Only in Athens homeless people exceed 20.000 while the Troika has ordered the confiscation of 200.000 primary residences from people who have no money to pay off their housing loan. More than one million people are unemployed with no access to health insurance and pension schemes. Life expectancy has dropped by 3 years, suicides have increased by 45%, young women give birth to dead babies as they have no access to prenatal controls. Children cannot get their vaccinations and old diseases such as tuberculosis come back. People die from diabetes or blood pressure because they cannot afford their medication and form long queues for some food at the common meals. Pensions and salaries are repeatedly cut and even more layoffs are on the way in critical social sectors such as health and education.

This social collapse is a direct or indirect result of laws voted in the Parliament in the name of democracy and collective will. While at the same time, thousands of citizens protesting outside the Parliament were suffering police brutality on an unprecedented scale.

So yes, democracy in Greece has been buried alive – under the Troika’s constant surveillance and pressure. Its grave was made by those who use democratic institutions to rescue the banks and serve the economic interests of the Greek and European elites. By those who ban collective bargaining, set the basic salary to 586 euros, demand mass layoffs. By those who do not hesitate to miscalculate when it comes to the advantages that their reforms supposedly have but avoid numbers when they refer to the humanitarian crisis that these reforms have created. By those who institutionalize corruption by selling out public companies to businessmen whose business affairs are totally obscure, while they do nothing to find the politicians and businessmen responsible for the Siemens bribery scandal. Democracy’s grave has been made by those who call “vested interests” the cleaners and teachers who fight against their layoffs and order police to beat and spray with tear gas the citizens who struggle for real democracy, health care, employment, education, social justice. By those who rule society through fear and treat citizens like objects.

Since July 2011 that the Task Force was formed, it became the locomotive for the implementation of the aforementioned policies that have brought Greek society to despair and have turned democracy into the despotism of the markets and the banks.

It is on this situation that we, Greeks living in the Netherlands, would like to hear Mr. Tom de Bruijn’s comments and views.

Do you consider the role of the Task Force successful in Greece Mr. de Bruijn?

ReINFORM

Following the end of World War II, the Italian workers’ movement was rapidly gaining strength. In some towns the fascists had been kicked out by Resistance forces (as before the war, these were usually led by socialists and anarchists), and embryonic workers’ councils were governing. The Communist Party in particular won mass support for its involvement in this movement.

When Allied forces swept across the country, destroying this fledging power of ordinary people was next on the agenda after finishing Mussolini’s regime.

When the liberal Italian state was reconstructed, mechanisms were put in place to make sure that workers did not take power. In addition to the already-existing powerful secret society, P2 which was heavily involved in the anti-working class Strategy of Tension in the 1960s and 70s the covert and yet official organisation ‘Gladio’ (‘sword’ – its logo is pictured, above) was set up.

http://libcom.org/history/operation-gladio-italy

 

Impossible Biographies from Ross Domoney on Vimeo.

For them, the crisis has by now come of age. Yet despite and against shallow journalistic interpretations, there is nothing humanitarian about it. This is because for them the crisis was from the upstart orchestrated politically, socially and militarily. In this way, the discourse about racism in crisis-ridden Greece merely obfuscates and comes in handy. For it obscures exactly how structural this devaluation had been for the development of the Greek state in itself, as well as for the self-perception of Greek society. Yet the crisis knows how to twist meanings too. Today, migrants are accused of the very decline of the Greek edifice. And within this twisted world, their devaluation takes on a more offensive and, at the same time, a more legitimate form. Impossible Biographies, as part of the research project The City at a Time of Crisis, bears witness to this offensive. Today, just like yesterday, the devalued lives of migrants shall remind us how it is to live and die within an enforced anonymity and invisibility. How it is to live a life whose biography is impossible.

The City at a Time of Crisis is mapping racist attacks in Athens. To view or contribute information please visit: map.crisis-scape.net

Produced by Ross Domoney and Christos Filippidis

Filmed and edited by Ross Domoney

Research by Christos Filippidis

Additional footage by Yannis Tsakiridis

Special thanks to Clemont

Paloma Yáñez

Klara Jaya Brekke

Dimitris Dalakoglou

Antonis Vradis

The facts

On the evening of June 11th the Greek Government spokesman, with no previous notice, announced that by midnight of that same day the national broadcaster (ERT) would be shut down and all its employees (2656 people) would be laid off. This was done without the approval of the parliament, by using an article of the Greek Constitution that allows governments to make law in “extraordinary” and “unpredictable” (e.g. earthquakes) events. By no means shutting down the national public broadcaster is an “unpredictable” event. It is just something that the largest party (ND) of the government coalition could not pass through the parliament. The ND party knows that it wont get approval, as the other two parties of the coalition openly and officially disagree with this action, and protest that in case of a vote in parliament they will definitely vote against.

A few hours later police units entered ERT’s broadcasting center. The digital television signal was violently interrupted around 23:15 of that evening. The employees of ERT together with employees from the public Hellenic Telecommunications Organization cooperated in solidarity to re-establish the connection and allow ERT to broadcast again. At the same time a spontaneous movement of protest, powered by the dismay of people throughout Greece about what had just happened, begun. Tens of thousands of people went to the central building of ERT in Athens to express their support to the employees and their outrage for this act of constitutional violation by the Government. Currently, the European Broadcaster’s Union (EBU) and numerous private broadcasters stream ERT’s signal to allow the employees to reach as much people as possible and let them know what is happening.

This is a rough cut sequence, part of the feature-length documentary that we are filming since the beginning of the crisis, for the last three years. It is called “AGORÁ – From Democracy to the Market” and it is an international co-production of major TV networks. AGORÁ will be released in April 2014.

Best Regards
Yorgos Avgeropoulos
Documentary Filmmaker
Author & Director of Exandas Documentary Series

Main Credits:

Written & Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos
Producers: Yorgos Avgeropoulos, Anastasia Skoubri
Picture: Yiannis Avgeropoulos, Anna Prokou
Music: Yiannis Paxevanis
Production Manager: Anastasia Skoubri
Editing: Anna prokou, Vasilis Magos
Researchers: Georgia Anagnou, Ahilleas Kouremenos, Andreas Vagias
A Small Planet production © 2013-2014 smallplanet.gr

Directed by Zoe Mavroudi, Ruins features exclusive interviews with two of the women, two of their mothers, lawyers, journalists, doctors and activists, who campaigned for the women’s release.
Ruins is in the final stages of editing and will be released in September 2013. It is the first feature-length documentary produced by radiobubble’s team of volunteer citizen journalists.

 

Credits
Director: Zoe Mavroudi
Camera operator, sound: Giannis Xinos
Editor: Antonio Rochira
Editing supervisor, trailer: Vaso Sideri
Original Music: Fruto5
Sound mixing: Nikos Tsines
Graphics design: Gabriel Melissourgakis
Executive Producers: Theodora Oikonomides, Apostolis Kaparoudakis
Special thanks to Union Solidarity International and Unite the Union who provided the seed funding without which this project would not have materialized.
Ruins was made possible through the invaluable contribution from the activists of the Solidarity Initiative for the Persecuted HIV Positive Women.

 

http://www.radiobubble.gr/2013/06/ruins-chronicle-of-hiv-witch-hunt-new.html

Gördüm – Bir Gezi Parkı Direnişi Belgesel Filmi / Documentary Film from R H on Vimeo.