Austerity tightens in Greece

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current Greece are not lacking in re­ cent times, and the “Greek tragedy” has been served up in all journalistic sauc­ es. In the country that invented democ­ racy to put an end to debt slavery, the European bourgeoisie imposes its reac­ tionary approach: even if the institution of slavery is not (yet) re-established, the poverty into which the Greek people have been plunged at a growing speed greatly resembles a modern slavery.

Every day, 2400 new workers are thrown into unemployment, which has officially reached 17.7% (12.4% a year ago), with 21.5 % of women affected and 35.3% of youth. Fifty percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than one year.

Paul Tomsen—the best known person­ ality of the troika (IMF, EU and ECB), today de facto in charge of the country’s affairs—says on the one hand that the imposition over the last six months of the fiscal burden on a part of the population which can no longer pay is an error, and on the other demands two measures: the suspension of collective agreements (to impose flexibility and the alignment of wages with productivity) and the closure of a certain number of pub­ lic enterprises (which in his view have ceased to fulfill the function for which they were created). Obviously, no question of asking the people for a democratic opinion on the utility of these enterprises!

The mobilizations by sector or enterprise are numer­ ous and sometimes allow partial victories over the em­ ployer or the state. Numerous strikes have taken place in transport, a strike has broken out against the neoliberal university reform, and the taxis are on strike against the “opening” (to the big companies) of the profession and so on.

One of the most significant struggles currently con­ cerns the audiovisual and press sector (newspapers, tele­ vision, radio, magazines, and internet). Massive layoffs, brutal pay cuts have affected every company in the sec­ tor. Tens of thousands of workers are no longer paid or not paid on time, with most companies paying wages months late. The television channel “Alter” has not paid (continued from page 1: “[nightmare of war and austerity pressing down on…]”) being crafted collaboratively in Chicago and DC for the NATO G8 summit be set without a major challenge. While many militant youth believe that the fight over permits and legal protest space is passé, they underestimate the power and de­ termination of the state. The movement cannot afford to let an opportunity go by to push back the NATO/G8 summit restrictions—a campaign that can have wide appeal among broad layers of the U.S. public.

4 SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 2012 its 700 employees for a year, and the big Athens news­ paper Eleyfhterotypia stopped paying its 840 employees this summer.

However, there is resistance to this daily violence in the workplaces. After months of working for free, the work­ ers at “Alter” decided to occupy the head office of the television and turn it into a center of solidarity (collect­ ing food to organize their own survival) and beginning to broadcast programs (rudimentary for the moment), which have become a center of popularization of the struggle of several sectors and factories. Similar projects are now being discussed by the workers at Eleftherotypia.

The most emblematic struggle currently is at the steel factory of Halivourgia in Aspropyrgos, in the Athenian suburbs, against lay-offs and wage cuts. This struggle is led by workers linked to the pro-KKE union current PAME and is characterized not only by its combativity, but also by the very broad support it has received, includ­ ing union and political support. For example, the inter­ vention of our comrade Yannis Felekis, historic leader of the Greek section of the Fourth International, OKDESpartakos, was warmly received by the strikers! n This is adapted from an article by Tassos Anastassiadis and Adreas Sartzekis on the Fourth International web­ site: www.internationalviewpoint.org.

A national ad to be printed in the Chi­ cago Sun Times, demanding the right to protest war and austerity in May, has been initiated by UNAC and signed by hundreds of nationally prominent fig­ ures, including Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden, Jules Lobel, Bill Quigley, Naomi Wolfe, and others (see www.unacpeace. org). It is a modest beginning to a criti­ cal national civil liberties battle that should be joined by all.

The way in which Chicago has been designated as an early battlefield in the government’s attempt to dramatically roll back civil liberties was also reaf­ firmed on Jan. 24, when a lawyer for the 23 Midwest antiwar and solidarity activists being threatened with indict­ ments in a grand jury investigation of material support to “terrorism” was told that Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas has been assigned to the prosecution team. Jonas, according to Jess Sundin of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, “is famous for one of the most appalling attacks on civil and democratic rights in the past decade—the prosecution of the Holy Land Five.”

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was once the larg­ est Muslim charity in the U.S. Its ef­ forts were geared towards providing humanitarian aid to help the people of Palestine and other countries. Begin­ ning in 2001, as part of the run-up to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the gov­ ernment began to attempt to use the founders of this organization as part of radical economist Richard Wolff, and Marxist scholar of globalization Vijay Prashad on the theme of the “Global Economic Crisis, Warming, and War.”

The remainder of the conference will be taken up with plenary sessions in which attendees will consider and modify a draft Action Plan for united national antiwar activities for the coming months and over 40 education­ al workshops. At the center of the Action Plan is a pro­ posal for a mobilization for a May 19 permitted march in Chicago in response to the NATO/G8 summit being hosted there. Representatives of the umbrella coali­ tion organizing May 19, called CANG8 or the Coalition Against NATO/G8 Wars and Poverty Agenda, will be on hand to motivate national involvement. The Action Plan, which is available at www.unacpeace.org, is now being circulated nationally, and proposed amendments and counterposed resolutions are being accepted for the gathering’s consideration.

The selection of workshops available to attendees spans the entire gamut of themes relevant to building mass actions against Washington’s war moves. Titles manifesting the geographical breadth of the educational presentations include, “Defeating AFRICOM & NATO: Building Solidarity with Africa,” “Egypt: Will the People Rule?” “Resource Wars in South Asia,” “U.S. Geopolitical Strategy and Intervention in the Asia-Pacific Region,” “Rethinking Pakistan: People’s Struggle and the War on Terror,” and “Negotiating Peace in Colombia.”

Other threads will deal with the new weapons and related military strategies of the U.S. and NATO. These include “Confronting Robotic (Drone) Warfare,” “U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe and the Campaign for With­ drawal,” and “Prisons: the New Torture Machine.”

Some of the most innovative panels bring together the fights of immigrant workers and social justice activists globally. These include two workshops organized by Desis Rising Up and Moving: “Border Militarization/ Migrant Workers Rising Globally” and “From Egypt to New York City: “Anti-Radicalization” Laws, Surveillance, the War on Terror Industrial Complex.” The theme of building solidarity between the Occupy Movement, the labor movement, and antiwar initiatives is interwoven throughout the workshop sessions.

Those interested in attending the conference and or­ ganizing others to attend will find registration, housing, and transportation information online at www.unac­ peace.org. UNAC is attempting to raise scholarship funds and will gratefully accept donations for the registration and housing of students and the unemployed. Informa­ tion about how to submit amendments and resolutions will be found on this website as well. n its campaign of fear and saber rattling.

The trial that resulted in the conviction and sentencing of the five defendants for periods of time ranging from 15 to 65 years included secret witnesses, the use of hearsay evidence, and the intro­ duction of evidence that had nothing to do with the defendants in the case— such as showing a video from Palestine of protesters burning an American flag, as a means to prejudice the jury.

Jonas was the lead prosecutor then and has now been assigned to work under Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in the current attack on the Midwest antiwar and solidarity activ­ ists. It is time to rally the entire move­ ment to reclaim Chicago as a center of working-class politics. n

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... Chicago protest against G8 / NATO