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Solidarity with the people of Greece Join the rally in Trafalgar Square, Tuesday 23 June, 6.30pm. Left Unity <http://leftunity.org/solidarity-with-the-people-of-greece> As Greece faces the latest round of attacks from the international financial institutions, support for the Greek people’s struggle has been building across Europe. Solidarity demonstrations in many countries gave a powerful message this weekend and London will add its voice in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday. The Greek people are being held to ransom by international creditors for an enormous and unpayable debt that they don’t owe and can’t pay. Greece is on the frontline of Europe’s debt crisis and, with €10 billion in debt repayments due between now and the end of August, the solidarity of citizens across Europe is needed more than ever. Britain faces its own struggle against austerity – but this is rightly understood as part of the same fight against neo-liberalism – whether in Greece, Spain, Ireland or elsewhere. As hundreds of thousands took to the streets of London on Saturday calling for an end to austerity, we were part of a huge wave of protest across Europe. Marina Prentoulis from Syriza addressed the rally in Parliament Square, and here – linking our struggles – she calls for support for tomorrow’s protest in Trafalgar Square: "June 20th was a great day for true democracy, solidarity and social justice. The people of Europe took the streets sending a clear message to all national governments and European institutions: we will not pay the price of a financial system that has spiralled out of control, a system that is supporting the interests of a tiny minority. In London, a quarter of a million people marched against the austerity measures that will condemn millions to poverty. At the same time, the Tory government has announced its plans to destroy the welfare state showing a total disregard of the demands of the people. We have to go on until we force austerity out of our society, until the plans of the Tory government are binned. "After our marches across Britain, we have to show the Tory government that our true representatives are only those who put the interests of the people first. And right now, only one government in Europe has the strength to stand up to these powerful financial interests running our countries and destroying our lives, our societies: the Greek government, the Syriza government, is now the government for all the people of Europe, the only government which demands social justice, not only for Greece but for all of us. "The Greek government – with a democratic mandate from the Greek people – is the first government to stand up to neoliberal interests in Europe. It has been a long struggle, a difficult struggle but it is not over yet. As the negotiations approach a critical moment, we, the people of Europe, we, the people of Britain, cannot afford a moment’s rest. We have to go on showing our solidarity and our support for the Greek people. The victory of Greece, the victory of the Syriza government will be our victory, will be a victory for all those that have been suffering the devastating effects of austerity. "Let’s take the streets again and again, until we force those in power to listen to our voices, until we force them to see the catastrophic effects of their policies. Join us on June 23rd at Trafalgar Square and let’s all shout once again: We had enough of your austerity! A Greek victory is a victory for all of us!" Protest in Solidarity with Greek people Brussels, June 20 (Videos and Photos) <http://www.stokokkino.gr/details_en.php?id=1000000000011182/Protest-in-Solidarity-with-Greek-people---Brussels-Videos-and-Photos> Trevor Hogan says Ireland should support Greece Former rugby player calls on the Government to do more at Dublin rally Photo caption: A rally in support of the Greek people was held on Dublin’s Parliament Street today. by Kitty Holland Irish Times, Jun 22, <http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/trevor-hogan-says-ireland-should-support-greece-1.2258772> “The Irish Government absolutely has not done enough to support the Greeks but I think that’s because it would reflect badly on them. The Irish people would be asking why our Government didn’t fight hard enough for a deal for us. If they were to support the Greeks, and they got a deal, it could be good for us.” Among those also at the rally, which was organised by the Greek Solidarity Committee (GSC), were academics, artists, journalists and social activists. Poet Michael O’Loughlin said the crisis in Greece underlined the extent to which democracy had been eroded by the European project. “It doesn’t matter how people vote anymore,” he said. “The Greek people gave Syriza a mandate to negotiate in Europe and end the austerity in their country. But then they find they are negotiating with unelected bureaucrats in Europe who don’t care what the people have voted for. It is not just an economic crisis, it’s a political crisis.” ‘Radical experiment’ Helena Sheehan, academic at Dublin City University, said Greece was at “the cutting edge of a radical experiment” being perpetrated on it by the EU “to see how much it is possible to expropriate from a ‘first world’ country”. “We have seen the international monetary community do it to ‘third world’ and ‘second world’ countries. Now they are doing to it a ‘first world country’.” Dr Eugenia Siapera, a Greek sociologist working in DCU, said Greece needed “respite from desperation”. Describing the negotiations between the Greek government and the euro-zone leaders as “a sword of Damocles” she said Greeks needed space “to begin picking up the pieces and rebuilding their lives and their country”. Ronan Burtenshaw, co-ordinator of the GSC, said: “The austerity era has been devastating for Greeks and they have rightly rejected it. Their vote for change in January must be respected.” Britain: 250,000 protest against austerity - Kick out the Tories! Kick out Capitalism! Socialist Appeal(IMT), Britain, June 22 <http://www.marxist.com/britain-250000-protest-against-austerity-kick-out-the-tories-kick-out-capitalism.htm> Saturday’s End Austerity Now demonstrations defied all expectations. Prior to these events, the protest’s organisers, the People’s Assembly Against Austerity – a national coalition of local community campaigns, trade unions, and activist groups – had estimated that the attendance in London would be between 50,000 and 100,000. In the end, police estimates for the London demonstration alone gave a figure of around 250,000, with likely numbers exceeding this. Thousands more took to the streets in Liverpool and Glasgow. From the title of the protest to the placards on display and the slogans being shouted, the message was loud and clear: we reject your austerity! A new generation The People’s Assembly organised protest was the culmination of weeks of spontaneous demonstrations and local protests that have broken out in the wake of the surprise Tory victory in the 7th May general election. Indeed, the defining characteristic of the post-election period has been the militant and radical mood of anger everywhere – accumulating beneath the surface for years – that has erupted out into the open, with thousands protesting outside Downing Street in the immediate aftermath of the election, and thousands more demonstrating in cities across Britain against the Tories and austerity. The 20th June protest – starting symbolically in the City of London by the Bank of England and ending next to the Palace of Westminster in Parliament Square – was a potent and visible display of the radicalisation that has open up following the Tories’ election victory. Far from being demoralised and cowed into submission, ordinary people have remained defiant. This was clearly reflected on Saturday by the festival, carnival-like atmosphere of the demonstration, where there was a notably jubilant but defiant mood on display. Most notable was the enthusiasm and dynamism of tens of thousands of school students at Saturday’s demos, many of whom had made their own way there (from far afield) to attend their first ever big protest. It is clear that a whole new generation have been drawn into political activity on the basis of events, and this was their first opportunity to express their anger and desire for a radical change. Their entrance onto the scene of political activism has provided a welcome breath of fresh air, helping to galvanise the movement and provide new winds for its sails. These latest demonstrations were by far the largest in the past few years – only beaten in terms of size by the one-million-strong TUC “March for the Alternative” in 2011. Since then, with little to show for years of strikes and demonstrations, the TUC-led protests have diminished in size, and a certain sense of resignation has crept in at times. Many felt they were like the Grand Old Duke of York soldiers being marched up and down with no strategy or plan. In contrast, End Austerity Now was an incredibly vibrant demonstration, due – in the main – to the extremely large presence of radicalised and militant young people. It is these same radical youth who had led the way in the semi-spontaneous local protests that had broken out across the country in the recent period. . . . On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 8:54 PM, Dayne Goodwin <daynegood...@gmail.com> wrote: > Several thousand rally in Athens against austerity > by Karolina Tagaris > Business Insider, Reuters, June 21 > <http://www.businessinsider.com/r-several-thousand-rally-in-athens-against-austerity-2015-6> . . . _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
