject the Measures.” The building was engulfed by a river of strikers during the day.
Although the strike was strong and the mood is still militant, a lot of damage was done by the deaths of two bank workers in a fire during strikes two weeks ago. As we reported at the time, despite the fact these workers were locked in their work to act as a human shield against demonstrators anger by their scumbag boss, the government has exploited the incident massively to paint strikers as violent terrorists. Another issue the government has shouted about is the impact of the strikes on the Greek tourist industry, while at the same time they take away from Greek workers the “luxury” of holiday time or the ability to afford one.
Police repression was heavy yesterday. Hundreds of people were detained in order to stop them from joining the marches. A group of pensioners trying to join were violently beaten by riot cops. There are reports that members of the Greek anti-capitalist party SYRIZA were arrested en masse. A group of students were arrested as they left the Polytechnic School. Police once again invaded the Athens neighbourhood of Exarcheia, home to many socialists and anarchists, and occupied the streets in order to stop residents from being able to demonstrate.
The river of red shows Communist demonstrators last Saturday, something the Greek media thought wasn't newsworthy
The media has also imposed a virtual blackout on much of what’s going on. Last Saturday the Greek Communist Party (KKE) held a huge march through Athens that received zero coverage. And again yesterday, much of what happened was not reported.
But despite the repression, the government propaganda and media silence, it’s clear that the Greeks are still not going to just sit back and accept their rights being taken away. As one banner on the march put it: “These measures take us back 150 years.” The Greek working class is fighting not just for themselves but for us too, as we prepare on Monday to face the first of many rounds of cuts by the ConDem government, and we need to work out ways of linking our joint struggles across borders.
For the past couple of days Leftfield has been a bit distracted by the minor matter of whether the hated Tories are going to form an unelected government over Scotland. One of the consequences is we haven’t been able to bring you updates about what’s been going down in Greece since Wednesday’s general strike.
Just to recap: Greece is being forced by the IMF and EU to undergo the harshest programme of cuts, job losses, tax rises and general shitness imaginable. This is so the Greek government can receive a package of loans from the other European countries, in order to continue paying its debts to foreign and Greek banks.
On Thursday, despite a solid general strike and massive anger on the streets, the Greek parliament voted through the cuts package, by 172 to 121.
The so-called “Socialist” government (in fact a bunch of sellout traitors, comparable to New Labour) expelled 3 of their own MPs for voting against the measure. It was passed with the support of the far right.
Meanwhile, outside, 30,000 ordinary Greeks rallied to show their rage at the actions of the government, chanting “They declared war, now fight back!” The demo was the victim of a totally unprovoked assault by riot cops, as you can see in some of the footage below (again, the bangs you can hear are stun grenades fired by the cops):
The cops over recent days have been fulfilling their role as the armed force that enforces state policy. They’ve gone on the rampage in Exarcheia, an Athens neighbourhood that’s inhabited by loads of young socialists and anarchists. The area houses ‘The Haunt of the Migrants’, a social centre used by immigrants rights groups, Left wingers, LGBT and feminist groups, as well as for free Greek language classes for migrants. On Wednesday cops smashed their way in and attacked people inside chanting “Tonight we’ll fuck you.” Police also attacked an anarchist squat, arresting 70 people and using live ammunition and grenades. And in the video below, you can see cops smashing a popular cafe in Exarcheia. At the end of the footage the following dialogue takes place:
[riot police man] Erase it now, right now. Why are you filming? Who gave you permission?
[camera person] Why?
[riot police man] Because I fucking say so.
Following Thursday’s votes unions have put their members on alert for another general strike. On Monday the Greek government is meeting to finalise plans for cutting pensions, making survival for older viewers difficult. The next general strike will probably be on the day when these proposals are brought to be voted in parliament.
The All-Workers’ Militant Front (PAME in Greek), an alliance of trade unionists and activists, and one of the most radical groups of unions, has called for a massive rally of Greeks on May 15th. In a statement they said:
“The only solution now is the escalation of the class struggle of workers, self-employed poor farmers, women and young people for the rupture and the overthrow of monopolies’ policy and power.”
“The only guarantee for democracy is the people, organised around a programme of struggle with a specific direction, and endurance in that struggle for the change of class power.”
During the massive protests against the IMF/EU assault on the Greek working class yesterday, a bank was burnt down, and three workers trapped inside were killed.
This event has been mercilessly exploited over the course of the day by the Greek government, and by the right wing media, who are preparing the way for possibly justifying a military crackdown against the people. George Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister responsible for pushing through the surrender to the IMF and EU, said:
“We are all deeply shocked by the unjust death of three workers, three of our fellow citizens, who were victims of murderous attacks.”
His comments were quickly echoed in media outlets around the world keen to talk about “murderers” and “murderous hooded youths.”
Let’s be clear, no one participating in demonstrations today set out with the intention to murder other workers. The government is desperate to distract attention from their historic sellout of the Greek people. But the internet is proving a key weapon of those same people in getting the truth out to the world. That’s why we’re reproducing here a statement by one of the co-workers in the bank, who worked alongside those who died today. It’s vital reading, and please do copy it, show it to other people, put it on your own blog etc.
“I feel an obligation toward my co-workers who have so unjustly died today to speak out and to say some objective truths. I am sending this message to all media outlets. Anyone who still bares some consciousness should publish it. The rest can continue to play the government’s game.
The fire brigade had never issued an operating license to the building in question. The agreement for it to operate was under the table, as it practically happens with all businesses and companies in Greece.
The building in question has no fire safety mechanisms in place, neither planned nor installed ones – that is, it has no ceiling sprinklers, fire exits or fire hoses. There are only some portable fire extinguishers which, of course, cannot help in dealing with extensive fire in a building that is built with long-outdated security standards.
No branch of Marfin bank has had any member of staff trained in dealing with fire, not even in the use of the few fire extinguishers. The management also uses the high costs of such training as a pretext and will not take even the most basic measures to protect its staff.
There has never been a single evacuation exercise in any building by staff members, nor have there been any training sessions by the fire-brigade, to give instructions for situations like this. The only training sessions that have taken place at Marfin Bank concern terrorist action scenarios and specifically planning the escape of the banks’ “big heads” from their offices in such a situation.
The building in question had no special accommodation for the case of fire, even though its construction is very sensitive under such circumstances and even though it was filled with materials from floor to ceiling. Materials which are very inflammable, such as paper, plastics, wires, furniture. The building is objectively unsuitable for use as a bank due to its construction.
No member of security has any knowledge of first aid or fire extinguishing, even though they are every time practically charged with securing the building. The bank employees have to turn into firemen or security staff according to the appetite of Mr Vgenopoulos [owner of Marfin Bank].
The management of the bank strictly barred the employees from leaving today, even though they had persistently asked so themselves from very early this morning – while they also forced the employees to lock up the doors and repeatedly confirmed that the building remained locked up throughout the day, over the phone. They even blocked off their internet access so as to prevent the employees from communicating with the outside world.
For many days now there has been some complete terrorisation of the bank’s employees in regard to the mobilisations of these days, with the verbal “offer”: you either work, or you get fired.
The two undercover police who are dispatched at the branch in question for robbery prevention did not show up today, even though the bank’s management had verbally promised to the employees that they would be there.
At last, gentlemen, make your self-criticism and stop wandering around pretending to be shocked. You are responsible for what happened today and in any rightful state (like the ones you like to use from time to time as leading examples on your TV shows) you would have already been arrested for the above actions. My co-workers lost their lives today by malice: the malice of Marfin Bank and Mr. Vgenopoulos personally who explicitly stated that whoever didin’t come to work today [May 5th, a day of a general strike!] should not bother showing up for work tomorrow [as they would get fired].” An employee of Marfin bank.
The bank worker’s union has also called a strike in protest at their deaths, however, they put the blame mainly on the shoulders of the government. “This tragic event that took the life of three of our colleagues, two women and a man, is the sad consequence of anti-popular measures that whipped up pop popular anger,” the OTOE bank employees’ federation said.
“The government has very serious responsibilities, as it seems it failed to take account the scale of the consequences which its decisions would have on Greek society.”
It’s of crucial importance that those of us standing in solidarity with Greece don’t allow the tragic deaths of Greek workers to be used as a propaganda tool that will help push through measures that will lead to (amongst many other terrible things) even more unsafe, deadly workplaces.
Update: In the video below, you can see the owner of the bank, a Mr. Vgenopoulos, arriving just moments after the deaths were confirmed. People repeatedly shout “murderer” at him. Around 43 seconds into the video one of the gathered people shouts: “how many yachts do you own?”, at which point Vgenopoulos signals with his fingers: “three”.
We’d like to ask George Papandreou, the Daily Mail and everyone else pushing the propaganda line on this: who is the real murderer?
Today the Greek working class is on general strike against their government’s capitulation to the demands of the EU and IMF.
Ordinary people in Greece face massive unemployment, huge job losses, pension cuts, savage cuts in public spending, and rises in taxes on consumer spending. The Greek working class is fighting for survival in the face of the collapse of their income just as the cost of living rockets.
In the plans of the imperialist EU and the International Mugging Fund, Greek workers will bear the full cost of a crisis created by foreign and Greek banks. But those same workers have something to say about that, and are walking out of work across the country.
My intention today is to update the article throughout the day as more info comes in on the situation in Greece. In the meantime, here’s what we know since Leftfield last blogged about Greece.
On Monday, Greek teachers invaded the offices of the state TV channel, after they heard that they would be carrying an interview with the Education Minister after the news. They wanted to be part of the interview, and to put their own questions to the minister. During the news noise was heard in the background, and then programmes were disrupted for several hours. Riot cops were summoned to try and evict the teachers, who refused to leave. The cops beat them in the corridors, but they refused to budge. In the end, the channel was forced to allow the teachers a couple of minutes on air, which they used to make this statement:
“We are members of the Teachers’ with Limited Working Rights Coordination and the Pan-Hellenic Union of Unemployed Teachers. We decided to come hear today, in the studios of the government’s TV-station, for two reasons: The first one is that for six months now the Mass Media keep silent about the government’s economical measures. And the second one is that we want to break, in praxis the monologe of Education’s Ministry, the monologe of Mrs. Diamantopoulou who keeps silent about the multi-law agreement that wants to be voted and destroys the public and uncomercial education. We were “welcomed” inside and outside the studio by a team of MAT (Unions of Order Recovery) ready to beat us up. We condemn both the Education Ministry and the NET-channel Authorities for the certain event: You see that there is evidence of violence on us.
The government brings the “Stability Program” in reality by packing more than 30 students in each classroom and keeping out of schools some thousands of unemployed educators. The “New School” like the government wants to name it, in reality it is not new at all. It is really old and brings us back in time. It will be against the needs and the rights of the society in Greece. Against the workers, the parents, the students, the teachers. The government calls us to pay for the cost of Education. Calls you the parents, your children who study, us who teach. After the multi-law of Mrs. Diamantopoulou we get dismissed; she fires around 17.000 teachers who are paid by hour or are temporary employed! We thought that we were the minority, but as it seems we become the majority after they brought the IMF to us, which will result in increase of poverty and unemployment of thousands of workers. Everybody on the streets to block the economical measures, kick out IMF and all those who brought it here. Tomorow we demonstrate to block the economical measures that destroy the Education System. On Wednesday 5th of May everybody is striking, nobody works. We gather infront of the Archeological Museum at 11:00 to block the economical measures.
We take out to the streets, we rise up!”
A Greek pensioner protests the cuts to his income
Yesterday, many workers decided to start today’s general strike early. Schools, hospitals and airports were shut down as public sector workers staged impromptu walkouts. Flights in and out of Greece were grounded from midnight as air traffic controllers joined the strike. Thousands of teachers and students marched on the parliament to protest the austerity package and its impact on education. They marched past parliament, shouting “Let the rich pay for the crisis” in the direction of the MPs who were at that point debating the austerity plans.
Public sector unions have occupied the town halls in the Athens suburbs of Agios Dimitrios, Nea Ionia and Vyrona.
This morning, Greek Communists staged a dawn raid on the Acropolis, symbol of Greece and its ancient glory, draping the massive banner you can see at the top. Its message couldn’t be clearer: the Greek people are crying out for our solidarity.
Keep checking back -- updates as we get them.
Update: Check out this statement signed by anti-capitalist parties all over Europe, including the Scottish Socialist Party.
Update: As Liam reports in a comment below, participants in a mass demonstration have attempted to storm the Greek parliament in Athens to prevent MPs from being able to discuss and vote through the IMF/EU package. There’s footage on the BBC site here, but it’s hard to embed BBC stuff. As soon as there’s footage on youtube I’ll stick it up on here as well.
The BBC reporter says that more were expected to join the demonstration as the day wore on, so they may manage to break police lines and get through. The police are using stun grenades against the marchers.
Elsewhere in Athens, a bank was set on fire, and apparently 3 people have been killed. There’s also been reports of mass action and violence in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
There’s a livestream from the streets of Athens here.
Looks like they’ve taken that off now, will keep an eye on it in case they go back to Greece though.
Update: As promised, embedded footage of the attempt to storm the parliament. The bangs you can hear are stun grenades.
German soldiers raise the Nazi flag over the Acropolis. Today, the Greek government has again surrendered.
The Greek government has agreed to a programme of loans of billions of Euros from the EU and IMF. This money comes with an incredible list of demands, that will plunge the standard of living for the Greek people. Many people are drawing direct comparisons between the Greek government of 1941, which surrendered to the Nazi invasion and became German puppets, and the current government, which has surrendered and become a puppet of the international financial institutions and the EU bureaucrats.
Already, ordinary Greeks can see that if the EU and the IMF get their way, then their country will be ruined. There is a mass exodus of Greeks fleeing abroad in an attempt to escape from the economic catastrophe; applications to migrate to the USA and Canada have jumped by 30% since the beginning of the year.
Check out this list of humiliating conditions imposed on the surrender of the Greek government:
-15% reduction in salaries for both private and public sector workers.
-At the same time increasing VAT, making food and basic goods far more expensive.
-Increase the retirement age to 67.
-Decrease pensions.
-Hundreds of thousands of job cuts in the public sector.
-Where workers have won a collective agreement between unions and their bosses, these will be abolished.
-Abolition of any restrictions on bosses ability to cut jobs in the private sector.
-Massive cuts in public spending. Already announced include the expansion of school class sizes from 25 to over 30.
This is shocking. It’s like a neoliberal shopping list, as if the most right wing economists are getting the right to write their dream programme for remaking Greece as a capitalist’s paradise. Make no mistake: these are ideas that big business has fought for in Europe for years. The fact that many European countries have a welfare state is a major block on the ability of capitalists to make as much money as they like. The crisis in Greece is a great opportunity for them to push through policies they’ve wanted for a long time. What we’re facing, firstly in Greece, but later in the rest of Europe as well, is the possibility of an economic dictatorship by the super rich financial elite. They are trying to use the force of the state, with its riot cops and soldiers, to force the people’s acceptance of a total surrender to their interests.
Naomi Klein has called this process the Shock Doctrine: when the global ruling class uses crisis as an opportunity to push through policies they would never normally be able to impose on people, while they are still in shock from the disaster. See the short film below for a more detailed explanation of how the shock doctrine works, and other times it’s been imposed on people.
But the thing is, the people who are forcing through the destruction of Greece are the same ones who were responsible for creating the crisis in the first place. The huge debt of the Greek government comes from loans from French, German, British, Dutch and Swiss banks. The Greek people are being punished by the European ruling class . . . for the mistakes of the European ruling class.
In the face of this economic warfare, the Greeks only have one choice: to fight back.
Yesterday May Day rallies were attacked by riot cops as tens of thousands came on to the streets to demonstrate their resistance. As one shipyard worker put it:
“These latest measures have been cooked up by outsiders and are totally outrageous. They are aimed not at the rich but at the poor. What we are saying here today is that they will pass only over our dead bodies.”
Showing their rage at the capitulation of their government, protesters at one point spotted Apostolos Kaklamanis, an MP and member of the government, and jumped him. He had to be whisked away from the fury of ordinary Greeks by riot police.
The next big day in the streets is set to be Wednesday, when there will be the next Greek general strike.
Greeks vs Riot Cops
Many establishment political commentators recognise that the people are too angry, and too organised, for the government to be able to carry out this programme of attacks. They think it is possible that Greece will be unable to pay its debts to the bankers and capitalists, who will then bankrupt the country and force it to withdraw from the Euro, something that would be a crisis for the entire future of the single currency.
In the face of this, the ruling class are already talking about an “emergency government of national unity” or appointing an unelected administration of “experts”. In a country that suffered under a fascist military dictatorship from 1967-74, this kind of chat is obviously very scary.
But the other possibility that may seriously be on the cards is the overthrow of the government by the people. A revolution in Greece is far from a sure thing, but the scale of fury on the streets mean that this is an important point in Greek history. But to truly solve this crisis, and face down the massive attack of the ruling class and on the people in Greece, and across Europe and the world, we need to get in touch with our allies in other countries and prepare for an international fightback.
If they win their war with Greece, Spain, Portugal, and ultimately we, will be next. A crisis can also be an opportunity, for us as well as the capitalists. It’s time to join the fightback.
(Please take this as an open invitation to use the comments thread as a way of sharing ideas about how we can build solidarity with Greece, and more generally prepare for a continent wide fightback.)
"Yes, yes, yes, this is all well and good but where's your cash?"
Greece is known throughout the world as the birthplace of democracy, the cradle of western art, science, literature, drama and philosophy. It’s a beautiful country, with a healthy and delicious cuisine. What does capitalism think of Greece? “Junk”.
Yesterday Greece’s credit rating was downgraded to “junk” status, meaning that international markets think the government will be unable to pay its huge debts to banks and capitalists. Greece has been denounced across Europe, especially in Germany, which is the Europe’s largest economy, and where the right wing press has campaigned against any bailout for the Greeks. The German equivalent of The Sun, Bild, ran with the headline ‘You Greeks are getting nothing from us.’ And German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while campaigning for her party in regional elections, took the opportunity to lecture Greece on saving money and monetary responsibility, sounding just like someone who you need to borrow money off to keep afloat, but who just can’t help being a dick about it.
But throughout the day there’s been an absolute panic in international financial institutions like the IMF or the European Central Bank, and their top people have put the screws on the German government to cough up to try and keep the crisis in Greece under control. They fear that if the capitalists don’t get their cash from Greece then they’ll start to panic about other countries with big debts as well. The head of the OECD called what was happening in Greece a “contagion”, going as far as to compare it to the ebola virus (!):
“It’s not a question of the danger of contagion; contagion has already happened. This is like Ebola. When you realise you have it you have to cut your leg off in order to survive. The crisis is threatening the stability of the financial system.”
The result of all this lobbying is that the EU is going to lend Greece some money to cover its debts, but the action wasn’t fast enough to prevent the credit rating of Spain being downgraded as well, leading to yet more panic among capitalists that they weren’t going to get paid. The Portuguese government has also announced it’s going to bring forward its plan to cut spending and attack workers to try and stave off crisis.
Merkel: "I'm not lending you 20 quid, or you'll never learn, blah blah blah."
What Greece and Spain are finding out is the cost of being members of the Euro. In similar situations in the past they would have reduced how much their currency is worth, making it cheaper to buy what they’re exporting. But as members of the Euro they can’t do that, because the value of the Euro is set for the whole of Europe, meaning their needs are swamped by the needs of the much bigger German economy.
The reason the German government has decided to give some bailout money to Greece is because the future of the Euro as a currency is potentially in doubt. The Greek debt has already got much worse while Germany dithered about what to do, and whatever the pro-capitalist Greek government wants to do they may well end up having no choice but to not pay some of their debts. At that point, they may have to seriously consider withdrawing from the Euro.
The solution that the IMF and European Central Bank want is predictable: Greek (and Spanish, Portuguese, Irish etc.) workers will have to get sacked, have their pay cut and face massive cuts in their basic services. The long term implications are likely to be huge unemployment and misery for the people of Greece.
All the mainstream media present this like it’s inevitable, and that Europe has no alternative. But that’s far from true. If European countries worked together they could easily take control of the massive wealth in European banks, and instead of causing misery for the people that elected them, use that cash to transform the economy and give people meaningful work.
The reason that isn’t happening is simple: across Europe the working class are too weak, and we’re easy targets for bullying by the rich. The government in Greece is in a weaker position because the Greek people are among the most organised and militant in Europe, so they face a serious threat if they go ahead with their attacks.When the EU “rescue” plan was announced, thousands of workers and youth massed on the street to attack the headquarters of the EU in Athens. They have another general strike planned for May 5th.
But they need our support. Across the whole of the EU, it’s time for socialists, trade unionists and other working class forces to get our act together. There’s absolutely no reason we should be facing this assault from the rich, who are responsible for this whole mess in the first place.
Greek protesters show us how it's done
Unfortunately in Britain it doesn’t look like the election will change much. The same people who downgraded Greece to junk status say they’re not too worried about Britain. Simon Hayes of Barclays Capital told the Guardian:
“We expect the next government to tighten policy by a little more than is currently projected. Given the broad consensus across the political parties about the need to reduce the public deficit, and the closeness of the main parties’ stated consolidation plans, we do not believe that the election outcome will materially change the broad outlook for public borrowing and debt.”
In other words, big business doesn’t care about the election, because they know whoever gets in they’ll win. The SSP does care about the election, we’re standing in 10 seats across Scotland. But the reason for that is we hope to use it as a springboard for building up mass working class resistance to the cuts and austerity that the next government is trying to force on us, like we’ve seen with the mass protests and general strikes in Greece. The need for a fight back has never been greater.
As Leftfield reported a couple of days ago, Greece right now is the frontline of the European wide assault on the working class.
The bankers who fucked up the economy royally are now determined to make ordinary people pay through wage cuts, job losses and slashing public spending.
In Greece, the government is trying to impose an austerity package so harsh the country has risen up in a general strike and massive demonstrations. Greeks need our solidarity today, because if they lose it’ll be us tomorrow.
In the video above, strikers and demonstrators talk about why they’ve gone into the street. (via Monthly Review zine.)
Yesterday there were general strikes in Greece and the Basque Country. Last week workers in France and Italy walked out as well. Across Europe the working class is waking up to the threat posed by the attacks of European governments, but in the UK the response has still been quite muted.
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