Social resistance against the policy of the “memorandum” in Greece, which was imposed on the country at the beginning of last year by the “Troika”, a kind of committee composed by the ruling classes of the major EU countries and the USA, represented by the Brussels Commission, the ECB and the IMF in conjunction with the “socialist” PASOK government, entered into a new and potentially decisive phase. The Memorandum does not mean anything other than the ruthless plundering of the working population and its unprecedented degradation, especially of the young people of working women and all other socially disadvantaged groups, in favor of saving the exorbitant profits of Greek, German, French, etc. banks. But it is represented by the governments and the relevant mass media propaganda as a “rescue of Greece” through the “generous grant of credits”. At the same time, however, it is evident that the disastrous bankruptcy of the global banking and credit system in 2008, which was “bailed out” by the governments of North America and Western Europe with 15 trillion U.S. dollars (which was a worldwide and historically unprecedented redistribution of wealth from tantamount to top) led to the national debt crisis of the countries of the European periphery, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and especially Greece. Therefore, the stability and even the existence of the euro and the functioning of the financial mechanisms in the EU, and consequently the dollar, which currently depends on the overvaluation of the euro, are at stake.
It is not surprising therefore that at President Obamas recent meeting with Mrs. Merkel, the former paid particular attention to the dangers of a possible Greek “national bankruptcy”. That would mean that Greece would be unable or possibly unwilling (!) to pay off its foreign debt. Obama described the debt of Greece as “serious” and stressed, no doubt rightly, the special role of Germany in the European-international “aid to the initiation of a forward process” that is designed to enable Greece “to grow and to better manage its debt problem.” The problem, though, is that the granting of international rescue packages to maintain the solvency of Greece is diametrically opposed to maintaining a reasonably decent life for the workers and the huge mass of the Greek population. In other words, the conditions of the troika to provide the loans to a relentless bloodletting at the expense of about 85% of the population and a dramatic decline in general living conditions do not open up any prospect that the situation could improve again in the coming years and decades. In other words, Greece will never be able to repay the interest and compound interest for the loans obtained.
It is in the nature of things that this constellation and all its clearly foreseeable consequences cannot be hidden anymore in spite of all propaganda, distortions, threats, intimidation and blackmail attempts on the part of the rulers, their governments and related mass media. The consent of the people to the policy pursued by the government has fallen to a unique and unprecedented low point. It does not help very much that Mrs. Merkel fears the German boom is threatened in the case of a Greek state bankruptcy and Mr. Kauder, a leading member of the Christian Democrats calls upon the Greek population to sacrifice more of their income [1].
People recognize that, in fact, they have hardly anything or nothing to lose anymore, and inspired by the successful first stage of the Egyptian revolution, the events in Tahrir square in Cairo, and finally the occupation of central squares of Madrid and Barcelona by rebellious young people, the massive resistance in Greece has reached a new quality with the continuous occupation of the Syntagma Square in Athens, directly in front of the Parliament, and of central places in Thessaloniki and many other Greek cities. There were many attempts in the last 18 months, a series of general strikes and many persistent strikes in many affected areas, such as the public transport, both last year and the current year, to stop the policies of the Memorandum. As a result, the reputation of the government tended towards zero, but government and Troika could not be forced to retreat. So, the new wave of mobilizations was very much needed. Harbingers of this new mass radicalization have included months of an outright rebellion in Keratea, a small town southeast of Athens, against the establishment of a landfill site. This rebellion could not be broken even by the mass deployment of police special commandos and their brutal stick stakes. A successful hunger strike of 300 “illegal” immigrants from North Africa in March and April, even if it remained quite marginalized, was also important since it demonstrated that there is appropriate action even against the dictates of the Memorandum.
A new dimension of resistance
It is characteristic of this new form of mass resistance that hundreds of thousands of people who previously were not willing to participate in combat, are now awake and support the occupations actively demonstrating their determination to stop the policy of the memorandum and to force the government to retreat. For different and at least partially understandable reasons, these layers have not been influenced much by the different parties or alliance formations of the reformist (KKE, SYN / SYRIZA) or anti-capitalist or revolutionary left (mainly ANTARSYA) and, in spite of everything, have taken a rather cautious attitude. The main slogans of the new movement are the replacement of the prevailing pseudo or fraudulent democracy by a true, direct democracy, where the majority of the affected population can put forward and satisfy their demands and needs.
That distinguishes itself sharply from the practice of the ruling political model, where power is exercised on behalf of the people, but without their consent or participation - not to mention the fact that the polls for the ruling PASOK, but also the rightwing bourgeois New Democracy (ND) always continue to move downward. Thus, the at least to a certain degree existing legitimacy of bourgeois democracy and its main supporters has collapsed. The so far limited, but clear and unambiguous content of the claims is expressed in the formula “We owe nothing, we do not sell, we do not pay!”
The movement began with the occupation of Syntagma Square on 25 May and reached its first peak on 5 June with the participation of an estimated 500,000 protesters. The breadth of the movement inevitably creates, at least for the time being, a heterogeneous spectrum of ideological and political views. The participants turned from the start against the appearance of parties, political organizations and trade unions and insisted on the principle that everyone represents only himself or herself. This includes a strong mistrust of the party leaderships also of the two left parties, of the still prevailing sectarianism of the left-wing organizations and a clear rejection of the hopeless bureaucratization of most trade unions led in particular by PASOK officials. Some protesters on the “upper” part of the square carry Greek national flags and try to express this way their view of national sovereignty. The upper part is generally the less “politicized” least affected by the left, where most protesters obviously participate in such actions for the first time.
The politically “harder core” of the movement has permanently established itself with tents on the lower part of the square and is the real engine of the protests. Every night around 9 o’clock “public meetings” take place. All important issues, claims, content and organizational suggestions, opinions and views are discussed and partially matched. All decisions are posted on a special website. The resolution voted for on 2 June can be considered as the summary of the programmatic character so far. (See ANNEX 1) Some 3,000 young people, most of them probably students, take part in these meetings. This form of organization is supported both by working groups on various topics such as unemployment, education, schools and culture and by public forums and panel discussions as on the debt crisis and possible ways out of it. The young participants are partly members of the spectrum of almost all leftist parties and organizations with the exception of the Greek Communist Party, which participates in principle only in actions that are controlled directly by the party leadership. Most of the young protesters, however, are probably no members of organizations.
Some opinions of contributors from the ranks of the anti-capitalist and revolutionary left on the character of the new movement, its opportunities and some obvious weaknesses and opportunities are already available. There is general consensus that it is a historically unique opportunity to deal a serious, possibly fatal blow to the policies of the memorandum, the government and the terror of the ruling classes. There is agreement also in the fact that Greece is close to a social explosion. If it is a criterion what a revolutionary of the last century formulated noting that “the rulers cannot govern as before, and the ruled do not wish to continue to be governed that way”, then that is an accurate description of the situation arisen in Greece.
Before showdown
Nevertheless, one cannot ignore that the movement has to go through a few more stages if it is to reach full effectiveness. The fight must be taken into all key areas of social life, the factories, the offices of public administration, hospitals, schools and universities, which will be most affected by the vile “Midterm Program”, the Memorandum No. 2, scheduled to be approved in parliament on Wednesday, June 15. The systematic destruction of jobs, the abolishment of collective contracts, the cancellation of the achievements of a century of struggles conducted by the workers movement, the privatization mania and the selling off of state property must be stopped. Primarily, a specification of the content and of the programmatic goals of the movement is needed, which will be possible only in the context of a transition program in order to overcome the domination of finance and big business. Here the claim for expropriation of the banks under workers control without compensation has to play a key role. All this can emerge only through a combination of the new movement with the rank and file trade union movement of the previous 18 months. The movement needs a clear anti-capitalist perspective and a strategy to ensure victory. The question of power arises, too. How do we go from here, should the government indeed be compelled to resign?
These days, however, the immediate struggle perspective, the prevention and withdrawal of the “Midterm Program”, is in the foreground. There will a general strike on Wednesday, June 15, and the “people’s assembly” of Syntagma Square from June 11has called for blocking the roads leading to Parliament all day long. (See ANNEX 2) One can say without exaggeration that Greece has entered a critical phase of the class war that has been declared to the working people and all deprived and oppressed by the No.1 Memorandum last year.
It is clear that this fight needs the best possible support and solidarity from all over the world, especially from Europe and above all from Germany. Especially the ruling class of Germany, their government and the well-known mass media have played the worst outspoken racist role in blaming the Greek population for the debt crisis, the crisis of the euro etc. Recently Mrs. Merkel tried to distinguish herself by stating in a small German town that the Greek workers should have less vacation and more years of employment. All progressive people in Germany and Europe, all those for whom freedom, equality, social rights and solidarity represent not just empty words, for those who consider the preservation and creation of a decent existence for all people throughout Europe and ultimately worldwide as a necessary objective, the unions and their rank and file units, the parties, organizations and collectives that do not want to accept the unlimited power of the irresponsible financial oligarchy, the big bourgeoisie and the governments, are called to support the struggle of the Greek population, the organizations of the workers, the general strike of June 15, the movement of the Syntagma Square occupation and other places in Greek cities to solidarity. Our struggle here in Greece is a struggle for social rights, equality, justice and true democracy throughout Europe and also in Germany!
Andreas Kloke
ANNEX 1:
NOW WE SHALL TALK!
Call for a Europe-wide survey on June 5
Since 25 May, we, thousands of citizens, fill the squares throughout the country and claim to take our lives into our own hands. We have different ideological views, but we are united by the anger about what is going on, and by our deep need for justice, equality and human dignity. We are different, but we all are and will remain united! At the same time there will be mobilizations everywhere in Europe. On Sunday, June 5, we coordinate our actions in Europe and will gather at Syntagma Square and all the places of the country and throughout Europe at 6 oclock. Our voice must be heard loudly and clearly everywhere:
– Because it cannot be tolerated that whole nations are being sacrificed in order to compensate the creditors - the debt is not ours and we will not pay.
– Because the existing political system that makes the poor poorer and the rich richer, cannot decide about us without us and must be overthrown.
– Because we want to live in dignity of our work without the constant terror of unemployment.
– Because those who have looted the public wealth, must be punished.
– Because public and free health and education is the inalienable right of all.
– Because the Midterm Program must not pass.
The organized disinformation cannot intimidate us. We will stay in the squares until all those responsible for the current impasse disappear and do not return with other staff: IMF, Memoranda, Troika, governments, banks and all our exploiters. We will continue our demonstrations united and closed, until “unrest will break out in the underworld and the ground will give way under the tremendous pressure of the sun.” [2]
Direct Democracy Now!
The People’s Assembly of the Syntagma Square - 2 June 2011 [3]
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ANNEX 2
24 HOURS ON THE ROAD!
We give our RESPONSE to the MIDTERM PROGRAM:
On 15 June, we shall encircle the Parliament.
These days, in which the government tries to push through the Midterm Program, we shall encircle the Parliament, gather and remain at the Syntagma Square.
All together we set on the mobilizations that began on May 25 and shall continue them even more determined. On June15, we shall strike. We shall participate with all protesters who want to express their rejection of the Midterm Program, together with the strikers and their unions, at public meetings, and with occupations everywhere in the country. We call on artists to accompany the actions and to contribute to them and to walk with us on the road. There are three meeting points on Wednesday, June 15, in the morning at 7 oclock: 1 Before Parliament. 2. At the Evangelismos metro station. 3. At the Panathinaikos - Stadium. (...)
Our voice must be heard even stronger:
The Midterm Program shall not pass!
The People’s Assembly of the Syntagma Square, 11 June 2011
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ANNEX 3
Slogans on leaflets of OKDE - Spartakos, the Greek section of the 4th International, at Syntagma Square:
– We will not pay their debts! Stop payments for banks and usurers - not for pensions, wages and benefits!
– Redundancies in the public service mean more unemployment in the private sector. For the reduction of working hours so that all the unemployed find work! For wage increases, leading to a decent life of the workers!
– Why should we pay 110 billion to banks and creditors, instead of using them for wages, pensions, schools and hospitals?
– For the cancelling of the debt! For the nationalization of the banks under control of the workers without compensation!
– They cut your wages, pensions, work: Can you pay higher electricity, water and telephone prices? No to the privatization of the nonprofit companies!
– They have declared war on us and require us to keep peace. No to the consensus! Down with the government of the Memorandum!
– The national consensus is fraud! The homeland of the capitalists is not ours! No sacrifice for their profits!
– No immigrant, no immigrant has taken our work away. Capitalists steal our jobs! Struggle against the bosses and not against those who are even worse off than yourself! [4]