Working In These Times
Greece Strikes, the People Rise, Global Economy Teeters
Protesters clash with riot police in Athens on Wednesday, October 19. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)
Everyone knew it was a losing battle, but everyone showed up anyway. In an uprising virtually unprecedented in its size, scope and diversity, malcontents united across Greece to push back against the government's assault on working people.
This week's 48-hour strike drew workers from both public and private sectors, students, the unemployed--just about everyone about to get smacked with the austerity measures that the Parliament has approved under pressure from IMF and Eurozone officials. With tens of thousands of civil service jobs to be downsized, pensions and wages to be gutted, and labor and civil rights under siege, the people's upheaval has proven as severe and persistent as the fiscal butchery that politicians keep ramming down their throats.
People took to the streets because they had nothing to lose. As one protester, civil engineer Vagelis Filezis, told CNN, "We have no hope. The only hope we have is the strength of the people.”
Alterthess tracked the swelling protests in the streets of Athens:
11:45: Protesters are becoming more and more. The square in front of the Parliament as well as all streets around are already crowded. It seems to be one of the biggest demonstrations of the decade....
13:20: Due to the big amount of protesters different unions seem to have united and formed a general moving mass around the Sintagma Sq. All main roads are blocked while older people compare this demonstration to the first demonstrations after the fall of dictatorship (1974). Police forces--albeit present--have not intervened as demonstration is peaceful till now.
But it was only a matter of time before the tension exploded. By October 20, Alterthess reported, crowds braved the usual onslaught of police crackdowns and tear gas (with one reported death of a protester). And the demonstration was roiled internally by “violent clashes between rival groups of protesters (anarchist groups and communist party members).”
George Pontikos of the labor group PAME told In These Times that unions, workers, students, the self-employed and other civil society groups defied “threats, blackmail, intimidation by employers and government.” The core demonstrators resisted “the provocateur activity of small groups” that sought to tarnish the movement's public image and undermine solidarity. Amid the chaos, the most effective way to keep the movement intact is just to stay on point, under the slogan “down with the government and the parties of capital”:
These forces demonstrated the opposition of the working people, the youth and the popular strata to the adoption of the new anti-people measures. They declared the opposition of the people to the new sacrifices for the plutocracy that the social democrat government calls for.
Their cries may sound militant, but the relentlessness of the protests reveals more than a populist tantrum. The Greek drama may portend the bleak future of the Eurozone. While governments continue churning out austerity plans to avoid financial “collapse,” brazenly disregarding the potential social consequences, Peter Dwyer at the Socialist Review observes:
Enter the Greek working class. It has been their defiance of such measures through general strikes, protests and riots that has meant the Greek rulers have been prevented from going as deep and as fast as the EU want them to. The result has sent shockwaves through the EU for fear they will not get their money back if Greece defaults.
For the Greeks, the economic and social collapse has already hit, so against a deaf and mute government, they are leveraging the only thing they have left: their anger. On the other hand, Dwyer warns, “we know capitalism never stands still”; that is, while direct actions open up a space for dissent, there isn't yet a coherent plan on the left to cope with the (perhaps inevitable) demise of the Euro.
A missive on the leftist outlet Ergatiki.gr said that Greece should reject the crippling Eurozone austerity agenda and sever the “gordian knot of debt.” A more nuanced analysis by Dick Nichols at Links weighs various arguments for deliberate default, a total exit from the Euro, or an “integrated” European response with a vision for social equity, rather than a potentially regressive backlash against any regional integration:
The 700-strong October 1 European Conference Against Austerity in London settled on five points: resistance against austerity policies and cuts, a radically progressive tax system and capital controls, nationalisation and democratic control of the banking system, the renunciation of illegitimate debt and an alternative economic and political strategy embodying a green approach to public spending and job creation.
The coming months in Europe will tell us how strongly working people will rally to those slogans.
Beyond Europe, the tireless rage that has gripped Greece captures the tenor of the global crisis—a cry of despair that resonates far and wide from Manhattan's 99 percent to Madrid's Indignados. As Occupy Wall Street inspires parallel protests worldwide, each adds new tactics and ideas to a collective chorus, all harmonizing around vital questions: can the movement stay both disciplined and decentralized, self-critical as well as constructive in developing solutions for communities? The uprisings are just now finding their voice. Athens is one more global mic check.
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Comments
I should start by saying that I love Working in These Times and Michelle’s pieces are always (or usually) quite good. So the criticism which follows is intended to be constructive, a comradely debate between confederates as it were.
“Everyone knew it was a losing battle, but everyone showed up anyway. In an uprising virtually unprecedented in its size, scope and diversity, malcontents united across Greece to push back against the government’s assault on working people.”
What! A losing battle? Everybody knew?
The latest Euro debt deal has greatly increased the amount of loss for bondholders (50%), if you will recall the original plan sought par.
So whythe change? They are scared, that’s why. Right now the Greek people are winning the battle, not losing.
This uprising is unprecendented in neither size nor scope nor diversity. I have no idea why Michelle wrote these things.
The link that Michelle provides to the “reported” death of a protester takes one to the Businessweek website (yuk) where one reeads that the protester died from trauma to the head. He had a heart from the tear gas. So I guess Wall Street isn’t the best source of info on fatalities of those protesting capitalism.
“And the demonstration was roiled internally by ‘violent clashes between rival groups of protesters (anarchist groups and communist party members).’”
Was roiled internally? Why does Michelle believe that? Any evidence? The Stalinist KKE surrounded the parliament and protected the slime therein while they sold out there country. In the interests of full disclosure, I’m an anarchist so I’m not impartial here. Michelle’s failure to denounce the treasonous communists is bad enough, but to imply as she indisputably did that the organized protection of the parliament and military-like charges the KKE made against the anarchists and other protesters was the result of internal disputes rather than the KKE’s collusion with the government is difficult to understand and even harder to square with journalistic neutrality and ethics. Certainly the mass of protesters do not agree with Michelle’s exculpatory position. The Syntagma GA issued a statement in which they condemned the KKE in the strongest possible terms calling them the enemy of the Grek working class. Yet reading Michelle’s astonishingly saccharine, indifferent, parenthetical reference to the single greatest counterrevolutionary attack from the left since Kronstadt one would hardly think it mattered, to her or the movement. Greek so-called communists are protecting the Greek government, this is the biggest and worst incident in the Greek uprising so far.
Michelle, what the fuck?
The last paragraph was pretty good though (olive branch).
Thanks, no olive branch necessary, sorry for any misunderstanding. The post was intended as an overview of the events, to be clear, and not apologia for Stalinist protest tactics. If the figurative line in the lede came across as dismissive (a reference specifically to the bill that was doomed to pass, not the movement as a whole as the rest of the article tries to make clear), and the estimation of tens of thousands turning out (by all accounts a major portion of the public and private workforces) seemed exaggerated, and the parenthetical quote (choice of punctuation by Alterthess) too limited, I think the main point was to sketch a composite of the news coming out of Greece, albeit very limited by the author’s geographical location. Your points are well taken about not giving due attention to the anarchists’ perspective. It is, though, useful here to note the internal rifts, as there seems to be a long tradition of anarchist-communist clashes and various other ideological conflicts dating back to the 1940s at least. That said, the encircling of the Parliament and symbolism therein has evoked some intense debate, referenced below to compensate for lack of detail above. I don’t think the critiques go so far as to call it a counterrevolutionary move on the order of Kronstadt, given the historical contrasts between the Eurozone crisis and the Russian Revolution, but they do include good video and other information. Thanks for bringing this perspective, which will inform our ongoing coverage:
http://roarmag.org/2011/10/anarchists-communists-strike-riots-violence-greece/
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2011/10/20/oct-20-athens-protests-unrests-clashes-live-blogging-in-english-news-pcts-videos/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/blog/2011/oct/20/eu-crisis-emergency-talks
(Included in those links are updated notes on the trade unionist death, which match what Alterthess reported and are more accurate than the initial wire story.)
Once again I say that I appreciate the work Michelle and her colleagues here at WITT do. I feel grateful towards y’all. So what follows is friendly discussion on my end.
Michelle, you didn’t answer my main points. You made what I believe is fair to characterize as a tendentious statement when you said that the strike was roiled internally. And you didn’t defend that position in the text of your essay or in your response to me. You may be right (altho I don’t believe so), but that is certainly not the conventional wisdom of the people in Syntagma Square, nor, I hazard to guess, that of a majority of the Greek people. They believe that the KKE is a shill organization, a front for capital. And the people of Syntagma, in the statement they issued on the subject on the day of the infamous incident, cited a number of historical incidents to support their opinion. This is a critically important matter. when you present as fact that the dispute was “internal”, you dismiss the charge made by Syntagma. okay you might be right, but you need to do more than just say it, you need to justify your po0sition with some evidence.
There is a long history of communist parties betraying working people. Off the top of my head: the German and Spanish Revolutions, France in ‘36 and ‘68, South Africa after Apartheid, Poland in ‘67 and ‘80. I would add the the USSR and PRC.
According to the office of the coroner in Athens, the protester died of a heart attack brought on by the tear gas. The links you provide are quite old.
Incidentally, the “dave” who commented at the ROAR page to which you linked is me. You might read my comments there as they relate to this discussion
I didn’t say the numbers of protesters were exaggerated. I said it wasn’t unprecedented in size or scope, just for the record.
re Kronstadt: I disagree. I think it was an epic, legendary betrayal on the part of the communists, and so did the people in Syntagma Square. It was utterly craven and corrupt. It was infamous. The KKE claims to act on behalf of the Greek proletariat. In the latter’s hour of need they chose
instead to beat protesters over the heads with clubs. It was contemptible. It was indefensible.
So to sum up, this comment thread has covered: 1) acknowledging the validity of the perspectives you raise in your comments, 2) linking to other more comprehensive information about the protests that was, due to reasons explained above, not fully addressed within the limited scope of the piece, 3) linking specifically to anarchist and affiliated commentary, which incidentally also features yet more of your comments. On the word choice, I’m not sure what more should be debated about applying the term “internally” to characterize clashes between communist and anarchist groups within the Greek left? So to address this “tendentious statement when you said that the strike was roiled internally”—the use of the term here stands, but you’re more than welcome to disagree (same with the Kronstadt analogy).
I haven’t personally canvassed “the people of Syntagma,” however broadly we can define the tens of thousands who showed up. Those observing from overseas can thankfully draw from other reporting, including perspectives that echo some, though perhaps not all, of the sentiments you express, at outlets like http://eagainst.com or Infoshop, or the above-referenced Roar, which I encourage readers to explore given the obvious challenges in reporting from this side of the pond.
On the long history of Communist Party betrayals in other historical contexts: er, yes, I imagine many of us, including many ITT readers, would fully agree. Okay, moving on. Lastly, the news links reflect real-time coverage of the death and cause of death as news unfolded, so they’re clearly “quite old,” given that the event itself is about that age by now. Indeed, the situation in Greece continues to change by the minute, and hopefully we can collectively focus our attention on that now. More to come. Thanks again.
How did this start? It seems the exchange is becoming contentious, not what I want, but will acknowledge my part.
Okay Michelle, I surrender. This is my last post on this subject. You can have the last word by responding to this if you like.
JFTR, it was you who linked to anarchist and affiliated commentary, not me. And my comments there were posted before this thread and only mentioned by me as you linked to them. I only identified myself as the ‘dave’ at that site. I’m not sure people reading yr latest comment would know that, hence this paragraph.
re: “On the word choice, I’m not sure what more should be debated about applying the term “internally” to characterize clashes between communist and anarchist groups within the Greek left? So to address this “tendentious statement when you said that the strike was roiled internally”—the use of the term here stands, but you’re more than welcome to disagree “
There hasn’t been a debate, you simply haven’t responded. You state as fact that the infamous conflict was “internal”, I challenged this by saying that I believe it wasn’t internal and that you should justify your statement. I believe it’s unethical to state opinion as fact. And this nonsense about being across the “pond” is just a dodge.
Of course the use of the term stands, did you think that I expected you to rewrite the article? I asked (and still ask) you to justify your statement, no more. Your opinion contrasts sharply with that of those involved. Why do you disagree with them? A simple question.
“I haven’t personally canvassed “the people of Syntagma,” however broadly we can define the tens of thousands who showed up…” We needn’t canvass nor define them. They held a GA; they issued a statement; it said that they believed the KKE were acting in collusion with the government, to wit:
“After Varkiza [1], the Polytechnic [2], the Chemistry School (1979) [3], December [2008] [4] and a number of other instances, reality once again came to reveal the role of the Party that systematically betrays popular struggles… history shows this was not “mere political errors” but a co-oordinated and conscious stance defending parliamentary dictatorship and the capitalist financial and social relationships. This is what they did yesterday…They guarded the smooth operation of parliament ...[and]acted even more barbarously than the police, cracking sculls [sic] open and handing over demonstrators to the forces of repression. The worst from all that they did was that they legitimised the state…From yesterday on, definitively and irreversibly, the so-called “Communist Party” is no more than a barrier against the attempt to bury the parliamentary corpse. Any free human struggling for their dignity in these crucial days must politically target it [in return]. This proposition should not be read as a split in the movement. We might have common problems and common targets with the plain voters of the “Communist Party”, but the politics and the practice of the leadership to which they are glued follows by word the orders of the government and the envoys of the IMF, EU and the ECB. We never marched side-by-side with them, there will never be with us. We must all keep in mind that the “Communist Party” will act as a fifth column of the dictatorial regime, hoping once again to grab some crumbs off the parliamentary table, just like it did in 1990..”[http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/2011/10/22/resolution-by-the-popular-assembly-of-syntagma-square-21102011/]
This, Michelle, was not a statement coming from anarchists, nor from the “Greek Left” in which you erroneously included the KKE counterrevolutionary charlatans, it was issued by the General Assembly. I understood it, and I’m farther from Athens than you are.
“Okay, moving on”: I was responding to your comment (i.e. not the article), which was written long after the links in yr article. At that point it had been widely reported that the coroner had determined that the poor KKE dupe had died from a heart attack. Why you are STILL writing/arguing about this is beyond me. He died of a heart attack, get over it.
Once again, I appreciate the work you and your colleagues do, so I thank you. I regret that we find ourselves irritating one another. I look forward to yr future articles, but I will refrain from commenting in the future.
Jeez, who said anything about surrender? Is that olive branch still available?
Seriously, admittedly we’ve flogged this to death, and this thread has likely ceased to interest anyone but us two. That said, for the sake of encouraging dialogue I’d like to reiterate that each reply to you has been aimed only at addressing your concerns, and not at deterring your comments (which you seem to suggest at the end).
While I may not be offering you information that’s exceptionally new to you, my broader interest is helping readers better contextualize and understand the issue, and in the process I’ve gained a greater understanding of the issues myself and the spectrum of responses to these events. And of course, your copy-pasting the statement of the General Assembly is duly appreciated. I don’t consider my acknowledgement that I’m not there on the ground reporting from Syntagma as a “dodge”; it’s an honest observation and an important factor in reporting about this.
At this point, the last bone of contention appears rather difficult to litigate: “You state as fact that the infamous conflict was ‘internal’, I challenged this by saying that I believe it wasn’t internal and that you should justify your statement. I believe it’s unethical to state opinion as fact.” Totally agreed on that last sentence. But if your argument is that describing a clash between two groups with different ideological affiliations on the Greek Left is not “internal” but somehow “external”(?)—or one group is external to the other(?)—I guess I’m still not persuaded that my choice of words was radically biased or mean-spirited. Still, it’s true that using fair and accurate language when describing such conflicts can be thorny. So, apologies if you’ve read my bafflement at this dispute as deliberate intellectual dishonesty; I’ll keep this in mind in the future to avoid miscommunnication. But please don’t be discouraged from commenting on other posts. I’ve quite enjoyed this exchange, and if bloggers and readers end up talking a bit past each other, that’s part of the process.