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Discussion event on nationalism

patti — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 20:42:52 +0000

In the last years, nationalism in many European countries is on the rise, differently manifested in each of them. In Greece, a supposed threat from neighbouring countries has replaced to a great extent the concern about the real economic disaster caused in the last decade by the Greek and foreign elites. In many countries, including the Netherlands, refugees and immigrants especially from the Middle East are used as a threat or as scapegoats for the problems that their citizens face due to hard austerity measures and growing unemployment.
Nationalism is no longer a monopoly of the extreme right but is embraced by more parties of the political spectrum. Its ability to penetrate wider parts of society has significantly grown.

Which are the large-scale geopolitical conflicts nowadays and how are they linked to the rise of nationalism? Is nationalism a temporary phenomenon? How does it affect working people (either existing workers or migrant ones)? What should the movement do?

ReInform, an anticapitalist political group of Greeks in the Netherlands, invites you to discuss together all these matters on Sunday 2 December in NieuwLand (Peter Nieuwlandstraat 93, 1098XN, Amsterdam). After our discussion we will enjoy some traditional Mediterranean and Eastern sounds and tastes.

Program:
16.30-18.30 | Short introductory talks by Manos from ReInform and Max from Internationale Socialisten
From 18.30 onwards | Culinary and music Mediterranean and Eastern exchanges with the open collective Aman Molli

Mediterranean deathtoll: Accidents or EU policy?

filippos — Thu, 14 May 2015 12:04:01 +0000

With the death toll of African and Asians on their way to Europe rising by the thousands, the European Union has showed once again that it is ready to pay the price of lives lost at sea to maintain the myth of sovereignty over its borders.

With ever growing securitization and militarization of its immigrations policies, the European Union is closing the gates to the unwanted outsiders and covers the Mediterranean in blood.

The media talk about a tsunami of refugees, and hordes of ‘illegal’ immigrants. They use a language that refers to war or environmental disaster and therefore, justifies all kinds of control and repression measures.

The law draws an arbitrary line between ‘forced’ and ‘voluntary’ migration. In reality, very little difference exists between those fleeing persecution and those fleeing hunger. At the end of the day, every human life has the same value.

Days after the deadliest incident in the Mediterranean, where more than 800 migrants lost their lives, the European Council called an emergency summit to respond to the crisis in the Mediterranean. There, it became clear that the incentive of the EU leaders is not to save lives but to forbid people from dying at their doorstep.

The EU and its member states try to seal their borders making regular ways of entry practically inaccessible, criminalizing irregular migration, and employing the latest military technology and brutal force to block access to their territory.

The result of these policies is violence and death. The EU denies responsibility for the thousands of lives lost at sea, the hundreds of thousands rotting in immigration detention, and all those forced to return to fear and want.

Instead, the recent mass drowning is used once again as an excuse for even further militarization, even stricter controls and closer cooperation with countries with problematic human rights records. The EU declared war on smugglers and stated that it would burn migrant vessels before departure, in order to protect migrants from the dangers of the sea.

Targeting smugglers is fighting only the symptoms of a disease that is as deadly as the system itself.

The European Union and its member states cannot deny their role in supporting and participating in the wars and the financial imperialism that drives people away from their homes. When this is coupled with human mobility, a phenomenon as natural as humanity itself, then desperate young men and women will put their lives at risk to cross a human-made border.

Drownings are not a natural phenomenon. It is a result of the EU migration policies.

ReInform

Source of featured image: dw.de

Maagdenhuis Occupation: Their struggle is our struggle

filippos — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 14:45:35 +0000

We call upon the Greek people to support the struggle of the students
in the Maagdenhuis against the neoliberalisation of the university and society.
Support their struggle for a free and democratic university and a free and democratic society!

Pllease, send this solidarity declaration to any Greek union, student
group/union/council, political organization and collective you can be
in touch with and ask them to adopt it.

- Their struggle is our struggle -

You can forward their response to the e-mail of ReINFORM: reinform@espiv.net.
We will collect the signatures and deliver them to the students of the
Maagdenhuis.

Declaration of solidarity with the struggle of the UvA’s students and staff by collectivities in Greece^*

We express our solidarity with the struggle of the UvA’s students, who are fighting for days against the transformation of the University into a company and the commercialization of knowledge.

We express our solidarity with all those who are struggling from the historical building of Maagdenhuis against the ones who regard the students as numbers destined to attract sponsors, without a say in the content and function of the University.

We stand on the side of the universities’ employees, who are increasingly deprived of secure work and are forced into flexible employment, constantly faced with the threat of underfunding, which is driving the “non-competitive” faculties to shut down and many others to merge (Profiel 2016).

We stand in solidarity with all of you opposing the mortgaging of the public property to the banks, the transformation of the University into real estate business, and of whole countries -along with their citizens- into markets.

We support your struggle for a public and democratically controlled University: Appointed managers and creditors are not the ones who know the problems and needs of the universities. Ιt is the academic community itself in dialogue with society.

Your struggle extends beyond Maagdenhuis or the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam to embrace all those who are anxiously watching the capital and its representatives -either University Boards, big companies and banks or neoliberal governments and the European Union- defining our lives.

We will not let them!

We will not allow them to lock us into debts while they make profits at our expense by turning education, housing and healthcare into fields of business exploitation.

We will not pay the price of their investments and competition with our rights to education, work, justice and democracy.

Let’s struggle:

for a University open to society and its needs.

for a public, democratically controlled University, accountable to the academic community and society.

for self-organization and active participation to the organization of struggles.

^*So far this declaration of solidarity has been adopted by:

- Labour Club Nea Smirni, Greece

- Labour Club Kallithea, Greece

- Labour Club Keratsini-Drapetsona, Greece

- Trade Union of Salaried Engineers

… and more are expected.

Ψήφισμα συμπαράστασης στον αγώνα των φοιτητών του UvA

Εκφράζουμε την αλληλεγγύη μας στον αγώνα των φοιτητών του UvA, που
μέρες τώρα παλεύουν ενάντια στη μετατροπή του Πανεπιστημίου σε
επιχείρηση και στην εμπορευματοποίηση της γνώσης.
Εκφράζουμε την αλληλεγγύη μας σε όλους αυτούς που αγωνίζονται από το
κατειλημμένο ιστορικό κτίριο του Maagdenhuis ενάντια σε όσους
αντιμετωπίζουν τους φοιτητές σαν αριθμούς για την προσέλκυση
χρηματοδότησης, χωρίς λόγο για το περιεχόμενο και τον τρόπο
λειτουργίας του Πανεπιστημίου.
Είμαστε αλληλέγγυοι με τους εργαζόμενους των πανεπιστημίων, ένα ολοένα
και μεγαλύτερο τμήμα των οποίων δεν έχει σταθερή και μόνιμη εργασία
αλλά απασχολείται με ευέλικτους όρους, ενώ απειλείται διαρκώς από τη
μάστιγα της υποχρηματοδότησης που εξωθεί τα «μη ανταγωνιστικά» τμήματα
σε κλείσιμο και προκαλεί τη συγχώνευση πολλών άλλων (Profiel 2016).
Είμαστε αλληλέγγυοι στην αντίστασή σας ενάντια στην υποθήκευση της
δημόσιας περιουσίας στις τράπεζες, στην αντιμετώπιση του Πανεπιστημίου
σαν real estate και, τελικά, χώρες ολόκληρες και τους πολίτες τους σαν
αγορές.
Είμαστε αλληλέγγυοι στον αγώνα σας για ένα Πανεπιστήμιο δημόσιο και
δημοκρατικά ελεγχόμενο. Δεν είναι οι διορισμένοι μάνατζερ και οι
τραπεζίτες πιστωτές των πανεπιστημίων που γνωρίζουν τα προβλήματα και
τις ανάγκες τους, αλλά η ίδια η ακαδημαϊκή κοινότητα σε διάλογο με την
κοινωνία.
Ο αγώνας σας ξεπερνάει τα όρια του Maagdenhuis και της σχολής των
ανθρωπιστικών σπουδών του Πανεπιστημίου του Άμστερνταμ και αφορά όλους
όσοι αγωνιούν βλέποντας το κεφάλαιο και τους κάθε λογής εκπροσώπους
του, από τις Διοικήσεις των Πανεπιστημίων, τις μεγάλες επιχειρήσεις
και τις τράπεζες έως τις νεοφιλελεύθερες κυβερνήσεις και την Ευρωπαϊκή
ένωση, να ορίζουν τις τύχες μας.
Δεν θα τους αφήσουμε!
Δεν θα τους αφήσουμε να μας βυθίζουν στα χρέη ώστε αυτοί να
κερδοφορούν εις βάρος μας, μετατρέποντας την εκπαίδευση, τη στέγαση ή
την υγεία σε πεδία επιχειρηματικής εκμετάλλευσης.
Δεν θα πληρώσουμε εμείς τα σπασμένα των δικών τους επενδύσεων και του
ανταγωνισμού τους, με περικοπές στο δικαίωμά μας στην εκπαίδευση, την
εργασία, τη δικαιοσύνη και τη δημοκρατία.
Εμπρός για ένα πανεπιστήμιο ανοιχτό στην κοινωνία και τις ανάγκες της.
Εμπρός για ένα δημόσιο πανεπιστήμιο με δημοκρατικό-κοινωνικό έλεγχο,
που θα λογοδοτεί στην ακαδημαϊκή κοινότητα και την κοινωνία.
Εμπρός για την αυτοοργάνωση και την ενεργό συμμετοχή στην οργάνωση του αγώνα.

Thousands Organize First Pro-Govt Rally in Athens

filippos — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 14:31:28 +0000

The election of a left government in Greece breathed new life into the people and the Athenian movement rose from its ashes. Thousands answered to a facebook call-out and gathered on Thursday in front of the Parliament to back up the government in the negotiations with Germany and the European Central Bank. Athens now brings forward new dilemmas: Are movements by definition opposition movements, the existence of which is only legitimized by antagonizing the government?

A demonstration largely different from those Athens has seen in recent years took place today in downtown Athens’ Syntagma Square. The rally was called for 6.00 pm and was organized through social media. It was the first pro-government demonstration organized in Greece in recent years. Four years ago, in summer 2011 the Spanish-inspired movement of the “Indignados” attracted thousands of protestors rallying against austerity measures in the same square.

Once again, the protestors’ request was the abolition of the austerity policies imposed upon Greece. The crowds gathered in front of the Greek Parliament in support of the new anti-austerity SYRIZA-led government’s efforts to renegotiate the country’s international debt. The chants were mostly against German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who earlier today met with his Greek counterpart in Berlin. Apparently, the two Ministers did not come to an agreement regarding the Greek bailout program’s future.

On the opposite, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, emerging lately as Greece’s new “super star,” was the protestor’s favorite along with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
“European Central Bank (ECB) President Draghi chose to play Merkel’s game again and blackmail the Greek people and the new Greek government,” was, among others, declared in the demonstration’s declaration, calling people to hold a peaceful protest in Syntagma Square against ECB’s decision not to accept Greek bonds as loan collateral.

It should be noted that police presence was null and it was the first time protestors could even reach the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the stairs leading to the Greek Parliament, as the iron fence that was installed there for years has been removed by the new government. Similar peaceful demonstrations were held in other major Greek cities.

Source of article and pictures: http://www.kritischestudenten.nl/blog/nieuws/thousands-organize-first-pro-govt-rally-athens/
Source of feature image: http://www.efsyn.gr/

Offices of German defense contractors raided in Greece bribe probe

disorderisti — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 08:39:58 +0000

BREMEN, Germany, Aug. 28 (UPI) –

Two German military contractors have been raided amid a probe into alleged bribes paid to Greek officials to land submarine business, prosecutors say.

A spokesman for prosecutors in Bremen told Deutsche Welle Friday the offices of Rheinmetall Defense Electronics and Atlas Elektronik were searched by police seeking evidence in connection with bribery and tax evasion allegations.

“In several places there were raids in which more than 100 officers were deployed,” the spokesman said, confirming a report in the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that each of the two companies are suspected of paying bribes totaling $24 million to Greek government officials to acquire U-boat contracts.

Files, computers and hard drives were seized during the searches, he said, but didn’t indicate how long it would take to evaluate the information.

A Rheinmetall Defense official rejected the accusations, telling the newspaper they were “baseless.”

Meanwhile, the parent companies of Atlas Elektronik — aviation and aerospace giant EADS and the industrial group ThyssenKrupp — confirmed a search of its Bremen offices had been carried out.

EADS and ThyssenKrupp purchased Atlas — one of the world’s leading suppliers of electronics for naval forces — in 2006 from the British defense contractor BAE.

But in addition to the specialized knowledge Atlas held, EADS and ThyssenKrupp may have also acquired some baggage: Prosecutors say the alleged bribes reach back for years.

The Bremen officials said Atlas Elektronik’s new owners first discovered the suspect operations during internal investigations carried out in 2010, when payments to a British post office box owned by a Greek company, POI information, were halted.

Atlas informed authorities about the situation at the time, but investigators initially weren’t interested, thinking it was out of their jurisdiction. Their interest in the case was rekindled, however, after a 2012 tax audit of Rheinmetall yielded additional information.

Corruption in Germany’s submarine business with Greece isn’t new — the Munich public prosecutor’s office for years has probed alleged kickbacks on the sale of German U-boats to Athens, Suddeutsche Zeitung reported.

The District Court of Munich in 2011 handed out suspended prison sentences to two former managers of the Essen, Germany, company Ferrostaal after both confessed that former subsidiary MAN Ferrostaal had bribed Greek officials. After the illegal activities were uncovered, Ferrostaal was forced to pay a $200 million fine.

With the millions paid to politicians and civil servants in Athens, Ferrostaal was able to sell two submarines to the Greek navy for more than $1 billion. The U-boats were built mainly in the shipyards of ThyssenKrupp AG.

The Bremen prosecutor told the newspaper he wasn’t ruling out the possibility that the alleged bribes from Atlas and Rheinmetall may have been paid within the same context.

There are “some similarities” to the Ferrostaal case, the Bremen prosecutor said.

The 2010 purchase of the subs was controversial in Greece at the time, coming amid deep slashes to non-military domestic spending in the wake of the country’s economic crisis and German-led demands for painful austerity measures.

Stelios Fenekos, a vice admiral in the Greek navy, resigned his position in protest, claiming the Greek defense minister’s decision to purchase the subs and other decisions were “politically motivated,” The Wall Street Journal reported.