BNP gathering support via food banks

An interesting development which many who keep a keen eye on the far right have seen as their next development looks to becoming reality. "British National Party activists are going door to door with mobile food banks in a bid to win support ahead of the local and European elections, The Independent can reveal. The far-right party has even produced a YouTube instruction video to teach volunteers how to build trust with voters in deprived areas by offering soup, teabags and washing powder on the doorstep. The BNP said the scheme had been “pioneered” in London last year and others had been set up in the Midlands and the North-West. Food stalls have also been set up in places such as Havering in east London. The tactics echo those used by the Greek far-right group Golden Dawn, which distributed food to the public at the height of the country’s economic crisis. The BNP leader Nick Griffin visited Athens in January at the movement’s invitation, as part of efforts to set up a Europe-wide coalition. ked about the tactic, BNP spokesman Simon Darby said the bedroom tax and the high cost of energy was driving the need for free food. “It’s beyond belief. People are really, really struggling to make ends meet. It’s no joke. It really is a genuine need for people,” he said. “It [giving out free food] is a very, very practical way to express sympathy with people. So many people are cynical about politics now. “It’s a way of getting people to trust you and bringing real meaning to politics … a way of embedding yourself in the community.” Mr Darby denied the food was a bribe and said it would be given to non-BNP supporters. The BNP wasn’t making a profit and he did not think it was against election law. The demonstration video uploaded to YouTube last week shows a BNP London organiser delivering food in Union Jack bags to an elderly woman. He encourages other activists across the country to engage in “door-to-door food bank activism”, saying all that’s needed is a “trolley and an assortment of tinned products”. An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said she had not heard of political parties giving out food in this way in the UK. “I assume if we knew it was going on, we would want to consider the matter and see whether anything needed to happen with it.” She said any donations of food worth more than £1,500 to local branches would have to be reported to the commission. There is a criminal offence called “treating” which specifically relates to giving food, but this requires “a corrupt intent” to influence voters. " From http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bnp-accused-of-using-food-bank-handouts-to-win-support-9224780.html all this is a concern which we must be wary of. The far right will always use tactics like this to build support in working class areas. We must tackle them head on to root them out of our communities where we can.

Can fascism make a comeback?

Yes it can I’d argue and it already is in some parts of the world in places like the Ukraine and Greece for example there are significant forces building and more worryingly growing all the time. When I was a member of the socialist party combating fascism was not a priority we were always told the capitalists would only use a fascist koo as last resort and the working class will have many chances’ to take power well before it comes to fascism. What they did not tell us was that fascism could make a comeback well before that and indeed right under our noses’. For me it appears as though the old centre ground centre left and centre right are in crisis and are finding their votes and popular support in collapse right across Europe. The centre left in particular is facing a big decline as ice outlined in previous posts on this blog this is no more confirmed than France's president Holland this week seeing his poll ratings sink to their lowest ever for any French president of all time. This is quite an achievement considering the dross they have produced down the years. Fascism can find a hold in times of fear and desperation in the downtrodden middle class's but also the working class too. Fascism was always considered a middle class movement those who have been disenchanted but this misses the point fascism can cover multiple classes in its mass popular support it is a tempting appeal when things are heading quickly down. Fascism in its traditional sense opposes communism but this is the traditional understanding we have fascism in the future and even today will and do look very different to what we understand it to have been in the past. Things do not repeat themselves in history but can take parts of the past with them. I think we may see the rise again of a mass movement against corruption on a European scale and even more so in here in the UK with the likes of UKIP appealing to those who are fed up with the current political elite even though many of their leading figures are hardly too far out of touch of the political establishment themselves. IN a piece in the guardian last November "In the years since the global banking crisis in 2007, commentators across the political spectrum have confidently predicted not only the imminent collapse of the euro – but sooner or later an unavoidable implosion of the European Union itself. None of this has come to pass. But the "European Project", launched after the devastation of the Second World War, now faces the most serious threat in its history. That threat was chillingly prefigured last november in the launch of a pan-European alliance of far-right parties, led by the French National Front and the Dutch Party of Liberty headed by Geert Wilders, and vowing to slay "the monster in Brussels".. Of course, the growth in support for far-right populist, anti-European, anti-immigrant parties has been force-fed by the worst world recession since at least the 1930s and possibly since before 1914. Mass unemployment and falling living standards in the euro-area and the wider EU made worse by the crazy and self-defeating austerity obsession of European leaders has opened the door to the revival of the far right. Parties that skulked in the shadows for decades after 1945, playing down their sympathies with fascism and Nazism are now re-emerging having given themselves a PR facelift. Marine Le Pen, leader of the French NF, plays down the antisemitic record of her party... The Dutch far-right leader has ploughed a slightly different furrow – mobilising fear and hostility not against Jews but rather Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands. Like Marine Le Pen, Wilders obsessively focuses on the alleged cosmopolitan threat to national identity from the European Union. It is a chorus echoed in other European countries by the Danish People's party, the Finns party and the Flemish Vlaams Belang among others. For now, the French and Dutch populists are carefully keeping their distance from openly neo-Nazi parties such as Golden Dawn – whose paramilitary Sturmabteilung – have terrorised refugees and immigrants in Greece, and the swaggering Hungarian Jobbik, who terrorise the Roma minority. For now, our own Ukip is tactically keeping its distance from the new European far-right alliance while whispering a similar story about "east European immigrants". Ridiculous comparisons have been drawn by some commentators between the rise of the populist far right and the growth of the radical left – notably the Syriza party in Greece, which has pushed for a reverse of austerity crisis policies, both in Greece and throughout Europe. In fact, Syriza represents the main challenge to Golden Dawn's offensive. Moreover, while the Italian Northern League may be drawn to the far-right alliance, the bulk of the semi-anarchist followers of the comedian Beppe Grillo in the Italian parliament are anti-fascist and unlikely to take the same path. According to some pollsters – the far right might win as many as a third of all the seats in the European parliament after the European elections this May. That would still leave the centre parties – Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals – with many more members. But for the European parliament to form a credible majority all of these parties might well be forced much closer together than is good for them or good for European democracy. It could threaten eventual paralysis of the European parliament itself. Such a situation would be unsettlingly reminiscent of 1936, when the centre and the left – notably in France – temporarily halted the swing to fascism but formed an unprincipled and ineffective coalition. Its collapse on the eve of the Second World War accelerated the advent of Phillippe Petain's Nazi collaborating regime. History does not normally repeat itself in an automatic fashion. But it would be foolish to take the risk. More worrying than the growth of the far right are the temporising gestures to the racists and anti-immigrants now coming from mainstream Tory and even Liberal Democrat politicians and from some of the new "Blue Labour" ideologues. The warning from the likes of David Blunkett that hostility to Roma immigrants might lead to a popular "explosion" is worryingly reminiscent of Enoch Powell style rhetoric. An effective antidote to the growth of far-right populism requires that the European left is capable of articulating and following through on a comprehensive alternative to economic stagnation, an ever-widening income and wealth gap, the degradation of our social standards, civil liberties and democratic rights and the mindless drift to a global arming catastrophe. But to succeed that alternative has to be fought for at European as well as national and local levels, and to be delivered will require more, not less, European integration." So to conclude fascism is back in some shape or form and can grow further still if allowedto. Our job must be to oppose it wherever it raises its ugly head. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/15/far-right-rise-european-marine-le-pen-geert-wilders

The rise of Golden Dawn and the threat they pose

The rise of fascist or semi fascist and racist ideas is on the rise right across Europe and something all on the left should take note of and wake up to in my view. With the likes of UKIP on the rise in Britain who are not out and out fascists but are certainly unpredictable and leaning more and more right by the week dragging political discourse in this country with it it would seem we should all start to wake up to a real threat of collapsing traditional political parties and emergences of new reactionary often racist but verging on the very real threat of openly fascist organisations and politically motivated groups too right across Europe today. Below I republish a excellent article about a recent murder in Greece by the Golden Dawn who are out and out neo Nazi’s in most peoples books now and are actively on the streets attacking political opponents and much much worse and must be confronted head on with the utmost urgency too. With thanks to Yiannis Baboulias "The other night, 34-year-old anti-fascist and left-wing rapper Pavlos Fissas was stabbed to death in Athens while he was surrounded by a group of 30 thugs in Golden Dawn shirts and military trousers. The victim, whose stage name is MC Killah P, had been watching a football match with his girlfriend. The Greek media is reporting that the murder came about after fighting between the fascists and anti-fascists, but according to eyewitnesses there were no clashes. The source – a local woman with no stated political allegiance – said that while Fissas was surrounded by the fascist mob, the murderer pulled up in a car, parked in a hurry, jumped out and attacked him straight away – details that point towards a premeditated attack. Fissas was stabbed twice in the heart, and once in his stomach. He died later in hospital. The murderer was arrested later and confessed to both the murder and the political nature of his act. The same sources allege that a group of police officers at the scene did nothing to stop what was happening – according to the left-wing Athens-based website Left.gr, police told onlookers that they could not intervene because the assailants were “too numerous”. The attacker was eventually arrested by an officer and his car was taken away. Two hundred anti-fascists gathered at the scene later, and calls for protest marches all around Greece were put out. The Golden Dawn claims that the perpetrator isn't a member of their organisation and is threatening anyone who implicates them in the murder with lawsuits. However, police sources have confirmed to Kathimerini newspaper reporter Jean Souliotis that his party membership card was found in the rubbish bin outside his house. According to sources, he is associated with the Piraeus branch of the Golden Dawn. As far as Golden Dawn violence goes, this was an extreme incident but not an isolated one. There seems to have been resurgence in Golden Dawn attacks of late, to the extent that you wonder if this is a calculated strategy to escalate tensions between the far-right party and its political opponents. Late last Thursday night, 30 Greek Communist Party (KKE) members were putting up posters in the streets of Perama, when a group of 50 masked individuals wearing Golden Dawn insignia attacked them with iron bars and wooden sticks with nails through them. Nine KKE members were hospitalised. When I spoke to Sotiris Poulikoyiannis, President of the metalworkers union and one of those attacked, he told me that, “When they came for us, they were shouting, ‘We’re running this place, this harbour is ours.’ They were well prepared and equipped, they had sticks with nails in the end – this wasn’t a random attack. The two people in charge of the group even identified themselves.” It doesn't look like a coincidence that the attack came after a speech by two Golden Dawn MPs in the area. One of them, Yiannis Lagos, told his activist branch, “You choose how you want to move forward, and we’ll back you up." This had echoes of a speech he made last year, after which an attack was unleashed upon some Egyptian fishermen. On both occasions, no charges of incitement to violence were brought against him, and it's unlikely that any will brought against Golden Dawn after Fissas' murder. Curiously, while the Golden Dawn has been ramping up the violence it has also been flirting with relative respectability, by courting New Democracy – the large centre-right party that is in the government at the moment. New Democracy kept schtum about the attack on the communists in the domestic media, only condemning it in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine. Last week, high-profile Greek journalist Babis Papadimitriou asked, “If SYRIZA [a left party] can work with KKE, why can’t a more serious Golden Dawn support a conservative alliance, like what happened in Norway?” Several MPs and advisors have hinted at the possibility of a potential alliance between the centre-right party and the neo-Nazi gang – if only the second would “shape-up”. Though Golden Dawn has attempted, in its own, ham-fisted way, to engage with mainstream political processes – bringing leftists to court for slander, standing in the Athens mayoral election – it seems their idea of “shaping up” doesn't extend to not murdering political opponents in bars. The brother of Nikos Mihaloliakos (leader of the GD) is rumoured to be recruiting heavily from circles of lawyers, businessmen and academics – supposedly upstanding professionals who are a little bit too fond of the Greek Junta and the colonels who overthrew the Greek government in 1967. However, with this latest murder, the Golden Dawn’s dual tactic of shaking the hand of the respectable political classes at the same time as they’re using the other hand to plunge knives into their enemies may finally have come unstuck. The Minister of Citizen Protection Nikos Dendias has said the government will look to change the law around criminal organisations, hinting at a ban of the far right-party. Unfortunately, such a change could have implications for radical leftist organisations as well, meaning that the Golden Dawn could drag their foes down with them and mortally wound Greece’s democracy. Which means that, ultimately, they would kind of get things their way after all. " All very worrying indeed I’m sure you would agree. Many of this kind of event is not being covered in the news in Britain but as I’ve said before Britain is a few years behind Greece in terms of the crisis and we should not look on in fascination in what is happening in Greece itch the rapid growth of the far right but with absolute concern and look to learn the lessons. With thanks and extracts from http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-golden-dawn-murdered-an-antifascist-rapper-last-night

Fighting fascism wherever it tries to rear its ugly head

Just last week there was a horrific killing of a French anti fascist. An 18-year-old student activist Clement Meric was murdered in Paris in broad daylight, on 5 June, by neo-fascist skinheads. This must be answered by mass mobilisation to halt attempts by the far right to raise its head. Comments from BlockBuster (Anti-racist youth organisation in Belgium) In recent months there have been big parades and demonstrations in France against gay marriage. The reactionary right has made it clear that it is still a mobilising force. Le Pen’s National Front, trying to exploit the growing discontent at the disastrous policies of President François Hollande in the past year, has made more gains at a time when all economic prospects are very gloomy. More violent far-right groups feel encouraged by these developments and some fascist activists dare to go a step further. The young anti-fascist, Clement Meric, has become one of their victims. On June 5, in central Paris, Clement was brutally assaulted by a group of skinheads and left for dead. The main person accused of the deadly assault was known as a member of the ‘Jeunesses Nationalistes Revolutionaires’ (JNR), an organisation led by Serge Ayoub. He is a notorious French fascist who has also repeatedly come to Belgium to assist the activities of far-right groups like ‘Nation’. Ayoub first tried to deny that the killers were activists from the JNR, but then adopted a different tone: the young leftists had supposedly begun the fight. However, Serge Ayoub’s JNR is no innocent association. Ayoub himself is nicknamed ‘Batskin’ because he likes to use a baseball bat in confrontations with political opponents. The group tries to combine violent right-wing extremism with attempts at expressing some ‘social’ arguments. As with other similar groups, their social aspect remains pure rhetoric, while the racism and acts of violence prevail. The Greek ‘Golden Dawn’ is no different; their activities are not directed against those responsible for the crisis, the major shareholders, bankers and other Greek capitalists, but against the victims of this crisis who have another colour of skin or political opinion. The death of the young French anti-fascist has led to protests and demonstrations in several cities and towns in France and internationally. On Thursday there was a large demonstration of “mourning and anger” in Paris. The Establishment politicians have argued that they are in favour of a ban on neo-Nazi groups that “damage the Republic”. Obviously we are not in favour of providing neo-Nazis with a clear field to practise their activities, but in order to stop them, simple bans will not be sufficient. An active response from the labour movement is needed. To stop violent neo-fascist groups gaining confidence, mass mobilisation and anti-fascist resistance are needed. The violence of these groups is not supported by broader layers of the population. Answering their meetings and protests through much larger mobilisations would make neo-fascist activities difficult to organise and would stymie their violent political offensive. We need to oppose, in a systematic way, mobilisations that reinforce divisions in our class, such as homophobic and racist protests. We need to accompany opposing the far right by building a political response that takes up the common interests of working people and poor families. The crisis of capitalism and the pro-establishment parties, with their austerity policies, are creating a greater breeding ground for racism and division in society, and violent groups are stepping in to whip up reaction. A real answer to racism and fascism and the extreme right is not possible if it remains within the framework of the capitalist system which breeds these forces. We can only rely on our own strength! We must build on a trade union and political level a united struggle against racism and fascism, and lay the foundations for a mass force that fights for an end to the rotten system of capitalism. That is the challenge for the anti-fascists and the labour movement as a whole.

Greek parliament pass’s more cuts, how much more can the working class take?

With last nights vote by the Greek government passing another austerity package to receive their next round of bailout funds many are asking how much more can Greece take and more specifically how much more hardship can the working class take. This week the Greek working class turned out for their 21st general strike since the financial crisis hit back in 2008. There doesn’t look to be any end in sight. But things in Greece are happening very quickly and events are unfolding all the time. Things are changing on the ground as well as on the left. Below I republish an interview which was conducted recently with a member of the Greek section of the CWI Xekinima (Greek CWI An interview with Paris Makrides, Xekinima (Greek CWI) Yesterday was the first day of another 48 hours general strike. How big was the strike and protests of the Greek workers and youth? The strike paralysed Greece completely. Athens was like a deserted city as nothing moved except the demonstration of the striking workers. Not only workers were on strike but small shopkeepers as well, even taxi drivers, who together with the strike in public transport paralysed Athens entirely. The picture was similar in every other city of Greece. The numbers on the Athens strike demonstration however were not that big, due to the lack of transport; workers and youth had no means of getting to the centre of Athens other than by foot. Despite this, we estimate that 30,000 to 40,000 people were on the streets of Athens. Today’s rally at Syntagma Square, which is intended to encircle the parliament building, where MPs will be voting on the new (third) Memorandum [new austerity measures at the behest of the Troika] at 5.00pm, will probably be much bigger. But there is always an element of uncertainty, as the broad population, including workers and youth, know that most probably there will be violent clashes largely between anarchists and provocateurs (secret police agents), on the one hand, and the riot police, on the other hand. These clashes turn away the mass of the population from taking part in the demos. If this element did not exist, we can safely say that this afternoon one million people, if not more, would be on the streets of Athens surrounding Syntagma Square. What does the new, third ’Memorandum’ mean for the Greek people? The third Memorandum will be a disaster, added to an economy and society already devastated by the two previous Memorandums. According to estimations of the Troika [European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund], Greece’s GDP will be reduced for a sixth consecutive year. And public debt, notwithstanding the austerity measures that have been adopted these last years and “haircut”, for 2013 will reach 346 billion € (189% of GDP) increased by 66 billion since last February! Over the last years, Greek people have paid much higher taxes, have see their wages slashed, unemployment has reached 24% and youth unemployment 55% (these are the official figures). Public health and education have been destroyed and public services and companies privatized and sold off for peanuts. But European and Greek capitalists have no interest in the terrible social effects their policies are having. The third Memorandum contains new cruel austerity measures, such as increase on the retirement age to 67 years, massive dismissals of public employees, more taxes, greater so-called “flexibility” concerning labour relations and privatisations. And it is clear this will lead to more social misery and catastrophe, just like the earlier Memorandums. How do you explain the fact that despite all this huge mobilisations of the Greek people, the Troika is still able to apply its anti-working class policies? The Greek people’s struggles over the last two years have been massive. People understand that they have to do something to stop the Troika’s policies. So they participated in general strikes, refused to pay taxes and occupied squares. People want to resist and fight. On the other hand, the trade union leaderships don’t. These leaderships don’t want to overthrow the government because they are tied with the government parties. The parties of the Left support people’s demands but do not have a plan about how the capitalist’s policies will be stopped and how the government will fall. SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) recently called for new elections. But elections are not the Left’s primary field of battle at this moment. What is necessary is an indefinite general strike which, of course, will raise the question of power in society – who decides, who controls and who manages the economy and society. This is the only way to go forward, to overthrow the government, and to pave the way for a government of the Left which will be based on worker’s power, through democratic rank and file committees and assemblies, in every workplace, neighbourhood, university and school etc. Is the huge anger of the Greek working class reflected inside the trade unions? The role of the leaders of trade union is absolutely exasperating. But whatever they do they cannot stop the class struggle. People are outraged with the Troika’s policies. This anger has pushed several rank and file unions and union federations to call the GSEE and ADEDY (the private and public sector trade union centres) for an indefinite general strike, as the only reply that corresponds to the scale of government’s and the Troika’s vicious austerity attacks. However, the GSEE and ADEDY refused to call an all-out general strike (which was to be expected) and the unions calling for this action did not try to take the next necessary step, which is to co-ordinate actions between themselves; to prepare for and set a day of strike action and to call on the rest of the union movement to come out in coordinated, indefinite strike activity. We are convinced that such an initiative, given the explosive mood in Greek society, would trigger an avalanche of class action and would push aside the official union federation leaderships. Militant, mass industrial action, as described, could maximize workers’ mass pressure against the government and Troika and give society with a perspective to defeat the attacks. But what really infuriates working class people and drives them “mad” is that often breaks on the strikes movement are made by the parties of the Left. For example, a resolution for at least one week’s strike action was voted down on the Central Council of the ADEDY federation (civil servants’ union) because of the votes of the KKE (Communist Party) faction. The resolution for a week’s long strike had the support of 19 votes, with 17 votes against, but the KKE used its seven votes to defeat it. In the journalists’ union, two days ago, a similar role was played by the SYRIZA faction, which is the biggest faction in that union. The PASOK vote split, with half supporting the demand of the anti-capitalist Left for indefinite strike action. But SYRIZA voted, together with the conservative section of the union, to have only one 24 hour strike and some three hour stoppages. These examples show the extent to which the mass parties of the Greek Left are far behind the needs of the situation and the mood of the working masses. What impact do these developments have on the political landscape? Despite dissatisfaction with the Left, a big section of the population now regards a new government of the Left as the only hope on the horizon. There is thus a huge turn in favour of SYRIZA (although opinion polls reveal that Syriza’s support has not essentially grown, but it is the largest party because support for the New Democrats, the main party in government, has fallen). But this turn towards SYRIZA is not enthusiastic. This is not without reason. SYRIZA’s political platform is not clear. People do not know exactly what SYRIZA is going to do if it takes the power, and that makes them suspicious. On the other hand, the KKE (communist party) is continuously isolated from the bulk of the working class because of its sectarian tactics. The KKE speaks, in general, about the need for “revolution” and “socialism” but it refuses to link this call, in any way, to today’s reality and to mass consciousness. On the contrary, the KKE say that things are not ‘mature enough’ yet for system change. So, in practice, they have ‘maximum and minimum’ approach (i.e. make radical and general rhetoric for ‘socialism’ etc, while only putting forward minimum demands and without linking the two concretely), rather than a transitional approach (campaigning on the key class demands of the day, while linking this up with the need for a workers’ government and to change society). In reality, as we can see from the union votes mentioned above and other actions, the KKE leadership functions like a strike breaking force. Despite SYRIZA’s inadequacies, the struggle for a government of the Left is what the movement needs to campaign for and this is the approach of Xekinima. Of course, we link this struggle to the absolute need for a socialist programme and the need to base this on rank and file assemblies and committees of action. We emphasise that if a government of the Left, based around SYRIZA, fails to adopt a socialist platform this will represent a massive defeat for the Greek Left and the working class, particularly given the fact that the neo-fascist Golden Dawn received around 12% to 14% in recent polls. How is Golden Dawn being combated? The far right, anti-immigrant Golden Dawn is not invincible, however. Opposition to it is growing. There are many anti-fascist committees being set up. The mass parties of the Left do not really understand how to tackle the problem of rising fascism, which requires working class unity, combating the real danger and propaganda of the far right and also fighting for an end to cuts, and for jobs, decent homes, a living wage and for decent public services, health and education for all etc. But things are changing. In September, every proposal made inside SYRIZA to create anti-fascist committees (usually made by members of Xekinima who participate in local branches of SYRIZA) was voted down. In the course of the last week, however, the central secretariat of SYRIZA changed its stand and is now in favour of anti-fascist committees. The KKE, on the other hand, makes no such call but it has a sectarian, abstract approach towards resisting Golden Dawn and the need for a united front against the far right threat. The KKE continues to live on its own isolated planet, refusing to understand what is happening around it. How is the Left responding to the crisis? SYRIZA is not the only field where developments are taking place. In the rest of the Left important developments are taking place. It is correct to say that the Greek Left, in general, is in a state of crisis, which takes different forms for different parties of the Left. There are splits inside ANTARSYA (the anti-capitalist Left Alliance); there is a mass exodus from the KKE; there are major clashes inside SYRIZA as the leadership turns to the right; and the Left Current of SYNASPISMOS (the main constituent force making up SYRIZA) is reacting to this rightward turn but without clarity as regards what should be done; and, of course, the huge mass of Left voters remain outside the Left parties and formations. In this context, Xekinima (CWI in Greece), came together with other forces of the Left, from ANTYARSYA and the rest of the anti-capitalist Left and we have also linked up with forces inside SYRIZA, to create the ‘Initiative of the 1000’, as it has become known (1013 individuals signed the launching statement before it became public). This initiative bases itself on the need for a radical anti-capitalist programme, as the only way to come out of the devastating social and economic crisis. This includes calling for a repudiation of the debt, nationalisation of the banks and the commanding heights of the economy, and for a planning of the economy, on the basis of social needs, and under workers’ control and management. The programme also calls for a united front of the parties of the Left and for support for a Left government i.e. a government based around SYRIZA. At the same time, this means fighting against the reformist programme of the leadership of SYRIZA. The majority of the leadership think they can manage the crisis better than the ruling class and do not prioritise fighting to get rid of the capitalist system and for a socialist society. The Initiative of the 1000 has only been publically alive for a few days but it has already been noted by the whole of the Left. It is an entirely new innovation, uniting forces from all sections and parties of the Left, on the same programme and with similar aims for the mass movement in the immediate period ahead. Its development and potential are not yet clear. But it is certainly worth the attempt to build the Initiative of the 1000. We will be able to say more about its role and perspectives in the very near future.

Working class struggle returns to Greece

This fantastic article below posted on the CWI website gives a excellent account of the current state of Greece and how a socialist programme could be fought for and could transform the situation there.you can find out more at www.socialistworld.net "One of the biggest strikes and demonstrations in the recent period in Greece took place on Wednesday 26 September." Interview with Andros Payiatsos, Xekinima (CWI Greece) The Greek working class has put up an incredible struggle against the vicious austerity measures raining down on them. Since 2010 Greece has been rocked by 17 general strikes, three of them lasting 48 hours. A prime minister has been removed and a government brought down. After some quiet months a one-day strike was called for 26 September. The following day Andros Payiatsos, leader of Xekinima spoke to the Socialist (Paper of the Socialist Party, CWI England & Wales). Xekinima is the Greek section of the Committee for a Workers’ International. After a quiet summer is the Greek struggle back on the agenda? One of the biggest strikes and demonstrations in the recent period in Greece took place on Wednesday 26 September. There have been small sectional strikes all along but nothing on this scale in the recent months. We estimate about 100,000 in the streets of Athens, which is big, and many tens of thousands in other cities in the rest of Greece. The mood was good on the demo. It was quite determined and rather optimistic – this is in contrast to the mood in the previous period. After the victory of New Democracy in June and the formation of the new government a lull developed because there was a feeling of ‘we can’t get rid of them’ following the elections. But this lull was partially overcome by the size of the demo. Also the Greek people are watching with intense interest what is taking place in Spain and Portugal. This has given them hope. The Guardian newspaper reflected some of the anger: Echoing a view held by many Greeks, Penelope Angelou, an unemployed mother, said passing the measures would be tantamount to a "parliamentary coup". “These parties were given our vote back in June because they promised to re-negotiate the terms of the loan agreement," she said, referring to the onerous conditions of the bailout accord Athens signed with its "troika" of creditors — the EU, ECB and IMF – earlier this year. "We are all tired," she said. "This is the third year of non-stop cuts and tax increases which have made us poor and divided us as a society. And they have not solved our problem. The recession is going from bad to worse.” Given the situation people must have little confidence in the government? New Democracy is in deep crisis and its supporters are deserting the ship. Samaras was elected on the basis of forcing the Troika to renegotiate the memorandum but in fact he’s heading in the other direction. Is the effect of austerity on people’s lives a factor? It’s a desperate situation for the masses because the situation already is extremely bad. According to the EU statistics of July 68% of the population lives below the poverty line – this is a staggering figure. But it’s realistic – we know because we live here. It’s the first time they are giving the figures that reflect the effect of their policies. Unemployment is now officially at 23.6%. This official figure, of course, hides all those who have just given up looking for a job. And youth unemployment is an unbelievable 55%. So this is an absolute catastrophe for Greek society. Then, in these conditions, they try to impose further cuts of €11.5 billion in the course of two years – this is more than 5% of the GDP of the economy. Unsurprisingly there is a mass exodus into migration and into the countryside; back to the villages where people can survive by living with their families and maybe cultivating a bit of a living from the land. All the youth are thinking of leaving the country. It’s a mass phenomenon – there are no youth, particularly university students who can see any point in staying in the country – although they want to stay in the country. Even left activists who want to stay and fight – they have no options as this is not just poverty – this is absolute emiseration. Can you comment on reports that the opposition movement has reached the police and army? For the whole of September we have seen protest action by state forces. Sections of the police have gone on strike including protesting against the riot police. Yesterday there was a press statement by the firefighters who said we refuse to be used by the state to suppress demonstrations. This is a he crisis in society and in the economy and it is even reflected in the security forces and we have seen demonstrations by army officers. What way forward does Xekinima suggest? We call for a clear plan of a programme of repeated sectional and general strikes and mass occupations of workplaces with the concrete aim of bringing down the government. This is the slogan we have used for the past weeks and especially yesterday. It is going down very well. You can hear it everywhere. We especially appeal to the public utility unions which are at the centre of the storm. The initial response of the Greek people to the call for a 24-hour general strike was, ‘this is nothing, this is ridiculous’, ‘we can’t bring the government down with one 24-hour general strike and they won’t come down even with one 48-hour general strike’. ‘We need something much much more than that’. So there is a mass tendency in the direction of an all-out strike. If the union leaders were to call it they would get a huge response – but they won’t. They just want to let off steam. You can also say now that nearly the whole of the left – excluding the majority in the leadership of Syriza – accepts the programme (which we initially posed from the beginning of 2010 when the debt crisis came to the fore) that the debt cannot be paid, that the banks have to be nationalised, that the commanding heights of the economy have to be nationalised, and it has to be put under democratic control of society. It’s also accepted by millions of people whether they take part in the demonstrations and strikes or not. The question now is how to build a movement on the ground to bring the government down and to replace it with a left government which will be pushed by the mass movement to implement this programme. We also explain the need for the whole of the Southern Europe to be united in huge and unbeatable/invincible struggles. Golden Dawn has been rising in the polls. What does this signify? Golden Dawn did not take part in yesterday’s demo - they never take part in workers’ demos, only some of them on the side of the riot police. But that does not mean they are not a factor, they are the only force in society which is rising in the polls. Apart from Golden Dawn, all the parties are falling in the polls. While in some polls Syriza is now the most popular party because New Democracy has fallen more, the fact that the left is also falling in the polls is something which should warn the parties of the left. But at the same time it’s correct to say that Golden Dawn itself may have gone through its, let’s say, golden period. They’ve been using violence since 6 May elections every day – attacking migrants, attacking lefts, attacking LGBT people, etc. This has been creating an impression that they are a very determined force which contributes to why people go behind their banner and support them in the polls. But it’s starting to consolidate a resistance. For the first time we have had a number of counter demos that have pushed them back which is very important. This is the first time they are starting to feel defeat. On one occasion we had migrants mobilising against them and pushing them back when they tried to attack them. This is very important, but needs to be linked to a wider movement. Xekinima’s national initiative to build mass anti-fascist local committees and campaigns is very successful with some fantastic effects. We think that the movement is beginning to respond. We hope that we’ll be able to push them in a corner but at the end of the day the perspectives for GD and the far right mainly depends on the role of the parties of the left. We are fighting to push these parties in a more leftward and determined direction, while at the same time striving to build support for Xekinima and the ideas of revolutionary socialism – this is the only way the crisis can be solved. Greece – the unfolding social tragedy The savage austerity policies, implemented in Greece by the ruling class, the government and the Troika of the EU, ECB and IMF have already had disastrous effects on the lives of millions. Living standards have crashed as a result of mass unemployment, the onslaught on wages, and tax rises in combination with the huge cuts in social welfare and the complete destruction of social benefits and the social state. With no exaggeration the Athens Doctors Association wrote to the government of the danger of a humanitarian crisis taking place in the country if the ‘new’ austerity measures of €11.5 billion are implemented. Nikos Kanellis, Xekinima, CWI in Greece, writes of the impact of austerity on the lives of those who bear no responsibility for the crisis. Public health collapses The public health system is being destroyed day by day. Public hospitals are often short of the necessary materials for proper and safe treatment of patients. There is a shortage of nurses and doctors and tens of clinics in different hospitals are closed because of the cuts. It was reported that patients at the Leros mental health hospital were malnourished because public funding fell short of covering the food needs of the hospital. This is not the only such case. Pharmacists refuse to give any more medicine on credit as the government refuses to provide the necessary funding to pay back old debts. Pharmacists say they cannot buy new medicine from big medicine dealers whose policy is upfront cash. Those who suffer from serious and permanent conditions and diseases (such as diabetes, heart conditions, or cancer) need hundreds of euros every month in order to stay alive. The Athens Doctors Association reported that numerous people who have no health insurance visit the Social Clinic of Athens (organised by the Association and the church) for free medical treatment. There are cases of people who were diagnosed with cancer but could not afford to be immediately operated on. They even reported pregnant women who put their life and their child’s life in danger because they could not spend the €800 that are needed for a cesarean. Mass unemployment and poverty At the same time poverty is expanding day by day on a mass scale. Millions live close or under the poverty line. According to an EU survey last July, a staggering 68% live below the poverty line – compared to 21% back in 2009! According to recent research by the GSEE (Greek TUC) the real income of working class people has returned to the level of the late 1970s. This is not only the result of mass unemployment, which has now officially reached 23. 6%, or 1,168,761 people with 1,000 people losing their job every day. Young people and mainly women are the more affected as youth unemployment is 53.9% (for people between 15 and 24) and 62.1% for women at the same age. Given the fact that 59% of unemployed search for a job for more than a year (long-term unemployment) it is no exaggeration to speak of a ‘lost generation’. Young people, the most dynamic part of society, are out of production and this pushes greater and greater numbers to take to the road of migration. 25,000 Greeks migrated to Germany alone during 2011 and this tendency will develop as the social disaster spreads. Workers in vice-grip of poverty Poverty does only have to do with unemployment. More and more workers are unable to make ends meet as their wages are slashed. The minimum wage is now around €480 a month (since the second memorandum, voted on 12 February) and for those under 25 and on ‘training schemes’ 430 € a month. It is also officially estimated that around 400,000 people work but they are not being paid on time and in many cases this would mean getting paid with a delay even of three or four months or nine months. According to the GSEE only 10% of the workforce in the private sector are being paid on time. Now the Troika and Greek ruling class demand that workers in Greece work six days a week and up to 13 hours a day. This means that working hours per week will rise from 40 to 78 and at the same time as workers will be less protected from being fired. If these plans are put into practice, on top of all the attacks of the last two years, the working class will be turned into slaves. These attacks have left tens of thousands of people homeless and around 250,000 rely on soup kitchens organised by the church and the charities. In Crete, one of the wealthiest areas of Greece, it is estimated that 8,500 families are dependent on ‘social supermarkets’ in order to cover their everyday food and other basic needs. ‘Social markets’ organised by local councils, charity organisations or left-wing volunteers, distribute food and basic goods for free to the poorest people. Suicides and depression The fear of unemployment and poverty, the debts that are accumulated by thousands of families, the uncertainty of what is more to come in the future are the bases of mass depression among big layers of society. The numbers who ask for psychological help have risen by 20-30% and suicide attempts have risen by 22% over the last two years. The whole society was shocked in late May when a 60 year old unemployed musician committed suicide together with his 90 year old mother, jumping from the roof of the block of flats where they lived. In the letter that was found, the man explained that because of unemployment he was not able to continue to take care of his mother who suffered from Alzheimers and he could no longer stand asking for charity and food from others. In his last poem he condemned the bankers and the rulers for the drama of Greek society urging society to seek revenge and to throw off those in power responsible for this situation. The hope of struggle And actually this is the only way forward, the struggle for the overthrow of the government and the ruling class that turns the lives of millions into a tragedy. Over the past two years millions have come to the streets again and again in 17 general strikes, three for 48 hours, and numerous mass protests. There have also been heroic sectional strikes, demonstrations and occupations. Leftward radicalisation and hope for change was expressed in the elections of May and June with the mass support and vote for Syriza. But until now the working class and mass movement hasn’t succeeded in the struggle to bring down the government, Troika and the rule of the capitalist class. This is in large part due to a lack of a mass socialist and revolutionary party. The building of these forces is the task of all genuine socialists and working class militants.