Update on the tensions and continued social crisis in Greece
“Greece is going to hell, it is going to hell and I am glad it is so that we can comeback and start things from the beginning” These were the last words of an anarchist comrade in Greece as we spoke about events that have taken place in recent weeks because of the austerity measures introduced by the Government to tackle Greece’s enormous debt.
Greece’s Premier has likened the Greek economic situation to that of a country in “wartime”, in which he announced that the public must come together in order to “survive”
Although this wartime reference was used as a metaphor, Papandreou might only too soon find his Government locked in a state of war with the working classes. Trade Union leaders have called the measures an act of war and the Communist Party Leader of Greece has already called for the working classes to rise up against the European Union and the International monetary market and began its efforts by blocking the Athens Stock Exchange through members of its Union PAME. These “calls to arms” however, have typically fallen on deaf ears among Greeks who claim the communist party ,as one taxi driver said to me, “are a party who want to take us back one hundred years”. However, this might prove to be an understatement as the newly introduced measures on force people onto the streets in what they see as an unfair burden that has been placed upon ordinary Greeks by the international banking community and the Government.
Among the new measures that have been imposed are rises in value added tax from 19% to a staggering 21%. A further rise in the price of fuel, cigarettes and alcohol, which if one has already visited Athens, is above the average price of these commodities in other European cities, and are especially high for common Greeks who earn much less. And an added tax on luxury purchased goods. The same taxi driver who condemned the KKE also admitted to me that it would be cheaper to not drive the taxi at all, due to the introduction of the new economic measures. This explains why taxi drivers have staged walk outs in recent weeks in response to a government austerity measure which forces them to give receipts to clients and keep a log of all their earnings. The little extra money they were able to make through driving extra hours in order to save, will to now be consumed by the state in order to feed the enormous public debt bubble and bring it back under control.
The mainstream press are claiming that most of the electorate, two-thirds in fact, are behind the new Government’s plans to cut public finances, including the 14th salary in which civil servants are paid an extra bonus over Christmas, which they depend on and is a historic part of the labor movement in Greece. Yet, one has to question this statistic when only this week, at the beginning of March , Labor activists attempted to break into the labor ministry to disrupt the Labor minister’s meeting with an EU Finance Minister Olli Rehn, only to be beaten back by Police armed with pepper spray and batons. One again, one has yet to question this statistic when two national strikes and demonstrations have take place, called by private and public trade Unions ADEDY and GSEE, which brought most of Greece’s public services to a standstill. There was even a media blackout as journalists joined the some 50.000 demonstrators on the streets of Athens. If one were to believe the statistic of public backing, the only questions remains is why? Why are Greeks backing this austerity package the Government is so rapidly and desperately trying to put together at the behest of the international markets? Simply because, the revolutionary spirit has been dampened and people do not know what to do next. Revolution or reform is the question on everyone’s mind.
In a further blow to Greece’s sovereignty, Goldman Sachs, US investment bank has entered the fray. Using similar derivatives which caused the bursting of the subprime mortgage market bubble, financial instruments known as currency swaps, allowed Greece to mask up to a billion euros of its deficit. As one professor of economics from an Athens University told me, although this deal which was brokered through Goldman Sachs only accounts for less than 1% of Greece’s deficit, it is the principle of their actions which should be scrutinized. Once again we are seeing Investment Banks act above Governments, in using over the counter deals, fixing rates, which are not regulated. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve stopped himself short of announcing that there would be an official inquiry into the deal the Greek Government made with Goldman Sachs. A Guerilla group, named Conspiracy of |Cells of Fire, have already claimed responsibility for an explosive device which ripped through the entrance to Athens HQ of JP Morgan Chase, a bank backed by Goldman Sachs.
With further strikes planned for later in March only time will tell how the public will react to the introduction of these measures, one thing that is certain is that young Greeks soon will have to seek opportunities abroad as unemployment figures will inevitably rise. Another telling moment for developments will be in a couple of months when Greece will be called upon to refinance its 21.2 billion debt and is forced to tap capital markets amidst a potential downgrade from credit ratings agencies. If however, Greece is unable to acquire aid from its European counterparts, there is speculation that the IMF will enter the arena, and for economists and activists alike who are aware of the nature and history of the IMF’s policies, one can only fear a repeat of the 2002 bankruptcy of Argentina which brought the country near the brink of collapse.
