Due to this issue there is currently a new outburst of nationalist rhetoric in public discourse in Greece.  The common strategy of ‘Divide & Conquer’ is being employed in Balkans turning in this way the peoples of two countries against each other. In this act of ‘Macedonian’ drama, the showcase of national interest is misleading people in Greece in demonstrating against a created external common enemy, using as frontispiece the name of Macedonia. And because of this situation, people who are now resisting or just speaking publicly against this nationalistic rhetoric are being considered non-patriots or even traitors.

On the 21st of January, various nationalist groups in Greece managed to gather approximately 90.000 people (who came with buses from every part of the country) in Thessaloniki demanding the term ‘Macedonia’ not be included in the new name of the neighboring country. Under the exacerbated nationalism that has prevailed in the country, numerous far-right and fascist groups have taken advantage of this situation by attacking political squats and collectives that fight against state nationalism.  During that demonstration, these parastatal groups attacked the libertarian social collective of ‘EKX Sxoleio’ and afterwards they set fire to the anti-authoritarian squat of ‘Libertatia’. It is worth noting that these attacks were tolerated by the nearby police forces, a fact that shows once again the collaboration of fascists with the police and unmasks a government that claims to be ‘left’ and ‘in favor of people’.

The whole issue of the name of Macedonia works also as a disorienting pseudo-dilemma hiding the continuing harsh neoliberal attack against the rights of the people of both countries. At the same time that ‘national rallies for the name of Macedonia’ are organized in Greece, omnibus bills that extend the austerity policies are being voted in the parliament, auctions of primary residences (even of poor people) have started and the workers’ right to strike has been severely restricted.

It is also worth remembering that the political forces that present themselves as ‘patriotic’ by supporting the nationalist rallies and claiming that they ‘care’ about Greece:

• are the very ones that when they were in power promoted policies that were destructive for the natural environment of the country
• have sold natural resources and public companies to domestic or foreign private companies
• have violated every possible regulation to facilitate the disastrous (from an environmental and financial perspective) investment of the Canadian company El Dorado Gold in Skouries-Chalkidiki
• have taken decisive steps to commercialize and privatize drinking water in Thessaloniki.

We promote internationalism and class solidarity with Balkan people against the rise of nationalism and continuing neoliberal policies in both countries. Our belief is that people of both countries should fight against the degradation and exploitation of our lives by the neoliberal capitalist assault instead of demonstrating against each other. In fact, this is the only way to ensure a long-lasting peace in the region.

WE CONDEMN THE FASCIST ATTACKS ON RESISTING POLITICAL COLLECTIVES

WE STRUGGLE AGAINST NATIONALISM THAT CAPITALISM PROMOTES IN ALL COUNTRIES

30 January 2018

ReINFORM

Source of featured image: ThePressProject

By Leonidas Vatikiotis

The provocative intervention of the European Commission (indication of their great discomfort over the decision of the Court of Appeal), which continues to treat Greece as an occupied country without sovereign rights, was via the Commission’s spokesperson Annika Breidthardt, who invoked the independence of the statistical services. In essence, the mouthpiece of Brussels if anything she asked was the unaccountability of the Eurostats’ favorites, even at the expense of their country, as was repeatedly done by A. Georgiou. In addition, as rightly highlighted in the announcement of the Union of Judges and Prosecutors on August 3rd, the unequal treatment of the European Commission creates two classes of citizens. Narratives of creditors were reproduced by mainstream Press (FAZ, FT, Politico, Bloomberg, et. al.) which appeared A. Georgiou, who now lives in Maryland, as a victim.

Needless to say, that the venal and loafer bureaucracy of Brussels would have never reached the point of showing its teeth by interfering with such frequency, if the so-called left-wing government of SYRIZA (which governs with the extreme-right party of ANEL) had not given them the right. Going as far as to accept in the prerequisites of the last instalment, the acquittal of A. Georgiou (proof of the inability of his acquittal through the lawful way), as well as paying his legal costs (just for humiliating them), the message sent out by the government is that the rule of law will have the fate of the welfare state: sacrificed at the altar of Memoranda!

The judgement of the Court of Appeal may once again have angered the parasites in Brussels, but it abstained from the proposal of the Prosecutor, Mr. Lambros Patsavellas, who, in his speech, asked for the conviction of Georgiou for all three offences, which did not concern the data falsification, as this will be trialled in the Criminal Court.

Specifically, the former President of ELSTAT, A. Georgiou, was accused of the following: First, because he simultaneously occupied two critical posts (one as a President of ELSTAT and another as deputy division chief in the IMF) – for this he was acquitted. Secondly, because he did not call for the BoD meetings – for this he was acquitted. And, thirdly, because he sent the 2009 deficit figures all by himself, without ELSTAT taking knowledge – for this, he was found guilty. The contradicting fact that he was acquitted for not calling for the BoD and then convicted because he sent the data to Eurostat by himself (because he did not call for the BoD to approve them!), is utterly blatant!

Let take a look one by one the above mentioned accusations. 

Servant of Two Masters!

The position of the President of ELSTAT is a dedicated full-time position (as provided by article 15, par. 1, sentence b of the 3832/2010 law). However, when on June 29, 2010, A. Georgiou passed by the approval of the Conference of Presidents of the Greek Parliament, he concealed that he had not resigned from the IMF but had taken an unpaid leave. His direct dependency on the IMF was apparent on the e-mail he sent to the representative of IMF in Greece, Paul Thomsen, urging him to intervene on the government, via Brussels, in order to change the law on the statistical service.

Georgiou, concealed his professional relationship with the IMF because if made known, he could not even be a mere member of the Board, as the only parallel position allowed, is that of a faculty member at a University. However, Georgiou, is not a professor! He is not even a statistical scientist, since he has no relevant studies. Even at the IMF, he was not working as a statistician, but as a simple economist. It seems, that in the case of statisticians there is a constant tradition which was first pointed out by the American economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz: The IMF, recruits, second and third-class scientists to make the dirty job.

Georgiou was concealing the truth that he serves two Masters for more than a year (from July 2010 to September 2011). Thus, along with the position of President of ELSTAT he also held the post of Deputy Chief of the IMF Statistical Service, where admittedly resigned on July 16, 2010, but he only put in into effect on November 10, 2010. The fraud was uncovered by MPs and journalists, so Georgiou had to admit it. Even then, he pretended the naive, stating that he did it in order to secure his pension. The question which subsequently arises is why didn’t he wait until November 10, 2011, to complete his pensionable years at the IMF and then move to Greece? Obviously, his highly lucrative relationship of dependency with the IMF served the hateful organization who wanted to have its own people in key positions in Greece…

What if there was an evident conflict of interest between lender and borrower? A contradiction which was also described by the prosecutor himself, who in the end was applauded by dozens of ordinary people who had flooded the Court of Appeals to watch the trial …

For the offense of holding simultaneously two positions, the Court of Appeal decided that Georgiou is innocent.

ELSTAT, One Man’s Principle

From November 2010 to September 2011, Georgiou refused to convene a meeting between the other 6 members of ELSTAT (N. Logothetis, G. Georgantas, A. Philippou, G. Simiyiannis, St. Balfousia and K. Skordas) who consisted the seven-member collegial body of the independent Authority.

In order to leave no doubt regarding the motives of the BoD members we should state that (according to article 12 of law 3832 / 9.3.2010) its seven members are defined as follows: Four members (of which one is appointed as chairman and another as vice-chairman) are elected by the Presidents of the Parliament, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, following a public notice by a majority of 4/5 of its members. One member is nominated by the Governor of the Bank of Greece, one member by the Minister of Finance and another member by the Workers’ Association. As a result, they were not representatives of the protestors of Syntagma square, nor representatives of grass-roots unions … Thus, Georgiou, acted behind their back, as his illegalities were so blatant that they could not be accepted by employees who did not have the psychology of a gauleiter nor of a man in special mission who knows that whatever his actions may-be, his contractors, will cover for him.

His argument, that there was no trust between the members, and that is why Georgiou did it all by himself, was overturned by the prosecutor, who argued that if Georgiou did not trust them, he could entrust the vice-president to convene a BoD. So, why didn’t he request it from N. Logothetis?

Georgiou (who never missed a chance to insult Greece) to further strengthen his position he was issuing press releases in Greek and English. In these press releases the Board members were being presented as politically animated, with unionist-like and “abnormal” behaviour!

For the offence of the non-convergence of the BoD, the Court of Appeal decided that Georgiou was innocent.

Guilty of the 2009 Deficit

Of particular importance, however, is the decision of the three-member Court of Appeal, to convict Georgiou in two years’ imprisonment, with a three-year suspension, for the irregular transmission of the 2009 data of budget deficit. This decision angered the creditors and the neoliberal establishment in Greece. In particular, A. Georgiou he was convicted because he did not put into account ELSTAT as a collective body and because the latter did not consent on the transmission of the data, in violation of Article 10, par. 2(f) I of Law 3832/2010. More specifically, it states that “ELSTAT in particular: a. Prepares and executes the annual statistical program and produces and publishes with the status of the “national statistical office” as defined in para. 1 of article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. 223/2009, the official, national and European statistics of the country.”

Georgiou, however, chose to forward only the data for the 2009 deficit. Thus, in a completely unmonitored way, he predicted the 2009 deficit at 11.9%, first, later 13.6% of GDP later inflated it even more at 15.4% and shortly thereafter even higher: at 15.8%!

Georgiou, who was found guilty of this offense without being granted any extenuation and with the maximum penalty, violated the principles that are strictly followed in all statistical services of Europe.

The court’s decision to convict Georgiou for the arbitrary transmission of the 2009 deficit figures paves the way for revealing and putting into question the scheme that trapped Greece in order to enter the era of Memorandums under the eye of the EU-IMF and of course of the domestic economic elite. If the creditors were having a say on which of the three charges the IMF official, Georgiou, must not be convicted, they would choose this particular one, as the rejection of the way that the data of the 2009 deficit was transmitted (as much as it contradicts Georgiou’s acquittal for the non-convergence of the BoD) paves the way for the pending trials which question the 2009 deficit itself! Τhis a decision may not was the best possible, but eases the way of proving that the deficit was formed by the creditors’ orders in order to justify the literature of fiscal derailment.

The current phase of litigation about false Greek Statistics started only a few days after the last disbursement of the 7.7 million tranche, on July 7, and after the SYRIZA-ANEL government had implemented every single claim of the European creditors and the IMF. Then they realized that an unpleasant surprise was awaiting them. These included the acquittal of three members of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund S.A. (this is the super-fund of privatizations) from Italy, Spain and Slovenia and of the former President of the ELSTAT (Hellenic Statistical Authority), Andreas Georgiou, who in 2009 inflated the deficit so that Greece be placed under the Memoranda status quo. They even ratified his claim for 100.000€ compensation for his legal costs, which is an unparalleled act of political humiliation.

The surprise which followed the disbursement was related to the objection on behalf of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Xenis Demetriou against the Decree of the Counselors Appeal (No. 969/2017) issued on May 26, 2017, where Georgiou was relieved from the accusations that he artificially inflated the budget deficit. With this particular Decree, proposed by the Prosecutor of the Court of appeal, Mr. John Koutras, and adopted by the majority (only the Prosecutor Christina Romesi voted against) decided not to be referred to the three-member Athens Court of Appeal, George and two of his associates (Konstantinos Molfetas and Athanasia Xenaki) for the accusation of false attestation in criminal complicity at the expense of the Public under the particularly aggravating circumstance of the extreme high value of the object of the crime.

It should be noted that this was the second time that the Mr. George and his co-defendants were exempted by Decree of the Council of the Court of appeal. An identical discharge decision (1149/2015) from the accusation for falsification to a felony degree was preceded.

Georgiou was Never Acquitted!

Consequently, those who argued that Mr. Georgiou has been acquitted twice so far make a broad interpretation of the Decree. They turned the exculpatory acts into acquittals with apparent objective to present Mr. Georgiou as a victim of persecution. And instead of apologizing for his inability to prove his innocence to the court hearing, as any accused is obliged to do, he appears as a victim of political squabbles, when the only political conspiracy in progress aims at his acquittal.

The rage of the EU, who treats Greece as a Banana Republic, making use the slavish attitude of Tsipra’s government, is fully understandable on the basis of the possible consequences a final court decision will have for all the countries that voted for Greece’s lending in 2010, which will conclude that Georgiou and Eurostat altered fraudulently the financial figures of Greece. Hundreds of deputies across the EU have therefore been deceived with non-existent economic data in order to save the French-German banks. That being the case, the EU is now trying to not only save her valuable associate in Athens, who in fraudulent ways and in violation of not just the scientific ethics but also of laws, paved the way for the steamroller of the Memoranda, but also to conceal its own responsibility in the falsification of statistical data. That is, not to open the Windbag of Aeolus and reveal the great robbery organized by the EU and IMF at the expense of the people, using the excuse of “rescues” …

In order to better show how provocative and against of any concept of law is the intervention of the creditors on putting an end on the Georgiou chapter, it is worth a small flashback on the very serious accusations against the former powerful man of the ELSTAT who paved the way for the then Finance Minister, G. Papaconstantinou, to compare Greece with Titanic as a self-fulfilling prophecy, paving the way to the speculators…

It is worth to stand in three specific examples which demonstrate the cooking in the data of the ELSTAT that took place under Georgiou’s responsibility, so that the 2009 budget deficit would initially reach 11.9% and later 15.8% of GDP. They also show why the creditors, the pro-Memorandum governments (social-democratic PASOK, the so-called technocrats of L. Papadimou, the right-wing New Democracy and the current SYRIZA-ANEL) do not want the case before the hearing.

The “creative accounting” was used in the data of: First, hospitals, second, 17 DEKOs (Public Companies of General Interest) and hundreds of legal entities (around 500) and third the famous swap of the former Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, who were “cooked” with the help of Goldman Sachs so that the budget deficit to rise in high levels in order to launch the “shock therapy” in 2010.

Statistical Alchemies

The amount that the ELSTAT sent as hospital debts as part of a consistent recurring process in October 2009 in order to establish the tables with the financial data of the EU Member States was “just” 2.3 billion euros. However, somehow in the notification that arrived a few weeks later at Eurostat, dated October 21st, 2008, the amount had increased by an additional 2.5 billion euros, reaching at 4.8 billion euros. Then it was considered that even this amount was not sufficient enough to get the deficit to a convenient for their purpose, therefore the Greek government added an extra 1.8 billion euros, justifying this decision with a “technical report on the review of the obligations of Hospitals” which was sent on February 3, 2010. Thus, the 2.3 billion were magically become by the “Wizard” Georgiou 6.6 billion euros! They were so determined (because of the guarantees that they certainly had outside Greece) that they did not take into account even the Court of Auditors, which, out of the alleged 6.6 billion, approved only 1.2 billion euros. They did not even “lower” the 6.6 billion when one and a half month after the unlawful increase in the budget deficit, the Finance Ministry demanded that hospital suppliers accept a 30% haircut for their unpaid services in 2005-2008. Thus, while public funds benefited from this cut, this discount was never recorded in the fiscal figures.

It is worth to underline another fundamental dimension, which was emphasized in the first report of the Truth Debt Committee in June 2015 under the aegis of Greek parliament (here is the full text) with aim to show that Greek debt was illegal and odious: “This statistical practices, which were used to calculate the liabilities of hospitals, clearly violate both the ESA95 European regulations (see . ESA95, par. 3.06, EC no. 2516/2000 Article 2 of Commission Regulation EC no. 995/2001) as well as the Code of Practice of the European Statistical System (European Statistics Code of Practice), particularly as regards the principles of independence of the statistical measurements, statistical objectivity and credibility” (page 24).

Thus, assurances of anonymous sources in Brussels, which are being republished as a whole and without criticism assuring that specific methodologies were used so Eurostat guarantees the reliability of the data are… nonsense.  They are just pulling the wool over the people’s eyes! Nowhere, the ESA95 and ESA2010 regulations indicate this recording process. The fact that the assurances of Brussels are arbitrary is obvious from the fact that even eight years later different sources of Eurostat show a different levels of deficit…So Eurostat should first decide on the level of the 2009 deficit which in every opportunity shows off the very bad quality of the data it publishes (on the contrary, with the US counterpart), and then they can issue firmans in order to put a tombstone on a debate that has a long future.

All In…

In violation of the international regulations, 17 DEKOs and hundreds of legal entities from the non-financial corporations in the General Government sector were also included in order to inflate the deficit. These entities included from ETHEL (Thermal Bus Company), ILPAP (Electric buses of Athens and Piraeus), ISAP (Urban Rail Transport SA) and OSE (Hellenic Railways Organisation) to the Center for Renewable Energy Sources, the Industrial Property Organization, the University Research Institute for Communications and Computer Systems and the Varvakeios Market of fresh meat and fishes.

The result of this actions was to raise the public debt by at least 18.2 billion EUR. In order for A. Georgiou to be able to pass this change, which was implemented without the slightest studies, he canceled the Service Board of Directors and turned it into one man’s authority. Moreover, his “daring” exploits include his effort to deceive the Parliament, where in order to justify the reclassification, he submitted 74 files that supposedly contained the relevant documentation. In fact, they did not contain studies as they should, but questionnaires, balance sheets and a multitude of other documents that were totally unprocessed.

Only pizza and souvlaki menus were missing from these files, knowing that such records are hardly even opened, not to mention… read!

The last trick that Georgiou and his associated recruited to inflate the deficit was the sinful swaps by Kostas Simitis. Specifically, the debt swap agreements signed by the Greek government with Goldman Sachs in order to hide the public debt. Instead of revealing the alchemy used for Greece’s accession to the eurozone and hold account the financial staff of K. Simitis (L. Papademos then governor of central bank and later appointed by Troika prime minister, G. Stournaras then chief of economists and now governor of central bank, etc.), these very alchemy were once again used against Greek people, as Georgiou arbitrarily AGAIN decided to allocate the € 21bn swap within the years 2006-2009, increasing retroactively and in violation of EU regulations  the public debt. Why did he distributed it in previous years and not in the next, as he could do, this is something they never want us to know.

The Europeans tried to cover up the ELSTAT scandal invoking the famous independence of statistical institutes. The European Commission statement said in a nutshell that “if we find the data credible, it should be enough for you”. This is extreme political authoritarianism that shows that the independence … seriously hampers Democracy. Prohibits the democratic control, removes sovereign rights, facilitates poverty, and becomes a policy enforcement tool that no people have decided, nor approved. The independent authorities therefore cancel Democracy, just like the EU itself that uses every means to conceal the ELSTAT scandals!

Translation: FF.

Leonidas Vatikiotis is a Greek economist and analyst.

Source:https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/30/the-road-to-the-greek-hell-is-paved-with-false-eu-and-imf-statistics/

Door Dimitris Pavlopoulos – Arbeidssocioloog VU

Landelijke staking tegen de nieuwe bezuinigingen - Athene , 17 mei 2017

Het Griekse drama gaat onvermijdelijk door. De Griekse regering heeft met de Trojka een nieuwe bezuinigings- en hervormingsronde afgesproken. Dat is de vierde op rij sinds 2010 toen de schuldencrisis uitbrak. De meeste media berichten gaan meer over de daling van de rente van de Griekse obligaties verschenen – vanwege de gemaakte afspraken – dan over de inhoud van de afspraken zelf.

In de afgelopen 1,5 jaar, sinds de capitulatie van de SYRIZA-regering voor de eisen van de Trojka, is de kwestie Griekenland bijna verdwenen uit het nieuws. Nu Tsipras geen opstandeling meer is tegen het Brussel-Schauble establishment lijkt het niet meer de moeite waard om over de crisis in Griekenland te berichten. Recentelijk was er zelfs begrip voor de racistische opmerkingen van Dijsselbloem over Zuid-Europeanen die hun geld hebben uitgegeven aan drank en vrouwen. Het lijkt alsof  in Nederland het verder verarmen van een Europese volk normaal gevonden wordt.

Echter geen mediaberichten betekent nog niet dat de crisis opgelost is. De coalitieregering van SYRIZA met de ultrarechtse partij ‘Onafhankelijke Grieken’ heeft zich onder druk van de Trojka, maar uiteindelijk door eigen keuze, van een antibezuinigingsregering getransformeerd naar een regering die de zwaarste neoliberale bezuinigingsmaatregelen doorvoert. De nieuwe afspraken met de Trojka leveren het bewijs daarvoor. Volgens deze afspraken verliezen gepensioneerden bijna één van de 12 pensioenen die ze per jaar ontvangen bovenop de 40% matiging die al is doorgevoerd in de laatste 6 jaar. Er komt een directe matiging van 9-18% op alle pensioenen boven de 700 euro. Daarnaast worden door de verlaging van de belastingvrijegrens van inkomen van 8.636 naar 5.861 euro per jaar zelfs pensioenen van 475 euro gekort.

De bezuinigingen treffen zelfs de minimuminkomens. Vanaf 2018 worden de werkloosheidsuitkering (nu 360 euro per maand, alleen voor het eerste jaar), de kinderbijslag (nu 13-40 euro per maand) en andere uitkeringen gekort. Mensen die getroffen zijn door natuurrampen zoals aardbevingen (dat gebeurt nogal vaak in Griekenland) krijgen minder financiële hulp van de overheid.

De hervormingen – die volgens Brussel en de Nederlandse media de laatste jaren zijn uitgebleven in Griekenland – zijn bevestigd of verder doorgevoerd. Dit betekent dat de verruiming van de openingstijden van winkels als oplossing is gevonden voor de daling van de economische activiteiten. Ondanks het feit dat de grote meerderheid van de bevolking geen geld te besteden heeft blijven in verschillende plaatsen de winkels ook op zondag open. Daarnaast worden tenminste tot 2018 de daadwerkelijke afschaffing van CAO’s en de versoepeling van het ontslagrecht niet teruggedraaid. Tegelijkertijd wordt ook het publieke energiebedrijf geprivatiseerd.

Het is opmerkelijk wat er ontbreekt aan de eisen van de Trojka en de maatregelen van de SYRIZA-coalitieregering. Net zoals bij de vorige centrum of centrumrechtse regeringen hebben de topinkomens geen last gehad van de bezuinigingsrondes. Het is niet voor niets dat volgens de OESO in de jaren van de bezuinigingen de  ratio van de hoogste versus de laagste inkomens (de zogenoemde P90/P10 ratio) is gestegen van 4.4 naar 5.2. De lijsten van de grote belastingontduikers zijn bewust heel langzaam onderzocht. Tegelijkertijd vloeit een klein, maar zichtbaar deel van de Trojka-leningen (die overigens voor 90% ten goede komen aan de schuldeisers) naar de rekeningen van grote media- en constructiebedrijven, maar wordt er nauwelijks geïnvesteerd.

Van een mogelijk succes van de ingevoerde maatregelen is geen sprake. Sinds 2010 is geen enkele economische voorspelling van de Europese Commissie of het IMF over Griekenland uitgekomen. In plaats van de voorspelde groei is er meer recessie gekomen door de bezuinigingen en de hervormingen. In de hele wereld is er geen enkele serieuze econoom die gelooft dat Griekenland er bovenop kan komen binnen de huidige structuur van de EU en de Eurozone met dit bezuinigingsbeleid en zonder een grote afschrijving van de staatschuld.

Uit het recente enquêteonderzoek ‘Generation What’ blijkt tweederde van de Grieken tussen de 18 en de 34 jaar bereid te zijn om deel te nemen aan een grote opstand tegen de regering. Dat is niets anders dan het resultaat van een bezuinigings- en hervormingsbeleid dat een hele bevolking en vooral de jonge generatie een fatsoenlijke toekomst onthoudt.

Griekenland is hierin geen uitzondering. Hetzelfde onderzoek toont aan dat in Italië, Spanje en Frankrijk het percentage van jonge mensen met dezelfde gevoelens maar iets kleiner is dan in Griekenland. Zelfs in Nederland en Duitsland is éénderde van jongeren bereid om in opstand te komen tegen de overheid. Als hetzelfde bezuinigingsbeleid dominant blijft in Europa raken de mensen binnenkort niet meer verward in dilemma’s van Wilders vs Rutte of Macron vs Le Pen en hebben we straks een heel ander politiek landschap op het continent.

Bron van het artikel:https://joop.vara.nl/opinies/nieuwe-bezuinigingen-brengen-niets-goeds-voor-griekenland-en-europa

Bron van de foto:http://time.com/4785515/greece-debt-austerity-alexis-tsipras/

https://twitter.com/reinformnl

In July 2011, a few months after being abandoned by its owners, Vio.Me. was occupied by its workers. Since February 2013, Vio.Me., managed by the general assembly of its workers, has been producing organic soaps and cleaning products. Many solidarity groups participate in the decisions concerning Vio.Me., while its products are distributed through a dense solidarity network across Europe.

After the screening of the film “Occupy, Resist, Produce” by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler (watch here with English subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fg2akSUvFM), a discussion was held via Skype with Kostas Charitakis on behalf of Vio.Me. Thanks to the questions posed by the audience and Charitakis’ eloquent answers, a vivid picture of the current state of Vio.Me. but also of the potential and necessity of work-ins in Greece, was formed. References to the occupied factories in Argentina were also made.

With more than 1.000 factories closed down in Greece after the outbreak of the crisis, restarting the production under workers’ control is more necessary and realist than ever, was one of the main conclusions of yesterday’s discussion. Thus, although the difficulties and challenges of self-management are great, so are its possibilities to develop. Self-management of production, the active participation of society in the decision-making process and the unmediated contact between producers and consumers, as it is the case in Vio.Me., point to a different model of production, consumption, life. Even more significantly, they point to a realist way of building an alternative against the deadlocks that the existing system poses to the survival, happiness and peaceful coexistence of people in today’s Europe and the world.

The people who attended yesterday’s event could buy Vio.Me.’s soaps and sign the solidarity appeal against the upcoming auctions of Vio.Me., the first one being on the 26th of November. The signatures were sent today to the workers of Vio.Me.

The threat of eviction that Vio.Me. is faced with on the 26th of November “inaugurates” the cycle of evictions threatening an enormous number of indebted households in Greece under the laws of the 3rd Memorandum voted by Syriza’s government last July. This is an additional reason why Vio.Me.’s first auction and the ones to follow should be blocked!

In view of this situation, Vio.Me.’s workers invite individuals and collectivities in Greece and abroad to show their solidarity with more actions of this kind.

Special thanks to the Nieuwland’s people for a very welcoming environment, a delicious dinner and their great help.

ReINFORM

]]> http://www.reinform.info/?feed=rss2&p=8176 0 http://www.reinform.info/?p=8161 http://www.reinform.info/?p=8161#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2015 22:28:01 +0000 patti http://www.reinform.nl/?p=8161 A real crime is being committed over the past months in Europe. Thousands of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries are trying to flee wars that others have caused in their countries and reach Europe in search of a better life. Hundreds of them have been washed up dead on the Greek islands.

Although the European governments talk about a “humanitarian crisis” and pretend they take relief measures, they hide the causes of the refugee crisis and the real face of their policies, multiplying the death toll on the Greek islands.

Despite the early media reports presenting Germany and other west European countries as open to refugees (Germany was even talking about thousands of employment posts they would cover…), the reality is totally different. The number of refugees that Europe eventually agreed to resettle is too small compared to the millions of refugees that the countries neighbouring the conflict zones have admitted. This tiny quota is the hypocritical answer of the European governments to the huge pressure placed on them by social and political groups but also industrial circles that see in the refugee crisis an opportunity for even cheaper labour in Europe.

The countries of the EU on the refugee route to Europe are doing their best to keep them out. The extreme-right Hungarian government set up fences on the borders of Hungary with Serbia and Croatia, while the “left-wing” Greek government claims that the fence on Greece’s land borders with Turkey cannot be removed. On the sea borders of the EU, Frontex intensifies its efforts to block the refugee entrance instead of helping with rescue efforts. Together with the Greek Coast Guard, they turn a blind eye to the gangs attacking refugee boats. This is Fortress Europe.

But the EU’s responsibility extends even further. The EU along with the US and Russia are to blame for the disastrous wars driving people off their homelands. Their direct or indirect interventions have fuelled the civil wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Talibans in Afganistan and the Islamic State in Middle East did not rise on their own but thanks to the financial, political and military support by the international imperialist forces. The invasion of the US and their allies in Iraq brought about more wars and horrors for Iraqi people. Kurds are suffering an ongoing oppression and faced with fierce attacks by the Islamic State and Erdogan’s authoritarian regime. The economic, political and military interventions of the US, the EU and Russia have totally disrespected the need of people in these areas to live peacefully and are to blame for the enormous migration wave that the EU is trying to keep out of its fortress.

In the past years, European societies are under an enormous pressure due to the financial crisis, by and large paid by the lower classes. The governments in the “Europe of the people” saved the banks and international companies by providing them huge amounts of state funding. A few years ago, Greece’s public debt was transferred from the banks to the European people. Harsh austerity measures have been imposed on the people of indebted countries, while the welfare state throughout Europe is under attack. It is not only salaries that have been severely cut, but also labour rights. At the same time, flexible working has almost become the norm.

Given that neoliberal governments cannot care less about the quality of life of lower classes, a part of them fears that the arrival of the refugees will lead to its deterioration. Like every other government in the EU, the Dutch government makes sure to live up to this fear: it sets up huge cheap camps next to small neglected villages, without concern for the living conditions of the refugees or the local population. At the same time, it gives no guarantees that the refugees will not be used as cheap workforce.

The part of European population that has been paying the price of the neoliberal policies is now being told that the refugees pose a threat to its standard of living. In this way, its discontent and uncertainty are directed against the refugees, themselves victims of the EU’s foreign policy. Protesting against the arrival of the refugees or the creation of refugee camps and not against the neoliberal policies that cause unemployment and poverty for the people and profits for the capital, is very convenient for the governments and economic elites in the EU. It fits in well with their goals and plans if people fall for the racist and fascist propaganda of Golden Dawn in Greece, Wilders in the Netherlands or Lepen in France.

Humanitarian solidarity and material support to the refugees are necessary but not enough. The real solution to the migration crisis will come from overturning the policies of the European Union and the governments applying them. The borders should open immediately so that no more people are drowned at the sea borders of the EU in Greece and Italy. The criminal fences blocking their way to Europe should be removed. Refugees should get equal rights to housing, education, healthcare and work in Europe.

The foreign policy of the EU should change right away. The military, economic and political interventions in the countries of the Middle East should stop. Democracy, peace and development should be actively supported. The EU should stop backing authoritarian regimes. The right of Kurdish and Palestinian people to their own state should be admitted. Money should be given to the refugees and the poor. We should not allow the refugees to be used as cheap workforce in the service of capital.

Parties and organizations of the Left and trade unions in the whole Europe should take specific initiatives in this direction. They should point to the real culprits of the refugee crisis and play a leading role in organizing the struggle of European citizens to protect their quality of life as well as the right of every human being to live with peace and dignity at some place in the world.

Refugees welcome!

Racists, fascists and neoliberals, you are personae non gratae.

ReINFORM

(Source of the photos::http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post/war-in-peace)

In September 2012, while hundreds of refugees are held in inhuman conditions at the police stations of Lesbos or they are left out in the open vulnerable to any racist attacks; the “Village of all together” requests the municipality of Mitilini to allow the use of the abandoned summer camps in Neapoli to be used as a hospitality center for the refugees. With this act, the “Village of all together” defends the right of the refugees to a fair
treatment and simultaneously, it promotes the creation of open hospitality centers in support of local community.

PIKPA is a self-managed-autonomous space and has no access to any state or European funds. This self-managed space has hosted during this time more than 6.000 refugees, some for few days and others up to a year. The refugees include asylum and family unification applicants and/or vulnerable groups of newly arrived refugees e.g. people with disabilities, sick, pregnant etc. There, we offer food, clothes, medicines, hygiene, legal counseling, and medical help as well as we organize activities for children and classes of Greek and English and occasionally, we provide them transport expenses and social support.

Due to the growing number of refugees arriving in Lesbos on a daily basis, the “Village of all together” is in constant need of resources and funds to cover the increasing needs of these people as well as to maintain the human living conditions in the camp. Although the core of our activities are centred in the PIKPA summer camp, we are in continuous communication with other groups of our network to better assess the situation and the needs,
offering help where is needed, on the streets, at the port and other self-created camps.

Our main objective is to stand in solidarity with the refugees and fight against the illegal arrests and any practice of humiliation or atrocities conducted in the sea or at the borders e.g. In June 2015 and while the law was still criminalizing any altruistic acts, we, the “Village of all together” organized a convoy with over forty cars that traveled from Molivo to Mitilini in order to transport refugees to the hospitality center. Moreover, we participated
in trials against citizens who transported refugees to the cities when the respective authorities pointing the law, were leaving thousands of people walking long distances all over the island.

Currently, we act as the focal point among medical centres, social pharmacies and other medical groups all over the country in order to provide sufficient medical services to the refugees. Our aim is to create proper reception and hospitality centres for every refugee as well any Greek national who has been a victim of the economic crisis, racism and any xenophobic propaganda.

If you want to support the volunteers in Lesvos, here are the details, received from Efi Latsoudi

Village of all together

IBAN: GR7901107620000076271413353

SWIFT (BIC) ETHNGRAA

Michalis Aivaliotis

Milou 10

Pirgrelia

Mytilene / Greece

When the mild arguments about the “people’s house” and the EU’s ability to transform fall apart, the neoliberal/Memoranda bloc resorts to the only argument left: breaking with the EU equals to returning to the “cave age”.

By Leonidas Vatikiotis

It is worthwhile to attempt an outline of the day after the rupture, in other words, the loan payment default, the unilateral sovereign debt write-off, and the exit from the Eurozone and the European Union. At this point, it is important to note the huge methodological issue arising from trying to solve a future’s equation using parameters of the present, knowing that they will dramatically change after such a rupture. But it is also important to note that the effect of such a change will be mainly positive. Thus, although the conflict with the capital will deprive society of valuable resources (e.g. the net inflow of €6 billion due to Greece’s dealings with the EU in 2015), it will put a halt to the inconceivable destruction of production forces that is currently underway and tends to become endemic (as shown, among others, by the fact that unemployment is stable at 26% and the idle production capacity has reached 34% in the industry).

There are seven sectors that will be affected already the next day after the rupture and are very significant for the people’s incomes but also for the economy: the currency, the funding of the imports and deficits of the state budget, the banks, the alimentation, the energy, and the medicines.

The exchange rate of the new currency in the first period after the rupture will be based on a fixed one-to-one exchange rate to the euro, despite the fact that the exchange rate corresponding to the structure of the Greek economy is lower even than the existing exchange rate of the euro, which is ideally “soft” enough -thanks to the presence of the south European countries in the Eurozone- to allow Germany to export but far too “hard” for the periphery.

The pegging to the euro will be a political decision aiming at preventing the launch of punitive speculative attacks on the new drachma and the repeated chocks to the daily trading practices. Similar practices of pegging to another currency are not followed only by “closed economies”, but also by highly internationalized ones such as Hong Kong. The effect of devaluation on people’s incomes can be counterbalanced by proportional salary increases. The effect on prices can be kept under control, as Greek economists have shown. In other words, there will not be uncontrollable inflation. Besides, such a danger can only be taken as a joke in an economy that suffers from deflation. To tackle deflation within the Eurozone, 60 billion euros are spent each month through the Quantitative Easing Program. Moreover, loans that have been taken in euro will be converted by law into the new currency.

Debt write-off and exit from the euro-EU will improve and not lower the standard of living

In 2014, the trade deficit (excluding shipping and fuel) amounted to €8.13 billion (compared to €16,04bn in 2010). This deficit can be closed by the travel services balance surplus that in 2014 rose to €11.32 billion (€13,39bn of revenues minus €2,07bn of payments). The small presence of vertically integrated tourist activities controlled by multinationals -although their penetration in the tourist sector has been increasing in the last years- allows a government to provide appropriate motivation in order to collect this money. In addition, clearing (non-monetary forms of exchange trade) can make up for the need for foreign currency, while “smart” measures to promote imports like those successfully applied by Argentina (ensuring that every importer will export a specific percentage of the value of their imports) can reduce the need for foreign currency and boost exports.

For the lovers of the Memoranda who claim that they created surpluses, there are no budget deficits to be covered. But for those who believe that giving new life to the dilapidated social structures should be a priority, there is the possibility of printing new money, which should of course be limited. In addition, there is the option of domestic borrowing, which can be used as a means of income redistribution and reinforcing low incomes, showing that not all of forms of debt are reproachable. To some extent, this was also the case when the Greek state was covering its financing needs by publishing treasury bills addressed to savers, even during the ’90s. It is remarkable that in 1998, 80% of state borrowing was internal and 70% of this borrowing was short-term and thus low-risk. The Maastricht Treaty eliminated this possibility in favor of the banks (which, in this way, got rid of competition) and especially the financial giants that took over state lending. The safety net provided by domestic borrowing is made clear in the case of Japan, where although the sovereign debt is extremely high (246,1% of GDP in 2015), its creditworthiness has not been downgraded by the credit rating agencies exactly because borrowing is domestic and can thus be subjected to many silent restructurings. The threat that domestic borrowing poses to the international speculators was also made clear when PSI took place in February 2012, when nothing was done to protect bondholders. The IMF and credit rating agencies wanted to abolish this possibility once and for all. On the contrary, a government that would want to reinstate the market of domestic borrowing should fully compensate the bondholders who suffered losses in 2012 and perhaps also set a ceiling of, let’s say 100.000 euros, in order to hinder very high incomes.

Nationalizing banks will relieve society from the burden of their prolonged death. Despite the 211 billion they have received since 2008 in the form of subsidies and guarantees, banks today are in a much worse state, as reflected in the loans to deposits ratio: from an admirable balance in 2000  (€108,23bn of loans to €109,23bn of deposits or 99%) to an enormous asymmetry in 2009 (€300,32bn of loans to €237,53bn of deposits or 126%), which has become even worse in January 2015 (€214bn of loans to €147bn of deposits or 146%, with the non-performing loans to have climbed up to €78bn) and is further deteriorating due to the bank run caused by the policy of suffocation of the ECB.

As far as food products are concerned, according to a research by the Panhellenic Confederation of Unions of Agricultural Cooperatives (published in 2012) that examines 41 basic rural food products – both plant- and animal-based – for the year 2011, there is sufficiency (production in relation to consumption, with consumption being defined as the amount of production plus imports minus exports) at the hopeful level of 95%. Taking a better look at the figures, however, one can see that the highest sufficiency is observed in not-basic products (edible olives 996%, raisins 275%, sea products 221%, oranges 191% and kiwis 180%) whereas the lowest sufficiency is observed in almost basic products (sugar 14%, beef 29%, lentils 33%, soft grain 33% and pork 36%). It is important to note that the production of sugar is indicative of the damage caused in the rural production by the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU directives, which led to the closure of the factories of the Greek Sugar Industry in favour of German exporters. In this way, Greece moved from being a net exporter to a net importer of sugar. There are similar examples in livestock production as well. The ability of a country to fill this gap if a shift of policy is decided was proved in 2010 when Russia massively bought young milk cows from Western Europe, succeeding in gaining sufficiency within two years.

As far as solid fuels are concerned, the market is characterised by oversupply, with a total installed power of 17.500 MW and a highest demand of 7.000 MW. Same as the food production, if it was not for the EU directives within the framework of the so-called “liberalisation”, much cheaper electricity power could be generated, for example by putting the brakes on the scandalous funding of the private sector of the Renewable Energy Resources, by allowing the expansion of the Public Power Corporation S.A., etc. As far as liquid fuels are concerned, the strategic cooperation of Greece with Russia and the choice of Iran as supplier -instead of the American protectorates- can secure the provision of much cheaper liquid fuels.

Finally, although the country’s 27 pharmaceutical industries are exporting to 80 countries, they only cover 18% of the domestic medicine demand, with the rest of it being covered by multinationals. Domestic medicine producers have repeatedly denounced the scandalous advantage given to the multinationals in the years of austerity and have claimed that they are able to provide for the 70% of the primary health care and the 50% of the hospital care with quality and low cost medicines as long as prescriptions are written differently…

In conclusion, with regard to food products, energy and medicines, but also other sectors, a revolutionary rupture will release unimaginable progressive social forces, which are now being amputated simply because no bourgeois government can implement the aforementioned measures, and will allow society to enter a new ‘golden age’.

Source of the article: https://leonidasvatikiotis.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/rupture-with-the-eu-%CE%B1-return-to-the-cave-age-or-a-new-golden-age-prin-newspaper-3052015/

Leonidas Vatikiotis has studied Statistics at the University of Piraeus. His doctoral dissertation, at the Sociology Department of Panteion University (2008) considered the causes of the 1970s economic crisis.

It is not only the new austerity measures, which among others include VAT increase, reduction of pensions, reintroduction of the zero deficit clause, Sunday shop opening and implementation of the liberalization measures included in the OECD’s famous toolkit! The deeply unpopular agreement, signed by Tsipras government in the early hours of July 13^th, after 17 hours negotiations between the eurozone Heads of State, (here is the full text) introduces for the first time commitments that guarantee the impoverishment of workers in perpetuity and even attempts to eliminate syndicalism, turning Greece into a second or third class capitalist country for the benefit of the German Fourth Reich! Four specific measures make the difference compared to the previous memoranda. More specifically:

First, the “introduction of quasi-automatic spending cuts in case of deviations from ambitious primary surplus ” -which is one of the four measures that ought to be voted by Wednesday, July 15-, eliminates the possibility of divergence from the targets set. Practically, this means that by the time there is a deviation from the forecasts, a school, a clinic of the National Hospital of Nicaea will be shut down or a whole sector will be sacked in order to reduce the costs and achieve the surplus which will service the debt and satisfy the creditors.

Secondly, another safety valve is also included in the privatization program so that the overambitious target of 50 billion EUR revenue is reached and not just remain on paper. The prospect that the 50% or 25 bn. EUR will be returned to the ESM for the recapitalization of the banks and from the remaining 25 bn. euro half will be given away for reducing the debt and the rest for investments, connects the sellout of public property with real interests, paving the way to even convey to the banks public companies and real estate for privatization so that the selling off to achieve the best possible terms and on their own responsibility. But it needs to be done… and not cancelled in practice as happened in the past.

The tremendous implications of the 50 billion EUR privatization program, which also includes the selling off of the Independent Transmission Operator (ITSO) are revealed if we compare the target of 50 billion euros with the revenues from the so far privatizations. For instance, the 2015 government budget reports that in 2013 there were received only 86 million euros, in 2014 230 million, while for this year the (inflated as usual) budget estimate was 474 million euro. The loot that will follow, with the sellout of all traces of public property (Municipalities, Universities, public entities), will be sweeping, in order to manage to gather such a large amount, as the best “pieces” of public property (OTE Olympic Airways etc.) have already been sold.

Third, the “program under the auspices of the European Commission, for de-politicizing the public administration” will attempt to eliminate trade unionism in the public sector and – something far more important – reform the public administration, by abolishing current hierarchies and launching a new generation of managers in the state machine, fully subjugated to the limited sovereignty regime that the new, third, Memorandum de facto establishes, with predictions such as the “unilateral” amend of “roll-back” legislation adopted in 2015. In practice, this means annulment of any populist law: from the reinstatement of the cleaning ladies to the school guards … and it also remains to see if they will include the opening of ERT. Therefore, the strong resistance of the state machine -that was put forward since 2010- will not only surrender to the demands of Memoranda but also, Troika returns reinforced, with its own people in every key position, ready to encapsulate and implement even and the most reactionary measures, by violating laws and ethics. The arbitrariness of Georgiou in ELSTAT, which becomes further independent, is indicative of the morals they wish to impose on public administration and services.

Fourth, the political targeting of the left Memorandum signed by Tsipras is reflected on the commitment for “rigorous review and modernisation of collective bargaining, labor mobilisations and collective redundancies.” No longer do they target the collective-bargaining rights and strikes, but also the protests themselves. “First time left”… first time that the right to protest is put into question!

Furthermore, even the enactment of these measures by 15 and July 22, as explicitly described, does not prejudice the happy ending for the government’s negotiations. Clear statements such as “the opening of negotiations do not prejudice any potential final agreement” or “the Greek offer of reform measures needs to be seriously strengthened to take into account the strongly deteriorated economic and fiscal position of the country during the last year”, guarantee that we are at the beginning of a long and painful process, involving continuous adoption of unpopular laws, that will ensure the approve of the new 82-86 bn. euro loan and the release of the instalments, as happened in the previous five years.While with other humiliating formalities like “the dangers of non-rapid conclusion of the negotiations fully borne Greece”gives the creditors the right to ask for … their mother and father, whenever they wish, from any government, obliging Greece to immediately comply and without objections.

Moreover, the fact that the banks will not open (as explicitly stated by the term “rapid decision on the new program is a condition to allow banks to reopen”)implies that the EU will keep sending ultimatums until its requirements are met in full, such as “decisive action for non-performing loans”, which means that thousands of houses, even first residences will soon go under the hammer… Even if this is about a blackmail that was explicitly rejected by the grand ‘No’ of the Greek people on the a referendum of July 5th.

The third memorandum, which signals the complete humiliation of SYRIZA, puts the last nail in the coffin of the request the public debt cancellation, as claimed by the people and was grounded by the recent findings of the Parliament’s Truth Committee on Public Debt. The clear reference on the penultimate page of the decision that “the Euro Summit stresses that nominal haircuts on the debt cannot be undertaken” in conjunction with the reference”the Greek authorities reiterate their unequivocal commitment to honour their financial obligations to all their creditors fully and in a timely manner”, import -fully and completely- the current government of Alexis Tsipras to the camp of the enemies of the people and society, who from 2010 until today use the debt in order to circumvent rights and conquests of decades!

Translation: Foula Farmakides

Source of the article: https://leonidasvatikiotis.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/third-memorandum-worse-than-the-previous-ones/

Source of the photos: Depression Era Project/Dimitris Michalakis: http://www.depressionera.gr/262731/1607618/works/dimitris-michalakis

The outspoken decision of the people has not been respected by the government and the EU. On July 13^th a new austerity agreement was reached in the Eurogroup that aims at humiliating the Greek people and leading them to complete economic and social disaster. The aim of this agreement is not to solve any financial problem but to punish harshly the defiant Greek people for opposing successfully the austerity-driven one-way policies.

The last Eurogroup agreement clears out any doubts on the nature of the current European project. The EU and its institutions are not neutral and do not aim at safeguarding the well-being of European citizens. After saving the European banks (including the Greek banks) with the fake debt restructuring of 2012, now the EU tries to destroy the Greek people with the use of economic weapons. At the same time, the EU does not hide its open effort to save and preserve the power of the corrupted Greek economic elite. That’s why they fiercely demanded measures that hit the poor (such as the reduction of low pensions and the liberalization of house evictions) but include only vague commitments for the rich.

The conclusion of the 6-month negotiations with this disastrous agreement shows also that no progressive reform is possible within the structure of this EU. The negotiation strategy of the Greek government that aimed at shifting the EU-institutions towards a slightly more social-oriented approach has undoubtedly failed. Even the mild Keynesian economic program that was presented initially by the Greek government was met with fierce rejection by EU institutions. Facing this situation, the Greek government chose to shift completely towards the implementation of harsh austerity policies that will bring a disaster to the Greek people instead of making the brave but difficult choice of a rupture with the Troika. What the people in Greece need is neither the austerity-fit  GRexit that the dark circles of Schauble prepare nor a similar GRexit that parts of the Greek elite would envision in order to preserve their own profits and power. Both would result in more despair and suffering by the people. The people in Greece need a different perspective of economic and social development that is based on direct democracy, social equality and social justice. This perspective is clearly incompatible with the current suffocating neoliberal and undemocratic environment of the Eurozone and the European Union.

It is time to take our lives in our own hands

It is now clear that only the active involvement of the people can make a difference. In the open class conflict that the people face, change can only come through taking our lives in our own hands. It has become once again clear that people should not expect any “wise leader” or saviour party to provide the solution. We can only reach a solution with decisive struggles against the neoliberal attack that we face, at the place where we live, work or study. This is the only way to neutralize the terror campaigns that are launched by the media and the elites and to prevent struggles from being betrayed by our “saviours”.

A decisive rupture with all old and new austerity policies, their political representatives and the economic elites that are profiting from them is needed. Such a rupture should concern all aspects of organizing the economy and the political system.

The implementation of the new austerity agreement will mean that many people will have no access to basic goods such as housing, food and health care. Neither the current government nor the corrupted economic elite can or want to lead the economy to a path of sustainable growth and cover the needs of the people. Based on existing and new grass-roots economic initiatives, people should take over as much as possible the production and the distribution of basic goods. The aim should be at first to approach self-sufficiency in basic goods such as food and medicine and then to make a coherent plan for sustainable economic growth.

No economic alternative can be built under the current status of the banking system. The EU and the ECB should be deprived from their ability to strangle the Greek economy through imposing liquidity constraints. This can only be achieved through the nationalization of the banks including the Greek central bank. This should be accompanied by the imposition of capital controls that aim at stopping the outflows of cash from the country (which is done by rich people) and not at diminishing the ability of pensioners to serve their basic needs or small companies from operating as it is the case now. The nationalized banking system should be given the task of financing public and communal investments that will foster a sustainable economic growth.

Supporting the people in need should be unquestionable in our society. Solidarity is our weapon. The new austerity memorandum will produce more homeless, unemployed and poor. People should organize local and national initiatives that will prevent house evictions, will fight individual and collective lay-offs at workplaces and will organize and achieve support for the people in need. Local trade unions and grass-roots initiatives should take the lead in this. Solidarity is our weapon. We should achieve the provision of basic income and basic goods to everybody in the neighbourhood, the town or the village.

Protecting democracy is a big challenge. The new austerity policies can only be implemented in a state of terror and absolute repression where the MPs’ will legislate with the Troika’s gun on their head and the riot police will attack any protest. People should organize in local and regional assemblies that will become institutions with de facto power.

A challenge for the Left and the movement in whole Europe: now is the time

The struggle of the Greek people against EU-driven austerity concerns Europe as a whole. Greece is the guinea pig of the Eurozone where policies are tested. However, such policies are implemented in all countries: the reform of the tax system in favour of the rich, the gradual reduction of wages, the flexibilisation of employment, the liberalization of house evictions, the exclusion of large parts of the population from health care. It’s high time that the left, the trade unions and the social movements in the rest of Europe strengthen their active solidarity with the Greek people but also begin their struggle against austerity in their own country and Europe as a whole. It’s high time that these organizations form wide solidarity platforms to support the struggle of the Greek people that challenge the twisted reality that is presented by the media and organize massive protests.

If not now, then when?

If not you and me, then who?

If not because of this coup d’état, then for which reason?

ReINFORM