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.
Leftfield has already reported how the World Cup, far from being an economic benefit to South Africa, has in fact been a license for FIFA and international capitalism to loot the country.
Now it looks as if the full force of the law might be used to keep the electricity supply to fans’ TVs running, and prevent workers from exercising their right to strike.
Eskom is South Africa’s state owned electricity supplier, although attempts were made to at least partially privatise it in the late 1990s, meaning it operates in many ways as a private business. Eskom workers are demanding a 9% pay increase, as well as a housing allowance to help them cope with the rocketing cost of keeping a roof over their heads. The company has refused to meet their demands, offering increases in wages and allowances well below what the workers need during an economic crisis.
A strike would be unlikely to affect the actual electricity supply to the stadia themselves, as they generally have back up diesel generators. But it could affect the supply to TVs for fans from around the world who are in South Africa without tickets. More importantly for the South African economy, and global capitalism, it could disrupt platinum and gold mines, affecting the global price of these commodities.
In response to the unions pledge to push ahead with strike action next week, as the World Cup moves towards semi finals, Eskom has threatened to go to the courts and have the strike declared illegal, because electricity is deemed an “essential service”, and therefore presumably electricity workers should have no rights. “This is a country of laws and we must all abide by the laws,” said Eskom CEO Brian Dames.
The unions counter that they have tried to reach a ‘minimum service agreement’ with Eskom, meaning that non-essential workers would be able to strike while the lights were kept on. Eskom instead proposed an agreement that would have completely removed the right to strike from all workers, which the unions refused to sign.
What’s particularly ridiculous about Eskom’s refusal to budge is that its own executives have been caught out using company funds to feather their own nests. Executives are to be paid a 9.6 million Rand performance bonus, while they claim they can’t afford to pay their workers properly. They have established a R1 billion pool to fund payments to top bosses.
They’ve also spent R12.6 million on World Cup tickets for top execs.
Dames said he was appealing for “organised labour to play a part in putting our country first.”
But union spokesman Lesiba Seshoka hit back, saying: “We would like to put our country first; why don’t they put their workers first? Why are they putting themselves first?”
After the government attempted to partially privatise Eskom in the late 1990s, it refused to provide funds for the building of extra electrical power plants, meaning that there are now problems with supply leading to blackouts. A huge proportion of the poor population of South Africa continues to have no access to electricity supply.
Protesters slam rising electricity bills
During the Apartheid era, it was common for people to refuse to pay their power bills as a form of struggle against the racist and oppressive government, and to covertly connect themselves to the supply illegally. This form of struggle has seen a resurgence in recent years as the urban poor have been enraged that the impact of neoliberal economic policies means many still have no access to a proper home, electricity or clean water, and for those that do have access to utilities bills have jumped.
These policies have been implemented by the African National Congress government, which has now largely abandoned its left wing roots to become a party that only implements policies that suit South African and international capitalists. Significantly, the British bosses’ paper, the Financial Times, reckons there’ll be no strike because of the ANC. “If things aren’t sorted out by the weekend, expect party heavyweights to get involved,” they write.
The latest strike threat to the World Cup comes after the dramatic strike of stewards at stadia forced police to take over security at games. The stewards were angry that at their poverty pay at the hands of FIFA contractor Stallion Security. They linked up with community protesters who held banners demanding “World Cup for All! People Before Profit” and declaring “Apartheid Still Exists!”
Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse strikers before taking over security themselves at games such as the first round match between Brazil and North Korea.
Workers on strike at Soccer City
The heavy handed security for the World Cup has been a scandalous issue, with FIFA using South African police as a tool to protect their own business interests, excluding anyone who wanted to expose their role, or local traders trying to make a livelihood in the zones around the stadia where FIFA has been given exclusive economic control. A local environmentalist was arrested in durban for handing out leaflets about the World Cup’s impact at a ‘Fan Fest’ event, and another man who was found with 30 tickets and “no explanation” was given three years in jail.
Stallion itself is a scandal ridden operation, after a promise by the labour minister to ban it due to its terrible treatment of workers was not fulfilled. In 2001 it was responsible for a stampede at a Johannesburg football game that left 40 dead.
Their partner as head of security for FIFA’s local organising committee is former prisons commissioner Linda Mti, who gets a cut from a notorious privatised concentration camp for immigrants who have been arrested at Lindela (as well as being a triple arrestee for drunk driving.)
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.”
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.
After a huge May Day rally on Saturday, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) launched a massive general strike aimed at forcing the resignation of the government.
Although Maoist led, the strike is supported by the majority of workers, and so far has been really successful. Strikers have surrounded the Prime Minister’s residence. They have brought thousands of the country’s poorest people to protest in the capital Kathmandu, a move which has horrified the traditional elite, unused to seeing such ethnic diversity on the street.
Nepal was traditionally a monarchy, where the vast majority lived in stark poverty, and there were sharp divisions and discrimination between different ethnic groups and castes. In 1996, the Maoists launched an armed rebellion with the aim of bringing down the monarchy and establishing a new Nepal in which there would be more direct democracy, and the government brought an end to poverty and discrimination.
Following the success of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army in fighting the Royal Nepalese Army (which is armed and trained by both Britain and the US), a peace accord was negotiated, and in 2008 Nepal became a republic. In elections held that year, the Maoists came out on top, and headed a coalition government. The results showed how much support they had built in the areas of the country that were under their control. In these regions they had seized land from absentee landlords for the benefit of the people, as well as building roads, widening access to health and education, given people a direct say in their local government and started a campaign against ethnic and caste discrimination.
Nice hat, shame about your government: Nepali Prime Minister MK Nepal
The elections were to a constituent assembly that was supposed to write a new constitution, transforming Nepal into a democratic, federal republic, in which the rights of minority peoples were recognised. However, when the Maoists tried to sack the head of the army, who is a western-educated General responsible for leading counter-insurgency operations during the war, they were overriden by the President. The Maoist led government resigned in protest.
The current government, which has not been elected, is an alliance of the centrist Congress party and other Communist parties, and is headed by Madhav Kumar Nepal. They pledged to write a new constitution for Nepal within two years, a deadline which will expire later this month.
In the meantime, Maoists supported minority ethnic groups in declaring autonomous states, and have also supported revolutionary students who have shut down 8000 private schools in protest at hikes in tuition fees. Now, with the deadline for a new constitution on May 28th fast approaching, they’ve launched a mass protest movement to demand the government resigns and the Maoists are returned to power, in order to remake the state on the lines demanded by the country’s poor majority.
The Maoists have said they do not intend to seize full power at this point, but are more interested in pushing forward the process of writing a new constitution. They have also pledged that the strike will not use violence, although strikers are prepared to defend themselves if attacked by the government. Nevertheless, if the situation continues on for several days, what happens next is uncertain. The government has already been consulting the army on the possibility of using force to crush the people, with the support of military “advisers” from India and the US. The PM declared the protests would be “suicide” for the Maoists, but his words look hollow compared to the mobilisation on the streets. One reason they haven’t been able to do this so far is that the loyalty of rank and file soldiers to their commanders is far from guaranteed if they were ordered to fire on ordinary Nepalis.
The government so far looks determined to cling to power, although how long they can do this in the face of a mass shutdown of the country by the people remains to be seen. The next few days look set to determine the future history of Nepal, and nobody is sure what will happen next.
Bonuses: A good source for keeping up to date on the situation in English is this blog, by an American Communist living in Kathmandu.
Here’s some footage of the massive May Day protest in Kathmandu:
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.)
Where would you say the man in the above clip comes from?
It doesn’t take a dialectologist to correctly guess he probably grew up in the Liverpool area. He’s Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of the UNITE union, and the union official currently responsible for leading the BA cabin crew strike.
With the Tories desperate to try and make it look as if Labour is being run by the unions ahead of the election, and Labour desperate to try and out-Tory the Tories on looking anti-union, he’s someone who’s become a target for the right wing media. Both major parties care about the core of right wing voters from southern England who put Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair in power, and are keen to shit all over the working class to get their support.
But the Tory smear campaign took a turn for the bizarre this weekend, when Tory Vice Chairman Margot James attacked McCluskey for his “Scots accent”!
“On the airwaves all day yesterday, that familiar Scottish accent that we’ve come to associate with militant trade unionism.”
James is a millionaire former PR guru, and a prospective Tory candidate in the upcoming election. She also clearly has as much experience of talking to working class people from north of the Midlands as a monkey driving a bus.
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.)
Leftfield has 
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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