Wall St. criminals attack OWS; workers, students fight back!

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SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 2011 5 NEW YORK—On Nov. 15, Wall Street’s front man, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, launched an early-morning blitzkriegstyle police raid on Zuccotti Park, the site of the two-month old Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. New York’s “thugs in blue” evicted and arrested some 250 non-violent protestors at 1 a.m. and seized their possessions. The growing OWS “people’s library” was thrown into a dumpster.

Nine journalists were arrested while covering the raid, some assaulted and thrown to the ground while displaying city-issued press passes. A New York 1 TV reporter, Lindsey Christ, said, “Those 20 minutes were some of the scariest of my life.” Rosie Gray, a Village Voice reporter, recounted telling a cop, “I’m press!” The officer responded, “Not tonight.”

Legal observers were also not allowed in the Park during the raid. Donna Li­ eberman, executive director of the New York ACLU called it part of a planned “media blackout.”

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents the mostly Hispanic Washington Heights, claimed he was bloodied by a police club blow to the head and thrown to the ground by police goons as he approached Zuccotti Park three blocks away.

Court action against the eviction by the N.Y. Lawyer’s Guild won a Temporary Restraining Order, later overturned the same day by Michael Stillman, another State Supreme Court Judge. The ruling declared that the park’s rules against overnight camping—added after the occupation began—were reasonable. Protesters were allowed back, but not allowed to sleep there. The Transport Workers Union Local 100, an early union backer of OWS, also took court action against the eviction, but without success.

Since OWS began Sept. 17, about 1700 OWS protesters have been arrested and, of those, almost all are out of jail awaiting trial on misdemeanors. Mayors and top cops across the country have recently held several conference calls on how to handle OWS. Clearly, the U.S. ruling elite is terrified at the prospect of European-style mass strikes and worker protests.

Early on, President Obama said OWS reflected “broad-based frustration” with the economy. After the New York raid, an Obama spokesman said, “It’s up to New York and other municipalities to decide how much force to use in dealing with OWS demonstrations,” giving Bloomberg back-handed support.

Moreover, constant warnings about dire OWS so-called “qual­ ity of life” were raised by Bloom­ berg and in corporate media reports. Yet, most were issues that were not the fault of OWS or were in the process of being addressed. The complaints were in sharp contrast to Wall Street’s real-life indifference to inequal­ ity and poverty, urban filth, and the lack of proper health care for millions of New Yorkers—condi­ tions OWS fought to overcome!

On Nov. 17, over 30,000 dem­ onstrated in Foley Square, near City Hall, as part of an OWS-ini­ tiated national “day of action.” The raid two days before had galvanized trade unionists, which added to the rage against massive attacks on public workers.

In the morning of the 17th, about 170 protesters were arrested in a non-vio­ lent attempt to “Shut Wall Street down.” Another 60 or so were arrested later in the day, according to a National Lawyer’s Guild observer.

Later, teams of OWS supporters rode trains to the rally. On the way, the teams testified about their oppression as work­ ers to other riders. Present at the rally were the United Federation of Teachers, 1199 SEIU, the Hospital workers, as well as contingents from the TWU, the United Auto Workers, and 32 BJ SIEU, building services workers.

The spirited rally culminated in tens of thousands of demonstrators marching over the Brooklyn Bridge to signify work needed on our decaying infrastructure. OWS provided small LCD lights. A giant Batman-style beam was projected onto the side of the union-busting Verizon phone company building, which simply read, “99%.” n

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New Greek government accelerates march to capitalist barbarism By ANDREAS KLOKE ATHENS—The farce and the arguments of the “politi­ cal elite” of Greece, along with the “power play”—mainly of the two large system-supporting parties, PASOK (So­ cialist Movement) and the right-wing New Democracy (ND)—to support a government coalition with the par­ ticipation of the far-right LAOS, finally led to the forma­ tion of an “interim government” in November. Elections are scheduled for February. The reformist parties KPG (KKE) and SYN/SYRIZA demand immediate elections. After days of sordid wrangling, intrigues, and backroom conversations, an agreement was reached on Nov. 1 to appoint L. Papadimos, a top banker who enjoys the abso­ lute confidence of the ruling classes of Europe and of the IMF, as the new head of government. The fight over the new government and its prime minister began when the down-and-out PASOK parliamentary group (down from 160 to currently 152 votes) confirmed its “confidence” in the Papandreou government on Nov 4. But then Papan­ dreou announced a coalition government. The whole pro­ cedure was unconstitutional (but who cares under today’s conditions?), since Papandreou had not even submitted his resignation.

With the installation of the new government it becomes clear that even the last remnants of the so-called democ­ racy (“rule by the people”), in the modest and familiar framework of bourgeois parliamentary rule, are about to be eliminated—effectively and ruthlessly. This tendency toward authoritarianism reaches a level no one would ever have predicted.

Papandreou’s announcement of a referendum on the agreements reached on Oct. 27, as a result of a negotia­ tion process for the payment of the 6th installment of the infamous loans by the “troika”—the International Mon­ etary Fund, European Central Bank, and European Com­ mission—was quickly called off after the intervention by Merkel, Sarkozy and Co. ND, which has always distanced itself from the memorandum policies, was compelled by the troika to form a coalition government with PASOK under a new prime minister.

Thus the Hellenic Republic becomes, even officially, a government committed exclusively to the profits of na­ tional and international bankers. Essentially, no one want­ ed to accept responsibility for the steamroller measures to be taken by the new government in accordance with ultimatums from Brussels and Berlin. The whole affair is particularly embarrassing for ND, which, as opinion polls show, is at least 7 percentage points ahead of PASOK, expected to get 22%. But it will soon lose this favored position as a result of its government participation. After a long time and without having been asked, the Greek population is once again confronted with minis­ ters representing the far right wing (three deputies), plus one overtly fascist minister (by the name of M. Voridis), members of the racist LAOS party. The failed PASOK luminaries, among them the particularly hated Minister of Economy V. Venizelos, keep all important ministerial posts. The ministerial team is expanded to include some already discarded former PASOK and ND ministers. So it is clear that only a very ordinary cabinet shuffle has been successfully carried out and nothing really new can be expected.

For the first time, the three pro-system parties—PA­ SOK, ND, and LAOS—are collectively responsible for the memorandum policies, considered by the great ma­ jority of the population to be failed and fraudulent. This does not bode well for the future of the Greek bourgeois political system, especially not for its democratic facade. It is also a bad sign that this government is committed to keeping Greece in the euro zone, since it is very likely that the euro can no longer be saved. This government will wear out very soon, and there is much reason to fear that the elections will be “postponed” to an undefined point in the future.

Memorandum policies bring catastrophe The PASOK government plundered the country in less than two years by means of an unprecedented devastating raid, driving it to the brink of ruin with the co-leadership of the troika—i.e. the ruling classes of Europe and the United States, and their governments. This monstrous fraud, a theft in the tens of billions at the expense of working people, the socially disadvantaged, and also the previous “middle class,” served nobody but the credi­ tors—the national and international financial oligarchy that shamelessly continues to enrich itself. At the same time, the rulers and the mainstream media deliberately spread the illusion that the failing global fi­ nancial system, and thus the global capitalist system, can be saved by this sort of maneuvering. It can already be foreseen that other countries—such as Italy, Spain, Portu­ gal, Ireland, Great Britain, and even France—will follow the Greek “model” step by step. But nobody can tell how the euro will be saved in this situation and how the rest of the EU countries can avoid the general impoverishment process. The next European recession has already begun. In Greece, the economic decline has reached 15% in the last two years. The loss of wages, salaries, and pensions is up to 40% or more. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost, unemployment gallops, and workers rights such as collective bargaining have recently been abolished in favor of unrestricted employer arbitrariness. State prop­ erty, in principle national property, will be privatized and completely liquidated under intolerable conditions. The public health system is dismantled, and 50% of the country’s hospitals will close. Austerity is imposed on the public school system. Universities are to be sold to big capital. The young generation has no prospects, and the “lucky” ones who get a job are to be offered paltry sala­ Milos Bicanski / Getty Images (Left) Oct. 19 protest in Athens against new austerity measures. ries between 400 to 700 euros.

Since September it is clear to ev­ eryone that the memorandum poli­ cies—allegedly aimed at the rescue of the euro and the banking system but also at protecting Greece “from bankruptcy” and insolvency, etc.—is a bottomless pit. It means nothing but endless bloodletting of workers and serves as a kind of grave robbery of the Greek economy, which has been expertly run into the ground. Only the parasites of the ruling system, the 10% who at most who are ben­ eficiaries of the rapid intensification of exploitation and redistribution from bottom to top, along with the rich who hold €560 billion deposited in foreign accounts, are exempt from the effects of the crisis and manage largely to increase their incomes.

However, the overall situation of Greek capitalism remains hopeless.

The austerity policy has proven to be a cycle of evil, as the recession causes falling tax revenues and thus higher national debts. This in turn requires new “mea­ sures” at the expense of the Greek population, supposedly “living beyond their means,” exacerbating the recession and so on—creating a perfect infinite feedback loop, a spiral into the abyss.

In September new taxes, especially on property (flats and houses), were announced, making the situation even more unbearable. For an approximately 100-square-meter apartment, around €700 must be paid in order to satisfy the appetites of the creditor-lenders (i.e. the international banks etc.). This poll tax will be assessed along with the electricity bill, and in the case of non-payment the current of the household will be switched off! And in February, the next installment of the same tax will become due. Resisting capitalist plunder Given the fact that a significant percentage of the popu­ lation has already reached a point below break due to the various austerity measures, unemployment, debts etc., many people will simply not be able to pay. Greek society as a whole is reaching a breaking point.

In this new situation, the majority of the population has lost the last illusion that despite the memorandum policies there might still be some individual solution or possibility to survive. This is the real reason for the extraordinary success of the general strike of Oct. 19-20, when 500,000 protesters took to the streets in Athens alone, though this success was significantly diminished by counter-produc­ tive tactics of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and their union formation PAME on the one hand, along with the Molotov cocktail-throwers of the “black block” on the other. Approval of the new package of measures in parlia­ ment could not be prevented.

A few days later, the national holiday (Oct. 28) of the “No” (OHI) was marked by mass protests. Nationwide riots dominated the day. This was the last confirmation that the memorandum policies and those in government who carry them out, the troika—but also those other par­ liamentary groups who support them indirectly, especial­ ly from the ranks of New Democracy and the far-right LAOS—have lost all credibility, or are nearing that point. In other words, the vast majority of the population has come to the conclusion that no compromise with the gov­ ernments and the rulers is possible anymore, that what matters is to prevent the implementation of all measures prescribed from above. This may be possible by legal protests, occupations, and demonstrations, or by “illegal” resistance, such as the non-payment of the poll tax on real estate—i.e. through civil disobedience. ...

The main aim of the memorandum policies was not primarily “the reduction of debt” and so on. The main concern of the ruling classes, as several interviews by P. Thompson (IMF), C.-J. Juncker (ECOFIN), and others already showed in the past, is the implementation of the “reforms” in Greece. This means that the living standards of workers and the vast majority of the population have to be reduced by some 50 or 60%, on average, if not more. In fact, the downward spiral has no limits. It seems that this policy is a strategic decision of the Eu­ (continued on page 7)

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NATO & G8 to meet in Chicago — Support the right to protest!

SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 2011 7 Petros Giannakouris / AP (continued from page 6) ropean and perhaps also of the North American capitalist classes. The basic idea obviously is to establish condi­ tions under which “productive investments” are again ef­ ficient and profitable. This can be accomplished only by a decisive defeat of the working class and its complete subjugation. Only in this way can a realistic prospect be found for the global capitalist system to find an exit from the terrible crisis in which it is mired.

Situation of the Greek left The new forms of mass struggle of the workers and oppressed, with square occupations in the summer, then other occupations, strikes, and forms of self-organization from September, directly influence all the forces of the left. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) leadership, which realized that it was increasingly being overtaken by the mass mobilization, tried to gain more strength by various reinforced sectarian actions of their union forma­ tion PAME (occupations of ministries, town halls, and schools; campaign for non-payment of poll tax). This is a slight shift in the “party line,” resulting in an attempt to provide leadership for the mass movement. The appearance and the general political propaganda of the KKE are oriented to a more radical rhetoric “against capitalism,” but still never exceed bureaucratic routine. A deeper understanding of the economic and social real­ ity does not exist. Even if it is true that the statements of the party generally correspond to an anti-capitalist and mechanistic Marxist framework, its sectarian tactics are tragically dangerous, as Oct. 20 abundantly demonstrat­ ed. They do not correspond to the need of the working class for a united front, which is today more necessary and more urgent than ever before.

The left-reformist alliance SYRIZA, which is domi­ nated by the SYN, a reformist party with roots in eurocommunism, tries to represent a credible alternative on the parliamentary left. The rapid fall of PASOK in the Tony Savino / Socialist Action By CHRISTINE MARIE On Nov. 17, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city of Chicago once again refused to guarantee permits for legal, peaceful protests at the overlapping NATO and G8 summits occurring from May 15 to May 22, 2012. Pat Hunt, a central leader of the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda, explained to the media that CANG8 was demanding that the city publicly commit to providing permits that allow demonstrators to assemble within sight and sound of McCormick Place, the location of most of the sum­ mit proceedings, and that Chicago Police Superintendent McCarthy refrain from making further threats of mass arrests of protesters.

Accompanying Hunt were representa­ tives from the National Lawyers Guild, SEIU Local 73, and the American Friends Service Committee. Despite this show of community support, officials from the permit division of the Transpor­ tation Department and the point person in the Police Department for the summits, Commander Debra Kirby, refused to put the city on record in support of the right to protest NATO/G8 policies in May. The Nov. 17 meeting preceded by only days a denial by the Cook County gov­ ernment, and its private partner MB Re­ alty, of CANG8’s appeal for a permit to assemble in Daley Plaza. According to MB, there will be “no permits” granted for Daley Plaza, one of the few adequate­ ly sized public spaces downtown, dur­ ing the NATO/G8 summits. The United polls raises the hope that this alliance may enjoy a new boom. The proposal of SYRIZA chairman Tsipras to aim for the installation of a government of the united left to promote the vital need of workers actually contradicts the immediate self-organization of the mass movement and the strengthening of unified militant mobilizations. It cannot be excluded that this orientation might weak­ en the emerging dynamics of the resistance movement against the memorandum policies, creating new parlia­ mentary illusions.

Adamant in their “pro-European” orientation, the party leadership desperately tries to cling to the straw of eurobonds and the democratization of EU institutions. But all these nice things are solemnly rejected by the Ger­ man government parties, also by the “opposition parties” of the social-democrats (SPD) and the Greens, and, of course, by their clients in banking and industry, as well as by the EU bureaucracy and the ECB. The radical youth of the party and the radical elements of SYRIZA, which have moved to the left due to the massive resistance National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), a founding group of CANG8, first applied for a permit for Daley Plaza last June.

The permit denials coincided with rev­ elations about the role of the national government and big business in deter­ mining the kind of police response that local governments are mounting against the Occupy movement and plan to mount at the NATO/G8 summits.

World Business Chicago, the business group assigned to “host” the summits, has been given $1 million in taxpayer funds but meets in secret, a fact that CANG8 activists will be using to challenge the undemocratic moves of the Chicago city administration.

Prominent in press coverage in Chicago about policing strategies has been Wil­ liam Bratton, former police chief of New York City and Los Angeles and now with the huge international corporate security firm, Kroll. Recently, Bratton suggested that the $55 million that Homeland Se­ curity has already granted to Chicago in advance of the summit might not be enough. socialistaction.org.

Milos Bicanski / Getty Images (Left) Former Prime Minister Papandreou. movement, clash increasingly with the boundaries set by the SYN leadership.

ANTARSYA undoubtedly gathers the most militant and politicized rank-and-file activists in the unions, youth, and students. It successfully held its first national con­ gress in late October. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the formation of the alliance has up to now devel­ oped at a snail’s pace, mainly due to protracted factional struggles between its component organizations. The “Political Theses” of ANTARSYA are certainly an excellent programmatic document. But it became clear in the discussion before and during the congress that a not insignificant minority of ANTARSYA tends to aim at a “unity of the Left” in the sense of a future govern­ ment project. This would be a strategic concept based on a “popular front” policy in the framework of the existing system, specifically of the bourgeois state. The debate about the withdrawal from the euro zone and the EU as part of a strategy of transitional demands, as well as the deletion of the so-called “non-acceptable part of the debt,” needs to be carried through on a much broad­ er basis. But most important is that in the very near future ANTARSYA must begin functioning with its local units and national leadership as a factor in the political life of the country. This process of building the alliance appears today to be absolutely necessary as a political response of the Greek working class to the capitalist crisis. n A longer version of this article can be found at www.

The sudden prominence of Bratton’s company, Kroll, co­ incides with the news that an entity with ties to Homeland Security called the Police Executive Research Forum helped to coordinate by na­ tional conference call the late November nationwide assault on Occupy encampments around the country.

According to Shawn Gaynor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Police Executive Research Forum is an inter­ national non-governmental organization with ties to both law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Press statements by Bratton, PERF, and Chicago Police Superintendent McCar­ thy seem to be part of a national cam­ paign to drown any discussion of the right to assemble and protest the wars and austerity drives of the global elite with tales about the violence that protes­ tors plan to wreak upon the city of Chi­ cago. Chicago TV news of the summits are already featuring images purportedly found on anarchist websites that call for protesters to take to the streets and assert­ ing that they are calling for violence.

A host of governmental and private forces dedicated to the maintenance of the status quo are lining up to use the NATO/G8 summits to dampen the ma­ (continued on page 10, in “UAW members approve concession-filled contracts”)

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Julio Cortez / AP (Left) Nov. 21 anti-fracking rally at statehouse in Trenton, N.J., after vote by officials was cancelled.

Recent reports have revealed that gas-drilling cor­ porations have taken a particular interest in military veterans with counter-insurgency experience. They have worked on applying “psy-ops”—psychological warfare—against the communities affected by drill­ ing. The very same methods that are used to “manage” the local population in oil-rich countries of the Middle East are being used in the United States to enforce the will of gas-drilling corporations. One presenter at an industry conference even directly called the resistance to fracking an “insurgency.”

As awareness has grown of the impact of fracking methods, local resistance has sprung up. The docu­ mentary film “Gasland” proved a provocative call to action, showing rural towns devastated by the impact of fracking runoff and water contaminated by meth­ ane so badly that it was flammable. The character of this opposition is slowly turning from lobbying to mass action, rallying communities to oppose pollution of their clean water supplies. The fact that the DRBC could not even meet demonstrates clearly that this is beginning to have a real impact.

In a very literal sense, gas-drilling companies are at war with the population of the communities where

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6 SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 2011 Nobody can tell how the euro will be saved in this situation, and how other EU countries can avoid impoverishment.

The vast majority of the population has come to the conclusion that no compromise with the government is possible.