Communist Organization of Greece - International Relations Department

Communiqué of the Communist Organization of Greece on the new anti-people measures adopted by the Greek government [*] - March 3, 2010

After the prime minister delivered, yesterday, a hypocritical and cheap speech about “our fatherland” which is at war with “bad guys” who steal the public wealth (!), today he ordered the government’s spokesman to proceed to the most nightmarish statements ever heard by the working people.

The Papandreou government sinks the country. They confiscate the salaries and pensions. They steal our income through exorbitant taxation. At the same time, they don’t take even 1 euro more than before by the rich. They don’t cut back even 1 euro on the military expenses and armament orders. They don’t ask even 1 euro more from the banks, the biggest robbers of the people. The Papandreou government succeeded, in a very short time, to become even more antipopular than the much hated right-wing governments of Mitsotakis and Karamanlis.

Never before, during the whole post-war era, so much lies were told in such a short time span. The Papandreou government, after giving up the power to the money-markets and to Brussels, now behaves as Berlin’s Gauleiter. The government had the possibility to borrow money with lower interests; to tax the big capital; to exact support from Brussels; to defend the already exhausted and impoverished society. Instead, the Papandreou government chose to be applauded by the Financial Times, Goldman Sachs, Frau Merkel and Mister Baroso. And, as today’s statement by Merkel shows, the liquidation of the Greek people will take place without any financial compensation by the EU.

The general strike of 24 February and the mass rallies organized in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras and dozens of cities all over Greece gave a strong message of resistance against the EU, the PASOK government (and its reactionary anti-people alliance with the right-wing and the extreme right-wing), and the mainstream Media that continue their dark propaganda in favor of the destructive, medieval neoliberal policies imposed through the EU Stability Pact.

The mass participation in the strike and the rallies, despite the bourgeois campaign to promote the all-out attack against the people as “inevitable”, proved that the working people and the youth are in a process of realizing that the EU and government projects can be upset, and raise the expectations for the better organization and development of the people’s resistance. The fact that the leaders of the two trade union Confederations (GSEE for the private sector and ADEDY for the public sector) were obliged to call this general strike under the angry pressure of the workers shows this gradual change of the masses’ conscience, and the workers’ will to fight against the EU-government measures.

Mr Ambassador,

You are certainly aware of the situation of 11.000 Palestinians who are jailed in your prisons. You are also certainly aware of the inhuman and cruel treatment most of them suffer, often placed in isolation, been tortured, or deprived even of the most basic necessities and elementary rights. Among them is Mr Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of PFLP and elected member of the Palestinian Parliament, who was abducted by your army. Because he has refused to submit to the inhuman regime that your government reserves to the Palestinian prisoners, Mr Sa'adat has been put in even more strict isolation, which he challenges tomorrow in the Israeli courts.

We will not try to convince you that the Palestinians, as all peoples on this planet, are entitled to determine themselves their fate, to be free, to return to their homes, and of course to struggle in order to secure these universal rights.

The Communist Organization of Greece unequivocally condemns the arrest, on 13 October, of ten members of the Basque pro-independence movement, including Arnaldo Otegi, leader and spokesperson of Batasuna during the last peace process in the Basque Country, Rafa Diez, former National Secretary of the Trade Union LAB and Rufino Etxeberria, member of the Negotiation Committee during last peace process.

This new, deeply antidemocratic attack against the Basque pro-independence movement is the last in a series of continuous, desperate and impressively unsuccessful attempts of the Spanish State to “resolve” the Basque conflict through the means of increasingly harsh and violent repression.

The following letter has been sent to the Irish daily Press by representatives of the "Union of the Working People", as it was requested by the comrades and friends of the Irish NO Campaign

We are trying these days to follow the developments of the referendum campaign through the “Irish Times”. We must confess that we usually lack the time to read foreign Press, although we realize that it is always very useful to be informed about what is going on outside our small everyday world. However, now we try to do so, because on the 2nd of October the Irish people are called to vote (again) on the Lisbon Treaty. And the outcome of the Irish referendum is of great interest to us all, despite the fact we live on the other side of our common continent.

As you most probably know, we Greeks (and the rest of Europe’s peoples, Irish excepted) have not been given the slightest chance to have our saying on this famous Lisbon Treaty. Thus, we are entitled to wonder: why the appointed officials of the European Commission and the rest of the EU institutions avoid so much to let their subjects (because that’s how they make us feel: subjects, not citizens) decide? The ratification of such important treaties through national Parliaments is all but democratic: we all know very well that there would be a resounding “yes” to the European Constitution in the case French and Dutch PMs would vote, instead of their peoples; and the same goes for the first Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Nevertheless, the fact that the European leaders never respect the results of the popular vote, whenever they make the mistake to allow it, is even more undemocratic.

In Greece you have now an open political crisis and new elections. What is the background?

The resignation of the prime-minister Karamanlis and the early elections that will take place on 4 October reveal the bankruptcy of the right-wing government. It is the second time that after a disaster by wildfires this government declares elections; the same happened in September 2007. But this time the government party “Nea Dimokratia” does not goes to early elections with the hope to win them; this time, Karamanlis government was obliged to call early elections by its powerful masters (the EU, the industrialists and the “dynamic centers of the finance”). The message clearly spelled by both Karamanlis and his masters is that an even more anti-popular policy is to follow, no matter the elections’ results. The economy was led to a disastrous situation, many regional geopolitical issues remain open, and we enter a period of political, economic and social upheavals. This period will be marked by fluidity and by transitional characteristics. The “classic” alternation of the two main bourgeois parties in government does not offer anymore the guarantees demanded by the capital. Moreover, it is unable to convince the people, as the lack of dynamics on behalf of the social-liberal PASOK proves. A possible parliamentary majority of PASOK will be meagre and very fragile, given the harsh measures demanded by the capital. The lack of parliamentary majority may lead to new elections, or to a temporary “big coalition”. In any case, what the bourgeoisie expects and demands is to put on the working masses the burden of the developing crisis. The whole bourgeois world (political, economic, state, media) is aligned in order to achieve this. Already, during the last year only, they have donated 51 billion euro to the businessmen and the banks. They cut off this huge amount of money from the social expenses, and they intend to put on new taxes in order to collect more money by the people. The “Greek” banks alone received 28 billion, while they continue to have huge profits despite the crisis and (as other capitalists too) enjoy freedom by real taxation.

The Communist Organization of Greece (KOE) salutes our brothers and sisters of the Marxist Leninist Communist Party of Turkey/N.Kurdistan (MLKP) and enthusiastically congratulates them for the successful holding of their 4th Congress despite all the attacks of the colonialist fascist Turkish dictatorship.

The 4th Congress and the celebrations that followed all over Turkey and N. Kurdistan in order to hail its success prove once more the deep bonds of MLKP with the most oppressed and exploited masses, and the strategic weakness of the Ankara regime, which is unable to smash the revolutionaries no matter how murderous and barbaric methods it uses.

The revolutionary movement of the peoples of Turkey and N. Kurdistan, of which MLKP is a van horse, has suffered many blows by the reactionaries and their imperialist masters. However, MLKP faced these blows not only with unspeakable courage and self-abnegation, but also with the ability to “read” correctly and concretely the concrete conditions, to transform itself accordingly and to create new spaces of struggle and resistance.

In this way MLKP became a precious ally of all the revolutionaries struggling in our region and further away, and contributes decisively to the necessary coordination of the popular struggles throughout the Balkans, the Middle East and the broader region. That’s why the Communist Organization of Greece considers itself honored to struggle in the same camp with MLKP, and pledges to further develop the fraternal relations between our forces – relations that are beneficial for the whole revolutionary movement and for all our peoples.

Long live the 4th Congress of MLKP!

Long live the solidarity between our forces and our peoples!

Communism is the future of the world!

Athens, 12 September 2009

Communist Organization of Greece, Leading Committee

Following the campaign for the European elections (see separate info below) the Communist Organization of Greece now shifts all its forces towards the preparations for the successful holding of the Resistance Festival 2009.

We thank all those who have already responded positively and prepare their delegations to participate in this important event. There are delegations coming from all over the world: from Latin America (Argentina, Venezuela, Haiti), Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Basque Country, Catalunya), the Balkans and the Middle East (Palestine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania), the former Eastern bloc (Georgia, Ukraine), Asia (Philippines), etc.

The debates will focus around the youth movements in Europe, the popular struggles in Latin America and the Middle East, the perspectives of the Left in Europe, the capitalist crisis and the socialist alternative, etc.

For the full program, including the public meetings, the music concerts etc., see the Festival’s website: www.resistancefestival.gr (see also materials and reports from last year's festival in the website: 2008.resistancefestival.gr).  

We call all those who have not yet announced their participation to get into contact with us – this year we need your active participation and support more than ever!