Tuesday, October 12, 2010
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS GREECE:
ALEXIS' MURDERER GETS LIFE:
In December of 2008 the police killing of 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos set off a month of riots, strikes and occupations in that country. Despite the naive optimism of many across the world this rebellion hardly led to any change to the socio-economic system in Greece let alone in any other country. To say the least this was hardly unexpected. There is a great difference between rioting and building a new world.
Yet almost two years later discontent still simmers even if there is no coherent plan that has any wide support amongst the opposition to the "socialist" government and its austerity. In light of this discontent it was perhaps necessary for a conviction to be registered against the policeman who shot Grigoropoulos. Indeed this has happened as the following from the Occupied London Blog says, but the conviction may be less significant than it appears on the surface.
First of all the conviction came about with a split jury, only 4 out of 7 judges and jurors agreeing to convict the policeman of murder. The others felt that manslaughter would be more appropriate. Most importantly the conviction is still subject to appeal, a process that is likely to take years. By that time it is entirely possible that political pressures will not be as heated as they are now.
AGAGAGAGAG
Both policemen murderers of Alexandros Grigoropoulos have been found guilty
A few minutes ago the court in the remote town of Amfissa reached a verdict for the two murderers of Alexandros; both have been found guilty. Korkoneas was actually found guilty for charges even heavier than the original (manslaughter with possible malice turned into manslaughter with direct malice). The course decided not to recognise any mitigating factors for Korkoneas.
Saraliotis, the second cop, was also found guilty for accomplice to the manslaughter. At this moment the court is deciding whether to recognise any mitigating factors for him.
Labels: Alexis Grigoropoulos, Greece, international politics, police murders, trials
Sunday, August 01, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR GREECE:
GREEK TRUCKERS END STRIKE:
Striking truck drivers in Greece voted late yesterday to end their week long walkout, and they are expected to resume normal work on Monday. While many drivers refused to obey the "civil mobilization" order (a back-to-work order with military draft provisions) the government managed to commandeer enough trucks that, with their own vehicles, they were well on the way to restocking fuel supplies across the country. It 9is doubtful if this would have been a long term viable solution, but it was enough to force the truckers back to work.
A few comments are in order. The first is that this strike, unlike the symbolic general strikes of the opposition to the government's austerity program (or the even more ineffective aimless rioting of the left wing of the opposition), actually posed a real economic threat, and it prompted the state into action that it has usually held back from during the course of the present crisis. It also showed coincidentally the futility of any dreams of overthrowing the government. It would be a simple "turn of the tap", and a revolutionary Greece would rapidly become a collapsed revolutionary Greece being as all Greece's energy needs are supplied from abroad.
This may highlight the essential nature of the government/population confrontation ie stalemate with time on the side of the government. The opposition cannot play the 'ultimate threat' card. They know it. The government knows it. The general population knows it. The only ones who don't know it are a small number of romantic revolutionaries. The nature of the Greek crisis is also such that any alternative to the present socialist government would inevitably end up acting just as it does today, the conservatives because they would want to, and the communists and left-socialists because they would have to. A Greek government of any stripe would be severely constrained in its options. This situation presents the classic dilemma whereby politics, of the governmental variety, is absolutely futile. Yet it is also a situation where revolution would be equally futile.
Of course only a tiny minority of Greeks would dream of trying to go beyond the present system. The most overwhelming thing to notice about the opposition to the government's plan is how incredibly conservative, in the sense of trying to avoid any change, that it is. The struggles against the government are not for some new dispensation but rather to preserve a system of "entitlements" that various sectors of the working population see as in their interest or perhaps even vital to their interests. In the case of the truckers one can feel some sympathy for them because they have forked out huge amounts of money for exclusive licences in a sector which the government now intends to throw totally open. See the article below. This leaves the present truckers with huge debts and lower revenue.
So where does this leave the opposition to the Greek version of neoliberalism ? We can speak of rocks and hard places. For the left socialist and communist opponents it means keeping up the level of visible militancy in hopes of leaving a lasting memory that can be used for later political gain. In the case of the workers it means very much the same thing except that the goal is not any future political gain but rather the softening of the impact of the measures in the near future by a protracted period of bargaining with their enemy the state.
The anarchist opposition, small as it is (though far bigger than in most countries) ? The "concentration of mind" that the present crisis is forcing people to go through is hardly likely to result in a flow of public opinion to revolutionary strategies, anarchist or otherwise. The precise opposite is the likely result, and clinging to the old romantic shibboleths cannot make the anarchist alternative seem desirable in the public mind. Whether Greek anarchists can find their way through to a long term strategy that gradually builds the libertarian alternative without the deus-ex-machina of revolution is very much in question. It is, however, the only way to escape from the ghettoization that they presently suffer.
Here's the story of the end of the strike from the Sydney Morning Herald , bright and early on the other side of the world.
GSGSGSGSGS
Greek truckers end week-long strike
Greek truckers end week-long strike
JOHN HADOULIS
Greek truckers have called off a week-long strike that stranded thousands of travellers and nearly dried up fuel around the country at the peak of the busy tourism season.
"We have decided, by narrow majority, to suspend the strike," the head of the Greek truck owners confederation, George Tzortzatos, told reporters on Sunday after a union meeting that lasted over three hours.
"Transporters will be back at the steering wheel as of tomorrow," he said.
The strikers backed down after the government sent out military and private trucks under police escort to bypass the protest and resupply hospitals, electricity plants and petrol stations in main cities.
Businesses ranging from hotels and car rentals to peach exporters have been badly hit by the strike, which began last Sunday over plans to reform the tightly-controlled freight sector for the first time in four decades.
Thousands of Greek and foreign travellers had to put their plans on hold or were stranded as fuel supplies dwindled to a trickle in main cities and holiday destinations such as Crete and the northern Halkidiki peninsula, with conditions only starting to improve on Saturday.
The truckers on Sunday said they would hold talks with the government over the reform which is designed to open the sector to full competition within three years, as part of efforts to revive the recession-mired Greek economy.
After talks with trucker unions collapsed, the authorities on Wednesday moved to requisition vehicles, but fuel all but ran out at major cities and travel destinations during the two days it took to implement the measure.
Meanwhile many drivers flouted the civil mobilisation order, tearing up their summons and refusing to turn up for work despite threats of prosecution.
At the main Greek port of Piraeus, the local trader association said many of the islands popular with holidaymakers had not been resupplied for days.
"The resupply of islands has been non-existent,"Piraeus trader association chairman George Zissimatos told Mega television.
"A lot of goods remained in warehouses, ten days were lost and now wholesalers are about to go on holiday themselves," he said.
A breakthrough finally came late on Saturday after the government said it would lift the civil mobilisation if the truckers closed down their protest.
No new trucking licenses have been issued in Greece for years, meaning that would-be operators can only purchase existing permits at high cost.
But the truckers complain that inviting competition into the freight sector by reducing new licence charges is unfair to existing operators who have already paid high start-up fees running up to 300,000 euros ($A436,047).
Greece has suffered waves of strikes and protests over unprecedented budget cuts and reforms the government had to agree to in order to tap a rescue package it desperately needed to stave off bankruptcy.
A debt default was narrowly averted in May after Greece received a huge bailout loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Faced with nearly 300 billion euros ($A436.05 billion) of debt, it found itself unable to raise money on international markets in April as concerns mounted about the ability of the Greek economy to stay afloat.
Greek truckers have called off a week-long strike that stranded thousands of travellers and nearly dried up fuel around the country at the peak of the busy tourism season.
"We have decided, by narrow majority, to suspend the strike," the head of the Greek truck owners confederation, George Tzortzatos, told reporters on Sunday after a union meeting that lasted over three hours.
"Transporters will be back at the steering wheel as of tomorrow," he said.
The strikers backed down after the government sent out military and private trucks under police escort to bypass the protest and resupply hospitals, electricity plants and petrol stations in main cities.
Businesses ranging from hotels and car rentals to peach exporters have been badly hit by the strike, which began last Sunday over plans to reform the tightly-controlled freight sector for the first time in four decades.
Thousands of Greek and foreign travellers had to put their plans on hold or were stranded as fuel supplies dwindled to a trickle in main cities and holiday destinations such as Crete and the northern Halkidiki peninsula, with conditions only starting to improve on Saturday.
The truckers on Sunday said they would hold talks with the government over the reform which is designed to open the sector to full competition within three years, as part of efforts to revive the recession-mired Greek economy.
After talks with trucker unions collapsed, the authorities on Wednesday moved to requisition vehicles, but fuel all but ran out at major cities and travel destinations during the two days it took to implement the measure.
Meanwhile many drivers flouted the civil mobilisation order, tearing up their summons and refusing to turn up for work despite threats of prosecution.
At the main Greek port of Piraeus, the local trader association said many of the islands popular with holidaymakers had not been resupplied for days.
"The resupply of islands has been non-existent,"Piraeus trader association chairman George Zissimatos told Mega television.
"A lot of goods remained in warehouses, ten days were lost and now wholesalers are about to go on holiday themselves," he said.
A breakthrough finally came late on Saturday after the government said it would lift the civil mobilisation if the truckers closed down their protest.
No new trucking licenses have been issued in Greece for years, meaning that would-be operators can only purchase existing permits at high cost.
But the truckers complain that inviting competition into the freight sector by reducing new licence charges is unfair to existing operators who have already paid high start-up fees running up to 300,000 euros ($A436,047).
Greece has suffered waves of strikes and protests over unprecedented budget cuts and reforms the government had to agree to in order to tap a rescue package it desperately needed to stave off bankruptcy.
A debt default was narrowly averted in May after Greece received a huge bailout loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Faced with nearly 300 billion euros ($A436.05 billion) of debt, it found itself unable to raise money on international markets in April as concerns mounted about the ability of the Greek economy to stay afloat.
Labels: gradualism, Greece, Greek strikes, Greek truckers strike, international labour, labour, revolution, statism, strike., tactics
Friday, July 09, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT GREECE:
HANDS OFF THE LELAS KARAGIANNI 37 SQUAT:
Across the industrialized world various cities have become like Swiss cheese...full of holes. The "holes", of course, are the numerous abandoned buildings that sprout up like mushrooms as houses and businesses in 'depressed' neighbourhoods are left derelict. At the same time increasing numbers of people are finding themselves homeless in the face of higher and higher costs of housing. It would seem like a good fit; put the homeless people in the tenantless buildings. That, however, is not the way it works in societies where housing is seen not as a basic human right but rather as either a profit making enterprise or the subject of empire building by government social "service" agencies.
In some countries this has led to a mass movement of "squatting" where abandoned buildings are taken over and occupied by self managing tenants. This is especially prominent in Europe where while food may be cheap in a North American sense accommodation is quite expensive. It hardly registers as a 'blip' in Canada for various reasons. One is that any unauthorized occupancy is much more fully "criminalized" here, and the police move much faster on any squatters who, in any case, are the margin of the marginals and lack the political savvy (or maybe any savvy) of the European squatters. Another is that there are six months of the year in which if utilities are cut off any premises become completely unlivable for anyone but wilderness campers. Most homeless people can't afford -40 degree sleeping bags. God knows that my own city of Winnipeg may be the 'derelict building capital of Canada' (it's been commented on by none other than the Globe & Mail), and there are probably enough abandoned buildings in this city alone to house all homeless people in the whole country. God knows, however, that moving to Winnipeg would hardly be popular. That simple sensible solution is not, however, the way it works.
In Europe squatting is a political movement, and it has been far harder for European states to suppress it than it has been here. See Squat Net for general news. In southern Europe squatting has become widespread, and in countries such as Greece it has become part and parcel of the anarchist subculture. Not that I approve of such subcultures as they simultaneously build solidarity amongst their adherents and grievously divide them from others making any outreach immensely difficult. No free lunch here. An anarchist "alternative" is very obviously not a generalization of the norms of a small subculture to the general society no matter how the self-regarding tunnel vision of the subculturists may imagine it to be so. Still...the act of squatting points the way to another vision of housing that is different from that of a profit driven society or government directed "charity".
In Greece one of the oldest squats, that at Lelas Karagianni 37 (established 1988) has been under attack the other day. Here's the story from the Occupied London Blog.
@@@@@@@@
HANDS OFF THE LELAS KARAGIANNI 37 SQUAT
In a period of intensification of social and class antagonism due to the generalised attack of state and capital on even the most elementary interests and rights of the workers the unemployed and the youth, and during the attempt to raise social and political defences, repression is intensified by targeting, threatening and attacking people in struggle and spaces of struggle.
On the night of July 8th at 2 a.m., only a few hours before the general strike demonstration some heavy police units surrounded without any obvious pretext the occupied building of 37, Lelas Karagianni Street in the Athens neighbourhood of Kipseli – and blocked off the surrounding streets. The Occupation was put under a condition of siege, threatened for many hours with a police raid, while an order had been issued for the arrest of anyone who would attempt to exit or enter the occupied building. Police checked and even detained many passers-by, neighbours or others who just happened to be in the streets around the occupation.
Finally the tight siege ended with the withdrawal of the police forces at 5 a.m., as suddenly as it had started.
Regardless of the undeclared targets and planning of this police operation, the fact is that yet another space of struggle and yet another group of people in struggle was targeted by state repression and terrorism. An occupation which during its entire 22 years always stood steadily within the ranks of the wider anarchist/anti-authoritarian struggle and always on the side of all the social-class struggles of the exploited and repressed people.
For this reason the night-time repressive operation of July 8th against this particular occupation had some wider targets and comprises part of the wider state repression aiming at terrorising and attacking anti-authoritarian struggle and more widely, the social struggles of our time.
And even if this particular repressive operation folded it nevertheless showed the aggressive tendencies and the terrorising methods employed by the state against the self-organised nuclei of struggle, such as occupations, which during this period are particularly important and useful in their support and contribution to the development of collective resistances, both on a more central level as much as in the neighbourhoods of the city.
It is for this reason that despite the very late time [at which the attack against the occupation was launched] there was an enormous struggle interest and tens of comrades were mobilised, expressing their solidarity availability to the besieged occupation on the night of July 8th.
TERRORISM SHALL NOT PASS – HANDS OFF THE OCCUPATIONS
AGAINST STATE AND CAPITALIST BARBARITY, LET’S PREMISE SELF-ORGANISATION, SOLIDARITY AND OUR COLLECTIVE RESISTANCES
Occupation of Lelas Karagianni 37
Friday July 9th, 2010
More Info:
http://www.facebook.com/l/98dc0ZfKjqkqj496sno2kq8uEQw;www.squathost.com/lelas_k/
http://www.facebook.com/l/98dc0dpEQPnjeKMWaleKCafuzgw;athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1191859
http://www.facebook.com/l/98dc0bJePLKXABarl37CwP49yTw;www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2010/07/10/330-statement-by-the-lelas-karagianni-squat-in-athens-regarding-the-reppresive-operation-against-it/
HANDS OFF THE LELAS KARAGIANNI 37 SQUAT
In a period of intensification of social and class antagonism due to the generalised attack of state and capital on even the most elementary interests and rights of the workers the unemployed and the youth, and during the attempt to raise social and political defences, repression is intensified by targeting, threatening and attacking people in struggle and spaces of struggle.
On the night of July 8th at 2 a.m., only a few hours before the general strike demonstration some heavy police units surrounded without any obvious pretext the occupied building of 37, Lelas Karagianni Street in the Athens neighbourhood of Kipseli – and blocked off the surrounding streets. The Occupation was put under a condition of siege, threatened for many hours with a police raid, while an order had been issued for the arrest of anyone who would attempt to exit or enter the occupied building. Police checked and even detained many passers-by, neighbours or others who just happened to be in the streets around the occupation.
Finally the tight siege ended with the withdrawal of the police forces at 5 a.m., as suddenly as it had started.
Regardless of the undeclared targets and planning of this police operation, the fact is that yet another space of struggle and yet another group of people in struggle was targeted by state repression and terrorism. An occupation which during its entire 22 years always stood steadily within the ranks of the wider anarchist/anti-authoritarian struggle and always on the side of all the social-class struggles of the exploited and repressed people.
For this reason the night-time repressive operation of July 8th against this particular occupation had some wider targets and comprises part of the wider state repression aiming at terrorising and attacking anti-authoritarian struggle and more widely, the social struggles of our time.
And even if this particular repressive operation folded it nevertheless showed the aggressive tendencies and the terrorising methods employed by the state against the self-organised nuclei of struggle, such as occupations, which during this period are particularly important and useful in their support and contribution to the development of collective resistances, both on a more central level as much as in the neighbourhoods of the city.
It is for this reason that despite the very late time [at which the attack against the occupation was launched] there was an enormous struggle interest and tens of comrades were mobilised, expressing their solidarity availability to the besieged occupation on the night of July 8th.
TERRORISM SHALL NOT PASS – HANDS OFF THE OCCUPATIONS
AGAINST STATE AND CAPITALIST BARBARITY, LET’S PREMISE SELF-ORGANISATION, SOLIDARITY AND OUR COLLECTIVE RESISTANCES
Occupation of Lelas Karagianni 37
Friday July 9th, 2010
More Info:
http://www.facebook.com/l/98dc0ZfKjqkqj496sno2kq8uEQw;www.squathost.com/lelas_k/
http://www.facebook.com/l/98dc0dpEQPnjeKMWaleKCafuzgw;athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1191859
http://www.facebook.com/l/98dc0bJePLKXABarl37CwP49yTw;www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2010/07/10/330-statement-by-the-lelas-karagianni-squat-in-athens-regarding-the-reppresive-operation-against-it/
Labels: anarchism, Greece, international anarchist movement, Lelas Karagianni 37 Squat, Occupied London Blog, repression, squats, squatting
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS EUROPE:
STRIKES LEAD TO FURTHER CONFRONTATIONS IN EUROPE:
General strikes in Greece and the Basque countries in Spain were generally successful the other day, and at least in Greece led to further confrontations with the police during the strikers' demonstrations. Meanwhile in Madrid an unlimited strike on the metro has led to confrontations with the police there as well. The Madrid strike is supported by all three of the Spanish anarchosyndicalist organizations, the CGT, the CNT and Solidaridad Obrera. According to Solidaridad Obrera who are particularly strong in the Madrid Metro the strike has had practically 100% compliance, a considerable step up with the poorly attended "general strike" in the public sector called by the "official" trade unions, the UGT and the CCOO, earlier this month. The one day general strike in the Basque countries where local unions outweigh the larger national ones was also more successful.
The following is a story from The Independent in Ireland about the strike in Greece. Note that "numbers" are a continued bone of contention. the unions claim far larger numbers at their demonstrations than are reported here.
ESESESESES
Greece, Spain rocked by riots in a day of protests
By William Fernie in Athens
Wednesday June 30 2010
Dozens of masked youths clashed with police yesterday at a union protest in Athens during a general strike against the cash-strapped Greek government's planned pension and labour reforms.
Similar strikes in Spain also led to arrests and clashes with police.
Greek riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse troublemakers who threw chunks of marble smashed off a metro station entrance and set rubbish bins on fire.
The violence came as 10,000 people took part in a demonstration organised by the country's two main unions and fringe left-wing groups. A separate march by 5,000 members of the Communist Party-backed PAME union ended peacefully.
Public services shut down across Greece as workers walked off the job as the strike disrupted public transport, left hospitals operating on emergency staff and pulled all news broadcasts off the air.
They are protesting against draft legislation that would increase retirement ages and make it cheaper for companies to fire workers. The measures are aimed at fixing the country's debt crisis, which has shaken the entire eurozone. Similar protests in May also turned violent, with three workers dying in a bank torched by rioters.
Greece is caught in a major debt and deficit crisis. It avoided bankruptcy last month only after receiving the first installment of a €110bn emergency loan package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
In Spain, similar strikes against austerity measures caused transport havoc in Madrid and led to clashes between police. Subway trains stopped running because of the stoppage to protest against public sector wage cuts ordered by the government. Spain is struggling to emerge from nearly two years of recession following the collapse of its construction sector which had earlier fuelled a decade of economic boom.
Besides its swollen deficit problems, it also has an unemployment rate of 20pc, the highest in the EU.
- William Fernie in Athens
Irish Independent
ESESESESES
Predictably the most militant clashes with the police (or attacks by the police from another viewpoint) happened in Greece. Here's a report of clashes from the Occupied London Blog. Note the difference in crowd size estimates between this report and the one above. Note also that yet another general strike is planned for next week in Greece.
ESESESESES
General strike day in Athens:
Demonstrators attack police with their bare hands;
Fascists rooted off the demo;
Super-market looted;
Riot police beat demonstrators in the metro;
money transfer vans chasen out of Exarcheia
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A brief summary of a very eventful day…
■At least 13 detentions in the Athens demonstration alone, six of which have turned into arrests (that is, these people face charges). There are already e-mails circulating, denouncing the unprovoked arrest of Dimitris Aggelis Dimakis, a student of European History at the University of Athens. Any updates on Dimitris’ case, or any other of today’s arrestees, will be published here.
■The general strike demonstration largely lacked in numbers (anything between 30,000 and 50,000 might be a good estimate, that together with the demo of the Stalinist PAME, which is always separate). The reasons could be anything from the numbness so many feel from the cataclysmic changes happening all around us, to the May 5th aftermath, or simply that we’re entering deep summer. In any case, what we lacked in numbers we had in the passion of some people who were out on the streets. When a couple of riot police units tried to cross through part of the demonstration at Syntagma (just opposite parliament) they were evidently surprised to see the amount of abuse they got from “ordinary” demonstrators who attacked them with empty water bottles and their bare hands, to send them out of the demonstration. More photos from this incident here.
■Earlier on, at exactly the same spot (Syntagma square, opposite the Grande Bretagne hotel) around 25-30 fascists had gathered with Greek flags, banners, army clothing and so on. They were attacked by a few comrades who were immediately joined in by other demonstrators. The fascists were attacked with their own flag poles. They were chased all the way to the other end of Syntagma square, where they found refuge behind a riot police unit. This is the second attempt by small fascist groups to join in a general strike demonstration (the first being May 20th) but they must be learning a lesson by now.Some more photos from today’s demonstration in Athens are here.
■Before the demonstration, about 25 comrades stormed in the supermarket Sklavenitis in the neighbourhood of Pagrati and removed essential goods which they then re-distributed at a nearby open air market, along with a text explaining their action. A similar action took place in Thessaloniki, too.
■After the demonstration, two money transfer vans driving through Exarcheia were chased and smashed up at Stournari Street (close to the Polytechnic school).
■Finally, after the demonstration in Athens, riot police units stormed the metro and chased people who were leaving the people. They were attacking, beating and pushing people at the platforms with imminent danger for the demonstrators’ lives. More photos from the Omonoia station incident here.
■Meanwhile, overground, riot police were also beating demonstrations – again at Omonoia:
■Earlier, at Syntagma square again, the thugs of the “Delta” motorcycle police force were only too eager to confirm the old Greek saying, “stupidity is unbeatable”. Two of their motorcycles collided with one another. The result?
This sums up the main incidents from Athens today. The mainstream trade union, GSEE, has already announced there will be another strike next week – the date is yet to be confirmed and will appear here as soon as it is known.
ESESESESES
Meanwhile in the Basque countries (Euskadi) of Spain another one day general strike happened on June 29. Once more estimates of the participation rate vary dramatically depending on the source, the Basque government claiming only about 10% while union sources claiming upwards of 70%. The strike was supported by the local Basque unions and the anarchosyndicalists across the province while the CCOO and the UGT only supported it in part of Euskadi. Here's a report from the CGT in Nafarroa published in Rojo Y Negro, the newspaper of the CGT. The original Spanish can be seen at the reference above.
ESESESESES
29 of June One Day Strike in Pamplona . Assessment and Chronical
From the CGT -Nafarroa: We started our activity at 5 am by car handing out leaflets in the streets and parks calling the rally and demonstration we had convened . (Full stop here...you'll know that anarchists are serious when they're willing to start at 5 am-Mollymew )
At 5:20 pm, a picket at the gates of VW, with police identification check of a companero and an inspection of the banner.
Later, at 6:20 pm, we have concentrated on the train station , distributing propaganda and information to users and workers. At 7:30 pm there was a demonstration in the Plaza de las Merindades and the beginning of a colorful bicycle picket by the different neighborhoods of the city which received police harassment was intended to stop our presence in the street... harassment by the motorcycles and vans of the various police , a fine from the municipal police , identification checks of everyone by the national police ... All this added to the previous fine in the campaign of preparation for the strike day .
At 11 am, in the Plaza del Vinculo , a large rally began with the participation of various companeros of the union , all in both Euskera and Castilian , as well as Ceacero Jacinto , Secretary General of the CGT. The various interventions revolved around:
•Stop the cuts and defend the rights achieved with struggle by the workers in past decades.
•Change the socioeconomic model : in the face of growth, competitiveness and exclusion, division: sharing limited growth and self-management .
•Maintenance of the mobilization: the strike as a starting point to recover space and autonomy, not as an end .
After the rally , which was set to music thanks to the participation of the Libertarian Fanfarra , we started to march on the Plaza del Castillo, where we joined the protest from other unions.
The assessment of the day we have is positive because of the degree of 'electricity' we perceived that we reached as an organization, in a general climate of social and labor apathy . We understand that protests like those today have a high potential of spreading to more social sectors and more territories and to expand quantitatively and qualitatively the mobilization to stop the advance of neoliberalism that we suffer.
So from today we start to think of and prepare the next step in the escalating mobilization that we want.
CGT Nafarroa
ESESESESES
Perhaps the most significant event in the European strike wave is the Metro strike in Madrid even though it is not a general strike. It is, however, a strike in an absolutely critical industrial sector and, most importantly, it is not a symbolic one day strike. It's unlimited as they like to say in Spain. It is also the strike where the anarchosyndicalists seem to have their greatest influence. Unfortunately I'm running out of time so I'll have to take this up later, hopefully tomorrow. This strike will probably still be happening then unless one side or the other backs down.
Labels: Basque countries, CGT, general strike, Greece, international labour, international politics, Occupied London Blog, Spain, strike.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:
GENERAL STRIKES ROLL ACROSS EUROPE:
Following previous general strikes in Greece and Spain unions in Europe are increasingly reaching for the weapon of the general strike to protest government austerity measures across the continent. Recently workers in France and Italy held one day general strikes, and Greek unions have set a date for yet another such strike as well. Here's news from the Epoch Times of the strike in France last Thursday June 24.
EEEEEEEEEE
Millions in France Protest Raising Retirement Age to 62
Workers from both the public and private sectors joined hundreds of organized protest activities, reported AFP.
Bernard Thibault, head of France’s biggest union CGT estimated “about 2 million” protesters turned out. About 1-in-5 civil servants did not go to work, shutting the doors to some schools.
Authorities said 50 percent of train service was interrupted coming in and out of Paris and 15 percent of flights to city airports had to be canceled Thursday morning.
Striking print workers asked national daily newspapers to scrap their Friday editions.
On June 16, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced plans to raise the retirement age to 62 by 2018 as part of a program to save the country US$55 billion.
Unions say the proposal puts an unfair burden on workers. Woerth said Wednesday the reform was “necessary and fair” and the government would stick to its plan. The bill will go before cabinet next month and Parliament is scheduled to vote on it in September.
In 1995, Paris had to drop a savings program after weeks of strikes.
France currently has one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe.
Millions in France Protest Raising Retirement Age to 62
Workers from both the public and private sectors joined hundreds of organized protest activities, reported AFP.
Bernard Thibault, head of France’s biggest union CGT estimated “about 2 million” protesters turned out. About 1-in-5 civil servants did not go to work, shutting the doors to some schools.
Authorities said 50 percent of train service was interrupted coming in and out of Paris and 15 percent of flights to city airports had to be canceled Thursday morning.
Striking print workers asked national daily newspapers to scrap their Friday editions.
On June 16, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced plans to raise the retirement age to 62 by 2018 as part of a program to save the country US$55 billion.
Unions say the proposal puts an unfair burden on workers. Woerth said Wednesday the reform was “necessary and fair” and the government would stick to its plan. The bill will go before cabinet next month and Parliament is scheduled to vote on it in September.
In 1995, Paris had to drop a savings program after weeks of strikes.
France currently has one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe.
EEEEEEEEEE
On Friday June 25 it was Italy's turn. Here's a report from Deutsche Welle.
EEEEEEEEEE
Italians protest Berlusconi's austerity plans
Italian workers walked out in a protest against austerity cuts, disrupting transport services across the country. Italy's largest union organised the day of strike action, with marches in nearly every major city.
Italy's largest union staged a national general strike on Friday in a protest against austerity measures by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. Transport services across the country were disrupted, though support for the strike was not universal.
The left-leaning CGIL union, which has six million members, staged rallies in nearly every major Italian city in a bid to force the government to rethink a 25-billion-euro package of cuts. Berlusconi has defended the package as “absolutely necessary” and hopes it will help save the euro currency.
The austerity measures include a 10 percent budget reduction for ministries, 4.5 billion euros in reduced transfers to regional governments, a partial amnesty on illegal building and a 3-year wage freeze for civil servants.
"No one denies that we need to make cuts, but they must be cuts which are fair and look to the future, rather than just slashing spending," said Susanna Camusso, deputy leader of the CGIL, at a rally in Bologna.
The strike was a key test of strength for Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have reached new lows as unemployment has risen and the euro zone's third largest economy has struggled to emerge from recession.
Loyalties divided
The strike split Italy's trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions asked their members to stay on the job.
While most private sector CGIL workers went on strike for four hours, public sector members demonstrated their anger by staying off work all day. Bus, subway and rail services were disrupted throughout the country, although support for the strike was patchy and some services continued to run. Airport staff also planned to strike, but flights at Rome's Fiumicino airport appeared to suffer little disruption.
The strikes followed union protests in France and Greece this week against plans for pension reform and budget cuts. Members of the 16-nation euro zone have rushed to approve austerity measures in a bid to restore confidence in the single currency and stop Greece's debt crisis spilling over into other countries.
Thousands marched in Rome on June 12 to protest against the government's austerity measures. Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed, even though part of the package includes pay cuts for parliamentarians.
Author: Joanna Impey (AP/Reuters)
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Italians protest Berlusconi's austerity plans
Italian workers walked out in a protest against austerity cuts, disrupting transport services across the country. Italy's largest union organised the day of strike action, with marches in nearly every major city.
Italy's largest union staged a national general strike on Friday in a protest against austerity measures by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. Transport services across the country were disrupted, though support for the strike was not universal.
The left-leaning CGIL union, which has six million members, staged rallies in nearly every major Italian city in a bid to force the government to rethink a 25-billion-euro package of cuts. Berlusconi has defended the package as “absolutely necessary” and hopes it will help save the euro currency.
The austerity measures include a 10 percent budget reduction for ministries, 4.5 billion euros in reduced transfers to regional governments, a partial amnesty on illegal building and a 3-year wage freeze for civil servants.
"No one denies that we need to make cuts, but they must be cuts which are fair and look to the future, rather than just slashing spending," said Susanna Camusso, deputy leader of the CGIL, at a rally in Bologna.
The strike was a key test of strength for Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have reached new lows as unemployment has risen and the euro zone's third largest economy has struggled to emerge from recession.
Loyalties divided
The strike split Italy's trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions asked their members to stay on the job.
While most private sector CGIL workers went on strike for four hours, public sector members demonstrated their anger by staying off work all day. Bus, subway and rail services were disrupted throughout the country, although support for the strike was patchy and some services continued to run. Airport staff also planned to strike, but flights at Rome's Fiumicino airport appeared to suffer little disruption.
The strikes followed union protests in France and Greece this week against plans for pension reform and budget cuts. Members of the 16-nation euro zone have rushed to approve austerity measures in a bid to restore confidence in the single currency and stop Greece's debt crisis spilling over into other countries.
Thousands marched in Rome on June 12 to protest against the government's austerity measures. Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed, even though part of the package includes pay cuts for parliamentarians.
Author: Joanna Impey (AP/Reuters)
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Meanwhile Greece which has seen four general strikes this year is set to repeat its protests on June 29. Here's the story from the Wall Street Journal. This strike is likely to be the most widely observed one of the current batch.
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Greece's Largest Unions Plan Paralyzing Strike For June 29
ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece's two largest unions, which have about 1.2 million members, have agreed to hold a 24-hour, combined paralyzing strike on June 29 to protest prospective labor and pension reforms.
This confirms what the unions had said to Dow Jones on Wednesday.
The Greek ruling socialist government has said that it has no choice but to impose tough measures that it has agreed to in exchange for the EUR110 billion bailout package provided by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Some of the proposed reforms that unions fear will lead to easier layoffs at a time of high unemployment, rising retirement ages and lower pensions.
Unions see the reforms as a denigration of workers' hard-earned rights and the dismantling of the welfare state, while the socialist government argues it has no other options.
This will be the fifth general strike this year and is likely to again bring the country to its knees as businesses, public services and transportation, among several other sectors, will grind to a halt.
The private sector umbrella union Greek General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, which has 800,000 members, said in a statement that it's taking this action to oppose the prospective bills to liberalize the labor market and to protect pension entitlements that they see as being undermined.
"We need to reject these anti-worker and anti-pension legal initiatives, as well as the government's inflexible and negative stance," the GSEE said in a statement.
The GSEE added that the strike was also being organized to express workers' dissatisfaction that a national collective-bargain wage agreement looks unlikely to be achieved soon due to the intransigence of employer groups.
The second largest union, ADEDY, which has 400,000 members and represents public sector employees, confirmed to Dow Jones that it will also participate in the strike even though a formal decision has not been made yet.
"We have to take to the streets to protect our members from these harsh and unfair changes that are looming," Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the public sector umbrella union, told Dow Jones.
"Greece is a test case for these neo-liberal ultra-conservative policies, and if they succeed here, they will be imposed across all of Europe--to even the wealthier Northern European countries--at the expense of workers and for the benefit of big business," Iliopoulos added.
-By Nick Skrekas of Dow Jones
Greece's Largest Unions Plan Paralyzing Strike For June 29
ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece's two largest unions, which have about 1.2 million members, have agreed to hold a 24-hour, combined paralyzing strike on June 29 to protest prospective labor and pension reforms.
This confirms what the unions had said to Dow Jones on Wednesday.
The Greek ruling socialist government has said that it has no choice but to impose tough measures that it has agreed to in exchange for the EUR110 billion bailout package provided by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Some of the proposed reforms that unions fear will lead to easier layoffs at a time of high unemployment, rising retirement ages and lower pensions.
Unions see the reforms as a denigration of workers' hard-earned rights and the dismantling of the welfare state, while the socialist government argues it has no other options.
This will be the fifth general strike this year and is likely to again bring the country to its knees as businesses, public services and transportation, among several other sectors, will grind to a halt.
The private sector umbrella union Greek General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, which has 800,000 members, said in a statement that it's taking this action to oppose the prospective bills to liberalize the labor market and to protect pension entitlements that they see as being undermined.
"We need to reject these anti-worker and anti-pension legal initiatives, as well as the government's inflexible and negative stance," the GSEE said in a statement.
The GSEE added that the strike was also being organized to express workers' dissatisfaction that a national collective-bargain wage agreement looks unlikely to be achieved soon due to the intransigence of employer groups.
The second largest union, ADEDY, which has 400,000 members and represents public sector employees, confirmed to Dow Jones that it will also participate in the strike even though a formal decision has not been made yet.
"We have to take to the streets to protect our members from these harsh and unfair changes that are looming," Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the public sector umbrella union, told Dow Jones.
"Greece is a test case for these neo-liberal ultra-conservative policies, and if they succeed here, they will be imposed across all of Europe--to even the wealthier Northern European countries--at the expense of workers and for the benefit of big business," Iliopoulos added.
-By Nick Skrekas of Dow Jones
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There is also a planned general strike on June 29 in the Basque countries in Spain. This one will likely also be well observed as a previous one on May 21 was a success despite the opposition of Spain's two largest union federations the UGT and the CCOO. In the Basque countries independent local unions outweigh the larger national federations. The anarchosyndicalist CGT has come out in support of this strike, and they have been pressuring the larger unions for some time to not wait until the end of September but to come out with the Basque unions at the end of the month. The CGT has also been calling for some time for a general strike of unlimited duration.
When all is said and done, after all, a one day general strike is of only symbolic value. Sometimes the duration of the supposed general strike is even less than a day (see the article on Italy above). The following article originally published in the English anarchist paper Freedom and reproduced at the Libcom website gives the cautionary warning from the Spanish anarchosyndicalist CNT that only a real general strike with no time limit is an actual way to make governments back down from their austerity "reforms".
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CNT: Make Spain’s general strike indefinite
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jun 23 2010 20:43
As a general strike is mooted to coincide with Europe-wide action, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union is warning that one day outings will not be enough to deter deep public sector cuts
Spain's fifth general strike has been set for September 29th amidst massive public sector cuts and attacks on job security passed by the ruling Socialist Party - and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is calling for it to be made indefinite.
Following a one day public-sector strike earlier this month the union is warning that “gesture strikes” will not be enough to force the government to change course.
In a statement after the June 8th event they said: “The government’s plans to stabilise the economy through reducing the public deficit by 11% have placed the cost of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the disadvantaged.
“It is evident that the proposals are designed to satisfy banks and employers by compromising with the neoliberal designs that prevail in the EU.”
“If there had been earlier mobilisations the government would not have dared to present the measures announced and would have had to cut elsewhere. It would have had to seek income where the money really is – on the bench, through corporate taxes, inheritance, hedge funds etc.
“We believe it is a mistake to continue ‘negotiating’ labour reform, which is simply a concession to employers. The only possiblility for correcting this situation is to fight this economic aggression through social confrontation, to continue and expand protests to all sectors.”
“These great evils can only be treated with great remedies, and such remedies do not include, of course, a 24-hour general strike which, assuming that UGT and CCOO (the two major reformist unions in Spain) dared to actually convene one, would act only as a giant safety valve for employee discontent.
“An indefinite general strike paralysing the country until the government withdraws anti-worker and anti-social actions would by contrast act as a binder for workers to recover their class consciousness and act together, with an eye to the destruction of the capitalist system through social revolution which is the only truly effective medicine against congenital diseases of the system.
Larger TUC-style unions called the public-sector strike on June 8th, which the left claimed got 75% of public sector workers out (state sources put it 16%) and saw tens of thousands of people on the streets in protest. The public sector accounts for around 2.5 million jobs in Spain. However the measure has made little impact on narrowly-passed plans to slash 5% from public sector pay, part of a 15 billion euro package of austerity measures being implemented in the next few years.
Other measures include the uncoupling of pension payments from inflation, an end to tax breaks for new parents and cuts in public investment and development aid of up to 6 billion euros. The Party is also taking the opportunity to “free up the labour market” by making it easier to hire and fire workers, a measure which would be likely to help drive a general strike outside the public sector.
Its actions, taken as Spain is threatened by international markets over its debt ratio, are widely seen as a betrayal of the electoral promises which put the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Jose Zapatero into power in 2004 on the back of widespread discontent with the right, though anarchist groups in the country have pointed to the situation as emblematic of party politicians’ inability to represent working people.
In an editorial for the periodical CNT, the union noted: “Economic crises are inherent in the capitalist system and will, unfortunately for humanity, regularly occur as long as the system exists.
“At the end of the day, the problem lies in the balance of power between two social classes with conflicting interests - the bourgeois class, which holds exclusive ownership of the means of production and distribution, and the proletarian class, which has no more than their manual and intellectual labour to sell as dearly as possible. The salary of the employee, and therefore the worker himself, is just another cost of production like machinery, electrical power or fuel.
“And when the worker is considered this way, not as a human being but as a cost to be cut without a second thought, you can do with them what you will, without remorse. That is neither more nor less than what capitalists do with us now.
“We can not remain silent before these measures announced by the government, which will result in yet more desecration of labour right to add to a long list of infamies imposed since this pompously-named “democracy” came into existence. Lowering the salaries of officials and freezing or eliminating pensions, among other measures, are not appropriate ways to solve the so-called crisis, and will have the determined opposition of the CNT.”
- Discussion thread on libcom.org
- An edited version of this article first appeared in Freedom anarchist newspaper
CNT: Make Spain’s general strike indefinite
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jun 23 2010 20:43
As a general strike is mooted to coincide with Europe-wide action, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union is warning that one day outings will not be enough to deter deep public sector cuts
Spain's fifth general strike has been set for September 29th amidst massive public sector cuts and attacks on job security passed by the ruling Socialist Party - and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is calling for it to be made indefinite.
Following a one day public-sector strike earlier this month the union is warning that “gesture strikes” will not be enough to force the government to change course.
In a statement after the June 8th event they said: “The government’s plans to stabilise the economy through reducing the public deficit by 11% have placed the cost of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the disadvantaged.
“It is evident that the proposals are designed to satisfy banks and employers by compromising with the neoliberal designs that prevail in the EU.”
“If there had been earlier mobilisations the government would not have dared to present the measures announced and would have had to cut elsewhere. It would have had to seek income where the money really is – on the bench, through corporate taxes, inheritance, hedge funds etc.
“We believe it is a mistake to continue ‘negotiating’ labour reform, which is simply a concession to employers. The only possiblility for correcting this situation is to fight this economic aggression through social confrontation, to continue and expand protests to all sectors.”
“These great evils can only be treated with great remedies, and such remedies do not include, of course, a 24-hour general strike which, assuming that UGT and CCOO (the two major reformist unions in Spain) dared to actually convene one, would act only as a giant safety valve for employee discontent.
“An indefinite general strike paralysing the country until the government withdraws anti-worker and anti-social actions would by contrast act as a binder for workers to recover their class consciousness and act together, with an eye to the destruction of the capitalist system through social revolution which is the only truly effective medicine against congenital diseases of the system.
Larger TUC-style unions called the public-sector strike on June 8th, which the left claimed got 75% of public sector workers out (state sources put it 16%) and saw tens of thousands of people on the streets in protest. The public sector accounts for around 2.5 million jobs in Spain. However the measure has made little impact on narrowly-passed plans to slash 5% from public sector pay, part of a 15 billion euro package of austerity measures being implemented in the next few years.
Other measures include the uncoupling of pension payments from inflation, an end to tax breaks for new parents and cuts in public investment and development aid of up to 6 billion euros. The Party is also taking the opportunity to “free up the labour market” by making it easier to hire and fire workers, a measure which would be likely to help drive a general strike outside the public sector.
Its actions, taken as Spain is threatened by international markets over its debt ratio, are widely seen as a betrayal of the electoral promises which put the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Jose Zapatero into power in 2004 on the back of widespread discontent with the right, though anarchist groups in the country have pointed to the situation as emblematic of party politicians’ inability to represent working people.
In an editorial for the periodical CNT, the union noted: “Economic crises are inherent in the capitalist system and will, unfortunately for humanity, regularly occur as long as the system exists.
“At the end of the day, the problem lies in the balance of power between two social classes with conflicting interests - the bourgeois class, which holds exclusive ownership of the means of production and distribution, and the proletarian class, which has no more than their manual and intellectual labour to sell as dearly as possible. The salary of the employee, and therefore the worker himself, is just another cost of production like machinery, electrical power or fuel.
“And when the worker is considered this way, not as a human being but as a cost to be cut without a second thought, you can do with them what you will, without remorse. That is neither more nor less than what capitalists do with us now.
“We can not remain silent before these measures announced by the government, which will result in yet more desecration of labour right to add to a long list of infamies imposed since this pompously-named “democracy” came into existence. Lowering the salaries of officials and freezing or eliminating pensions, among other measures, are not appropriate ways to solve the so-called crisis, and will have the determined opposition of the CNT.”
- Discussion thread on libcom.org
- An edited version of this article first appeared in Freedom anarchist newspaper
Labels: CGT, CNT, current events, Europe., financial crisis, France, general strike, Greece, Italy, LibCom, Spain, strike., tactics
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT- GREECE:
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH:
The events in Greece continue along with the anarchist response there, a response that I have often characterized on this blog as "inadequate". Perhaps "immature" would be a better word. Despite the great rebelliousness of the Greek population the anarchists there generally have little to offer beyond...more rebellion. this is immensely sad. Looking across the world Greece may be the second country after Spain where anarchism is most popular on a per capita basis. Travelling through downtown Athens you might even get the illusion that anarchism was more popular than in places such as Barcelona. I've been in both. The difference, and it is a great and profound difference, an essential difference, is that in Spain the majoritarian anarchist tradition is anarcho-syndicalist. This means that anarchism has sunk deep roots amongst ordinary people, and that anarchism speaks to their concerns and not to people whose primary identification is with a subculture. This means that anarchism in Spain is inherently less "flashy" but much more profound and practical for its lack of visible "difference".
Not that I don't admire the Greeks. When visiting that country I was privileged to meet with anarchosyndicalists and members of the 'Anti-Authoritarian Movement'. The former, however, are small and marginal amongst Greek anarchists. Hopefully it will not always be so. The latter are gradually struggling towards a class based politics and a program that is detailed enough to appeal beyond a subculture of rebellion. This subculture is, it must be admitted, a considerable cut above that that is so common in the 'anglosphere', especially the USA. There is none of the usual nonsense about how to dress, what to eat, what music to listen to (more or less) nor how to talk (politically correct speech). Still, while it may be admirable in comparison it is still...an incestuous subculture. Many Greek anarchists recognize this, and they also know that what has been offered so far is simply not enough to draw the ordinary person to their side.
The problem in Greece is that this evolution towards a "popular anarchism" is inhibited by a form of anarchism, "autonomism" which actually derives from Maoist roots and is under the great illusion that one can precipitate some sort of libertarian revolution without either organization nor program by simple violent actions. Autonomism is a particularly European example of the decay of Maoism 9and the idea of "peoples' war" applied to urban settings) that has very little echoes today outside of Greece, Italy and Germany. It is in Greece that it is most prominent.
This "deviation" (to use an old commie term) has always inhibited the Greek movement insofar as its addiction to mindless violence has both disgraced anarchism in the view of the average person and also diverted the majority of the movement into something resembling a "competition of militancy" whereby they hope to compete with the firebombers.
Firebombers !!! Arson in an urban setting is pretty well always a very stupid idea. Here in North America the stupidity is compounded by the fact such arsons are pretty well inevitably connected to nothing more than the desire of the perpetrators to prove how committed and "enlightened" they are. Even when there is a "real" issue that doesn't involve arrogance bordering on psychopathology such as "hating porn stores" (Canada) or the people who drive SUVs (USA) arson very rarely (never ???) accomplishes anything. Even if you are making a "class point" against the ruling class - such as firebombing banks- it accomplishes nothing.
It is also very bad propaganda. What it says very plainly is that you don't give a shit about what has euphemistically called "collateral damage" which is always a possibility when fires are started in urban areas. Don't depend on the fire departments to be omnipotent. In Greece this possibility has become a reality as three bank workers were killed by a fire started by protesters in recent demonstrations. There have been all sorts of "excuses" for this. Some "anarchists" have echoed the commies and the vague leftists of the Coalition of the Radical Left by trying to blame the incident on agents provocateurs. This is nonsense. Others have tried to shift the blame to the management of the bank who (literally) locked the workers in. This, at least, has some truth to it, but it avoids the ultimate question. EVERY TIME when you start a fire in an urban area (and often in a rural area) there is the possibility of the death of innocent people. Greece has certainly seen enough of this sort of arson (with deaths) in recent years carried out by people who intend to redevelop land. It's a sad commentary on the "anarchism" of some people that they should imitate the actions of the lowest and most criminal of the business class.
No doubt there are some who are hardened ideologues, once more particularly in the USA, who call themselves "insurrectionist anarchists" who do their damnest to excuse such actions-or at least to argue against how atrocious they are. In Greece this "struggle for the soul of anarchism" has been going on for many years. Those who think that terrorist options are the best way to proceed have not been sparing in also physically attacking attacking other anarchists who disagree with them, and once more arson has been one of their methods.
What should be made plain here and now is that the semi-religious devotion to "a diversity of tactics" here in North America can result in obvious disaster. The demand that there be no criticism of any action no matter how foolish is preliminary to physical attacks on those who dissent. Such attacks have already happened in Canada and the USA.
Quite frankly it hardly matters in the cosmic scheme of things if totalitarians disguised as anarchists want to attack those who disagree with theatrical "mini-riots" involving a few dozen people. Nor if they physically assault somebody who has dissented from the "vegan cult". The world moves on. It does, however, matter when important issues such as those in Greece are in play.
The great point that I want to make here is not to those who are ideologically convinced that one riot after another will lead to a libertarian society (or at least convinced for 5 1/2 years until they either mature or find a way to make money out of the nonsense). I speak here to those who have been convinced by the rhetoric of "diversity of tactics". Such suspension of disbelief may be all well and good when an action will have no visible consequences ie all "anti" protests so favoured by the "travelling anarchist rent-a-riot". It is a totally different matter when the destiny of a nation is being determined. People in Greece are desperately attempting to make anarchism relevant for ordinary people. You have two choices for your "solidarity". You can be in solidarity with the Greek anarchists who want to make anarchism a living and practical reality or you can be in "solidarity" with those who have both frustrated their project in the past and also physically attacked them. The choice is clear.
The following , from the Anarkismo website, is one out of many self criticisms from within the Greek anarchist movement about the events that led to the deaths of the three workers. What is significant here is that the criticism comes from within, and it proposes the question of "who" you are in solidarity with. It's obvious what side I have chosen. To echo Martin Luther..."here I stand, I can do no other".
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An anarchist comrade from Athens:
Enough is enough
Let us shout it out loud and if they do not hear it let us show it with our actions: Enough is enough.
On the 5th of May, we lived the chronicle of three pre-destined deaths. Unfortunately, the belief that we had for the longest time that it is only a matter of time before we mourn the first victims of indiscriminate violence, came true. Unfortunately, lives had to be lost in order to hear or read from some of the collectives of the movement, albeit timidly, albeit vaguely, the first allusions of criticism for the nihilistic culture of violence. Unfortunately, some still continue to hide behind their finger, focusing on those that bear the moral instead of the actual responsibility, on the results of the murderous act and not the reasons behind it.
Let's show the courage and the sincerity that (must) characterize a revolutionary/liberating movement and let's talk about the gist of the matter. If the death of the three people was proven to be the result of a targeted action by the far right, would they focus on the - anyway criminal and inhuman - stance of the management of the bank? But even if this was the case, the below are fully in effect.
The tolerance that has been shown for the longest time by a part of the anarchist movement to the proponents of indiscriminate violence is the beginning of any (self-) criticism. All those that, for many years, acted virtually undisturbed, in the same monotonous, dangerous, destructive and provocative ways, next and inside our blocks, should have been isolated, instead of being described on hindsight, generally and vaguely as "agents provocateur" or "gang-members", without any analysis whatsoever on how we ended up in this situation accompanying those characterizations. This can still take place though and work as a kind of catharsis. All these years when anyone tried to distance themselves from phenomena of indiscriminate violence, or from mass - armed or not - violence, was thought as setting themselves apart, was jeered or attacked. So is it not positive that even now, even vaguely, voices against the practice of violence for the sake of violence are being heard? Maybe it is and maybe it isnʼt. Only time will tell.
The more our critique of the phenomenon remains hazy and without supporting evidence, the less persuasive it becomes. The effortless characterization of "agents provocateur" is insufficient mainly because it is too general. With this general condemnation you do not expose the crux of the matter. You only avoid to answer questions such as those that follow, ones that we need to answer with clarity and also look into the results of a sterile "insurrectional" oratory and the even more sterile and dangerous practices that originate from this oratory. As agents provocateur can act not only a sad gang of ego-centric malcontents, but a state-sponsored gang on designated duty as well, if we judge the acts only in relation to their results. But is such a judgment suitable for us to adopt? No, because the revolutionary expression is rational, clear, acute and examines the causes of each phenomena. No, because at this point we need to be direct and act accordingly. No, because such a critique characterizes Authority and the crutches that prop it up. They are the ones who are used to give a fuzzy explanation and leave it at that. But if you are indeed seeking to prick the boil of violence, your discourse against blind violence needs to be concise and consistent at all times. Your actions, even more so. Otherwise, any abstract verbal distance one may try to keep from those gangs and their actions will not be believable. And moreover, they do not help in the spreading of the anti-authoritarian word. Even if one is not diachronically consistent, the change of attitude and course - if it is sincere - has to be followed with arguments and self-criticism, to avoid becoming opportunism. The questions we talked about earlier are many. If they were a state-sponsored gang, why did we not break them up during the rally? Were we caught with our pants around our ankles? Obviously not, since they act the same way for years on end. But then the question becomes why we have not done so all those years. Our reflexes against state gangs and secret policemen have not been blunted that much, so our inactivity is not justified. Perhaps the reflexes of some of us have been blunted towards gangs that hijack anarchist and anti-authoritarian ideology to play their little games to our detriment.
Let's dispense with the jokes, the convenient excuses and reasoning. We watch the same play for years on end. A part of the movement was accepting for many years the brainless partisans of violence for violence's sake, the proponents of window-smashing, providing them with an ideological basis for their actions. The rest either reacted spasmodically, or put up with them, or awaited a fateful event in order to react. Let it be understood that their murderous stupidity has cost human lives. We are not talking anymore about immaturity and ideological fixations; we are talking about a crime. They are the perpetrators. The anarchist and the social movement in general has paid dearly the fad and the autism of a few cowards and those that supported their actions with their so-called 'insurrectionist' oratory, believing that the social struggle against the State and Power is undertaken by a few insurrectionary types in society's absence and is limited to broken glass or whatever mobilizes the police for a stone-throwing war. With them and their practices, anarchy has nothing in common. Enough discredit, enough backward steps. The conflict will be multi-level and massed. Targeted and conscious.
The very moment that an entire square demanded furiously "Burn this brothel, the parliament", the very moment that hundreds of thousands were on the streets to clash with totalitarianism, the very moment that life is taken away from us, this moment the anti-violence to the violence of Power must at all costs shed this weight. This though, from now on, even belatedly we need to prove that it is a fact. For starters, we can do what people are talking among themselves: organize immediately a rally and protest march against indiscriminate violence. This will act as a rallying beacon for the movement, will make known our position towards society and maybe become the starting point of setting the score straight with the aforementioned autism.
Let us shout it out loud and if they do not hear it let us show it with our actions: Enough is enough.
Labels: anarchism, anarkismo.net, class, current events, Greece, insurrectionism, international anarchist movement, subcultures, tactics
Saturday, May 15, 2010
HUMOUR- GREECE:
RIOT DOG
Labels: anarchist humour, cartoons, current events, Greece, Greek riots, humour, riot dog
Thursday, May 06, 2010
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS- GREECE:
ANARCHIST STATEMENT ON THE EVENTS IN GREECE:
The following item comes from the Anarkismo site and is the collective statement of 5 platformist organizations from various countries on the events in Greece. Special thanks to the Porkupine Blog where I first saw this item. It has since been reprinted widely. More on the events in Greece later.
The Greek crisis continues to make news every single day, particularly because it raises the spectre of 'sovereign default' on the part of other European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy , Ireland and even Great Britain. Such an event would be beyond the capacity of the EC (or the world for that matter) to patch up, and could easily lead to the end of the EU with all the unknown consequences of same, let alone its effect outside of Europe. While other events such as the Icelandic volcano and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have contributed to nervousness in world markets there is little doubt that the events in Greece are the major influence on recent market volatility.
Is there a reason to be nervous ? Certainly if one simply takes the potential for sovereign default as 'Financial Crisis Version 2.1' there is indeed. A domino cascade of sovereign defaults would be basically unstoppable and would provoke a far greater crisis than the one we are gradually emerging from. Is there reason for the ruling class to be nervous and their opponents to be hopeful about an effective opposition emerging from the present crisis ? Personally I doubt it. On our sister blog Molly's Polls I gave (sneakily) several reasons about why a revolution in Greece is improbable. I stand by these items no matter how dramatic present events may seem.
It may be hard for some amongst the crazier fringes of anarchism in the USA to understand the difference between revolution and mindless rebellion, but most other people in the world ( including pretty well all responsible anarchists outside of the primitivist, post leftist cult)understand it very well. In revolution you don't firebomb banks and run like hell. You take over the building, destroy the records of debts and turn the building to good use whatever that may be. Perhaps the bank workers try and devise new accounting systems for a new society. can you begin to comprehend how far away from such an eventuality Greece is ?
Events in Greece have hardly progressed beyond what I personally envisioned as the "maximum extent of rebellion". That is "rebellion" not revolution or even a prelude to the latter. Why do I say this ? Let's take some well accepted "necessities" that define a pre-revolutionary state.
1)The ruling class can no longer operate in its usual fashion. This condition at least is fulfilled in Greece. Bankruptcy is bankruptcy. This does not, however, mean that the plan (read conspiracy) of the EU and the IMF cannot at least salvage something for the local Greek ruling class and, more importantly, international finance that holds Greek debt. It is entirely within the realm of possibility that the bailout plan can work albeit with all the victimization of ordinary people that the following statement points out.
2)The ruling class is divided. You have to search pretty thoroughly to find evidence of this. Yes, the main conservative opposition party in Greece voted against the austerity measures, but this is an obvious rhetorical devise on their part, and I have a hard time believing that anyone takes their "opposition" seriously. They, after all, laid the basis for the present crisis by their fraudulent national accounting, and I'm pretty sure that the average Greek is more than sufficiently aware of this just as the rest of the world is. When the vote came up in the Greek Parliament only three socialist PASOK deputies voted with their conscience against the austerity measures. Try to understand that in most modern societies the "left" is very much just another aspect of the ruling class (most obviously in the USA ). If there will be a division amongst the Greek ruling class it will appear first amongst the so-called 'socialists". There is little evidence of such desertion to the "other side" at this time. Perhaps the vast, vast, vast majority of "socialist" bureaucrats are making very rational calculations about the general mood in Greece today. ot perhaps you'd like to believe ultraleft groupuscles instead.
3)The population can no longer live in the present conditions. Actually in Greece the population is rebelling against a set of circumstances that has yet to be implemented. For the vast majority of the people who have come out into the streets the issue is not their present conditions but rather what they will be in the future if the government's policies are implemented. It's a basically conservative response (nothing wrong with that by the way), but the population is still very far from being driven against the wall by an unendurable situation. The people in other countries have been the unfortunate subjects of even more brutal readjustments and revolution has not been the results, even if, as in the case of Argentina great advances in terms of libertarian ways of organization have happened. The Greek people can love with what the ruling class is planning for them, however vicious it may be, and I think they are likely to realize this and not toss caution to the winds in the end.
4)The opposition is united, at least in terms of getting rid of the present regime. This is where the present Greek situation is most deficient in terms of the preconditions for revolution. As I mentioned before the general reasons for the present protests are not to remove a regime but rather to keep a certain system of benefits in place. No doubt the more clear sighted of the anarchists (excluding the insurrectionists who have no program beyond- more violence ) have a vague idea of a society that is different from our present one, but it has hardly been expressed at least in "mass terms" beyond vague generalities. No doubt the Coalition of the Radical Left also have vague proposals for an alternative society (with all the corrupting and futile statism that such a party can muster ). In such a vague cloud the conservative aspects of the movement come to the fore...as they actually have if one examines the numbers in the news from Greece dispassionately without revolutionary illusions. Here you will see a horrible and obvious fact. the various factions of the Greek left not only, in the majority, don't want an alternative society but they abhor each other with a deep passion. Various union centrals make great efforts to stay separate from others in their demonstrations. I am speaking here of the major players in the present Greek drama, not the separation of all of them from the anarchists. To say the least this is not the way to proceed.
5)Finally a "revolution" as opposed to a revolt presupposes a vision of society ie a goal that is sufficiently diffused amongst the general population such that they see it as both worthwhile and possible. Sometimes these goals can be pretty limited ie the end of communist rule in eastern Europe. When a clear alternative, however, is not present it is the responsibility of "revolutionaries" to present such alternatives over the course of how many decades they may take to seek into popular consciousness. The most common goal of the present Greek rebellion is not a new and different society, as I have mentioned above. It is merely a defensive action against an "adjustment" that will remove benefits from ordinary Greeks. Good luck to them, even if I think the effort is doomed.
In any case here is a perfectly rational statement from various international anarchist groups in support of Greek workers. I agree with its statements of fact and its call to action even if I am very much a pessimist as to the conclusion of this struggle.
Solidarity with the Greek workers' struggle!
Statement on the Greek crisis
Greece is a test case for the social dismantling that awaits us all. This policy is being enacted by all the institutional parties, by every government and by all of globalised capitalism's institutions. There is only one way to hold back this policy of barbaric capitalism: popular direct action, to widen the strike movement and increase the number of demonstrations all across Europe.
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SOLIDARITY WITH THE GREEK WORKERS' STRUGGLE!
The Greek working class is angry, and with good reason, with the attempt to load responsibility for the bankruptcy of the Greek State onto their shoulders. We maintain instead that it is the international financial institutions and the European Union who are responsible. The financial institutions have plunged the world, and Greece in particular, into an economic and social crisis of historical proportions, forcing countries into debt, and now these same institutions are complaining that certain States risk not being able to repay their debts. We denounce this hypocrisy and say that even if Greece - and all the other countries - can repay the debt, they should not do so: it is up to those responsible for the crisis - the financial institutions, not the - to pay for the damage caused by this crisis. The Greek workers are right to refuse to pay back their country's debt. We refuse to pay for their crisis!
Instead, let us shift the capitalists into the firing line: Greek capital generates some of the biggest profit margins in Europe due to its investments in the poorer Balkan countries, the absence of social protections, collective guarantees and a minimum wage for Greek workers, not to mention the country's gigantic black economy in labour and an even greater exploitation of immigrant work. Greek capital is also very lightly taxed, due to the weakness of the State (with regard to the rich) and major corruption which permits fraud and tax evasion on a massive scale. So it is equally up to Greek capitalists to pay for this crisis.
We also denounce the attitude of the European Union. The EU was presented to us as a supposed guarantee of peace and solidarity between the peoples, but now it is showing its true face - that of acting as an unconditional prop for neoliberalism, in a complete denial of the notion of democracy. As soon as an economy becomes mired in difficulties, all pretence of solidarity evaporates. So we see Greece being scolded and accused of laxity, with insulting language bordering on racism. The "Europe which protects us" that liberals and social-democrats extolled at the time of the scandalous forced adoption of the Lisbon Treaty (particularly in France and Ireland) now seems a long way away.
As far as actual protection goes, the EU and the financial institutions have combined their efforts to frog-march Greece towards the forced dismantling of public services, through austerity plans that recall the "Structural Adjustment Plans" of the IMF: the non-replacement of staff, wage freezes, privatisations and VAT increases. Today the EU is demanding that the retirement age be moved back to 67, not only in Greece but also in other countries, and is also threatening to dismantle the social welfare system. In this way they are opening new markets for investors, while guaranteeing the assets of rich investors, to the detriment of the basic interests of the working class. It is a Europe of the ruling class, and one which we must all work together to oppose.
This is why we call for participation throughout Europe in solidarity initiatives with the Greek working class and with future victims of the onslaught of the banks.
Against the values of greed and rapacity that the European Union is based on, let us respond with class solidarity! Greece is a test case for the social dismantling that awaits us all. This policy is being enacted by all the institutional parties, from out-and-out bourgeois to liberals and social democrats, by every government and by all of globalised capitalism's institutions. There is only one way to hold back this policy of barbaric capitalism: popular direct action, to widen the strike movement and increase the number of demonstrations all across Europe.
Solidarity with the Greek workers' struggle!
Alternative Libertaire (France)
Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy)
Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (Switzerland)
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (South Africa)
Labels: anarchism, anarkismo.net, bailouts, current events, financial crisis, Greece, international politics, platformism, revolution, tactics
Friday, April 30, 2010
HUMOUR:
REBEL DOG:
As long as we're gliding (stumbling ??) on the path that is off the beaten path here's another one I recently come across---the 'Rebel Dog' website. Over there in Greece, the land where they riot more times a day than they eat, it seems that there's a strange apparition that manages to show up at all the exciting places. The 'Rebel Dog' has been spotted at pretty well every demonstration, riot, etc., and now he has his own website devoted to photos of his exploits. Despite government efforts of mass slaughter leading up to the Olympics Greece is infested with stray dogs and cats. The cats are something else. So flea infested that, if the cat is dozing in a place not warm enough for the bugs the fleas lift up the cat and carry it to a warmer location. Am I kidding ???
This website is great. Amuse yourself by taking a gander at what should become a new mascot for the international anarchist movement. Totally incredible. Move over Black Cat. There's a new anarchy symbol in town. You know it's been four years since we were in Greece, but I swear I saw exactly this dog rooting through the garbage on the square near Mitropolis. I know. I know. A lot of stray dogs look very much the same, but I can have my dreams. In any case, here's the intro to the website. Take a peek. It's well worth it. Is it a spoof (the bugger has a collar on) ? I don't know. What I do know and you will too if you look at the photos is that this dog is a survivor big time.
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A photographic series of a rebellious stray dog in Athens
To Rebel Dog μπλογκ ειναι ενα προτζεκτ σε εξέλιξη. Θα συνεχίσουμε να προσθέτουμε φωτογραφίες, καταγράφοντας την ιστορία των διαδηλώσεων στην Αθήνα με κοινό παρονομαστή τον ρεμπελο σκυλο. Αν έχετε φωτογραφίες του, μπορείτε να τις στείλετε στο revoltingdog@gmail.com (παρακαλούμε, μόνο του συγκεκριμένου σκυλου)
The Rebel Dog blog is a work in progress. We will keep on adding more photos of this rebel dog. If you want to contribute to this series of photos please send your photo to revoltingdog@gmail.com (please, just photos of the specific dog)
A photographic series of a rebellious stray dog in Athens
To Rebel Dog μπλογκ ειναι ενα προτζεκτ σε εξέλιξη. Θα συνεχίσουμε να προσθέτουμε φωτογραφίες, καταγράφοντας την ιστορία των διαδηλώσεων στην Αθήνα με κοινό παρονομαστή τον ρεμπελο σκυλο. Αν έχετε φωτογραφίες του, μπορείτε να τις στείλετε στο revoltingdog@gmail.com (παρακαλούμε, μόνο του συγκεκριμένου σκυλου)
The Rebel Dog blog is a work in progress. We will keep on adding more photos of this rebel dog. If you want to contribute to this series of photos please send your photo to revoltingdog@gmail.com (please, just photos of the specific dog)
Labels: anarchist humour, Greece, humour, images, Rebel Dog
Friday, March 26, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR- USA/GREECE:
IWW SOLIDARITY STATEMENT WITH GREEK STRIKERS:
As the series of general strikes continue against the austerity plan of the Greek government the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) has seen fit to send the following message of solidarity.
IWWIWWIWWIWW
Solidarity Statement with Workers in Struggle in Greece
The International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) supports the workers in struggle in Greece and their strike actions in opposition to the threat of "austerity measures" by the Greek government, who claim those measures are needed to stop the country from bankruptcy. We are encouraged to see workers across Greece take a stand against the government's gamble with their livelihoods and exploitation of their labour. They have taken to the streets, and stopped working in a visible and powerful refusal to pay for the mess of the banks and financial speculators.
Rather then acquiesce to the official lie of a nation united in necessary sacrifice for the common good, they have exposed that the working class are not the cause of the crisis. We will not suffer for it. As the slogan goes, in Greece and elsewhere, we won't pay for their crisis! As one of the first countries threatening such wide-sweeping cuts, and in turn verging on bankruptcy in this crisis, the protests of workers in Greece are for us all.
As governments across the world respond to the current recession, a fruit of the unfettered gambling by capitalists with the wealth of the earth and the labour of workers everywhere, by further cutting into the subsistence and rights of the working class, we are glad to express our solidarity with the workers of Greece.
Solidarity Statement with Workers in Struggle in Greece
The International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) supports the workers in struggle in Greece and their strike actions in opposition to the threat of "austerity measures" by the Greek government, who claim those measures are needed to stop the country from bankruptcy. We are encouraged to see workers across Greece take a stand against the government's gamble with their livelihoods and exploitation of their labour. They have taken to the streets, and stopped working in a visible and powerful refusal to pay for the mess of the banks and financial speculators.
Rather then acquiesce to the official lie of a nation united in necessary sacrifice for the common good, they have exposed that the working class are not the cause of the crisis. We will not suffer for it. As the slogan goes, in Greece and elsewhere, we won't pay for their crisis! As one of the first countries threatening such wide-sweeping cuts, and in turn verging on bankruptcy in this crisis, the protests of workers in Greece are for us all.
As governments across the world respond to the current recession, a fruit of the unfettered gambling by capitalists with the wealth of the earth and the labour of workers everywhere, by further cutting into the subsistence and rights of the working class, we are glad to express our solidarity with the workers of Greece.
We are grateful to them for refusing to comply with the lie of "austerity" measures, which amount to the demand of a sacrifice by the poor for the benefit of the rich and for continuing to take a brave stand in the face of police repression.
In the hope that their struggle, which is also a struggle for workers everywhere, may continue and succeed, the IWW aim to lend our support, by action in solidarity, where it is within our grasp to do so, in our firm knowledge that 'an injury to one is an injury to all'.
In Solidarity,
The ISC of the IWW
Labels: Greece, Greek strikes, international labour, IWW, labour, solidarity., statements, strike, USA
