Industrial Workers of the World

Greece: ‘War on the capitalist’

The Greek workers who struck and marched last week are our sisters and brothers in a crucial battle. At stake is who will pay for the crisis, and who will meet the bill for the bailout of the bankers. The Greek banners caught the spirit of revolt – “No to the capitalist parasites, wealth belongs to the workers”, and “The workers’ answer is war on the capitalists”.

Several read, “We are not Ireland, we will resist”. The Irish government, aided by compliant union leaders, is imposing a 20 percent wage cut in the public sector, tax increases and welfare cuts. Greek workers are determined to fight. They called their demonstrations a “river of fury”. One large banner carried by finance ministry workers proclaimed, “Workers will cancel the plans of the government and the European Union (EU) carried through with the collusion of the union leaders and the media.”

http://projectsheffield.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/workers-take-to-greek-streets-against-cutbacks/

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The EU leaders, backed by the “expertise” of the International Monetary Fund, have made it clear that the cuts must go through – whatever the Greek people or their government decide. At times of crisis, democracy goes out the window. The EU will act as the bailiff, collecting the debts, while those who really owe the money slip away with their loot intact.

EU economic commissioner Olli Rehn said last week, “The critical lesson from this crisis is that we urgently need deeper and broader surveillance of economic policies.” He added that the European Commission “will soon come forward with proposals to further strengthen the coordination and surveillance of national economic policies within the euro area.”

Some British political leaders congratulate themselves that they have avoided the Greek road because they are not in the euro. But they are like mediaeval leaders who believed bonfires would keep away the plague. The Guardian asked recently, “Where will the next currency explosion occur? Might it be in Britain where the scale of budget deficits could threaten an eventual credit re-rating and lead to massive currency speculation against sterling?”

The Telegraph (aka Torygraph) added, “The PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) are old hat. The new acronym on trading floors for possible dominoes if Greece should fall is STUPID (Spain, Turkey, UK, Portugal, Italy, Dubai).” Economic historian Niall Ferguson, in a Financial Times (aka financial crimes) column headlined “A Greek Crisis is Coming to America,” wrote, “For the world’s biggest economy, the US, the day of reckoning still seems reassuringly remote. “The worse things get in the eurozone, the more the US dollar rallies as nervous investors park their cash in the ‘safe haven’ of American government debt.

Greek activists speak out

‘We have agreed on an all-out strike to stop the government measures from being passed. We believe that if they push the cuts through in our sector, all workers’ wages will be cut. And on top of that, the government is raising the retirement age. It’s unacceptable that the cost of living also goes up so we work until we’re 80 and die before we even touch our pensions. All across the EU the message from governments is that public spending and wages must be slashed but that capital’s profits don’t get touched.’ Makis Daskalopoulos, worker at the General Secretariat for Information Systems

‘We’re fighting back, despite the rain, the police special forces and the tear gas. The government says we must be patient so it can impose stability measures. We say disobedience! We won’t let them take back the rights we fought for with blood.’ Giorgos Panagakis, unemployed nurse

‘People are outraged. Their blood is boiling! Now there is a mood to escalate the strikes. We shouldn’t pay for the crisis, the ones who caused it should pay.’ Vagia Gouma, public sector worker at the ministry for the environment, physical planning and public works

Greece is still da word !

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