Meanwhile, in Greece

For the past couple of days Leftfield has been a bit distracted by the minor matter of whether the hated Tories are going to form an unelected government over Scotland. One of the consequences is we haven’t been able to bring you updates about what’s been going down in Greece since Wednesday’s general strike.

Just to recap: Greece is being forced by the IMF and EU to undergo the harshest programme of cuts, job losses, tax rises and general shitness imaginable. This is so the Greek government can receive a package of loans from the other European countries, in order to continue paying its debts to foreign and Greek banks.

On Thursday, despite a solid general strike and massive anger on the streets, the Greek parliament voted through the cuts package, by 172 to 121.

The so-called “Socialist” government (in fact a bunch of sellout traitors, comparable to New Labour) expelled 3 of their own MPs for voting against the measure. It was passed with the support of the far right.

Meanwhile, outside, 30,000 ordinary Greeks rallied to show their rage at the actions of the government, chanting “They declared war, now fight back!” The demo was the victim of a totally unprovoked assault by riot cops, as you can see in some of the footage below (again, the bangs you can hear are stun grenades fired by the cops):

The cops over recent days have been fulfilling their role as the armed force that enforces state policy. They’ve gone on the rampage in Exarcheia, an Athens neighbourhood that’s inhabited by loads of young socialists and anarchists. The area houses ‘The Haunt of the Migrants’, a social centre used by immigrants rights groups, Left wingers, LGBT and feminist groups, as well as for free Greek language classes for migrants. On Wednesday cops smashed their way in and attacked people inside chanting “Tonight we’ll fuck you.” Police also attacked an anarchist squat, arresting 70 people and using live ammunition and grenades. And in the video below, you can see cops smashing a popular cafe in Exarcheia. At the end of the footage the following dialogue takes place:

[riot police man] Erase it now, right now. Why are you filming? Who gave you permission?
[camera person] Why?
[riot police man] Because I fucking say so.

Following Thursday’s votes unions have put their members on alert for another general strike. On Monday the Greek government is meeting to finalise plans for cutting pensions, making survival for older viewers difficult. The next general strike will probably be on the day when these proposals are brought to be voted in parliament.

The All-Workers’ Militant Front (PAME in Greek), an alliance of trade unionists and activists, and one of the most radical groups of unions, has called for a massive rally of Greeks on May 15th. In a statement they said:

“The only solution now is the escalation of the class struggle of workers, self-employed poor farmers, women and young people for the rupture and the overthrow of monopolies’ policy and power.”

And the Greek Communist Party argues:

“The only guarantee for democracy is the people, organised around a programme of struggle with a specific direction, and endurance in that struggle for the change of class power.”