The biggest strike-turning point
Never in the 37 years post-junta has there been a general strike more important than the one happening today. Ethnos
By George Delastik
Ethnos, 18/10
Never in the 37 years after the collapse of the military junta has there been in Greece a general strike more important than the one on October 19th-20th. The strike is organized by private and public sector unions as well as the association of commercial businesses, meaning that all shops will be closed on October 19th. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to go on strike and a large number is expected to take to the streets. The outcome of the general strike might determine political developments regarding the country’s government.
The strike is being called for the most serious reason ever. If the new bill (named “multi-bill because of the wide range of its provisions) is voted into law as is, then the living standards of the Greeks will be violently slashed, turning the clock many decades back. It is the first time, after WWII and the Greek Civil War anything similar is happening. It is only natural that millions of Greeks react and do whatever they can to prevent this from materialising.
The government hasn’t managed to convince anyone that turning the country back to the 1960’s or the 1970’s will “save the country”. How can millions of working people, young people, pensioners, small and medium income earners feel they are being “saved” by being thrown to the abyss of poverty and unemployment?
The government thinks that a parliamentary majority of four MP΄s (plus votes from LAOS, DHSY and a few from Nea Dimokratia, if necessary) is enough in order to change so dramatically our people’s lives. It relies on the fact that the police and if need be the army will intervene and crush protests.
This is correct- in theory. In practical terms, a government that has managed to turn against it the sum total of the Greek population, to such an extent that the entire civil service and the workers in the wider public sector have rebelled against it, cannot govern. The state apparatus is rapidly disintegrating, with its members feeling nothing but hostility towards the government.
The clash of government policy and the interests of the Greek people will reach its symbolical climax with the general strike and the government majority vote on the proposed law. But the clash will not end, because living standards will keep deteriorating for years, without respite .
Every step towards the darkness of Hades will replicate the dilemma between submission and fatalism on the one hand and a rebellious state of mind on the other hand. Every time, the answer will be given in practice. The crisis- political, economic, social- will be endemic, permanent.
The initial catalyst will be this general strike. This is understood at the highest levels of political and economic power, even though the tone used is sometimes exaggerated “A lot will be decided this week, may be everything” said Finance Minister and Vice Premier Venizelos on Sunday. “The people have the right to await your initiatives” wrote the editor of To Vima newspaper to the country’s President, Carolos Papoulias, “we have a few days left before the crisis possibly reaches its climax.”
In these “few days left” there are plenty who expect – and a few who try to spur- political developments. Of course, there is a gap between expectations, judgments, guesses, illusions on the one hand and facts on the ground that need first take place and then be analysed. There is only one certainty, that the October 19th-20th general strike will not go unnoticed, especially amid the shocking image of shops closed down.
Ethnos, 18/10
Never in the 37 years after the collapse of the military junta has there been in Greece a general strike more important than the one on October 19th-20th. The strike is organized by private and public sector unions as well as the association of commercial businesses, meaning that all shops will be closed on October 19th. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to go on strike and a large number is expected to take to the streets. The outcome of the general strike might determine political developments regarding the country’s government.
The strike is being called for the most serious reason ever. If the new bill (named “multi-bill because of the wide range of its provisions) is voted into law as is, then the living standards of the Greeks will be violently slashed, turning the clock many decades back. It is the first time, after WWII and the Greek Civil War anything similar is happening. It is only natural that millions of Greeks react and do whatever they can to prevent this from materialising.
The government hasn’t managed to convince anyone that turning the country back to the 1960’s or the 1970’s will “save the country”. How can millions of working people, young people, pensioners, small and medium income earners feel they are being “saved” by being thrown to the abyss of poverty and unemployment?
The government thinks that a parliamentary majority of four MP΄s (plus votes from LAOS, DHSY and a few from Nea Dimokratia, if necessary) is enough in order to change so dramatically our people’s lives. It relies on the fact that the police and if need be the army will intervene and crush protests.
This is correct- in theory. In practical terms, a government that has managed to turn against it the sum total of the Greek population, to such an extent that the entire civil service and the workers in the wider public sector have rebelled against it, cannot govern. The state apparatus is rapidly disintegrating, with its members feeling nothing but hostility towards the government.
The clash of government policy and the interests of the Greek people will reach its symbolical climax with the general strike and the government majority vote on the proposed law. But the clash will not end, because living standards will keep deteriorating for years, without respite .
Every step towards the darkness of Hades will replicate the dilemma between submission and fatalism on the one hand and a rebellious state of mind on the other hand. Every time, the answer will be given in practice. The crisis- political, economic, social- will be endemic, permanent.
The initial catalyst will be this general strike. This is understood at the highest levels of political and economic power, even though the tone used is sometimes exaggerated “A lot will be decided this week, may be everything” said Finance Minister and Vice Premier Venizelos on Sunday. “The people have the right to await your initiatives” wrote the editor of To Vima newspaper to the country’s President, Carolos Papoulias, “we have a few days left before the crisis possibly reaches its climax.”
In these “few days left” there are plenty who expect – and a few who try to spur- political developments. Of course, there is a gap between expectations, judgments, guesses, illusions on the one hand and facts on the ground that need first take place and then be analysed. There is only one certainty, that the October 19th-20th general strike will not go unnoticed, especially amid the shocking image of shops closed down.