German soldiers raise the Nazi flag over the Acropolis. Today, the Greek government has again surrendered.

The Greek government has agreed to a programme of loans of billions of Euros from the EU and IMF. This money comes with an incredible list of demands, that will plunge the standard of living for the Greek people. Many people are drawing direct comparisons between the Greek government of 1941, which surrendered to the Nazi invasion and became German puppets, and the current government, which has surrendered and become a puppet of the international financial institutions and the EU bureaucrats.

Already, ordinary Greeks can see that if the EU and the IMF get their way, then their country will be ruined. There is a mass exodus of Greeks fleeing abroad in an attempt to escape from the economic catastrophe; applications to migrate to the USA and Canada have jumped by 30% since the beginning of the year.

Check out this list of humiliating conditions imposed on the surrender of the Greek government:

-15% reduction in salaries for both private and public sector workers.

-At the same time increasing VAT, making food and basic goods far more expensive.

-Increase the retirement age to 67.

-Decrease pensions.

-Hundreds of thousands of job cuts in the public sector.

-Where workers have won a collective agreement between unions and their bosses, these will be abolished.

-Abolition of any restrictions on bosses ability to cut jobs in the private sector.

-Massive cuts in public spending. Already announced include the expansion of school class sizes from 25 to over 30.

This is shocking. It’s like a neoliberal shopping list, as if the most right wing economists are getting the right to write their dream programme for remaking Greece as a capitalist’s paradise. Make no mistake: these are ideas that big business has fought for in Europe for years. The fact that many European countries have a welfare state is a major block on the ability of capitalists to make as much money as they like. The crisis in Greece is a great opportunity for them to push through policies they’ve wanted for a long time. What we’re facing, firstly in Greece, but later in the rest of Europe as well, is the possibility of an economic dictatorship by the super rich financial elite. They are trying to use the force of the state, with its riot cops and soldiers, to force the people’s acceptance of a total surrender to their interests.

Naomi Klein has called this process the Shock Doctrine: when the global ruling class uses crisis as an opportunity to push through policies they would never normally be able to impose on people, while they are still in shock from the disaster. See the short film below for a more detailed explanation of how the shock doctrine works, and other times it’s been imposed on people.

But the thing is, the people who are forcing through the destruction of Greece are the same ones who were responsible for creating the crisis in the first place. The huge debt of the Greek government comes from loans from French, German, British, Dutch and Swiss banks. The Greek people are being punished by the European ruling class . . . for the mistakes of the European ruling class.

In the face of this economic warfare, the Greeks only have one choice: to fight back.

Yesterday May Day rallies were attacked by riot cops as tens of thousands came on to the streets to demonstrate their resistance. As one shipyard worker put it:

“These latest measures have been cooked up by outsiders and are totally outrageous. They are aimed not at the rich but at the poor. What we are saying here today is that they will pass only over our dead bodies.”

Showing their rage at the capitulation of their government, protesters at one point spotted Apostolos Kaklamanis, an MP and member of the government, and jumped him. He had to be whisked away from the fury of ordinary Greeks by riot police.

The next big day in the streets is set to be Wednesday, when there will be the next Greek general strike.

Greeks vs Riot Cops

Many establishment political commentators recognise that the people are too angry, and too organised, for the government to be able to carry out this programme of attacks. They think it is possible that Greece will be unable to pay its debts to the bankers and capitalists, who will then bankrupt the country and force it to withdraw from the Euro, something that would be a crisis for the entire future of the single currency.

In the face of this, the ruling class are already talking about an “emergency government of national unity” or appointing an unelected administration of “experts”. In a country that suffered under a fascist military dictatorship from 1967-74, this kind of chat is obviously very scary.

But the other possibility that may seriously be on the cards is the overthrow of the government by the people. A revolution in Greece is far from a sure thing, but the scale of fury on the streets mean that this is an important point in Greek history. But to truly solve this crisis, and face down the massive attack of the ruling class and on the people in Greece, and across Europe and the world, we need to get in touch with our allies in other countries and prepare for an international fightback.

If they win their war with Greece, Spain, Portugal, and ultimately we, will be next. A crisis can also be an opportunity, for us as well as the capitalists. It’s time to join the fightback.

(Please take this as an open invitation to use the comments thread as a way of sharing ideas about how we can build solidarity with Greece, and more generally prepare for a continent wide fightback.)

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.