Greece

Greek Politics: Age Of Euro Crisis & Urgency For Left Unity

October 27, 2014 C.J. Polychroniou, www.ruth-out.org Organize! Greece, History, Left

In a politically, economically and socially underdeveloped Balkan country in which corruption, cronyism and clientelism largely constitute the driving forces of "development," "social mobility" and "social progress," Greece's only hope of revival from its moral and social morass is a unified left. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, social and political anthropologists investigating the economic, political and cultural system in Greece during the time of the nation's debt crisis under the euro regime will undoubtedly be faced with the following questions: What were the mechanisms, the narratives and the rituals that propelled Greek voters to vote either in support of completely incompetent and obedient-to-foreign-powers governments or to refrain from actions of resistance and rebellion at the most critical juncture in the nation's modern history - a period dominated by the politics of debt peonage and national subjugation, and by the economics of poverty, misery and social exclusion?

Plastics, Plastics Everywhere — Even In Our Drinks

October 7, 2014 Carmen Russell-Sluchansky , www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Environment, Greece, pollution

ATHENS, Greece — The rocky shores of Anavyssos in southern Greece are a magnet for European travelers, who flock to the pristine blue sea, swimming spots, hotels and seafood restaurants. Right along the two lane highway that brings visitors just 30 miles south of Athens, one can walk a mere five feet off the road and jump into the refreshing — if incredibly salty — water. Little in the way of litter is seen on the beaches, as the tourist economy depends on maintaining the natural ambiance. This apparent cleanliness, however, belies the fact that thousands of tons of marine litter and debris lurk underwater off the shore in the Mediterranean Sea. This rubbish — mostly plastics — is finding its way into the ecology and the human food supply.

SYRIZA Rising: What’s Next For The Movements In Greece?

October 2, 2014 Antonis Broumas and Theodoros Karyotis, www.roarmag.com Educate! Greece, Left, Neoliberalism, Syriza

In this socio-historical context, the possibility of a left-wing government emerges in Europe, with the left-wing coalition of SYRIZA in Greece and newcomer Podemos in Spain in its vanguard, as a response to the prospect of neoliberal authoritarianism consolidated on a nationalist basis. Periods of crisis are moments of social antagonism, in which the positions of contesting social forces are liquefied. In the present crisis, autonomous social movements emerge from the contradictions of modern capitalism as the main collective subjects with a potential for radical transformation and social change. They constitute the main opponent of capitalist domination in the present social confrontation and any conflicts inside the state and government apparatus are essentially a reflection of the ebb and tide of social mobilizations.

Greek Cleaners Become Symbols Of Resistance

July 16, 2014 Maria Zepatou, www.youngist.org Resist! Europe, Greece, Policy, Resistance, Unions

It took nine months for the 396 cleaners that had been made redundant by the Greek Finance Ministry to gain their victory. Since September 2013, they have been on strike, selling T-shirts to survive and pay for banners and other activism materials, and facing police brutality. In May 2014, the court of Areios Pagos ruled that the women, who used to clean tax and customs offices across the country, should return to their posts immediately, since the layoffs were not supported by any study that proved them to be in the state’s best interests. However, this was only the beginning. The Greek government declined to comply with the court’s ruling, and applied for an appeal. The case will be transferred to a higher court in September, but, according to the cleaners’ lawyer, Yiannis Karouzos, the case can’t be re-examined, and the first decision will only be technically checked for legal errors. The Supreme Court that accepted the government’s request for an appeal issued the reasoning behind this decision, stating that “ensuring the continuation of the state’s financial policies (…) is linked with the general public interest, as opposed to the personal interest of each cleaner.”

Another World: Film About Grassroots In Greece

July 15, 2014 Films For Action, www.filmsforaction.org Organize! Arts, Finance and the Economy, Greece, Inequality

"Another World" is a film about the grassroots initiatives in Greece that form another world right here and now, away from the crisis and beyond capitalism (Greek narration, English subtitles in captions). We live in an upside world. Right now in the planet there is a unjust distribution and accumulation of wealth, inflation of social injustice, restriction of basic rights and freedom, and an unprecedented depletion of natural resources. Although global GDP has quintupled since 1980, the gap between rich and poor is expanding, while also the number of people living below the poverty line constantly increases. 1% of the richest in the world holds 40% of the world productive resources, while the richest 10% owns more than 85% of global wealth. The constant economic growth of the past decades with emphasis on dirty carbon economy, proved to be unsustainable since intensified inequalities, reduced the living standard destroyed natural resources and finally transformed itself into an underdevelopment disconnected from social welfare.

91-Year-Old Greek WWII Hero Wins Big In Euro-Elections

May 27, 2014 Jerome Roos, www.roarmag.org Create! Democracy, Europe, European Union (EU), Facism, Greece

In Europe, dark clouds are gathering on the horizon once more. Yesterday marked the conclusion of the European Parliamentary elections, and the extreme-right had a number of terrifyingly strong showings in France, Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Greece, among other countries. But as disillusioned citizens across the continent send their ultra-nationalist, proto-fascist and even openly neo-Nazi deputies to Brussels and Strasbourg, the one candidate who actually managed to secure an overwhelming victory here in Greece is Manolis Glezos, the legendary 91-year-old WWII resistance hero, who, on May 30, 1941 — at the age of 19, just weeks after the Nazi invasion and occupation of his country — scaled the Acropolis in the dead of night and, together with his friend Apostolos Santas, tore down the Swastika. . . It is an absolute disgrace that today, in the 21st century, a legendary WWII resistance hero like Manolis Glezos. . . will now have to take up a seat in a European Parliament populated by dozens of nationalists, fascists and neo-Nazis who take their despicable ideologies from the same monsters who once murdered his brother, and millions more across the continent — and far beyond.

Three Days Of Solidarity, Creativity & Sustainability

May 23, 2014 AthensFest, www.festival4sce.org Create! Greece, Solidarity, Sustainability

The Alternative Festival of Cooperative & Solidarity Economy invites you to a three-day event on Solidarity, Creativity and Sustainability, held at the Self-managed Camping of Voula (Athens) from May 30 to June 1, 2014. We consider that the so-called “crisis”* is mainly a crisis of consciousness and we counterpropose another world that we can create right now; a world that fosters communication, exchange and transition practices for a society based on participation, self-management, solidarity and respect for nature and human beings; a world that is evolving constantly and dynamically towards a new system of values beyond the existing models of smug individualism, excessive consumerism and the sacrifice of everything on the altar of profit. We no longer accept this world and we create today the conditions for its transcendence. Our three-day event, during which we affirm through practical workshops that we can now work altogether to create the conditions of the “New” and overcome the “Old”, is harmonized with the context of this new global reasoning. Our choice of the Self-managed Camping of Voula as the hosting place of this event reflects our belief that the processes of management, decision-making, use and care of public spaces are purely political acts concerning the societies themselves and not some representatives who decide for citizens without citizens.

Greek Radical Leftist Leader Alexis Tsipras Calls Greek Bailout A Failure

May 18, 2014 Harry Papachristou, www.reuters.com Organize! Greece

Greek radical leftist leader Alexis Tsipras, running to head the European Commission, said on Thursday his country's EU-led bailout has been a failure, despite Athens' recent return to bond markets. "What happened in Greece is not a success story but a social tragedy that shouldn't be repeated anywhere in Europe," Tsipras said during a debate among candidates for president of the European Commission, to be appointed after EU Parliament elections May 22-25. Greece is also holding two rounds of municipal elections on May 18 and on May 25. Tsipras, the European Left's candidate in the European elections, made his first appearance in a string of televised debates among the contenders. These debates are the first of their kind as the EU seeks to show its relevance to increasingly hostile voters.

Vio.Me: Workers’ Control In The Greek Crisis

May 1, 2014 Theodoros Karyotis, www.roarmag.org Create! Cooperatives, Greece, Labor, Worker Rights and Jobs

Just one among thousands of Greek companies that succumbed to the deep recession brought about by the austerity measures imposed by a series of governments, the construction materials manufacturer Vio.Me was abandoned by its owners in May 2011. Forty of its workers, organized horizontally in a militant primary workers’ union, occupied the factory, located in the outskirts of Thessaloniki, to prevent the employers from taking away the machinery before paying the workers the nearly €1.5 million owed in salaries and compensations. After one year of unfruitful contacts with the Ministry of Labor and the central trade union bureaucracies, the workers of Vio.Me, with the threat of poverty and chronic unemployment looming over their heads, announced in July 2012 their intention to self-manage production in the occupied factory, with their now famous slogan: “If you can’t do it, we can.” This declaration was met with the indifference or hostility of most political parties, right and left, and of the trade union bureaucracies.

Greeks Strike Against Austerity Before Merkel Visit

April 10, 2014 Renee Maltezou and Costas Pitas, www.reuters.com Resist! Austerity, European Union (EU), Greece, IMF

Thousands of striking Greeks marched to parliament on Wednesday to protest against job cuts and austerity measures imposed by the country's foreign creditors, including Germany, whose leader will visit Athens this week. Schools and pharmacies were shut, ships remained docked at ports, hospitals operated on emergency staff, and transport in Athens was disrupted due to the 24-hour strike called by private sector union GSEE and its public sector counterpart ADEDY. More than 20,000 workers, pensioners, students and the unemployed marched peacefully through the streets of the Greek capital chanting "EU, IMF take the bailout and get out of here!" Unions said their anti-austerity message was also aimed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is due to meet Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Athens on Friday. Germany has insisted on painful spending cuts and tax hikes in return for international loans.

Greek Journalists Strike To Protest Austerity

April 9, 2014 Europe Online, www.en.europeonline-magazine.eu Resist! Austerity, Greece, Strike

Athens (dpa) - Greek journalists walked off the job for 24 hours on Tuesday to protest austerity measures and income cuts, forcing a news blackout across the country. The strike, which began at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) affected all media, including radio and television news broadcasts, websites and daily newspapers. Journalists‘ unions have been protesting firings and pension and benefit cuts while hundreds of journalists in the private sector frequently go unpaid for months. Tuesday‘s strike comes one day ahead of a nationwide strike by workers in the state and private sector, which is expected to disrupt public services and transport, including rail and ferry service. Hospitals will be operating on skeleton staff as doctors and nurses join the 24-hour walkout and pharmacies will be closed for the day.

Military Spending, Banking, Austerity, TAFTA…Protested

December 20, 2013 Staff, www.euronews.com Resist! Austerity, Brussels, Europe, Finance and the Economy, Germany, Greece, Italy, Video, Wars and Militarism

The EU summit brought hundreds of protesters onto the streets of Brussels over a variety of causes – from austerity to food production and military policy. While European leaders talked about defence and banking rules aimed at protecting taxpayers, demonstrators complained the EU favours vested interests. “They are pursuing policies for big business, the big bosses, whereas we need all that money for the people. If we don’t fight we’ll be adopting the German model, where the situation of young people, having to work for little jobs, will always be precarious,” said Stephane, a student. Traffic was disrupted as some 50 organisations turned out to stage demonstrations. Anger was also directed at cost-cutting by Belgium in its new budget, and by other European governments. “What we see in countries with very strong austerity like in Greece, Portugal or in Spain, is that debt goes up, the deficit goes up, so does unemployment and the number of suicides. It’s economic poison,” said Felipe Van Keirsblick from the CNE trade union representing private sector employees.

Greece: Rise Of The Party, Demise Of The Movement?

November 26, 2013 Leonidas Oikonomakis, roarmag.org Educate! Democracy, Greece, Revolution

I was at Syntagma Square in Athens during its long summer of 2011. Just like hundreds of thousands of other participants in this incredible horizontal experiment, I was impressed by the ability of everyday people — who were until then outsiders of the political game — to spontaneously get together and organize themselves into the largest Popular Assembly Athens has ever witnessed, seeking to overturn the neoliberal austerity measures the government was soon to vote on, and invent ways in which direct democracy could possibly work as a form of decision-making beyond the limited space of a square. Two-and-a-half years later, on November 10, 2013, another call for the occupation of Syntagma Square was made. Yet this time there was no need to investigate who made the call, neither “who brought the mic”. The whole event was organized by the radical-left party SYRIZA. Many leftists in Europe and North America look to SYRIZA with hope and amazement. But is it really a good sign that a political party has “stolen the show” of the movements and usurped their energy? Should we not be worried that the horizontal and direct democratic experiment of the squares has largely given way to the old hierarchical forms of representation and electoral politics? Should we not be concerned that the Popular Assemblies have been replaced with the speeches of a party leader in Parliament?

The Surge Of Neo-Nazism In Greece

September 28, 2013 James Ball, www.truth-out.org Educate! Greece

"The surge of neo-Nazism in Greec certainly would not have been possible without the ongoing economic catastrophe and the social decay caused by the policies of fiscal sadism conceived by the EU and the IMF and enforced by the servile and thoroughly incompetent Greek political establishment in exchange for the bailout loans; but neither would it have materialized had it not been for the presence of a long historical tradition of authoritarianism and fascism in Greece. Golden Dawn also might not have surfaced as a viable political force were it not for the criminal failure of the two major parties (the conservatives and the socialists) since the end of military rule to build a marginally fair and a barely just social order and to use the resources available to the state for true public purposes instead of as bait for ignorant voters and to enrich themselves and their associates."

Greek Govt Cracks Down On Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party

September 28, 2013 Staff, www.rt.com Educate! Golden Dawn, Government, Greece, Racism

Greek police have arrested the leader, several MPs and dozens of members of ultra-right Golden Dawn party on charges of leading a “criminal organization.” The party promised to respond with mass rallies of its supporters. Greek police issued arrest warrants for Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos, party spokesman and MP Ilias Kassidiairis, two other prominent members, at least five other party MPs, as well as number of ordinary party members. “The Secretary General and one lawmaker of the Golden Dawn Party were arrested a short while ago after arrest warrants were issued,” Greek police informed journalists. Police have detained about 30 members of the ultra-right party, which won 18 seats in the Greek parliament in the June 2012 elections, having received close to 7 percent of the popular vote.

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