Recent Protests in Greece II
July 2, 2011 - 1:58pm
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Syndicate
Continued from here.
Just to re-iterate some views already expressed on the previous thread - reading Eric Hoffer is time that you won't get back. I'd say he was a blue collar conservative ... or a class traitor if you want to be picky. OTOH, at least having read his most famous books I can share my opinions based on experience. If I can save just one radical from being infected .... etc ... then my efforts weren't wasted. lol.
The Communist Party of Greece has a great deal of information about recent events, solid analysis of Greek and European political life, and, interestingly, have made huge efforts to bring the different Communist and Worker's Parties together from across Europe and the world.
KKE or "koo-koo-eh"
KKE - A call for struggle from the Acropolis
KKE - Lessons from the general strike
If you want to read about the shocking and horrific atrocities against the Greek people by the social democratic regime in power, the Greek Communists will provide the details. Dippers be warned.
I suspect that if I lived in Greece I would be supporting the SYN not either the commies or the social democrats.
SYNASPISMOS (abbreviation SYN) is a political party of the renovative, democratic and radical left, founded in June 1992. Its name, "Synaspismos", (Coalition of the Left and Progress) has been retained from its previous structure, which was a coalition of left and progressive parties and groups that was formed in 1989. The transformation was decided in 1991 after the CP of Greece (KKE) split from the Coalition. The name of the party was amended on June 1st, 2003 and since then SYNASPISMOS is the "Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology".
Synaspismos identifies itself with the ideas and values of democratic socialism, ecology, feminism and anti-militarism. It believes in pluralism and considers the defense of human rights non-negotiable.
http://www.syn.gr/en/profile.htm
The Greek Communists have written about SYN quite a bit ... in which SYN is characterized as very opportunistic, keen on turning the reds into social democrats, dissolving the latter's organization, and watering down any independent socialist approach in Greece.
Fill your boots.
There are other articles there, in English, that develop this more.
I am sure they have. However I am sure that SYN has written some "glowing" things about the commies too.
Like most people I don't want either a capitalist or a comrade making decisions that should be made democratically. I prefer to not be cog in anyones machine. I don't trust people who promote either central planning by a state bureaucracy or the invisible hand of the bankers as the right way to run an economy.
I was looking at their platform not the party itself. Seems strange to me that they are supposedly trying to turn the reds into social democrats since Greece has a social democratic majority that both the communists and the SYN oppose. Clearly I don't know the actual people involved and their history so I am going on first principles. There is no central planning by do gooders or capitalists in my visions of a better future.
You may be right that SYN is also a party made up of political opportunists. I gave them the benefit of the doubt but I certainly acknowledge that in a western parliament it is conceivable that no matter what their stated positions that all or most of the parties are capitalists in disguise.
I've been reading a number of documents on the Greek CP website (in English) the last few days. They are quite willing to criticize themselves as well, e.g., on their role of re-gurgitating Soviet views on socialism in the USSR instead of adopting more critical views and hold themselves partly to blame for the events of 1989-1991.
I doubt very much if ANY social democratic party would do that. (I've never seen any social democratic party anywhere, anytime, acknowledge their disgraceful role in supporting war in 1914 in the various countries: UK, Germany, and all the rest.) Have a look yourself and see (in the context of an assessment of 20th century socialism, why and how it was overthrown, etc.) what I mean. See "Evaluation of the stance of KKE" just past the half way part of the resolution.
Resolution by Greek CP at their 18th congress on the legacy of 20th century socialism, etc.
I don't see anywhere that the SYN self identifies as a social democrotic party. The Greek Socialists do proudly proclaim they are. As I said I have nothing to go on but what I read on line not being from Greece or able to speak Greek. I like their proposals though.
An Immediate Alternative Program for a Progressive Exit from the Crisis
1. Disengagement from the EU-IMF mechanism of “support”. Renegotiation and demand for a direct loan from the ECB and the introduction of a euro-bond. Coordination and stable alliance with the countries of the European South, which face similar problems of debt and deficits. Demand for a change of the European Treaties. Immediate abolition of the Stability Pact and replacement of it with a Pact for Social Protection, guaranteed, decent employment and sustainable development.
2. Public social control of the financial system, in favor of public interest and real economy. A first step is the immediate intervention to the banking system, through the creation of a public pylon, together with the alternative administration of the support package.
3. Mid and long-term program for the productive re-composition of the Greek economy. With targeted public investments, for an alternative model of development, and with a special attention to the agricultural economy, renewable energy sources, sustainable tourism and new technologies. We fight for a different concept and function of the public sector.
4. Political demand, on an international level, for a partial abolition of the public debt and the optimization of the conditions of payment, under the framework of its complete restructure. The problem of the public debt is not only a Greek problem; in this sense, we demand a complete mechanism of solidarity for its confrontation under a European framework.
5. Creation of a shield of social protection. With a complex of immediate social interventions, which will aim at the reduction of employment and of new forms of poverty, together with the stimulation of development. The necessary immediate interventions should focus on the following issues:
Tax reform, against the diachronic injustices of our taxation system, which will enlarge the tax basis against tax-defaulters. Taxation of the church.
Immediate reduction of all military expenditure. Withdrawal of all campaigning Greek troops from all foreign soil.
Funding of the social security system and reinforcement of its public, re-distributive character, in contrast with the dismantling strategy that is today applied by the government.
Protection of the short, mid and log-term unemployed. Special programs of employment in the social and productive sector.
Immediate reform of the employment legislation, targeting at the limitation of lay-offs and the protection of jobs.
Reinforcement of the minimum wage. Introduction of a guaranteed minimum income and guaranteed access to public goods and basic services of public benefit.
The aforementioned minimum framework for a progressive exit-strategy includes proposals for the immediate confrontation of the crisis and the interception of the attack that the society and the labor forces are facing.
Synaspismos and SYRIZA need to develop informative actions and reinforce the resistance of our society. With our powerful participation to the struggles of the trade-unions and social actors. With our contribution to the formation of wider Committees of Struggle in neighborhoods and work places, against the measures of the government and their consequences. Our Party must express its solidarity in actions, through relevant initiatives, towards those who are struck by the crisis.
Taken as a fact that we are facing a structural crisis of capitalism, the struggle for an alternative, progressive exit-strategy must be linked to the fight for a radical change of the present balance of power, for the radical change of society and socialism.
Our alternative proposal must be clarified to the people, through consecutive, systematic and permanent interventions.
We must organize press conferences and public interventions of our MPs and members of the party, in the neighborhoods of Athens and the regions of the country. It is our duty to propose an alternative way and invite our society to fight and demand it.
Those remarks are misleading. They still support the EU, just as PASOK supports NATO AND the EU. They argue that the EU can be humanized. But the EU is an instrument of capitalist hog-tying of Greece as the Greek citizenry are discovering daily. These are proponents of capitalism with a human face.
It's also significant that the big business media, in addition to supporting the greenwashing Greek Green Party (much like in Canada), supports PASOK (as did US President Obama as PASOK supported the inter-imperialist rivalry of the USA over Russian pipelines) and, when PASOK was declining, also supported the so-called "left" SYN. They have abandoned any genuienely revolutionary view and are forces of capitalist management. And just look what ordinary capitalism has done for the Greek citizenry. There are daily demonstrations against the government, billions hiding in Swiss banks by Greek business, and a huge deficit that the citizenry is being forced to pay instead of the capitalist interests, and their stooges in government, that are responsible for it.
They didn't vote with the social democrats they voted against the EU reform package. I am not qualified to have an in depth discussion of Greek politics. I couldn't find any really good independent assessment of the SYN just its stated policy and the fact that they are at least not supporting the government.
If you find some independent writing about the parties that is not written by political rivals please post them because at this point I only know that I don't know and I don't trust the social democrats or tell the truth of their rivals nor their rivals to tell the truth about each other. After all that is the game of electoral politics in a nut shell.
Read 'em all and form your own opinion. I can't do that for you.
I read your links just as I used to read your other handles links. I appreciate them and find them informative but I have never found a politician's view of their rivals to be anything close to being unbiased.
Press-release from #Syntagma Square to Global Community #europeanrevolution #greekrevolution
Home / Greece / Current Page
Sent us by our dear fellows of http://real-democracy.gr/en .
Dear friends, brothers and sisters,
We are the ones that have fought for a month at Syntagma square in Athens. We organize ourselves with direct democracy excluding all political parties. Our voice is our everyday people´s assembly.
We are indignant because others decide for us without us and mortgage our future; they impose loans that do not benefit the people but the banks and governments’ interests. We are indignant because they terrify us using the deterrent of bankruptcy. Not only do they try to scare us but they also try to set people against each other.
*- We do not want any more support loans.*
*- We do not want public property *to be sold off.
*- We do not want the medium-term program *to pass.
*- We do not want the socialization of losses and privatization of gains.
*Unite your voice with ours.*
They are using our sacrifices and yours so that few acquire wealth.
We are here today, you will be here tomorrow.
We take to the streets everyday.
Every Sunday hundreds of thousands of citizens gather at the squares of all Greece, Syntagma being the core....
*The People’s Assembly Syntagma 3/7/2011*
http://www.europeanrevolution.net/?p=886
Leaving the euro is the best strategy for ordinary Greeks
The Greek bailout protects the financial sector, not the ordinary Greeks. A social alternative would be for Greece to annul its debts and exit the eurozone.
By Maina van der Zwan, originally published at socialisme.nu (in Dutch)
The emergency package for Greece is meant to protect the financial sector, not the ordinary Greeks. The alternative would be for social movements to enforce an annulment of the debt and an exit from the eurozone.
What began in the autumn of 2008 as a debt crisis of banks has now mutated into a debt crisis of states. The financial press is buzzing about the impending “Lehman’s moment” for Greece and the eurozone. The second emergency package is designed to postpone that moment, but will not prevent it.
The fact is that the eurozone has failed, not least because of the structural differences between core and periphery countries. Monetary union was designed as a one-size-fits-all economic policy — while participating economies were significantly different in both size and competitiveness. Because states had to give up control over their exchange and interest rates, weaker economies did not have many opportunities to compensate for their trade deficits other than by borrowing.....
http://roarmag.org/2011/07/euro-exit-greece-ordinary-greeks/
Syntagma, ground-zero of the global resistance movement
by Jérôme E. Roos on
In a truly incredible display of positive mindedness and global consciousness, Syntagma square has already proven that another world is possible.
Syntagma Square, Sunday July 10th
It’s 9:30pm. The square is slowly filling up with people. The sound installation has just been set up, protest music is blasting from the speakers and is reflected by the empty walls of Parliament. The atmosphere is jovial, friendly and unpretentious. There is electricity in the air on this warm summer night in Athens.
I’m amazed by the sheer diversity of people here. They come from all walks of life and seem to form a broadly representative cross-section of society: from the usual suspects — hippies, leftists and anarchists — to undogmatic young couples with children. Even conservatives and nationalists seem to be represented.
I’ve seen retired people sitting side-by-side with university students, middle-aged men having beers on the steps in front of Parliament, tourists from all over the world observing it all in amazement, sympathizers and activists airing their solidarity and support. I even saw an old lady — she must have been well past 80 — socializing with a bunch of protesters in their mid-20s....
http://roarmag.org/2011/07/syntagma-ground-zero-of-the-global-resistance...
Good to see that so many Greek citizens refuse to accept the crap they are being sold. ζουν την ισχυρή αντίσταση!
Greece set to default on massive debt burden, European leaders concede
Ian Traynor in Brussels
Tuesday 12 July 2011
European leaders bowed to the inevitable and conceded that Greece is likely to default on its massive debt burden, which would be a first among the 17 countries using the euro.
They also abruptly shifted tack in the eurozone debt crisis by raising the possibility of using the eurozone's bailout fund to buy back Greek debt on the markets, meaning sizeable losses for Greece's private investors and reduced debt levels for Athens.
Following 12 hours of fraught negotiations in Brussels haunted by the risks of contagion in the eurozone spreading to Italy, now being targeted by the financial markets for the first time in the 18-month crisis, the 17 governments of the eurozone pointedly failed to rule out a sovereign debt default by Greece....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jul/12/greece-set-to-default-massive-debt-burden
..a Real News video interview. includes transcript.
Greece now, US soon
July 12, 2011
By Michael Hudson
http://michael-hudson.com/2011/07/greece-now-us-soon/
Jérôme E. Roos: In Greece, Crisis And Violence Stir A Collective Trauma
July 12th, 2011 By Jérôme E. Roos:
Economic collapse and police brutality bring back painful memories of years of military dictatorship and decades of financial hardship.
Syntagma Square, Monday July 11th
Quote: “My dad was literally depressed for days after seeing the images of June 28 and 29,” our wonderful host Amalia told me earlier. “He spent a year in prison during the military dictatorship [for his opposition to the regime]. He never really talks about it, I think he was badly traumatized. But he told me he had never seen anything like this. Even the dictatorship was never this violent against the people.”
Her views have been echoed by at least half a dozen protesters I have spoken to in Athens over the past 24 hours. “The whole square looked like a nuclear disaster zone,” said Lydia, a friendly lady who has been camped out on the square for the past couple of weeks. Like Achilias, a Greek journalist, she is becoming increasingly despaired by dirty police tactics, like planting drug dealers around the square in order to attract junkies and discredit the occupation.
On June 28 and 29, the Greek police was strongly condemned by Amnesty International for using illegal chemicals that are banned by the Geneva convention. Most of the gas canisters were way beyond their stated expiry date. “And they used so much of it, ” Lydia said in between intermittent coughs. “There was gas everywhere, no one could breathe. It was terrifying. I couldn’t speak for 5 days, I got really sick. It really was like a civil war.”
Last night, the situation got tense again for a moment. The mayor of Athens, George Kaminis, had warned that if protesters didn’t vacate Syntagma by 4 o’clock on Monday morning, he would send in police and cleaners to clear the square. The memories of June 28-29 and the Barcelona clean-up made Lydia adamant that this time she wouldn’t be able to stand her ground. “I can’t take anymore gas. I just can’t do it.”
In the end, the cleaning crew failed to show up. Thousands of protesters had stayed in the square to defend it in case of a police intervention, but the municipal workers, in a heartwarming display of solidarity, simply refused to take the mayor’s orders unless they received the explicit permission of the indignants at Syntagma. But the temporary anxiety caused by the mayor’s announcement revealed the deep-seated trauma of decades of police abuse.
In truth, the people here are fed up with violence. While last week’s unrest was clearly instigated by riot police and the black bloc, the peaceful majority in Syntagma ended up taking the heaviest load of the violence. In an attempt to pacifically stand their ground, over 500 people were injured by police stone-throwing, baton-swinging, infiltration, and tear-gassing.
http://roarmag.org/2011/07/greece-crisis-violence-collective-trauma/
Syntagma, where the small things still matter
Amid all the grand schemes of crisis and revolution, it’s sometimes all too easy to forget about the beauty of the moment. Here is one of those moments.
Syntagma Square, Wednesday July 13th
This will be a short post. I’m not really in the mood to report or to theorize. Not because I don’t like reporting or theorizing, but because today, I feel, is a day of experiencing. Shutting up my own potty mouth for a day and actually taking a break to soak up the spectacle on display here in Syntagma.
But there is one thing I want to mention and briefly put in a larger context. It’s something incredibly small — but, as I’m finding out day after day, it’s the little things and the little people who make this revolution go round.
Of course there’s plenty of attention for the larger schemes, from the failure of liberal democracy and global capitalism to the necessity of establishing transnational linkages with activists across Europe and the Arab world — something Pedro and I are working on with our comrades at the multimedia center here.
But the real beauty of Syntagma lies not in its defiance of the powers that be or the contestation of the neoliberal world order, but rather in the small gestures of solidarity and the incredible interactions at the human level. In today’s mechanical, rational, modern world, it’s all too easy to forget what inspiring acts human beings are actually capable of — if only you empower them to unite and work on creative solutions together.
So, something beautifully small just happened. As I was sitting here at the table in the multimedia center speaking to Maria and Katerina, an African man stopped by and asked for the ‘responsible’ person (poor man probably wasn’t aware that this movement largely shuns the idea of people being ‘in charge’). In his hands, he was carrying at least four heavy plastic bags full of tin cans.
Since there are a lot of street vendors around here, the suspicious capitalist residue in my corrupted mind immediately assumed that he was trying to sell us something. But no, as so often, I was wrong. Here was a group of African refugees who came bearing beer and coffee for the people.
They came to share, in a sign of solidarity, the little they had, in order to be a part of a larger whole. In order to thank the people of Syntagma for engaging in a struggle that they experience so vividly every single day.
All of it took only 2-3 minutes max. But as I’m sitting here sipping the Alfa beer, getting ready to start moving around and socializing with people, I realized this simply had to be recorded for the history books. Amid all the grand schemes of crisis and revolution it’s sometimes all too easy to forget about the beauty of the moment.
This certainly was one of those moments.
http://roarmag.org/2011/07/syntagma-where-the-small-things-still-matter/Greece offers to repay loans with giant horse.
Greece offers to repay loans with giant horse.
Good one...
Have you noticed for the people who invented and prefected the phalanx they sure suck at it now...
Now...
And then...
Rosa Vasilaki: Seeing Like A PIG – The Crisis In Greece From A Different Perspective
July 15th, 2011
Greece has made the press headlines in the past weeks more than ever in the short history of mass media and the even shorter history of globalized economies, predicaments and futures. In the civilized ‘North’, ‘Europe’ or ‘the West’ – terms which to a large extent have ceased to represent the once-called Great Powers and have increasingly become synonymous with a dominant, albeit abstract point of view, that of the ‘economy’ – Greece, the PIG par excellence, has become a metaphor for everything threatening the days of affluence of ‘global economics’: instability, irresponsibility, social unrest. In the aftermath of bin Laden’s death and after the spectacle of elimination of the mother-of-all manufactured global threats – Islamic fundamentalism – the ‘Greek crisis’ has become the name of the most fundamental fear of all: the crisis of the global capitalist economic system itself.
As a result, the omnipresent accounts of economic, political and diplomatic pundits are underpinned by a general feeling of urgency to the imminent – global – catastrophe to which we must react now. Analysts from all over the world together with a discredited, one would even tempted even to say comprador, Greek government, bombard their global publics that time is running up, that now is the time to act, that the whole world is in the verge of collapsing if the Greeks (and as an extension, the other three little PIGS) do not rush to comply with the increasingly predatory demands for the privatization of public goods, the commercialization of the State, the curtailment of social rights – in short the precarization of life itself – as requested by the authorities of the IMF and the Central European Bank.
This sense of urgency to act against the looming disaster – if we follow S. Zizek , a deeply anti-theoretical, and in that sense anti-critical move which, as we shall see below, is instrumental in discouraging any critical reflection about the situation – goes together with the deployment of an impressive arsenal of stereotypical, quasi-racist representations of the PIGS in the Western mainstream media. Hierarchical binaries, long associated with the political, economic and ideological supremacy of the West have been given new leases of live: the developed North versus the backward South, the orderly West versus the unruly Orient, the disciplined, peaceful protests in civilized Europe versus the violent and chaotic riots in the Mediterranean. Last but not least, the evocation of the image of the clean – ideologically and/or racially pure? – ‘real Europe’ versus the dirty – polluted by the seeds of rebellion and the cultural proximity to the Orient? – European periphery in the invention of the acronym PIGS says a great deal about the deep ingrained colonialist stereotyping in the heart of the EU....
http://www.thenewsignificance.com/2011/07/15/rosa-vasilaki-seeing-like-a-pig-the-crisis-in-greece-from-a-different-perspective/
Rosa Vasilaki: Seeing Like A PIG – The Crisis In Greece From A Different Perspective
Quote: What could be perhaps more helpful in order to understand the predicament and promise of the ‘Greek crisis’ would be to take some critical distance from the oppressive dominant perspective. This perspective comes under the name of ‘economy’ and it has become so hegemonic, so naturalized, that the mere act of thinking outside its framework – and think for instance in in terms of collective good as explained below – automatically gets rejected as heretic, lunatic, dangerous or naïve. It is within this naturalized perspective of the ‘economy’ that the international economic and political experts scold the Greeks as bad students failing their neoliberal re-education (as D. Harvey has been persistently arguing neoliberalism is above all a political project of disciplining of the Self to the logic of ‘the market’), praise the brutality of the sweeping ‘reforms’ and the ‘boldness’ of the Greek government, deplore the ‘backwardness’ of the Welfare state, blackmail the resisting Greek people with reprisals of total disaster and represent the tremendously unfair, anti-social ‘bailout package’ as the only solution before ‘The End’ (one cannot resist to ask what kind of ‘end’ this might be when and if it occurs).
Stepping out of the objectified framework of the ‘economy’, however, would allow us to assume a different position and would enable us to see what is at stake in the ‘Greek crisis’ for Greece and for the world. It would enable us to understand the intentionality of the Greek protests rather than easily attribute them to an essentialized fiery Greek character or the presumed lack of rule of law in the Orient, and therefore reduce them to a senseless burst of violence. But let us for a moment resist the frantic calls of urgency to save the ‘economy’ and adopt tentatively the perspective of the PIGS. Perhaps then we can ask a couple of critical questions such as, what are really the Greeks and the other three (for the moment, for the company is likely to grow in the near future) little pigs so vociferously accused of? And what is the meaning of Greek resistance, what does this necessarily amorphous, heterogeneous and recently radicalized crowd so vigorously defend?....
http://www.thenewsignificance.com/2011/07/15/rosa-vasilaki-seeing-like-a-pig-the-crisis-in-greece-from-a-different-perspective/
Published on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
Advice Hillary Clinton Should, But Won’t, Give to Economically-Strapped Greece
by Medea Benjamin
When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Greece, she praised the Greek government’s austerity measures to reduce deficits and cut spending. The U.S. and Greece face a common challenge of dealing with soaring deficits, but they also face something else in common: a refusal to deal with out-of-control military spending. And given that the United States is a major arms seller to Greece, Hillary Clinton will encourage the Greeks to slash workers’ wages and pensions, but not its enormous military appetite.
With a population of just 11 million, Greece is the largest importer of conventional weapons in Europe—and ranks fifth in the world behind China, India, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea. Greece spends a whooping 3 percent of its gross domestic product on military hardware, compared to an average 1.7% in the other European NATO countries, including nations involved in international conflicts such as Britain, France and Germany....
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/19-0
One World One Revolution
July 29th, 2011
video
http://www.youtube.com/user/RealDemocracyGr#p/u/3/aE3R1BQrYCw
Beyond organizing a general strike here, what else can we do to help Greek comrades?
Defiant statement by indignant following Syntagma eviction
by Jérôme E. Roos on July 30 2011
After 60 days of occupation, Greek police forcefully evicted the protest camp at Syntagma Square in Athens. This is the defiant reaction of the protesters.
Videos of the eviction here.
The following is a message from real-democracy.gr:
The Square is Us and We Are Everywhere
General assembly at Syntagma Square, 6:00 o’clock
Like thieves, who fear the people’s outcry and public shame, The police forces entered the square at 4 am.
The district attorney and work crews of the Municipality of Athens invaded the square, and began a wholesale destruction and removal of tents and the infrastructure of the various work groups of the square. They then took 13 people into custody, 8 of which are now considered arrests....
http://roarmag.org/2011/07/defiant-statement-by-indignant-following-syntagma-eviction/
A nice social democratic government ensuring public safety is paramount. After all those Greeks got an election so what if the party that is in power promised not to impose austerity measures before the vote.
Greece's healthcare system is on the brink of catastrophe
Patients who cannot afford treatment and hospitals without critical supplies are among victims of the financial meltdown
Friday 5 August 2011
Adonis Kostakos is unemployed and diabetic. Aged 50, he last worked regularly four years ago in the port of Piraeus. Back then he used Greece's public hospital system to have his blood sugar checked and get his medication.
These days, receiving no unemployment benefit, he cannot afford to pay for his drugs or the new €5 hospital fee introduced as part of Greece's austerity measures.
So today Kostakos has come to a free clinic in the shipbuilding town of Perama, where he lives, to pick up his medication. The drop-in surgery run by the global charity Médecins du Monde was originally set up to cater for illegal immigrants. But today, there are only native Greeks....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/greece-healthcare-brink-catastrophe
The interesting thing from this is how people who would have been considered affluent, people who thought they would be immune from the machinations of the financial sectors coup, people who thought they were buddies with those now in control now find themselves taking less for their doctoring fees.
There are lots of people in Canada and the U.S. who think they are part of the crowd who won't be touched by this continuing financial sector take over of our governments. These events and surely more to come like them, should be shown to them.
Statement from re-occupied Syntagma square
by Jérôme E. Roos on September 4, 2011
Yesterday, the indignant of Greece took back Syntagma square, the heart of their movement since May 25, after having released the following statement.
On September 3rd, we are everywhere — we fill up Syntagma Square
The squares are us and we are everywhere. We are all. We started as indignant people, we have decided, and in a little while we will be revolting in masses until those who drove us here go away. Until we kick out the bankers and the market’s governments and system.
We all agree that we do not need any spokesmen in this movement, because by definition, but especially in the context of this political and economic system, they will be corrupted, cut off from the people, and will betray the people. We want to decide collectively for ourselves. We demand to take our lives into our own hands.
The 3rd of September (the day when the first Greek constitution was drafted in 1843, and also when PASOK, the ruling party was created in 1974) is a date we can retake, by giving it back its original meaning, that of the people’s needs.
The 3rd of September is an important date for us. It is also the day that reminds us of the “cancellation” of the people’s aspirations for democracy, freedom and dignity. That reminds us of the lies told and the mockery made by our government.
We do not have any illusions: we understand that we cannot have direct democracy and people’s rule without overthrowing the government, the Troika, and the whole political and economic system.
We call all citizens to the big demonstration and people’s assembly in Syntagma Square and all the country’s squares on September 3, 2011 at 19:00
BREAD-EDUCATION-FREEDOM
EQUALITY-JUSTICE-LIBERTY
THE SQUARES ARE US AND WE ARE EVERYWHERE
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
http://roarmag.org/2011/09/statement-from-re-occupied-syntagma-square/
Greek austerity: new measures 'catastrophic' say protesters
Strikes bring Athens to a standstill as government announces further swingeing cuts to public sector jobs and pensions
Thousands of Greeks have poured on to the streets of Athens, furious at the prospect of further austerity in a country already reeling from previous bouts of belt-tightening.
As bus, tram, train and taxi drivers walked off the job, joining subway employees and state school teachers in a 24-hour work stoppage, unions vowed to step up their struggle against the cuts with a series of general strikes....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/22/greek-austerity-measures-catastrophic-protesters
Greek students seize TV station during live broadcast
September 26, 2011
As police attacked protesters on Syntagma Square, a group of Greek students interrupted a live news broadcast and occupied the TV station.
http://roarmag.org/2011/09/greek-students-seize-state-tv-interrupt-live-...
Nobody will bite into this, will they?
Beyond organizing a general strike here, what else can we do to help Greek comrades?
Nobody will bite into this, will they?
Beyond organizing a general strike here, what else can we do to help Greek comrades?
..there's a call out for oct 15. we could start there.
http://15october.net/where/#comment-36
Greek protesters occupy key ministries
Greek civil servants protesting the government's austerity measures have occupied several ministries ahead of upcoming talks between the IMF and EU officials.
According to local media, the occupations began in the early hours of Thursday and will continue until Friday....
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201791.html
Police use tear gas against Greek protesters
Greek police have used tear gas against the protesters. Clashes happened during the rallying of Greek unions in central Athens on Wednesday in a new protest over the austerity measures applied as the government struggles to avoid default. (video as well)
http://rt.com/news/greece-civil-services-strike-083/
11 million reasons why Greece is about to explode
Mass wildcat strikes, occupations and protests will culminate into a 24-hour union-led strike on Wednesday. With tensions brewing, violence is inevitable.
Greece is being strangled — and like any organism struggling to survive while being suffocated, it will kick, scratch and fight until its very last breath. This is not an endorsement of the violence we are likely to see on Wednesday — it’s a dire warning to Europe and the IMF that their brutally inhumane policies are triggering a survival instinct that could turn nasty and brutal and run entirely out of control. Greece is about to convulse in flames and teargas once more....
http://roarmag.org/2011/10/11-million-reasons-why-greece-is-about-to-exp...
Are there any events scheduled in other countries to demonstrate solidarity with our Greek comrades, preferably something not on a Friday or Saturday?
In a Globe and Mail piece this week, Jim Stanford says "it isn't Greece and other weak states being bailed out. It's the banks that lent money to those countries....So far, the euro rescue has focused on trying to assuage the owners of financial wealth, who we euphemistically call 'the markets'."
He suggests that "instead of doing everything to keep private financiers happy, European officials need to replace the private debt-credit relationship with a publicly managed one. The private credit system that created all that money, and lent lots of it to Greece, will eventually be socialized, in two distinct ways.
"First, the debt itself will be socialized (as the Europeans take continental responsibility for the bonds of hard-pressed member states). But, more important, the leveraged money machine that created the credit and lent it with wild abandon in the first place also will be socialized. Banks will be 'recapitalized,' a euthemism for injecting hundreds of billions of euros of ;public capital into the banking system to offset the capital that will disappear with the coming defaults. Those new funds can be created by (public) banking, through the European Central Bank; taxpayers needn't pay a cent."
In the U.S., government took responsibility for massive private debt, socializing it, and partly fincing it by the Federal Reserve's printing of money.
"Inevitably, the European system must also be socialized in some form, because the private credit machine is currently untenable...We need to find an alternative way, through public banking, to create new credit to replace the private credit now teetering on the edge of destruction. That's a proposition that German taxpayers should celebrate."
..according to hudson the greek people have sent europe a message.
Greek AusterityOctober 13, 2011
Michael Hudson discusses how democracy has been subverted.
http://michael-hudson.com/2011/10/greek-austerity/
Skirmishes between demonstrators and the police broke out outside the Greek Parliament at the start of a two-day general strike on Wednesday as tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets in the largest demonstration in Athens in months, if not years. A crowd of dozens of youths took advantage of the moment to smash several storefronts and begin looting.
The police put crowd estimates at around 80,000 people; some news Web sites said more than 100,000. The police would not release official figures yet.
. . . .
"We must endure this battle so that the country can win, we must be calm and rise to the challenge," he said, noting that passing the new measures were crucial to clinching critical rescue funding from foreign creditors.
"The vote will boost our negotiating position, it will give us strength for the E.U. summit," he said. The key goal for Greece, Mr. Papandreou said, was "to stay in the euro zone."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/world/europe/greek-workers-start-two-d...
Greek Parties in Talks as Banks Demand Deep Wage, Social Cuts - by Alex Lantier
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/gree-f09.shtml
"Social conditions in Greece are undergoing a horrific degeneration. Homelessness, centered in the two largest cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, has increased at least 25 percent since the outbreak and the crisis. It is estimated that up to half of Greek homeowners will not be able to pay new increased property taxes on their homes, and people are increasingly unable to afford electricity and other basic utilities.
Nikitas Kanekis of the Doctors of the World charity told MSNBC that he fears 'a humanitarian catastrophe'.."
Meeting the 'New Homeless' on Greece's Freezing Streets (and vid)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16878756
Bailout Doubt: Greece Agrees to Spending Cuts Amid Euro-Worries (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/greece-cuts-euro-default-935/
"Greek lawmakers have agreed to a last ditch deal and the new spending cuts required to save the country from default. However Germany is insisting the agreement does not yet fulfill all the conditions..."
large demos are occurring (see interview)
Greeks Call for Solidarity in Strikes Against Austerity
Under pressure from creditors, the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the EU, the Greek government is forcing through unpopular austerity measures. The Greek Prime Minister threatened to remove any government minister who objected to the policies.
Wages are to be cut by more than 20 percent, thousands of civil servants will be laid off, and vital social programs will be severely cut. These laws punish the Greek 99% to repay the debts of the ruling class. The government has sold out sovereignty, the poor, and the working class in the interest of foreign creditors and the demands of the 1%. Bankers continue to make millions and corporations pay fewer taxes.
In response, thousands have taken to the streets and occupied the square in front of Parliament. For the second time this week, Greek workers began a general strike for today and tomorrow. Most transportation has been shut down - limited-service trains will allow protesters to attend demonstrations in Athens. Protesters around Parliament have been attacked with stun grenades and teargas by riot police. Similar protests and strikes are underway across Europe, including in Belgium, where firefighters opposed to cuts in their retirement plan broke through police lines with water hoses.
Students also occupied a school and held General Assemblies for protesters. The occupiers released a statement:
"The health structures, the educational spaces, the “welfare” benefits and anything making us productive in the dominant system are now a thing of the past. After squeezing everything out of us, they now throw us straight into hunger and impoverishment."
For years, Greece has been wrecked by the very same policies of austerity also underway in the United States and other countries. From Athens to Oakland, the 99% have awoken - and we refuse to be sold out.
Building occupations spread ahead of the General Strike demonstration
In Athens, the Law School remains under occupation. The buildings of the ministry of Health and the ministry of Labour are also occupied.
The Town Hall of the suburb of Holargos in the city is now also under occupation, by the local open assembly.
In the northern city of Veria, people have occupied the local “peripheral union” (a governance body).
The prefecture of the city of Larisa is now occupied, and so is the prefecture in the city of Corfu.
In Crete, students have occupied the Polytechnic (in the city of Chania) calling the people of the city to join them at the General Strike demonstration today. People have occupied the town hall of the city of Rethymno, too.
Statement by the Occupied Athens Law School
In order to liberate ourselves from debt we must destroy the economy
The political and financial spectacle has now lost its confidence. Its acts are entirely convulsive. The government of “emergency” that has taken over the maintenance of social cohesion is failing in conserving the labour, and at the same time the consumption power of the population. The new measures, with which the state aims to secure the survival of the greek nation in the international financial world, lead to a complete suspension of payments in the world of work. The lowering of the minimum wage, now also in paper, comes in harmony with the full suspension of every form of direct or social wage....
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/11/building-occupations-spread-ahead-of...
Getting Harsher? Greek Cabinet Approves Austerity Bill (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/greek-cabinet-austerity-bill-055/
"The Greek cabinet has approved a draft bill for the new austerity measures needed to secure a $130 Billion bailout from international lenders. The new cuts include making thousands of civil servants redundant and slashing the minimum wage. The legislation was submitted to the parliament, which is scheduled to vote on it on Sunday. Six ministers have quite the cabinet, disagreeing with the harsh austerity measures.
Meanwhile, there has been violence on the streets of the Greek capital with protesters furious about the austerity measures, while a 2 day strike ahs brought the city to a standstill.."
Greece Heading Toward 'Financial Holocaust' - Keiser (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/greece-debt-holocaust-keiser-015/
"Greece's incredible debt has in fact been accumulated in the banks around the world and forced on to the balance sheet of Greece, says financial analyst Max Keiser, referring to the situation as 'financial holocaust'.."
Historic cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens on Sunday as black-masked protesters fought Greek police outside parliament, while inside lawmakers looked set to defy the rage by endorsing a new EU/IMF austerity deal.
State television reported violence spread to the islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Shops were being looted in the capital in the worst breakdown of order since 2008 when violence gripped Greece for weeks after police shot a 15-year-old schoolboy.
As parliament prepared to vote on a new 130 billion euro bailout to save Greece from a messy bankruptcy, a Reuters photographer saw buildings in Athens engulfed in flames and huge plumes of smoke rose in the night sky
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/greece-idUSL5E8DC0AM20120212
Greek Police Union Wants to Arrest EU/IMF
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Greek+police+union+wants+arrest+offi...
"Greece's largest police union has threatened to issue arrest warrants for officials for the country's European Union and International Monetary Fund leaders for demanding deeply unpopular austerity measures. In a letter obtained by Reuters on Friday, the Federation of Greek Police accused the officials of 'blackmail, covertly abolishing or eroding democracy and national sovereignty' and said one target of its warrants would be the IMF's top official for Greece, Poul Thomsen.
'Since you are continuing this destructive policy we warn you that you cannot make us fight against our brothers. We refuse to stand against our parents, our brothers, our children or any citizen who protests and demands a change of policy,' said the union, which represents more than two-thirds of Greek policemen.
'We warn you that as legal representatives of Greek policemen, we will issue arrest warrants for a series of legal violations such as blackmail, covertly abolishing or eroding democracy and national sovereignty..."
It seems that EU oligarchs have a flaw in their plan to conquer Greece. Cops on the front lines of their war on democracy want out of this class war.
All the wealthy low lives and professional bums of Europe are salivating over thoughts of snapping up valuable state assets, the best beaches and tourist spots on the cheap. Next thing they know ol' Phil Windsor of Greece, Edinburgh, Hanover, Denmark etc will want to be made welcome in Greece again as if Greeks don't have enough problems now.
Austerity measures pass in government
'European Union Must Dump Whole Euro': Interview with Edward Spannous, Executive Intelligence Review (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226207.html
"...If they accept the austerity the people will be destroyed. This is what is happening. The bailouts are not for the countries. They are not for the people. They are for the banks.."
Athens Burns (and vid, photos)
http://rt.com/news/athens-burn-clashes-riots-145/
"The worst riot damage in years has struck Athens as MPs pass harsh new austerity measures.."
Greek Austerity: It's About Ideology, Not Economy
http://rt.com/community/blogs/debunking-myths-starting-own/greek-austeri...
"...We can only hope for the resilience of the Greek people to keep up the fight for social justice and for massive international solidarity. The first thing is already happening, the latter not (yet).
What the Greeks now practice on the streets has a name: democracy (that's a Greek word, folks)
Until I read today's papers I thought that the "austerity" crap in Greece was merely about hiking taxes (sales, payroll, other income), laying off public-sector workers, budget cuts, and so on, all in line with the usual bourgeois "living beyond their means" dismissal.
However, there's not enough discussion on the minimum wage cuts. The papers themselves wrote of "riots" while mentioning the minimum wage. Under normal circumstances I'm more cynical about such form of "action," but I definitely cannot shed tears for the broken windows of those who would be eager to take advantage of this change to Greece's labour law.
Greece And The Rape of The Rentiers, by Marshall Auerback
http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2012/02/11/greece-and-the-rape-by-the-rentiers...
"We're one step closer to ensuring that the birthplace of democracy becomes a form of national indentured servitude. That is of course, unless Greece regains some modicum of self-respect and tells the Troika to take a hike and leaves the eurozone.."
Goldman Sachs' Mega Deal for Greece (2003)
http://www.risk.net/risk-magazine/feature/1498135/revealed-goldman-sachs...
Goldman Sachs shorted Greek debt after arranging shady swaps
"evidence emerges of a remarkable deal between the public debt division of Greece's finance ministry and the investment bank Goldman-Sachs.."
Greek Fire: Extremist Elites Gone Wild in Democracy's Cradle - by Chris Floyd
http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/2215-...
"..And make no mistake: the extremist doctrine being forced on Greece is, in every particular, the ruling ideology of the US, Great Britain, [Canada] and all the 'great democracies' of the West. The aim of the doctrine is the 'final solution' of the 'problem' of democracy: ie, the fact that the rabble keep seeking a decent life for themselves instead of staying in harness to enrich an all powerful elite.."
'Greece Must Plan to Leave Euro' (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226472.html
"Today, Greece has a choice - to contract additional debt with international lenders or leave the Euro Zone and declare bankruptcy.."
Madrid in solidarity with Greece
video
Several hundred people gathered outside the embassy of Greece in Madrid, in solidarity with Greek people, to whom the European Union is asking for great sacrificies. The protesters chanted slogans similar to those of #15M, “Solidaity with Greek people”, “We won’t pay your crisis”, “Cuts to bankers”.
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/14/madrid-in-solidarity-with-greece/
Financial Oligarch Power Raping Greece
quote:
A Final Comment
Trapped under euro straightjacket rules, Greece surrendered control over its ability to monetize debt freely, devalue its currency to make exports more competitive, and enact stimulative fiscal policies.
Instead, it's entrapped by foreign bankers demanding tribute at the expense of mercilessly exploiting the nation's working class, youths, and retirees.
Financial oligarchs dominate ruthlessly. They make the rules, set terms, issue diktats, control parliaments, and pressure, bribe or otherwise force capitulation on terms no loan shark would demand.
They include mass layoffs, deep wage and benefit cuts, higher taxes, selling off the nation's crown jewels, and more to assure bankers get paid first. No wonder economist Michael Hudson calls predatory finance "a form warfare."
It operates like pillaging armies, seizing land, infrastructure, other tangible assets, and all material wealth. In the process, countries and ordinary people are devastated.
Greece is effectively bankrupt. Only its obituary remains to be written. Its people have a simple choice - leave or rebel.
Street protests and strikes produce nothing. Banker controlled parliamentarians don't care.
By whatever means necessary, replacing them is crucial. Nothing else can work, and delay only exacerbates intolerable conditions.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29277
Elections called for April:
"The main socialist party, PASOK, is polling badly and is likely to lose heavily.The main beneficiaries are expected to be the politicians and parties who have opposed the spending cuts - especially the far left."
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3430933.htm
I just recently spent 10 days in Greece. There were protests from the large to the small and personal everywhere. Yet I get home and find that next to nothing is said. Such a sad state of affairs our media is in.
. As one perceptive writer put it 'one of the most seamlessly perfected systems of internal colonization in the world.'
Greece's downward economic spiral has accelerated. Data on Tuesday showed that the economy shrank by seven percent in the fourth quarter of last year, even more than the five percent contraction of the third quarter.
Greece is well on its way to suffering one of the biggest slumps of modern history. Gross domestic product has contracted 16 percent from its peak and the austerity will make that worse.
Papademos has said that failure to back the bailout would consign Greece to economic catastrophe.
. . . .
"On the current path - which is not sustainable in my view - we may very well see Greek GDP go down 25-30 percent, which would be historically unprecedented. It's a disastrous crisis for them," said Uri Dadush, at the Carnegie Endowment think tank in Washington.
That would put Greece in the same league as the United States, where the economy shrank 29 percent during the Great Depression.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/us-greece-idUSTRE8120HI2012021...
I'd say the catastrophe is already here.
Greece: Your Money Or Your Life
http://blackagendareport.com/content/freedom-rider-greece-your-money-or-...
"The sad truth...that citizens of supposedly democratic countries live in dictatorships of, for, and by the rich..."
'Troika Driving Greece Towards Violent Revolution' - Nigel Farage, MEP (and vid)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30540.htm
"...Greece is being driven into the ground, and I think, frankly, when it comes to chaos, you ain't seen nothing yet!'
Greece the 'First Domino' (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/greece-bailout-financial-sovereignty-437/
"They are not going to stop until they can eradicate representative governments inside of Europe and have everything handled financially from Brussels.."
Austerity Policy Destroying Greek Society (and vid)
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/austerity-policy-destroying-greek...
"this report from Dimitri Lascaris, a lawyer with family in Greece, via Real News Network, gives a flavour of how conditions have deteriorated, even in small towns where social ties are presumably tighter than in Athens..."
Greek Strategy
video
Michael Hudson on the Greek experiment.
http://michael-hudson.com/2012/02/greek-strategy/
a poll published on Thursday showed support for Mr Samaras's New Democracy party slipping, although it would still win most votes if an election were held now. The poll by VPRC for Epikaira magazine put New Democracy on 27.5 per cent, with Pasok on 11 per cent, representing a decline of 3-4 per cent in ND's share of the vote from previous polls, while Pasok's share increased by the same amount.
The two parties may form a coalition government to implement reforms after a general election in April, according to analysts.
The three leftwing parties, which oppose Greece' s second €130bn bail-out, together have the biggest slice of the vote, reflecting popular anger with austerity, but their fractious leaders would not consider co-operating in government, the analysts said.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/78f9f072-5808-11e1-bf61-00144feabdc0.html...
#OWS Joins International Day of Action: We Are All Greeks Now
Posted 1 hour ago on Feb. 17, 2012, 12:43 p.m. EST
Tomorrow, the people of Greece will take to the streets again to occupy Syntagma Square in protest of the extreme austerity measures being imposed on the backs of the Greek 99% to the joy and benefit of the European financial elite. The 99% everywhere are under assault by the same global banking interests. Greece is merely the most severe economic crisis yet to be imposed by the International Monetary Fund and other agents of the 1% in the Global North. People all over the world live under the tyranny of policies dictated by the IMF, the World Bank, and the G8. As demonstrated by the wholesale slashing of social services in the name of "debt reduction," New York City and the United States are not immune.....
Meanwhile the extreme austerity measures planned for Ontario in the Drummond report are being calmly accepted by the good burghers of Ontario, despite the lessons of Greece.
Yeah really...handed down like the 10 commandments, from on high by an ex TD big bankster...what a country.
Savage austerity measures in Greece are endangering the world's cultural heritage
Greek austerity is driving up the crime rate, at the same time as it forces cutbacks in security staff at major museums.
Armed robbers tied up and gagged the only guard on duty at the antiquities museum in Ancient Olympia, where a ceremony will be held on May 10 to light the flame for the London Olympics.
The mayor of Olympia criticised the lax security at the museum, one of the most important in Greece.
“The level of security is indeed lacking,” Efthimios Kotzas said. “These are treasures. A piece of world heritage has been lost thanks to these thieves ... I think (authorities) should have been more mindful and the security should have been more serious.”...
In January, three works of art, including one by Pablo Picasso and another by the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, were stolen from the National Gallery in Athens.
Letter From A Greek
http://www.irishleftreview.org/2012/02/15/deserve-impoverished-reduced-f...
"On Tuesday, William Wall's recent article on Greece, 'This Shameful Sacrifice of Greece to the gods of the Market,' was published on the Guardian's Comment is Free site...The article generated a huge number of comments. Many of which used the article to once again repeat the line used too often that the Greek people deserve the level of depravation being forced upon them because of their past profligacy.
The following comment from a Greek citizen, however, stood out as a clear response to that, and it was so good that I felt the need to share it more widely.
Dear Mr Wall,
I am Greek, I am 38 years old and I have two little children. I live in this hell you are describing..."
Greece shows us how to protest against a failed system
The rage displayed in Greek cities against austerity measures inspires all who are suffering for the benefit of banks and the rich
I do not like violence. I do not think that very much is gained by burning banks and smashing windows. And yet I feel a surge of pleasure when I see the reaction in Athens and the other cities in Greece to the acceptance by the Greek parliament of the measures imposed by the European Union. More: if there had not been an explosion of anger, I would have felt adrift in a sea of depression.
The joy is the joy of seeing the much-trodden worm turn and roar. The joy of seeing those whose cheeks have been slapped a thousand times slapping back. How can we ask of people that they accept meekly the ferocious cuts in living standards that the austerity measures imply? Do we want them to just agree that the massive creative potential of so many young people should be just eliminated, their talents trapped in a life of long-term unemployment? All that just so that the banks can be repaid, the rich made richer? All that, just to maintain a capitalist system that has long since passed its sell-by date, that now offers the world nothing but destruction. For the Greeks to accept the measures meekly would be to multiply depression by depression, the depression of a failed system compounded by the depression of lost dignity....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/17/greece-protest-faile...
Insider Documents Detail a March 23 Greek Default Plan
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30572.htm
"A written document giving firm dates and detailed plans for a Greek default has been in the possession of two top Wall Street bank currency trading bosses since the second week of January. The plan gives a firm date of March 23 for default to be announced after the close of business.."
Greece's Wartime Resistance Hero Denounces EU Backed Cuts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/18/greece-wartime-hero-denounce...
"The hero of Greece's anti-NAZI resistance movement, Manolis Glezos, has appealed to anti-capitalist protesters to 'overturn a rotten system.' 'We have become the guinea pigs of policies exacted by governments whose only god is money,' said Glezos, famous for ripping down the swastika from the Acropolis within days of Nazi forces overrunning Greece.
He told the Observer, 'It starts here but will move to other states. That's why we're seeing this solidarity because people are reacting.." Under the banner 'We Are All Greeks!', demonstrations from Dusseldorf to New York denounced the draconian belt-tightening measures."
'Debtocracy' (and vid - doco)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30578.htm
"Debtocracy seeks the causes of the debt crisis and proposes solutions, hidden by the government and the dominant media.."
Merkel's Incredible Feat (Part 1) - by Nikos Raptis
http://zcommunications.org/merkels-incredible-feat-part-one-by-nikos-rap...
"Angela Merkel (a Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz 'offering' to the world) managed to turn almost an entire society into a healthy political force; a leftist force.."
Merkel's Incredible Feat (part 2)
http://zcommunications.org/merkels-incredible-feat-part-two-by-nikos-rap...
"Let us examine in more detail this new situation.."
New Democracy continues to drop. Down to between 19 and 24% PASOK between 8 and 14%. Left parties about 45%.
http://www.emg.rs/en/news/region/174950.html
Germany owes to Greece 575 billion euros from Second World War ?
Dear Mr. Douillard,
We are very moved by the outpouring of support from the people of Nantes to the people of Greece at these very difficult times of our history. Your solidarity is an expression of humanity at its best.
While for nearly two years the obligations of Greece to European banks are a regular feature of the news worldwide, while Greece is under a punitive assault by the IMF, EU and the European Central Bank (Troika), and while this assault poses a great threat to the project of a United Europe, very little attention has been paid to the long-overdue obligations of others to Greece. On July 2, 2011, the French economist and consultant to the French government Jacques Delpla stated that Germany owes to Greece 575 billion euros from Second World War obligations (Les Echos, Saturday, July 2, 2011). On September 18, 2011, the German newspaper Die Welt admitted that Germany owes to Greece many billions of euros from obligations arising, at least, from a forcibly obtained loan from Greece during World War II.
We would greatly appreciate it, if you would publish in your Newsletter the petition of the Forum of Hellenic Professors and PhDs, shown below, requesting the German government to honor its long-overdue obligations to Greece by repaying the forcibly obtained occupation loan, and by paying the World War II war reparations awarded to Greece by international agreements.
Our petition has already collected over 140,000 signatures. You can find more information at the website
http://www.greece.org/blogs/wwii/
Thank you very much for your support,
Constantine Tzanos, PhD, Engineering
For the Forum of Hellenic Professors and PhDs
What is not being said about Greece #Syntagma
The story below is has been sent to us by a Spanish friend from the marches, that is in Greece and is an example of what is not being said about Greece.
“The international media have talked about last nightin Greece. They talked about fire, chaos, violence …
They talk about the 100,000 people gathered in Syntagma, but not the200,000 who really had or the 300,000 who could not reach theplace because the streets and subways were blocked by police.
They have talked about how the police provoked the start of the riotsat 17:00 throwing tear gas indiscriminately throughout theSyntagma Square, the demonstrators dispersed around the centerAthens, in order not to bother outside parliament.
The media has spoken of destruction indiscrimanada, have run therumor that the National Library of Athens burned in flames. False.
Have burned banks, cafes and shops, franchises industriesmultimillionarias Greece which led to this situation, the mediaspeak of young anti, but they speak of women and menelderly people with their gas masks to show their support for hoursrhythmically pounding the gates of banks and multinationalhands and feet, whistling and shouting in support of the first lines thatembites resisted the riot in the streets full oftear and fire, clapping when they saw the flames in alpha bank andEurobank.
They talk about the violence does not fix the situation in Greece, but nottalk about inter-neighborhood assembly which was held last week in thepantios University, do not say that the occupation of the University ofnomiki had intended to be a place of exchange and debate amongdifferent movements Greeks, do not talk about the free diningexchange markets are held weekly in neighborhoods.
What the media will not say is that after the last massive expropriationa supermarket, and distribution of food in a working class neighborhood Thessaloniki, the old saying that time had not reached thatwe returned to enter, and although at present they do not come, they know whereis its people.
What does not say is that as we walked by a working class neighborhood in asmall demonstration from the center, people looked out the balconyraising his fist, and the expression increased its flow, peopledown from their homes, they added, the old leaning applauded, theold … Hell, they sang the old hymns, Pope did not understand but notyou imagine, you become our idea, and we do not tell the media, but itnosotrxs say.
Here in Athens, they know they are not alone, that all over Europe follows the sameway, they do not know is that we are making the rest of europe … ifwe are doing something the rest of Europe.
We’re not only seeing this in Greece, we’re seeing our future.
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/20/what-is-not-being-said-about-greece-...
..this is madness going on!
‘Greece needs rescue package worth its entire economy’video
http://rt.com/news/greece-rescue-package-economy-779/
Saluting austerity measures, translated from the Greek:
The Path O' Non-Resistance: Greece Gets New Lifeline (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/greece-second-bailout-eurozone-805/
"Eurozone finance ministers have reached a deal for a second 130 billion-euro bailout for crisis-stricken Greece. The country's debt will also be lowered by private holders who agreed to face value loss of 53.5 percent on their bonds..."
How Greece Could Take Down Wall Street
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30604.htm
"The Houses of Morgan, Goldman and the other Big Five are justifiably worried right now, because an 'event of default' declared on European Sovereign debt could jeopardize their $32 Trillion derivatives scheme..."
More significantly, Greece will have to pass within the next two months a new law that gives paying off the country's debts legal priority over funding government services. In the meantime, Athens has to set up a kind of escrow account, managed separately from its main budget, that will at all times have to contain enough money to service its debts for the coming three months.
These requirements, together with tighter on-the-ground monitoring, are an unprecedented intrusion into the fiscal affairs of a sovereign state in Europe and could eventually see Greece being forced to pay interest on its debt before compensating teachers, doctors and other state employees.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/story/2012-02-20/Greece-bailout/5318...
You get a sense of what's lurking just around the corner in the Greek context when you see pensioners throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police, alongside the grand kids. All bets are off if the state there ends up shooting more people in the streets, in its own desperation and panic.
What also comes to mind in recalling Flaherty's muted and intentional alarm about Canadian exposure to the European debt crisis, is that our own casino society is being kept aloft on the backs of Greek citizens, and upon the bruised heads and bodies of protesters there.
A proposal by the Greek Committee against the Debt
Dear Friends, dear Comrades,
We, the Greek committee against the Debt, take the initiative to address you all, offering you to decide, prepare and organize a great, unitarian, combative and massive European day of Solidarity with the Greek people, and at the same time a day of action against the policies of austerity, privatizations and dismantling of public services all around Europe, taking as a central demand the annulation of the Greek public debt. The reason for our proposal is obvious: using the Greek debt as a pretext, the Troika, that is to say the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission have turned Greece into a laboratory of the most inhumane, antidemocratic and antisocial austerity policies. By testing the stamina and capacity of resistance of the Greek people who have been transmuted into a guinea-pig, the Troika leads the way for the generalization of these policies being applied all around Europe. However, today, that is two years after the launching of this frontal aggression against the Greek guinea-pig, there is no place for any kind of doubt: in the streets and on the squares of Greece, it is not only the fate of Greek society, of national sovereignty and Greek democracy, so badly brutalized, that is at stake, the fate of workers and retired people, the fate of unemployed people, of Greek youth and women and of all oppressed people in our country. What is at stake is also the fate of the immense majority of European Citizens for whom Troika, antidemocratic reaction and big investors have in store the same future.
So yes, we are not afraid of saying that: what Spain was to Europe of “those from below” in 1936”, fighting Greece of 2012 tends to become to today’s Europe ! In 1936, there has been a defeat because Spanish resistance to triumphant fascism remained tragically alone and helpless. Needless to remind you the nightmarish consequences that were brought up back then by the Spanish “guinea-pig” ’s defeat, and the open wounds that it left behind it up to now.
The question we are posing you is very simple: Are we willing today to accept such a repetition of history, are we prepared to accept a crushing defeat of today’s Greek guinea-pig, which would have tragic and long term consequences for all the peoples and all workers in Europe?
Dear Friends, dear comrades,
We are sure that your answer will be a ringing NO. However, this is no longer enough, in the current state of things. When time desperately presses, as the people of Greece doesn’t have unlimited time margins of resistance in front of an international, over armed, very well organized and coordinated class enemy, the situation requires one first direct, sonorous and massive European manifestation of solidarity in acts. In other words, we need at last a European scaled mobilization of “those from below”, which would have a double function: on one hand, to show to Greek people who are fighting that they are not alone, that their fight is part of a larger fight of all the oppressed people in Europe, and thus that they have more chances to win. On the other hand, to make the first step and the starting point for the creation and development of the European mass resistance movement that we need so badly!
Having all this in mind, we believe, dear Friends and comrades, that the Brussels Meeting of European countries and North Africa audit campaigns, on April, 7th, offers a great opportunity to discuss, but also to adopt and push forward our proposal so that it be supported by the largest number of social movements, as well as social, trade union and political forces of our continent…
Hoping that your reaction will be positive, we are looking forward to your response as well as to any other idea, proposal or initiative of yours.
Fraternal greetings,
The Greek committee against the Debt
(www.contra-xreos.gr)
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/20/a-proposal-by-the-greek-committee-ag...
Attac France offers you to organize together an international delegation of social movements in Greece
Attac France offers you to organize together an international delegation of social movements in Greece as soon as possible.
We have many objectives:
- to be the carriers of a concrete solidarity
- Meet and discuss with local social actors
- come back with materials for strengthening the solidarity at the European level: video support, call in the direction of European populations, interviews of different social actors, etc.
All of this should enable a solidarity European movement to strengthen and express itself more profoundly and to help the mobilizations in our respective countries.
We have launched this proposition in France and we decided to go on Monday 27 early in the morning until Wednesday 29 late in the afternoon. We have already made contacts by various means on site: Social Greek Forum, Indignants, unions, contacts with Greek students and workers in Paris with whom we work with.
We wish to know as soon as possible if you wish to join this initiative.
Thank you for your feedback.
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/21/attac-france-offers-you-to-organize-...
As Greece Erupts, BBC’s Paul Mason on "The New Global Revolutions" Over Austerity, Inequality
video
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/22/as_greece_erupts_bbcs_paul_mason
Financial Times: “Greece is the eurozone’s first colony”
When even the media paragon of free-market ideology argues that “Greece must default if it wants democracy,” you know something is profoundly wrong.
Here at ROAR, we usually don’t rely on the analyses brought forward by the mainstream media; in particular not those of the unreconstituted neoliberal intelligentsia at the Financial Times. But the latest article by financial analyst and EU expert Wolfgang Münchau deserves being disseminated widely. Arguing that “Greece must default if it wants democracy,” Münchau has just launched his most scathing critique of the EU’s approach to Greece yet:
"When Wolfgang Schäuble proposed that Greece should postpone its elections as a condition for further help, I knew that the game would soon be up. We are at the point where success is no longer compatible with democracy. The German finance minister wants to prevent a “wrong” democratic choice. Similar to this is the suggestion to let the elections go ahead, but to have a grand coalition irrespective of the outcome. The eurozone wants to impose its choice of government on Greece – the eurozone’s first colony."
As a leading columnist, Münchau’s articles are widely read by policymakers in Brussels, Berlin and Paris. A friend of mine who used to work in the European Parliament once told me that his writings are extremely influential in informing the political debate among the Brussels eurocrats. What’s more, Münchau can hardly be considered a leftist or a radical. Indeed, most of his work has focused on how to save European capitalism from itself....
#weareallgreeks – thank u.mov
video
From Mindthecam
We asked for solidarity
and your answer was
#weareallgreeks
We just want to say
Thank you all !!!!!!
equality justice dignity
for everybody
NOW!
Solidarity demonstrations all over Europe
Cologne, Scotland, Paris, Amsterdam, Athens and more on realdemocracygr.wordpress.com
A message from the streets of Athens: “save us no more!”
quote:
Because what the new austerity measures will mean for them is:
http://roarmag.org/2012/02/a-message-from-the-streets-of-athens-save-us-...
Greece Downgraded Next to Default Level by Fitch
http://rt.com/business/news/greece-downgraded-default-fitch-959/
"Fitch rating agency wasn't impressed by the EU leaders' decision to grant a second bailout for Greece. It downgraded the country to pre-default level..."
Argentine Advice for Greece: 'DEFAULT NOW!'
http://rt.com/news/argentina-advice-greece-default-033/
"So Greece: Just default on your 'sovereign debt' to the German bankers and the Troika vultures. All governments should understand that you either govern for the people and against the bankers, or you govern for the bankers and against the people."
Days of Strike
video (press cc for subtittles)
Here’s a short doc I produced with my colleague Giannis Vakrinos about the workers’ strike at Halyvourgia Ellados steel industry. The story goes like this.
In mid-October, the owner of the company called the workers to sign an alteration in their contracts. Due to the financial crisis and the company’s losses, he asked them to reduce what in the rest of the world is common sense. They wouldn’t work 8 hrs per day and for 5 days a week anymore. The new working hours plan was 5hrs per day, 5 days a week and a 40% cut in their salaries which would mean that they’d earn around 500 euros.
As you can also see in the doc, there is a widespread belief that if the company’s proposals are passed in this factory, they’ll then spread all around the heavy industry with consequences even in the retail sector. The immense solidarity that you can see is owed to this fact. Workers of nearby factories and people from all around Greece are sending food and money to the strikers who have managed to last for more almost 2,5 months.
http://whenthecrisishitthefan.com/2012/01/09/days-of-strike-2/
video
Michael Hudson on the Greek experiment.
http://michael-hudson.com/2012/02/greek-strategy/
If the EU is merely a mechanism for war of the rich against the poor, a
number of countries are going to say NO to Europe, just as the Icelanders
have voted not to join Europe, just as other countries that had planned to
join Europe, all the way to Turkey at the other end, are saying, wait a
minute, if that's the Europe that's coming, an oligarchic Europe whose
program is austerity and shrinkage, why on earth would we want to join?
The EU is proving that it works for private banks, but not for its citizens.
The banksters are trying to do with capital what used to require foreign armies to invade and plunder countries.
How Greece Could Take Down Wall Street
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30604.htm
"The Houses of Morgan, Goldman and the other Big Five are justifiably worried right now, because an 'event of default' declared on European Sovereign debt could jeopardize their $32 Trillion derivatives scheme..."It is the "contagion," however, that seems to be the concern. Players who have hedged their bets by betting both ways cannot collect on their winning bets; and that means they cannot afford to pay their losing bets, causing other players to also default on their bets. The dominos go down in a cascade of cross-defaults that infects the whole banking industry and jeopardizes the global pyramid scheme. The potential for this sort of nuclear reaction was what prompted billionaire investor Warren Buffett to call derivatives "weapons of financial mass destruction." It is also why the banking system cannot let a major derivatives player-such as Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers-go down. What is in jeopardy is the derivatives scheme itself. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal on January 20th:
Hanging in the balance is the reputation of CDS as an instrument for hedgers and speculators-a $32.4 trillion market as of June last year; the value that may be assigned to sovereign debt, and $2.9 trillion of sovereign CDS, if the protection isn't seen as reliable in eliciting payouts; as well as the impact a messy Greek default could have on the global banking system.
Global pyramid scheme?
Choose Your Own Misadventure
Find your own way out of the Greek crisis. No, there aren't really any happy endings.
This will probably leave many Greeks somewhat annoyed. Salary cuts in the public sector are being made retroactive to November, the result being that in addition to the salary cut they're taking already they are going to have to pay the government back for the "extra" amount they received for the last four months. Simply insane.
The Truth About Greece: An Open Letter to Public Opinion - by Mikis Theodorakis
http://www.voltairenet.org/the-truth-about-Greece
"Composer and resistance icon Mikis Theodorakis lambastes the joint strategy devised by Greek politicians and financial institutions with the objective of pillaging the country. He explains how Greece was gradually put under IMF tutelage by Dominique Strauss Khan and former Prime Minister Papandreou
While the Western media point the finger at Syria, Russia and China, a financial government has taken over the reins of power in Greece and in Europe.."
Goldman Sachs Cooked Greek Books (and vid)
http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/goldman-sachs-cooked-greece-boo...
Report from the battlefield + Video
Testimony
What happened yesterday words cannot describe…
The brutality of police repression units cannot be put into words.
In these few lines I will do my best to narrate what I witnessed first hand, along with at least 500.000 of my co-citizens.
Early afternoon around 18:00. Ermou St is the most famous pedestrian shopping road, leading to Syntagma square, where the Greek Parliament is located. Thousands of people, many holding their children, marching down the street to protest against this unconstitutional Government’s ill will.
The road was packed and everything seemed strangely peaceful, although in the background few sporadic explosions of tear gases were heard from the far end of the square which led some of the early protesters to withdraw momentarily.
I thought this was a good thing, we could keep our forces recycling to keep the pressure on.
I thought wrong....
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/14/report-from-the-battlefield/
Some news from Kilkis occupation by Leta Zotaki, ENIK
Thank you so much for your interest and support.
The occupation of our hospital in Kilkis by its workers started on Monday, February 20th, 8:30 local time.
This occupation is not only about us, the physicians and the workers at the Kilkis Hospital. Neither is it only about the Greek National Health System, which is collapsing, indeed. We are in this fight because what is in real danger now is the human rights. And this threat is not against just a nation, or against a few countries, or a few social groups, but against the low and middle classes in Europe, America, Asia, Africa, in the whole world. Today’s Greece, is tomorrow’s picture of Portugal, Spain, Italy and the rest of the countries worldwide.
The workers at the Kilkis Hospital and at most of the hospitals and health centers in Greece are not paid on time and some of them see their salaries being cut down to practically zero. A fellow-worker of mine was transferred to our cardiologic clinic in shock, when he realized that instead of receiving the usual check of 800 euros (yes, that is his monthly salary) from the state, he received a note saying that not only he will be paid nothing for this month, but he is also to return 170 euros! Other workers were paid only 9 (nine) euros for this month! Those of us who still receive some kind of a salary will support them in any way we can....
http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/29/some-news-from-kilkis-occupation-by-...
meanwhile back at the ranch...
European Banks Get Big Injection of Cash in Bid to Ease CrisisFRANKFURT — In a closely watched display of its firepower, the European Central Bank on Wednesday allocated to euro zone banks another huge round of the cheap, three-year loans that have helped avert a banking crisis but have not yet revived lending to business and households.
Banks asked to borrow €529.5 billion, or $713 billion, compared to €489 billion in December’s offer of three-year loans. The E.C.B. said that 800 banks put in for loans, compared to 523 in December, as many smaller lenders took advantage of the central bank’s broader collateral rules. The E.C.B. wanted to encourage borrowing by community banks that are likely to lend the money in turn to businesses and consumers.
Banks could borrow as much as they wanted at the benchmark interest rate of 1 percent, but had to pledge collateral — typically bonds or other securities that can be bought and sold. Previously, the E.C.B. lent to banks for a maximum of about a year. The E.C.B. disclosed the amount that banks requested on Wednesday and will disburse the money on Thursday.
Between the loan offers in December and this week, the E.C.B. will have lent banks a total of about €1 trillion. But the actual amount of new money flowing to banks is closer to €520 billion, because many banks shifted money from shorter-term E.C.B. loans into the three-year loans.
The loans appeared to have headed off a funding crunch that could have caused some banks to fail and many others to run short of money to lend into the euro zone economy. The E.C.B. loans also have helped lower borrowing costs for countries like Spain and Italy, as many banks borrowed from the E.C.B. at 1 percent interest and bought government bonds paying more than 5 percent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Italian government bond fell to below 5.2 percent Wednesday from 5.35 percent on Tuesday....
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Transnational open assembly – Coming to a city near you!
quote:
It seems that resistance is not enough; neither escape. What has been proven in recurrent instances during the past two years is that the question (im)posed by innumerable subjectivities is not that of resistance against the attacks, neither the construction of evading alternatives; it is simply and purely the unformulated, speechless, hence ungraspable, unpredictable and fearful refusal.
As anonymous, unformed and unformable part of this non-representable movement, we invite everyone who is part of this scattered, bewildered and confused street thought and action to come and form a two-day Open assembly in Athens, where the monsters of crisis the global European South (from London to Madrid and from Berlin to Rome, as well as the upheavals and insurrections in North Africa) will exchange experience and ideas in order to further contaminate the European underdogs with hopeless rage and hopeful fear.
Following the 5th of May 2010 demonstration in Athens, the Economist published in its front-page an image from Athens with the title ‘Coming to a city near you?’. Today we replace the question mark with an exclamation mark. The networks that link Syntagma with Tahrir, Barcelona, London or New York are stronger than ever; like a chain of events occupations, demonstrations, initiatives for collective and un-mediated refusal become transnational.
We invite everyone individually and collectively to come to the assembly in order to think in common how we can disperse this absolute refusal and find ways to work together against the economic and political dogma of the crisis across established national, economic and political borders. Our aim is to open up to the various forms of active and absolute refusal that emerge in our every day interconnected lives, and to create common time and spaces of struggles, practices and actions.
Athens, 21-22 March 2012
Occupied theatre Empros
Riga Pallamidou 2, Psyrri
http://takethesquare.net/2012/03/01/transnational-open-assembly-coming-t...
..new thread here.
http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/recent-protests-...