Dear all,
as you might have already heard situation in Greece is getting worse! The capitalist crisis, the large dept and of course a strong propaganda on behalf of the government, the capital, the media and the EU complete the puzzle of the present condition. They cut our wages and pensions, the increase our taxes, while at the same time capitalists gain more and more. WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT TO THE END!! Thousands of people are already demonstrating all over Greece shouting that CAPITALISTS MUST PAY FOR THE CRISIS, NOT WORKERS!!
Please have a look of the following announcement written by ANTARSYA (Front of the Greek Anticapitalist Left), a greek anticapitalist radical left organisation and let us all remember that Greece plays the role of an “experiment” and and not of a partial situation. Only unity in Struggle in the unions, in strikes, in demonstrations, can be victorious!
In solidarity,
Eirini
ANTARSYA (Front of the Greek Anticapitalist Left): No pasaran! Let’s fight to the end!
By voting through parliament the ‘Stability Programme’, the PASOK government, along with the European Union and the forces of capital, have declared war upon workers. In response to the economic crisis they attempt to attack workers’ rights and intensify exploitation. For the working class it is a challenge of historical proportions.
REFUSE THE BLACKMAIL BY THE EUROPEAN UNION, THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND!
For the past months Greek society has been subjected to a ruthless propaganda from the Government, the conservative right, the far-right and the media concerning the ‘tragic’ state of the Greek economy. The message is: ‘we must make sacrifices’, ‘we must regain market confidence’, ‘we should persuade the EU to help Greece instead of turning to the IMF’. And now we are under a ‘triple supervision’, in fact a triple economic occupation, by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. And things can become even worse: According to the EU treaties when a member–state is subjected to ‘supervision’, then the finance ministers of the other member-states can decide about its economic policy without its consent.
The European Union is functioning as a junta of the forces of capital and imperialism, eager to abolish any form of labour or democratic rights. There is no solution other than disobedience to the European Union and the struggle for an anticapitalist break away from the European Union.
PASOK LEADS THE ATTACK AGAINST WORKERS
The PASOK government has attempted to convince us that they are forced to take these harsh measures against their wills. But these measures are not simple orders from the international organizations. They also represent constant demands from big business and banks and have been from the beginning central tenets of PASOK’s own programme. The reduction of wages, the limitless ability to lay-off workers, the dismantling of the redistributive pension-system, the new round of privatizations, represent the main aspects of the policies of PASOK and they serve the interests of capital. That is why it can enjoy the support of the right and the far-right.
ANTICAPITALIST STRUGGLE IS THE SOLUTION
We must turn our back to all the apologists of the capitalist system that speak of ‘harsh but necessary measures’. We must struggle against the “Stability and Growth programme’, defend and enhance worker’s rights. We must defend our rights, and destabilize the rule of capital and the EU.
We must demand:
Stop paying the debt – Increase wages and pensions. From the 55 billion euros the Greek state must borrow during 2010, 32,5 euros will go directly back to the banks, Greek and Foreign. The vicious circle of borrowing in order to pay for the debt must be broken
Tax capital, the banks and big business. For many decades wage-earners and pensioners carry the burden of taxation. Ship-owners and off shore companies are exempted from taxation and the same goes for the Greek-Orthodox Church
Reduce military expenditures not workers’ benefits. Military expenditure in Greece is between 3% and 4% of GDP. The PASOK government is buying French frigates worth 3 billion euros in order to get political support and is planning to spend a total of 10 billion euros during the next decade in armaments.
Nationalize the banks and big companies that fail, reverse the privatization of Utilities and implement forms of workers’ control. The 6 bigger Greek banks had in 2008 total profits of 4,8 billion euros. They also received a generous state aid package of 28 billion, at the same time openly speculating on public debt borrowing from the European Central Bank at 1% interest and then lending the Greek State at much higher interest.
We must demand better wages, we must take back social wealth that has been stolen from us. 1400 euros minimum salary.
Immediate reduction in working hours in order to deal with unemployment. Steady and decent jobs for all. A legal ban on redundancies. No to flexible work forms.
Public pension system for all. Full pension at 58 years for men and 55 years for women. Give back to the pension funds money that has been stolen from them for decades. No to all forms of employment without insurance.
Disobedience / rupture with the European Union, and its treaties (Maastricht, Lisbon etc). Anticapitalist struggle to break away from the European Union. Breaking away from the European Union is not a disaster but the only way for a better future for workers.
UNITY IN STRUGGLE OF WORKERS – COOPERATION OF THE FORCES OF THE LEFT
Against the declaration of war by the EU, the forces of capital and the ‘black front’ of PASOK, the Right and the Far Right, what is need is the broadest possible coalition of struggle in order to defend and broaden the workers’ rights, to overthrow the Stability Programme and government policies and create conditions of rupture with the policies of the EU. Unity in Struggle in the unions, in strikes, in demonstrations, can be victorious!
THE STRUGGLE AND THE STRIKES MUST BE IN THE HANDS OF THE WORKERS
They say that these measures are inescapable. We say that there is also another road, that of struggle by the workers themselves, with escalating strikes that will have real impact on the government and bosses. We need mass general assemblies at the unions, strike committees and coordination of rank and file unions. We must distrust the trade union bureaucracy, especially that of the General Labour Confederation (GSEE).
We must turn our back to the defeatism and fatalism and refuse calls to surrender. We must bear in mind that facing an escalation of worker’s mobilization the government will be forced to change policy. We must not forget the victorious strikes against the pension reform in 2001, the successful defense of public higher education in 2006-2007 and the December 2008 rebellion. We must fight against the dictatorship of capital and the markets and continue the struggle to the end!
The success of the strike on March 11 and the mass rallies all over Greece that defied police repression is a cause of optimism in the struggle against the Stability Programme. Worker’s disobedience against the ‘markets’. The big and militant rally in Athens marched proudly against the attacks by police special forces with tear gas.
Now it is the time to escalate the mobilization. Initiatives like that by the Federation of Electricity Workers to strike are more than welcome. We need strikes of long duration in all sectors, at schools, hospitals, state-controlled companies. We need a new 48hr general strike in the public and private sector. We must not capitulate, nor wait for the next wave of attacks. Now it is time for struggle against the paralytic attitude of the trade union bureaucracy.
ANTARSYA calls upon the forces of the left and workers that until now supported PASOK to build a big and powerful class front in order to overthrow the stability programme and the policies of the government. We can build a powerful and victorious movement. We need an anticapitalist alternative against the monstrosity of capitalism and the policies of the European Union.
They thought we were weak. They were wrong. We have the power to make them retreat!
OVERTHROW THE STABILITY PROGRAMME AND THE POLICIES OF THE GOVERNMENT, THE EU, AND CAPITAL
STRIKES – OCCUPATIONS – DEMONSTRATIONS UNTIL THEY TAKE BACK THE STABILITY PROGRAMME
CAPITALISTS MUST PAY FOR THE CRISIS, NOT WORKERS!
http://antarsya.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=291:antarsya-front-of-the-greek-anticapitalist-leftno-pasaran-lets-fight-to-the-end&catid=62:2009-05-03-17-02-46&Itemid=119
[publiziert mit Vorbehalten]
ohne name
here's some thought's on this antarsya text that was sent out (see below).
it is meant as a friendly critique between what are actually allies. just as a hint to think a little further.
in the text, there's talk of destabilizing the rule of capital, of escalation and such, but some things seem to stay in the same forms that have always characterized the classical left, and that made up the core of its inability and harmlessness.
why strikes, occupations, demonstrations "until they take back the stability programme" when directly before there's talk of overthrowing "the stability programme and the policies of the government, the eu, and capital"? overthrow capital or its policies? or maybe really just the stability programme in it's current form, while in the end we are still fucked anyways? why should you stop "when they take back the stability programme"? wasn't there "let's fight to the end" in the title?
why ask for higher wages when you call yourself anticapitalist and labour is the basic source of the generation of capital?
would you really just want the capitalists to get just a little less and spread a little more among the masses, and by that help to co-opt any kind of resistance that could develope a perspective of actually overcoming the economic relations that keep us tied in this pale world of commodities, of dulling work, of debt, of segregation and so on. The strategy of demanding please not to cut this or that social programme or to raise the spillout of money at another place reaffirms the powers in place, the ones that control massive ressources of capital and who run the state that keeps the economic relations in place while pretending to represent the people.
why just strike when there's re-appropriation? capital, in the end, depends on the acceptance of private property. it is a right on paper that allows people to possess the equivalent of the results, or the command over, of massive amounts of human labour. like every system of rule, capitalism depends on the at least passive consent of those that are being ruled. but its souvereignity is nothing if people stop to accept the main principle that continues to keep the same mechanisms in power.
when you demand higher wages, you stay in the dominant system of thought, and law. you accept in the very beginning of your struggle that it will end before it has reached any point of really posing a threat to the existing order.
rather, higher wages and the end of the stability programme could be what the government or capital throws at people's feet, hoping that they may accept it, when they'd actually start to re-appropriate, to take or occupy and communize whatever is at their feet already, negating the order of property. then there's fear in the eyes of the ruling.
the people might chose to accept the wages or whatever this time, keep some of what they communized, and rest before the next wave. or they might choose to laugh at the managers faces and keep on going.
but if you demand that they may please not be so cruel, give you a little more of the cake, you know it's just crumbs but some more would be a start – you are telling them from the beginning that you affirm their supremacy, that the networks of power will not be touched, or even replaced, but that you might disturb them until… "until they take back the stability programme"? who's anticapitalist here?
do you really think nationalizing "the banks and the big companies that fail" is realistic in the current situation, or that it would change the general situation? the state has the core function to organize the generalized interest of capital owners, it would only do such a thing if it is in the collective interest of the "ruling class", even if some of them may have personal disadvantages from it, to stabilize the situation and to sooth unrest among the people.
but maybe people can go beyond remaining in this obedient position.
30. April 2010 um 13:11