Greece: Euro crisis
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Dimitris
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Today there were massive protests in Athens Greece for one more time, because of the visit to Greece of Angela Merkel. Unfortunately I cannot give you my eye witness account as I could not also do that during the last general strike because on both occasions I got detained before the demos even started and passed my time in the Police Headquarters. They were precautionary detentions because as they said " I looked suspicious". This is where I was today as well, I got released earlier... we were definitely more than 250 people packed in 2 floors of the GADA (police headquarters) building....
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Dimitris
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I was pushed and dragged on the first time, yesterday it was more "normal". We were packed in a room at GADA headquarters for hours with no water, no access to telephone or lawyer.
A new general strike has now been announced for the 18th of October.
Dimitris
Well-Known Member
A couple of videos from yesterday
https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1428122
Also photos here
https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1428068
https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1428122
Also photos here
https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1428068
dennisr
the acceptable face
The article linked to in the letter is on the xekinima website - This is the CWI sister organisation in greece
http://www.xekinima.org/arthra/view/article/mia-seira-kladoi-stoys-rythmoys-ton-protaseon-tis-genop
An expanded english language article can be found here: http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5982 - Trade unions pushed to escalate the struggle
The leadership of GENOP/DEI (electrical workers) has adopted this position. Speaking at a conference of union delegates last week, GENOP/DEI president, Nikos Fotopoulos, spelled out the necessary program: "workers’ occupations of the main ministries, public agencies, all the banks, all tax offices, the airports and ports" and a "coordinated call for repeated 48-hour general strikes and massive daily rallies at Syntagma Square (the main square in Athens outside the Parliament.)
A number of union federations from various sectors (maritime, public transport in tram, overground trains and subways in Athens, workers in the Aristotelian University Salonika, tax workers) are now starting to move in a similar direction to the electrical workers’ union, calling for repeated 48-hour strikes, while the national union of doctors in public hospitals has called for an indefinite general strike. If a significant section of the unions took militant action with strikes and occupations, even without the agreement of the national Confederations of Greek Workers, GSEE and ADEDY, there is no doubt that it would spread like wildfire across the country in a matter of days.
I know you personally were , as you describe, "otherwise detained" during the events.. but from what you know from others do the fascist gangs of Golden Dawn show up on the fringes to attack the crowds during these mass demos ? Or do they slink away in the shadows ? Mind you, I suppose a lot of Golden Dawn were't available to do much "fascist goonsquadding" as they were "working" that day, in their full time jobs as policemen ?
It's hard for us outside of Greece to judge the real momentum or otherwise of growing popular mass opposition to the austerity measures. As an activist, do you feel optimistic or pessimistic about the current pace and direction of the struggle in Greece ?
teqniq
DisMembered
Dimitris
Well-Known Member
This is an another photo of the same policeman with the girl
If you look carefully on one of the 2 leather belts that cross his back (the one of the right) he has written the word "KILLER"...
This is also him using the girl as a shield ....
Here is also an another photo of a DELTA policeman (police on motorbikes) who is about to detain a worker of one of the main hospitals in Athens
The greek flag that you see with an eagle in the center is not of course a police badge but a nationalist flag.
So yes the fascist were actually "working" that day ....
Personally I am very pessimistic.... There was a momentum growing during last year's square occupations but it got worn off easily and since then the demos have been smaller than before. The anarchist movement is also separated in small bits and pieces, there was a very small anarchist presence on Tuesday as people did not even turn up to the assemblies before the demos so a more proper anarchist block to be organized.
I believe that because of the new austerity measures there will be a feeling for unrest during this winter but really I do not think that the greek people are close to what we could call an uprising. I am not mentioning anything about a revolution, because it that case you need people to revolt for a common cause but I cannot see this happening in Greece anytime soon.
dennisr
the acceptable face
Not bad:
Alarm at Greek police 'collusion' with far-right Golden Dawn
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19976841
This is an another photo of the same policeman with the girl
If you look carefully on one of the 2 leather belts that cross his back (the one of the right) he has written the word "KILLER"...
This is also him using the girl as a shield ....
Here is also an another photo of a DELTA policeman (police on motorbikes) who is about to detain a worker of one of the main hospitals in Athens
The greek flag that you see with an eagle in the center is not of course a police badge but a nationalist flag.
So yes the fascist were actually "working" that day ....
Personally I am very pessimistic.... There was a momentum growing during last year's square occupations but it got worn off easily and since then the demos have been smaller than before. The anarchist movement is also separated in small bits and pieces, there was a very small anarchist presence on Tuesday as people did not even turn up to the assemblies before the demos so a more proper anarchist block to be organized.
I believe that because of the new austerity measures there will be a feeling for unrest during this winter but really I do not think that the greek people are close to what we could call an uprising. I am not mentioning anything about a revolution, because it that case you need people to revolt for a common cause but I cannot see this happening in Greece anytime soon.
That's rather depressing ,Dimitris. Though we are seeing the large demonstrations by trades unionists and others in Athens today, as part of the 24 hour General Strike. So the fight doesn't seem to have completely gone out of the Greek people quite yet . As dennisr says above, we also saw an item by reporter Paul Mason on our "Newsnight" TV programme last night, about the rise of the Golden Dawn Thugs, and the collusion of the Athens police with them.
On this particular front.. what is the Left doing to combat the rise of this violent street fascism ? Are at least some sections of the Left (in its broadest sense) forming proper disciplined fighting groups to deal with them ? For instance, I am amazed to see that the Golden Dawn leader's militaria shop is still open for business I must say. History shows quite clearly that unless challenged by tightly organised fighting squads of the Left, in amongst the mass anti fascist movement of course, a relatively few fascist goonsquads can have a massively disproportionate disrupting effect on the ability of the left to organise. We have seen no indications of a properly organised physical fightback by the Greek Left, or sections of it, on our TV screens here in the UK. Is this misleading ?
Dimitris
Well-Known Member
Very quick update writing by my mobile, more news later on. Huge riots in central Athens at parliament square earlier on, a 67 year old man confirmed dead just now, he got transferred to the hospital with big breathing problems because of the chemicals but died by a heart attack. There are also injured people, 1 very seriously I was pretty close to that incident myself. The police have emptied the whole city center now, are chasing and pushing the people to various directions.
I am in Athens myself at the moment, managed to get a lift to Glyfada this morning. Its so sad what is happening here.
disco_dave_2000
la la lapland
stay safe guys !
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Look after each other.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/...-greece-strike#block-50800186c0e361310bc6d167Greek police have confirmed that a man has died during today's protests (as reported at 13.40)
Greece's police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christos Manouras says the dead man's body has been taken to Athens' biggest public hospital, Evangelismos. An autopsy will take place shortly.
"There is some speculation that he had a fainting fit and other suggestions that he either suffered a cardiac arrest or stroke," Manouras told Helena Smith, our Athens correspondent.
Manouras added:
We will only know once the coroner has conducted an autopsy, but what I can say is that there were no police or skirmishes at the spot at which he died. In other words, the death was not provoked by violence.News of the death has cast a dark cloud over Greece. This is the fifth person to die during Athens protests since 2010 -- following the man who died of a heart attack a year ago, and the three people who died in May 2010 when a bank building caught fire.
There is anger on the streets of Athens that the riot police are using tear gas -- although at this stage we do not know the precise causes of the death today.
Helena confirms that "there was a lot of tear gas today - and quite unwarranted too".spyros gkelis @northaura
#Greece #18ogr Today's dead protester's cause of death is still unconfirmed. teargasing not really helping people to survive confirmed.
18 Oct 12
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Dimitris
Well-Known Member
I have to say that all the information say that the man died about an hour before the riots started so the info that I gave out that he had breathing problems because of the chemicals is wrong. He was an unemployed man, former worker, communist member of PAME, who died we believe by a stroke.
Later tonight or tomorrow morning I will give you info about the demo.
Later tonight or tomorrow morning I will give you info about the demo.
gawkrodger
Well-Known Member
Anyone got contacts with organised Greek militant antifascists? I assume Dimitris has
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more: https://rt.com/news/greece-officials-swiss-accounts-journalist-warrant-407/Warrant out for Greek journalist over leak of politicians' alleged tax evasion
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Published: 28 October, 2012, 09:35
The president of Greece's Association of Judges and Public Prosecutors Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou (R) attends a meeting of Greek judges at the supreme courthouse in Athens (AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)
Greek prosecutors have issued a warrant for the arrest of one of the country’s top journalists, after his publication Hot Doc released the so-called 'Lagarde list' containing the names of some 2,000 Greeks with funds hidden in Swiss bank accounts.
Greek police aim to detain Kostas Vaxevanis, the owner and editor of Hot Doc, for alleged privacy violations from publishing the list of names dated to 2007. “Instead of arresting the tax evaders and the ministers who had the list in their hands, they are trying to arrest the truth and free journalism,” Vaxevanis said in an interview published online.
The speaker of the Greek Parliament, several Finance Ministry employees and a number of business leaders all reportedly had Swiss HSBC bank accounts,
The Hot Doc article revealed that data matched that of Christine Lagarde, the former French finance minister who in 2010 provided her Greek counterpart a list of names of those alleged to have large sums of money stashed away in Swiss banks.
Citing privacy concerns for individuals on the list, Hot Doc said it had redacted exact bank balance figures, but added that some accounts contained as much as 500 million euros.
The Greek government took no action at the emergence of the first 'Lagarde list.' Tax evasion has become a hotly contested issue, as the country’s parliament is expected to vote on a new 13.5 billion euro austerity package that most Greeks oppose.
List?
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Dimitris
Well-Known Member
Today is the day that the new austerity package is being discussed in the greek parliament. A couple of hours ago, the opposition raised an objection of violation of the national constitution in the Parliament by the new austerity package. According to the rules, the MP's voted by raising their hands. The results was that the objection was accepted. The chairman was alarmed and demanded a new vote by calling the name of each MP. The opposition accepted the demand. Then the chairman violated the regulation and called a 30 min break before the vote that turned out to be an 1 hour and 30 minutes break in order all the governmental MPs to enter the parliament. Finally the objection was not accepted .... Clearly, they are trying to force the MP's to vote according to the will of the government and the Troika and as it seems nothing can change that. Democracy ?
Despite these temporary "finger in the leaking dam" stitch ups by the Greek Government, the impression is still very much of a government quickly losing cohesion, and public support ---- with the Democratic Left in particular trying to appear to be on a number of different sides at once. You seemed quite pessimistic in a previous post about the current direction and momentum of the class struggle, but a lot of reports I have read seem to indicate a significant widening level of working class struggle throughout Greece at present - and a growing anti fascist movement too. Is this just over-optimism by the foreign Left press ?
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